"I went back in time and it created a whole new existence,” Barry Allen says in a new The Flash Season 3 premiere teaser. Though only 20 seconds long, CW’s promo glosses over a shot of Savitar and his cult followers in what looks like a Hindu temple. Watch closely at 12 seconds and you’ll see time wraiths (or what could be Zoom as The Black Flash). Kid Flash and Barry Allen will face another rival flash, played by Todd Lasance, in The Flash Season 3 episode 1. The black speedster, fittingly named The Rival, unfortunately wasn’t pictured in this teaser (See The Rival in the San Diego Comic Con trailer here). It looks like Jay Garrick’s Flash has traveled from Earth-3 to answer Barry’s Flashpoint questions, although it could just be Henry Allen.
In the comics, Edward Clariss aka The Rival was a professor at the same school Golden Age Flash, Earth-2 Jay Garrick, attended. Also referred to as the Reverse Flash, The Rival discovered the original Velocity 9 serum by recreating the formula from the lab accident that gave Jay his powers. Clariss’ colleagues didn’t believe his experiments successful, which drove him insane. The Rival eventually vanished into the speed force. Maybe Barry messing with the timeline set him loose?
From the shooting downtown Vancouver pic.twitter.com/9M2CYscNKA
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Even though The Rival will appear alongside Kid Flash in the premiere episode, he’s not one of The Flash Season 3 main villains. Dr. Alchemy and Savitar, who both have not yet been cast, will be Barry Allen’s season-long foils.
Savitar, named after the Hindu god of motion, has powers no other speedster has ever been able to master. He can create force fields and lend speed to others who have no connection to the speed force. During his quest for more speed knowledge, he aims to defeat various incarnations of The Flash along the way, including Wally West, Jay Garrick and Jesse Quick.
Savitar’s speed force antics won’t last long if the time wraiths have anything to say about it. Now that we know the speed force has a grim reaper who looks a whole lot like Black Flash, Barry and Wally may have to work with Zoom to take down Savitar.
Other Flash villains include Magenta, a metal-bending metahuman played by Joey King (Fargo). Grey Damon (Aquarius) will play Mirror Master, a classic Flash villain with the power to travel through reflective surfaces. Ashley Rickards (Awkward) will play a female version of The Top.
There’s also DC TV’s take on The Legion of Doom. Captain Cold, Damien Darhk, Malcolm Merlyn and The Reverse Flash will wreak havoc across the Arrowverse. Captain Cold will first square off against Mirror Master and The Top in Central City for Season 3 episode 4.
The Flash Season 3 episode 1, “Flashpoint,” airs Oct. 4 at 8 p.m.
