'The Flash' Season 6: Who is Red Death, the villain rumored to be the big bad of the sixth season?
The new season of CW’s hit superhero show ‘The Flash’ has started filming and the question on everyone’s mind is this: who will be the new big bad? Every season of ‘The Flash’ has featured one primary antagonist like Reverse-Flash in Season 1 or Zoom in Season 2. Details are scarce as to who will be the villain for Season 6 but there are some rumors doing the rounds that suggest that the show might have already dropped a hint about the identity of the new big bad.
According to TVLine, producers are eyeing diverse actors to play the part of a new male Big Bad. Now that might not be much to go on, but Season 5 did namedrop a villain who is sure to give Barry a run for his money. We’re talking of none other than the Red Death.
A relatively new addition to the comics, the Red Death is actually an alternate universe version of Batman. The character was mentioned in the Season 5 episode ‘Memorabilia’ when a recording from the future says that "Cicada killed more people than Zoom or even the Red Death."
So who exactly is Red Death and how did someone like Batman turn into a Flash villain? That story is told in the 2017-18 comic book event ‘Dark Nights: Metal’.
After all his Robins are killed, the Bruce Wayne of an alternate world realizes that he will never be fast enough to save everyone and truly end crime in Gotham, unless he harnesses the powers of a certain Scarlet Speedster. Subduing Barry Allen with weapons stolen from the Flash’s greatest enemies, Batman ties Barry to the hood of the Batmobile and drives into the Speed Force, effectively merging the two beings into a single, evil speedster hellbent on fighting crime by any means necessary. The newly-christened Red Death swiftly kills every single villain on the planet and the ensuing carnage shows just how much damage the Flash can do if he were to actually cut loose.
In Batwoman’s first appearance in the crossover event ‘Elseworlds’, she mentions that Batman has been missing from Gotham for three years. DC’s TV shows have so far stayed away from prominent Justice League members like Superman and Batman but considering Superman’s recurring role on ‘Supergirl’ and Batwoman’s new show that is set to arrive in the fall of 2019, it’s not entirely unimaginable that ‘The Flash’ might take this opportunity to introduce the twisted evil speedster version of the Caped Crusader.
After the rather lackluster villains of the last few seasons, the Red Death might be just the sort of villain to inject new life into ‘The Flash’. Whoever the new villain might be, Barry will have a lot to deal with in Season 6, especially with ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ and his possible death fast approaching.
Season 6 of ‘The Flash’ will arrive on October 8, 2019.
