'The Flash' Season 6: Will Barry defeat Bloodwork like he did in the comics or will the show take darker tones as it sets the stage for 'Crisis'
'The Flash' is running full steam with the storyline of the imminent 'Crisis' in season six of the show. In the middle of preparing his family and friends for his inevitable doom, Barry has come face-to-face with one of the most chilling villains of all time, Dr. Ramsey Rosso, or rather Bloodwork.
How Bloodwork was defeated in the comics
Bloodwork was introduced in the comics in 2017 as a hemophilic coroner, who runs experiments with metahuman blood. He injects other people’s blood into his veins and he gets the power to control blood himself.
He has the power to stop blood flowing in other people and he can congeal it or burn it. The more worked up he is, the more uncontrollable his power gets.
Eventually, the powers reach astronomical levels and he emerges as a giant blood monster. In the comics, the Flash shut him down by sending a negative speed force through his chest, stopping his heart and shutting his powers down for a while. How will the show do justice to this arc?
Bloodwork on the show
On the show, Ramsey is a research oncologist, who is desperate to fight the inevitability of death after he loses his mother to cancer.
The show had tried demonstrating his human side, now and then, before he completely embraced his dark side in the previous episode and went on a killing spree and creating zombies as if it's his birthright.
Had it perhaps been another season of 'The Flash', Bloodwork would have gotten the entire season to himself.
Showrunner Eric Wallace had revealed in San Diego Comic-Con in July that Bloodwork would only be the main villain for the first arc of the season, with 'Crisis' as the second arc and another new villain for the third.
Balancing Bloodwork and 'Crisis on Infinite Earths'?
Season six has already proved to be a trying time for Barry and his team. As the end of season five showed, the timeline had been so drastically altered that Barry's inevitable disappearance was going to occur much earlier than expected.
The 'Crisis on Infinite Earths' has already been teased in several other Arrowverse shows and will be the next epic crossover.
Currently, Bloodwork still has four more episodes as the main villain. So it seems as if 'The Flash' will wrap up the face-off with Bloodwork while setting up the 'Crisis on Infinite Earths'.
Bloodwork could not have entered the show at a better time and ties in with the themes of death and loss in the season. Bloodwork is symbolic as his arc raises questions about life, grief and the importance of death.
Barry and Iris are still coming to terms with the loss of Nora, and Bloodwork's agenda does strike a chord with Barry. Will Ramsey Rosso's arc gets a satisfying ending in the show or will it be rushed? Will the show do justice to the comic?