The Flash showrunner Eric Wallace teases that the Blackest Night-inspired storyline isn’t over yet after the season 8 arc with Deathstorm.
Eric Wallace, the showrunner of The Flash, teases that the Blackest Night-inspired storyline from season 8 isn’t done just yet. The Flash season 8 took a dark turn this year with the introduction of Deathstorm as one of the latest big bads. While The Flash season 2 included the Earth-2 Deathstorm, the Earth-Prime iteration served as a more comic-accurate interpretation. With Robbie Amell primarily portraying Deathstorm, the storyline concluded with Killer Frost taking down the DC baddie, sacrificing herself to stop him once and for all.
In the comics, Deathstorm was the result of the DC storyline Blackest Night, which was a massive Green Lantern storyline from 2009 to 2010. The comic arc, written by Geoff Johns, featured multiple characters coming back to life but as Black Lanterns. The critically acclaimed storyline served as an inspiration for The Flash season 8, minus Nekron and the Black Lanterns. Despite Frost stopping Deathstorm, it appears The Flash may not be entirely done with its own take on Blackest Night.
In a new interview with Comic Book, The Flash showrunner Eric Wallace teased that despite Deathstorm’s defeat, season 8 may have just been the beginning of their own Blackest Night. Wallace stated that The Flash season 8 served as a way to plant seeds for the DC arc while also doing a new spin on it. Even though he could guarantee a similar crossover like the comic counterpart, Wallace hopes to go further with Blackest Night, perhaps in The Flash season 9, stating the following:
“Who says that story is over? All I can say to you is there are many more Flash and Arrowverse stories to be told. I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but I actually wrote a Blackest Night story. I wrote Power of Shazam 48. That’s where the Black Lantern Osiris comes back and all that good stuff. There’s a reason I’m talking about Blackest Night I’m trying to will it into existence. Now, I don’t know if I’ll be able to, because that would require a full-on crossover and many more millions of dollars than our show has. However, you got to start somewhere. And remember, I’m a fan first. I love Blackest Night So, to me, hopefully I’ve opened a door that eventually we’ll get to walk through. I know we have a ninth season and there’s kind of a plan in place, but we may still be in COVID protocols, which means no crossovers, which means we couldn’t do a story as big as Blackest Night. But I could certainly plant the seeds and try to will it into existence, because I want to see it, too. I consider Blackest Night, the comic book storyline, to be in my opinion a horror comic book storyline done with superheroes. And to me that’s the perfect… that’s my sweet spot. That’s perfect. And I knew this was going to be a season of horror, a season of more horror because I wanted to put Team Flash through kind of the ultimate ringer, and I felt like horror was the best way to do that.”
Other than not having Nekron, The Flash’s spin on Blackest Night was also missing the Green Lantern Corps. The closest the Arrowverse has gotten to the Emerald Knight was through John Diggle, as the Arrow series finale had David Ramsey’s character get his ring inside a mysterious alien box. While it was supposed to get a payoff, the Arrowverse has been slow in executing Diggle’s transformation into Green Lantern. If The Flash season 9 were to take Blackest Night even further, perhaps that would be the time to have Diggle’s Green Lantern arc come full circle.
Depending on where productions are at in terms of COVID, Blackest Night would actually be a great Arrowverse crossover between the various shows. The Flash isn’t the only show to have lost significant characters, as there are several key players from the other series that could factor into that kind of crossover. Having the heroes deal with fallen allies would also work as an emotionally compelling story. This could also be a way to temporarily bring Stephen Amell’s Oliver Queen back, which would definitely pull many characters’ heartstrings. Time will tell where The Flash may go with their Blackest Night, but it’s interesting to know that they may be doing more with the comic arc.
Source: Comic Book
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