At San Diego Comic-Con, it was announced that The Flash‘s season 5 Big Bad will be Cicada. But just who is he?
WBTV and DC describe Cicada as “a grizzled, blue-collar everyman whose family has been torn apart by metahumans” who “now seeks to exterminate the epidemic — one metahuman at a time.”
This is a bit different from Cicada’s origins in the comics.
In the DC Comics, David Hersch first appeared in 2001’s The Flash Vol. 2 #170. He was born in 1890 and was an architect and preacher at St. John’s Catholic Church. Violent and paranoid, he frequently abused his wife, Elizabeth, until he murdered her.
Full of regret, he preserved her body in a sealed coffin. He considered suicide but was struck by lightning. This accident gave him the ability to absorb other people’s life force, which extended his life and caused quick healing. Hersch was also given a vision of his own immortality and the resurrection of his wife.
After years of wandering, he learned about the origins of The Flash (Wally West). Wally was also struck by lightning, and Hersch believed himself connected to the Scarlet Speedster. As a result, he started a cult by declaring The Flash their savior and promising his followers eternal life. He called himself Cicada and prepared to resurrect his wife.
Cicada and his cult, The Children of Cicada, focused their efforts on killing those whose were saved by The Flash using lightning bolt-shaped daggers. By stealing their life force, he succeeded in resurrecting his wife. However, upon revealing that she was murdered by her husband, Elizabeth Hersch was killed again when her life was reabsorbed by her husband.
The Flash defeated Cicada, and he was placed on death row at Iron Heights, though it was unclear whether he could die. He eventually escaped and briefly joined the Secret Society of Super-Villains during Infinite Crisis before being sent to the penal colony on the planet Salvation.
Cicada will be played by American Pie alum Chris Klein. “We couldn’t be more thrilled to have Chris on The Flash this season as Cicada,” executive producer Todd Helbing tells ET.
“We can’t wait to show our audience him in full form, and how this year’s big bad will be unlike any that’s come before him.”
It’s worth noting that the trailer sees the hooded, heavy-breathing Cicada enter a dark room populated with children’s toys. Could Cicada have lost a child to metahumans, pushing him to exterminate them?
Considering the havoc metahumans have wreaked on Central City since the particle accelerator exploded, it does not seem out of the realm of possibility that Cicada could pick up supporters in his anti-metahuman crusade.
It’s also worth considering that Cicada’s desire to wipe out metahumans is a complete 180 from season 4’s Big Bad, as The Thinker created the bus metas in order to become all powerful and achieve his Enlightenment.
Finally, it should also be interesting to see if Nora’s presence from the future has any connection to Cicada — or if the two are separate conflicts for Team Flash to work through.
Watch The Flash‘s season 5 trailer below:
The Flash season 5 premieres Tuesday, October 9 at 8:00 p.m. ET on The CW.
We want to hear your thoughts on this topic!
Write a comment below or submit an article to Hypable.