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Over the course of four seasons of The Flash, star Grant Gustin has taken part in over 90 episodes, with his character Barry Allen going up against dozens upon dozens of enemies big and small. So it'd be understandable if he wasn't able to single out particular episodes or villains to call his favorite. Luckily for fans, though, Gustin has some answers on both fronts. While speaking with filmmaker (and two-time The Flash director) Kevin Smith, Gustin revealed he still holds the Season 1 finale "Fast Enough" up as the best of the series so far. In his words:
The moment that always comes to my mind first is the Season 1 finale. I don't care what we do for the rest of Flash. I mean, honestly, that episode is something that I'll always look back on and be so proud of.
After a season full of identity twists and time travel confusion, The Flash closed out its freshman season with a finale that really set the mold for how crazy and dynamic the creative team could get with its wrap-ups. And it was an instance where the day wasn't actually saved by Barry Allen in particular, but by the CCPD's Eddie Thawne, who sacrificed himself in order to take out his future relative Eobard, who'd taken over Harrison Wells' body. (The Flash went hard on complications right from the start.) And it's the episode that Grant Gustin thinks is the best of the bunch.
Obviously, Barry had a little something to do with what made "Fast Enough" so exciting. It was the first time Barry got his prescient Speed Force visions, and he learned from his future self not to go back and try to save Nora...which he ended up doing in Season 3 with the "Flashpoint" arc, totally ignoring his own advice. (Dammit, Barry!) Plus, the episode ended on the bonkers cliffhanger for which Barry raced into the black hole threatening to destroy Central City. Not too shabby for the still-learning hero.
While speaking at the ACE Comic Con in Seattle over the weekend, Grant Gustin was also asked about who his favorite Flash villain is. With so many to choose from, it would seemingly be a tough one, but the actor had a few choices set right on the tip of his tongue, and not the ones fans might expect.
He's not a villain anymore, but who just popped into my head was Wentworth's Captain Cold. But yeah, he's like a frenemy. I was just thinking today, because I had a feeling 'Who's your favorite Rogue?' was going to be a thing, and I was just like wracking my brain. I love Weather Wizard, Liam McIntyre's Weather Wizard, he'd be fun to have back. We haven't had him enough. And then Mark Hamill as Trickster.
Many out there probably expected Grant Gustin to namecheck at least one of the show's major big bads, from Reverse-Flash to Zoom to Savitar to The Thinker. But instead, he gave his first props to Wentworth Miller's theatrical Leonard "Captain Cold" Snart, a character that started out as a villain, then turned into a Legends of Tomorrow lead, then died, then came back through timeline shenanigans and other-dimensional travels, and is now mostly gone. Miller has gotten to play many sides of the one-liner-loving Snart, and Gustin obviously adores it all.
As a follow-up choice for favorite villain, Grant Gustin threw out Mark "Weather Wizard" Mardon, who was portrayed by Liam McIntyre. That particular episode, "Out of Time," was the one where Barry first kissed Iris and went back in time, so it was definitely a major installment, even if those moments largely overshadowed the villain in general. And then Gustin mentions Mark Hamill's wonderfully untethered Trickster, who is not only a fantastic Flash villain for modern audiences, but who was also stellar as the villain for the original 1990 Flash series with John Wesley Shipp. Hamill should always make the cut for best Flash anything.
Grant Gustin sadly didn't have anything to share about Season 5 by way of what villains we can expect to see, but with the addition of Nora West-Allen to Team Flash, we're hoping for some one-of-a-kind bad guys that are as instantly memorable as those listed above. Expect for Season 5 to hit The CW on Tuesday, October 9, at 8:00 p.m. ET. In the meantime, though, head to our summer premiere schedule to see everything that'll show up before then.
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