5 Ways to Add Wally West on CW's The Flash: Change the Costume!

The Flash just the hit fast lane with Wally West as showrunner Greg Berlanti just announced he’s thinking of integrating another speedster into the popular CW show next season.

"That's our hope," Berlanti said at The Flash Paleyfest panel. "And we've already been picked up for a second season so I think if we were going to do something like that, we would do it next season."

He also included an essential piece of information that the show is including the newer version of Wally introduced in the New 52, West is now an African-American character.

"We made the Wests African-American so that we could ultimately head in that direction, absolutely," Berlanti said to a fan from Paleyfest. "That's our hope."

The news was announced at via ComicBook.com, and got us thinking what we would like to see from this brand new incarnation of the hero.

Eyes on the prize.
Arrow is currently dealing with a crisis of having far too many characters to balance at any one time, which makes Arrow exclude important players like Arsenal. The Flash is introducing a lot of character as well with Firestorm, Iris, Cisco, Caitlin, and Wells. After this season, if none of the these characters are thinned by the end of the show, it would be pretty difficult to try to sneak Wally West into the The Flash, and ultimately wouldn’t serve the overall direction of season without setting that piece of dedication towards chronicling the adventures of the young hero. Berlanti and company need to give West the screen time he deserves.

Let's give the character a personality
Author Robert Venditti went really heavy on plot with the new Wally West character when he was first introduced as an African-American in the New 52, but I think the author forgot that we need to fully invest in the character before fans really appreciate what sort of plot is happening in West’s life. He’s set to be dead in the near future from a car crash, and then somehow comes back several years later in the comics, and has numerous unresolved issues with his own parents. The crazy plot developments aren't so much the problem, but it’s just a lot for fans to take in that have been following the character for such a long time. Fans need a clear reason to invest in the new version of an older favorite, these heroes are constantly getting changed.

Can we have a costume change?
Enter the blue and silver costumes for the recent series, they have really been giving off a vibe that feels destined to herald a negative era for The Flash comics. It’s changes like these that have made DC feel like they have been stuck in different decades throughout the inception of the New 52. That dull memory that shone through in the New 52 incarnation of the company is broken with Convergence, and I hope that DC will change up the costume, mindset, and personality of this new character before this series is allowed to continue further. However, The Flash TV show has an opportunity to really switch a few things up. The show has handled most costumes with the bigger characters with some wildly good mixes of both new and old costume examples.

Spread the speed force.
The introduction of Wally West means there should be a hero more committed to using the Speed Force. The show is going to have to find some sort of way to tie both of them and the Reverse Flash to it. With a certain gorilla coming to the The Flash soon as well, the special effects budget is going to have be cranked significantly on the show to get everything that the creators of The Flash likely want. This show has a strong solid foundation that proves it can sustain a wider cast of supporting heroes.

Cue the secret origin.
Going into this season with Wally Wood is really ambitious, as he will hopefully be integrated in the show slowly, and we will get some pieces of his backstory over time. The origin of Wally West as a hero is largely unknown to most modern day comic fans, so it’s fair game to to have this be explored amongst even the most seasoned comic junkies. As mentioned in the first paragraph, were going to have to step back and put a lot of attention on Wally this season. Even having someone capture Barry, and showing Wally’s pursuit to save him to give the focus on that character would be a really smart thing to do for a year.

Game on.
The Flash has an incredible amount of potential in evoking the new version of Wally West, but much is going to have to be adapted with this new character. He needs to be taken seriously, and almost completely retooled from the original comics version of the African American Wally if the hero is going to have any sort of lasting power on CW's The Flash.