If you haven’t heard, Wally West is coming to the CW’s The Flash this fall and is being played by Insurgent actor Keiynan Lonsdale. Wally West, in the comics, is the nephew of Iris West, and the two were portrayed as being very close. In DC Comics post-New 52 continuity, Wally is a depicted as a white younger child, who grew up idolizing Flash—then Barry Allen—and receives his powers in a freak accident identical to the one that Barry experienced. In DC Comics New 52 reboot, Wally is re-imagined as a bi-racial teenager, who’s mother is African-America, and the son of Iris’ second brother.
In the original comics Wally takes up the mantle of Kid Flash, joining the Teen Titans in their early years before eventually taking on the official mantle of the Flash from Barry himself. It’s doubtful we’ll see Grant Gustin (who plays Barry Allen) pass the torch to Lonsdale anytime soon—if ever—but the possibility of seeing Lonsdale as Kid Flash a few years down the line exists.
Needless to say, the racebending of the West family and the continued inclusion of Wally West in his first ever live action appearance is a fantastic step in the right direction for more diverse inclusion in our media, especially in superhero based media. Most superhero properties stick to safer legacy characters who are all typically white.
Hopefully we’ll see some Wally West and Linda Park action in the near future as well.
In other casting news, Casper Crump has been set to play Vandal Savage, and Falk Hentschel has been cast to play Carter Hall. Both will be appearing in the upcoming spin-off series Legends of Tomorrow starring Arrow and Flash characters, such as Sara Lance (this time as White Canary), Ray Palmer/The Atom, Leonard Snart/Captain Cold, Mick Rory/Heat Wave, and newbies Hawkgirl/Kendra Saunders, Jay Jackson, and Rip Hunter.
Legends of Tomorrow is set to air in between the hiatus of both Arrow and The Flash, much like how ABC aired Agent Carter during Agents of SHIELD‘s winter hiatus.
Supergirl has a few interesting casting announcements to make this week as well. Most notably, the second live action appearance of Lucy Lane, Lois Lane’s younger sister. Lucy appeared briefly back when Smallville was a thing on CW, and now she’s back for Supergirl. Played by Jenna Dewan Tatum (Step Up), reports say she’s back to finish some business with James “Jimmy” Olsen (Mechad Brooks). In DC Comics, the two were often romantic partners so it’s no surprise Supergirl would explore that romantic history on the show. Lets just hope it doesn’t turn into a Girl versus Supergirl fight over Jimmy.
That’s all for this week folks. There’s not much news on the DC Comics front. Given that the fall television line up is getting ready to air, no surprise about all these casting announcements. Excited to see Lucy Lane and Wally West coming to our screens in the near future, and hoping that Legends of Tomorrow won’t be a complete bust.
In non-cast related news, DC’s no warning preview pages of Lobo #9 depicted a rape scene between Lobo and new character Fabria Odessa. It’s more than an disappointing way to end this week in DC related news.
