You’ve had a chance to watch the latest episode of The Flash, now find out what you may (or may not) have missed in this week’s episode, “The Fury of Firestorm” in the latest installment of Flashback!
Barry and the team look for another Firestorm match for Dr. Stein. When the team meets Jefferson Jackson, Caitlin has her reservations about whether Jax is the right match for Dr. Stein. Iris surprises Joe while Barry and Patty grow closer.
THE FURY OF FIRESTORM
We will never get away from the Firestorm connection running throughout this series. This week, not only do we get a new Firestorm (sorry folks, Jefferson “Jax” Jackson is an original character to the series), but the show title itself is a reference to The Fury of Firestorm series that ran for 64 issues beginning in March of 1982. Of course those with a keen eye will point out that The Fury of Firestorm has a cover date of June 1, 1982, which would be correct, but keep in mind back in the day, comics were kept on the shelf for at least three months, and the cover date represented the time the book was to be removed from store shelves.
The title of the story, in that first issue of The Fury of Firestorm also has another hidden Easter Egg – Day of the Bison. While we didn’t see a half man/half bison running around this week, there were two football teams featured at the beginning of the episode; the Falcons and the Bisons.
The Fury of Firestorm ended with issue #64 in October 1987, when the title of the book was changed to Firestorm, The Nuclear Man with issue #65. That series then ran for 35 more issues before being cancelled at issue #100. The cover to Firestorm, the Nuclear Man #65 has an interesting cover as well, as it proclaims that Firestorm has only been alive for an hour… considering this week’s episode is only an hour long, it kind of makes you wonder…
That or I really need to stop putting that putty on my face and drawing charts on the wall with connecting string*
HENRY HEWITT
Henry Hewitt first appeared in Firestorm Volume 2 #15 in August, 1983, as the CEO of Hewitt Corporation. In the series, he attempted to pressure U.S. Senators into approving a bill that would give him control of the energy market. Interestingly, Dr. Hewitt in this week’s episode is all about trying to control the energy. He is also responsible for creating Firehawk in an attempt to recreate the Firestorm accident. He also performed the experiment on himself, but in order to contain the nuclear energies, he created a containment suit and changed his name to… you guessed it… Tokamak.
Surprisingly, this week, Barry did not kill Tokamak, instead putting him in the S.T.A.R. Labs containment facility until he agreed to behave. Henry Hewitt’s fate in comics is not so happy, as the character presumably died in Firestorm Volume 3 #1 in January 2007.
Tokomak/Henry Hewitt was created by Gerry Conway and Pat Broderick. And if you are wondering if any of the science talk in this week’s episode is real, the Tokamak is certainly a real thing.
A tokamak (Russian: токамак) is a device using a magnetic field to confine a plasma in the shape of a torus. Achieving a stable plasma equilibrium requires magnetic field lines that move around the torus in a helical shape.
KING SHARK
Yes, that definitely was King Shark.
Hope everyone loved seeing #KingShark as much as we loved working on it. Thanks to my amazing team @encorevfx #TheFlash
— Armen V. Kevorkian (@armenvfx) October 28, 2015
We got our first glimpse of King Shark in Superboy #0 in October 1994, but the character appeared fully in Superboy #9 in November 1994. King Sark was created by Karl Kesel.
Born in Hawaii, Nanaue is a humanoid shark. His father is “The King of All Sharks”—also known as the Shark god. Originally there were some doubts surrounding his origins, as other characters, such as special agent Sam Makoa, dismissed his origins as superstition and referred to Nanaue as a “savage mutation” and it was also implied that he was one of the “Wild Men”, evolved animals based on those in Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth, but the now-ended Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis series, however, put an end to the controversy by firmly establishing him as the Shark God’s son.
While King Shark bounced around as a Superboy villain for years, he didn’t become a comic fan favorite until Gail Simone sunk her teeth into the character for her run on the Suicide Squad.
It should be noted that the King Shark in this episode is King Shark of Earth-2, and not a particle accelerator accident. It will be interesting to see if King Shark sticks around, or if the gun Harrison Wells used to take King Shark down was, in fact, lethal.
EIKMEIER TECHNOLOGIES
Henry Hewitt works, or rather worked, at Eikmeier Technologies. There isn’t an Eikmeier character or location in the DCU, but Brooke Eikmeier is one of the writers on the Flash television series (her first credited episode is Plastique in season one), and she is one of the writers on the Flash: Year Zero series at DC Comics.
MACGREGOR’S DISEASE
No, this is not a real disease, and no, it is not a reference to Ewan McGregor’s role in Trainspotting. Those who suffered through the Batman and Robin movie know that Nora Fries was suffering from the Stage four MacGregor’s disease when Dr. Victor Fries put her in cryogenic stasis.
Actually, you know what… screw the Batman and Robin movie, go watch the Batman: The Animated Series, Heart of Ice episode. It’s a much better story, and while Nora’s disease wasn’t named in the episode, the ending and eventual origin story of Mr. Freeze is revealed there. It’s kind of cool (pardon the pun) that a Batman related connection has found its way into the show, but don’t see this as a sign that Mr. Freeze will be appearing in the series anytime soon. The Flash already has Captain Cold, and Central City isn’t big enough for two cold themed villains. There is also the fact that Nathan Darrow has been cast to play Mr. Freeze for the current season of Gotham over on the FOX network. Would that make Gotham set in Earth-4 since FOX is the fourth broadcast network?
THEY LOOKS FAMILIAR
If the Channel 8 news reporter looks familiar, that’s because actress Lisa Marie DiGiacinto also appeared on Arrow back in 2012. You may remember here as “Attractive Woman” in the Year’s End episode. I guess that is a step up from one of her other credited roles as Hot Alien Side Kick #1.
Also making an extra crossover from Arrow is Falcon’s football coach, Kirby Morrow, who appeared as Matt Istook on Arrow. Morrow’s voice will be very familiar to Ninjago fans – he plays Cole on that series, as well as Anakin Skywalker in the LEGO Star Wars animated movies.
While we are at it, Henry Hewitt’s supervisor at Eikmeier Technologies is actor Greg Kean, who played Coach Joseph Altman in the Hereafter episode of Smallville.
Now before you start freaking out about all of the connections to other DC Entertainment related shows, keep in mind that Smallville, Arrow, and Flash all shoot in Canada. All of these actors are from Canada, so it is more likely that the three are getting paid well as extras in shows that shoot up North, and not some vast Multiverse conspiracy theory… I hope.
IT’S CALLED A SECRET IDENTITY FOR A REASON!
It’s an updated list!
Dr. Harrison Wells(deceased)- Eobard Thawne (as Dr. Harrison Wells)
- Dr. Harrison Wells (Earth-2)
- Dr. Caitlin Snow
- Dr. Cisco Ramon
- Detective Joe West
Ronnie Raymond(deceased)- Dr. Martin Stein
- Mrs. Clarissa Stein
- Hartley Rathaway (Pied Piper)
- Felicity Smoak
- General Wade Eiling
- Oliver Queen (Green Arrow)
- John Diggle
Bette Sans Souci(deceased)- Dr. Henry Allen (out of prison)
Iris West(in another timeline)- Iris West-Allen (in the future)
- Iris West (via spark touch)
- Leonard Snart (Captain Cold)
Detective Eddie Thawne(deceased)- Ray Palmer (The Atom)
- Brie Larvan
- Laurel Lance (Black Canary)
Hannibal Bates (Everyman)(deceased)- Gorilla Grodd
- Lyla Diggle (Harbinger)
- Jay Garrick (The Flash of Earth-2)
- Dr. Henry Hewitt
- Jefferson Jackson
And that should be everything! What did I miss? What did you catch? Use the comment section below to share your thoughts on this episode, and until next week – RUN, BARRY! RUN!
FLASHBACK: THE PODCAST
Want to hear Matthew Peterson and I sit down to discuss this episode in detail? If you are a Major Spoilers VIP, look for the Flashback Podcast hitting the VIP site very soon!
[signoff predefined=”PayPal Donation” icon=”icon-cog”][/signoff]*That’s a The Question reference.
1 Comment
My wife started laughing in the middle of the meeting in the Garage with a great easter egg that went right over my head. When Prof Stein comments on Jefferson Jackson’s taste in Music, He mentions having the Titanic soundtrack in the back. Victor Garber played the Designer of the Titanic in the Movie.