List of villains on The Flash (TV series)

The series initially had a dark and gritty tone, and focused on having The Flash confront decidedly human villains, like corrupt officials and mobsters. Midway through the show's run, however, a few of The Flash's familiar "Rogues Gallery" of colorful super-villains began making appearances.

Captain Cold

Captain Cold has also appeared in live action form, in the CBS television series, The Flash. He was played by actor Michael Champion. Here Captain Cold (costumed in a trenchcoat) was an infamous albino hitman (much like his post-Crisis incarnation where he is a bounty hunter) who used a nuclear-powered freeze weapon to kill his victims. He was hired by Central City Crime Boss Jimmy Swain (Jeffrey Combs) to kill local mob bosses and then the Flash. Initially successful in freezing his adversary, he later was confronted by the Flash once more when he recovered from the attack. When Captain Cold was arrested, he managed to escape with a special freezing tool in his glasses to break his cell lock and special freezing grenades to disorient the police as he escaped. In their final showdown, the Flash used a specialized heating belt to regulate his body's temperature and a mirror to reflect the freeze blast back at Cold, freezing the villain.

Gorilla Grood

Gorilla Grodd was mentioned in passing by the character Nightshade in the episode titled "Deadly Nightshade" of the live action Flash TV series from the early 1990s. He was a crime boss in the 1950s, who worked out of Central City's Helltown, and adversary of Nightshade.

Mirror Master

An episode of the live action The Flash TV series featured Samuel "Sam" Scudder, a criminal nicknamed the Mirror Master, who used holograms projected by small mirrored disks to commit his heists. He was played by David Cassidy.

Nightshade

Although Sandman has never actually appeared outside of comicdom, a very similar character named Nightshade (no relation to the DC Comics superhero of the same name) appears multiple times in the 1990s television series The Flash. This incarnation, Dr. Desmond Powell (played by Jason Bernard), shares several similarities with the original Sandman, including a sleep-inducing pistol (although it used tranquilizer darts rather than sleep gas). Nightshade is also depicted as wearing a gas mask-like device over his face (although it never is never shown to be functional), and dressing in a dark fedora and trench coat. Like the Sandman Mystery Theater version, Nightshade also drives a high-powered black automobile and develops his crime-fighting technology in a secret labratory/hideout.

Desmond Powell is portrayed as a pacifist of sorts, having served in the Korean War and being unwilling to ever again take a life (hence his use of tranquilizers darts as a weapon). He returns from his military service to find his hometown overrun by crime and corruption, and chooses to take the law into his own hands. Unlike Sandman, however, Powell is African-American and his fear of reprisals in the segregated America of the 1950s is his reason for adopted a false identity.

Nicholas Pike

The Flash Museum is referenced in the live-action CBS television series. In the episode "Fast Forward", Barry Allen is thrown 10 years into the future where Central City is ruled by a brutal dictator Nicholas Pike (Michael Nader). Allen is taken to the headquarters of the resistance, where they keep a room full of Flash artifacts that they refer to as "the Flash museum." Among the artifacts are The Trickster's costume, Nightshade's costume (from the episode "Ghost in the Machine") and a replica Flash costume.

Reverse-Flash (Professor Zoom)

In the live action television series The Flash (1990), Barry Allen temporarily takes the false name Professor Zoom while investigating the Mirror Master in the episode "Done With Mirrors." In the episode "Twin Streaks," a scientist CREATES a clone of Barry he names Pollux. Though this blue-suited character bears a resemblance to the Reverse-Flash, Pollux has no direct relation to any comic anti-Flash.

Trickster

In the live action television series The Flash (1990–1991), the Trickster was played by Mark Hamill, who would later voice the Joker in 1992's Batman: The Animated Series. In the episode "The Trickster", private investigator Megan Lockhart (played by Joyce Hyser) attempts to capture a wanted criminal psychopath named James Jesse. His full name is James Montgomery Jesse, and has committed mass killings in various states according to his dossier. During the pursuit, Jesse gets the upper hand and captures Lockhart, but not before she is able to call her friend Barry Allen (played by John Wesley Shipp), whom she had learned was the Flash in an earlier episode. The Flash saves Megan, and Jesse is arrested. As a result, both The Flash and Megan Lockhart become James Jesse's new fixation. After escaping from police custody, he takes on the costumed identity of The Trickster. He has psychotic delusions that Lockhart had been his true love, a costumed sidekick named Prank. He believes that Prank has been kidnapped and brainwashed by the "evil" Flash, and coerce Lockhart into wearing the Prank costume and serving as his sidekick after delivering a death threat to Barry Allen. Barry manages to escape from a drowning stunt, changes into his Flash costume, and sends the Trickster back behind bars, thanks to Lockhart's "betrayal".

In the final episode of the series, "Trial Of The Trickster", James Jesse escapes from his criminal trial with the unexpected help of a fake court stenographer (played by Corinne Bohrer) named Zoey Clark, the wealthy owner of Clarx Toys. She is a huge fan of the Trickster and would do anything to get her hands on him. As they arrive safely at her toy store, Clark admits that she finds a kindred spirit in the Trickster and wants to be his fantasy sidekick Prank. She takes her clothes off to reveal the Prank costume underneath and seduces the Trickster into thinking that "she" is the Prank of his delusions.

After a brief "reunion", both the Trickster and the new Prank kidnap the Flash and brainwash him into becoming evil. The fastest man alive becomes the Trickster's new partner, causing Prank to become jealous over being replaced. She complains to the Trickster, only to end up restrained inside her toy store for being a nuisance.

Meanwhile, the Trickster plans to put Central City into trial but fails after the Flash regains his memories. He hurriedly escapes from the court and is rescued again by Prank, who manages to break free from her binds and is still in love with him. The Trickster shows his gratitude by pushing Prank out of the getaway car and runs off solo, leaving Prank behind again. In the end, the Trickster loses the battle with the Flash and gets arrested along with Prank. The Trickster is incarcerated into a high-restricted prison cell, isolating him away from anyone else.

In 1995, the two episodes were edited together into a movie and released on video as The Flash II: Revenge of the Trickster.

See also

• List_of_Flash_enemies#Enemies_created_for_other_media