The Flash and Reverse Flash were born to be enemies. The villain is obsessed with destroying the Flash and everything connected to him. But what happens when the mantle of the Reverse Flash passes down to someone Barry loves? The Flash: Rebirth poses an interesting dilemma for Barry Allen. The series relaunch saw more than a dozen Central City Residents get imbued with the powers of the Speed Force. Barry dealt with the problems (including the return of Eobard Thawne) the best he could and the story was just moving from topsy-turvy to normalcy when this little bomb explodes and topples the Scarlet Speedster’s life forever.
Dr. Meena Dhawan is a STAR labs employee who was struck with a speed force lightning bolt to become the superhero Fast Track. Meena and Barry were part of a serious romantic relationship until another speed force villain manages to almost kill her.
As intriguing as Barry and Eobard’s enmity is, the battle of the Flash and Reverse Flash just got a hell of a lot more interesting. Meena Dhawan returns form her near-death experience in a black speedster suit, having assumed the title of the Reverse Flash and now in control of the negative speed force.
Now, wait a minute? Isn’t Iris West all but destined to be the Flash’s better half? Who is this new chick in town? The powers of rebooting are powerful and mysterious. Iris West still exists in the new continuity but she is just close friends with Barry Allen and nothing else. Maybe something could happen in the future but for now, Meena is the one who has stolen Barry’s heart for good.
Meena, just like a busload of people, was struck by lightning form a speed force storm to gain superhuman speed. She helped Barry develop a training Regimen to train the new recruits Barry has taken under his wings as his new sidekicks.
Love was in the air for Meena and Barry from the start. Barry revealed his identity to Meena almost immediately after that. But as fate would have it, superheroes are doomed to a not so lovable love life. The villain Godspeed, another victim of the recent speed force storm, murders all the new Flash recruits and manages to capture Meena as he took off.
Assumed dead until Flash #32, Meena returns. The woman dressed in a black and white suit similar in design to Barry’s suit barring the red color bursts out of the speed force. It was time for celebration for Barry was back with her one true love until her return brings back a shocking revelation for Barry Allen – The Flash is dying.
The concept of the speedforce and the negative speedforce is as much Tolkien as it is Roddenberry. In the simplest terms, the existence of the speed force depends on that of the negative speed force and vice verse. The Flash is powered by the former, while Eobard Thawne aka the first Reverse Flash and Barry’s arch-nemesis is powered by the latter.
When Barry thought he had dealt with Eobard for good, he had actually absorbed the negative speed force into himself and struggling to contain it. Meena found a way to rid the negative speed force from Barry’s body and absorbing it into herself. What a selfless sacrifice. Or is it?
Something quite a bit sinister is working behind the scenes. The return of Meena Dhawan in such a suspicious manner is sure to ring alarm bells everywhere. It’s still not sure whether she will adorn herself with the name ‘Negative Flash’ or maybe something new is still up for debate. A female Reverse Flash does sound nice to the inner feminist in all of us. The Flash #34 reveals her evil plans to the readers. She had been researching the speed force much before she gained her powers through it and has since used the knowledge to help Black Hole – a secret military group engaged in subversive activities. Now as Barry’s love interest, she gains access to the negative speed force as well. This bad girl is on a roll.
What happens next with the betrayal Barry suffered at the hands of Meena? How will the Flash and the Negative Flash are gonna deal with each other in the later issues? Your guess is as good as ours. The writers Michael Moreci, Joshua Williamson, and Pop Mhan gave us a fantastic twist and made us stay hooked for the next issue.
We sure hope Dr. Dhawan is a worthy nemesis. We will let you know what happens in the subsequent issues but there is a strong case of bringing Dr. Meena Dhawan into ‘The Flash’ TV series on CW network. Here are some of the reasons why she would be perfect for the future seasons:
In the first three seasons, Barry Allen aka ‘The Flash’ has been fighting evil speedsters who have their own dark agenda. In Flash season 1, Eobard Thawne aka Reverse Flash took over the body of Prof. Harrison Wells to destroy Flash without erasing himself from the timeline.
In season 2, Zoom turned the Flash TV show into a dark, brooding saga of a mad masked crusader wreaking havoc in the Central city and Team Flash is left scarred with deep wounds inflicted upon them. He first kidnapped Jesse (daughter of Earth-2 Prof. Wells), then he kidnapped Wally west and traded his life with Flash’s speed force, he then captured Caitlin Snow as he obsesses over her, traumatized her so much that she has developed some kind of Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and finally killed Henry Allen (father of Barry Allen) to make him believe that both of them are the same.
In season 3, Savitar was the big villain who was one of the time remnant of Flash that he used to fight Zoom to beat him in his own game. As a result when Zoom invited Flash for a race to power the magnetar and create a huge trans-dimensional shock which will destroy the entire multiverse. Flash created a countervailing force to reverse the effects of massive energy generated to activate the cosmic device and finally let time wraiths took him as he distorted the rules of the speed force. But Barry’s friends including Joe West, Cisco abandoned Savitar and left him in pain and agony. He then decided to turn speed-god and take revenge from the original Flash for betraying him. In season, the non-speedster known as ‘The Thinker’ is the main villain. The only thing left is a female villain and Dr. Dhawan or Fast Track fits the bill.
In future seasons, the show should consider bringing a female speedster who turned to the dark side. She got her speed powers like any other meta-human through exposure to radiation from particle accelerator explosion. She was a scientist at Star Labs who opened a special school for people with abilities and taught them how to control it much like Prof. Charles Xavier of X-Men universe. She was a perfect woman for Barry Allen until something crazy happened. She would be a great addition to the show in terms of lending diversity and cater to the female audience as well. The DCEU needs to move beyond hashtag feminism to showcasing brute female superpowers on the show.
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