With the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event concluded, the Arrowverse shows are making their returns to weekly episodes. Much has changed since Crisis on The Flash, but none of these changes compare to the new threat that they face. Back in episode two of season six, it was revealed that a mysterious group was kidnapping metahumans all over Central City. Iris (Candice Patton) used her journalism skills to dig deep into this organization but ended up coming short. This organization was officially revealed to be called Black Hole. If that name sounds familiar to some of you, then it’s because the organization was introduced during the first issue of The Flash, under the DC Rebirth line, back in 2016.
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The organization debuted fairly recent but proved to be a major threat to the Scarlet Speedster. They’ve taken Barry to his limit, even turning several of his friends and loved ones against him. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Joshua Williamson and Carmine Di Giandomenico’s run when Black Hole became a more prominent threat. Barry’s battle against this deadly organization has been one of my favorite Flash stories in recent history. Given all of this, I wanted to take time and talk about the origin of Black Hole and explain just why Team Flash is in for the fight of their lives.
Origin:
Black Hole made their first appearance during The Flash #1. The terrorist group was stopped by The Flash during a heist on S.T.A.R. Labs. After the heist, Detective August Heart, who was present at the crime scene, was struck by lightning. The accident, much like Barry’s, granted him superspeed and a connection with the Speed Force. This accident is what lead him to become the villain known as Godspeed. During his time as Godspeed, August killed anyone who stood in his way of finding his brother’s killer. After Barry and Wally manage to stop his killing spree, Iris goes on to investigate several cases where one of Godspeed’s victims had gone missing.
During her investigation, Iris interviews the mother of a boy named Kyle. Kyle’s mother informs Iris that Kyle had powers and that his body was taken for research. This leads Iris to discover that several other powered people that were killed by Godspeed had been taken as well. Her investigation ultimately leads her to discover that Black Hole has been responsible for all the missing corpses. Their ultimate goal is to negatively harness the powers of the Speed Force and tamper with them. The organization manages to create several weapons with the powers they harness, including “Lightning Guns” and “Tire Spikes,” which tap into Speed Force energy and interfere with a Speedster’s connection to it. Joseph Carver, Fast Track (Meena Dhawan), and Gorilla Grodd are all leaders of the organization. One of the most prominent members of the organization is Raijin, a Speedster who is known as the “Master of Lightning.”
The members of Black Hole were able to take Barry to his limit in multiple ways and corrupted his connection to the Speed Force, proving just how dangerous they were. For one, Iris’ investigation was the perfect opportunity for Black Hole to recruit her. Getting Iris on their side would be the perfect way to hurt Barry on a more emotional level. Meena, another Speedster who was thought to be dead at the hands of Godspeed, was recruited to the organization during her supposed death. Black Hole rescued Meena and told her that Barry left her to die. Full of anger, she stole the Negative Speed Force from Barry, thus becoming the Negative Flash. Meena and Barry were romantically linked, which made this situation much more personal for Barry. Much later, Barry has his powers stolen from him by Grodd and his real identity is exposed. This is one of the rare moments were Barry was pushed to his absolute limit.
Other Comic Book Appearances:
The only other comic that Black Hole has made an appearance in is Green Arrow #26. In this issue, Oliver is on a mission to hunt down the Ninth Circle all across America. With Seattle falling to the Ninth Circle, he doesn’t want any other city to suffer the same way. Along the way, Oliver tries to mend relationships with those that he’s alienated in the past. As fate would have it, the first person he runs into is Barry. Barry explains what’s been happening in Central City with Black Hole. Oliver, recognizing that Black Hole’s emblem is the same as the Ninth Circle, shares what he’s been up to with Barry. Together, they plan to take down one of Black Hole’s hidden bases.
Comics and Beyond:
Aside from the brief appearance in Green Arrow #26 and the long run in The Flash: Rebirth series, Black Hole has not made any other appearances in tv shows or films. Given that it’s a fairly new creation, it’s hard to imagine a smooth way to include the organization within the CW show. When Black Hole was introduced in the comics, The Flash had already been on the air for a few years. It would have been difficult to include an element from the comics in the show when the comic story wasn’t done yet.
Now that the organization has been officially introduced into the show, several elements from its comic origin have been adapted. For one, Joseph Carver is still one of the leaders of Black Hole. However, the tv show revealed that the organization has been operating within McCulloch Industries. Black Hole also seems to have a connection with Eva McCulloch, who appears to be the new version of Mirror Master. While it could be easy to predict that Eva and Joseph would be the big villains for the rest of the season, there seems to be something bigger at play. This could very well lead to Raijin being introduced into the show and be the big villain for Barry to fight. If this happens, it would make sense for Iris and the rest of Team Flash to take on Eva and Joseph.
Regardless of what happens, I’m beyond excited to see what Black Hole could mean for the show. It’s been a while since the show has had a speedster as their villain, so bringing in Raijin as the leader would be amazing. I’m looking forward to seeing how Black Hole wrecks havoc on Central City and what Team Flash will do to stop them.
