One of the constants of The Flash is the regular supply of villainous speedsters Barry has to face off against, acting as dark mirrors to himself and his own powers. The most recent of these, Godspeed, has been only a recurring threat, but that might change in season 7.
Speaking to TV Line, showrunner Eric Wallace was asked if Team Flash would ever encounter the real Godspeed, as until now they’ve only battled his barely sentient drones. And his response was as follows:
“Yes, you just might, because that’s where we’re going!”
Of course, the brief comment doesn’t actually specify that Godspeed will be the season’s big bad, although since the evil speedsters Reverse Flash, Zoom and Savitar dominated the show’s early seasons, it’s been a while since one’s been a lingering danger.
Godspeed is a very recent comic book creation, debuting in 2016 in the first issue of The Flash: Rebirth. August Heart was a CCPD detective whose brother was murdered, with the killer being subsequently freed after evidence against him was lost in the lightning strike that destroyed Barry’s lab and gave him his powers. August gains speedster powers himself after being struck by lightning from a Speed Force storm, and having lost faith in the justice system, decides to use his abilities to kill criminals instead.
The synopsis for season 7 states that Team Flash’s battle against Mirror Mistress will end up unleashing “an even more powerful and devastating threat.” The notion of creating an artificial Speed Force to return Barry to full strength has been a periodic narrative point, and with August’s comic book origin, it’s possible the team’s endeavors will inadvertently birth the villain. Yes, the character was already seen as a regular human in his initial appearance as a lab tech in 2049 who was defeated by Nora, but after “Crisis On Infinite Earths” rebooted the timeline, any changes to the established continuity are now viable.
The Flash has teased out the Godspeed plot thread long enough, and it’ll start to get boring if it goes on much longer. The character certainly fits the admittedly generic description of the team’s new nemesis, and with the number of duplicates he presumably has at his disposal, taking him down for good will be no easy task.