"The Flash" Showrunners Say Wally West Could Be Coming Next Season

[Badou]

Is making Wally West a black kid really going to be the reason why people wont watch this show? Does the color of his skin make it harder for you to be a fan of his? Does the kid have to be a white ginger for you to have to identify with him? What if Wally's character, is exactly the way he has always been, with the smart ass attitude, and lovable personality? Why should him being black have an effect on who he is? Joe And Iris are black, and there is nothing people can do about that, so there is a high chance that Wally will be too. And dont give me the comic book purist bullshit, because you guys forget that Grant Gustin looks nothing like Barry in the comics. Neither does alot of actors in the DC CW Universe, but Wally not being white is what sets you off? As long as his personality is like pre-New 52 Wally, I have no problem with him being black.

I think you sort of missed the point at why people are upset, or at least why I am. It isn't because they are going to make the TV show Wally black, but because they completely destroyed the comic version of Wally to recreate him in an image that fit what they wanted to do with him in the TV show. That is the core of it and that just feels dirty. It's the idea that the TV show's version is going to be the definitive version, despite him not even being on the show yet, regardless if the other version had been around for 50+ years and accomplished so much. It comes off as them devaluing the comic character people spent so long supporting in favor of pushing a character that they can use as a marketing tool for a TV show.

They should have just made the TV version black and just kept the comics version like he was to be honest. Just keep the two versions seperate and let the influences happen naturally rather than try to force one on the other. The vast majority of the people watching the show aren't going to follow the comics anyway. Though if the black TV show version becomes an interpretation that resonates with people then they can look to make some type of permanent change across all media. I just think that is a much better approach.

[hunter_peterson]

I think you sort of missed the point at why people are upset, or at least why I am. It isn't because they are going to make the TV show Wally black, but because they completely destroyed the comic version of Wally to recreate him in an image that fit what they wanted to do with him in the TV show. That is the core of it and that just feels dirty. It's the idea that the TV show's version is going to be the definitive version, despite him not even being on the show yet, regardless if the other version had been around for 50+ years and accomplished so much. It comes off as them devaluing the comic character people spent so long supporting in favor of pushing a character that they can use as a marketing tool for a TV show.

They should have just made the TV version black and just kept the comics version like he was to be honest. Just keep the two versions seperate and let the influences happen naturally rather than try to force one on the other. The vast majority of the people watching the show aren't going to follow the comics anyway. Though if the black TV show version becomes an interpretation that resonates with people then they can look to make some type of permanent change across all media. I just think that is a much better approach.

To be fair, literally all of that is speculation. As far as we know the only part of the TV Wally West that's nailed down is that he's black, which makes perfect sense because Iris is black. I'm sure they've nailed none of that down yet. No need to be alarmed about that.

What you are legitimate in being annoyed about is how Wally is written in the comics, currently. But it's just a Dork Age. It'll pass.

[gwangung]

I think you sort of missed the point at why people are upset, or at least why I am. It isn't because they are going to make the TV show Wally black, but because they completely destroyed the comic version of Wally to recreate him in an image that fit what they wanted to do with him in the TV show.

Which is totally ridiculous. And this is what pisses me off with some Wally fans.

What's wrong with the nu52 Wally has nothing to do with his race and everything to do with how he's being written (and it's not racially stereotypical; it's just plain not done well). Blaming it on his skin color is totally irrelevant (and I speak as someone who doesn't really like the ethnicity change for Wally that much).

[Gray Lensman]

Seeing as how the 'black Aqualad' in the comics looked and sounded very different from the animated version he was based on, I'd say you should wait for the actual televised appearance of Wally before passing any judgments.

[RikSunn]

To be fair here, most of this isn't new information.

As this story written the night of the panel notes, only the first quote from Berlanti in the story above actually happened last night. The other two quotes in this story are actually taken from the Fall 2014 Paley panel.

[Badou]

Which is totally ridiculous. And this is what pisses me off with some Wally fans.

What's wrong with the nu52 Wally has nothing to do with his race and everything to do with how he's being written (and it's not racially stereotypical; it's just plain not done well). Blaming it on his skin color is totally irrelevant (and I speak as someone who doesn't really like the ethnicity change for Wally that much).

I wouldn't say it is totally irrelevant. Since that was the crux of why they did everything to the character. They wanted him to be black to match the show. So they waited to introduce him in the comics until the show was closer to being finished which prevented the character from being able to be like a Dick or a Roy and retain some of his history. They didn't let Manapul and Buccellato introduce the character no matter how much they asked DC to let them.

Seeing as how the 'black Aqualad' in the comics looked and sounded very different from the animated version he was based on, I'd say you should wait for the actual televised appearance of Wally before passing any judgments.

To be fair the comic version they gave him a different name. Jackson Hyde I think instead of Kaldur.

[GoingPostal]

Is making Wally West a black kid really going to be the reason why people wont watch this show?

It's more about DC and Warner shitting all over Wally (and his fans) again and again at every occasion given.

We started with Wally not even existing anymore, then it was the deplorable communication from DC, then Wally's back as a black emo kid and they even put Linda with Barry. (nice fcking touch, really)

It's like they make everything they can for Wally's fans to hate the new guy.

Wally made his first apparition in 1959. Yeah, 56 years ago. He has been the Flash for like 20 years. He is the Flash for a whole generation of readers.

Of course many people are pissed.

[PretenderNX01]

Wally is already on the show, they just keep calling him Barry for some reason.

well his hair is closer to ginger than blond.

Seeing as how the 'black Aqualad' in the comics looked and sounded very different from the animated version he was based on, I'd say you should wait for the actual televised appearance of Wally before passing any judgments.

Yeah the comics tend to go for basic black stereotypes than a fuller character like the TV series usually accomplish.

I'd also add that red hair comes in bottles (which is how many famous white red-heads get it). Couple that with a fun-loving but not "chump" persona and maybe they'll get back some of those Wally fans that DC lost.

To be fair the comic version they gave him a different name. Jackson Hyde I think instead of Kaldur.

The comics layered in some adoption story so he was born Kaldur but raised by the Hydes and thus acted like what they thought an African American should.

[Gray Lensman]

It's more about DC and Warner shitting all over Wally (and his fans) again and again at every occasion given.

We started with Wally not even existing anymore, then it was the deplorable communication from DC, then Wally's back as a black emo kid and they even put Linda with Barry. (nice fcking touch, really)

It's like they make everything they can for Wally's fans to hate the new guy.

Wally made his first apparition in 1959. Yeah, 56 years ago. He has been the Flash for like 20 years. He is the Flash for a whole generation of readers.

Of course many people are pissed.

Well, I'm pretty sure DC is mired in the mentality that if a character wasn't wearing the suit in the Silver Age, then they have no business being in it. How many post Silver Age legacy characters were left after the nu52? Discounting those who are wearing costumes last worn by Golden Age characters, of course.

I can think of 2. Blue Beetle and the Question.

[MagnusRex]

I don't care that Wally will be black on the show. The West's are African-American so I figured he would. Plus when you look at that family, I figure that we'll get a pretty close representation, personality wise, of pre-52 Wally. In the comics though, I just don't know what the hell they are doing. Even if he was white, I still think they would have screwed up the character. They just said they made him black because the West's in the show was black. That says to me that character wise, what we see is what we were going to go no matter what race they made him.

[Hurricane D]

To be fair the comic version they gave him a different name. Jackson Hyde I think instead of Kaldur.

They need to bring him back. A good character going to waste.

[gwangung]

It's more about DC and Warner shitting all over Wally (and his fans) again and again at every occasion given.

Making him black is shtting all over him? I think you may want to restate that....(and again, that's what pissing me off

We started with Wally not even existing anymore, then it was the deplorable communication from DC, then Wally's back as a black emo kid and they even put Linda with Barry. (nice fcking touch, really)

This was quite possible in the pre-Crisis universe, you know. And not that uncommon in real life?

And you DO know that this is a different universe, right?

Again, pissing me off for being outraged over trivialities.

It's like they make everything they can for Wally's fans to hate the new guy.

Wally made his first apparition in 1959. Yeah, 56 years ago. He has been the Flash for like 20 years. He is the Flash for a whole generation of readers.

Of course many people are pissed.

Jay and Barry do have seniority, you know....

I think what people like you forget is that the unique story of Wally West as the Flash is his journey from novice to apprentice to master. That's the story of his 20 years as the Flash.

Nothing in the nu52 OR the TV series has changed that or will change that.

I think real fans of Wally would be more angry over the shoddy writing than over minor details like that (and fer sure, those are minor).

[GoingPostal]

Jay and Barry do have seniority, you know....

3 years actually for Barry, 56. And that's not the point.

Making him black is shtting all over him? I think you may want to restate that..

No, i really don't. Read again.

I see that you desperately want to make it a racial business but sadly for you, it's not.

[Mhenry86]

It's a weird chicken or the egg thing for me.

Was it the decision for the show to cast Iris & Joe on the show with black people so that when Wally is introduced he would be too, then his re-introduction in the comic would follow as a black kid instead of his prior redhead version.

Or was his new52 debut, I don't know what issue, now as a black kid for diversity or whatever their reason was, then when the show was being cast they were looking for black actors for synergy or something.

[Badou]

They need to bring him back. A good character going to waste.

They really should. He was a great character and I love how it expanded on the Black Manta character as well. Unfortunately Johns didn't see fit to include him and has deaged Manta's character so much that they would have to redo his history to include him.