The Flash Just Introduced Its Crazy New Villain Savitar

Spoiler warning for anyone who hasn't seen tonight's episode of The Flash.

Over the past five episodes of The Flash, we have seen Central City deal with two versions of Rival Flash, Magenta, Mirror Master, The Top and others, courtesy of both Barry's timeline shenanigans and the mysterious Doctor Alchemy. But there hadn't been a whiff or a whisper about this season's other big bad Savitar, at least until the closing moments of tonight's episode, when the self-proclaimed "god of speed" made his presence known at the end of a particularly intense sequence. Check out an admittedly un-high-def shot of Savitar below.

If you're thinking that The Flash's version of Savitar looks like something out of the deleted scenes of a Transformers movie, I might share your opinion. After Zoom has some of us thinking that he was part monster last year, I half-expected The Flash to present Savitar as a normal human being before revealing him to be Season 3's big bad speedster. But no, they went with the "roaring, metallic beast with glowing blue eyes." Whatever's big enough to make Barry look like a pet, I guess.

For a refresher: as the climax for "Shade" was underway, Wally was baiting Doctor Alchemy while Joe, Flash and others were waiting to take the dream-distorting antagonist down. And after Alchemy lost his Philosopher's Stone, he warned of bad things coming, and that's when everything went haywire as Joe's officers started getting taken out left and right by an "invisible" source that, of course, turned out to be Savitar. The new villain puts Barry in a precarious position - which makes it seem like he's got some mass to him - and mentions that whole "god of speed" thing, which ties back to his comic origins.

Not much is happening visually that calls back to the source material, though. There aren't a whole lot of comparative points to make between the above Savitar and the one below, are there? I mean, beyond some of the jaw shape, and the fact that both have eyes and hands.

savitar comics flash

It was teased recently that we'd be getting our first look at Savitar soon, and it makes as much sense as anything else on The Flash that his introduction got the coveted last scene. How else would they keep us talking about the speedy villain for the next week? My main question here, which isn't even a big one, is "are we to understand that Savitar is so much faster than Barry because his colored trail is so much shorter than Barry's?"

The Flash airs Tuesday nights on The CW, with that epic crossover coming soon, and we're bound to meet up with at least one more speedster before it's all said and done. Head to our fall premiere schedule and midseason schedule to see what's coming to your TVs in quick fashion soon.

Nick Venable
Assistant Managing Editor

Nick is a Cajun Country native, and is often asked why he doesn't sound like that's the case. His love for his wife and daughters is almost equaled by his love of gasp-for-breath laughter and gasp-for-breath horror. A lifetime spent in the vicinity of a television screen led to his current dream job, as well as his knowledge of too many TV themes and ad jingles.