On The CW's The Flash, Grant Gustin's Barry Allen has had his hands full with Zoom lately. This means that a lot of the minor villains in the DC Comics pantheon have had to take a backseat while Zoom reigned supreme. Sure, last week's episode "Back to Normal" featured the curious character of Griffin Grey (Haig Sutherland), who was quite a bit different from his comic book namesake. This week's episode, however, features a return to crazy costumed villainy thanks to the arrival of the titular antagonist, Rupture.
If you'd rather not be spoiled by any potential reveals on this episode of The Flash, it's probably best to stop reading now. I aim to give you some background on the relatively obscure character and his time wreaking havoc in the comics, but invariably some of those moments will be translated onto the small screen. My rundown of Rupture will begin after the trailer for the episode, seen below.
Get a glimpse of Rupture in this preview for The Flash:
Rupture
A relatively new addition to the DC Comics universe, Armando Ramone was introduced in "Justice League of America" #233 in December of 1984. This New Earth character once led a street gang in Detroit, but when his brother Paco (the JLA's hero, Vibe) died, Armando used his similar powers to become the heroic Reverb, and later, Hardline. However, on the Prime Earth side of things, Armando Ramon (note the loss of the 'e') is brothers with Francisco (Vibe) and Dante. This version's first appearance showed up much more recently in the April 2013 edition of "Justice League of America's Vibe" #1, a part of The New 52. Armando didn't last long; he was killed in a flashback sequence by a Parademon that had arrived as an early part of Darkseid's invasion of Earth. Since this version is fairly new, little of his history is known, other than that he wields a wicked scythe and is known as the Hound of Mordeth. Things get crazier in the comics from here on out.
In an attempt to simplify things on The Flash, Rupture is actually Dante Ramon from Earth-2. Remember that Cisco (Carlos Valdes) has a brother named Dante (Nicholas Gonzalez), and on Earth-2, Cisco's doppelganger is the villainous (and now deceased) Reverb. It seems that perhaps Earth-2 Dante is a tad miffed at the death of his brother, though that technically came at the hands of Zoom himself. When Zoom travels back to Earth-1 in this episode, it looks like Rupture is coming with him looking to settle the score.
Valdes confirmed that Rupture will be Zoom's henchman on the show (via TV Line):
Rupture has a badass mask, and this crazy-ass scythe that can basically tear through anything and set things on fire. [Laughs] He’s actually a really, really formidable opponent. He’s one of Zoom’s most powerful henchmen, so it’s not going to be easy to bring an end to him.
Here's what Valdes had to say about Cisco's reaction to seeing Rupture:
There’s a lot of confusion, and a lot of concern. The last time we left Cisco and Dante (played by Nicholas Gonzalez), Cisco had to make the choice to give up Barry’s identity to save his brother’s life, and he did that because family and his brother are so important to him. He will always make that choice, deep in his heart. Now, you’d think that traumatic circumstance would have brought them together, but it actually didn’t; in [this episode], their relationship is more hostile than ever, because there is a lot of resentment about what happened. That hostility continues, but the onset of Rupture kind of complicates things and forces Cisco to make the relationship come together.
Does Rupture's formidable power mean that this villain might actually stick around for more than one episode? Will Barry even be able to take the supervillain(s) on now that his powers have been nullified? Maybe Harry's plan to trigger another particle accelerator explosion will help The Flash, but it could also backfire and kill him (not likely) or even create more meta-humans (likely). We'll find out exactly how this all shakes out on the next episode of The Flash, "Rupture."
