The Flash’s executive producer, Andrew Kreisberg, talks about what we can expect from the new character, Elongated Man. Unfortunately, his storyline sounds super familiar.
This season, The Flash will introduce a character very familiar to DC Comics fans by bringing Elongated Man to the Arrowverse. Known in the comics as Ralph Dibny, the Elongated Man can do exactly what his name implies: stretch. Like Elastigirl, basically.
But according to The Flash‘s executive producer, Andrew Kreisberg, there’s a lot more to discover besides what Dibny can do. Calling it “one of the big mysteries of the season,” it seems like Elongated Man didn’t get his powers the same way everyone else did. Oh, we don’t immediately know how he got his powers? Hmm. Such creative storytelling.
More importantly, he won’t exactly be a team-player either. When it comes to hanging around Barry, Kreisberg explains:
"“There’s going to be a lot of conflict between them in terms of how to be a good guy. Ralph is hitting on everybody all the time. He’s brash and loud and doesn’t listen.”"
Does this sound familiar to anyone else? Anyone else smell a recycled storyline? No? Okay, fine, maybe it’s just me. But I just can’t deny the hellish flashbacks to Supergirl season 2 and the way Kreisberg peddled Mon-El to the masses. Apparently, both Mon-El and Elongated Man went to the same “brash and loud” academy. Or maybe, they skipped hero classes and decided to take “How to be a Tool 101” instead.
When it comes to franchise universes like The CW’s superhero shows or even something like Netflix’s Marvel shows, it’s fair to expect a certain level of overlap. But just like those Marvel shows, people get tired of the same thing after a while. Especially when the same thing happens to be another boring guy whose number one personality trait is being the most obnoxious person in the room. Does Kreisberg think that’s a charming character quirk? Didn’t anyone tell him we like our superheroes to be a little more upstanding than that?
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The Flash season 4 premieres on The CW on Oct. 10.