The Flash Fixes Comics Villain Chillblaine By Not Copying Captain Cold - Screen Rant

The Flash introduces DC Comics' Chillblaine, who managed to become a character on his own by not copying the late Leonard Snart, a.k.a. Captain Cold. Ever since Legends of Tomorrow season 1 killed off Captain Cold, The Flash has had to use Wentworth Miller's DC character in other ways. From using a past version of Snart to Earth-X's Citizen Cold, the Arrowverse will never be able to use the original Captain Cold unless they undo his death. Since that's unlikely to happen, The Flash is moving on by introducing a new ice villain into the Arrowverse from the DC Universe. In The Flash season 7, episode 7, "Growing Pains," the DC drama introduced Jon Cor as Mark Blaine, a.k.a. Chillblaine, a minor enemy in Flash's mythology.

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While The Flash's Chillblaine could have easily come off as a Captain Cold clone or ripoff, the Arrowverse instead reinvented Mark to stand as a unique character. In the comics, Chillblaine had a history with Snart by using his cold technology while being in a romantic relationship with Captain Cold's sister, Golden Glider. "Growing Pains," however, establishes Mark as a cryogenicist who is obsessed with Killer Frost's ice abilities. By tricking Killer Frost, Mark used a neurogenic scanner to copy her powers for his ice gauntlets to work, giving Chillblaine a new origin story in how he operates as a cold villain. The Flash avoids making Chillblaine a Snart clone by going about it this way, even though Mark's evidently a soft replacement for Captain Cold.

The benefit of Chillblaine being a more diminutive villain in the books is that it gives The Flash free rein to create a new take on him. There have been multiple Chillblaines that have had brief runs throughout The Flash comics. The Arrowverse could have easily turned Mark into a Captain Cold 2.0, which wouldn't have been interesting. Captain Cold is a unique character that doesn't benefit from having duplicates or copycats. Putting a cold gun in someone's hands doesn't make them qualified to carry Snart's title. That's why The Flash did the right thing by reinventing Chillblaine and instead have him connected to Killer Frost. Mark still gets to be an ice villain while also having his standalone mythology.

Mark's comment to Killer Frost about not being a thief helps separate him from Snart, even though he had to steal back his creation from Ivo Labs. The Flash has introduced most of The Rogues throughout its long run but never officially had them teaming up. Except for a few small alliances, the Arrowverse series has never seen all of them together at the same time. Since Heatwave went over to Legends of Tomorrow, he's radically changed, meaning it's unlikely that The Rogues will ever have a traditional team up on The Flash. At this point, it's more realistic that The Flash franchise will give fans a chance to a proper get-together of The Rogues in the DCEU after Ezra Miller's first installment.

That's why it works for The Flash season 7 to use Chillblaine as a new frosty villain for Team Flash to fight. One of the strengths that began in The Flash season 6 is how the writers bring in some less famous foes with new spins on them. From Bloodwork, Mirror Mistress (a gender-swapped version of the second Mirror Master), Psych, to Chillblaine, it's good to see The Flash still creating new threats by reimagining some of the hero's lesser-known baddies. With Chillblaine's introduction on The Flash, the series managed to avoid making the Arrowverse iteration of Mark a knock-off version of Captain Cold and established him as a new threat in Central City.

NEXT: The Flash Season 7 Teases Iris West Pregnancy Ahead Of Bart Allen’s Debut

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About The Author

Andy Behbakht (645 Articles Published)

Andy has covered the world of entertainment journalism since 2010, mostly superheroes and comic book media. In addition to his work as a reporter, Andy co-hosts The Flash Podcast, Titans Podcast while running the entire DC TV Podcasts network. He is also the founder/editor-in-chief of The Marvel Report since Fall 2015.