The Flash: Cisco's Replacement Should Be Pied Piper | CBR - CBR - Comic Book Resources

With the recent news of Carlos Valdez's departure from The Flash after seven seasons, there will be a tech genius-sized hole within Team Flash. While Chester P. Runk has taken a stab at being the so-called "guy in the chair," he's yet to find his footing on the show. So, with all the new villains that the Scarlet Speedster will have to battle on a weekly basis, a more permanent replacement needs to be found, and there is only one person who comes to mind: Hartley Rathaway, aka Pied Piper.

Hartley has a colorful past with Team Flash and S.T.A.R. Labs, as he was a member of the laboratory team that built the infamous Particle Accelerator. Hartley was set to take over his family business, but, after coming out as gay, his family cut ties with him, forcing him to take a job at S.T.A.R. Labs under the tutelage of Harrison Wells, who, of course, was Eobard Thawne in disguise. Hartley was an aggressive employee, demanding the most out of his coworkers and disliking Cisco Ramon from his first day. His attitude led him to be hated amongst his peers, which made it hard for him to fit in. However, Hartley was clever enough to notice a flaw within the accelerator. He would try to prevent it from exploding, but his interference angered Wells, who promptly fired him.

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Obviously, Hartley was correct in his assumption and the Particle Accelerator did go on to explode. But to make matters worse, he was caught in the dark matter wave and given superhuman hearing, albeit with a cost. Hartley suffered immense pain and had to build special hearing aids to help deal with the pain. This led him to a life of crime, and after building supersonic gloves capable of dealing immense damage, he set his sites on Wells and S.T.A.R. Labs. But after a battle with the Flash that ended with Hartley's capture, escape and then eventual recapture, the villain shared a vital piece of information regarding the whereabouts of Ronnie Raymond. This forced Cisco to work with the supervillain to find his friend, and while this eventually led to Hartley being properly subdued and captured, it was only the start of his long history with Team Flash.

In Season 2, while struggling Zoom, Barry Allen went back in time to get help from Eobard Thawne in order to increase his speed. He found the best day travel to as the day of Hartley's attack, but unfortunately, his adventure in time brought with it time wraiths. Barry's trouble didn't end there, though, as he completely altered the timeline by interacting with his past self. Before going back to the future, Barry made sure Caitlin and Cisco had enough time to figure out how to take care of the wraith so that when he went back to the moment he left, they were ready to take it on. While their attempt failed, Hartley was there to help the team dispose of the wraith. As it turns out, in this new timeline, Hartley didn't continue his evil path and instead became an ally to Team Flash.

Despite this, the events of "Crisis on Infinite Earths" proved disastrous for the Pied Piper. While trying to stop him in an attack in the past, the Flash accidentally injured Hartley's partner, Roderick Smith. This caused the former villain to reignite his hate for the STAR Labs team -- at least until Season 6, Episode 18, "Pay The Piper." In that episode, Barry and Hartley work together again to help save Roderick, potentially setting the stage for Pied Piper to rejoin the side of the heroes.

That was the last time fans saw Pied Piper, but his growth from an arrogant and malicious ex-employee to the man worthy of becoming a hero is a testament to a series that tries to see the best in all of its villains. Bringing Hartley back as the new tech genius would be a great move for The CW series, and would make sense as Hartley has already proven to be an effective member of Team Flash, capable of helping with any situation. As sad as it will be to see Cisco leave S.T.A.R Labs for the last time, fans can take solace in the fact that there is at least one person in the Arrowverse capable of picking up his mantle.

The Flash stars Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, Jesse L. Martin, Danielle Panabaker, Carlos Valdes and Tom Cavanagh. New episodes air Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.

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Zeid Abughazaleh (121 Articles Published)

Zeid Abughazaleh is a late bloomer when it comes to comics as he did not get entranced into the world until the release of Iron Man in 2008. After which he was skyrocketed deep into the delves of comic-based entertainment, having an interest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Arrowverse, and the DC Animated Movies Universe. In his free time he loves to write scripts for short films, plays, and sitcoms. Online Handle: @jordanianrage (Twitter)