Savitar, the self-declared ‘god of speed,’ made [his/its?] debut last night during The Flash Season 3 episode 6, “Shades.” Team Flash thought they were about to capture Alchemy, until Barry noticed blue streaks bouncing around the room. Savitar was running so fast, nobody else but Barry could even see him.
“You have no idea what’s about to begin,” Alchemy warned Barry. That’s when Savitar starts cracking necks. Wally steps toward a crystal Alchemy left behind and promptly transforms into a cocoon, almost like Marvel’s inhumans do during Terrigenesis. Savitar finally reveals himself, hoisting Barry up against the wall. He doesn’t look like Zoom, Reverse-Flash, The Rival or any other speedster we’ve seen yet on The Flash . He’s got transformer armor, neon blue eyes and abilities that took even Barry by surprise.
This actually wasn’t the first time we saw Savitar. His lightning streak entered Iron Heights Prison and killed The Rival. At this point, Savitar seems like Alchemy’s puppet, but it could be the other way around. An expert when it comes to the speed force, Savitar lead a cult in the comics, which we could be mistaking for Alchemy’s followers on the show. Moving forward, it will be interesting to see if Savitar is a literal god of the speed force, or he’s just a metahuman in a transformer suit. Either way, he knows more about velocity and the speedforce than anyone Barry has ever encountered, more so than Zoom and Reverse-Flash.
In the comics, Savitar was a real person who believed his speed was a divine gift. While his name is not known, he was an Eastern Bloc military pilot who was struck by lightning while testing out a supersonic plane. He gained his power after the original Flash, Jay Garrick’s retirement, but before Barry Allen assumed the role as the fastest man alive. Savitar sought to learn everything he could about the speedforce, studying the speedsters before him, including Max Mercury. A battle between the two resulted in them both traveling forward in time, Savitar ending up much further ahead than Mercury. During his quest for more knowledge, he came across more speedsters like The Flash, Jesse Quick and Impulse, but Wally West was eventually the one to defeat him, trapping him within the speed force. Savitar emerged from the speed force in The Flash Rebirth . Barry goes after him, and turns him to dust with a single touch after Professor Zoom alters the speed force.
While nobody’s complaining about Savitar not being a bare-chested man with long brown locks and a gold mask like he was in the comics, this TV version of his costume may not be a coincidence either. His armor kind of looks like a future Black Racer costume, cosmic armor with the same metallic look and full face mask. The only piece that’s missing are his cosmic skis, which understandably, could be left out of a TV adaptation. Why does a speedster need skis anyways? The point being, CW could be giving a nice nod to Black Racer, considering Savitar doesn’t have much of a history in the comics. It’s possible maybe The Flash couldn’t get rights to Black Racer, and decided to reinvent Savitar instead.
Black Racer is essentially a god of death who hunts those affiliated with the speed force, which could be Savitar's agenda too. New gods are collected by the Racer upon their death. He can kill someone with a single touch--exactly what we saw Savitar do to the SWAT agents in Alchemy’s lair, and to the Rival in his prison cell at Iron Heights. At one point in the comics, Wally West and Barry Allen believed Black Racer and Black Flash (whom we speculate is now Zoom) were one in the same.
It’s important to remember Marc Guggenheim did say Alchemy and Savitar are direct results of Flashpoint. While I’m personally hoping the identity of Savitar is someone new, there’s always the chance it could be Zoom reincarnated. Maybe because of Flashpoint, Zoom was able to escape from the speed force where Barry trapped him. It could also explain the extensive armor -- Zoom face and skin disintegrated after his fateful encounter with Barry and the time wraiths last season. He’s probably not looking too good if he made it out alive. Also, when you’re traveling at the speed of light, cosmic armor is necessary.
Fans were thinking Wally West could actually be Savitar, but considering he was in that red cocoon when Savitar appears means that’s probably not the case. Julian Dorn villain speculation also seem to be winding down. Any other theories? Let us know in the comments below!
The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.
