Spoilers The Flash - Season 3

[Kahless the Unforgettable]

So yeah, creating a "big bad" for Flash each season is pretty much always going to have to deal with the speed force in some way as in the absence of a Lex Luthor type (i.e. someone he can't come at directly) the small time metas and thugs with advanced toys are only ever going to be a temporary nuance.

No, there's multiple ways to deal with a speedster that don't require other speedsters. People who can manipulate time, create illusions, freeze things (and not lamely like Cold), control minds, control friction, and drain others are all examples of effective superpowers against one, and all off the top of my head.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Which will only work once, if you sneak in and get him by surprise, unless he's in a TV show where Barry is an idiot.

Two characters that come to mind with friction based powers are both Marvel.

Slyde from Spider-Man comics, who has a zero friction suit, and Friction from DP7 who made surfaces slippery or gritty.

Increase friction while Barry is running and he'll pull both legs out of his sockets, and if you reduce friction, he'll look like Bambi on ice in that movie about Bambi.

 

[sojourner]

The need to use the Flash villian Kilg%re. He'd be a nice "change of pace" from all the speedsters.

 

[matthunter]

A super-smart (or even regular smart, as long as they're smarter than Barry and co) enemy is always a good bet. In fact, Thawne was more dangerous and menacing when he was playing chessmaster than when he was using his speed.

Snart managed to pull off his objectives against the Flash in S1 and his cold gun wasn't the reason why. Piper would've killed Barry if Thawne (as Wells) hadn't outsmarted him.

And, of course, the Trickster's schtick is to distract the Flash while he does whatever he's up to... again, without Thawne or Harry, the Flash would've failed on both occasions (and died on the second, if not the first).

 

[dahj]

Barry's intellect is lagging behind his speed.
But don't worry, he gets better, Thawne said he's not this stupid in the future.

 

[Gaith]

Snart managed to pull off his objectives against the Flash in S1 and his cold gun wasn't the reason why.

Yeah, and it was freakin' ridiculous. As I said, what works for the odd ep here and there doesn't necessarily work for a Big Bad.

 

[JD]

No, there's multiple ways to deal with a speedster that don't require other speedsters. People who can manipulate time, create illusions, freeze things (and not lamely like Cold), control minds, control friction, and drain others are all examples of effective superpowers against one, and all off the top of my head.

Ever since I read the first arc of the New 52 series I've been hoping they'd do Mob Rule as a big bad. Since most of them (him?) wear masks they wouldn't even have to do that much duplication or face replacement.

 

[Finn]

How about metas who are elderly or children?

I could see an elderly speedster use her speed to win BINGO in only four moves every week. The kid would tie every shoelace to the legs of the desk or whatever in the entire school building within seconds

 

[Snaploud]

NINJA!

The Turtle.

http://arrow.wikia.com/wiki/Russell_Glosson

Thawn killed him.

No, Earth 2 Harrison Wells (Harry) killed him. He wanted a brain sample so that he could create a weapon against Zoom (who was holding his daughter hostage).

 

[shivkala]

The need to use the Flash villian Kilg%re. He'd be a nice "change of pace" from all the speedsters.

Kilg%re would be good, especially after the invasion. The "Flarrow" Kilg%re could have been left behind by the Dominators to infiltrate our computer systems.

 

[Thestral]

Which was stupid, because a waste of a potentially potent adversary down the line just to give Harry some edginess.

 

[Reverend]

There's no rule that says you can't have two characters with similar powers. Case in point: all the damn speedsers! What are we up to now? Six? Seven including CG McPointyface?

So I'm sure there could be another inertia cancelling meta out there and an obscure one-shot character name from the 70's they can filch.
Are there any with gravity control? I feel like that could be another useful one against speedsters. Precognition might also work as a counter power to speed. As would phasing/density shifting like J'onn and I think the animated incarnation of Jinx was given probability manipulation akin to Scarlet Witch in the comics, which could also be a challenge. Energy absorption would be another one, either figurative like Parasite's or more literal like Bishop & Sebastian Shaw's.
Indeed, can you imagine what someone with Shaw's power could do if hit by a speedster? That's a *lot* of kinetic energy.

 

[Phoenix219]

Barry, Thawne, Zoom, Jessie, Wally, Garrick, Savitar... and the Rival makes EIGHT!

 

[Christopher]

Barry, Thawne, Zoom, Jessie, Wally, Garrick, Savitar... and the Rival makes EIGHT!

Not to mention the Flash of Earth-19, who's been mentioned by HR -- and who might be appearing in a future episode.

Also, Savitar might be future Barry, so I'm not sure he counts as a separate speedster.

 

[Snaploud]

We could add-in the Time Wraiths to the speedsters list.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Velocity was nifty.

Saw her in something else recently.

Oh! She was Hitler's great grand daughter on Supernatural.\

Breeding will tell.

 

[dahj]

^^
Trajectory.

 

[Reverend]

You know with all the time travel hijinks it's only a matter of time before Impulse shows up. Unless they're saving him for 'Legends of Tomorrow'?

 

[dahj]

Unless they're saving him for 'Legends of Tomorrow'?

Nah, Legends only use other shows' reject characters.

 

[matthunter]

You know with all the time travel hijinks it's only a matter of time before Impulse shows up. Unless they're saving him for 'Legends of Tomorrow'?

Actually, given the show's propensity for adapting stuff (like Pied Piper being a genius rather than a fruitloop, Atom Smasher and Dr. Light being villains, etc) I was kinda thinking they might go with Impulse as Wally's eventual codename, since Kid Flash does sound kinda dorky (and hell he's not actually that much younger than Barry in this series) - it also fits his "rush in without thinking" persona.