THE FLASH Casts Aaron Douglas as The Turtle

Here's hoping we don't find out The Turtle is actually a Cylon.

Entertainment Weekly revealed late yesterday that The CW series The Flash has cast Aaron Douglas as DC Comics supervillain The Turtle.  The character will debut in the midseason premiere "Potential Energy" and is described as a "meta-human who can slow time itself."

"In a surprisingly funny twist, Cisco [Carlos Valdes] has actually been hunting The Turtle the entire series," said executive producer Andrew Kreisberg.  "To Barry’s surprise, everybody knows about Cisco’s hunt for the great white whale, which is The Turtle.  He’s the only one who didn’t know about it.  We love the idea that there was a villain out there that they knew about, but they just haven’t bothered to tell the audience about yet.  All Barry wants to do is get faster, because if he can get faster, he can take on Zoom.  He’s going up against a villain who is literally slowing him down.  This is one of our best episodes coming back that we’ve ever done.  It feels big and emotional."

Douglas, 44, is best known as Chief Galen Tyrol on the Sci Fi Channel's remake of Battlestar Galactica.  His other television appearances include iZombie, The Strain, Falling Skies, Hemlock Grove, Flashpoint, Eureka, Smallville, Reaper, Bionic Woman (2007), The Dead Zone, Andromeda, The Outer Limits (2002), Stargate SG-1, and Dark Angel.

Created in 1945 by Gardner Fox and Martin Naydel, the Turtle first appeared in All-Flash #21 as an enemy of the original Flash, Jay Garrick.  The Turtle was a slow-talking, slow moving criminal who decided that, ironically, moving slowly was the way to cope with the Flash's super-speed.  The Turtle believed that the Flash was unable to slow down, turn or stop quickly once he was running at super-speed.  He tried to take advantage of this presumed liability in committing his crimes.  Nonetheless, the Flash succeeded in capturing the Turtle.  Later, the Turtle adopted a turtle-like costume which he wore when battling the Flash.

In 1956's Showcase #4, the first appearance of the second Flash, Barry Allen, also feautred the debut of the second Turtle.  This criminal originally dressed normally and called himself the Turtle Man.  He based his slowness trademark in committing crimes on his own slow movements and speech.  Once, he robbed a bank in Central City and people searched outside the bank for him, assuming he had fled the scene.  He hid inside the bank and slowly made his escape once the coast was clear.  However, on this same occasion, he had the misfortune of being captured by the Flash.

After being paroled from jail, the Turtle Man inherited a fortune and used it to devise and construct advanced technology, which he employed in subsequent crimes.  He changed his alias to the Turtle, donning a costume resembling a turtle shell, stealing only for the excitement with the Flash as his opponent.

The first Turtle eventually returned with the second Turtle as his ally in an attempt to take over Keystone City from underground.  A lab accident critically injured the second Turtle, appearing to paralyze him.  Wally West, the third Flash, and his allies uncovered the Turtles' underground headquarters, which resulted in a battle that destroyed the headquarters.  The first Turtle was seemingly killed, while the second Turtle was taken into custody.

The Flash returns to The CW on Tuesday, January 19th at 8 p.m. EST.