THE FLASH Casts Tony Curran as Despero for Five-Part Event "Armageddon"

 
Things are about to get desperate in Central City.

Deadline has word that the CW series The Flash has cast Tony Curran as classic DC Comics supervillain Despero for the show's upcoming Season 8.

According to the article, Despero is described as "a powerful and intelligent alien possessing incredible telepathic powers who left his homeworld—Kalanor—under mysterious circumstances. Now he’s facing a deadly mission on Earth, one whose outcome will decide the fate of humankind and put him on a collision course with Team Flash."

Yesterday, Deadline reported that Season 8 will begin with a special five-part event called "Armageddon", which will involve "a powerful alien threat arrives on Earth under mysterious circumstances and Barry (Grant Gustin), Iris (Candice Patton) and the rest of Team Flash are pushed to their limits in a desperate battle to save the world. But with time running out, and the fate of humanity at stake, Flash and his companions will also need to enlist the help of some old friends if the forces of good are to prevail."

"Armageddon" will feature numerous guest appearances from some of the CW Arrowverse's heroes and villains including Javicia Leslie as Batwoman, Brandon Routh as The Atom, Cress Williams as Black Lightning, Chyler Leigh as Sentinel, Kat McNamara as Mia Queen, and Osric Chau as Ryan Choi. Tom Cavanagh and Neal McDonough will return as enemies Eobard Thawne/Reverse-Flash and Damien Darhk, respectively.

Curran, 51, is a Scottish actor best known as Vincent van Gogh in the Doctor Who episodes "Vincent and the Doctor" and "The Pandorica Opens", Datak Tarr on the Syfy series Defiance, and Rodney Skinner (The Invisible Man) in the movie The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. His other films include Gladiator, Blade II, Underworld: Evolution, X-Men: First Class, and Thor: The Dark World, while his other TV appearances include episodes of Boardwalk Empire, Daredevil, Elementary, Sons of Anarchy, and Ray Donovan.

Created in 1960 by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky, Despero first appeared in Justice League of America (vol.1) #1 as a tyrant from the planet Kalanor who possessed a genius intellect and a third eye on his forehead capable of mind control, illusions, telekinesis, and telepathy. He soon enslaved the Justice League with his mental abilities. The Flash was stopped by escaping citizens of Kalanor and offered to help them against Despero. Despero forced the Flash into playing a chess-like game with the stakes being the fate of his friends, but used his hypnotic powers to trick the Flash into losing. Snapper Carr, who was watching in the shadows, was able to foil Despero's plot by freeing the League by pretending to be hypnotized. Despero was then imprisoned for his crimes.

After several additional encounters with the Justice League, Despero recreated himself in the Flames of Py'tar, a mystical source of power that granted him massive superhuman strength, durability, speed, reflexes and the ability to alter his biomass from human-sized to massive. Returning to Earth to exact revenge on the League with his newfound powers, Despero quickly defeated the League, destroying the Justice League Satellite, and captured Batman and Vixen. Batman learned the source of Despero's powers, escaped from his restraints, and freed Vixen. Vixen brought the League back for another battle in which Gypsy distracted Despero with an illusion of being incinerated by a sun. Though Despero knew it was an illusion, the distraction gave Vibe time to destroy the Flames of Py'tar, removing Despero's energy source and causing Despero to consume himself.

Despero eventually reformed, and targeted the former Justice League member Gypsy. After murdering Gypsy's parents, Despero was about to kill her when the Martian Manhunter intervened. The villain quickly defeated the Manhunter, although fellow Justice League member Guy Gardner arrived and hurled Despero away. Despero attacked the League at their headquarters, and killed the comatose Steel (on life support for injuries sustained during a battle against the androids of Professor Ivo). When Despero was about to murder the Blue Beetle, the Martian Manhunter bestowed upon him the gift of "Mayavanna", a sacred Martian rite that provides the subject with a reality in which they obtain their desires. Despero saw himself killing the entire League and destroying the world, and was immediately at peace.

Curran will be the first actor to portray Despero in live-action, although the character has appeared in various animated projects, including Justice League (voiced by Keith David), Batman: The Brave and the Bold (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson), Young Justice: Invasion, and Superman/Batman: Public Enemies.

The Flash returns to The CW for Season 8 with the "Armageddon" event on November 16, 2021.