The Flash: Every Main Villain - Ranked

Eight seasons, seven crossovers and hundreds of episodes later, the Flash shows no signs of slowing down. The CW's take on the Scarlet Speedster helped flesh out the Arrowverse to the point that we currently know it as and brought many of DC's characters, concepts and worlds to the silver screen.

Although the show has seen (much) better days, it intends to expand Arrowverse lore with its upcoming eight season, and this will naturally lead to the introduction of a new villain(s) that will threaten Team Flash and Central City.

The Flash's Rogues gallery is iconic due to each Rogue's fleshed-out personalities, campy and/or terrifying abilities and the specific manner in which they pose a threat to the hero, his loved ones and Central City as a whole.

The CW series initially thrived on the monster-of-the-week format before moving towards a more serialized means of storytelling. This enabled more obscure villains to act as (sometimes entertaining) filler before the Big Bad's plan and actions truly take shape.

The show's earlier Big Bads were more intimidating screen presences than their successors but they all met their antagonistic requirements as well as the season allowed it. This begs the question, who among the Flash Big Bads ranks highest in Central City? Note that this list will only have each season's primary antagonist, or in the case of seasons 6 and 7, the primary antagonists of those seasons' respective arcs.

Season five marked the show's official descent into mediocrity. This was most notable in its handling of its primary antagonist, the murderous Cicada. This entry will focus on the Orlin Dwyer (Chris Klein) incarnation as other versions did not receive the same amount of attention during the season's run.

Dwyer and his niece Grace were injured during Team Flash's intervention in the Enlightenment, the Thinker's scheme to return Earth to the Dark Ages. Distraught, Dwyer had his grief turned into rage and metahuman bigotry once he learned of the true cause of the disaster that wounded Grace.

A piece of debris from the Enlightenment empowered Dwyer, giving him superhuman physical attributes, flight and the ability to detect and negate the abilities of metahumans. Newly empowered, he began a metahuman killing spree that ended after Team Flash cured him and his subsequent death at the hands of a future version of Grace.

Klein was unfortunately miscast for the role as he was unable to bring the requisite weight to the role, and some of his acting choices were very questionable (his "Cicada" voice was unintentionally hilarious). Furthermore, Cicada did not feel like the kind of villain that would warrant season long focus