First look at Grant Gustin as The Flash a.k.a. Barry Allen in CW’s Arrow, plus a pilot update

Grant Gustin will soon make his first appearance on CW’s Arrow as Barry Allen a.k.a. The Flash in episode’s 8 and 9 of the second season, but he’s no longer going to be doing a “back-door pilot” as was originally planned. In addition to these first photos of Gustin as the speedy superhero (see below) in his alter ego of Barry Allen, we also have word that rather than introduce a fully-costumed Flash in episode 20 of Arrow, producers will instead create a stand-alone pilot for the character. The reason for this shift is both for budget and reception, according to Deadline:

Filming a stand-alone Flash pilot would allow the creators to better flesh out the superhero’s story and his world on a bigger budget, as pilot budgets are significantly higher than episodic ones. While no longer a full-blown spinoff, The Flash still will be tethered to the Arrow universe since the the character (as Barry Allen) will first be introduced there.

Here’s the character synopsis for Barry Allen on Arrow:

Barry Allen (Gustin) is a Central City assistant police forensics investigator who arrives in Starling to look into a series of unexplained robberies that may have a connection to a tragedy in his past.

There’s been a lot of rumbling about a feature film version of THE FLASH as well, but it’s mostly just that: rumbling. Rumors range from high to low in that department, with his possible introduction in BATMAN VS SUPERMAN to the potential of Gustin portraying the character on the big and small screen have floundered about the interwebs, but nothing is confirmed in that department. For now, it seems that the small screen Flash is the only thing on the race track.

CW’s Arrow is on Wednesdays at 8/7c.