The Weather Wizard Has A History Before 'Flash'

The next episode of The Flash, "Out of Time," will feature new cast member Liam McIntyre as villain Mark Mardon, aka Weather Wizard, a supervillain who, of course, originated in DC Comics. As you may have guessed from his name, he's got the power to control the weather — and weather elements, like shooting lightening or using the moisture in the air to form ice. Even though his name suggests a total goof like Mr. Freeze, previews of The Flash suggest that they're taking him in a decidedly more modern direction than his classic yellow and green unitard. He looks more like a male model than a supervillain.

But there are a lot of things about the Weather Wizard that The Flash producers will have to brainstorm ways around, because the in the comics, he has an actual magic wand that can control the weather. That does not really fit with the atmosphere of The Flash so far, which has more of a soft sci-fi edge to it, with Harrison Wells' lab and all of the metahumans.

But The Flash has been planning on introducing the Weather Wizard since the pilot, which featured the death of his brother, Clyde Mardon. In the comics, Clyde's death — which is sometimes from something as innocent as a heart attack, sometimes a plot by Mark — is what prompts Mark to become a villain. Clyde discovers a way to harness the power of weather, but dies before he can use it. The Flash has already tweaked this by having Clyde become a proto-version of the Weather Wizard, who's a metahuman instead of scientist. Looks like somehow Mark will take over the same weather powers as his older brother, and will use them for revenge on Detective West, who shot Clyde when he threatened the police.

As with many DC Comics characters, the Weather Wizard went through a few big changes when the Crisis on Infinite Earths comic book events reinvented the origins of all of their heroes and villains. In one of those reinventions, Mark becomes Marco and his brother Clyde, Claudio, as their characters are now Latino and involved in organized crime, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. But The Flash will be using one post-Crisis change. In the comics, after a "mental block" is removed the Weather Wizard doesn't need to use his wand any longer, because he gets the ability to use his weather controlling powers mentally. Looks like The Flash's Mark Mardon is already ahead of the comics version.

And Mardon has always been a collaborative villain in his comics storylines. He's been a part of the Rouges, a crew of anti-Flash villains, and the Secret Society of Super-Villains. So Barry had better not underestimate the Weather Wizard, or he may come to regret it.

Image: Dean Buscher/The CW