Emily Kinney Updates A Classic 'Flash' Character

Tuesday's episode of The Flash will bring a new metahuman to Central City, who will arrive with a new makeover too. Emily Kinney from The Walking Dead will play Brie Larvan, who from the promo appears to be a bee whisperer. Certainly, there's more to her than just that, right? Thankfully, the DC Comics villain has a crazy superpower and a bone to pick with someone else stopping by Central City — The Atom.

Brie Larvan is both a new and old character for The Flash. She's new, because there's never been a character named Brie Larvan on the show or in the comics before. She's also old, because Bris is actually just a slightly version of a character already established in The Flash comics: Bertram Larvan. Switching up gender roles to give The Walking Dead's Kinney an awesome role? I'm definitely on board for this comic revision.

In the comics Larvan is — what else? — a genius who uses his intelligence for evil. He first starts off creating tiny insect robots to fight off real live insects, but honestly, that doesn't really sound like an invention the world has been dying for. No one in the comics thought so either, and Bertram could never get funding for his tiny bugs. So, he stole money instead. Then, he kept stealing money. That's when he deserted the idea of using his tiny bugs for good, and used them for his own means instead. Along the way he took a very un-Cisco nickname, "The Bug-Eyed Bandit." I feel like Cisco would call that moniker completely unoriginal.

Now, who better to fight off an army of tiny robotic insects than the shrinking man, Ray Palmer? Ray went up against Larvan many times in the comics, because you need someone small to fight something small. At one point, Larvan tries to use an amnesiac gas on Ray, but it backfires and instead wipes all of Larvan's own memories instead. The best part is, that happens multiple times throughout Larvan's career as a criminal. Kind of reminiscent of a true bug, huh?

It's not surprising at all that this new Larvan, Brie, is coming to Central City the same time that Roy and Felicity make a special guest appearance (not that I'd ever turn away a Flash/Arrow crossover opportunity). While Brie isn't wearing the purple suit, giant wings, and terrifying bug goggles that Bertram once did, she's at least rocking a bug-inspired look. Her coat is totally inspired by the scales of a bug, and her glasses are spot-on (also, where can I get those?). I can't wait to see what else Kinney brings to this awesome new take on The Bug-Eyed Bandit.

Image: Cate Cameron/The CW