Another surprise Firestorm-related casting from The Flash! According to Russ Burlingame over on ComicBook.com, Demore Barnes has been cast as Henry Hewitt, better known as the Firestorm villain Tokamak, on The Flash! From Russ’ article,
The CW describes the character as “a charming, but cocky scientist who was affected by the same Particle Accelerator explosion that created the Flash. When Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker) recruits him to join the team at S.T.A.R. Labs, Hewitt jumps at the opportunity to fulfill his destiny as a powerful meta-human.”
Demore Barnes is a Canadian film and television actor probably best known for his role in the television shows, The Unit and 12 Monkeys.
A “tokamak” is a Russian-created fusion reactor device. CW’s description above for Hewitt is pretty far from his original comic book persona. See his entry below from Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe vol 24, which recaps his appearances in 1983.
After that adventure ended in Fury of Firestorm Annual #1 (1983), Tokamak wasn’t seen for about 20 years. In 2006 during the Jason Rusch Firestorm: The Nuclear Man series, Tokamak (now spelled Tokomak) was revealed to have survived by creating a series of clones of himself in which he merged with them to prolong a terminal disease as the result from his powers. He took the identity of Victor Hewitt in order to inherit his company, and bedeviled the recent Firestorm Jason Rusch from behind the scenes while conspiring to create nuclear meltdowns across the Earth to empower himself. He was ultimately stopped by Firestorm, Firehawk, Mikhail Arkadin, and Gehenna, and was finally killed when Tokamak was separated from his clone by Firestorm. Image below from Firestorm: The Nuclear Man #30 (Oct. 2006)
Some folks on the interwebs have questioned adding Tokamak, rather than one of Firestorm’s better known rogues. My response is that they’ve already added: Killer Frost, Multiplex, and Plastique. In the realm of notable Firestorm foes, that leaves Hyena, Typhoon, Black Bison, and Tokamak. I’d argue that Hyena would be too redundant on The Flash as an animal foe after introducing Gorilla Grodd. Typhoon would be too redundant on The Flash after introducing Weather Wizard. That leaves Black Bison, which would be really cool, but walks that dangerous line of reinforcing stereotypes. Therefore, I feel Tokamak is a pretty good choice for Firestorm foes. Besides, he was probably chosen because it fit their story needs.
Congratulations to Demore Barnes for landing a role on The Flash! And welcome to the Nuclear Family!
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