Spoiler warning for Rogues #3
Despite their often light-hearted depictions, the Flash's iconic Rogues just turned against each other in a series of brutal and dark betrayals. The Rogues have been stalwart villains in the Flash family of books and across the DC Universe, but they've also been known for their willingness to reform and work with the Flash instead of against him. Now, in an imagined future created for the Rogues mini-series published in the Black Label imprint, DC shows its readers what would happen if these goofy villains were just as brutal as villains ought to be.
The Rogues have Silver Age origins, where they banded together for petty robberies and to battle Barry Allen's Flash. The roster occasionally changes, but generally their spirit and camaraderie remains the same: with brightly colored costumes, they tend to stick to robberies and only kill when necessary. In the Rogues series from DC Comics, the team, led by Captain Cold, has banded together for one last heist in Gorilla City. Much of the team has retired by choice or necessity, but Cold has convinced them the heist—Gorilla City has a rumored vault of gold—will be worth coming out of retirement. He has collected a team of classic and second-generation Rogues for the job, including Golden Glider, Magenta, and the second Trickster and Mirror Master.
The heist begins in earnest as of Rogues #3 by Joshua Williamson, Leomacs, Jason Wordie, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, wherein the Rogues reach the rumored vault and find a double splash page's worth of gold bars. That's when things begin to go wrong. Captain Cold pushes Magenta to the absolute limit of her power, causing her death. Immediately afterwards, as the team attempts to escape the guards, a gorilla guard throttles Mirror Master—who tries to stop Cold and help Magenta—and breaks his neck. Most brutally, Golden Glider slits the Trickster's throat with the blade of her skate when she discovers he's kidnapped a baby gorilla—who just so happens to be the child of Gorilla Grodd himself.
One could argue that the deaths of Magenta and Mirror Master were not, technically, Captain Cold's fault, but Golden Glider without a doubt murders the Trickster, stretching the "only kill when necessary" Rogues rule to its furthest limit. Interestingly, Lisa Snart is the Rogue who is the "most reformed" of this particular group, working as a social worker in this new future. For her to turn against the Trickster is a true mark of how brutal things can get when the Rogues turn against each other, despite their claims to be more like family than a team of powered criminals. Of course, one of the thrills of DC's Black Label line is seeing creators' interpretations of these characters when divorced from true DC canon. Because of that freedom, fans can almost certainly expect more carnage in the next issue of Rogues.
The Rogues might sometimes be like family to each other, but that means their betrayals are far more brutal—and, in this case, bloody. The team has lost three of their own, almost all to each other's hands. What this means for the success of their heist—as well as their freedom and their familial bond—is yet to be seen, but the final issue of this noir-like Black Label series will certainly contain even more twists for the Flash's Rogues.
Check out Rogues #3 available now from DC Comics!
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