Cisco ramon

Barry Allen may be The Flash, but we all know who the real star of the show is

UK Broadcast Sky 1, TBC US Broadcast The CW, Tuesdays

Much as we loved the gritty, ultra-real world of Arrow, by the end of series two we had to admit the constant death and darkness felt a little oppressive. Then, spinning out of Barry Allen’s appearance in a mid-season episode came The Flash – the adorable, entertaining series in which everyone seemed to be having fun. And no one encapsulated this sheer joy more than geeky physicist Cisco Ramon.

From the off we recognise that here is One Of Us – not only is Cisco of the opinion that superpowers are an amazing, wonderful thing, but he’s also a proud sci-fi and film geek, is the character who gives the villains they face their cool comic-book names, and even designs and makes Barry’s Flash costume. (Aah, for his cosplay skills.) He’s us – well, the genius physicist version of us we’ve always dreamed of being, the person who will turn up for work in a Han

Shot First t-shirt and pepper his conversations with Indiana Jones quotes and Ghostbusters shout-outs.

Despite his cheeriness, life doesn’t always go smoothly for Cisco, with his first genuinely promising love interest turning out to be Hawkgirl, who leaves him for a Legends Of Tomorrow gig. And he originally wasn’t that thrilled with the promise of powers of his own, hiding them from the others and later worrying that developing his abilities will lead him down the path to the Dark Side. But eventually he takes on the Vibe mantle and we’re cheering him on.

With season three almost upon us, the Flashpoint universe version of Cisco promises to be a very different interpretation of the character – a smug, ostentatious tech billionaire. Let’s just hope we see our fun-loving Cisco back before too long. Rhian Drinkwater