After making his debut on Arrow last year, Grant Gustin will suit up as The Flash in an upcoming pilot from The CW. The actor first appeared as Barry Allen in a two-parter which saw him gain his powers at the conclusion of that story, and it was recently revealed that plans to use an upcoming episode of Arrow as a backdoor pilot for the character had been scrapped in preference of The Flash getting his own solo debut outing.

While those working on the series promised that the iconic DC superhero would appear in his classic superhero costume, many fans were sceptical, especially after waiting a decade for Clark Kent to don his tights in Smallville (even Arrow’s Oliver Queen only recently donned his domino mask for the first time).

Well, as you can see below, they really weren’t lying! Ahead of the pilot episode which is hoped will kick off his own series this Autumn, The CW have released the first official image of Grant Gustin as The Flash. The costume is incredibly faithful to the comic books in both looks and colour, while it has a realistic aesthetic which should make a potential crossover with Arrow in the near future a definite possibility.

Flash

The costume for The Flash was designed by three-time Oscar winner Colleen Atwood, who also designed the costume for Arrow and whose motion picture credits include Academy Awards for her work on Alice in Wonderland, Memoirs of a Geisha and Chicago, as well as seven additional Oscar nominations for films such as Snow White and the Huntsman, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Sleepy Hollow.

The Flash pilot is executive produced by Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg and David Nutter (all of whom also executive produce Arrow). Nutter is directing from a script by Berlanti & Kreisberg & DC Entertainment Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns. Production on the pilot begins next week.