Orlin Dwyer

"She's all I think about, Flash. And I'm making the world safe for her. Every meta-human must go." "Then what about you? You're a meta-human now." "I am, and after you're gone, I'll join you."

- Orlin Dwyer and the Flash on the former's vendetta

Orlin Dwyer, known better as Cicada, is a serial killer whose goal is to kill all meta-humans. He is the uncle and guardian of the comatose Grace Gibbons.

Early life
Orlin Dwyer grew up in the Midwest, where he was in and out of juvie. Orlin had a sister, though their relationship was implied to have become distant in their adulthood.

Orlin eventually moved to Central City and became employed at Szrek Chemicals in 2016.

Taking Grace in
One night in early 2017, a CCPD officer arrived at Orlin's door and revealed that his sister and her husband had been killed in a meta-human attack. As a result, their daughter and Orlin's niece, Grace Gibbons, was sent to live with him, as he was her next of kin. However, Orlin was initially unprepared and unwilling to care for a child, and thus had a strained relationship with Grace.

Several months later, Grace began getting into trouble at school for lashing out at her classmates. When Orlin confronted her, Grace angrily yelled that he wasn't her parent as he made her life worse and that she hated her uncle just like he hated himself. Shocked at her outburst, Orlin was forced to realize he needed to change his ways.

Shortly afterward on May 22, 2017, Orlin arranged for him and Grace to move into the former's cousin Robbie's old house. There, Orlin apologized to Grace for failing her and admitted she was right in that he hated himself. He asked for a second chance, which she agreed to. Over time, Orlin and Grace began to bond through fixing up the house and decorating a dollhouse, and Orlin soon came to love Grace as his own daughter.

Gaining powers
A year later on May 22, 2018, Orlin took Grace to the Central City Carnival to celebrate the day he made a promise to change for her. Suddenly, the Enlightenment began, which rendered Orlin, Grace, everyone else in the carnival unconscious as the S.T.A.R. Labs satellite worked to reset their brains. When The Flash and XS destroyed the dark matter-loaded satellite, the resulting force of the double speedster punch caused the device to shatter into multiple pieces. Orlin and Grace attempted to flee as the debris rained down on Central City, but the satellite's core exploded near them. A piece of the satellite core shaped like a dagger, which was infused with large amounts of dark matter, impaled Orlin in his chest, causing a permanent injury in his lung. Another piece of shrapnel hit Grace in the head.

It's heavily implied that the shrapnel that hit Orlin was destined to hit David Hersch, before Nora West-Allen's time-traveling actions that changed the satellite debris' trajectory.

Orlin brought Grace to Central City Hospital, pleading for someone to help her. Dr. Ambres had Orlin wheeled into the emergency room as she looked over Grace. Later after Orlin was discharged, he went to a comatose Grace's hospital room, where Ambres sadly warned him that she may not ever wake up due to the brain hemorrhaging the shrapnel caused. A heartbroken Orlin blamed himself for not protecting Grace but Ambres assured him it wasn't his fault, claiming the meta-humans in the city were to blame due to running around unchecked. After Ambres left, Orlin saw the news heralding The Flash and his allies for saving the city, as well as a report of another meta-human escaping the police after a robbery. Orlin was filled with rage, causing the dark-matter infused lightning dagger to fly to his hand. As the dagger glowed, Orlin vowed to Grace that he would make things right and decided to use his abilities to kill every meta-human in existence.

Becoming Cicada
As William Lang/Gridlock was being transported to Iron Heights Prison, Cicada ambushed the convoy. Throwing his dagger into the path of the truck, a burst of electric energy radiated from the blade, bringing the truck to a halt. After a brief altercation with the police, in which a few suffered severe injuries, Cicada went to the back of the transport vehicle to gain access to Lang. When questioned by Lang about who he was, or what he wanted, Cicada simply replied, "For all of you to die". He then approached Lang with the same lightning bolt-shaped dagger, flowing with the same unknown electrical energy.

Upon attempting to kill him, Lang freed himself and fought back. Although the fight looked to be in Gridlock's favor, Cicada's discarded dagger seemingly absorbed his powers, leaving him defenseless. Cicada easily overpowered the now-powerless Gridlock, beating him to the ground before fatally stabbing him in the chest, absorbing whatever energy he had left. Afterward, Cicada retreated to an unknown factory, still reeling from his injuries as he reflected on the fight. A coworker sees Cicada and inquires on whether he's been in "another fight", to which he confirms. As the co-worker leaves, Cicada gets up to place both his dagger and mask in his work locker, seemingly hiding in plain sight.

War against Team Flash
When The Flash and XS defeated Vanessa Jansen, Cicada revealed himself to the group after throwing a dagger through Jansen's back, before confronting the speedsters as well as Vibe and Elongated Man. As XS left to get Jansen to a hospital, Cicada threw his dagger into the ground, absorbing the remaining trio's powers, as he had done to Gridlock. Although the group attempted to subdue Cicada with hand-to-hand combat alone, he proved to be the superior fighter as he defeated all three. Seeing the Flash incapacitated, he went to deal the final blow with his dagger but XS returned just in time, shouting "Dad!" Cicada, seemingly affected by the parent-child bond shown between the two, paused before calmly getting up and walking away as the police arrived.

While most of the members of Team Flash were investigating about Cicada, the latter held Joe West captive in Joe's own home in order to get Vibe and kill him. With her telepathic powers, Cecille Horton discovered that Joe was in trouble. Joe told Cecille via his thoughts that she shouldn't use his panic button to call for help. When Joe and Cecille's baby cried, Cecille ended up using the distress call. Vibe came, Cicada tackled him, forcing him through the breach Cisco created to arrive on the scene, bringing both of them to a forest. Cicada hurt Vibe on his right shoulder with his dagger and brought him. When Vibe's teammates discovered what forest he was in and arrived on the scene, he nullified Flash's speed, but XS could throw him off for a while. Vibe threw a reactor on Cicada, but it was reflected back to Vibe, and the big explosion made Cicada think Vibe died, which seemed corroborated by a news article published a short time later. He doesn't know that Cisco faked his death. He then later went to a hospital to see Grace while also showing a doctor his shrapnel wound, telling him to stop. He ignores the doctor and then kisses his niece goodbye.

A week later, Cicada returns to his home in incredible amounts of pain, because of his shrapnel wound. He then grabbed onto a metal pipe for support and then, much to his surprise, starts crushing it. Realizing he has super strength, while still in agony.

Orlin then goes to CC Jitters where he finds and follows a young meta, before battling and killing her. Later when he returned home, he felt an incredible amount of pain before losing conscience. Dr. Ambres later show up at his house telling that she must stop his wound but Orlin states that it makes him stronger.

Days later Orlin was in Grace's room but almost got caught by Barry Allen that was investigating her father but Dr. Ambres tells him that he is dead and that the hospital is the only family that the girl has before Barry left. Later that day he comes to the hospital but Doctor Ambres warns him that it's too risky to come here but Orlin comes anyway saying that it's Thanksgiving and that he must be with his family.

Days later he was spied on by Team Flash when he was on his way to the hospital. The group had devised a plan to travel back in time to construct a device to negate his dagger's powers using items they'd previously come across, and had planted it at the hospital the night of the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator explosion to use against him when they returned to the present. At night, he detected the Flash and his allies' presence and fought them, he also finds out that Vibe didn't die and Vibe breached his dagger into outer-space and got punched multiple times by the Flash. He managed to summon his dagger back from space and almost killed the Flash, but Killer Frost (being immune to the dagger's power-dampening effects) surfaced and blasted him. Realizing he couldn't win, he then flew away.

After a while, Cicada returned, and went on a killing spree, targeting meta-humans with criminal pasts (though these individuals had already served time for their crimes, and been released from prison) using a list of known meta-human former criminals leaked to him by an officer from the CCPD who'd also grown to secretly despise them. When Team Flash confronted Cicada, he ended up critically injuring Nora, leaving Barry ready to kill him, claiming it was the only way to stop Cicada from killing anyone else. During a battle with the killer, Barry (able to access his powers thanks to Killer Frost keeping Cicada's dagger away) brutally beat Cicada with a vengeance, angrily saying that he'd never hurt his (Barry's) daughter again. However, before Barry could deliver the final blow, the now fully-healed Nora showed up, asking Barry not to kill Cicada, snapping Barry out of his fit of rage. Cicada then took this opportunity to flee.

Later, when Barry Allen took the meta-human cure Team Flash had been working on (which Barry had suggested they use on Cicada in order to stop him ) into the Speed Force to get it ready faster (Cisco had stated that they'd have to let it cook for twenty-seven days, but they decided they couldn't wait that long, as there was no telling how many innocent meta-humans could murder in that time. If Barry took it into the Speed Force, thereby exposing it to tachyons, the cure would be ready in one hour. While Barry was gone, Iris went into her office to finish an article she was getting ready to publish. While she was there, Cicada showed up and kidnapped her, but not before she was able send out a distress call to the rest of the team. Iris raced to save her, but ended up having to reverse time a total of 53 times to prevent anyone on Team Flash from getting killed by Cicada. After each time reversal, Nora took notes in her journal, so that she knew what to do differently the next time. With help from the team, she was able to reverse time in such a way that none of Team Flash was killed, and Orlin ended up getting stabbed in the chest with his own dagger, forcing him to retreat.

Possible future
In the previous timeline, Orlin never became Cicada, but rather it was David Hersch. To which, Orlin presumably continued to live a normal life with his niece.

Alternatively, like Hersch as Cicada, Orlin was never caught by Team Flash in the future and then continued his massacre of meta-humans. Prior to 2024, Cicada disappeared without a trace. At some point after the Flash's disappearance in the Crisis of 2024, Cicada resurfaced, raising his known victim count to 152 meta-humans, with that number only growing, more than Zoom or the Red Death.

Personality
Before he took in Grace Gibbons, Orlin Dwyer was a very selfish and lazy person; he didn't want to have to take care of anyone and he hated having to go to work. However, after taking her in, he started to turn his life around and became a supportive father-figure to his niece. After the events of the Enlightenment, Orlin felt as though he needed to kill all meta-humans as he thought they were the cause of his niece's condition.
 * -|As a civilian=

Despite having a massive vendetta against meta-humans, Orlin avoided killing civilians, though he didn't mind seriously injuring them, as seen with the police officers transporting William Lang. Caring for Grace also caused him to have empathy for other families as seen in his hesitation to kill Barry Allen after his daughter Nora calls out to him (addressing Barry as "dad"). He also mentioned to Joe West should cherish his family more, leading to the latter deducing that he was a parent.
 * -|As Cicada=

Orlin's hate for meta-humans is to the point of recklessness as he disregards his own safety, refusing to have the shard in his chest that is killing him removed, as he states that it makes him stronger. His hatred of the meta-humans also applies to himself, claiming that once he has killed them all, he will end his life.

Powers

 * Meta-human physiology: When hit by a dark matter shard from the failed Enlightenment that became embedded into his chest, Orlin's DNA was altered, enabling him to access his newfound powers. The shard apparently is continually evolving his powers, growing more potent and developing newer abilities, he refuses to have the shard removed.
 * Lightning dagger-bond: The accident with the dark matter satellite gave Orlin a psionic connection to a lightning bolt-shaped dagger that impaled him from the falling satellite. This connection prevents anyone but him from lifting said dagger and likewise allows him to telekinetic manipulate as he pleases, even summon it back to him from vast distances like outer space.
 * Power negation: The dagger has the ability to generate a field that negates all other meta-human powers. Even if someone regains usage of their powers afterward, there will be a period of time where the powers remain severely weakened and long enough exposure can potentially remove the powers permanently.
 * Electricity generation: Orlin's dagger can also generate red electricity.
 * Force-field generation: When the dagger lodged itself into the ground, it generated a force-field or red energy.
 * Meta-human detection: The dagger glows red if a meta-human is near.
 * Flight: Orlin is capable of flight at high speeds.
 * Superhuman strength: Orlin possesses strength sufficient enough to crush a metal pole with one bare hand.
 * Superhuman durability: Orlin's newfound superhuman strength also grants him great resilience from blunt-force trauma. It took The Flash generating 2.86 billion joules of energy in his strikes to cause actual harm to the killer.

Abilities

 * Expert combatant: Orlin has incredible fighting skills, allowing him to defeat a de-powered Gridlock. He also defeated the de-powered Flash, Vibe and Elongated Man at the same time with relative ease.
 * Expert knife wielder: Orlin has shown expert knife-wielding skills as seen during his fight against the Flash, Vibe and Elongated Man. He's also fought Killer Frost (wielding a dagger made from the own ice powers) in a knife fight. Though she eventually cut his arm, forcing him to fall back on his force-field power. He has also been shown to be an expert knife thrower as seen when he threw his dagger at Block from a couple of feet away and when he threw his weapon in front of the convoy truck when he attacked Gridlock.
 * Expert tracker: In his goal of eradicating all meta-humans, Orlin is shown to be very efficient in tracking them down.
 * Indomitable will/High pain tolerance: Despite the agonizing pain from the embedded shrapnel damaging his lung, Orlin's single-minded hate for meta-humans and love for his niece has allowed him to power through his pain and continue fighting efficiently. He also showed remarkable resilience when taking on Gridlock, able to eventually overpower him despite the latter initially attacking him with his meta-human powers.
 * Stealth/Infiltration: Orlin was able to successfully sneak up on Team Flash after their battle with Block. He also broke into the West house undetected and ambushed Joe West. Orlin also silently stalked Raelene Sharp, who only became aware of his presence once he cornered her.
 * Intimation: Orlin during his killing meta-human killing spree he is shown to have put fear in every meta-human.

Weaknesses

 * Alternate meta-powers: While Orlin's dagger normally gives him a great tactical advantage of being the only person with powers, it is only capable of disabling meta-human powers that originate from dark matter. Caitlin Snow's powers are still able to manifest in the dagger's presence since she gained her powers through other means.
 * Multi-tasking: Despite the various abilities Orlin's dagger provides him, he is only able to use one of them at a time. While he focused on recalling his dagger, it allowed The Flash to access his powers again, enabling the speedster to overpower him.
 * Damaged lungs: When Orlin was struck by the lightning dagger, it impaled his right lung. Being the spot he got his powers from, it will not heal, leaving him in constant pain. When Iris struck his wound, he collapsed while he screamed in agony. He also struggles to breathe the more he exerts himself.

Equipment

 * Meta-tech lightning dagger: The shard from the dark matter-loaded satellite that hit Orlin also affected the said material. Through his signature dagger, Orlin is able to perform a number of feats. As it glows to produce red electricity, he can generate powerful force fields, and also negate the powers of other meta-humans created by exposure to dark matter.
 * Cicada mask: Cicada wears an industrial breathing mask that protects his identity and modifies his voice while sounding like a cicada when he exhales. It also helps him breathe when exerting himself, due to his injured lung.

The Flash
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Season 5
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Trivia

 * Orlin's mask resembles the mouth of a cicada insect.
 * His breathing sounds like a cicada insect as well, which was how he got his moniker.
 * Orlin is the second main antagonist of The Flash who did not get his powers from a particle accelerator explosion, the first being Eobard Thawne.
 * He is also the second main antagonist who isn't a speedster, the first being The Thinker.
 * Orlin shares similarities with Ben Lockwood/Agent Liberty.
 * Both of their vendettas are based on xenophobia; Orlin hates meta-humans while Ben hates aliens. They're also willing to kill any individual of the aforementioned species, be it heroes or criminals.
 * Both faced repeated attacks and losses due to the prominent heroes in their cities; Orlin lost his sister to a meta-human attack while Ben lost his home and family business as a direct/indirect byproduct of extraterrestrial presence on Earth.
 * A beloved family member getting hurt as a result of the final battle in their show's previous seasons was the final catalyst for their descent into villainy; Orlin became Cicada after his niece was rendered comatose during the Enlightenment. Ben became Agent Liberty after his father died during Reign's terraformation of Earth.
 * Furthermore, Orlin and Ben are both the main antagonists of their respective shows during the 2018-19 season.
 * Orlin also shares similarities with Adrian Chase/Prometheus
 * Both are the main antagonist of the fifth season of their respective series.
 * Both are serial killers.
 * Both were indirectly created one of their show’s main characters.
 * Adrian Chase started to become Prometheus when Oliver, as the hood, killed Adrian’s father.
 * Orlin became Cicada when he was hit by a piece of the S.T.A.R. Labs satellite, which was destroyed by Barry and Nora.

Behind the scenes

 * In the comics, David Hersch/Cicada was an enemy of Wally West who also killed people with a lightning-shaped dagger, but his goal was to collect energy to resurrect his wife. He had been struck by lightning and given immortality as well as the power to drain energy from others. Instead of a mask, he had a distinctive silver beard, and his name came from the sound emitted by his energy when he used his powers.
 * There was a cult that Cicada led in the comics (which also happened to include Frankie Kane/Magenta) but due to his adaptation having a close visual similarity to Alchemy, the cult was likely excluded from the show to avoid too many similarities between them.
 * Cicada's comic book identity is referenced in the show with Sherloque Wells saying that David Hersch was Cicada in all other universes. Additionally, a character known only as Hersch was referenced back in season 3.
 * The Cicada comic book featured in the Flash museum is a real comic book, featuring Cicada, Magenta, and The Flash (Wally West) on the cover.
 * Cicada was originally supposed to appear as the second cliffhanger scene of the season 4 finale, but he was cut due to time constraints and the scene was used in the trailer for season 5.