David Hersch


 * For the faculty member of Central City University, see Hersch.
 * For his doppelgängers that were known as Cicada, see David Hersch's doppelgängers.

"I've captured 37 Cicadas, 37 different Earths, and every time I try to capture him trail always leads back to that Earth's David Hersch."

- Harrison Sherloque Wells

David Hersch is a former terrorist in Central City. Team Flash speculate that Hersch was originally the Cicada in the timeline, before Nora West-Allen's time travel, instead of Orlin Dwyer.

Terrorist acts and capture
At some point prior to 2018, Hersch committed a number of terrorist acts in secret, including several anti-government bombings.

In October 2018, The Flash and XS broke into Hersch's hideout thanks to Harrison Sherloque Wells' "deduction" that he was the meta-human criminal known as "Cicada". The Flash and XS deactivated Hersch's bombs and proceeded to arrest him. Hersch was then taken into custody by the CCPD custody for several anti-government bombings he had committed in the past, but Barry confirmed that Hersch was not the same person as the meta-human "Cicada" that they encountered.

Presumed future
To Sherloque Wells's befuddlement, David Hersch of Earth One did not turn out to be Cicada, despite him having the exact same method of trapping his pursuers with an elaborate bomb trap as the Cicada from other universes. When Sherloque questioned Team Flash as to how this could have happened, they revealed that the timeline has been recently altered with major ripples, due to Nora West-Allen's time travel, presumably preventing Hersch from becoming Cicada and having Orlin Dwyer become one in his stead. This has forced Sherloque to revise his theory, while Nora realized the full scope of her mistake.

Based on this, in the future that Nora West-Allen hails from, Hersch became Cicada in a time after 2018, in which his first victim was a meta-human named Floyd Belkin. Team Flash couldn't apprehend him, nor could Green Arrow, Supergirl, the Legends or the League. An old newspaper of him, headlined "Who is Cicada?", is displayed in the Hall of Villains section of the Flash Museum.

Abilities

 * Explosives Expert: Hersch displayed an expertise with bombs, having committed multiple bombings in the past. He even rigged his hideout with advanced explosives.

Equipment

 * Explosives

Trivia

 * He has 37 known doppelgängers, all of whom are Cicada on their respective Earths. It was also speculated by Team Flash that he was Cicada in the original timeline.

Behind the Scenes

 * In the DC Comics, David Hersch is a villain of The Flash known as Cicada, who leads a cult and drew his powers from killing people with a lightning-shaped knife.
 * The original version of Cicada is depicted on one of the comic books in .
 * There was previously another character named Hersch, who was mentioned in Season 3's