Fans who were hoping that Grant Gustin's Barry Allen and Emily Bett Rickards' Felicity Smoak would cement their budding Arrow romance on The CW's upcoming spinoff Flash series should take note, because Smoak's got some competition now.

The series has cast actress Candice Patton, who viewers may know from the BET sitcom The Game or from a few episodes of Heroesto play Iris West, the woman that Barry married in the comics (before that all got erased in Flashpoint).

Patton joins Gustin, as well as actors Rock Cosnett and Danielle Panabaker, who will play a Central City detective named Eddie Thawne and a bioengineering expert named Caitlin Snow, respectively.

Patton's casting is sure to be the cause of some controversy, given that West has been depicted as a white woman in the comics since her introduction in DC Comics'Showcase#4 in 1956. But it's 2014, folks. Iris West can be a black woman. If anything, Patton brings some much-needed diversity to the cast that has been announced so far.


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