Grace Gibbons


 * NOTE: This article is about the second incarnation of Cicada from the Arrowverse. The mainstream version can be found here: Cicada (DC).

"Liar, liar, liar, liar. Nora lied to me. She'll pay. They'll all pay."

- Grace losing her sanity in her mind whilst declaring to destroy Nora West-Allen and her team.

"There's only one cure for this, Flash: death."

- Grace to the Flash.

Grace Gibbons is the main antagonist of Season 5 of the CW TV series The Flash, and the second bearer of the Cicada mantle.

She is the niece of Orlin Dwyer, the first Cicada, who went into a coma during the events of the Enlightenment and gained numerous powers. After waking up, she decided to continue her uncle's mission to kill every meta-human in Central City and kill anybody who gets in her way.

She is portrayed by Sarah Carter (who previously played Alicia Baker in Smallville) as an adult, and by Islie Hirvonen as a child.

Origins
When Grace was nine years old, she witnessed her parents being killed by an explosion caused by a meta-human which left her as an orphan. She was placed in the care of her uncle, Orlin Dwyer due to him being her next of kin. However, since Orlin resented being her guardian and she was still struggling from the loss of her parents, Grace became isolated and depressed.

Months later, Grace began having outbursts at school. When Orlin confronted her about it, she lashed out at him due to him having no room to talk when all he does as drink and rage at the world. Afterward, Orlin decided to start over with Grace and promised to be a better guardian to her. They moved into his cousin Robbie's old house and began fixing up a dollhouse. The two formed a close relationship, with Grace accepting Orlin as her family.

A year later, the two attended the city carnival to commemorate the past year, and Orlin bought her three ice creams and a new doll set she wanted for her dollhouse. Just then, the sky turned purple from Clifford DeVoe's Enlightenment which rendered them and everybody else unconscious. After waking up, Orlin and Grace tried to escape. When the Flash and XS destroyed the crashing S.T.A.R. Labs satellite, Orlin and Grace were both hit by one of the debris. Grace's head was struck with shrapnel which rendered her comatose. At the hospital, she was placed under Dr. Vanessa Ambres' care while Orlin began his vindictive mission to kill every meta-human as "Cicada".

Comatose
Little did anybody know, Grace, while comatose, secretly developed psychic-based powers after being exposed to the dark matter from the shrapnel in her forehead. She started overhearing her uncle talking to Dr. Ambres, learning what he's been doing, and then began supporting him in secret. She also developed a mind palace of sorts and created an older incarnation of herself as Cicada as a defense system.

After Nora West-Allen entered her mind, Grace reveals that she knows that she was the one who hurt her uncle and developed a strong hatred towards her, the Flash and their team.

Waking Up
At some unknown point in the future, Grace woke up from her coma and took her uncle's alias to continue his legacy after she was administrated with the meta-human cure. Her actions led people to believe that Cicada was an "immortal monster" since nobody knew who Cicada was or why he disappeared and thought it was the same person. Her body count, thanks to her newfound powers, racked up to nearly 152 people and continued rising, which was even more so than Zoom or "Red Death".

Arriving in 2019
Grace later stole a time sphere and traveled back in time to March 2019 and attacked S.T.A.R. Labs, much to Team Flash's shock. She easily overpowers the team, kills Dr. Ambres and takes her uncle just as they were curing him of his powers. She then brings a still unconscious Orlin to a cabin and says to him that she's missed him.

As Orlin woke up, Grace revealed herself to him and explained how she came to be. She then sets out to hunt down the meta-human who killed her parents. After some time, she found the killer Vickie Bolen where it was revealed that their deaths were an accident. Grace however didn't care and opted to kill her anyway. She failed due to Flash and XS's interference. Upon returning to the cabin, Orlin voiced his second thoughts and tried to reason with Grace only to fail.

She arrived at the hospital to kill Vickie and held her husband hostage. She threw her dagger at Vickie only for it to chase her and Nora through Central City. Flash then confronted Grace and tried to reason with her, only to fail as well and she quickly overpowered him. Just as she was about to finish him off, Orlin arrived to stop her. As he tried to convince her to let go of her hatred, she instead summoned her dagger into his back, killing him. She then fled the scene.

Victims
According to David Singh in a possible future, Grace's total kill count is up to 152 victims, with the number continuing to grow.


 * Vanessa Ambres
 * Unnamed police guard
 * Orlin Dwyer/Cicada
 * Numerous unnamed meta-humans (possible future)

Trivia

 * Grace is the first female main antagonist of the series.
 * Unlike her uncle, Grace is willing to kill humans who stand between her and her objective, as demonstrated when she killed Ambres without a second thought and even killed her own uncle when he turned over a new leaf and tried to talk her out of her vendetta.
 * Grace is the third main antagonist on the series to be from the future. The first was the Reverse-Flash and the second was Savitar.
 * Before she was revealed to be the season's true main antagonist, it was widely speculated by fans that Godspeed would assume that role since he was set to appear in an upcoming episode.