Katie Sackoff and her portrayal of Amunet Black on The Flash has added to the show's reputation for producing badass female supervillains. Her recurring role has become a fan favorite from season 4 to the abbreviated season 6, with Amunet playing a key role in the makeshift season finale. After a period of uncertainty about the show, Season 7 was greenlit this spring. Recent headlines about the show have focused on Hartley Sawyer's firing as the show goes into a hiatus until 2021, when Season 7 will air.
Just as Barry Allen/The Flash himself has been altered from the DC Comics version, the Amunet of the Arrowverse isn't quite the same as the four-color character of print. Here's a look at what they've changed, and what stayed the same.
10 Changed: Her Criminal Associates
In the world of DC Comics, Amunet teamed up with several of the Flash’s enemies, creating a group of formidable rogues that includes Trickster, Weather Wizard, Magenta, Girder and Pied Piper.
In one grand story arc, she leads the network of rogues on a rampage through the twin cities. It ends in their – and her – defeat, and although she survived the encounter, she hasn’t been seen since. In the Arrowverse, it’s Killer Frost who Amunet is largely fixated on, as a former employee.
9 Same: Her Black Market Empire
In both the world of comics and The Flash, Amunet Black runs an extensive black market operation. She Her criminal empire is called the Network, and she rules the underground in Central City and Keystone City. She buys, sells, and moves contraband of all sorts for criminals and assorted supervillains.
Although they arrive at it via different routes, Amunet Black gravitates towards the criminal underworld, and rules her black market kingdom efficiently. It’s an essential part of her character that has translated well from paper to screen.
8 Changed: Her Relationship To The Weeper
In the Arrowverse, Amunet's discovery of The Weeper's power to cry out a kind of love drug in his tears is a major force behind the plot for several episodes of The Flash.
In the comic book world, The Weeper is an obscure character – not an innocent bystander turned into a meta-human by dark matter in The Flash's wake. The Weeper of DC Comics was a villain who cried after his kills, and he never met Amunet. Comic Weeper did his supervillainry largely back in the 1940s.
7 Same: She Loves (Loved) Goldface
In the Arrowverse live action version, Amunet and Keith/Goldface have really only just discovered their mutual love and lust, even though they begin by often working against each other.
While the details of the relationship are certainly different, Amunet and Goldface do get married in the DC Comics as well. It takes place during the period where Amunet runs the black market in the twin cities – Central City and Keystone City. Although they get divorced (see the note below!) their attraction and relationship is canon in both media.
6 Changed: Her Origin Story
In the Arrowverse, Amunet’s origin story revolves around the particle accelerator explosion in Central City that also gave The Flash (and others) their powers. She was Leslie Jocoy, a flight attendant putting up with sexist abuse from coworkers until her powers make her a metahuman.
Those coworkers were the first on her revenge list. In the comics, she begins as the head of the black market Network in the twin cities. After her divorce from Goldface, she steals the elixir that gives him his powers, and creates her own with it. She calls herself Blacksmith.
5 Same: Her Powers Hinge On Metals
This is another same... but different point about Amunet Black. Both versions get their power and powers from metals, and their ability to manipulate them. It’s the details that differ.
In DC Comics, taking Goldface’s elixir gives Amunet mechanokinesis – the ability to control metals with her mind, and even fuse her own body with metals. In The Flash on TV, Amunet can only manipulate alnico alloy, and that means it has to be nearby for her powers to work. She also has an upper limit on how much it can weigh.
4 Changed: Her Outfit
Katie Sackoff talked to Comic Book about changes in the costume. “Isn’t it brilliant? She actually shows boobies, which is not normal for The Flash, that she’s got a little bit of cleavage showing through. Which is tame compared to her comic book costume. If you see her comic book costume, they sent this picture over of who she was, and I was like ‘You guys, she’s literally nude.’ And they were like ‘Obviously, you’re not going to wear that.’”
3 Same: She’s Super Smart And Business Savvy
In terms of her basic character, the personalities of both Amunets have very similar lines. She’s a businesswoman with a great talent for management, and owns several enterprises, including a nightclub.
It takes a lot of business acumen to run a black market ring and a gang of rogues. Amunet is also very smart and crafty. She sees where her advantage is and goes for it. She’s the one who’s figured out that Barry Allen is The Flash. In the comics, she organizes a takeover plan that nearly does The Flash in.
2 Changed: TV Amunet Doesn’t Glow Blue
While most fans of the comics understood the need to modify Amunet’s skimpy outfit for a TV audience, many were disappointed that she also lost her glow. In the comics, after she gains her powers from the elixir, Amunet glows a vibrant blue color.
It looks great in the comics, and would look fantastic on TV too, but the show’s makers clearly had a slightly more realistic look in mind that did not include the blue.
1 Same: She’s Ruthless, But Capable Of More
In the comics, as on TV, Amunet is ruthless, yet, every once in a while, she seems to be capable of more. In the comics, once she’s assembled the rogues network, she helps Girder by using her metallic powers to keep him from rusting.
In The Flash, she once gave Team Flash a metal shard bomb to help them defeat Devoe. Yet, she’s also the one who imprisons The Weeper to sell his love-potion tears, and wants to sell him later on.