David Hersh

**David Hersh,** also known as **Cicada,** is a cult leader vigilante whose goal is to kill everyone that The Flash has saved in order to explore immorality. He is the husband of the late Elizabeth Hersh and the father of the late Ava Hersh.

## Biography

### Early life

Born in 1890, David Hersh grew up in the Midwest. When he was in his twenties, he met a woman named Elizabeth, whom later became his wife. In the future, they eventually had a daughter, Ava. However, as much as he loved his wife, David suffered from great depression due to the war of the time, thus he killed his wife.

### Gaining powers

In 1956, when Hersh was at his architect site, sick with regret, sought to end his own life, when he was struck by a bolt of lightning. He was put in a coma for a week and discovered that he had gained the ability to absorb the life-force of others, extending his life-span almost a century. An addition to his powers were a psychic bond to a lightning shaped dagger.

At some point prior to 2023, Hersh took on the name Cicada.

### Cult Madness

For about a century, Cicada has started upon a cult, being worshipped as a god.

## Powers and abilities

### Powers

* **Meta-human physiology:** When hit in the chest by a Lightning Shaped Dagger, David's DNA was altered, enabling him to access his newfound powers. It gained him immortality and other such powers.
	+ **Accelerated Healing**: David's body's increased metabolism allows him to heal damaged tissue much faster and more extensively than a normal human is capable of.
	+ **Immortality**: Stealing one life can give David up to a century more to live and he's killed dozens of people already. Coupling this with his self-healing means that Cicada is effectively immortal.
	+ **Lightning dagger-bond:** The accident gave David a psionic connection to a lightning bolt-shaped dagger that impaled him. This connection prevents anyone but him from lifting said dagger and likewise allows him to telekinetic manipulate it as he pleases
		- **Electricity generation:** David's dagger can also generate red electricity.
	+ **Superhuman strength:** David possesses great strength allowing him to crush a metal pipe with his bare hand.
	+ **Superhuman durability:** David's'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 any actual harm

### Abilities

* **Skilled assassin:** David was an amateur yet competent killer with a string of victims
* **Expert hand-to-hand combatant:** While mostly relying on his dagger, David displayed impressive unarmed combat skills
	+ **Master knife wielder/Knife thrower:** Despite no prior training or experience, David proved to be a quick study with his lightning dagger and showcased incredible knife-wielding abilities, as seen during his fight against the Flash.

* **Architecture:** David is an accomplished architect

## Equipment

* **Lightning Dagger:** Through his signature dagger, David is able to perform a number of feats. As it glows to produce red electricity, he can generate powerful force fields
* **Cicada suit:** David wore an outift while operating as the cult leader Cicada. It consisted of a black rain slicker worn over a dark colored sweatshirt and dark colored pants which provided him with stealth while going after his victims at night. It also had leather gloves to protect his hands from harm while holding his dagger.

## Appearances

### *The Flash*

#### Season 3

* The Past of Wally West
* Family Ties
* Cult Madness
* The Present
* All Doll'd Up

## Behind the scenes

* In the comics, David Hersch/Cicada was an enemy of Wally West who also killed people and drained their energy with a lightning-shaped dagger, but his goal was to collect the energy to resurrect his wife. Hersch had been struck by lightning and given immortality. His name came from the cicada insect, which is traditionally associated with immortality, which he also left behind after murders and instead of a mask, he had a distinctive silver beard, which, along with his baldness, gave him a resemblance to real-life serial killer Charles Manson.
* David served as the main antagonist of Season 3 of The Flash.