The DC Supervillain You Didn't Know Harry Potter Star Tom Felton Played

Tom Felton is best known to the world for his role as sneering schoolboy Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies. Shooting to stardom with the release of the first movie in the fantasy series, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," Felton found fame when he was still a young child. Growing up on screen, he has remained a successful actor into adulthood and has gone on to appear in other major franchise releases, including 2011's "Rise of the Planet of the Apes." In 2016, he entered the DC Universe via The CW's Arrowverse, appearing as Julian Albert — his full name later revealed as Julian Albert Desmond — aka Doctor Alchemy on "The Flash."

In DC's comic book universe, Doctor Alchemy was primarily the villainous alter ego of Albert Desmond, though at one point the mantle was also adopted by S.T.A.R. Labs advisor Dr. Curtis Engstrom. Both iterations of the supervillain, an enemy of the Flash, drew their powers from the Philosopher's Stone — a mystical artifact that, in the comics, had the power to transmute elements. This allowed Alchemy to turn any substance into any other substance.

Alchemy's use of the Philosopher's Stone made Felton's casting as the character on "The Flash" particularly apt — in its original UK release, the first installment in the Harry Potter franchise was titled "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone." Both DC and the Harry Potter story drew on the earlier mythical notion of the Philosopher's Stone, an object used in alchemical practices.

Tom Felton made his debut on "The Flash" in season 3. His first full appearance was in the season's second episode, "Paradox." The episode saw Barry Allen discover a changed world after he created and then erased the alternate timeline known as Flashpoint. Even with the Flashpoint timeline undone, Barry found his reality had been permanently altered. One of the differences in this new timeline was the presence of Felton's Julian Albert at the Central City Police Department.

A CSI specializing in meta-humans, Julian was Barry's colleague, and it quickly became apparent that he did not like Barry. However, there was more to Julian than being an abrasive new part of Barry's work life. Julian experienced regular blackouts — something he had experienced ever since he led an expedition to India, years ago, to find the Philosopher's Stone. During these blackouts, he was possessed and manipulated by Savitar, the self-professed God of Speed, becoming the villainous Alchemy.

On "The Flash," Alchemy — dubbed Doctor Alchemy by Cisco Ramon – used the Philosopher's Stone to restore the powers of people who had been turned into meta-humans in the Flashpoint timeline. Ultimately, Julian would go from villain to hero on "The Flash," joining Team Flash after being unmasked and having his connection to Savitar severed. A romance even started to grow between Julian and Caitlin Snow, though the two would end up going their separate ways, and by season 4, Julian had returned home to London.