The Flash suits

"Now this is a super suit!"

- Barry Allen to Cisco Ramon

The Flash suits are a series of protective suits designed and created by Cisco Ramon at S.T.A.R. Labs, and Ryan Choi sometime in the future. Originally designed to replace the turnouts firefighters use but are now used by Barry Allen for his vigilante activities as the Flash.

Pre-vigilantism suit
Essentially just a red leotard with padding and a reinforced helmet, Cisco Ramon, one of the last remaining employees at S.T.A.R. Labs, originally made it for firefighters, had the suit readied for Barry Allen so that he could test his new-found speed powers for the first time. It was used at the Ferris Air Testing Facility outside of Central City, and it got destroyed while Barry was wearing it. Due to his inexperience with his powers at the time, Barry lost focus while running at his top speed and crashed into a series of water barrels. The suit was damaged and never used after that.

First suit
To aid Barry in facing new threats to the city following the particle accelerator explosion, from other meta-humans and outraged citizens alike, Cisco designed a new suit to allow Barry to act while keeping his identity hidden. It was a red skintight bodysuit originally meant to replace the turnouts the firefighters usually wear when in action. Cisco later re-purposed it and added an upgraded version of the new earpiece he previously installed in the prototype suit, he also added a red logo with a gold lightning bolt onto the chest. The suit became an incredibly helpful tool for Barry and when he decided to permanently be a protector of Central City as The Flash, using it on a regular basis.

Upgrades
Once Barry started working full-time as Red Streak/The Streak (later dubbed The Flash), Cisco began to add new devices and made alterations to allow Barry to be better prepared for any situation, including a multi-link comm set. These modifications would also be included in later suits. Cisco also added thermo-threading, to heat the suit in case of an encounter with Captain Cold.

Destruction of the first suit
This suit was destroyed accidentally by Bette Sans Souci when Barry attempted to apprehend her. She touched the suit to stop him and Barry had barely enough time to get out of it before it exploded, leaving him half-naked. Fortunately, Cisco had apparently made spares, for later in the episode Barry was using another one.

This spare was later used by Barry when he first encountered Gridlock.

Second suit
After General Wade Eiling attempted to injure The Flash by throwing acid on him, he was forced to run as fast as he could to wear it off. However, by the time he had, it had almost entirely burnt through the suit and was unusable. To this end, Cisco had another one handy and allowed Barry to use it.

This suit was presumably erased from time after the young Barry Allen vanished into thin air after his future self-saved his mother. It was restored after Barry allowed Eobard to kill his mother, creating a new timeline.

Upgrades
After Barry and his friends reformed the team to defeat the "Atom-Smasher" and have Henry Allen released from Iron Heights, Cisco took it upon himself to commend the team for their recent successes. He did so by upgrading Barry's suit, mimicking the design of the future suit's emblem from the digital future article of Barry that Gideon showed them when they first met her. While a simple alteration, it was a very noticeable and appreciated redesign to the suit, with the recoloring of the emblem's background from crimson to white. When going up against Griffin Grey, Dwarf Star Alloy was added to the suit to protect him but it was only added to the chest part of the suit and would only protect him once.

Destruction of the second suit
When Hunter Zolomon kidnapped Wally West, Barry gave up his powers in exchange for Wally's safe return. During an attempt to recreate the effects of the particle accelerator explosion in the hopes of restoring his powers, Barry's physical form was absorbed into the Speed Force, destroying his suit in the process, leaving only the chest piece.

Third suit
After regaining his speed from the Speed Force, Barry returned in a new suit presumably fabricated by the Speed Force itself, which was physically identical to his previous one in every detail, presumably also containing the upgrades that the previous suits had.

His future time remnant who became Savitar would briefly don the suit again in order to trick Team Flash. However, the suit was worn down.

Several months after Barry went into the Speed Force, a samurai-like robot began terrorizing Central City, demanding that it face the Flash. Since Barry was still in the Speed Force at that time, Wally donned Barry's suit in an effort to trick the robot, although this attempt failed.

After Barry's newer suit was torn apart while stopping DeVoe, Barry would later use this suit again. However, he was unhappy with it, as he felt as if it had gotten smaller.

Fourth suit
Sometime after the defeat of Savitar, Cisco designed a new suit in the hopes of Barry returning from the Speed Force, which coincidentally looks exactly like the one Barry's future-self wore when 2017 Barry ran to 2024. After Barry returned from the Speed Force, he began using this newer version of the suit, while his old one sat on its display.

Cisco added many new functions to the suit. While generally proving very useful for the various vigilante exploits of the Flash, it came at a crippling drawback; techno-paths like Ramsey Deacon (self-named "Kilg%re") could override the suit, turning it into a liability. After this, Cisco removed the more dangerous features of the suit, so they could not be used against Barry again.

This version of the suit was heavily damaged after Barry (aided by his daughter from the future) supersonic-punched the S.T.A.R. Labs satellite, which DeVoe had knocked out of orbit after his efforts to bring about the "Enlightenment" were thwarted by Team Flash.

After Nora gave Barry a new suit (which she'd brought back with her from the future) this suit was stored in the Starchives.

Fifth suit
The fifth suit used by Barry was created by Ryan Choi sometime between 2018-2024, it was then brought back to 2018 by Nora West-Allen for her father to use after he needed a suit to use when the fourth one was torn to shreds. Unlike the previous versions, it is a brighter red color and is not a leather-like material, along with the lack of a chin strap. This change in design could be caused by Ryan designing and creating this iteration, and not Cisco Ramon. It is also stored within the Flash ring, for easy transportation and storage. While it wasn't made by Cisco, Cisco later modified it with all the same tech that the previous suit had.

Alternate future suits
In the presumed original future that Eobard Thawne hails from, as seen from an article of April 5, 2024, that was owned by Thawne himself, and stored in the Time Vault, Barry is shown to have a suit similar to his parallel past self's suit, but this one has a brighter shade of red, and the white symbol similar to his third suit. Barry or Cisco of this presumed timeline created this suit making Barry become the scarlet speedster superhero known as the Flash.

In the future in which Savitar was created, a new suit was created sometime between 2017-2024, either by Cisco or Barry. It is a brighter red, has gold piping (in the shape of lightning bolts) a gold belt, and there is thick gold lining on his forearms (similar to where his gloves would end). This suit was first seen after Barry from 2017 traveled to 2024 to find answers and questions about Savitar. 2024 Barry helped 2017 Barry to fight future Mirror Master and future Top and both Flashes arrested them.

In the future where Nora West-Allen discovered that her father was the Flash, the Time Vault shows compartments for multiple Flash suits, counting up to "Version 20". This means that by the time that Barry vanishes in the Crisis, he will have worn twenty different versions of the Flash suit, at least one was built by Ryan Choi.

Functions

 * Aerodynamics: The suit's form-fitting design and articulation allow Barry to maintain control of every step and movement that he takes. This is what allows him to dodge attacks and run as he would without it.
 * Communications link: Cisco had installed two miniature earpieces shaped like lightning bolts attached to the ears of the suit. This grants Barry full communication with the team at S.T.A.R. Labs while in the field. The link can be routed to other people's phone and display it as if it was from his cell phone.
 * Identity concealment: Barry uses a red mask to conceal his identity and to keep his friends and family safe from harm. His newest suit has a heads-up display that can also conceal his eyes.
 * Intense temperature and abrasion resistance: The suit was originally designed as a firefighter turnout, so its primary use is still intact. It's made of a reinforced tri-polymer, making it resistant to several thousand degrees of intense heat, whether it be around Barry or it be the friction generated from his body while running; as well as resistant to grazing bullets, knives, abrasions, or scars. It appears that Cisco has modified it to resist intense cold as well, since Barry was able to walk off several blasts from Leonard Snart's Cold Gun and Mick Rory's Heat Gun quicker than in previous battles. It was also revealed that the suit was also designed using vulcanized Teflon which neutralizes any electron imbalances and prevents the friction of Barry's movements from generating a lethal dose of static charge.
 * Mini-camera: The suit's chest piece has a miniature camera built into it. By pressing on it, Barry's team can see from his environment from his perspective and gain a better idea of his surroundings or situation.
 * Sensor system: All versions of Barry's suit have had several health sensors built into work in real time. The telemetry is sent to S.T.A.R. Labs so that they can identify Barry's condition and health. The suit has a GPS built into it so that S.T.A.R. Labs can keep track of where he is, see how much power he's generating, and determine how fast he's running.
 * Full-spectrum scanning: The suit's sensor was later upgraded by Cisco in the fourth model to be able to scan in the full electromagnetic spectrum. This upgrade was one of the few that he didn't remove from the suit after Barry's encounter with Kilg%re.
 * Thermal-threading: Due to Barry's weakness to extreme cold, Cisco added "thermal-threading" to the suit, which causes the suit to generate a large amount of heat, in case Barry gets hit by the Leonard Snart's Cold Gun.
 * Voice altered: After Barry lost his speed to Zoom, Cisco appeared to have equipped the suit with a voice filter to disguise Barry's voice, since, after losing his powers, Barry couldn't do it himself. It is unknown what happened to it after Barry got his powers back; it is presumed it was either removed or kept in the suit in case Barry loses his powers again.
 * Flotation mode: If Barry was to get in trouble while on water, the suit can inflate itself like a balloon to keep him from drowning; something the rest of the team felt was unnecessary; Caitlin even suggested that the suit should instead be equipped with an oxygen tank, which Cisco agreed was a good idea. This function of the suit was not removed, even after Barry's battle with Ramsey Deacon, also known as Kilg%re, with Barry admitting that the suit's built-in raft was a good idea.

Former functions

 * Performance enhancement: The newest addition to the suit, the tachyon unit, was able to fit inside the lightning bolt emblem to conceal the device from Zoom. Because of this, while wearing the suit, it will allow a speedster's vitals to remain at peak performances, including keeping their calorie burning rate at a normal level, and thereby able to continue moving at top speeds for much longer duration's unhindered from effects such as dizziness and fatigue. It was presumably destroyed after Barry was absorbed into the Speed Force and his suit was destroyed. However, it's possible that when the Speed Force generated a new suit for him, identical to the one he had before, it may have generated a new miniaturized tachyon unit as well.
 * Defibrillator: One addition Cisco made to the suit is a magnetic-electrical charge that jump-starts Barry's heart. Though after two consecutive administrations, the device will be completely fried and take a while to repair, making it still a prototype. When Barry returned from the Speed Force, Cisco revealed a new version of the suit, equipped with many new functions including a new defibrillator, although it's unknown how many uses this newer defibrillator can handle. It seems that the suit Barry's daughter brought back from the future, which he currently uses, does not contain a defibrillator, since, when Barry's heart had stopped after blocking a bolt of lightning from Weather Witch's staff, Nora was told that she'd have to rub her hands together to generate lightning to restart Barry's heart.
 * Dwarf Star alloy chest armor: After getting some of this highly durable material from Felicity, Cisco was able to fit the torso section of the suit with it, protecting the wearer from extreme blunt-force trauma to said area. However, enough force, such as from a meta-human with super-strength, can potentially destroy the armor even if the strike itself is blocked, leaving the wearer vulnerable again to any further blows until the armor itself is repaired.
 * Babel protocol: A protocol that is known to trigger functions such as;
 * Deadlock mode: Should Barry become helpless while in the presence of an enemy, the suit can lock itself upon and around the wearer's person to prevent removal, protecting his identity. Not even Barry can remove it by phasing himself; this function was likely removed after Barry's encounter with Ramsey Deacon, also known as Kilg%re.
 * Self-destruct: If the suit were to fall into enemy hands, it can be detonated remotely; this function was likely removed after Barry's encounter with Ramsey Deacon, also known as Kilg%re.
 * Nano-liquid circuitry: In order to incorporate all the newer hardware found in the fourth suit, Cisco had built the circuitry to flow through the entirety of the suit as a liquid metal. It, along with several most of the newer tech additions to the suit, was removed after Barry's first encounter with Kilg%re.
 * Heads-up display (HUD): Appearing as yellow-colored lenses, these provide Barry analysis of his current area, such as maps, and recommended actions that include target lock-on. This feature, along with the lenses, were also removed from the suit after Barry's encounter with Kilg%re.
 * Self-repairing armor: If the suit were to become damaged, it will automatically repair itself. This function of the suit seems to be one of the many that were removed by Cisco after Barry dealt with Kilg%re, as the suit was later seen to be destroyed beyond repair after the Enlightenment.
 * Pulse cannon: It's unknown currently exactly why Cisco added this offensive capability to the suit, but presumably it's a non-lethal alternative to Barry's lightning bolts and capable of knocking back and incapacitating targets a couple of meters away. Located on the palms of Barry's gloves, they can effortlessly appear and disappear when needed. This function was likely removed after Barry's encounter with Ramsey Deacon, also known as Kilg%re.

Known users

 * Barry Allen/The Flash

Former users

 * Wally West/Kid Flash (briefly)
 * Oliver Queen/The Flash (alternate reality)

The Flash
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DC's Legends of Tomorrow
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Trivia

 * A running gag in the series is whenever the suit would be damaged or destroyed Cisco would either show anger or scold Barry as he would complain about how long it takes him to make the suits.
 * The red emblem on the suit in season 1 could be a possible nod to the Flash from Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Strikes Again, a sequel to The Dark Knight Returns.
 * Each time, the emblem has the lightning bolt protruding more from the upper side than the lower side, which has a shorter bolt as compared to the upper.
 * After the encounter with Killg%re, Cisco removed some of the current suit's features. It's currently unknown what technical features the suit has at the moment.

Behind the scenes

 * In the first draft of the pilot script, the suit was made by Hartley Rathaway after he was dating a fireman named Chip.
 * When the red logo was introduced into the TV series, the Flash in the New 52 Comics was also given a red logo.
 * Flash's third TV suit in the video game LEGO DC Super-Villains was called the TV Heroes variant which can only be available as a downloadable character as part of the DC TV Heroes Pack.
 * In the DC Comics, the creator of the Flash's fifth suit, Ryan Choi, is the successor of Ray Palmer becoming the second Atom.