Barry Allen (Earth-1)

Barry Allen is a scientific assistant in the Criminal and Forensic Science Division of Central City Police Department. He is the son of Henry and the late Nora Allen. He is also a big fan of The Arrow.

After the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator exploded, it caused a giant thundercloud to form. A lightning bolt from the storm struck Barry, causing him to fall comatose. When he awoke, he discovered that he had developed various abilities, most notably super speed but also rapid cell regeneration. Using these abilities, he began acting as a vigilante known as The Flash.

Early life
When Barry was eleven years old, he saw a tornado-like blur sweep through his house, in the middle of which he could see a figure. His father went to fight it and soon after Barry went to help. Somehow instead, he was swept twenty blocks away from his house. He soon discovered that his mother had been murdered and that his father arrested for it and incarcerated with a life sentence, despite his witness accounts of the blur. Since he was so far from the crime scene, officials believed he was merely covering for his father. This motivated him to study criminology in the hopes of proving that his father is innocent.

Visit to Starling City
Years later, Barry arrived in Starling City. He wasn't able to initially get a cab as the driver pulled away, and he soon arrived at Queen Consolidated's Applied Sciences Division to investigate a mysterious break-in as a CSI from Central City with a connecting case, where he met Oliver Queen, John Diggle, Quentin Lance and Felicity Smoak (the latter whom he had an instant connection with).

He was set up in the division with Felicity's help, unknown to Barry, because Felicity believed that they should have used him as an asset seeing as forensic science was not the expertise of any of their team (namely Felicity, who usually did most of the information gathering and recon). The two began talking, and Barry began speculating about The Arrow and his background, making incisive observations about why The Arrow wore green instead of black, the type of arrows he used, and how he theorized that The Arrow has partners, particularly someone who had a background in computer sciences; all of this unnerved Felicity.

Barry was astounded when Felicity asked him to help with a blood sample from an arrow she received from the police both by her "connections" from working for Oliver, and the fact that he was working the same case as The Arrow. During that particular part of their investigation, Felicity invited Barry to a Queen Consolidated function, which was actually a party at the Queen Mansion. However, before the results came in, his cover as a crime scene investigator working for the police was blown by Oliver just after he and Felicity began arguing over a news report about the mass particle accelerator. It was revealed that he was just an assistant CSI and there was no connecting case in Central City. Barry explained what happened to him as a child, and how it had caused him to begin looking into cases with impossible circumstances, in hopes of one day proving one possible, therefore solving his mother's murder and freeing his father. He was later re-invited by Oliver as Felicity's plus one to come to his home where he was throwing a party for his mother. When there, he apologized to Felicity while they danced.

After the party, Barry was contacted by his boss and was told to return to Central City if he hoped to keep his job, and revealed the sedative used was ketamine, informing Felicity it should've been easy to track. He tried to catch the soonest train, though missed the last one of the night. He settled down in to the train station to wait for the next one in the morning, when suddenly he was hit with a tranquilizer dart to the neck. When he awoke, he found himself in Oliver's base with Diggle watching him and Oliver lying on a table in full Arrow costume. Felicity approached him and asked Barry to save Oliver's life who was not only poisoned with an unknown substance from the A.R.G.U.S. disaster bunker, but also had been beaten by the robber who had stolen the centrifuge from Queen Consolidated, raided the blood bank, and encountered Oliver as The Arrow while stealing large amounts of ketamine from the bunker.



Barry was able to save Oliver's life, which Oliver was not too pleased with at first, as they had revealed his secret without his permission. However, Barry eventually gained Oliver's trust. He recommended that a mask would be better than the green grease he used on his eyes as better concealment of his identity. Oliver later asked him if there were any side effects to the rat poison he injected in him, and Barry told him that it could cause hallucinations and heavy sweating. He then discovered that Oliver's hallucinations weren't from the serum, and that it was psychological. Barry headed back to Central City that night and watched the news of the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator, but as he watched it, it became unstable. The particle accelerator sent a shockwave through the city, and only seconds later was Barry struck by a red bolt of lightning through a window in the roof. He was sent backwards through the already-charged chemicals and was knocked unconscious. A red flash of light appeared across his cheek, rising, and then faded away.

Back in Central City
For the following five weeks, Felicity Smoak visited Barry in the hospital while he was in a coma, and left only to help Oliver.

When Barry's condition began to worsen he was moved to S.T.A.R. Labs to be closely monitored, and was frequently visited by Iris West.

Awoken from his coma and activities as The Flash
When he awoke from his coma, Barry met Cisco Ramon, Harrison Wells and Caitlin Snow. They soon did tests on Barry's speed, attempting to determine how fast he could go. Before long he returned to work, where he clumsily made his way past Iris West, to be pulled up by her father and his boss, Joe. Barry discovered that Iris, whom he had a crush on, had begun dating Detective Eddie Thawne. Barry overheard a call that Joe and Eddie received of a situation at the Central City National Bank. He left and suited up, making his way to the bank, not before saving some dogs on the way. He attacked the man, finding that his punches didn't do much. The strongman threw him in to a pillar, causing it to break. Barry used his super speed to escape the crash and left before Joe or Eddie could see him.

Personality
Barry is described as someone who complements Felicity Smoak's intellect level, both when it comes to forensics, as she claims it's not her strong suit, and science in general. He is also someone who is regularly late as he missed a train, boarded a late train, and misses a cab all to get to Queen Consolidated's warehouse, and missed the last train back to Central City. He is also considered a comic geek.

Much like Oliver, he has a strong sense of justice, due to the fact he knows his father is innocent of a crime he was convicted of, and for which he is still serving a life sentence. He joins the forensics department to both learn how to investigate crimes, and study cases with unexplained elements, to prove his personal account of his mother's murder true, and ultimately, free his father. Barry is very intelligent, and like Felicity he is socially awkward, and sometimes gets nervous and babbles.

Powers and Abilities

 * High-level intellect: Barry is shown to be very intelligent, as proven by his many accurate theories about The Arrow, believing that he trained in a tropical environment because of his green clothing, and that he has one or more accomplices, including one with a background in computer sciences. Barry is very well aware of all the foes Oliver has gone up against as The Arrow, including The Dodger, The Huntress, The Dollmaker, and Count Vertigo. He was also able to cure Oliver Queen after he was injured by Cyrus Gold and consequently poisoned.
 * Forensic expert: Despite just being a forensic science assistant, Barry is shown to be a highly skilled forensic examiner.
 * Chemistry expert: Barry is an expert in chemistry, shown when he was terrified that nitric acid was next to hydrazine, and permanganates on top of acetone; describing all 4 chemicals as the definition of dangerous. Also shown when he used unknown type of chemicals to make a compressible micro-fabric green domino mask for Oliver, so he can conceal his identity more effectively than the grease paint Oliver was previously using.

The Flash: Season Zero

 * "The Strongman Cometh"

Trivia

 * He tends to be late for everything, a homage to the fact that in the comics Barry would be late for everything to keep his identity as The Flash a secret, though in the Arrow universe it's just because he is unlucky.
 * The original comic book version of Barry Allen has blonde hair whereas the Barry Allen in Arrow has dark brown hair.
 * In the DC comics, Barry's mother was murdered by Eobard Thawne, better known as Professor Zoom or the Reverse-Flash. The tornado-like blur that killed Barry's mother in Arrow seems to be a reference to this.
 * In the DC multiverse Barry Allen is the second person to take up the superhero mantle of The Flash, after Jay Garrick.

Behind the scenes

 * In 2014, The Flash will be the third DC-owned character to have its own television broadcasted show on The CW, following Smallville and Arrow.