- For other uses of "The Flash", see The Flash (disambiguation).
- "For the last nine years, I have watched the people I love suffer and die. I want a better world for my family, for everyone."
- —Barry Allen[src]
Bartholomew Henry "Barry" Allen[1] (March 14, 1989[2] - March 14, 2023; resurrected March 14, 2023)[3] is a scientist in the Criminal and Forensic Science Division of the Central City Police Department. He is the son of the late Henry and Nora Allen, the husband of Iris West-Allen, the father of Nora West-Allen and his future son Bart West-Allen, the son-in-law of Joe West and the late Francine West, the brother-in-law of Wally West, the half-brother-in-law of Jenna West, and the archenemy of Eobard Thawne (commonly known as the Reverse-Flash).
Barry's mother was murdered when he was 11 years old on March 18, 2000 and the blame was wrongfully placed on his father. He was taken in by Joe West and ended up staying with him and his daughter, Iris West. Barry dedicated the rest of his life to proving his father's innocence. After the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator exploded, causing a giant thundercloud to form, Barry was struck by lightning from a cloud, falling into a coma for nine months. When he woke up from his coma, Barry discovered that he had developed superhuman speed and various other abilities derived from it. Using these powers to protect Central City, he began acting as the meta-human superhero known as the Flash, initially referred to by the media as the Red Streak, the Streak and the Blur,[4] stylized as the "Scarlet Speedster".[5][6]
Barry spent the next several months fighting crime, taking down numerous meta-human villains and other criminal elements, assisted by Team Flash. All the while, he worked with Joe to get Henry out of prison and with Harrison Wells to get faster and develop his abilities. Barry later found out that the latter was the evil speedster Eobard Thawne from the future, having stolen Wells' identity, and the man who murdered his mother. In a final confrontation between the two, Eobard gave Barry the chance to undo what he did in exchange for assistance in returning to his time. Barry decided against doing this, which ultimately led to Eobard's ancestor Eddie killing himself to erase Eobard from existence.
Several months later, Barry finally saw his dad become a free man using a video will left by Eobard. It was also at this time Barry came under attack by meta-humans from Earth-2 led by Zoom, another evil speedster who needed Barry's speed to prevent himself from dying. Barry is eventually forced to comply to save Wally West, temporarily becoming a normal human again until Team Flash worked to get him his speed back. Barry soon after defeated Zoom, but not before his father is murdered in front of him. This sends Barry into a depression, and, not thinking clearly, goes back in time to save his mother, creating another timeline.
After Barry undid Flashpoint, a causal loop was created with a possible future of Iris dying in front of Barry. A time remnant of Barry from this future was created, and after being shunned for not being the "real" Barry he became a powerful, mythical, armored speedster, known as Savitar. After his transformation into Savitar, he sought to ensure his existence by murdering Iris in order to drive his younger self into the circumstances that led to his creation. When battling his younger self he referred to himself as the Future Flash. He was later erased from existence after he failed to recreate the circumstances of his own creation. However, this victory was short-lived; Barry was forced to enter and remain in the Speed Force indefinitely to save the world.
Barry was eventually freed thanks to the efforts of Team Flash, though in the process accidentally created more meta-humans. The self-described Fastest Man Alive was forced to take on the Fastest Mind Alive, Clifford DeVoe, who wished to revert humanity to a time before technology. It was also during this time Iris and Barry got married after fighting invaders from Earth-X and Team Flash first encountered Nora West-Allen, not realising until much later on that she was the daughter of Barry and Iris from the future who had traveled back in time to help stop Cicada. Although conflict arose when it came to light that Nora was working with Eobard Thawne in secret, the three of them grew immensely close. However, when Cicada II was defeated, a new timeline was formed, resulting in Nora being erased from the timeline, leaving Barry and Iris devastated.
When Barry was "possessed" by Ramsey Rosso/Bloodwork after the latter infected Barry's blood cells while he was saving Ralph's life,[7] Cisco nicknamed him Dark Flash. Barry was restored to normal when Allegra Garcia used her powers to cure everyone affected by Rosso's disease.[8]
During the Anti-Monitor Crisis, Barry was revealed to be the Paragon of Love. He was one of the only surviving individuals from Earth-1 after the destruction of the Multiverse in the Anti-Monitor Crisis. However, thanks to Oliver Queen's sacrifice as the Spectre, he and the other Paragons were able to defeat the Anti-Monitor after Earth-Prime was created. Barry also founded the Crisis team and worked to honor the memory of his close friend and mentor.
Following the destruction of the Speed Force, Barry's powers slowly started to run out, forcing him and the team to seek out a way to create a new Speed Force. He also faced new enemies in Godspeed, Black Hole, and Eva McCulloch. While the artificial Speed Force machine succeeded in restoring his speed, it came at the price of Barry losing his morals and emotional attachment, forcing them to destroy the machine. After the sudden return and help of the resurrected Earth-1 Harrison Wells, Team Flash found an alternate usage for the Speed Force machine. Channeling the residual Speed Force energy Iris from her various interactions with speedsters through hers and Barry's love for others into the machine, they were able to restore the Speed Force and Barry's powers.
However, unbeknownst to Barry, the restoration of the Speed Force also resulted in the birth of three other forces; the Strength Force, the Sage Force and the Still Force. These forces allegedly attacked the Speed Force, forcing her to flee into a human form. Barry went head to head with Fuerza, Psych and Deon Owens, the hosts of the respective forces. However, it transpired that the Speed Force desired to kill all the forces, killing their hosts in the process, an act Barry was staunchly against. Instead, he opted to travel back in time and prevent the existence of the forces to begin with; but he ultimately changed his mind and allowed their existence; while managing to broker peace between the forces.
Soon after, Barry and his team are forced to contend with the brewing Godspeed War, masterminded by an artificial speedster August Heart, who seeks to become the God of Speed by stealing Barry's recently enhanced speed. It's only with the help of many speedster allies, including the revived Eobard Thawne, that August was defeated and incarcerated in Iron Heights.
Six months later the powerful alien Despero shows up in Central City determined to kill Barry for supposedly creating an event that will end the world. After proving his honourableness to the alien, Despero agrees to give Barry seven days to prove he will not cause Armageddon. [9] Unfortunately, events quickly turn sour as Barry is suspended from his job as a CSI at the CCPD, before learning that S.T.A.R. Labs is being shut down and demolished. Barry is forced to destroy Gideon to protect his identity. Not long afterwards, Barry encounters Xotar, where he falls to prey to her abilities, causing him to temporarily lose his mind and mindlessly attack his friends, until he snaps out of it. After later defeating Xotar, Barry, for unknown reasons, attacks Central City, an event caught on the news, although he does not remember doing it. After mentioning celebrating with Joe and Cecile, Barry is stunned to learn that Joe was dead, and had been for six months. After escaping another attack from Despero, Barry, feeling overwhelmed by recent events, calls for Black Lightning’s help at the Hall of Justice. [10] After discovering that Eobard Thawne was behind it all along, he was able to defeat Despero and remove Thawne's speed, finally ending Armageddon.
Not longer after, a powerful entity named Deathstorm appeared trying to take Caitlin as his bride. In the end, Frost sacrificed her life to defeat Deathstorm and save Caitlin.
In the weeks following these events, Negative versions of the Forces took possession of the Positive Forces through Iris' time sickness and gave Thawne his speed back. In the final confrontation between Flash and Thawne; who had both become gods at that point from absorbing the powers of the positive and negative Forces, after one last warning to his nemesis and with all other options exhausted, Barry killed Thawne by turning his powers against him and broke the Negative Forces' grip on the positives.
One week after Thawne’s final defeat, a new group of Rogues started collecting the pieces to build a Time Machine for their leader the Red Death. In the end, Barry defeated and imprisoned Red Death and her team.
a few weeks after these events, Ramsey Rosso returned to defeat Team Flash and compete his mission. In the process, Ramsey took control of Wally Wests’ mind, and made him kill Barry. Oliver Queen brought Barry back to life approximately ten minutes after he died and helped Barry defeat Ramsey once and for all.
After Rosso’s final defeat, the Negative Speed Force chose a new avatar to replace its old one. When it’s new avatar Eddie Thawne accepted its power, Eddie traveled back in time to kill Barry with the aid of all of Barry’s old speedster enemies. After getting through to Eddie and finding harmony between the Positive and Negative Speed Forces, Barry gave his speedster powers to new speedsters.
Quick Answers
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Biography
Original multiverse
Early life
Barry was born on March 14, 1989, to Henry and Nora Allen as an only child.
When he was 6 years old, Barry begged his parents to take him to a science exhibition in Midway City, but they, unfortunately, got a flat tire on the way. The family's car had to be towed to a garage in Masonville, where they were stuck all day. Barry and his parents had ice cream and french fries with gravy for dinner at a small diner and spent the night watching the local fireworks display. Barry would consider this to be one of the happiest memories he ever had with his parents.[11]
Barry and his mother would watch Fred Astaire and Frank Sinatra musicals together on rainy nights.[12]
At some point, Barry met Iris West at school, with whom he became best friends. At the age of 10,[13][14] Barry formed a crush on her. Iris' father, Joe West, as well as Henry and Nora, were all aware of Barry's developing romantic feelings.
On March 18, 2000,[1] 4 days after his 11th birthday, Barry ran home from school after getting into a fight with some bullies. Though not being fast enough, his mother assured Barry that he had a good heart, and his father was proud of him for winning the fight.[15] Later that night, Barry was comforted by his mother when he admitted he was afraid of the dark. Nora convinced him he wasn't afraid of darkness itself, just being alone in the dark and wished him sweet dreams.[16]
Death of Nora Allen
That night, Barry was awoken by a commotion. He went downstairs and saw his mother surrounded in streaks of red and yellow lightning. Barry attempted to reach his mother, but she told him to stay back and amidst the streaks, Barry saw "the Man in Yellow" for a brief moment, and his father urged him to run. At that very moment however, Barry suddenly found himself 20 blocks away (because his future self took him away from the Reverse-Flash).
Barry returned home in time to see his father being arrested by police, and was told by his father not to enter the house. He entered, seeing Joe standing solemnly over a body. When he walked away, Barry approached the body and discovered, to his horror, that it was his mother.
Following the ordeal, Barry was taken in by Joe and Iris.[15] When Joe and Barry arrived at the West house, Barry was not crying, due to shock.[2] Joe asked Iris to show Barry the guest room, and Barry told Iris that his father did not kill his mother, to which Iris responded that she believed him.[17] Later that night, Iris found Barry crying alone and comforted him.[2]
Living together caused an inhibitor between Barry and Iris, as growing up in the same household prevented their feelings (at least on Iris' side) from maturing beyond platonic love.[18]
Initially, Henry asked Joe to not let Barry see him. Not knowing this, Barry kept trying to run away to see his father at Iron Heights, and he was caught and stopped by Joe every time; at one point, Barry called him out for it, telling him that he wasn't his father and that he hated him. Eventually, Barry finally reached Iron Heights before Joe could stop him, and he finally came face to face with his father. Henry told him that he simply did not want Barry to see him in prison. Despite this, Barry begged for his father's release, insisting that the man in the lightning was who killed his mother, not Henry. Henry told him that he couldn't help him and asked that he be a good boy and let Joe raise him. Henry was promptly taken away and Barry became more accepting of Joe as his new guardian.[19]
Six months after his mother's murder, Barry was still depressed and became grumpy towards everyone. Seeing this, Joe understood that Barry was acting angry because he didn't want to let the pain of the grief in, fearing his father and mother would be disappointed in him if he did. Joe assured Barry it was okay to let the pain in. Barry finally allowed himself to feel the grief and cried, with Joe comforting Barry and promising that he'd always be there for him.[1]
During the first year that Joe took him in, Barry attempted to impress the former by building a robot with wheels for his science fair project, which nearly set the school gym on fire and hurt his teacher, Mrs. Dumas.[20] In school, Barry was relentlessly bullied by Tony Woodward. Joe noticed this and had Barry spar with Iris, who easily beat him. Joe then told Barry that if he ever got into a fight he couldn't win, it was okay to run the other way.[5]
At the age of 12, Barry went to a reptile camp, which was paid for by Joe.[21] In 7th grade, Barry decided to mix glycerol with an oxidizing agent for his science fair project, believing he would win if he started a chemical fire. Barry got an A, but was suspended.[22] As a teenager, Barry, according to himself, "lived for danger", including smoking a cigarette once, which was an unpleasant experience.[23]
In high school, Barry attempted tryouts for the football team but failed horribly and made Joe swear to never talk about it again.[24] Barry dated Becky Cooper in high school, though she was apparently a "nightmare" of a girlfriend.[25] When Barry was 16, he and Iris switched bedrooms so Iris could sneak out the window past curfew, which was 8:00 pm at the time. They told Joe the reason they switched bedrooms was that Barry didn't like the noise from the streets.[26] At one point, Barry and Iris took Joe's convertible out for a joyride and ended up crashing it into an oak tree on Fairmont Drive.[27] Without realizing he was the man who killed his mother, Barry idolized Dr. "Harrison Wells" so much that read his biography twice, though he was still left not knowing much about him.[28][29]
Barry graduated from college with a double major in physics and chemistry.[16] It was with this skill that Barry was motivated to study criminology at Central City University[30] in the hopes of proving that his father was innocent in his mother's murder.[31] Barry was hired for the Central City Police Department by Captain David Singh.[32] Shortly after, around 2012, he was the Junior CSI on a murder case in which the victim, Judy Gimlin, was stabbed to death and her husband, Reagan, was the prime suspect, which touched home for Barry. His superior, Detective Ralph Dibny, apparently proved Reagan's guilt by finding the knife used to kill Judy, which contained his fingerprints. Seeing similar circumstances to his mother's murder, Barry decided to delve further into the investigation and tested the knife. The knife actually didn't match the murder weapon used to kill Judy and Barry reported Ralph, who was subsequently fired for planting evidence. This created an enmity between the two.[33]
Visit to Starling City
A year later, in December 2013 when he was 24,[34] 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 Center 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 of whom he had an instant connection with).
Barry 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 considering his work in forensic science. 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, Barry apologized to Felicity while they danced.
After the party, Barry was contacted by Singh 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 have been easy to track. He tried to catch the soonest train, though missed the last one of the night. He settled down into 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.[31]
Barry was able to save Oliver's life by thinning his coagulating blood with rat poison. Oliver was not too pleased with the situation at first, as Felicity 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 paint he used on his eyes as concealment of his identity. Oliver later asked Barry if there were any side effects to the rat poison he injected in him, and Barry admitted it could cause hallucinations and heavy sweating. After testing Oliver's blood though, Barry discovered that Oliver's hallucinations weren't from the rat poison, and that it was psychological. Soon after, Barry headed back to Central City, but not before leaving Oliver a mask as a parting gift.[35]
The accident
On his train back to Central City, Barry encountered Martin Stein and the two discussed physics and Harrison Wells' particle accelerator and how it would change the world.[36] After he got off the train, Barry soon headed back to work, arriving at a crime scene late. He was successfully able to identify the getaway car from the robbery and also grabbed a sample of some animal feces found on the ground, before heading back to his lab to examine the evidence. While processing the feces, he was greeted by Iris. Barry talked on and on about the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator with her, noting that it provided ideas that were far beyond their current capabilities of science, hence why he was so excited. Detective West approached right as the feces had processed. Barry described the results found, explaining that it had a chemical used only at four different farms around town, suggesting they check them out.
Following this, Barry and Iris headed to the unveiling and switching on of the particle accelerator. Barry attempted to convey his attraction towards Iris, but she simply misunderstood it. They began listening to Dr. Wells, who described how the particle accelerator would lead to a much greater future. As they were listening, a thief stole Iris' bag, along with her laptop inside it. Barry ran after him, attempting to catch up to him; however, the thief knocked the wind out of him and ran off, only to later get caught by detective Eddie Thawne. At the police station, Iris and Barry mocked Eddie, a new transfer from Keystone City.
Later, Barry headed to his lab, watching the news of the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator, when it suddenly became unstable. As Barry tried to close his lab's rafters due to the worsening storm, he watched in confusion and awe as the liquids around him suddenly levitated, defying gravity. The particle accelerator then exploded and sent a shockwave of dark matter through the city. Seconds later, Barry was struck by a yellow bolt of lightning through a window in the roof. He was sent flying backwards through the already-charged chemicals and knocked unconscious. A red flash of light appeared across Barry's cheek, rising, and then faded away.[35] Barry was quickly rushed to Central City Hospital, where he was kept on life support while in a coma.[15]
For the following five weeks, Felicity visited Barry in the hospital while he was in a coma, and left only to help Oliver.[37] Barry constantly seemed to flatline. However, it was concluded by Harrison Wells - who had also started visiting him - that Barry's heart was in fact beating too fast to even register on the EKG.[15] 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.[38] When Iris came by one day, she received a static shock when she touched Barry's hand.[39]
Becoming the Flash
Early days and setbacks
When he woke up from his coma nine months later, Barry met Dr. Wells, Cisco Ramon, and Dr. Caitlin Snow. He learned of his coma and how it had been caused by the particle accelerator explosion. Much to their annoyance, Barry chose to leave, claiming that he felt normal. Barry went to meet Iris at her work, where the two embraced. Iris was incredibly thrilled to see Barry awake and walking. As they talked, Barry noticed time slow down, then speed back up again. Iris grabbed her jacket, then they went to visit Joe at the police department. Joe was more than happy to see Barry, though he was called to a robbery at Gold City Bank. Detective Thawne followed West, while also expressing his happiness at Barry's return. As they left, Barry noticed a rough detainee, who quickly reached for a police officer's gun. Before he could grab it, Barry sped over to him and back, stopping him from doing anything.
Freaked out by the incident, Barry promised to call Iris that night and left. Once outside, Barry noticed his hand vibrating at an unbelievable speed, shortly followed by him accidentally almost running into a bin at super speed, then breaking the back window of a cop car. Realizing the gifts he had, Barry went off running, testing out his super speed. Before long, he accidentally ran through the back of a van. Sometime later at an airfield, Barry met with Cisco, Caitlin, and Wells. He put on a tight suit and got ready to run. Dr. Wells cautioned restraint, whereupon Barry began to run at full pelt.
Partway through his test run, he began to remember the night of his mother's murder, specifically a ball of lightning with a man seemingly inside it surrounding his mother, and he crashed, fracturing his wrist. Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, they discovered that Barry's wrist had healed in under three hours, much to their amazement. Dr. Wells inquired as to what happened, and Barry explained what he'd remembered: a man somehow inside a ball of lightning. Barry raised the question that perhaps there were more people like him, but Harrison rejected the idea, claiming that Barry was unequivocally one of a kind. Following that, Barry went to meet Iris at Jitters. He looked upon Iris and Eddie kissing. Barry and Iris soon took a walk as Iris explained to Barry how her and Eddie had met, asking Barry to promise not to tell her father. As they talked, a police car involved in a car chase slammed on the brakes, leading to Barry pulling Iris out of the way as the car hit the wall under the bridge. As the other car raced by, Barry recognized its driver; a man thought to be dead: Clyde Mardon. Barry ran after the car, crashing through the side and entering. Before Mardon could get his gun out, Barry grabbed the steering wheel, making the car tumble on its side and onto its roof. Mardon exited the vehicle, relatively unscathed and Barry quickly followed.
He called out to catch Mardon's attention, but soon the area was flooded with fog, apparently made by Mardon himself, causing a car to run into the already overturned car, forcing Barry to speed to a nearby patch of grass for safety. Paramedics soon arrived, along with the police, including Joe. Joe scolded Barry for having Iris out in the open and Iris for having followed the danger. Barry took Joe aside, telling him of his belief that the car was driven by Clyde Mardon, who had apparently survived a plane explosion, also somehow gaining the ability to control the weather. Despite various pieces of apparent evidence, Joe didn't believe him. Frustrated with Barry's apparent fantasies, Joe explained how his claims were impossible, including the ball of lightning with the man inside; he knew Barry's father was the murderer, as did numerous others. Having never asked for anything from Barry, Joe asked Barry to for once be realistic, to which Barry simply walked off, disappointed.
He returned to S.T.A.R. Labs, angry at Wells for lying to him about being the only one affected by the particle accelerator's explosion. Dr. Wells claimed to not be entirely sure, as there had been numerous amounts of radiation including anti-matter, dark energy and x-elements, all apparently theoretical prior to the event. Despite them only being theory up to that point, Wells claimed that Barry was proof otherwise. He went into more detail, explaining that they'd been looking for more "meta-humans", a term they'd coined for people like Barry. Barry brought up Clyde Mardon, whom they had to stop before he hurt anyone again. Wells cautioned Barry to keep himself safe, as Barry had the potential to unlock previously undiscovered vaccines, medicines and breakthroughs in science, yet he wished to put himself on the line and "play hero". Dr. Wells saw him as nothing special, just a boy who'd been struck by lightning.[15]
Upset by Harrison's words and lack of confidence, Barry called Oliver Queen, hoping to get some advice.[40] He visited Oliver in Starling City, where he expressed that he believed Barry could save people, though in an entirely different way to the Arrow. As opposed to the Arrow's tough vigilantism, Barry could be a guardian angel to the people of his city, saving them "in a flash". As he speeds away, Oliver expressed his awe at Barry's powers.
Barry headed back to Central City, to S.T.A.R. Labs. He apologized to Caitlin and Cisco, understanding that they'd lost things in the explosion, but there had been an increase in crime, presumably occurring because of the creation of meta-humans. They agreed to help, and Cisco even suggested the use of a suit he'd made, initially for a firefighter, but believed it suited Barry well. He put on the suit and raced to Mardon's farm, where they'd noticed an acute change in the weather. He saved Joe and Eddie, who'd come to investigate, after a piece of debris flew at them.
With Mardon's tornado heading towards the city, with an increasing wind speed, Barry suggested that he run around the tornado in reverse in order to unravel it. Despite Caitlin and Cisco's belief that Barry might not hold up, he proceeded to run around it. Before he could run fast enough, Mardon knocked him away. Believing him to be too strong, Barry didn't think he could beat Clyde. However, as he was about to give up, Dr. Wells began communicating with him. Despite acting selfishly, Wells expressed that he truly, deeply believed that Barry was special, that he could help stop the havoc he'd created. With the confidence boost, Barry was able to run fast enough, clocking just over 700 mph, ultimately unraveling the tornado. After being knocked to the ground, both Clyde and Barry stood up. Clyde proceeded to point a gun at him, claiming them to be the same, though Barry strongly disagreed. Before he could shoot Barry, Joe intervened. The following morning, still at the crime scene, Joe and Barry discussed Barry's powers and Joe apologized, for not believing him and for also believing his father a murderer. Barry also promised not to reveal anything to Iris so as to keep her safe. Not long after, Barry visited his father in Iron Heights Prison, assuring him that he still believed in him, that he was incredibly proud to be his son. After that, with a lightning bolt symbol added to his suit, Barry ran through the streets of Central City, saving a man from crashing on his bicycle.[15]
Barry continued to save citizens throughout Central City, much to the frustration of Caitlin and Joe. At his day job with the CCPD, Barry investigated a strange robbery and murder scene wherein the surveillance footage showed one man, but evidence indicated that there was at least six present. He later made a casual remark that the perp's footprints were about the same size as those of Captain Singh's but was reprimanded for it by Joe, who reminded him not to tell Iris about his ability.
Later, Barry went to Stagg Industries with Iris, where Simon Stagg was set to receive an award from Central City University. Iris was covering the event for her journalism assignment and needed Barry to help her with the scientific parts. At the event, the armed gunmen responsible for the scene Barry had just been investigating arrived and were in the process of stealing valuables when a security guard attempted to stop them. Just before they could shoot him, Barry saved him and went after the robbers, only to lose consciousness along the way. After his fainting, this prompted the S.T.A.R. Labs scientists to investigate Barry's recent weaknesses. After a run at a "Cisco'd" treadmill, it was discovered that Barry had acute hypoglycemia, a condition that Barry developed because of his sped-up metabolism and could be remedied by a more extensive meal plan. Joe then arrived at the lab and called him out for his unnecessary heroics.
Because of this, Barry lost confidence in himself and, face to face with Danton Black, the meta-human that infiltrated the Stagg event, he realized that he did not have the ability to really go up against them. At this point, Iris was still trying to get Barry to tell her what was going on with him. Just when he had momentarily quit his association with Wells and the others, Iris revealed that her new journalism topic would be his alter-ego, who has been dubbed the "red streak" by citizens. Caitlin then called Barry back to S.T.A.R. Labs and told him of a way to defeat Black. Joe then arrived to convince Barry to go after him.
Barry did and followed Danton to Stagg Industries, where he intended to kill Stagg once and for all. With a pep talk from those at the Lab, including Joe, Barry was able to isolate the real Danton from the hundreds of clones and put him down. When Danton momentarily regained consciousness, he attacked Barry only to miss and hit the window. Barry tried to save him from falling but Danton, not wanting to be saved, summoned up an extra hand to pull himself from Barry's grip and fell, much to Barry's disappointment. Later, Barry commended the group at the lab, who then fully supported Barry's city-saving, even Caitlin, and made amends with Joe.[19]
Barry went to the movies with Iris when Cisco and Caitlin informed him of a car chase. Using his speed Barry quickly stopped the robber and returned before Iris knew he was gone. The next day Barry and Joe investigated the death of the Darbinyan crime family. Noting that as the victims were poisoned with gas they would have all died at the same time, yet some of them had time to move. This led to Barry realizing that they were dealing with another meta-human who could control gas. At S.T.A.R. Labs, Joe brought up the topic of finding a suitable prison for meta-humans. Wells and Cisco decided that the particle accelerator would be the best place to hold them until they could cure them of their powers. Caitlin, remembering the death of her fiancé Ronnie, froze in her spot. Seeing her distress, Barry offered for Caitlin to help him run tests on the poison gas they'd procured. At Barry's lab the two talked about Ronnie until the DNA results came back, revealing that the gas inside the victims also had someone else's DNA. Hearing of the murder of Theresa Howard on the police radio, Barry left despite Caitlin's pleas. Arriving at the scene, Barry found himself too late and angrily chased after the meta-human. Before he could fight him, the man transformed into gas and forced Barry to inhale him.
Rushing back to S.T.A.R. Labs, the team was able to painfully extract the gas with a needle. Despite being told to rest, Barry went to talk to Joe and confide in him about his inability to save the judge. He went on to mention his temptation to break his father out of jail, though Joe reasoned that his father would simply be a fugitive, and despite his abilities, Barry would never be able to save everyone. Later Barry apologized to Caitlin for worrying her, only for Caitlin to reveal that what he had said to her were the same last words Ronnie said before he died. Barry decided to help her overcome her fear of walking into the particle accelerator.
After finding peace, she thanked Barry and the two embraced. Wells and Cisco soon called them up and revealed that a sedative was also found in the gas. Barry told Cisco to check if anyone was executed on the night of the particle accelerator, as the two chemicals were used when executing death-row inmates. They identified the meta-human to be Kyle Nimbus, a hit-man for the Darbinyan crime family; the family had turned on Nimbus, leading him to be arrested by Joe West and prosecuted by Judge Theresa Howard. Barry quickly suited up and headed to Iron Heights prison, saving Joe who was visiting Barry's father.
Barry then went after The Mist, as Cisco proudly nicknamed him, defeating him by tiring him out (his fatigue would have forced him to revert to his human form eventually).
Barry later visited his father and confided in him that he missed his mother. Henry comforted him by telling him the story of how he learned to walk. Barry realized that to honor his mother he had to continue running, as he had always done.[23]
Barry trained the speed of his mind by multitasking by playing a game of chess with Harrison Wells, a game of Operation with Caitlin, and a game of table tennis with Cisco. Barry defeated Cisco and Caitlin but made a mistake which caused him to lose against Wells. Soon after, they had an alert of a bank robbery, to which Barry responded to quickly. At the scene, Barry managed to unmask Leonard Snart, the leader of his crew. After a guard was shot, Barry quickly rushed him to St. Andrews Hospital and quickly returned to the scene for work. When Captain Singh noted that a guard said there were three robbers, Barry corrected him to four, though he quickly justified his reasoning as it had to have been a four-man job. After Singh sarcastically thanked Barry for his insight, Joe asked if Barry saw anything that could help the case, to which Barry told Joe he saw one of them unmasked. At the precinct, Barry quickly identified Snart and learned that Snart's father was a dirty cop.
Later when Iris brought Barry coffee, Barry was told by Iris that she began a blog about The Streak. Barry attempted to convince her to stop with the blog as it only brings crazies and trolls, but failed. Barry was shocked when he saw Felicity in his lab at the police station. He caught up with Felicity and he learned Felicity listened to his entire conversation with Oliver on the rooftop. Barry showed Felicity his powers and brought her to S.T.A.R. Labs. When asked if they could trust Felicity, Barry told Cisco and Caitlin that she works with The Arrow, reassuring them. Barry showed his powers again, using the treadmill where Barry attempted to show off by running backwards, though he failed When Barry brought Felicity to Jitters, he was invited by Iris to join her and Eddie at Trivia Night and to bring Felicity.
When Iris asked why Barry wasn't dating Felicity who she claimed to be the perfect girl for him, Barry stated that they were only friends. At trivia night, Barry and Felicity answered a majority of questions correctly. Iris then pushed Barry to ask Felicity out again, assuming Felicity was very interested in Barry based on how she dressed. After Snart was spotted, Barry left and had Felicity cover for him, though she had no excuse that could work for him. Barry arrived in time to save Joe and a few others but due to the fact he was struck by the cold gun when saving Joe, he was slowed down and failed to save a security guard.
Barry later was furious at Cisco for building the weapon which caused the death of a man. Barry felt betrayed as he was never notified of such a weapon, and this meant he was unprepared. Barry quickly learned Cisco originally made the gun to be used on him, had he gone uncontrollable. After the team tracked Snart, Barry decided to take him on his own and turn off all communications. When Barry confronted Snart, Snart noted that Barry's weakness was his altruism; his need to always save others, rather than going after the villain. Snart froze the wheels of the train, causing it to derail as he fled. Barry, having no choice, managed to rescue all passengers though he was attacked by Snart. Before Snart could finish him, Barry was saved by Cisco, Caitlin, and Felicity. Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry said his goodbyes to Felicity, though he later chased after her and hopped on her train. The two had a conversation about relationships before sharing a kiss.[41]
Barry was hanging out with Cisco, Caitlin, Iris, and Eddie at a bar where he discovered that because of his high metabolism he could not get drunk. Suddenly an explosion was reported at a building Barry raced over to see a window washer about to fall, thinking of no other way to save him Barry asked Cisco and Caitlin how fast he would need to go to run up a building. They told him that if he moved at extremely fast speeds he would be fine but must maintain his speed on the way down or risk serious injury. Barry rescued the man but was seen by Iris; blurring his face so she wouldn't recognize him, he quickly left.
Later as police investigated, Barry informed Joe that he could find no bomb casing. Searching through the files using his powers Barry found some information that pertained to the incident. Back at the police station Barry was told by Joe to give the military everything they had on the case. Barry handed the files over but, using his speed, managed to snatch one file from them. Joe told him to consult with the crew at S.T.A.R labs. At the lab Barry told them of what happened. Wells was familiar with Wade Eiling, the general leading the investigation. Wells explained that he worked with Wade to develop gene therapies for soldiers while Wells was more concerned over its benefit to civilians, only for him to sever their partnership when he found out Eiling's plans to develop mind-reading abilities for interrogation purposes. Cisco went through the army's digital records where they discovered the culprit was a woman named Bette Sans Souci, a bomb specialist for the army.
Barry found Bette at her last known address however when tried to take her in, contact with her caused his clothes to begin to detonate. Bette told Barry to get out of his clothes before they exploded which he did, just barely escaping the blast. Back at S.T.A.R. Labs Barry told a distraught Cisco about the suit and revealed to the others she was a meta-human. Joe came to him and asked Barry why he didn't tell him Iris saw him the other night. Barry told him she caught him off guard so Joe told him to tell Iris to stop blogging about him. Barry begged Iris to stop but she refused, claiming that he himself had wanted to know about the impossible since they were young. Barry noted that she wasn't even putting her name on it; Iris told Barry only to talk to her when he was ready to tell her the truth about why he was being so skeptical.
Cisco and Caitlin called and told him that Bette was spotted at the location of the surgeon who experimented on her. Barry arrived just in time to save Bette from being captured. Back at S.T.A.R. Labs the others told Bette of how the Particle Accelerator explosion and how it changed her. As they examined her Caitlin discovered a tracked inside her graze wound when the army attacked her, leading Wade right to S.T.A.R. Labs. The others quickly got her out while Wells stalled Wade. Outside while testing her abilities, Bette asked Barry if the others had tried to help him find a cure. Barry told her how a friend once told him that the bolt struck him for a reason and now because of it he can help people. Joe called and told Barry that Iris put her name on her blog.
Barry confronted her as the Flash and told her to stop writing about him. Iris revealed that to him that she was writing to help Barry prove that the impossible does exist. Barry arrived at S.T.A.R. Labs where the others revealed to him and Bette that curing her was at the moment impossible. Barry suggested that she join their team but the others pointed out that Bette's powers were too destructive and could put them all in danger, despite Barry pointing out she was the first meta-human they encountered who was not a criminal or a person who deliberately used their powers to hurt others. Back at his lab in the police station Barry met up with Joe. He told him that by visiting Iris as the Flash he found out that Iris was only writing about him to help. Barry pointed out that the only way to get Iris to stop was to tell her the truth claiming he told her everything only for Joe to reveal he knew Barry had feelings for Iris since he was a child and noted that Barry has not told Iris his feelings about her.
Barry claimed it didn't matter since she was already dating Eddie but Joe told him that when fate wants something to happen, whether it be him getting hit by the bolt that gave him his powers or getting two people to fall in love, it works things out. Back at S.T.A.R. Labs the others told Barry that Bette had left without saying where she was going. When they finally found her about to engage Eiling and his men, Barry rushed to her location before she could kill him. As Barry talked her out of killing Eiling, the general shot her killing her. As her body began to detonate the others told Barry to get her remains out of the city. Barry asked them how fast he would have to go to run on water. The team guessed about 650 miles per hour but told him he must escape the blast once he dropped her. Barry did and just barely managed to outrun the shock wave.
Later as Eiling covered up the incident Barry expressed disappointment, as Eiling had killed Bette in cold blood right in front of him and yet they could do nothing to him. Caitlin tried to comfort him telling him that running on water put him in interesting "company". Back at Joe's house Barry told Iris about his situation with Bette without telling her the specific details and asked her one more time to stop writing about The Streak. Iris once again refused, forcing Barry to tell her that they should not talk to each other for a while.
Later Barry visited Iris once again as The Streak and tried to convince her to stop writing about him. However she ignored his request and instead tried to find out more about him. She then asked what she should call him with Barry claiming anything would be better than "The Streak". Their conversation was cut short when they heard sirens. Rushing to the crime Barry saved a kid who was about to be run over by the culprit. Cutting the criminal off, Barry discovered he was a meta-human when the man ripped the door off of the Humvee he had stolen and threw it at him. Barry dodged this and attacked the man, only for his skin to turn into a steel like substance, resulting in Barry injuring his hand and the man brutally back handing him. Beaten, Barry escaped but not before the criminal told him that he was "born to take a beating", a phrase that seemed familiar to him. Rushing back to S.T.A.R Labs, Barry passed out on the floor.
Caitlin examined his injuries and told him he had various fractures, a concussion, and a bruised spleen, the injuries being so severe that Caitlin told him even with his healing abilities it would take a couple hours for him to recover. Barry then told them about the meta-human's abilities, and asked how he was supposed to fight a man made of steel. Dr. Wells and the team assured him that they would find a way. The next day Barry reported to the Central City Police Department, where he confirmed with Joe that the metal man was indeed a meta-human. Joe told Barry that he was putting him and Eddie on the case so that Barry could explain to Eddie what he saw.
Barry then went to see the Central City District Attorney, who identified the "man of steel" as Tony Woodward. Barry recognized the name; Woodward was a former classmate of Barry and Iris’, who bullied Barry throughout his childhood. After the meeting, Barry and Eddie ran into Iris. Eddie asks Barry what's going on between Iris and him, not knowing that Barry was avoiding Iris but Barry told him everything was fine.
At S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry was introduced to a girder dummy built by Cisco so Barry could learn the right speed to take down Tony Woodward. Barry was easily defeated and dislocated his shoulder in the process. Shortly after, he was called by Eddie who had found the missing Humvee. Barry responded and as he arrived, Eddie recommended that he should get a car. Eddie then asked what's happening between him and Iris again where Barry revealed they had a fight.
Barry and Eddie then headed to Rusty Iron Ale Brewing Co. after suspecting he had dropped by there due to the kegs in the trunk. After questioning a few men at the brewery, one man ran, Barry and Eddie chasing him. Barry ran in front of the two, where the man punched Barry though it slowed him down enough for Eddie to take the man down. They then learn that Tony supposedly died in an accident, though they revealed to the man that he lived. Barry visited Iris at Jitters again where he told her that Tony is an example of why she should stop blogging about him. As the cops arrived, Barry ran off to Tony's hideout.
Barry was easily defeated by Tony and rendered unconscious. After he was brought back to S.T.A.R. Labs, he was yelled at by Harrison Wells who reminded him that they were still finding a way to stop him. Barry was then told that they had found a way to stop Tony and that is to hit him at 837 mph. At the precinct, Barry and Eddie discussed being victims of bullying as kids, while blowing off steam using a punching bag. They were soon told that Iris was missing and the two quickly rushed to help. After learning a fire alarm went off at his old elementary school, Barry quickly realized that was where Tony and Iris were. Barry fought Tony but was once again defeated. Barry then ran away from the school, 5.3 miles exactly, then ran back towards the school, breaking the sound barrier and knocking Tony down. Barry then greeted an incarcerated Tony, revealing his identity and told him that the particle accelerator made them who they truly were.
After walking away from the makeshift prison, Barry celebrated as he had finally had his revenge on Tony. Barry then greeted Iris at Jitters and the two reconcile. When Iris told Barry more about "The Streak", she told him how he comes and goes in the blink of an eye, and Barry interrupted her saying he does it in "A Flash".[5]
Barry went for an early morning coffee run at Jitters, though a trainee was working that morning. After a woman complained about it, Barry sped past and got everyone their coffee and left a large tip for the trainee. As he left Jitters, a man grabbed him and asked for his wallet. Barry laughed at the man, as he chose him out of everyone else in the city. Barry proceeded to take a majority of the man's clothes off and brought a police officer to him as he ran away. Barry later was called to a crime scene where a man was burned to death. Joe said Barry had to ID him though Eddie asked how Barry was going to do so with the man's face melted off.
Barry then bragged about his "mad skills". Barry then brought the photo of the man to S.T.A.R. Labs, where they managed to ID the man as Casey Donahue. Shortly after, the man's ID was used at an electrical plant, which Barry quickly responded to. When Barry arrived, he encountered Farooq Gibran, a meta-human who has the ability to drain electricity. Barry made a few attempts to avoid his attacks though he was soon struck by Farooq. Barry later tried to run away, though to his surprise, he had lost his super speed. At S.T.A.R. Labs, they had tested him on the treadmill, though to everyone's surprise, Barry ran slow, even for a normal person.
Barry warned Barry about the meta-human who siphoned his abilities and killed the man. Barry later bumped into William Tockman at the precinct, who had complimented him for his watch. At S.T.A.R. Labs, they managed to identify the meta-human who shortly arrived at the lab, demanding to see Harrison Wells. Wells shortly told Barry that they could try jump starting him to regain his speed which Barry quickly agrees to. When Farooq broke into the lab, Barry tried to talk sense into him but Farooq only struck Barry. Cisco managed to close the doors to hold Farooq off for a short while. Barry and Caitlin then went to the treadmill to jump-start his powers. When Cisco turned the power back on, Caitlin was hesitant to follow through as she was afraid he would die.
Barry told Caitlin that if she doesn't follow through, they would all die. When Caitlin made an attempt to jump start Barry, they learned that it had failed. Barry and Caitlin then witnessed Tony get defeated by Farooq. Barry asked what he was doing outside of the prison where Tony reminded him he never steps away from a fight. Tony then told Barry and Caitlin to get out as Tony died. Barry was then furious at Wells, who had used Tony to buy some time. They then noticed that Barry's cells were still regenerating though Barry still didn't have his speed. Cisco and Caitlin then believed the reason he had yet to regain his speed was because it was mental and he didn't believe enough. When they made an attempt to escape the lab, they were attacked by Farooq. Wells then finally faced Farooq.
When Farooq attacked Wells, Barry finally believed enough to regain his speed and save Wells. Barry faced Farooq once more but this time he has connected to his powers and the energy overwhelmed Farooq, killing him. Barry then rushed to the precinct, worrying that something had happened to Iris. He was relieved when he saw her safe in Joe's arms. After they locked up Farooq's body, Caitlin noticed that Barry's cells were regenerating faster than before. Barry payed Eddie a visit at the hospital. After Iris left to grab a coffee, Barry briefly left and had a conversation with Iris as the Flash. Barry then told Iris he would never be late again and that Iris is worth being on time for. Barry then ran off and returned to Eddie's hospital room.[28]
Barry arrived at a bank that Roy Bivolo was robbing, only to find everyone attacking each other. Barry managed to save a man from being shot just as everyone began to recover. When Joe and a few other police arrived at the scene, Barry suggested to Joe that the people were "whammied". At the precinct, Barry learned that Eddie finally believed the Flash's existence though he learned Eddie believes he's a menace. Barry proceeded to steal Captain Singh's lunch as he went to S.T.A.R. Labs to discuss the new meta-human. Shortly after, Iris called him out through her blog. Before Barry left, Caitlin told him not to get involved in Iris and Eddie's relationship as he would be responsible for their breakup. When Barry arrived at Jitters, he told Iris his name was Ralph.
Barry was warned by Iris that Eddie was pushing to get him behind bars. Barry managed to get to the storage facility Roy was hiding at before Joe and two other police officers could be killed. Barry was then greeted by Oliver, who had arrived in time to injure a "whammied" police officer. Barry then raced to the barn Oliver, Felicity, and Diggle were hiding at. When he arrived, he bragged how he gave Oliver a half an hour head start, yet still beat him. Barry asked the three what they were doing in Central City where he learned they were investigating a homicide which possibly connected to Central City, due to the material of the boomerang used to kill. Barry suggested that the two teams should work together, though Oliver refused as he didn't want anymore people in on his secret. Barry then carried Felicity and took her to S.T.A.R. Labs as she volunteered to go help. Barry was later told by Harrison and Joe not to trust Oliver as they feared he was too dangerous. The following day, Barry met up with Oliver and Felicity at CC Jitters, where Barry learned that Oliver had helped get the name of the meta-human. Barry was then asked by Iris how he knew Oliver Queen. She then sarcastically said that Oliver's arms were twice the size of his and told him that Oliver was on her top 3 cheat list. Barry was then glad when Oliver decided to work along with him.
The following day, Barry arrived late for the training, despite his speed. Barry was told by Oliver that he always ran in blind and he has a lot to learn. Barry was told to run a distance and run back where he'd get shot by an arrow where Barry told Oliver he wasn't going to be shot. Barry proved him wrong by catching the arrow though he was struck in the back by 2 bolts which Oliver had set up. At the precinct, Barry was told once again not to trust the Arrow, though Barry defended him, saying he's the reason they had Bivolo's name. Barry then decided to cut off the partnership and go after Roy himself. Barry was whammied by Roy but he believed there was no effect on him. Barry proceeded to bring up Ronnie in front of Caitlin. He later met up with Oliver where he told him that he believed Oliver was jealous of him. At the precinct, Barry lashed out at Captain Singh. Later on, Barry attacked Eddie and threw him out of Iris' car. As he was about to beat Eddie, Barry was snared in a grappling arrow from Oliver.
Barry then pulled the rope from the arrow and dragged Oliver down an alley. When Oliver fired two arrows, Barry dodged them, believing Oliver had missed, though he failed to realize there was an electricity box behind him. Oliver then injected Barry with two thousand milligrams of horse tranquilizer, though his metabolism burned it all off. Barry then ran circles around Oliver and as Oliver used one of his arrows to get on the roof, Barry reached the roof first and knocked Oliver down. Barry then dodged a few hits from Oliver before punching him several times. Barry then caught two arrows which Oliver had set up to his motorbike.
Barry was then shot in the leg with a flechette and then held by Oliver as Joe and Harrison arrived to reverse the effects from Bivolo. Barry and Oliver went on to take down Bivolo and look him in the prison in S.T.A.R. Labs. The following day at Jitters, Barry apologized to Oliver for his actions and his words, but was then warned by Oliver that guys like them can never get the girl because of what they do.
That night, Barry visited Iris at Jitters, though he learned Captain Singh had called the task force to bring him in. He apologized for his actions, but Iris proceeded to tell him not to see her again. He again apologized for his actions and Iris apologized too. Barry then sadly ran off into the night.[42]
Barry arrived in time to intercept two boomerangs from striking Oliver. Barry ran to the arrow-cave and performed the salmon ladder at super speed in front of Caitlin and Felicity. Barry then stated the salmon ladder made him hungry for sushi, which he quickly grabbed before rushing back. When Barry returned to the Arrowcave, he had blown his identity to Lyla Michaels, who he thought was Diggle's wife. Barry offered to help with the case, though Oliver told him that things are a lot different.
Barry told Oliver that he had begun to approach cases more carefully rather than just running into them. Oliver then accepted his help and told Barry they needed to reassemble the boomerangs to which Barry did swiftly. Barry and Oliver visited Quentin Lance where Quentin had forgotten his name and believed it to be "Bart". Quentin also believed that Barry was hit by a bus, rather than lightning, though Barry corrected Quentin. Barry asked Quentin about Klaus Markos where he learned enough information to track Klaus down. Barry was later surprised that Oliver was part of the Bratva, where Oliver told him that he's no longer a member. At the Bratva's hideout, Barry managed to subdue the members before Oliver arrived. After Oliver tortured Klaus, Barry brought Klaus to the Starling City Police Department and cuffed him to a drawer.
When Barry returned, he admitted that he should have listened to Harrison Wells and Joe West. When Oliver told him that Starling City isn't always sunny and that he had friends and family murdered, Barry interrupted Oliver, saying he watched his mother get murdered also. Barry then told Oliver that he doesn't use his own personal tragedies to torture whoever pissed him off. Oliver then made it clear to him if his way of dealing with criminals was too hard then Barry was not allowed to stay and help. When they believed they had tracked Digger Harkness, Barry and Oliver arrived at the warehouse, though they realized that they were played. When they returned, they found Lyla in critical condition where Barry rushed her to Starling General Hospital. After Oliver blamed himself, Barry reassured him it wasn't his fault.
When Oliver told Barry that everything he had been through taken away his humanity, Barry told him his humanity is what got him through everything. Barry and Oliver arrived later arrived a the train station where they had tracked Digger. Digger told them that they can stop him, or 5 bombs from detonating. Barry left to defuse the bombs while Oliver dealt with Digger. When Barry arrived at the first bomb, the team quickly realized that the bombs are linked and if one is defused, the remaining will detonate. Cisco told Barry that he needed to cut all 5 wires at the same time though Barry reminded him he wasn't Multiplex. Barry then quickly grabbed Felicity, Caitlin, Roy, and Cisco to the other four bombs where the five of them managed to cut the wires simultaneously and stop the bombs from detonating. At the arrow-cave, Barry was surprised when he had a mannequin set up for a future team-up. When Oliver said he will still be calling the shots, Barry told him that they'll see about it. Barry and Oliver then went to a warehouse to settle once and for all, who would win in a fight. Before the dueled, Barry told Oliver that he could still inspire people, but as Oliver Queen. Barry managed to catch two arrows from Oliver before charging towards him and dodging multiple arrows.[43]
Barry visited the West household for Christmas. When he set up the Christmas tree using his speed, he was told to remove what he had added as the only red suited man Joe wanted to see in the house was Kris Kringle. Iris shortly arrived with eggnog using her grandmother's famous recipe. Barry and Iris shortly exchange gifts where he gave Iris a replica of her mother's wedding band. Iris gave Barry a microscope which she thought was lame but Barry claimed he loved it. They were shortly interrupted by Eddie who joined them for tree trimming. Barry went to S.T.A.R. Labs where he brought the team gifts as well as Grandma Esther's eggnog.
After an attack at Mercury Labs, they discovered it was the work of the man in yellow. Barry quickly wanted to go after him but was told by Joe that the speedster took all the evidence and threatened to kill Iris. At the precinct, Barry had memories of the night as he looked upon his bulletin board. He was visited by Iris who had been calling his name multiple times. Iris told Barry that Eddie had asked her to move in and she said yes. She then asked if Barry had feelings for her as Eddie was under the influence that he liked her. Barry quickly denied the suggestion.
As Iris left, Barry sulked to himself but moments later saw the man in yellow, the Reverse-Flash, watching him just across from the precinct. Barry chased after the Reverse-Flash and begging to know why he killed his mother, but the Reverse-Flash told him if he wanted to know he'd have to catch him. The two race down towards a stadium where they battled though Reverse-Flash quickly defeated Barry. Barry asked the Reverse-Flash who he really was but the man claimed Barry already knew who he was, that they had been fighting each other for years. As Barry tries to fight back the Reverse-Flash subdued him and told Barry it was his destiny to die at his hands, just like it was mother's. The following day, Barry told the team about what had happened. After Barry believed he couldn't catch him, Wells reminded that force fields are impervious to speed.
Barry and Joe are visited by Tina McGee at the precinct who brought an unsigned warrant. Barry blackmailed Tina into giving them the tachyon prototype within the hour. Barry was then told by Joe and Wells that it's best for him to stay away while they capture the man in yellow. Barry argued that it's his fight though they still shut him down. Barry visited his father and told him that he had found the man who murdered Nora. When he apologized for failing to catch the man, his father reassured him that it wasn't his fault. Barry was then told to stop pursuing that man as everything that happened to Barry was influenced by the murder. His father noted that he had given up the chance to be with Iris because he was too consumed with what happened. His father then told Barry to not let the man take anymore from him. Barry then went to visit Iris and confess his feelings, leaving Iris in tears.
Barry received a text from Caitlin that Reverse-Flash was attacking S.T.A.R. Labs. When Flash arrived he attacked the Reverse-Flash though was quickly defeated again. Before the Reverse-Flash can kill him however Flash is saved by a seemingly alive Ronnie who quickly fled shortly after. Back at the precinct, Barry and Joe recount the early days of Barry moving in. Joe claimed that Barry changed the atmosphere of the house and asked Barry to move back in. They then return to Joe's home for a Christmas gathering where he gave his best wishes to Eddie and Iris.[16]
Upset he couldn't stop the Reverse-Flash in their last encounter, Barry trained harder. He had Cisco use a drone to fire ammunition at him, all of which he evaded. He then had Cisco fire a missile, which Barry successfully grabbed and threw towards the drone. Shortly after Snart re-emerged, Barry quickly realized Snart was setting a trap for the Flash. Barry vowed to take Snart down but Wells told Barry to set his priorities straight and focus on taking the Reverse-Flash down. Barry went to Joe and told him he was going to focus on the Reverse-Flash and left Snart to Wells and Cisco, much to Joe's dismay. At S.T.A.R. Labs, after Caitlin brought up how Ronnie brought her scuba diving, Barry realized Firestorm wasn't a word but indeed an acronym.
After Leonard Snart and Mick Rory steal the Fire & Ice painting from the Rathaways, many of the CCPD were injured and Barry admitted to Joe he should've listened and focused on the current situation. Wells apologized to Barry for pushing him to focus on the Reverse-Flash but Barry told Wells he made the decision on his own. After Snart and Rory made their public address to the Flash, Barry goes after them, making himself public for the first time. Though Snart and Rory get the upper hand at first, Barry realized in order to cancel the two's weapons out, he had to move slower. When Leonard told Barry he won this time, Barry responded that there won't be a next time. The following day, after Iris had moved out, Barry moved back in with Joe.[44]
With the assistance of his team, Barry took down the Royal Flush Gang with ease. When he returned to S.T.A.R. Labs, the team took a group photo. After Wells was attacked by Hartley Rathaway, Barry went over to his mansion. When he noticed the shatter of the glass, he realized it couldn't have been a teenage prank. At his lab at CCPD, Barry demonstrated how Hartley likely used some sonic technology when he attacked Wells. After Eddie reported an attack on Rathaway Industries, Caitlin called Barry but Barry told Caitlin he already knew why she was calling.
Original timeline: Barry quickly took down Rathaway, who told Barry he can hear Cisco, Caitlin, and Wells through the radio waves. After Wells admitted he knew the chance of failure of the particle accelerator, Barry told Wells he owed Caitlin and Cisco more than an apology, as they stuck around when everyone abandoned him. Later that night, Barry and Iris had a coffee at Jitters discussing how people they admire aren't who they seem to be. When Hartley broke out of the prison, Barry rushed to S.T.A.R. Labs though Hartley had left by then. When Hartley attacked the Keystone Cleveland Dam, Barry rushed over and arrived in time to save a woman who Hartley threw off. Hartley used the data on Barry's molecular scans to stop Barry once he was disarmed. Hartley was then stopped after the team hacked into the frequencies after the cars at the dam to send out waves powerful enough to stop Hartley. When Wells told Barry he wished to regain the trust of the team one day, Barry told him he already had.[45] Due to a timeline change caused when a future version of Barry time-traveled from 2016, most of these events have been erased and replaced by the following.
Current timeline: When dealing with Rathaway, Barry was taken away by another version of himself, who tranquilized him and switched their Flash emblems in order to temporarily replace him. Barry later awoke and rushed into S.T.A.R. Labs, asking where the other Flash was. The other Barry explained that he was him from the future and was being chased by a Time Wraith. When older Barry tried to run back to his time, the Time Wraith caught up to him, so younger Barry attacked it, diverting it long enough to allow his older self to return to the future as the Time Wraith followed him.[46]
Barry saved a couple from a burning car, Cisco told Barry he couldn't be mad for dirtying his suit, to which Barry asked when he could start calling it "his" suit. While Barry was investigating Clay Parker, he was greeted by his father. When Barry brought the DNA samples to S.T.A.R. Labs, they realized Shawna Baez was also involved. Barry and Caitlin discuss how they both don't have much of a social life where they were interrupted with a sighting of Shawna Baez and Clay Parker. Barry rushed to the scene and was shocked when he learned Shawna can teleport. He was shot at in the neck by Clay Parker but managed to stop the bullet, though the two escaped. Barry stopped by to help Iris with a report, though she already had plans with Eddie.
Barry then decided to drop by a south-side dive bar with Caitlin to check if Shawna and Clay returned to old habits. After Caitlin had a few drinks, she walked up to the stage drunk and called Barry out to join her. The two then sang "Summer Nights" where Caitlin was shocked Barry could sing well. After their duet, Barry was greeted by Linda Park, who offered him her phone number. Barry then took Caitlin back to her apartment and put her to bed. The following day, Barry teased at Caitlin for what happened the night before. Barry was called and told that his father was beaten by Julius.
Barry asked who attacked him and went after Julius. Barry broke Julius out and told him he wouldn't return him to prison, causing him to face more time if he didn't give him Clay and Shawna's next heist. After Barry was told they were in St. Louis, Barry decided to leave Julius out for beating his father. While chasing Clay and Shawna, Barry busts out all the lights in the tunnel they were in, disabling Shawna's teleportation abilities and locking her in a one way glass. Later, Barry decided to call Linda Park and asked her to go on a date. Barry gave Iris information on Clay Parker to use for a report for the Central City Picture News. He then picked Linda up and the two go for a date. That night, Barry went back to Iron Heights to check on his dad. When Henry began putting the pieces together that Barry was the Flash, Barry claimed he would've told his dad if he was the Flash. Barry was then told that the world is dangerous and told to be careful and that his father was proud of him for saving many lives.[47]
Barry took Linda on a dinner date at a Mexican restaurant. While Linda went to wash her hands, Barry was notified of a robbery at a convenient store and quickly settled the robbery. The following day, Barry had another date with Linda but had to end the date early after Wells and Caitlin spotted Firestorm. Barry tried to stop Firestorm and told him they could help but Firestorm attacked Barry and flew off. Barry and Caitlin then tried a different approach, bring Martin Stein's wife along this time, which Martin finally agreed to get help. Linda called Barry to break up with him as she felt he didn't care enough in the relationship as he often ran off and made excuses. Linda told Barry that it's hard to date someone new when you aren't over someone and understood.
Barry went to ask Iris why she told Linda he had feelings for her still and told Iris he no longer had feelings for her. At S.T.A.R. Labs, the team learn that Ronnie and Martin could go nuclear and level the entire city, unless the host body was killed. Barry went to offer Ronnie/Martin some pleasantries though Ronnie told Barry he overheard the conversation. Barry went to Central City Picture News and told Linda he was going to eat a ghost pepper if she didn't agree on another date. Barry took a bite after she believed he was bluffing and Linda agreed to go on another date and offered him some milk. Barry returned to S.T.A.R. Labs and the team decide to use a quantum splicer on them two separate but learn Martin had left already. Barry and Caitlin rush over to Martin and the two told Martin that they have a way to separate them.
After the quantum splicer was placed, Firestorm reacting, believing they had failed, Barry grabbed Caitlin and ran off to safety as an explosion set off.[36]
After they got to safety, Caitlin worried they were exposed to radiation, though Cisco informed them there were none. They went back and were pleased when they learned they successfully separated and took them back to S.T.A.R. Labs. Barry was contacted by Joe and was informed what he learned with Cisco the previous day. They brought the news to Wells who told them time travel is indeed possible. Barry then went to ask more about time travel with Martin Stein who suddenly had a panic attack when General Eiling attacked CC Jitters.
Barry rushed over to stop Eiling but the latter used kinetic needles to stop Barry. They later learn that Martin and Ronnie are still connected. At his home, Barry asked how Joe knew whose blood sample to match and was told that Joe asked Cisco to match the sample with everyone who worked at S.T.A.R. Labs. Barry then told Joe to not worry as he was sure Wells had nothing to do with his mother's murder. After Martin was captured, the team track him down and Barry, along with Ronnie go to rescue Martin. Barry was hit with a weaponized phosphorous and began running in circles to burn it off. After Eiling had the upper hand, he prepared to kill Firestorm though Barry stopped Eiling in time and Barry returned to S.T.A.R. Labs with Firestorm. Later, Barry told Joe that when the time came, he wouldn't fail like he believed he had in the past and he would save his mother.[48]
After Barry loses a USB drive containing information on various crime scenes and searches for it at S.T.A.R. Labs with little success, but his attention was quickly diverted when Cisco told him of a possible metahuman, Mari McCabe whom Cisco nicknames "Vixen". However Cisco also informs Barry that Mari was currently living in Detroit and not knowing what to expect Barry went to Oliver for help and the two headed to Detroit to confirm whether or not she is a threat. Flash and Arrow arrived at the house of Mari's foster father Chuck but when she saw the vigilantes she immediately ran and they gave chase. Flash gave chase to Mari whose speed was just as fast as his and asked her to stop but she refused and displayed incredible strength caused Flash to fly back several blocks, but eventually resumed the chase with Arrow. Mari then displayed the ability to run up a building forcing Flash and Arrow to take the fight to the rooftops. Despite the combined efforts Mari continued to outrun Flash and dodge Arrow's shots, even crushing his arrows with her bare hands.
Mari also displayed the ability to camouflage but Arrow attempted to restrain her with a jettisoning arrow but she outran it, only to slip off the side of the building but then displayed the ability of flight which highly impressed Flash. As Mari attempted to fly away Arrow convinced her to come back as they just wanted to talk, though Flash wanted to handle the talking claiming to be better at it but Arrow simply reminded him he just puts meta-humans in the pipeline. However Mari shot down Flash and Arrow's claim that she was a meta-human claiming that she wasn't in Central City when the particle accelerator exploded, which Felicity was able to confirm. Though Flash was unconvinced Arrow offered their help to Mari to understand what she can do but she turned them down as she was uninterested and warned them that if they ever showed up at Chuck's house again, she'd kill them and flew off.[49]
Ignoring Mari's warning Flash and Arrow returned later to her house, where they discovered she'd become a vigilante herself, and Arrow questioned her intentions to take on Detroit's criminals without training. However Mari convinced them to let her try things her way for a while and Arrow agreed and wished her luck as Flash reminded her they could still help if she needed them to. After Mari asked if they had an idea of a name for her Flash told her that Cisco had been calling her Vixen, and he quickly tried to cover up mentioning Cisco causing Arrow to ask if Barry and Felicity were separated at birth. Arrow also learned that Flash kissed her causing him to speed off in worry.[50]
Barry took Linda bowling where they bumped into Iris and Eddie. The two join them but later, Eddie and Barry were called after a silent alarm went off at the Central City Morgue. Barry ran ahead and investigated the crime scene prior to returning as his CSI job and on his way, he noticed another Flash running beside him. After listening to a recording, they learned that it was Mark Mardon who attacked the Morgue. The following day, while Barry and Joe were discussing over a drive, they were attacked by Mark Mardon, though Barry got Joe to safety in time. Barry and Iris later went to CC Jitters where the latter told Barry that she suspects Wells had to do with Stagg's murder. Barry told Iris that Wells is a great man and she won't find such a story. Barry later told Cisco and Caitlin from what he heard from Iris but still denied the fact that Wells had involvement in Stagg's disappearance. After Mark attacked the precinct, Barry ran over in time to stop Mardon with the Wizard's Wand, though Mark escaped. The following day, Barry dropped by and conversed with Mason Bridge about Harrison Wells.
Barry asked Mason what evidence he had on Wells and was told to read about it like everyone else. After Joe was kidnapped and held hostage by Mark Mardon, the latter called Iris to meet him at the waterfront. Barry went to help Iris. Linda stopped by the precinct to talk to Barry, though Barry told Linda there was something more important, though not what she thought was going on. At the waterfront, realizing the danger, Barry told Iris to get out and get to safety, though Iris confessed her love for Barry. The two share a kiss before Barry revealed his alter-ego to Iris. To stop Mark Mardon's wave from destroying the city, Barry ran back and forth the seawall to create a barrier of wind and doing so, he accidentally traveled back in time as he watched his past self run towards the morgue.[25]
At the morgue, Barry was confused at what was going on, quickly solving everything. At S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry finished off everyone's sentences and Wells quickly realized that Barry had traveled back in time. Wells then warned Barry to not alter any events, big or small as it could cause a cataclysm. Ignoring Wells instructions, Barry tracked down Mark Mardon and brought him to the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator prison. Wells told Barry that even though he may have saved many lives, time would find a way to repair itself. Barry ran as fast as he did previously in an attempt to go back once again, though to no success. At Central City Picture News, Linda told Barry that she knows he still had feelings for Iris and broke up with him, though wished him luck with Iris. Barry then told Mason he knew he suspected something wrong with Wells. Later that night, Barry and Cisco grab a drink but Barry ended up leaving Cisco with Lisa, unknown to him who she really is. The following day, Barry confessed his feelings to Iris, though to his surprise, she didn't feel the same way.
After a report of Snart and the Santini crime family casino, Barry rushed over and held Lisa hostage. Snart told Barry to let her go as he told Barry he has Cisco hostage. After the two left, Barry returned to the labs as a CSI where he was punched by Eddie for trying to win Iris over earlier. The following day, Cisco showed up at S.T.A.R. Labs and quit, feeling guilt for revealing Barry's identity. Barry told Cisco that he shouldn't feel sorry but Cisco still felt the guilt. Barry and Caitlin later realize the casino wasn't the target but a way to trigger a money transfer. Barry chased after Leonard, Lisa, and Mick and captured Leonard. Barry told Leonard he could lock him up for good but Leonard told him then there would be no way of stopping his broadcast of him revealing Barry's identity. Barry told Leonard that if he was good as he claimed he is, he shouldn't need to kill. Barry then told Leonard if he hurt anyone close to him, he would go after him, no matter who Leonard told his secret to. At Jitters, Eddie apologized to Barry for hitting him and learned that Caitlin told Iris and Eddie about his "lightning psychosis". Barry later went to ask Wells about Stagg but before he could ask, he saw a report of Mason Bridge missing. He later called Joe and admitted that he was right about Wells.[51]
Discovering Wells' true identity
Barry and Joe discuss over Wells and while Barry believed he could be the Reverse-Flash, Joe told Barry that the blood at the house didn't match his. Barry then rushed over to a terrorist attack by Axel Walker, who claimed himself as the Trickster. They learn that Axel is a copycat of James Jesse, who had killed 10 civilians and 2 cops prior and now facing life sentences at Iron Heights. Barry and Joe head over to Iron Heights where James Jesse told them Axel likely found his lair. On their way out, Barry stopped by his father's cell and told him he has gotten closer than he had before in investigating his mother's murder. Iris later called the Flash to ask for help for the investigation on Mason Bridge's disappearance. Axel then made an address that he had planted a bomb somewhere in Central City. When Barry couldn't find the bomb, Wells told him it was a trick but Barry thinks that there is another way. As Barry kept looking, Wells theory was indeed correct as Axel broke James Jesse out and took Henry Allen hostage.
Upset his father is held hostage and possibly killed, Joe was comforted by Barry and while the latter no longer trusted Wells, Joe told Barry it didn't matter why Wells was helping and the only thing that mattered was that he did. After they tracked down the Tricksters, Barry ran over but Axel planted a kinetic bomb so if Barry didn't run over 600 mph, the bomb would go off. Barry was told by Wells to phase through a wall but Barry says that he can't. Wells told Barry to feel the power and electricity and that he was now part of a speed force. Barry ran through a truck, getting the kinetic bomb off and returned to City Hall to give everyone an antidote. Barry then went to rescue his father before knives could drop on him. Barry then confirmed his father's prediction that he is indeed the Flash. At S.T.A.R. Labs, Henry thanked Wells for taking care of Barry, though Barry didn't seem to happy. The two share a hug before Henry was brought back to Iron Heights. At the precinct, Barry revealed his identity to Eddie and told Eddie to get Iris to stop looking in on Mason Bridge. Barry then described Wells' speech and deduced that he is indeed the Reverse-Flash.[29]
Barry, Eddie, and Joe quickly took down a group of robbers and apprehended them. The following day, they went to Hudson University where Lindsay Kang was stung to death. Barry brought a sample back to S.T.A.R. Labs and they were soon joined by Felicity and Ray Palmer, though Barry told Felicity it wasn't the best time for a visit. At Jitters, Barry and Felicity were interrupted by Eddie and the three ended up making dinner plans between Eddie, Felicity, Barry, Ray, and Iris. Soon after, Bill Carlisle was attacked at Folston Tech but Barry was too late by the time he got there. He was then attacked by Brie Larvan's bee's and went unconscious. With a defibrillator Cisco built in, the team regained Barry's consciousness. Later that night at the dinner, Barry informed Felicity who Wells really is after Ray discussed how Wells was his personal hero.
After things at dinner went downhill with Eddie and Iris, Barry was called back to S.T.A.R. Labs where they learned the bee's were all robotic. At Jitters, Felicity told Barry to inform Caitlin and Cisco about Wells, though Barry told Felicity it could backfire. Barry later told Iris to trust Eddie and that Eddie only wants to keep her in the light. The team later learned Brie went to her next target, Tina McGee and Barry went to Brie's hideout while Ray went to save Tina. Brie sent bee's to attack Barry but Felicity hacked into the software and shut the bee's down and restrained Brie. Barry rushed over to Cisco after he was stung by a bee and vibrated his hand to use as a defibrillator.
After Tina thanked Barry for the help, Barry asked what happened between her and Wells and learned one day Wells became a completely different person. Barry later called Caitlin and Cisco over and told them about why he and Joe had learned about Wells. When Caitlin was hesitant to believe them, Cisco told them he has had dreams of Wells murdering him.[52]
Barry ran over to Coast City and returned to Central City with pizza. At Joe's house, they inform the rest of the team that Joe and Cisco are headed to Starling City to investigate Wells. Later, Eddie called Barry when there was a report of a male who was trying to sell jewelry which was stolen the night before. Barry rushed over but learned the man was a shape-shifting meta-human. When the team feared the meta-human could copy Barry's powers, they told him to keep his hands off him. When Caitlin went to Wells' mansion, Barry rushed over and took her away and told her not to tell Wells anything. Eddie and Barry went to contact Mrs. Bates though soon realize it was actually Hannibal Bates. After Hannibal framed Eddie, Barry ran Eddie out of the precinct and told him S.T.A.R. Labs could keep him off the grid until they cleared his name but Eddie told him to do it the right way and Barry returned him to the precinct. Barry later got a visit from Eddie and was told Captain Singh called in a favor.
As Barry turned his back, Eddie, who actually was Hannibal, hit Barry and hid him. Barry was later found by Caitlin and they return to S.T.A.R. Labs. Caitlin presented Barry with a serum which could disable his shape-shifting abilities. They then got a ping from Barry's phone at the airport and Barry ran over. Barry quickly spotted Hannibal and the two quickly fought before Hannibal was shot with the serum. Barry later gave DA Cecile a full list of everyone Hannibal had impersonated. Later, Joe and Cisco presented with their discovery in Starling City, the corpse of the real Harrison Wells. Upon seeing this Barry realized that Tina's words about Wells being a different person were true as the "Wells" they knew was an impostor. While Cisco was looking through the schematics of S.T.A.R. Labs, they spotted a hidden room. As they entered the room, they saw the Reverse-Flash suit as well as an article from 2024 reporting the disappearance of the Flash.[53]
They realized that "Wells" was from the future. Barry, Caitlin and Cisco were then greeted by Gideon who told Barry of his future. Barry, hoping to get some information out of it asked why Wells came to this timeline. Gideon revealed the grim, cold-hard truth; he came here to kill Barry. When they learn Wells was on his way, Barry quickly asked why he killed Nora Allen that night, where Gideon revealed that he did so out of anger after Barry escaped from him. When Wells was heading to the Time Vault, they quickly left. The team then help Cisco see his "dream" properly by constructing glasses that allowed lucid dreaming. At the precinct, Eddie asked Barry to ask Joe why he did not give his blessing for his proposal to Iris. Later, while Cisco was in his lucid dream, the team learned Wells' true identity, Eobard Thawne, who called them shortly after Cisco woke up. Eobard told him of a fire that just broke out and Barry rushed over. When Barry was unsure what to do, Eobard guided him to use his arms like a vacuum by rotating them fast enough.
Later, Eobard told Barry that the only thing stopping him from achieving his goals, 9s himself. Barry later told Joe that they need to recreate the events that happened in Cisco's dream. At S.T.A.R. Labs, Cisco had rigged the force field so instead of keeping a speedster in, it kept them out, which Barry had tested. Later, when Eobard returned from his lecture, Eobard managed to enter the force-field. As he prepared to kill Cisco, Joe fired three bullets at him, though Barry stopped most of them. The final one Barry was unable to reach and Eobard was shot and killed. Barry was upset that Eobard would never be able to confess however, it turned out to be Hannibal Bates.
They were then reminded by Eobard that he was always one step ahead. Barry told Eobard he could kill him if he'd just let his father out but Eobard told Barry he needed Barry alive. Cisco got a ping from Eobard's time vault and Barry ran over. Barry learned Eobard had camera's everywhere and had access to CCTV footage. Barry warned the team before running over to save Eddie and Iris. Eobard captured Eddie as Barry arrived. Barry told Iris everything was going to be ok and swore that he would bring Eddie home. As he ran off, Barry sent a static shock, much like he had when he was in a coma as Iris realized who the Flash really is.[39]
Barry looked everywhere for Eddie but to no success. When Captain Singh asked where Eddie was, Barry and Joe told Eddie was taking personal time off. When the gold reserve was being attacked by Grodd, who had controlled Eiling, Barry ran over but was quickly stopped as Grodd "whammied" both Eiling and Barry. Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, the team was greeted by Iris, much to the team's shock. Barry explained to Iris that there had been many times he wanted to tell Iris his secret but learned that Joe was right.
Barry and the CCPD later set a trap and capture Eiling. They locked him in the meta-human prison and learn he was controlled by Grodd. With the help of Iris, they learn of sewer workers going missing and Barry, Joe, and Cisco headed down to look for Grodd. Barry was whammied and knocked unconscious and Joe was kidnapped by Grodd. Later, Barry had Cisco build a tech so Grodd couldn't get into his head again. When Iris told Barry that he had been lying to her on the things that mattered most, Barry told Iris she had been lying about her feelings for him also. Barry cut himself off when he realized he couldn't have told Iris about the other timeline. Barry went 5.3 miles away from Grodd and ran toward him in an attempt for a super-sonic punch, though he had failed as Grodd cut his distance down.
Grodd threw Barry on a train track and as Barry's tech broke, Grodd had gotten into Barry's mind once again. As a train went toward Barry, Iris told Barry that he could defeat Grodd and save Joe. Inspired by Iris' words, Barry got out of the tracks on time and as the train passed, challenged Grodd. As Grodd jumped toward him, Barry got out of the way and another train passed and hit Grodd. Barry saved Joe and freed Eiling from the meta-human prison. Barry later told Iris that it's the thought of her that always kept him going. Iris then told Barry that she did have feelings for Barry but Eddie is her boyfriend and missing. Barry then told Iris that he would do the best he could to bring him back.[54]
After continuously searching, Barry told Iris he has yet to still find Eddie but promised he was trying his best. Barry was then called by Cisco who had learned Eobard had been using his wheelchair to absorb Barry's speed. When they learned the particle accelerator was turned on, they realize the reason they couldn't find Eddie and Eobard was because Eobard was holding Eddie hostage at S.T.A.R. Labs. When they opened the particle accelerator, Eobard escaped and Barry chased after him, though Eobard had gotten away. Later Barry apologized to Eddie for not finding him sooner.
Barry said they needed to get the meta-humans out as even though they are dangerous, they don't deserve to die. Barry suggested they transfer them to the super-max on Lian Yu. Desperate, Barry looked to Leonard Snart to help transfer the meta-humans, under one condition, Barry erase all criminal records of him, though Joe was very disappointed Barry looked to such lengths. They had the meta-humans placed in a truck owned by Cisco's family and used the device from Eobard's wheelchair to disable the meta-humans powers temporarily. Once they reached the hangar, the meta-humans had escaped and began attacking Barry, Cisco, Caitlin, and Joe. They then learned it was Leonard who had sabotaged the truck and let the meta-humans escape. Leonard told Barry he had done so as they all now owe him and could be useful as a part of his Rogues Gallery. When Barry asked why he had spared him, Leonard told him he now owes him as well.
At S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry felt guilt having his plan failed and wondered how Oliver could do whatever it took to get what he needed. The particle accelerator then was fully charged and online. Eobard approached S.T.A.R. Labs and Barry ran out to face him. Eobard told Barry he couldn't stop him if he had tried as Eobard was always faster. Barry was then joined by Firestorm and Oliver. Barry and Eobard faced off as Oliver tried to get a clear shot at Eobard. Barry was thrown towards a S.T.A.R. Labs sign and as Eobard used his hands as a vacuum to blow Firestorm away, Barry ran over to grab Firestorm. Barry ran back and stopped Eobard before he could kill Oliver. Barry and Eobard fought on the roof of S.T.A.R. Labs and Eobard was thrown off S.T.A.R. Labs by Firestorm.Eobard was then shot by Oliver with another nanite arrow, disabling Eobard's speed and making him unconscious. Barry thanked Oliver and Firestorm for their help and looked over Eobard, finally taking down the man who murdered his mother.[55] Barry ran off to Nanda Parbat and freed Oliver's friends. When Felicity asked to help save Starling City, Barry said he had a long overdue conversation with Eobard.[56]
Barry asked why Eobard he murdered his mother, Eobard told him he hates him for something future Barry had done. He reveals that killing Nora was not his original intention, as he really went back 15 years to kill Barry when he was still a child. When Barry got his past self to safety, Thawne was so angry that he took it out on Nora by killing her. Eobard then told both of them could get what they want, Barry return to save his mother which would allow Eobard to return to his time. Barry presented this information to the team who all agreed he should do so. Barry asked Joe why he was so supportive and Joe told him though he had been a great son, he wants Barry growing up with his mother and his real father. Barry told his father he could save his mother but Henry told him it was to dangerous due to the repercussions of time travel.
Iris told Barry she knew of a possible future of them being married in the future and joked she was never a fan of hyphenated names. Eobard explained how Barry was going to go back to the night his mother was murdered, he warned Barry that he could die if he didn't reach the right velocity. Later, Barry was informed that as well as dying, Barry could cause a singularity which could destroy earth and continue even after the earth is gone. Barry along with the rest of the team attended Ronnie and Caitlin's wedding before Barry prepared to save his mother. Barry said his goodbye's to his friends and foster family. Barry was then told he had 1:52 seconds otherwise a singularity would form. Eobard told Barry he holds both of their futures and then told him to run.
As Barry ran, he saw the past, present, and future before traveling back to the night his mother was murdered. When Barry arrived to the night, Barry looked on as his future self battled Eobard. His future self then signaled him to stay back and Barry looked away as his future self rescued his younger self and Eobard murdered his mother When Eobard had left, he went and told his mother that he and his father turned out to be ok. His mother looked at him, proud of her son, and Barry tells her goodbye, before she dies in front of him, her last words being "Goodbye, Barry".[18]
In the Flashpoint timeline, Barry, witnessing another future version of himself save his mother, uttered a faint laugh of bewilderment before fading away due to his timeline's resulting erasure.[57] In the post-Flashpoint timeline, this version of Barry was presumably reconstituted in the same moment to witness his mother's death as he did before.[58]
Barry returned and broke Eobard's time machine. Eobard asked why he didn't save his mother and have everything he had wanted and Barry told Eobard he already has. Barry and Eobard battled though Eobard quickly has the upper hand. When Eobard told he was going to kill as his friends and family, Eddie shot himself and Eobard fell back. Cisco quickly realized that Eobard was being erased from existence and before Eobard vanished, Eobard told Barry he controlled his life all his life and wondered how he would go on without him. A singularity formed in the particle accelerator and the team rushed out. As they watched the singularity eat Central City, Barry told the team he had to try and stop it, even with little chance of success. Barry ran through Central City and jumped towards the singularity.[18] As he stabilized the singularity, Firestorm flew toward the singularity and Barry watched as the two separate, causing the singularity to close. As Martin Stein plummeted to the ground, Barry caught him. When Caitlin arrived at their location and learned Ronnie didn't make it, Barry hugged Caitlin and looked toward the sky. For the next six months, Barry lived in solitude, blaming Eddie and Ronnie's deaths on himself.[1]
War against Zoom
Going solo
Eobard Thawne, as Harrison Wells left S.T.A.R. Labs to Barry in his will, yet six months after the issue with the singularity, Barry had still not dealt with the mail he'd been getting regarding the property.[1]
Flash Day
Barry investigated the crime scene involving the death of Al Rothstein. Barry identified that Rothstein was strangled by someone large, though assured Joe that it wasn't Grodd. That night, Barry cleaned up Jitters from the destruction caused by the singularity. Iris arrived and joked Barry should be a contractor, as she noticed night after night, buildings had been rebuilt. Barry told Iris he wasn't going to his rally, though Iris told him he should just go as the citizens of Central City deserve to see the man who saved the city. Barry then told Iris that he wasn't the man who saved the city. After Iris left, Barry remembered it was Firestorm who closed the singularity, causing the death of Ronnie Raymond. The following day during his rally, Barry decided to show and accept the key to the city, much to the cities joy. As the key was handed over, Atom-Smasher threw a grill toward the mayor, though Barry got the mayor away in time. After Atom-Smasher grew, the Flash picked up and threw two propane tanks for Joe to shoot. After the tanks exploded, Atom-Smasher shrank and his mask unfolded. Barry and Joe noticed that he resembled Al Rothstein and Atom-Smasher fled.
Later at the precinct, Greg Turk from Weathersby & Stone LLP gave Eobard's last will on a USB, stating it was meant for only him to view. Barry then had an alert of unauthorized entry in S.T.A.R. Labs, only to learn it was his team in the building. Barry told his team he didn't want them there, though he was told by Joe that he needed his friends. After Atom-Smasher was tracker, Barry ran out with his Flash suit, leaving the communication system behind. After landing a few hits on Atom-Smasher, the latter grew and strangled Barry with ease. After Cisco caused a distraction setting off the alarms, Barry managed to escape and run back to S.T.A.R. Labs, though he passed on soon after. When he woke up, Joe told Barry that he can't blame himself on the death of Eddie and Ronnie and that it was on the entire team. Barry then went to Caitlin to apologize for not saving Ronnie, though Caitlin told Barry it was her fault as at one point, Ronnie asked her to get away from Central City, though she refused. Barry and Caitlin then watched Eobard's last will, where he confessed to murdering Nora.[1]
Barry and Caitlin return to S.T.A.R. Labs and the former told the team he realized that the only way to stop Atom-Smasher was as a team. Barry attracted Atom-Smasher with a Flash signal. Barry had Atom-Smasher chase him to a local plant, where the former trapped the latter in an enclosed room, forcing Atom-Smasher to absorb more radiation than he could. Barry asked Atom-Smasher why he wanted to kill him and Atom-Smasher told Barry a man named Zoom would've brought him home if he killed him. Later, Barry then greeted his father at Iron Heights and brought him to Joe West's home, where Henry was greeted with a surprise party. Barry pulled his father aside to discuss future plans, though his father told him they can't live a life together as he didn't want to get in the way of his son being a hero.[1]
Meeting "Jay Garrick"
At S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry was told of his upgraded suit and the increased security, where they were interrupted by Jay Garrick who warned them on an oncoming danger in the form of the evil Speed Demon named Zoom.[1] Barry was told by Jay that when the singularity formed, it created a breach between both their worlds. Barry was then told by Jay that he was the Flash of his world. Jay told the team that he lost his powers and Barry quickly asked Jay how he lost them. Barry then told the team to do tests on Jay, warning the latter if he could have more enemies if they learn what he said was false.[6]
Barry later discussed with the team that nothing Jay said added up. Martin Stein then presented the team with the multiverse theory, telling them they need to find the breach and close it. Barry was later told by Caitlin that she ran a lie detector test while testing Jay and he passed it. Barry still reluctant to believe Jay, told Caitlin to continue running tests. Barry locked "Jay" in the meta-human prison and was told by the latter that he only wants to help, not harm. Barry was then told by Cisco about a fire and Barry ran off to extinguish it. Soon after he extinguished the fire, he was attacked by Eddie Slick. Barry went to tackle Eddie but Slick got away with his powers. The following day, Barry returned the scene as part of his job. Barry deduced that the fire was from an arsonist and was then greeted by Patty Spivot, who claimed to be a big fan of his due to his forensic reports. Patty told Barry she'd been trying to crack Joe's "no-code" and asked for any advice as she knew Barry grew up with Joe as his father. Barry told that it was unfortunate as he'd been trying to pick that since he was 11. Later, Barry told Patty he would try to put in a good word for her.
Joe told Barry that the Eddie Slick they have in custody is proven innocent. Joe asked if it was possible if the Slick that started the fire was from Earth-2. Despite evidence piecing together, Barry told the team he still refused to trust Jay. When Cisco said Jay was right about Zoom, Barry reminded Cisco that they don't even know anything about Zoom. After Barry told the team they need to be extra careful, Iris pulled him aside. Iris told Barry she knew he's only being extra-cautious was because of Eobard Thawne. Iris reminded Barry that not everyone is the same and he only was able to beat him because he trusted in others. After Eddie Slick took Patty Spivot hostage, Barry looked to Jay for help. Jay told the only way he could stop Slick was by hurling lightning at him, as lightning and sand creates glass.
For an hour, Barry ran in circles and hurled lightning at a dummy, with Jay continuously telling him to go slower so he could direct the lightning accurately. Cisco and Martin Stein then reported the two on Slick's whereabouts. Barry then told Jay that they could distract Slick, with Jay, as Slick is unaware Jay lost his powers. The team return Jay Garrick's helmet and the two Flash's join hands before leaving to rescue Patty. While Jay distracted Slick, Barry saved Patty from a concussion bomb. When Slick grabbed "Jay" by the throat, Barry ran in circles around Slick and successfully hurled lightning toward Slick, turning him into glass and shattering. Later, Barry apologized to Jay for not trusting him because of a former mentor. Later, Martin Stein told the team that the most significant breach was in S.T.A.R. Labs but shortly after, Martin collapsed.[6]
Snart family issues
While doing forensic work at the Central City Police Department, Barry was called by Iris, who was at Baldwin Tower investigating a real-estate scam. Barry told Iris to jump out the window as Barry ran over to catch her. As Barry got Iris to safety, Barry ran back to the tower and subdued the two men. At S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry and the team investigated the wormhole in the basement. Barry was told that they've tried sending objects in but they've all jumped back. Barry told the team Zoom may have been able to cross worlds due to him being a speedster and Barry may attempt to cross the breach. Unfortunately, Barry bounced back like the objects. The team deduced there's a hallway between the portals which continuously moves, therefore they need to create a "speed cannon".
Martin then told the team that they should all rest for the day. The following day at the grand-reopening of CC Jitters, Barry was shocked when he learned a beverage was named after him. Barry ran into Patty and they briefly conversed. Lisa Snart then bumped into the team, asking Cisco for the Flash's help as her brother was kidnapped. At S.T.A.R. Labs, the Flash asked Lisa why they should trust her due to them previously double-crossing them. When Cisco tracked Snart, the Flash told Lisa that they would see if she was lying and ran off. When Barry arrived, he found Snart, though he seemed fine. When Barry told Snart that his sister thinks he's kidnapped, Snart froze him. Barry was then introduced to Snart's father, as the two left. Cisco then used the thermal-threading he used on Barry's new suit to melt the ice.
Barry returned to S.T.A.R. Labs and told Lisa that Leonard wasn't kidnapped and was doing work with their father. When the team asked why they should trust her for a final time, Lisa showed them a scar that was given to her by her father. Barry approached Leonard at a bar and asked why he was working with a man he despised. Barry was told things were complicated but Barry asked what was wrong so he could help. Barry told Snart that he may have a code of honor now but his father doesn't, leaving no choice but to stop the two. Snart reminded Barry that he could still reveal his secret and left Barry to pay for his bill. Later, Barry was told by Joe that lied about his wife as she never died. Barry assured Joe that it was for the best as Iris may have gone down the wrong path with Francine West, giving Leonard Snart as an example. Barry then told Joe that he should still tell Iris the truth. The following day, Barry, Joe, and Patty investigate a body that was decapitated. Patty asked if it could've been by a meta-human but Barry told her it wasn't. Barry then quickly discovered that Leonard is only working for his father as Lewis had planted thermite in Lisa. Barry contacted the team, who discover Lisa was indeed injected with thermite.
When Barry and Caitlin search for the thermite with a magnet, Cisco told them to stop as the magnet cut set off the thermite. While Cisco told the team he would search for a way to extract the thermite, Barry told the team he should volunteer to replace Lewis Snart's new tech guy. Barry met with Leonard and told him of his plan. When their father arrived, Barry introduced himself as "Sam" and volunteered to join the team. To prove himself, Barry told Lewis that he helped his son steal the Khandaq Dynasty Diamond the previous year. Barry, Lewis, and Leonard arrive for a heist. When their ID's were failing, Barry told the security guards they should let them go before the managers start making complaints about the clogged toilets. When they arrived at the twenty-seventh floor, they find two security guards and Barry ran to subdue them as Leonard and Lewis argued. After Barry hacked into the security lock, Lewis fired a bullet at Barry, though Barry caught the bullet and faked being shot. Before Lewis and Leonard could get away, Barry intervened. Lewis told Leonard to fire his cold gun at him or Lisa dies. Barry told Lewis that the bomb was extracted by Lisa and Barry was then shocked when Leonard killed his father. As Leonard looked over his father, Barry took Leonard's cold gun, leaving him to be arrested. Barry payed a visit to Leonard at Iron Heights, telling him that he has good inside of him. As Barry left Iron Heights, he was told by Joe that the latter took his advice on told Iris of Francine. At Jitters, Barry ran into Patty yet again and was given her number. At S.T.A.R. Labs, the team learn Jay Garrick had completed the "speed cannon". Before he left, the team managed to convince him to stay until they defeat Zoom.[59]
Finding a new Firestorm
Barry and the S.T.A.R. Labs team aided Martin Stein who had yet another reaction. After Cisco used the stabilizer Eobard used on his wheelchair, Barry was told the stabilizer would be transferred over to a power cane. Barry was then told by Caitlin that the latter found potential candidates that could be compatible with Stein. Barry then ran over to the two, quickly snatching blood samples from them for Caitlin to further examine if they are indeed compatible with Stein. Barry was later told by Patty Spivot of a "man-shark" sighting.
When Patty asked if they could work on the case together, Barry told her he isn't into meta-humans, though told her he would run tests on the shark tooth. Barry was then called back to S.T.A.R. Labs, where the debated with Caitlin who was more compatible for Stein. Barry pointed out Jefferson Jackson had the physical attributes and his alleles matched more than Henry Hewitt. Caitlin told Barry that Hewitt is a scientist and someone who was trying to make something for his life. Barry and Stein went to Jackson, telling him they're an agency collecting data on everyone affected by the particle accelerator. They were told that he doesn't like talking about the night as his life fell apart because of it. Barry gave him their number and asked him to think on it. When Barry and Stein returned to S.T.A.R. Labs, they found Hewitt. When Stein and Hewitt made an attempt to merge, they were unsuccessful. Jax later accepted his offer and arrived at S.T.A.R. Labs, where Barry revealed they couldn't fix his knee.
The team tell Jackson he could be a hero, though when they told him he'd need to merge with Stein, Jackson left. After Caitlin scolded Jackson for turning down being a hero, Barry told Caitlin that a decision like that can't be made lightly. Later, Barry told Patty the "shark tooth" had human DNA. Barry was later told by Joe that he was aware of his feelings for Patty. Barry told Joe that she's great but not Iris. After Henry Hewitt went on a rampage, the team found his police record. After Jax accepted his destiny as Firestorm, Barry, Stein and Jax left to face off Henry Hewitt. They managed to evade his attacks until he became unstable and blew his fuse. Barry and Firestorm then brought Hewitt to the pipeline. The following day, the team said their goodbyes to Stein and Jax as the two left for Pittsburgh. Later that night, Barry ran off and watched Patty from a distance. When he was caught off guard, the man-shark grabbed him and told him Zoom wanted him dead. As Patty walked out, she shot the man-shark several times and the man-shark dropped Barry. The man-shark was suddenly shot by a hooded man. Barry chased after the man, who unveiled his hood and Barry was shocked seeing the face of Harrison Wells.[13]
Meeting Earth-2 Wells
Barry brought Harrison Wells of Earth-2 to S.T.A.R. Labs. Barry asked if he had any evidence if he was from Earth-2 and Wells presented the team with Caitlin's bag which Martin Stein threw into the portal. Cisco asked if he could be trusted and Barry told him that Wells saved his life. Barry proceeded to ask why and Wells told him it was to help him stop Zoom. Joe arrived and fired multiple bullets at Wells, though Barry caught them all. Barry pulled Joe aside, telling him that was Wells from Earth-2 and not Eobard Thawne. Joe asked how Barry could even look at him and Barry told Joe that he had to resist the urge to kill him. Later, Barry took Cisco to Jitters, though the latter expected alcohol rather than coffee. The two were interrupted by Patty, who told the two she was right about King Shark. Barry was asked if he could help Patty with a police report but told her he was busy.
After Patty left, Cisco asked why Barry hadn't asked her out yet. Barry asked Cisco when was the last time Cisco asked a girl for their number. Cisco made an attempt to ask Kendra Saunders out but was shut down. Cisco then had a vision of Dr. Light robbing Central City Bank and immediately reported to Barry. Barry asked how Cisco knew but Cisco told him to just hurry. When Barry arrived, Dr. Light used a blast of energy to escape. Barry managed to get a few civilians to safety, though Dr. Light escaped. Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Wells told Barry that she was a small time thief on Earth-2. He suggested they capture her and use her as bait against Zoom. Jay barged in and told him that Wells is insane. He told Barry that though Dr. Light is a thief, she isn't a killer and can be reasoned with. At the CCPD precinct, Barry asked Patty on a date, which she agreed on. Later, the team tracked down Dr. Light. When Barry went to confront her, he told her they could protect her from Zoom. Dr. Light told him that no one could protect her from Zoom, she flashed a light at Barry.
Barry told her for just a normal conversation and Dr. Light agreed. Dr. Light unmasked herself and Barry hesitated seeing Linda Park. After saying her name, a confused Dr. Light blinded Barry and fled. Fearing Dr. light may go after her Earth-1 doppelgänger, Barry told them they should look after her. After crashing into Caitlin and multiple objects, Jay and Caitlin told Barry to stay behind as they volunteered to look after Linda. Later, Barry went on with his date with Patty, wearing sunglasses with built in cameras for Cisco to guide him. Though he went on with the date smoothly, Patty eventually told Barry she knew he was blind. Barry told Patty that he had his pupils dilated prior and didn't want to cancel. After the date, the two kiss and Barry regained his sight, complimenting Patty's dress. The two were then called to report to Central City Picture News after Eric Larkin was killed by Dr. Light. At S.T.A.R. Labs, Jay apologized to Barry as he never thought Dr. Light would ever kill.
After Wells argued with Jay, the two fought, though Barry stopped the two. After Barry told Wells he had retrieved Dr. Light's mask, Wells revealed to the team Cisco is indeed a meta-human, using his Next gen watch to prove so. Barry asked why Cisco never told them and Cisco told the team he was going to eventually. After failed attempts at using his powers to locate Dr. Light, Wells forced it on Cisco. Cisco told Barry Dr. Light was trying to leave town at the South Plaza Train Station. Barry left and confronted Dr. Light once more. After evacuating the train station, he asked how he is supposed to stop Dr. Light. Wells told him to confused Dr. Light by creating speed mirages. Barry told Wells he isn't able to but was told if he was able to travel through time, he should have no problem creating the after images.
Barry went on and created speed mirages but Dr. Light sent a blast of light around her, knocking Barry away. Barry told him he couldn't do it but Jay told him he could. Barry went on to create the after images once more and knocked Dr. Light out. After locking Dr. Light up in the pipeline, Barry told them they should listen to Wells and use Linda as bait. A frustrated Jay told them once more they can't trust Wells as he has as many secrets as the one they knew. At Jitters, after Caitlin suggested Cisco should have a nickname, Barry suggested the name "Vibe".[60]
First battle against Zoom
Barry asked Dr. Light for help to stop Zoom, though Light urged him not to, though she eventually agreed. Barry told the team of the trap while Harrison Wells told them he developed a serum that could dampen Zoom's speed. Barry and Joe were then called to the CCPD precinct. At the CCPD, Barry was told by Patty that Joe shut her down on a case and asked if it was because of their kiss, though Barry told her he never told him. After Dr. Light escaped, Barry rushed over to S.T.A.R. Labs but was too late. In fear of Dr. Light going after Earth-1 Linda again, Barry had Iris take Linda into her home. Barry and Joe then had an argument that they shouldn't go after Zoom just yet.
Barry reminded Joe that he always said it's good to play offense rather than defense at times but Joe told him that was for football tryouts. At Iris' house, Barry suggested they use Linda to lure Zoom, though realizing what he was saying was wrong, Iris told him it was a good idea. At S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry greeted Linda. The S.T.A.R. Labs team took Linda on a practice run. After a few attempts, Linda eventually succeeded. When he went to hi-five Linda, the latter accidentally fired a blast of light to the former, though he managed to evade it.
Later, Joe told Barry that Linda wasn't ready but Barry told him otherwise. Later that night, the Flash went to visit Linda. When Linda said she wasn't ready, the Flash told her she's one of the strongest woman he knew. When she asked what he based that on, he revealed his identity. The following day, Barry was asked by Patty if he could go out for dinner but Barry told her he had something else to take care of that night. At night, Barry and Linda faked a battle where the latter came victorious, though Zoom never showed. Later when Zoom eventually arrived and kidnapped Linda, Barry ran over. Zoom told him that he isn't the only one who fished with bait and proceeded to drop Linda off the roof of S.T.A.R. Labs. Barry ran down and slowed her fall down and caught her.
Barry then ran around S.T.A.R. Labs in circles and hurled lightning at Zoom, though the latter caught the lightning and hurled it back at him. Barry then made an attempt a free fall fight for equal velocity though Zoom still came on top. Zoom proceeded to beat Barry and broke his back. When Wells tried shooting Zoom with the speed dampening serum, Zoom caught it and used it against Barry. Zoom then dragged Barry to Central City Picture News and the CCPD, announcing their hero had been defeated. Barry was dragged back to S.T.A.R. Labs where Zoom shoved his claw like hands into Barry's abdomen, rendering Barry unconscious. When Barry woke up, he was told Linda left for Coast City. Barry then told the team he couldn't feel his legs.[24]
Grodd returns
Barry began walking around with a cane. At one point, he made an attempt to walk without it but to no success. Barry asked how much longer until he should be recovered and Caitlin told him he was almost completely healed. When Wells told the team he was returning to his earth, Caitlin tried to stop him but Barry told her to let him be. When Cisco had a reminder of his date, Barry teased him. Barry then had a call from Patty, who offered to make him chicken soup for his "sickness". Barry went to test his speed on the treadmill. When he tried to push himself, he had flashbacks of being defeated by Zoom and soon collapsed. When Joe asked what was up, Barry told Joe that he couldn't get over being destroyed by Zoom. Barry then told Joe he felt as if the city no longer see's him as the man strong enough to protect them.
Later, Joe alerted Barry and Cisco that Grodd had returned. The three chased after Caitlin but were too late. Barry felt guilty he couldn't do anything about it but Joe told him there was nothing he could do to help Caitlin. Later, when Barry ran on the treadmill again, he was greeted by his father, who was called by Iris. Barry caught up with his father and was told that it's good to slow down to get back where he wanted to be. They were then interrupted by Cisco, who had found where Grodd was hiding.
When Cisco told Barry he had a plan, Wells revealed himself in Eobard's suit and Barry tackled him. Cisco quickly rushed over and reminded Barry that was a different person and Barry quickly apologized. Barry introduced Wells to his father and told him he would explain "Earth-2" to him later. While Cisco and Wells went looking for Caitlin, Barry was told by Henry he saw what happened against Zoom. He told him that though the city may not believe in him, he would get through it as he had himself when he was framed for Nora's murder.
Barry was told that he needed to accept it and believe in himself to get through anything. Barry was also told that him believing his innocence when he was just a kid gave him all the hope he needed. When Wells and Caitlin returned to S.T.A.R. Labs, Wells suggested that they should send Grodd through a breach which would bring him the closest to home he could be. The team had Caitlin lure Grodd and as soon as Grodd caught her attention, Barry got her out of the way.
Barry told Grodd that if he wanted Caitlin, he would have to catch him first and Barry ran toward the area of the breach. When Grodd caught up, Barry once again had flashbacks of being defeated by Zoom and was knocked down by Grodd. Barry was pinned down by Grodd with a single foot and was asked where Caitlin was. Caitlin revealed herself and told him they now understand what he wanted. Grodd released his foot off Barry and the team turned the speed cannon on, opening the breach and Barry took Caitlin to safety. When Grodd resisted to go through, Barry ran around the city and "super sonic" punched him into the breach. At S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry asked if Cisco could reverse engineer the Eobard's Reverse-Flash ring so he wouldn't need to carry a bag around, in which Wells said he could help.
At Joe's house, Barry, Joe, and Iris showed Henry photos of Barry growing up with them. When Joe told Barry Patty wasn't buying his "sick" story, Henry asked if Patty was his girlfriend. Barry told him that he would tell him about her on the way to the bus station. At the CCPD, Barry explained he was keeping secrets was because his father was in town and was afraid that Patty wouldn't have a good image of him, despite his conviction being overturned. Barry was told by Patty that she isn't that kind of person and told her he should've given her more credit but Patty told him he should've given himself more credit. Barry and Patty then share a kiss.[61]
Vandal Savage
Determined to defeat Zoom, Barry continued to hone his speed. However he, quickly realized that he was not getting any faster, which Wells confirmed by pointing out that there were a number of reasons Zoom was more faster and stronger than Barry. Barry however concluded that they would just need to figure it out fast. He then went off to meet Patty. The next day Barry told Joe and Patty that a recent murder at the docks was committed by one man with the only evidence found being traces of a crystal that broke off the killers knives. Later at Jitters Cisco and Kendra were attacked by the same man. Barry quickly came to their aid and saved Cisco when the man threw a knife at him, which Barry stopped. This resulted in a grateful Cisco accidentally revealing Barry's identity to Kendra, much to Barry irritation.
Later, at S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry and the team determined that the man who attacked them was the same one who killed the others at the docks, with Barry noticing that the daggers were centuries old, and that the man kept referring to Kendra as a "priestess Chay-Ara", and seemed to know her despite Kendra claiming she grew up in Wisconsin and had never left the states. Knowing that the police could not protect Kendra, Barry decided to got to Oliver and his team for help in Star City. Barry proceeded to rescue Oliver, Thea, and Diggle from Damien Darhk and his soldiers from H.I.V.E. At the new Foundry, Kendra was introduced to the rest of the Arrow team.
When Thea suggested a description of the mysterious man, Barry used his abilities to draw a sketch of the man. Felicity proceeded to use face recognition software to find a match. When she did she discovered that the only known photo taken of the man was from 1975 meaning that the man should at least be in his 80's. Oliver proceeded to question Kendra more. When his questioning started to get harsh Barry stepped in, only for Oliver to point out that by asking them to help protect Kendra, and by bringing her to Star City, Barry put all of them in possible danger. Felicity proceeded to calm him down and suggested they all go back to their home to relax and catch up.
At Oliver's loft, Barry and Felicity proceeded to catch up and tell each other about what changes had happened recently in their lives. Barry then proceeded to go to Oliver and apologize only for Oliver himself to apologize and tells him that he was glad Barry came to them for help as it showed real maturity, something Oliver claimed he lacked. Soon after Oliver made a toast about how great it was to see everyone again. Later Barry went to Cisco to reassure him that they would keep Kendra safe. Cisco proceeded to tell him that when he kissed Kendra he got a "vibe" of seeing her with wings like a bird with a suit to match.
When Barry asked him why he didn't share this information sooner, Cisco told him it was because he thought it was unrelated until now and asked Barry not to tell her about his powers. Not wanting to risk damaging their relationship, Barry agreed to not say anything. Suddenly the man broke through the window of the loft. Barry quickly fetched Oliver's bow and arrows but the attacker began throwing knives at everyone, forcing Oliver to engage him while Barry protected everyone.
Eventually Oliver managed to shoot two arrows into the man's shoulders but Thea impulsively shot the man in the chest and he fell off the balcony. To their surprise, however, the man was nowhere to be found. Back at the Foundry the group tried to find out more about the mysterious man, until Barry suggested they use Cisco's powers. Cisco proceeded to tell Kendra about his abilities and the vision he got of her. Suddenly Malcolm Merlyn and the League of Assassins appeared and revealed the man's name was Vandal Savage; an immortal who has lived over centuries. Malcolm told them they could not protect Kendra, but Barry told Malcolm he was wrong and they could. Later when Hawkman abducted Kendra, Green Arrow and Flash searched for her and found Hawkman, and the two engaged him. He proved capable of fighting them both.
After working together they managed to subdue Hawkman and brought him back to the foundry where they questioned him, but he was only interested in Kendra who he also addressed as Chay-Ara. Upon being asked the man identified himself as Carter Hall but revealed that he was really the Egyptian Prince Khufu, and he and Chay-Ara were lovers who have reincarnated over the centuries after their deaths to find each other in each life. Carter also revealed that Savage has, for centuries, hunted down both Kendra and himself and has killed them 206 times, as their life-force is tethered to his, and every time he kills them, he becomes stronger with his immortality and healing reinforced. Barry was confident they could kill Vandal but Malcolm arrived again to inform them Savage has left and is now searching for the Staff of Horus, which will make him near impossible to defeat. Carter suggested that he be allowed to show Kendra how to activate her powers and memories.
Going to the top of a building Carter suggested Kendra jump off to unlock her potential. When she began to hesitate Carter pushed her only for Barry to save her. When he suggested she try again, Barry and Cisco refused. Oliver then pulled Barry aside and asked why he was acting the way he was, with Barry admitting that he felt the rules of how they stop evil keeps changing and how even with powers he still feels powerless. Oliver told Barry however that he had already done enough and after making a joke about Kendra giving him a "lift" back to Central City, they realized that's where the staff was located after remembering Kendra felt drawn to Central City, and came to the conclusion that both her and Carter are attracted to the items that destroy them, or are from their past. Felicity located the staff at a church in Central City. Oliver and Barry raced towards Central City to try and stop Savage, only for him to beat them to it. Oliver and Barry proceeded to try and take the staff away from Savage only for him to overpower them with the staffs power. Savage proceeded to blow the church up using the staff with Barry racing both him and Oliver to safety. Doubting Savage blew himself up the two considered the current situation a tie.[62]
As Malcolm Merlyn arranged a meeting to negotiate with Savage along with Green Arrow and the Flash, while running to the meeting, Barry saw a transparent version of himself come out of a wormhole before dissipating, hinting he would travel back in time soon. Savage demanded Kendra and Carter, or Central and Star City would be annihilated. As Cisco developed gloves to take the Staff of Horus from Savage to kill him, Barry and Oliver go and free Kendra and Carter before Savage kills them. Kendra's powers don't work, leading to her and Carter's death, making Savage near impossible to hurt. Barry uses the Staff against him to little effect along with Oliver. Oliver tells Barry to run, as he's fast enough, before Savage takes the staff and wipes out Central City with a magical blast, but not before Barry runs through a wormhole to allow him to re-live the last day. With encouragement from Oliver, Barry helps fix what went wrong before, allowing him and Green Arrow to vaporize Savage into ash with the Staff, destroying the weapon itself, and ending Savage for a time.[63]
A rogue team up
When Mark Mardon returns to break Leonard Snart and James Jesse out of Iron Heights, Barry must stop these rogues from taking over Central City during Christmas.[27]
Reverse-Flash returns
While trying to find a way to defeat Zoom, a meta-human named Russell Glosson appears. Barry tries to stop him from stealing Vandervoort diamonds at the CCPD but Glosson gets away. Believing where he would appear next, Barry and the team go the Central City Museum to stop him. He invites Patty to come with him and when Glosson shows up Barry tries to stop him but he drops a chandelier on top of Patty which causes to push her and get hit instead. He later visits her at her apartment who was upset at him believing he left her and after a small argument Barry leaves. He later discovers Glosson kidnaps Patty and goes after them. After an initial struggle Flash finally defeats him and saves Patty. While Flash was on patrol Cisco informed him of a runaway chemical truck but the Flash was unable to stop it as someone rigged it, and was set to collide with a building and destroy an entire city block. Fortunately the Flash found a spanner and literally unbolted all the tires, causing the truck to stop. However, the Flash was soon informed by Cisco that Turtle was dead and sped back to S.T.A.R. Labs, unaware he was being watched. At S.T.A.R. Labs Caitlin examined Turtle and deduced the cause of death was severe brain trauma and Jay noted it occurred the same night he was captured. Jay was quick to blame Harry but he denied any involvement as Barry went back to the precinct to follow up on the runaway truck case. While there however he was very shut off with Patty in regards to her leaving which she couldn't understand, but Barry simply stated that everyone he loves leaves eventually.[64]
Later Flash responded to a break in at Mercury Labs but was horrified to see the trespasser was a still alive the Reverse-Flash, though the Reverse-Flash was surprised to hear Barry call him by his real name and didn't seem to be aware of his death. Instead the Reverse-Flash simply told the Flash that he knew what time period he was from and that soon he would die, and the Reverse-Flash knocked him out and abducted Tina McGee. At S.T.A.R. Labs Harry surmised that Eobard is still alive because this is a younger version who hasn't yet traveled back in time to kill Nora, and travelling through the Speed Force protected him from timeline changes thus protecting him from Eddie's death thus; leaving a timeline remnant of the Eobard who would eventually go back in time and kill Nora. While the team worked on finding Eobard, Barry talked to Caitlin about Tina's abduction but she revealed that Jay was dying of an illness caused by Zoom taking his speed, but believed the way to cure him was to replace his dying cells with healthy ones but there was only one way to achieve this; his Earth-1 doppelgänger.
At the police station Patty asked Barry to look over the evidence from the truck incident which he agreed to but was distant with her, which Patty didn't understand why he was doing so but he simply said that everyone he loves leaves him eventually. Much later Patty, after looking over old case files and after learning of Barry and Joe's connection to S.T.A.R. Labs, learned Barry was the Flash and confronted him about it. Barry played dumb but Patty desperately told him he didn't need to lie to her anymore, understanding why he didn't tell her, but begs him to be honest now and she'll stay. However, Barry, not wanting another person for Zoom to target or stand in the way of her own future, refused to admit he was the Flash causing Patty to walk away in tears.
Later when Cisco was harnessing his powers to find Zoom he saw a vision of Eobard murdering Tina and taking off back to the future, but Harry was unable to find any trace of a tachyon device being used. However, when Cisco said he saw a clock with the time 9:52pm Harry revealed it was currently 6:00pm, revealing that he can see the future and the team began searching for Tina. With a mere few minutes left almost 3 hours later Cisco finally found Eobard and Flash spend in after him, stopping him from killing Tina and destroying the tachyon machine. However, the Reverse-Flash simply said he'd find another way back to his time and challenged him to a race and both the Flash and the Reverse-Flash sped around the city, but the Reverse-Flash was faster. However, the Flash this time managed to intercept his paths and dragged him into a warehouse where he proceeded to brutally beat the Reverse-Flash out of vengeance, ignoring Joe's protests not to but eventually listened and locked him in the pipeline.
At S.T.A.R. Labs Barry decided to talk to him to get some answers but Harry immediately protested as Eobard would learn more about him and the more he would alter the timeline, but Barry argued that Eobard killed his mother but Harry reminded him that this Eobard hasn't done that yet and doesn't know he's the Flash and he needs to keep it that way. Joe argued however that Harry already stated that Nora was going to die no matter what but Harry elaborated that Nora's death isn't set in stone, but altering her death will cause changes which no one can predict. Against Harry's advice Barry confronted Eobard anyway, remaining in the shadows so Eobard didn't see his face and asked Eobard why he despised him so much.
Eobard explained that once he was obsessed with the Flash so much he wanted to be the Flash and spent years learning how he came to be, and replicated the reaction that gave Barry his powers. Unfortunately after travelling through time he learned that he was never going to be the Flash but was destined to be his greatest enemy. Following this he grew bitter with resentment towards the Flash, believing himself to be superior he dedicated his life towards killing his opposite as the "Reverse-Flash". However, Barry was disgusted to learn that Eobard murdered his mother, accidentally informing Eobard that he murders his mother in his future, because he couldn't be him but Eobard angrily claimed to have become better than him, that he is the one thing Barry will never stop.
However, their argument was interrupted when Caitlin informed him that Cisco had begun seizing uncontrollably, and despite getting him stable Cisco physically began to fade out of existence. As everyone was stunned and clueless Harry realized that Eobard's capture ruptured the timeline and Cisco is being affected by the effects, and the only way to save him is to send Eobard back to the future. Barry however protested to sending away his archenem away but Joe supported Harry and encouraged Barry to agree. Barry reluctantly listened but reminded them he destroyed the tachyon device but Harry told them that he and Eobard running around the inner ring of the accelerator in unison, will provide enough the speedsters with enough momentum to break the time barrier and allow Eobard to go home.
In the pipeline Eobard was released as Harry talked to Flash, reminding him that this was Eobard's origins story and there is nothing that can be done to stop it but now he can send him home and move on. However, the Flash argued that no matter how far he sends him he'll always be a part of his life. As the Flash and Reverse-Flash stood side-by-side at the entrance into the pipeline the Reverse-Flash vowed they'd meet again, and the Flash agreed but promised that every time he'll be ready for him and both sped off. After gaining enough momentum the two opened a portal into the future and the Flash hurled the Reverse-Flash into the portal and returned the Reverse-Flash to the future, and Cisco's life was saved. Shortly afterward, Joe and Barry share a pep talk and they hugged when Patty called Barry telling him there is a man with a gun on the train she's taking out of town but as the Flash arrived he found no one, except Patty claiming it to be a false alarm. Knowing she knew his secret and was leaving, Barry finally stopped speaking with his altered voice and bid Patty farewell as she left for Midway City.[65]
Going to Earth-2
Using Harry's breach closing device, Barry speeds through Central City to close the other 50 remaining breaches except the primary one in S.T.A.R. Labs, though Wells secretly implants a device in Barry's suit's emblem to siphon his speed, hoping to exchange it to Zoom for his daughter's life. During a confrontation with a vengeful Joey Monteleone, who was hunting the people who tried killing him two years prior, the device begins discreetly stealing his speed, though the speedster is able to temporarily defeat Monteleone thanks to a misplaced attack releasing water from a fire hyrant, saving Clay Stanley in the process. Barry and the team learn about Monteleone's criminal history as well as his newfound powers through the particle accelerator explosion. Barry finds Monteleone at a drag race, where Wally and Iris were, with plans to kill Clark Bronwen. Monteleone caused Wally and his opponent's cars to hurtle toward Bronwen, forcing Barry to outrace them to stop the crash. Despite saving Clark, Barry was too slow to prevent Iris from getting injured, as a glass shard pierced her shoulder.
Barry lamented on how he failed to stop Iris from getting hurt, causing Harry to confess his involvement in slowing his speed. Barry learns from a guilt-ridden Harry that his intention was to save his daughter from Zoom, and is asked to be returned to his Earth through the last remaining breach and to seal it to prevent Zoom from returning. Instead, Barry sympathizes with Harry's situation, as the team would've done the same; Barry and the others then inform Harry that they'll go to Earth-2 with him to save his daughter.[66]
Afterward Barry, Cisco and Harry prepared for their journey to Earth-2 giving their goodbyes to Joe, Iris, Caitlin and Jay and when ready, Jay activated the Speed Cannon and Barry sped himself with Cisco and Harry into it and ventured through the multiverse.
Within he saw numerous other Earths throughout the Multiverse itself and various individuals and objects through existence itself including Connor Hawke/Green Arrow, a parallel Barry Allen/The Flash, Kara Danvers/Supergirl, Grodd, Jonah Hex and a Legion ring. After arriving on Earth-2 Barry and Cisco were in awe of how technologically advanced Earth-2 is, but they were caught off guard when they ran into the Earth-2 version of Henry Hewitt. Unlike Hewitt's Earth-1 counterpart this Henry was much more polite, much to Barry and Cisco's surprise. While in Wells' office Vibe attempted to use his goggles to find Zoom but the goggles wouldn't activate and Harry realized they were malfunctioning because the frequency is imbalanced, as Earth-2 vibrates at a different frequency.
However amidst their shock Barry saw his Earth-2 doppelgänger on TV being interviewed concerning an attack orchestrated by Zoom, trying assure everyone that "Detective West" has every cop searching for Zoom and promises to stop them. Knowing that he is still a CSI on Earth-2 and Joe is still a cop also Earth-1 Barry speeds after Earth-2 Barry and brings him to S.T.A.R. Labs who, understandably, is shocked to see Earth-1 Barry but becomes distracted when he sees Harry and admits how much of a fan he is. This also shocks Earth-1 Barry to see how much more geeky he is on Earth-2 but Harry distracted Earth-2 Barry while Earth-1 Barry uses a taser on him to knock him out. Switching his clothes with Earth-2 Barry, Earth-1 Barry goes to the C.C.P.D. of Earth-2 posing as Earth-2 Barry.
At the precinct Barry saw that Captain Singh's doppelgänger was a criminal and that Floyd Lawton/Deadshot's doppelgänger was a police officer. This version was also nicknamed "Deadshot" but not for his perfect aim but rather for his poor aim though he claimed he had gotten better. More surprisingly Barry discovers that Iris's doppelgänger is a police detective and realizes she is Detective West, but Barry is caught off guard when Iris sneaks him into the hallway and starts kissing him revealing she and Barry Two are married. With little choice Barry goes "home" with Iris to the Earth-2 version of Joe's house where Iris tells him his mother left a message, much to Barry's shock.
Barry calls Earth-2 Nora and talks to him about the plane tickets to Atlantis "he" gave them and afterward Barry barely held back tears, as he and Iris went to Jitterbugs (the Earth-2 CC Jitters) there Barry was shocked to see Earth-2 Joe is a singer but after his performance when Barry talked to him, he coldly reminded him his name was Joseph not "Joe" and addresses him as "Bartholomew". Barry then quickly realizes that Barry Two's relationship with Joe is not what it is on Earth-1. When Barry talks to Joseph further he coldly blames him for putting Iris' life on the line to further his own career, stating that Iris had to become a cop so they'd have enough money for his P.H.D., but Iris defended herself saying that writing for C.C.P.N. was boring and she loves being a cop. As they watched Joseph perform they were interrupted by the arrival of two metahuman criminals looking for Barry, but Barry was horrified to see they were the Earth-2 versions of Caitlin and Ronnie.
When Iris attempted to arrest them Caitlin tried to murder her but Barry tried to reason with Caitlin but she simply stated that she hated the name "Caitlin", that she is "Killer Frost" and attacks them. When Ronnie fires a fireball at Iris, Joseph pushes her out of the way and takes the hit. While Joseph and Iris are distracted Barry speeds Caitlin and Ronnie outside trying to reason with them but Caitlin attacks with her powers of cryokinesis, then Ronnie flies after Barry as he speeds through the city. However, Barry finds a statue of Jay and uses the helmet of it to redirect a fireball onto Caitlin distracting Ronnie long enough to escape.
At S.T.A.R. Labs Harry reveals he's familiar with the two, "Killer Frost" and "Deathstorm", but scolds Barry for getting involved into the lives of Earth-2 Iris and Earth-2 Joe insisting they don't exist as far as they're concerned and that Jesse will be dead soon when Killer Frost and Deathstorm inform Zoom of his presence. However, Barry angrily insists Jesse has time and Iris and Joseph need him, insisting they are his family no matter the universe. Barry accompanies Earth-2 Iris to the hospital as comforts her when Joseph passes away from his injuries and Barry and Cisco, using a weapon build to disable Killer Frost's power, choose to aid Iris as she and Lawton attempt to bring Caitlin and Ronnie in. The Flash hides in secret as Cisco, Iris and Lawton lure Caitlin and Ronnie about but is shocked to see Cisco's counterpart Francisco Ramon/Reverb who is one of Zoom's henchmen. As Cisco Two tried to tempt Cisco One into joining him Flash intervened and engaged Killer Frost, Reverb and Deathstorm all at once but was soon overpowered and knocked unconscious. The Flash was continually attacked by Reverb and Deathstorm until Zoom appeared and murdered them both for disobeying orders and kidnapped the Flash. Awakening in a cell opposite Jesse, Barry tried to assure her he'd get them out but Zoom appeared and scolded him for making promises he can't keep but promises Barry that his cell is the last place he'll ever see.[67]
Barry kept looking for a way out of his cell with no luck and tried to keep Jesse hopeful that Harry will find them, after she expresses doubts and believes he only cares for himself, but Zoom returns to remind them Jesse only lives so he can kill her in front of Harry. Barry then notices a man in an iron mask in another cell tapping against the window but whereas Jesse believes he's insane, Barry suspects he may be trying to tell them something. After agreeing to work together Barry and Jesse discover the "iron mask" is using a 5-by-5 tap code and begin to decode the message. The message turns out to be "J-A-Y" as in "Jay Garrick" but when Barry tells him he's alive "iron mask" repeatedly smacks his head against the wall of his cell in frustration for reasons unclear. When iron mask attempts to tell them more Zoom returns and angrily reminds him not to speak again, then phases into Barry's cell and proceeds to brutally beat him in a fit of rage. Barry then realizes the answer is to phase through the wall but is unable to find the frequency necessary to do so.
Later Barry and Jesse are found by Harry, Cisco, Iris, Earth-2 Caitlin and Earth-2 Barry but whereas Caitlin is able to free Jesse, she is unable to freeze open Barry's cell which Harry confirms is because it's made of a form of carbine. Barry tells everyone to leave but his doppelgänger refuses and confronts him about all they've been through to get to him, all the things he's done, impossible things, because he had to prove to himself and Iris that he could, reminding Earth-1 Barry that he is the Flash. Motivated by Earth-2 Barry's words Earth-1 Barry finally manages to phase through his cell only for Zoom to appear after Killer Frost tells them of their plan. Barry One pleads with Zoom to let everyone else go as Zoom only needs himself and Harry, and while Zoom acknowledges this, he makes no exceptions for everyone else and grabs Jesse. Before he can kill her Caitlin blasts him with her ice beams and everyone escapes except for Barry who refuses to leave without iron mask, but Harry insists there isn't enough time. Before leaving Barry promises to get iron mask which he accepts and Barry flees.
At S.T.A.R. Labs Barry One urges Barry Two and Iris Two to find shelter and reminds Barry two that though he isn't a superhero like he is, he's still a hero. When Zoom approaches Flash manages to get Cisco and Jesse to Earth-1 but when he returns to Earth-2 Zoom is waiting with Harry hostage who insists he close the breach. However, Harry has a dart and Flash distracts Zoom long enough for Harry to stab Zoom and the Flash speeds Harry back to Earth-1 and Jay closes the last breach. However, as the team is happy to see the last breach closing Zoom reappears and stabs Jay right through the chest, and drags him back to Earth-2 leaving the team to believe him dead. After the horrific tragedy, Caitlin starts to deny Jay's death, not wanting another lover to pass away.
Cisco then brings her upstairs. Barry then demands Wells to open up the breach again, only for Harry to tell him that he can't, as the device they used was strong enough to close and prevent any breach from opening, ever, telling them that they can't do anything now, as they are now safe. When Barry went upstairs, he talked to Cisco about how Caitlin was doing, and what this incident is going to do to her. Wells chimes in, telling them that it will be all right and not to tell anyone about their experience from Earth-2. They reluctantly agree.[68]
Return of King Shark
After the incident, Barry went to his life as usual. Although secretly he wanted to tell about his adventures, feeling frustrated about his circumstances, wanting a distraction for him to ignore all of it. He started to act strange around his foster family, not wanting to play games with them. One day, a week later from their trip to Earth-2, two guests arrived, known to Team Flash, John Diggle and his wife. They notified the team of King Shark, believed to be dead. John notified them that he was in A.R.G.U.S. prison until recently where he escaped, intent on going after Barry. They also revealed that A.R.G.U.S. was keeping track of meta-humans, weaponizing them. John told Barry that they were going to take care of him but Barry obliged. Though Diggle insisted that A.R.G.U.S. recapture King Shark, Barry refused, as he was the last of Zoom's henchmen and was going to take care of him himself. They then worked together to try to stop King Shark. During the search, Joe called Barry, asking him to come over to help Wally with his engineering project. Though not wanting to go, due to the situation at hand, Barry accepts, much to Joe's surprise and delight. Barry then searches for King Shark, with the help of A.R.G.U.S, but in the end, they couldn't find the shark meta. Barry ran to John, telling him the results and asked him about Felicity, knowing that she was in the hospital after Darhk's attack on Christmas, Diggle says she was okay, as she is a tough woman. John then remarked that he was like Oliver, "holding the world on his shoulders". However, it was during this conversation when King Shark attacked A.R.G.U.S. then ran off.[69]
Sometime later, Samantha Clayton reported to the CCPD that her son is missing. Two days later, Barry, who realized that this is Oliver's son (due to their conversation 2 months prior) told Samantha that she should talk with Oliver about this.[70]
Revelations of Zoom
Following the confrontation with new speedster Trajectory, her reaction to Velocity 9 helped Barry and his allies realize that Jay Garrick was actually Zoom.[71] Seeking a means of increasing his speed, Barry traveled back in time to the previous year to talk with Eobard Thawne/Harrison Wells, reasoning that his old mentor/enemy would know the secret of increasing speed if anyone did. Although his plan to simply pose as his past-self failed due to the intervention of a Time Wraith, Barry was able to trick Eobard into providing him with the information he needed by claiming that Eobard would return home in his time and he had left information about Eobard's real identity where his past-self would find it unless he was allowed to return to his own time.[46] With Eobard's information, he and his S.T.A.R. Labs friends helped him build a new tachyon device.[72] While testing this out, he accidentally opened a wormhole to another Earth and met Kara Danvers/Supergirl. She helped him get home after he helped her fight two of her enemies Livewire and Silver Banshee,[4] but when he returned, only a second had passed and nobody knew it. After the team discovered new revelations about Zoom's real history as Hunter Zolomon, Barry attempted to lure Zoom into a trap, but this backfired when Zoom escaped and captured Wally, forcing Barry to surrender his speed.[72] After this, Iris comforted Barry in the hallway.[34]
Powerless
Now deprived of his powers but with Central City still endangered by metahumans, Barry attempted to continue to act as a hero when Dr. Wells was abducted by Griffin Grey, but his subsequent beating made it clear that this plan was never going to work.[73] Despite the team attempting to compromise by using a holographic recreation of the Flash to fight crime, after Zoom returned to attack Central City, Barry decided to go along with a risky plan of recreating the particle accelerator explosion on a smaller scale in the hope that it would restore his speed.[74] Although this effort seemingly vaporized Barry, he was actually sent into the Speed Force itself, where his encounters with aspects of the Speed Force masquerading as Joe, his mother and himself helped him accept his mother's death and his identity as the Flash before he returned home, his powers restored and even increased.[75]
Laurel's death
In April 2016, Barry traveled to Star City to attend the funeral of Laurel Lance, but was held up due to the encounter with Zoom, causing him to miss the funeral but arrived afterward to talk to Oliver at the grave-site. Upon asking Oliver if there was anything he could do for him, Oliver told him that he wished to be left alone, which Barry acknowledged and then sped off.[76]
Return
With his powers back, Barry faces off against platoons of Earth-2 meta-humans that Zoom unleashed upon Central City, with one of them being the doppelgänger of a recently deceased friend, Laurel Lance. Barry takes it upon himself to fight her after she attacks Mercury Labs. Team Flash had manages to build a machine that will render all Earth-2 beings unconscious. The device works and Earth-2 Laurel is locked up. However Hunter kidnaps Henry and tells Barry that his inability to be selfish made him weak, and kills Henry in front of him. Henry's funeral is held shortly after that, with Barry wanting to take revenge on Zoom. However doing so made him emotionally uncontrollable, so he is locked up for some time. Wally later releases him, and Barry finds out that the team tried to take down Zoom on their own, with Joe taken. They realize they have no choice, so Barry (with the help of Cisco's vibes) arranges the race with Zoom.
Zoom reveals he plans on destroying the Multiverse, leaving only Earth-1 behind, with a pulsar he built. Barry races against him, summoning Time Remnants to help him. Zoom is finally defeated and is taken away by Time Wraiths. Sometime after that, Team Flash returned to Earth-2 and rescued the man in the iron mask, and his identity as it turns out was the actual Jay Garrick and Henry's Earth-3 doppelgänger. They open up the Speed Cannon and send Harrison, Jesse, and Jay back to their worlds. That night, Barry and Iris declare their love for each other and kissed. Barry, too distraught after his father's death sped back to the past to the night his mother was killed to save her, shortly after his older self sped off with his 11 year old self he ran into the house and grabbed Eobard seconds before he stabbed Nora after which he knocked him out, thus drastically changing the timeline and causing his younger self to fade from existence to which he assured Nora that she was safe.[57]
In the post-Flashpoint timeline, this version of Barry (as well as the version of Eobard whom he had just knocked unconscious) also faded away due to timeline changes when another, slightly older version of Eobard appeared to kill Nora once again.[58]
Flashpoint
New reality
After defeating Eobard, Barry took him to back to 2016, superseding this timeline's version of himself in the process, and he used an abandoned building to lock up his nemesis in a specially designed cell to keep him from harming people. Barry saw that the timeline had changed, most noticeably being that his parents were alive and well. While his "past self" had lived happily with them all these years, this also left Iris never having grown close to or even really knowing Barry and Joe as an alcoholic with a strained relationship with Iris, and a new speedster vigilante as the Flash. After three months of bliss with his new life, and periodically bringing food to Eobard in secret, Barry finally worked up the nerve to ask Iris on a date, which she agreed to. Soon after, the new Flash began struggling against an evil speedster called the Rival. After narrowly saving the other Flash, Barry learned that his replacement was in fact Wally. Barry also started to lose his memories of the first timeline, which Eobard theorized was from Barry's frequent use of his powers in a timeline where he never actually obtained them.
Eventually, Barry revealed his true identity to Wally and Iris, the latter who was aiding Wally as the Flash. They went for help from Cisco, who was now an obnoxious and self-absorbed billionaire businessman. After convincing him to help them track down the Rival, Barry and Wally teamed up to battle the Rival. Though Barry defeated the Rival, Wally was mortally wounded. Realizing that the new timeline was worsening his friends, Barry released Eobard to let him kill his mother. When he got back to the reset timeline, Barry discovered that the timeline wasn't reset right due to him learning that Iris and Joe hadn't spoken to each other in months.[58]
Post-Flashpoint
Barry eventually went to Felicity to explain some of the changes to the timeline; Joe and Iris haven't spoken due to Joe not telling her about her mother, Cisco is depressed due to Dante dying in a drunk driver accident, a new cynical co-worker, Julian, and to their horror, Sara Diggle being replaced with John Diggle, Jr. Once finished, Felicity advised that Barry find a way to make things right. While attempting to clear the air with Team Flash, Barry also learned that the distance between him and Cisco was also due to this timeline's version of Barry not going back time to save Dante. Suddenly, an alert went off, and Barry discovers that Edward Clariss was able to become the Rival again, and speaks with him for a bit before facing him in a close fight which ended when Barry managed to ram into him, casing him to flying across city blocks into the bay and out of sight. Iris later confronts Barry over what she learn from watching Barry and Edward talk, and wants the truth or their relationship won't have a chance. Barry apologizes, saying he's been trying to fix things, but now believes that there is only one way to do so, before racing off to try and time travel again before being stopped by Jay Garrick, who then speaks to him about how he can't just keep trying to use time travel to fix every mistake.
He then explains to the team how he created it then attempted to put things back the way they were, but with a few variations so far. While he finally tracked down the Rival, he was attacked and injured by a hooded figure calling himself "Alchemy", who explain some of his intentions before being attached by Clariss again and overwhelm the Flash, being to injured to fight back properly. He was about to be impaled when Cisco came to the rescue, and helped defeat the Rival, somewhat forgiving him in the process. He later learns that Iris and Joe have reconciled and he and Iris start dating.
Return of the Wells family
Later during a date with Iris, a breach was open in S.T.A.R. Labs, Wells came back with an unexpected surprise; a super-fast Jesse. Barry and the group goes to the speed lab to test Jesse. when Barry learns that Wally stepped into the street to try to get his speed. He screams at him for his careless idea. Later he and Wells talk about the mistakes that they made. Soon, he and Jesse team up to defeat Magenta. Later, he and Joe watch a security video of Clariss get killed by an invisible meta-human in Iron Heights.
Barry continues to train Jesse and teams up with her to battle Mirror Master and Top. He later greets H.R. Wells as he arrives on Earth-1 and says goodbye to Jesse and Harry Wells. Barry continues to try to create a more friendly relationship with Julian Albert, however, in return Julian only gives Barry the cold shoulder. However, he does manage to get put a the case of the "Monster" attacking Central City. During his investigation and subsequent battles as the Flash, he realizes that the "Monster" is nothing more than a hologram and then prevents Julian, who believed he was dealing with an adult criminal, from killing the young teenage boy who was responsible. Following this Julian begins to lighten up and goes out for a drink with Barry.
Savitar arrives
Unfortunately, life became more complicated when Alchemy returned to the spotlight and began calling out to Wally, forcing Barry to reveal Wally's Flashpoint life to the team, and to make matters worse, a mysterious meta human begins a killing spree using his unique vibration ability which allows his to appear as a shadow like creature. This also allows Barry to be fully returned to meta human investigation duties in the police department. Barry eventually confronts Shade after he attacked the park, but realized that the meta dubbed Shade was merely a pawn in Alchemy's game. Finally, Team Flash agrees to set a trap for Alchemy using Wally and Barry, Joe, and a team of SWAT officers attack Alchemy and his followers. Barry succeeds and the group temporarily defeats Alchemy however an unknown enemy launches an attacks, killing a swat officer and revealing to Barry that the enemy was indeed a speedster, but upon attempting to catch him he is thrown to the ground. In the midst of the confusion Wally is telepathically persuaded into touching Alchemy's Stone, which encases him in a cocoon of some kind. However, before Barry can do anything else the speedster slams him to into the wall. Barry questions the metallic looking enemy, "Who are you?!" The towering villain answers introducing himself as "Savitar, the god of speed".
Savitar quickly takes Barry from Joe and Wally and two battle each other outside of S.T.A.R Labs where Barry is nearly defeated by Savitar but Caitlin manages to save him with her ice powers but Savitar flees. When Caitlin's alter ego Killer Frost takes control of her, she goes on a rampage and kidnaps Julian. Barry and Cisco manage to capture here. The team is fractured when Caitlin reveals Flashpoint was the reason that Dante was killed. Iris explains that these events would have happened regardless of Flashpoint. The team gets Wally out of the cocoon and they discover that he has super speed. Barry manages to get Caitlin back to her old self and she forgives him. The team discovers that Wally is faster than Barry. Julian agrees to keep Caitlin out of trouble if Barry quits the CCPD, which Barry reluctantly agrees.
War against the Dominators
Team Flash received an alert on their satellite that a meteor was heading straight for downtown Central City. Barry went to investigate, but realized that it was not a meteor, but rather an alien spaceship which he later found out belonged to the Dominators. Barry got Oliver and Team Arrow's help along with the Legends, and Supergirl. They used an old S.T.A.R Labs hall as a base and battled the Dominators as they tried to kill all of the meta-humans on Earth as they thought they were a threat to their kind. Once Barry told everybody about Flashpoint after Cisco unfortunately found the message future Barry sent to Rip Hunter that Jax and Stein found on the Waverider, everyone besides Oliver, Kara, Felicity, Caitlin, Jax, and Stein didn't trust Barry as a result of Cisco's dumb actions. Once the president was captured by the Dominators the team selfishly decided to go without Barry. Oliver thought this was a crazy idea and wouldn't go without Barry.
The team decided to go without the two of them and Supergirl led them on a rescue mission to get the president. When they arrived at an old salt mine that the Dominators were using as a base the president was killed by a Dominator and everyone there was put under mind control. They went back to S.T.A.R. Labs and tried to kill Oliver and Barry. Oliver fought off all of the melee fighters as Barry fought off all of the super powered fighters. The two were surrounded by all of the mind controlled heroes and were saved by Wally as he used his super speed to take out all of the fighters. Barry later got Kara to chase him to the salt mine where he faced so she flew right through him and destroyed the mind control machine that whammied all of the heroes. After the event the team decided to forgive him for what he has done.
Once they returned to S.T.A.R. Labs Sara, Ray, Thea, Diggle, and Oliver all got sucked up to the Dominators ship where they were all put into a shared hallucination where Oliver never got on the Queen's Gambit. While they were stuck in the Dominators ship Barry and Kara helped Wild Dog, Mister Terrific, and Ragman find a way to hack the Dominators tech. Barry and Kara double teamed Laura Washington, a scientist who stole a key piece they needed in order to hack the alien tech, and knocked her out getting the piece. Barry also saved Wild Dog from Washington.
Once Oliver and company returned he along with Barry, Ray, and Sara met with Agent Smith, who revealed that the Dominators knew about Flashpoint and told him that Barry was the Flash. He also told them that the Dominators would leave Earth in peace if Barry turned himself over to them. Barry decided he would give himself up to the Dominators in order to save every met human's life along with millions of human lives. The team didn't allow him to do so with Cisco finally reconciling with him and instead they all fought the Dominators. Barry and Kara raced around the world planting the device Lilly and Martin made that would put the Dominators in excrutiating pain on every Dominators on Earth. When Felicity activated the devices the Dominators were in extreme pain and once Firestorm transmutated the meta-bomb into water the Dominators retreated leaving Earth. After the heroes beat the Dominators Barry and Oliver went out for a drink talking about who would win in a fight and how the lives they live are far from normal.
Seeing a horrific future
With Savitar becoming a threat, Barry goes to Earth-3 and recruits Jay Garrick's assistance in fighting the "god". In the process, they recover the stone that Alchemy used, and uncover his true identity to be Julian Albert. To get the information they wanted out of Julian, the Flash reveals his identity to be Barry, as Julian did not trust someone in a mask. The team then hook Julian up to a mind machine where they force out Savitar's voice, which he says that one will betray them, and one will die. To make sure the stone does not go misused, Barry throws it deep into the Speed Force. After throwing the Philosopher's Stone into the Speed Force, which would presumably trap Savitar for good, the wormhole Barry created then exploded, enveloping him and sending him five months into the future. He sees his future self pleading to Savitar to spare Iris West. Savitar instead says "You lose, Barry". and plunges his gauntlet through Iris's chest, instantly killing her. Before Barry can fully comprehend the situation and ask his future self why Savitar's back, Jay Garrick pulls him back to the present. Returning to the present, Jay tells him that he must not think that the future he saw is the only future. He assures that the future is not set in stone. That night, the West-household party was in session, and Barry pulls Iris aside to present her gift, a new house, which Barry explains that they need a place of their own now.[77]
Changing the future
After his visit to the future, Barry is plagued by nightmares of Iris' death and as a result soon becomes obsessed with finding a way to change it.
During early 2017 Barry continues to train Wally missions; including putting out a fire and later a battle against the criminal Jared Morillo. This triggers a memory of his trip to the future which involved seeing a news story involving his apprehension of Morillo, also known as Plunder. Terrified of what catching Plunder may bring about Barry holds back, but Wally arrives on the scene and makes the arrest himself. However, the encounter makes Barry realize that he can't keep this secret from Iris any longer, and tells her the truth. With persuasion from Iris Barry also lets Team Flash (with the exception of Joe) in on the future vision. Barry and Cisco then vibe to the future and learn numerous future key events from the news show, and witness HR now present during the event (meaning the future is changeable). Wally then informs the group that Plunder has escaped custody and the duo pursue him. The chase eventually ends with Wally apprehending the criminal and taking another step towards altering their future. Barry and Iris came home later on that day, to set up a party on the new hope they had, as well as to welcome Julian into the team. H.R Wells had also gave Barry and Iris a pet turtle named McSnurtle.
A few days later, Barry gets a text message from Oliver, who was talking to Captain Singh on the phone and had to give him a proof that he is Green Arrow. To help Oliver, Barry (as the Flash) ran to Singh's office and put a note on his computer screen that says "HE'S LEGIT".[78]
The next few weeks would be Barry and the team training Wally, while trying to learn how to change the future and save Iris and Caitlin from their fates. While doing so they run into Gypsy from Earth-19 who tries to take back H.R. but is defeated and Clive Yorkin who is trying to kill Joe but is captured. Eventually, Barry steps up the training, believing Wally to be the key to saving Iris, as tests of Barry's current rate of acceleration since gaining his powers show that he cannot become fast enough by May to save Iris from Savitar where Wally may have a chance.
Gorilla City
Eventually, Jesse returns to alert the team that Harry was taken by Grodd to Gorilla City. Determined to save Harry and possibly further change the future headlines, Barry, Cisco, Caitlin and Julian travel there to rescue him, only to be captured. In a cell, they are confronted by Grodd who speaks through Harry and tells Barry that he needs him to kill Solovar in order to become the new leader of Gorilla City and prevent an attack on Central City. Barry accepts and after a few struggles, he wins but refuses to kill him and is sent back to the cells. However, Grodd would not honor his deal to free them as he reveals that he only wanted to use them to take over the city and lead an attack on Earth-1. Luckily, after much thought, Barry manage to devise a method of tricking Grodd to release through an advanced method of playing dead through Caitlin's and his own powers, to escape back to Earth-1 with Harry in tow. Just when they though managed to stop Grodd's plan, they later learn from capturing a surprised Gypsy after her own equally surprising attack, that Grodd managed to capture and use her to bring his army to Earth-1. Though Barry considered killing Grodd to end his threat once and for all, Iris and Harry convinced him that killing Grodd is not worth losing his humanity over. When Cisco managed to convince Gypsy to aid them, Flash, Kid Flash and Jessie Quick went to hold Grodd and his army long enough for the vibers to retrieve Solovar and have him defeat Grodd, making him leader of Gorilla City once again, even sparing Grodd and leaving him in Earth-1's custody. At the loft, Barry proposes to Iris.
Savitar returns
The threat from Savitar wasn't over just yet that day both Wally and Barry were running to practice Wally's speed but then Savitar came and attacked Wally. Wally fought back but in the end it was just another illusion of Savitar and Barry calmed him down Wally finally told Barry the truth. He told Barry that for the past week he had seen Savitar and that this was the first time it got physical. Barry was selfishly angry at Wally for keeping this a secret and told Wally that it wasn't physical but that Savitar was messing with his head. Believing that Savitar was using Wally like he did with Julian to spy on the rest of team flash he selfishly kicked wally out of the team not trusting him anymore. Desperate for answers he wanted to talk to Savitar through Julian like before much to his displeasure.
Cisco later told him that he found a way to communicate with Savitar without the philosophers stone and so they went to interrogate Savitar. When the communication was set Savitar began gloating about himself only to be stopped by Barry telling him that they are the same. He also tried to threaten Savitar by telling him that were ever he's imprisoned he won't know what freedom is like again. However Savitar was not fazed at all and merely told Barry that every step he and his team make only make his freedom more assured also hinting that not all of the philosophers stone was thrown into the speed force.
Savitar then brought up Barry's parents and all the pain he suffered but told him he wouldn't survive what was coming angered Barry disconnected Savitar from Julian. Pressured by the fact that he may have to save Iris from Savitar Wally asked that Cisco show him what he showed Barry and Cisco used his powers to shown Wally Iris death. Wally soon realized the truth on why Barry really married Iris and he confirmed it saying that he married Iris in hopes that it could change the future he saw but also told Iris that he did it cause he truly loves her as well. After that Caitlin reveals that she had a piece of the philosophers stone in hopes that she could use it to get rid of her powers.
Barry was angry at her and put the piece into the box wanting to put an end to Savitar he wanted to use Julian to talk to him so Cisco could track him down which displeased Julian once again. After having a brief exchange with Savitar Cisco began tracking him only to tell Barry that the device told him that Savitar was everywhere Cisco was going to use his powers to narrow it down while he was called by Irish to go back to the loft. When they meet Iris believed that Barry wanted to marry her because he truly loved her not just to protect her and now believes that their marriage is tainted and she doesn't want somebody to want to marry her eternally only to protect her. Once Iris said that word eternally Barry realized where Savitar was imprisoned.
Cisco try to find Savitar and only saw white lightning Barry showed up and told him it wasn't lightning but speed force energy. It was then that they all realized that Savitar was imprisoned in the speed force by the future Barry Allen and by throwing the philosophers stone into the speed force they unintentionally gave him everything he needed to escape except the small piece that broke off. Jesse came running and told them Wally was acting weird they then realized that Wally took the small piece of the stone and planned to throw it into the speed force to stop Savitar not knowing that doing so would allow Savitar to escape. By the time Barry found Wally it was too late Barry could only watch as white tendrils of lightning took Wally into the speed force while Savitar escaped. Savitar soon told Barry his entire escape plan that Wally has taken his place in the speed force and saving him is now impossible.
Barry enraged battled Saviar and although Savitar was still dominant the fight was more even. He told Savitar that he was going to kill him only for Savitar to tell him that if he had the strength to end his life he would have done it in the future. He also told Barry that he had everything and deserved none of it he also promised Barry that he was going to destroy the city like he did in the future and when that happens Barry would treat him like a god. Barry had him in a headlock and told him to show his face but Savitar got out of it quickly and stabbed Barry. He wished to kill Barry but promised to wait long enough so he could see Iris die Barry then vibrated his hand to break from the blade that Savitar was using freeing himself while bringing pain to Savitar who escaped.
Barry ran back to the others who quickly saved him he was questioned by Joe to know what happened to Wally and that they had to bring him back. Iris went to comfort Barry over what happened and he realized that she didn't have her wedding ring on. While the others went to learn what they could from the blade they removed from Barry Caitlin apologized about what happened and if she didn't have that piece of the stone then none of this would have happened. Although Barry realized that he himself is to blame as it was his own fears that caused this to happen.
Attack of the Music Meister
The Music Meister hypnotizes Supergirl and goes to Earth-1 to search for "The Fastest Man Alive".
J'onn and Mon-El go to Earth-1 to speak with Team Flash. They explain Team Flash the situation. Barry and Wally are unable to defeat the Music Meister, who then sends Barry to the dream alongside Kara.
In the dream, nor Barry nor Kara can use their powers, and if they die there, they really die, as the Music Meister told them. They have the mission to pair Tommy Moran (Mon-El) with Millie Foss (Iris West). Millie's parents are Digsy Foss (Joe West) and an unnamed man (Martin Stein) who were a gay couple in contrast to Joe and Martin who have only been engaged with women. Tommy Moran was the son of Cutter Moran.
Discovering Savitar's identity
Barry confronts Abra Kadabra at a building who tells he knows as well as his attempt to save Iris from Savitar. He tries to catch Kadabra but escapes after Gypsy intervenes trying to capture him as well. Barry catches Kadabra at S.T.A.R. Labs is attacked but is given an offer to reveal Savitar's name if he lets him go. Later he escapes and almost gets away until Barry catches him once more. Before being taken away, Barry begs him to tell Savitar's name to save Iris but is shot down. He then realizes that enemies like Thawne, Savitar and Kadabra are always ahead of the team because they're from the future so he decides to go to the future.
Barry travels to 2024 in hopes of finding out who Savitar is but is immediately attacked by Mirror Master and Top when he arrives but manages to escape. Arriving at his abandoned apartment he runs into Cisco who lost his hands and powers after a fight with Killer Frost. Cisco then takes Barry around to the old members of Team Flash with Killer Frost the only one knowing who Savitar was but refused to tell. Seeing how much damage they've been done Barry decides to gather the team members back to S.T.A.R. Labs and fight crime again by stopping Mirror Master and Top with the assistance of Barry's older self and the criminals are soon apprehended. Barry is then given information about a physicist named Tracy Brand before returning to his time. Barry, Cisco and H.R. find Tracy hoping for her help until Killer Frost shows up trying to kill her but she is forced to retreat.
Killer Frost then tries to kill Tracy again but is confronted by Barry and Cisco in which the latter fails to knock her down causing Barry to get hit by Killer Frost instead. Team Flash later confronts her again at a warehouse with Barry trying to talk sense into her but she perfectly repeats what he says at the exact same time due to Savitar telling her what would happen. Eventually she was defeated but was taken away by Savitar. At the West-household Barry and the West family talk about love which triggers something in Barry's mind. After a careful reflection of the conversations about Savitar, Barry realizes who he is. Calling Savitar out, he explains to him how he knows his identity through the following hints: that he's already lived it, the past, the present, the future and how he knows exactly how to use Team Flash's love against them - coming to the conclusion that Savitar was him. Honoring the correct deduction, Savitar steps out of his armor, stepping out to reveal a pale, scarred version of Barry.
Savitar goes on to point out that they're almost the same, but not quite. Barry then deduces that he's a time remnant. Savitar explains his birth happened because Barry "played god" in creating Flashpoint, in doing so, created a mysterious closed infinite loop resulting in Barry's creation of a time remnant, who was shunned by Team Flash and as a result of his pain, came to the conclusion the "God feels no pain" and strove to become one, attributing the existence of said loop to cause and effect, pointing out post-Flashpoint Thawne's existence as an example after Barry threatened to kill himself to prevent Savitar's existence. Barry then tries to kill Savitar resulting in a fight between the speedsters which ended in an explosion. The former then brings the news of Savitar's identity to the team.
Changed future
Barry discovers H.R. was the one killed instead of Iris, but in doing so, Savitar does as well. Barry then calls out to Savitar in hopes of trying to save him believing there was still a part of him left as he reminisced a memory of the past which Savitar also remembers. Barry brings him to S.T.A.R. Labs hoping to help him but Savitar tried to kill everyone by blowing up the building with the Philosopher's Stone. Barry, Wally, Cisco, Gypsy and Jay Garrick who was finally freed confront Savitar and Killer Frost after Savitar's attempt to become a god fails. The speedsters chase after Savitar while Cisco and Gyspy took on Killer Frost. Jay and Wally are knocked down. Barry then arrives in time to see Caitlin regain control of herself and save Cisco from Savitar.
Savitar tells Barry that before he is erased he will kill everyone Barry loves. Barry then phased into Savitar's suit and knocks him to the ground but Savitar says that "It's written and if you kill me you become me". Barry destroyed Savitar's armor and knocks him out. He threatened to kill his remnant but held back. His remnant charged toward him as Barry walked away but his remnant is shot by Iris and erased from existence shorty after. The team then had H.R's funeral.
As Barry and Iris plan their wedding, a storm broke out. They figure out that someone needs to go into the speed force prison to balance it and so Barry voluntarily goes to as he felt he needs to atone for creating Flashpoint. He passed on the role of protector of Central City to Wally and told Iris to always keep running for him. Everyone watched as Barry entered the Speed Force with a manifestation of his mother and the Speed Force storm stopped.[11]
The Fastest Man Alive vs The Fastest Mind Alive
Return from the Speed Force
Six months after Barry's disappearance, an armored Samurai threatens Central City to bring him the Flash or he would destroy it the next day. Cisco tracks down Caitlin working in a local bar, via his vibing ability, apparently free of her Killer Frost persona. The two both work on a Quark Sphere-based on Barry's DNA to trick the Speed Force into believing that he was still there. The next day they attempt to use the Speed Force bazooka to free Barry, but the system seemingly fails. Later, a portal opens in downtown Central City and Barry races out of it, running at five times his speed to Ivy Town, stopping in front of a car, bare naked, and then fainting. He is picked up by state police and quickly transported back to the CCPD. When Team Flash meet him, they realize that he is in a state of mental disorder, for being in the Speed Force for so long, similar to how Savitar went insane. Barry repeats phrases he already said or he possibly was going to say.
As their time begins to run out, and all attempts to bring Barry back to his normal-self fail. With no idea how to return Barry to his senses, Wally uses the Flash suit to fool the Samuroid but the attempt does not work, as it sees through the lie easily. Iris then allows the Samuroid to kidnap her in hopes Barry will arrive to save her. Joe then rushes to S.T.A.R. Labs and makes a final attempt to bring Barry to his senses, and go after and save Iris. The attempt succeeds and the Flash - adorned in the new suit Cisco had made - comes out of the building and runs after Iris (and running faster than he ever has before). The Samuroid flies out with Iris to outskirts of Central City, to where multiple windmills were located, and destroys one to block Barry's path. He isn't tricked, and runs up the collapsing windmill and jumps on the Samuroid. He then phases his hand through its wing and catches Iris, saving her and disabling the Samuroid. After it crashed to the ground, he pulled the mask of the enemy, and discovers that it was just a robot with its final message welcoming him back. Iris then called out his name noting that he came back to her which Barry told her he would always do no matter what and the two shared a passionate kiss. Later back at S.T.A.R. Labs Caitlin examined Barry and noted he was in amazingly perfect health with Barry noting he felt reborn and told everyone he didn't remember his time in the Speed Force or even how he knew Iris was in trouble and thanked Cisco for bringing him back. Back at their loft Barry let Iris know he was proud of her for keeping everyone together as long as she could and that after coming out of the Speed Force he felt that all his guilt and sins had been washed away and that all he can see now is their future together. After sharing a kiss they both heard sirens and Barry went out to handle the crime promising he be back soon.[79]
However, Barry's return from the Speed Force released dark matter into Central City again, transforming twelve people on a bus into meta-humans. One of these people, Ramsey Deacon or Kilg%re as he began calling himself, began targeting former colleagues who had sold a program he had developed but gave him none of the profits. After Deacon was stopped by the Flash, he was placed in Iron Heights.[80]
The next of these new metas to appear was Becky Sharpe who gained the ability to create good luck for herself but cause bad luck for everyone around her. Harrison Wells from Earth-2 arrived back on Earth-1 because he was voted off of Jesse's new team. He revealed that Jesse had decided to break up with Wally which led to him going to Earth-2 to find out why. Becky was later defeated by Barry with the help of Harry.[81]
One week after Wally left, the Team Flash encountered the next meta to be created from the bus incident. Discovering the man who drove the bus that was exposed to dark matter was dead from drowning in his own bathtub. They were able to trace a connection to the next meta that was created on that bus, Ralph Dibny a former cop from Barry's past. Barry and Joe went to confirm Ralph's status as a meta-human at his office were Ralph was working as a private detective as Ralph had been fired from the CCPD due to Barry proving that he falsified evidence on a murder case. After a short conversation, Barry and Joe left Ralph, disgusted by his behavior and personality. Ralph was then attacked by two men and hung from a roof. It was at this moment that Ralph's powers emerged and his legs stretched him all the way down to the ground. The problem was that Ralph couldn't control his powers, leaving him in an elastic state. Barry and Joe brought him back to S.T.A.R. Labs in the hopes of returning his body to its normal shape. Caitlin informed they that she needed a sample of Ralph's DNA from before his exposure to dark matter in order to find a way to stabilize his cells. They retrieved the DNA from Ralph's office and in the process arrested Mayor Bellows. After that adventure Barry extended membership to Ralph, Ralph accepted and Barry learned the identity of a man he had heard of before, DeVoe.[33]
In his honeymoon, Barry was watching footage of him and Iris as children alongside Joe West, Cisco Ramon and Harry Wells in the West house. Ralph was able to find the house and pushes them to go to a strip club. Cisco revealed he prepared an alcoholic beverage that allows speedsters to get drunk. When he drunk it, he got too drunk, stating to be the Flash. Ralph's fight there got him, Barry, Cisco and Joe detained, until Harry paid their bail. When they returned to S.T.A.R. Labs, they denied having any problem to Iris, Felicity and Cecile. Caitlin proceeded to confess that she still had Killer Frost inside her.[82]
Then Mina Chaytan, a bus meta with the ability to animate statues, began targeting people who were in possession of a precious Native American necklace. Ralph gained a suit and began operating in the field alongside Barry. But he soon injured a girl while capturing Mina, causing him to feel extreme guilt. Mina escaped custody and proceeded to Central City's museum to steal the last piece of the necklace. Barry managed to defeat her and Ralph sent all the pieces of the necklace back to the Native American reservation where it belonged. The Council identified a Clifford DeVoe living in the suburbs of the city as the enemy Barry will face but much, to everyone's surprise, was a normal man in a wheelchair.[83]
Meeting Clifford DeVoe
After finding out that the Samuroid and the meta-humans were created by Clifford DeVoe, he and Joe interrogate him, without finding something incriminatory. This does not stop Barry from suspecting him and his wife Marlize, and Barry becomes very suspicious of them. The team at first don't believe him and his investigation of the DeVoe's causes him to be suspended from the CCPD when Clifford and Marlize faults him of harassing him and puts a restraining order on him.
When Barry confronts DeVoe before his lecture, Clifford confirms his suspicions and reveals that he knows that he is the Flash. He also reveals that he is a super intelligent meta-human who got his powers by the particle accelerator four years ago. After which he tells the team this and finally getting them to believe him with Cisco naming DeVoe "the Thinker".[84]
Marrying Iris and the Earth-X Nazi invasion
- "People like us are always going to be getting into trouble, right? Having someone we love by our side just makes getting out of that trouble that much easier. We have something to fight for. If I can have my happy ending, so can you. I promise."
- —Barry Allen to Oliver Queen[src]
When the time came for Barry's wedding to Iris, the wedding was also attended by Oliver Queen, Felicity Smoak, Sara Lance, Jefferson Jackson, Martin Stein, Mick Rory, Kara Danvers, and Kara's sister Alex (invited instead of Kara's expected plus-one Mon-El). Although the initial reception went well, during the actual wedding, the assembled heroes were attacked by a team of Nazi soldiers from Earth-X, the darkest world in the known multiverse, where Germany won the second World War. Putting the wedding on hold, Barry joined Oliver and Kara in confronting the leaders of this other world, who included Oliver and Kara's counterparts and a seemingly-reborn Eobard Thawne at a building where they stole a red prism. They had a brief fight before the Nazis escaped. Tracking the Nazis to a shipping depot, some of the heroes attacked but after some time they were defeated. After waking up, they learn the Nazis were seeking for Kara's heart to be transplanted into her Earth-X counterpart. Although briefly captured and held in a concentration camp, Barry, Oliver, Sara, Martin, Jax and Alex were rescued by the local resistance and captured the portal that would allow them to return home, but Stein was fatally wounded during the escape and died after returning to the Waverider. Rallying the three teams together, Oliver led the battle against Earth-X's forces, with Barry engaging Thawne in battle as other members of the team took on the common Nazi forces. Barry was able to defeat Thawne, but was unable to kill his enemy due to the temporal complexities of his existence, allowing Thawne to flee moments before the Nazis were defeated. As Kara, Alex and the Legends left, Barry impulsively brought John Diggle to a park so that Diggle could marry Barry to Iris, although Felicity interrupts Diggle's proclamation, asking that he also marry her to Oliver. Then both couples finally get married.[14][85][86][87]
Framed and convicted
Around Christmas time, Barry and Iris examine their wedding gifts. Amongst them, barry finds a cutting knife with no name.
While out Christmas shopping, Barry is ambushed and kidnapped by DeVoe. He is held in DeVoe's lair within an inescapable energy prison, which DeVoe claimed was to teach Barry there are no happy endings. Barry tried to get DeVoe to divulge his plan but failed. DeVoe then left to respond to Joe at his house front door. When Marlize came around, Barry realized the DeVoes had a plan for his Speed Force energy and attempted to convince Marlize to turn against her husband, but she instead taunted that he couldn't hope to defeat the fastest mind alive, even if he's still human.
Once he was left alone, Barry figured out how to vibrate his body fast enough that it appeared invisible to the human eye. Once DeVoe returned and impulsively lowered the forcefield, Barry reveals himself and quickly moves faster than DeVoe could reengage the forcefield, taunting his enemy how for all his vast intellect that he's still human. Barry then attempted to apprehend DeVoe, only for the villain to teleport them high above the city, leaving Barry clinging to his chair. DeVoe then tried to attack him with his mechanical claws but Barry phased his body, causing DeVoe to damage his chair and crash in the water while Barry survived thanks to the flotation mode in the suit.
Barry then rejoined his friends and was introduced to Dominic Lanse, a telepathic bus meta. He told the team that DeVoe had a plan for his Speed Force energy and they needed to figure it out.
Later at the Christmas party at Joe's house, after Lanse joins their company, Barry gets an security alert from the loft and goes to turn off the alarm. Upon arriving, he receives a call from Lanse, who is revealed to be DeVoe, who had transferred his mind into Lanse's body after Amunet recaptured him. Barry pleaded DeVoe not to hurt his friends and family, to which the Thinker said he wouldn't. He then learned that DeVoe had left his original body in the loft, stabbed with the very cutting knife Barry had touched earlier. Hearing Singh knocking at the door, Barry's first instinct was to run, but for Iris's sake decided not to become a fugitive and thus allowed himself to be arrested.[88]
During Barry's trial, when Iris was about to reveal his identity as the Flash, Barry discovered a new ability that allowed him to freeze time for himself along with anyone he's touching, and he explained to her why they shouldn't reveal his identity. He is deemed guilty by the judge and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Imprisonment
Barry was taken to Iron Heights and placed in his father's former cell. There he meets his father's old cellmate David Ratchet who protects him from the other inmates due to his father saving Ratchet's life. Barry also uses his speed to secretly help the guards contain the other inmates during a prison riot. When Axel Walker breaks out of prison and Ralph being afraid to stop him for his life. Ralph attempts to break Barry out for him to stop him. But Barry tells him he can't due to camera's everywhere and encourages him to fight Walker.
Barry learns that Ratchet was framed for his crime. He has the team track down the real criminal Sylbert Rundine who turns out to be a bus meta. Although Rundine is captured for his recent crime he refuses to confess to the crime he framed Ratchet. Barry later uses his super speed to take Ratchet to China to fulfill his dream. Unfortunately for Barry, the warden Gregory Wolfe puts a secret camera in Barry's cell finding out he is the Flash. He has Barry moved to the meta human wing and plans to sell him and others to Amunet.
Barry leads Deacon, Sharpe, Chaytan, and Rundine out of their prisons during which he forms a bond with Sharpe. Once they are outside of the prison they are cornered by Wolfe and Amunet. Wolfe reveals Barry's identity as the Flash to the other inmates who except Sharpe turn on him. DeVoe suddenly arrives and takes kills the innmates, takes their powers and transfers his mind from Lanse's to Sharpe's body. DeVoe also kills Wolfe before escaping. Barry speeds back to his cell in the aftermath.
Clearing his name
During Barry's appeal hearing, Ralph Dibny impersonated DeVoe and stated in his name that he was unconscious when the police found him in Barry's apartment but was not actually dead; ultimately clearing Barry of all charges of murder, and he was immediately released from Iron Heights Prison.
Sometime after clearing his name, Oliver Queen called Barry to assist him in stopping Cayden James. Barry ran to the Bunker and took Oliver and John Diggle to Cayden's location. Immediately after that, Barry ran off.[89]
Despite the fact that Barry has been cleared of all charges of murder, he did not receive the warm welcome that he was expecting, as all his co-workers gave him a suspicious look as they didn't believe that was Clifford; due to the existence of meta-humans, David Singh did believe he was innocent, but was ordered by Van Buren, the new mayor of Central City, to suspend Barry from CCPD indefinitely (which was actually a polite way of saying that Barry is being fired from his job; albeit David does so reluctantly) until Barry could unambiguously prove his innocence. Barry was initially upset over the loss of his job; luckily, as Iris mentioned, this gave him more time as the Flash to stop DeVoe and truly prove his innocence.
Ralph later gave Barry a job as a private investigator, as he knew what it's like to lose a job from CCPD, the difference between the two being is; that Ralph was fired for a crime he actually did commit, while Barry was fired for a crime he didn't commit.
Flashtime
Barry, Vibe, Killer Frost and Jesse Quick headed over to an A.R.G.U.S. facility where a woman by the name of Veronica Dale intended to blow up Central City with a nuclear bomb, and they defeated her men but failed to stop the detonation. Barry used his new ability where time is seemingly frozen completely after realizing they were too late. He pointed out to Jesse, who was moving with him, that moving the bomb somewhere else would only speed up the reaction and the idea of traveling back in time is not a choice after all the problems Barry had caused by creating Flashpoint. They agreed they could not stop and they were not enough to take everyone out of Central City. Barry then had the idea of calling Jay Garrick for help and sent Jesse to Earth-3 to get him.
Barry planned to have Cisco send the bomb to another earth and grabbed him to carry him into Flashtime, but the slow time meant Cisco could not open breaches. Jay then figured that cooling off the bomb core would stop the blast, so Barry went to get Killer Frost into Flashtime, to see if she could freeze the bomb. Due to the stress Flashtime inflicted upon Killer Frost, she exhausted herself before she was able to cool the bomb enough. While returning her back to normal time, Killer Frost pleaded with Barry to not let Caitlin die. Then Barry went to ask Harry for an idea, which was throwing the bomb into the Speed Force, which Harry believed would work. After Jesse and Jay came back, Jay was shocked of Barry's trick which Jay never got to do. Barry told Jay Harry's idea, which Jay strongly discouraged on the basis that every speedster could lose his speed and the Speed Force is a part of the multiverse.
After everything failed, Barry got desperate and grabbed Iris to say goodbye and apologize for his failure. He called her his lightning rod, which gave Iris the idea to take the device with Barry's DNA out of the Speed Force. After Iris explained Barry how he was released from the Speed Force, Barry ran fast to open a portal to the Speed Force, grabbed the device, got out from the Speed Force to go to the bomb and throws the device at the explosion. The chasing lightning rays followed the device and negated the explosion. Then Barry fainted and Joe went to see his health. An exhausted Barry then asked Joe if they were dead; Joe told him that they weren't, assuring Barry that the lightning had stopped the nuke.[90]
Last bus metas
A vigilante who apparently could strip people from his powers was the next meta-human. He was called Matthew Kim. When Joe and Iris went to talk to him, Matthew held Iris at scalpel-point. When Barry went to stop him, Matthew accidentally switched the power between Barry and Iris. As a result, Iris became the Flash for a while.
At last, Matthew gave Barry back his powers by stripping them off of Iris. Matthew agreed to be protected by Team Flash.
Barry and Ralph sometime later managed to find Janet Petty and imprison her in S.T.A.R. Labs, to avoid DeVoe from grabbing her.
Barry, Cisco, Caitlin and Ralph were prepared to capture Edwin Gauss on an emerging portal of a pocket dimension, he fell back to his portal for he was surprised of Team Flash. After they took Gauss in for his protection against DeVoe, DeVoe and his wife then sabotaged S.T.A.R. Labs while Barry, Cisco, and Caitlin went to DeVoe's lair via Gauss' pocket dimension. Iris battled against Marlize while DeVoe headed to the Pipeline to take the powers of the remaining bus-metas. Ralph crossed paths with DeVoe, now in Gauss' body, in the Pipeline and the two battled each other. At last, Ralph managed to gain the upper hand and defeat DeVoe by using the sonic scepter. Ralph later apprehended him with Barry, Cisco, and Caitlin returning from DeVoe's lair. Barry looked at Ralph with a smile and congratulated him but DeVoe, using Kilg%re's powers removed the power-dampening cuffs, and finally took over Ralph's body. Barry, Cisco, and Caitlin tried to stop him but he was now very powerful. Before escaping, DeVoe mockingly thanked Barry for Ralph's body.
After Ralph's demise, Barry developed PTSD that made him weak against DeVoe and other enemies. Team Flash asked Leo Snart for help in transferring Neil Borman to A.R.G.U.S. to protect him from DeVoe. As they were heading to A.R.G.U.S., they were attacked by DeVoe, who was intent on capturing Borman from them. Barry, believing that he could defeat DeVoe, used the sonic scepter to try to knock him out, but it was useless as he had Ralph's body, which only elasticized when the sonic waves passed him. DeVoe mocked Barry by saying, "Right, Rookie" in Ralph's voice, which made Barry fall to his knees. But in the middle of the battle, Siren-X, Laurel Lance of Earth-X, who was being captured by Citizen Cold before he was transported to Earth-1, interfered. Siren-X used her sonic scream to knock out both Barry and Leonard and even DeVoe. DeVoe eventually escaped while Siren-X brought Borman, Caitlin, and Joe to Central City Police Department, where she held them hostage. Barry, disappointed he failed to protect Ralph, was comforted by Leonard, who convinced Barry to accept his pain and face grief, made him better. Barry and Leonard headed to CCPD while Siren-X was seen to be forcing Borman to take off his power-dampening suit to spread radiation was interrupted right in time. Barry tried to stop Siren-X but he was struck by her sonic waves, pushing him backwards easily even Snart. When he was down, Barry again was haunted by his friend's death, while Siren-X continued to scream at Borman to make the radiation spread faster. After a lot of convincing words from Snart, Barry finally stood up and ran against Siren-X, knocking her out. Team Flash successfully transported Borman to A.R.G.U.S. with Snart going back to Earth-X with an apprehended Siren-X. Barry and Iris then headed to Sharon Finkel, where Barry opened up his feelings about Ralph's death.
After getting over Ralph's death, Barry and Team Flash teams up with Gypsy to try to end DeVoe's plan but he still overpowered them by almost ending Gypsy's life that was stopped by his wife, Marlize and they escaped together with the parts of the Enlightenment.
Barry woke up in the middle of the night and noticed that Iris wasn't in bed. He went out to the living room to see Iris working on a new article to expose the DeVoes.
The team later gathered at S.T.A.R. Labs, where Caitlin goes over DeVoe's tech. He planned on using the stolen satellites to reduce the intelligence of everyone on Earth. Harry tried offering advice, but he was unable to think of an intelligent plan.
Caitlin then realized that they had been tackling the problem of DeVoe all wrong. She revealed that they need a metahuman that's immune to DeVoe's powers and the only one that met those standards was Amunet Black. While initially hesitant, Caitlin was able to convince the rest of Team Flash to let Amunet help out.
Barry and Caitlin went to Amunet's hideout where they're greeted by Norvock. He told the pair that Amunet had not been heard from in quite some time so they're unaware of her whereabouts.
The group hatched a plan to find Amunet and they started it by finding out her real name.
Meanwhile, Barry pulled Iris aside and told her to exercise caution when writing the article on DeVoe.
When Joe and Caitlin arrived at a bodega that Amunet allegedly worked at they were attacked by her. Fortunately rushed in, stopping her from using her powers. Barry then revealed to her that they need her help to stop the Enlightenment. Reluctantly she agreed to help out and they took her back to S.T.A.R. Labs.
At S.T.A.R. Labs Amunet questioned Barry on why he was still wearing his uniform and revealed she already knew the Flash's real identity from when Barry was incarcerated at Iron Heights. Amunet told the team that in order to defeat DeVoe, she needed more of her metal shards, which were recently stolen. Barry sped off to find more shards in Amunet's storage lockers. Barry, Caitlin, and Amunet arrived at her storage location to try and find the person who took the shards. After a quick test, the group found out that t was Norvock who stole the shards and he and his cronies had left the boxing gym.
Barry and Iris continued to talk about Iris' article. She tried convincing Barry to let her release it to the public, but Barry is still hesitant due to the risk.
Eventually Amulet and Caitlin managed to deduce Norvock's location. As he was making a deal with thugs over the stolen metal in a dark alleyway, Barry sped to the location but is soon joined by Amunet, who tried killing Norvock. Barry managed to save Norvock from Amunet's shards, but Norvock then begins to attack them. Unfortunately manages to poison Barry with his venom. When Iris notices Barry's vitals going through the roof, she reminds Barry that he has to phase through the venom before it kills him which he does manage to do.
Caitlin and Joe stop the thugs from making away with the shards and Amunet uses them to form a mask around Norvock. She nearly kills him, but instead decides to cut off the snake in his eye. With her new shards, Amunet ditches the team and leaves.
Before leaving however, Amunet does gives Caitlin a concussive grenade made of Amunet's shards, which should help them take down Clifford DeVoe.
The team met back up at S.T.A.R. Labs and Harry had an idea. He explained that Clifford had not launched the satellites yet because he doesn't have help from his wife.
As the team starts to disperse, Barry told Iris to go ahead and publish her expose about the DeVoes. Later that night Barry and Iris were sleeping when Iris phone started buzzing with several notifications. Her expose has allowed people to come forward with their sightings of DeVoe, helping prove Team Flash's case.
Stopping the Enlightenment
Barry, Iris, and Cisco worked on coming up with a plan on stopping DeVoe. Barry admitted that he was not fast enough yet to run into DeVoe's pocket dimension however Cisco pointed out that if they split up, they might have a better chance at stopping DeVoe. Eventually Cisco got around DeVoe' hack and the team found out that the metahuman DeVoe is after is Fallout. Knowing that Fallout was still in A.R.G.U.S. custody, Barry ran to Star City and brung back John Diggle, who accessed ARGUS files to find out somebody posing at him checked in six hours ago.
Realizing that DeVoe is after Fallout, Cisco told the others that they only have twelve hours before DeVoe's "Enlightenment" began
After taking Diggle back to Star City Cisco revealed that DeVoe was using Fallout's nuclear energy to power the satellites as a part of the Enlightenment and doing some further digging found out that DeVoe was holding six A.R.G.U.S. agents hostage.
Cisco and Caitlin would later come up with an idea on how to stop DeVoe; they had to enter Flashtime with Barry to assist him in rescuing the hostages in time and stop DeVoe. Barry tried convincing them not to join Flashtime with him, but they show the science behind their theory and he eventually with hesitation and reluctance agreed to train them on how to move about in Flashtime.
The three began training and on the first time, Cisco was unable to use his powers while in Flashtime.
While Barry tried to train Cisco and Caitlin in Flashtime. They also began working on trying to come up with scenarios on how to save the hostages. While Cisco was able to use his powers this time Caitlin was not able to power up the cold gun. She fell out of Flashtime and knocked herself out.
Barry and Cisco took Caitlin to the med bay where she woke up and assured them she was fine, but Barry not wanting to risk losing his friends told Caitlin and Cisco that he refused to keep training them.
While trying to run through scenarios himself Cisco walked in and confronted Barry about continuing to train them. The two end up arguing about the death of Ralph with Barry claiming Ralphs death was on him as he pushed Ralph into becoming a hero which he believed lead to him being killed by DeVoe.
However, Cisco also pointed out that he was just as responsible as he freed Barry from the Speed Force which not only gave Ralph his powers, but also started the whole situation and told Barry he didn't do all that just so Barry could try to stop DeVoe all by himself. Barry admitted he couldn't do it by himself but told Cisco that everyone he tried to train ended up worse than when they when they met them. However, Cisco told Barry that Ralph himself was made a better person because of Barry and that they can stop DeVoe if they worked together which Barry agreed and decided to resume their training.
Iris and Wells the came in to tell the group that they found Marlize at her home in England. Barry gave Iris the last breaching device to get to England to retrieve Marlize.
At the A.R.G.U.S. facility, Fallout apparently combusted, releasing all of his radiation which DeVoe channeled. DeVoe shrank the chamber and went into into his pocket dimension when Barry, Cisco, and Caitlin arrive.
They entered Flashtime and managed to rescue all of the hostages as Barry rushed through the pocket dimension after DeVoe. DeVoe released his satellites but Barry used an explosive to destroy one of the satellites.
DeVoe then began lecturing Barry on the Enlightenment and warned Barry that love might be his downfall. DeVoe escaped into another pocket dimension.
Barry, Cisco, and Caitlin rushed back to S.T.A.R. Labs, where they found out that DeVoe had compromised the facilities satellite to use in place of the one Barry exploded. DeVoe used Kilg%e's powers to hack the S.T.A.R. Labs systems and take the Enlightenment online.
Cecile and Joe arrived at S.T.A.R. Labs as Cecile was in labor but they were unable to make it to the hospital in time. Caitlin assured them that she would deliver the baby.
Cisco told Barry that DeVoe stole the remaining Dark Force matter that was being stored at S.T.A.R. Labs. As the two were talking about what to do Iris walked in with Marlize.
Marlize explained how they should be able to stop DeVoe by entering his mind and finding the goodness he had left in him. Marlize explained that they need to find a way to transfer Barry's consciousness into DeVoe's and says that they'll have to use Cecile's powers for it to work.
In the training track, Marlize set Barry into DeVoe's chair and placed a power-expanding device on Cecile's head. They explained that using Cecile's power with DeVoe's chair, Cecile simply needed to find DeVoe's brain wavelengths and the chair will transport Barry into DeVoe's consciousness.
The experiment worked and Barry was transported into DeVoe's consciousness at the same exact time the bus was exposed to dark matter.
Marlize explained that Barry needed to find their house and Barry sped over there. He found the home completely empty however and the communications between Team Flash and Barry started going on the fritz as Cecile started having contractions.
Marlize revealed that if Cecile has the baby, she'll lose her powers which will trap Barry in DeVoe's consciousness forever.
Barry rushed to the picnic where Clifford and Marlize had their first dance and after he arrived, he was approached by Ralph Dibny who was revealed to still be alive and also walking around in DeVoe's consciousness. After hugging his friend who he thought dead Barry relayed back to Team Flash that Ralph was still alive.
Barry explained their situation to Ralph, who admitted that he had not seen a good DeVoe, only the evil version of DeVoe floating in his chair. The two were approached by DeVoe, but Barry managed to take Ralph and flee.
Barry and Ralph arrived at Oxford, where the good version of DeVoe was. However they found him slumped over in a chair, having been killed by the evil DeVoe.
Losing all hope Ralph tried to convince Barry to leave DeVoe's consciousness and spend whatever time he had left with his family. Barry refused to leave however and thought of another idea. Remembering that Marlize told Barry that if the good DeVoe transported through DeVoe's nexus, they'd be able to take control. Barry realized DeVoe had been keeping Ralph alive because if Ralph died, DeVoe would lose control.
Multiples copies of DeVoe converged on Barry and Ralph and they all began fighting their way to freedom. However the copies seem to overpower them Barry seemed defeated but after a quick pep talk by Ralph, they managed to make quick work of the copies of DeVoe when more clones show up stop him and Ralph from escaping but he is unsuccessful as Barry and Ralph escape into the Nexus.
Barry woke up in the pocket dimension and DeVoe realized he was defeated. DeVoe then collapsed to the floor and Ralph took his body back.
Marlize was able to shut down the satellites to stop the Enlightenment and the power turned back on across Central City. Iris double checked to make sure there is no longer any dark energy in Central City, confirming they defeated DeVoe.
Marlize transported the team back to S.T.A.R. Labs as Cecile announced that her water just broke and the team moved her into the med bay. As the team left the main room, DeVoe's chair lights.
Caitlin began Cecile's delivery. The team rendezvoused in the main room and DeVoe reappeared as a hologram. Marlize however said goodbye to her husband and destroyed his chair, killing DeVoe for good. With DeVoe dead, his satellites began falling out of orbit, which alerts S.T.A.R. Labs.
Barry sped out to try and stop the satellites from crashing into Central City. The satellites began crashing into the city, but Barry, Ralph, and Cisco are able to save the citizens from major harm.
The last remaining satellite piece was crashing into Earth but Barry used his sonic punch to disintegrate it, but time reversed as he was about to make contact and as Barry sped up to punch it again, but this time the mystery speedster joined him to help out. They break the satellite together and she disappeared. Returning to S.T.A.R. Labs Barry found out that Cecile had given birth to a girl.
Marlize gave Cisco technology to reverse the effects Wells had suffered, but it did not work entirely. Although he had some intelligence restored, Wells was not super intelligent like he used to be. Wells made the realization he needed to go back to his own Earth and spend more time with Jessie. He hugged Team Flash and traveled back home.
The team then went to the West household to celebrate the new baby. Wally also showed up and surprised the group and talked about defeating a time demon with the Legends.
Suddenly the girl Barry had met at his and Iris's wedding showed up and lets herself in. In front of the entire group, she revealed her name was Nora and she's the daughter of Barry and Iris from the future and admits she's made a huge mistake.[91]
Fighting Cicada
Meeting his future daughter
Shocked and hesitant by the identity this girl claimed to be Nora tried to convince everybody of her identity as Barry and Iris' daughter. Nora explained that after helping destroy the S.T.A.R. Labs satellite, she lacked the speed to open the Speed Force to return to her timeline.
At S.T.A.R Labs basement, Nora's ran on the track while Barry and Iris talked about the situation. While Barry was still hesitant, pointing out that they have been lied too before Iris believed the evidence noting that her lightning is a combination of both of theirs as speedsters. Caitlin and Cisco walked in and started testing her vitals and Caitlin informed Barry and Iris that DNA testing confirmed that Nora was, in fact, their daughter.
At CCPD, Captain Singh informed Barry that he was reinstated to the force after being cleared of any wrongdoing in the death of Clifford DeVoe. With his job back Barry started tackling his workload when Nora sped in and offered to help out, much to her father's dismay. While they were talking a call came in about an attacking meta-human and Nora sped out to retrieve Barry's original suit from Cisco's closet.
Barry tried stopping the robbery when he interrupted and distracted by Nora, who arrived and expressed surprise at the villain Gridlock. Gridlock got away and the team returned to S.T.A.R. Labs.
Eventually, the team decided to have Barry and Nora race around the Pipeline, with both of them using tachyon devices to get Nora back to her proper point in the timeline. As Barry and Nora raced off to open up the Speed Force, Wally rushed in and told the group they have to stop the pair from going forward in time.
Barry and Nora were knocked out and they soon woke up in the medical bay. Wally informed them that he met with the Legends and had Gideon analyze Nora's blood, where she found that Nora was suffering from negative-tachyons that were making her slower. They then noticed on the TV that Gridlock has committed another robbery and they realized that without their satellites which they had just destroyed, they were without eyes and ears to keep track on the criminal metas.
In the Speed Lab of S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry and Iris had a heart to heart about having children. While they were talking, Barry came to a realization and left to talk with Nora. Nora admitted to him that in her timeline, Wells' newspaper of Barry disappearing in a Crisis came true and that shortly after Nora's birth he never reappeared. At that moment Barry realized that Nora wasn't stuck in the current timeline, rather she was choosing not to go forward in time in an effort to save her father from the Crisis and get to know him.
Iris called Barry and Nora back to inform them that they've identified Gridlock as a career criminal known as William Lang. They realize he boarded a plane at the airport in an effort to gain control over the flight and crash it.
As predicted the engine of the plane exploded and was crashing. Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Nora mentioned that she had heard of a story of Barry phasing the airplane through buildings. Barry then came up with the idea that together with Nora and Wally, they can make it happen. Nora gifted her dad a ring (similar to the one Thawne wielded) containing a brand new suit made by Ryan Choi in the future.
The three speedsters then sped towards the plane while Cisco got a better angle on the situation in an effort to Vibe them onto the plane. The scenario worked and Barry was able to handcuff Gridlock and stop him while Wally knocked him out. The three then began trying to phase the plane but their initial attempt failed as Nora found herself unable to do it. Barry then decided to give his daughter a pep talk recounting the same words Thawne told him early into his career as a hero and the trio were able to phase the airplane through Central City skyscrapers and land it safely in the river.
Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Cisco gave Nora updated technology but Barry convinced the group that they should let Nora stay in the current timeline for a little longer. He however did not tell them know about the Crisis and persuaded them that they should make sure Nora's powers are functioning properly.
Rise of Cicada
Later that night, CCPD was escorting Gridlock to Iron Heights Prison when the convoy was stopped by a strange object that appeared and lodged itself in the road, started to glow and emitted red electricity before causing an explosion which disoriented the convoy and the officers. Gridlock remained chained in the transport vehicle while hearing the carnage outside as it appeared that there was a fight going on outside. After the fighting stopped, the door to the transport vehicle was opened, and an unknown assailant walked in and stood before Gridlock, he asked the assailant, "Who are you...What do you want?" and the assailant answered him with, "For all of you to die." The dagger in the assailants hand began to glow, and he walked toward Gridlock, appearing to intend to kill him.[30] After the death of Gridlock, Cicada continued his vendetta against meta-humans, killing every meta he comes across. This prompted Team Flash to investigate the meta killer and also hiring the master detective from Earth-221, Harrison Sherloque Wells.
During Cicada's killing spree, he targeted Cisco, also known as the meta-human Vibe. To find Vibe, Cicada broke into the West house and threatened Joe and Cecile. Unfortunately, Cisco came to the Wests' aid but was immediately subdued by Cicada, transporting them into the woods. Barry sped to the woods to rescue Cisco before Cicada kills him but as Barry arrives to his friend's aid, his powers are dampened by Cicada's dagger. This forced Barry to fight the killer using combat but was easily defeated. Luckily, Nora had a brilliant idea. She grabbed one of the reactor in the Pipeline and ran to the woods. As she reached the woods, Nora quickly throws the reactor to Cicada but deflects it using his dagger. The reactor then ricochets to Cisco then explodes, causing all the metas to fall on their backs. After the explosion, an injured Cicada flies off while Barry and Nora looks for Cisco. Thinking that he was dead, Barry almost panicked until a breach opened, where Cisco came out. Both Barry and Cisco thanked Nora for saving him.[92]
The next day, Barry noticed that Iris and Nora had a strained relationship. During the CCPD baseball game, Barry was playing poorly, as he never played sports, and noticed a man drop a bomb, but to his surprise, Nora saved the day by quickly noticing, and they found out that the man was being manipulated. As a local burned down, Flash and XS tried to stop the fire, but Flash was manipulated into running to Las Vegas. Barry, Iris, and Nora investigated Spencer Young, but Barry didn't understand that Nora and Young were flirting until Iris intervened. He and Nora attended an emergency at the stadium, but there was nothing until Nora started attacking him and Flash had to defend himself after discovering that Young was using his phone to manipulate people.
When he was going to be defeated, Flash managed to dodge his daughter to take her down and was helped by the team to search for Young around the stadium until he found her, and broke her phone. Mockingly, he told her that he would now go after the cells. Barry watched the argument between Nora and Iris because she confessed that in the future Iris treated her badly.[93]
Barry wanted to make Iris and Nora reconcile, but they both didn't want to, and he investigates a murder caused by a meta. Flash saved a businessman from the meta, whom they nicknamed Rag Doll. The team discovered that Rag Doll's name was Peter Merkel, and he went with Iris to a gala to question Theresa Merkel, Peter's mother. Barry was captured by the meta and thrown by him until Iris jumped in to save him along with Nora, and they watched as Ralph took it upon himself to defeat Rag Doll. With happiness, he watched as Iris and Nora reconciled.[94]
Barry and Cisco helped Caitlin search for her father Thomas Snow in an old vault and successfully found him. The trio found out that Thomas was sent by Harrison Wells to the vault, which surprised Barry, as Wells was actually Thawne. Bringing Thomas to the base, Barry supported Cisco in his theory of mistrust of Thomas. After being betrayed by Thomas, Flash and the team tried to confront him, but since he was turned into Icicle they couldn't, until Caitlin unlocked Frost again to defeat her father, and the team reconciled. Barry and the others realized that they had to make Cicada lose his dagger.[95]
Elseworlds
One day, Barry found himself in an A.R.G.U.S. bunker, training with Diggle at hand-to-hand combat. Thinking that he's still in Central City, he asked Dig what he's doing there, in which he replayed that he's "Kicking his butt". Thinking that he's in the bunker, Barry asked if they redecorated it. Dig, being confused because of the question, said that he's been to A.R.G.U.S. a million times and he doesn't understand the question. When he said that, he called Barry "Oliver", which made Barry question Diggle's actions. He then proceed to beat him in the fight, and because of that (and the fact that Dig called him "Oliver"), he realized that Dig thinks he's Oliver Queen and that he also got his fighting skills. He also realized that he's now the Green Arrow, which made him surprised and happy.
Barry pulled up his shirt to find all of Oliver's tattoos and scars on him. Knowing that S.T.A.R. Labs will be able to help him, he said to Dig that he needs to call there because of some "important Green Arrow business". Suddenly however, Dig got an alert that the Bertinellis are fighting the Bratva over an old Ricardo Diaz's weapons cache in the Glades. He asked for Barry's help (by again calling him "Oliver"), but due to him not having his speed or any fight training, he said that he's not feeling it. Dig tried to convince him by saying that the other A.R.G.U.S. agents are on another mission and will not be able to make it in time, which worked. He then handed him the Green Arrow suit, but Barry didn't know how to put it on and asked for help.
At the weapons cache, Barry tried to shoot an incendiary arrow at the criminals, but accidentally shot a grappling hook arrow instead. He proceed to beat them using Oliver's fighting skills, but had a little problem with it due to his lack of combat training. One guy almost shot him, but luckily Diggle got him in time. Excited that he beat all the criminals, he almost let the driver get away. But luckily got reminded what to do by Dig, and shot exploding arrows at the truck. When it was all over, Barry realized that there is another guy sneaking up behind Dig, ready to hit him. He shouted in order to alert Dig, which was too late. Luckily, Oliver (who was dressed up as "the Flash" and got Barry's speed due to them switching lives) sped the two away. Barry then said that he's really glad to see him, as Diggle threw up (as he usually does when a speedster suddenly grabs him and speeds him somewhere). He then complimented Oliver's suit, which was in fact his.
Barry and Oliver went to S.T.A.R. Labs together and told Team Flash the situation. However the entire team was confused and did not believe that the heroes had switched identities and decided to call a Team meeting without Barry or Oliver present. Later when seeing Iris by herself, Barry encouraged Oliver to talk to her and try to convince. Oliver however was reluctant noting to Barry that she was his wife but Barry in return pointed out that because of how reality was changed it had to be Oliver. He also suggested calling Iris his “lightning rod” which Oliver refused to say. Iris however ended up knocking Oliver unconscious by spiking his drink still while Ralph knocked Barry unconscious.
Barry awoke up to find himself and Oliver handcuffed and locked in the pipeline. Barry then realized that if only Earth-1 people have them mixed up, they should go to Earth-38 to see if Kara can be a witness to their real identities. Agreeing on the plan the two first worked on getting out of their cell by using each other's powers and abilities. Barry was told by Oliver to dislocate his thumb in order to escape the cuffs use his freed hands to deactivate the power dampeners in the pipeline which he did. Barry then coached Oliver through phasing out of the cuffs and then phasing them out of the cell.
The two then go and grab an extrapolator to breach to Earth-38 and talk to Kara. However Iris had thought ahead and held the extrapolator. Barry however pleaded with his wife, and by sharing the memory of the day he moved in with her and Joe as a child and calling her his lightning rod. Iris relented and gave them the extrapolator. Arriving in a barn Barry and Ollie breach directly in front of Lois, who threatened them with a hammer. Kara sped to them and introduced Barry and Oliver to Clark her cousin and Lois his wife. Relieved that Kara recognized them for who they really are, Kara was surprised to see Oliver with Barry's powers.
On the farm, Oliver trained Barry in archery. However Oliver grew angry with Barry due to Barry's lighthearted attitude and Barry subsequently taking advantage of their predicament to get revenge for Oliver shooting him with arrows four years ago by using the same trick on Oliver. Oliver attempted to taunt Barry into anger and get him to strike him, and when it did not work Oliver sped at him only for Barry to lay Oliver on the ground with one move and lectures him instead noting that if he truly knew how to control his powers he wouldn't have been able to touch him.
Later Oliver went to Barry and admitted he let his anger get the best of him seeing Barry be so lighthearted and cavalier with his skills as in order to be The Green Arrow Oliver had to use all of the pain and anger of his past. Barry however told Oliver that is was the absolute opposite for him and that being the Flash means letting go of his pain and thinking about the people he's running too whether they be Iris or his friends. In that moment the two realized that Oliver is a better speedster when he is happy and Barry is a more skilled fighter when he's angered, so with Kara's encouragement (who had been listening) they decided to be more like each other to be more effective.
Cisco breached to the farm and called Barry and Oliver by their correct names having finally believed them. He asked them to come home to help fight Amazo ( the robot Oliver had accidentally activated when he foiled a robbery earlier in the morning). Kara invited Clark to join them, and Lois encouraged him.
Amazo was causing destruction in the streets when the four heroes came through the breach. They took turns attacking Amazo, trying to keep him from copying their powers and throwing him off balance, with Barry and Oliver adopting each other's attitudes the team seems to work quite efficiently. At first the plan seems to work and Superman slams him into the ground. However Amazo rises copies their powers and abilities and easily overpowers all of them. Team Flash considers the possibilities of what they can do and realize thanks to Sherloque they can simply turn Amazo off. Barry develops a plan and tells Oliver to bring A.M.A.Z.O. back toward them. Meanwhile, Cisco designs a virus to wipe the robot's C.P.U.
Barry then instructs Kara and Clark to hold Amazo once he returns. Cisco breaches to Barry's location to put the virus on an arrow. Amazo returns and the Flash, Supergirl, and Superman struggle to hold him in place. Stating “You have failed this city” Barry shoots Amazo in the eye, making him explode.
At S.T.A.R. Labs the team considers their options to help Barry and Oliver return to their lives. Clark decides to return to Lois on his Earth, along with an alimony check for Sherloque's third wife. Barry and Iris talk and Iris revealed she believed him because she trusted her heart and now she needs Barry to promise her that while he is the Green Arrow he will not turn into Oliver in the process which he promises.
Cisco later tells Barry, Oliver, and Kara about his earlier Vibe. Oliver claims they need to see, so Cisco vibes Barry and Oliver to the moment when a strange individual meets another man and hands him a book of some kind. The man turns to them and warns them to give up. The vibe then ended with Cisco's nose bleeding. Oliver using his powers quickly drew a sketch of the two men and a building Wayne Enterprises and concluded they needed to go to Gotham City.[96]
Oliver, Barry and Kara intervened in an Argus op, lead by Diggle while his team was monitored by Curtis from a van. The team was attacked by a heavily armored Joe Wilson, who was about to kill Diggle when Barry, Oliver, and Kara used their abilities and powers to easily subdue and capture him. Back at A.R.G.U.S headquarters, Barry and Oliver explained the swapping of their lives and powers and skills to Curtis and Diggle. When Felicity showed up to help, Oliver made it clear to everyone not to let Felicity know what was happening figuring there was enough going on with their lives with Barry surprised that Oliver and Felicity were having problems with their marriage but still keeping up the guise at Oliver's behest.
As the three heroes got ready to head to Gotham, Oliver suggested Barry remain behind, since Oliver's fame from making his identity public would make things difficult. Barry countered by reminding Oliver that if Gotham could handle the presence of Batman they could handle the Green Arrow as well. This led to them arguing about Batman, who Oliver insisted was a myth made up by the Gotham City Police Department much to Barry and Kara's shock and amusement. Kara then grabbed Barry and flew to Gotham While Oliver ran. While Kara and Barry landed on a rooftop Oliver lagged behind, continuing to struggle with his speedster abilities. They then discussed how to find the people from Cisco's vibe, and Oliver mentioned knowing a local reporter however he was not sure she would help though, as he could not remember if he slept with her. While also on the building they found The Bat Signal on the roof, though Oliver continued to believe Batman was a myth.
In their civilian clothes, Oliver, Barry, and Kara walked towards the radio station where Oliver's reporter contact Vesper Fairchild worked. As they saw a couple shopping with an armed guard they discussed how crime ridden Gotham City was. Suddenly then a gang of thugs walked up and attempted to rob them at gunpoint. Oliver tried to talk them down but when that seemed to be getting them nowhere Barry acting on instinct attacked and managed to disarm one. The police arrived and recognized Barry as Oliver, and arrested everyone in the process. In jail, Kara chastised Barry and Oliver for their handling of the situation. Calling them both out for how the handled the mugging, pointing out she could have gotten them away so fast they wouldn't have been seen. Oliver then conceded that she should be in charge next time. When their bail was posted and the three were finally released.
Outside a man met them at the door in front of a car. They realized he worked for the person who bailed them out and when he showed them a gun Barry lightly chided Kara by pointing out that she said they would not be confronted again before they all went with him. The driver dropped them off at Wayne Tower, the former home of billionaire Bruce Wayne. Inside they were greeted by a tattooed woman who recognized Barry as Oliver the Green Arrow. Introducing herself Kate Kane Bruce's cousin and the current inheritor of Wayne Enterprises. Kane told them that she wanted them to leave her city as soon as possible.
On the roof, Kate talked to Kara and Oliver. Kara asked why Bruce Wayne and Batman both went missing at the same time – three years ago. Kate told them that Bruce couldn't live with what Gotham became after Batman left. Barry went to Vesper Fairchild who decided not to help them due to Oliver having indeed slept with her Barry reunited with the others and revealed this to them. Kate gave them the wifi password and headed inside to work while Oliver revealed he stole police data from the station.
Oliver searched facial recognition and found out about John Deegan. A former doctor at Arkham Asylum he experimented on his patients, but was acquitted due to technicalities. However he could not find Deegan's current address or employment so Kara decides to search the city. Thanks to information from Kate the duo learn of the location of Arkham. Outside of Arkham, Kara, Barry, and Oliver discussed how to break in when Cisco and Caitlin breached in through with Diggle to pass the message that they were contacted by an alternate Flash. Kara then came up with an idea to get them in. Kara pushed Caitlin in a wheelchair and told the administrator that she was delivering a new patient from the hospital, using Killer Frost's powers to bolster the lie. Meanwhile, Oliver used Barry's CCPD credentials and Diggle uses his A.R.G.U.S ones to infiltrate their way into an inspection. They walked down the hall, seeing the names of many of the Asylums inmates names on the door, before they found Deegan's lab.
Deegan recognized Oliver for who he was, but refused to undo the damage he had caused and pushed a button which triggered an alarm and released all the patients so he could escape. Diggle, the Flash, Supergirl, Killer Frost and Green Arrow worked together to help recapture the patients. When a few almost got away, Batwoman showed up and stopped them. Meanwhile, Killer Frost faced off with Nora Fries, who was using the cold technology of Victor Fires. Killer Frost called for help as she was being overpowered and both Oliver and Barry hurried to assist her. Deegan grabbed the book from a hiding place inside the walls, but was found by Kara who took the book from him.
The two showed up to find Caitlin knocked out. Oliver attempted to throw a lightning bolt, but due to still not having good control over his speedster powers he ended up knocking over several vials labeled "Crane" which spill and release a gaseous agent into the air. In front of Oliver laid Eobard Thawne; Barry's most hated enemy, While Barry himself saw Oliver as Malcolm Merlyn. This led to them both fighting each other. Barry and Oliver while fighting were constantly taunted by their hallucinations until Batwoman appeared and stopped them, recognizing the vials and explaining they were exposed to a serious hallucinogen. Outside of Arkham Batwoman orders them all out of her city.
With the book now in their hands at A.R.G.U.S., Felicity was eager to translate the cryptographs inside. Barry and Oliver talked about their hallucinations and acknowledged each other's burdens with Barry encouraging Ollie not to wait to talk things out with Felicity. Oliver took Barry's advice to heart sat with Felicity and assured her they will be okay because while recent events have shown him that they might have changed as people, he will always love her no matter what and they made up. Finally, the other Flash was able to breach into A.R.G.U.S.. Another doppelganger of Barry Allen hailing from Earth-90 which was destroyed by The Monitor – the other man in Cisco's vibe. Earth 90- Barry revealed The Monitor uses The Book of Destiny throughout the multiverse to test worlds for an unknown crisis coming.
Cisco then told the others that the The Monitor was on the street being confronted by authorities. Kara, Oliver, and both Barry Allens confronted him. Earth- 90 Barry Allen headed towards The Monitor who made him vanish with a snap of his fingers. The Monitor told the three that he was trying to save the multiverse from a crisis. He summoned the book from Argus and disappeared. Reality was then changed again with Oliver and Barry now in matching black and leather attire and with Kara seemingly gone. Escaping from a police unit headed by Ricardo Diaz the two found themselves confronted by seemingly Superman but in all black. Deegan is crying when The Monitor appears before him and handed the book back over, telling Deegan to think bigger and do better.
Suddenly, Barry and Oliver realized they are dressed identically, and a newspaper headline says they are wanted criminals known as The Trigger Twins. Kara is nowhere to be seen and neither of them is a speedster. A cop car pulls up and three police officers emerge. Joe Wilson, Malcolm Merlyn, and Ricardo Diaz. Diaz starts to arrest Oliver, who fights back and he and Barry run. Only to be stopped by a version of Superman who is dressed all in black. The black-suited Superman tells both Barry and Oliver that attempting to escape him would be impossible and that it will not go well. Confused, Barry attempts to remind Superman of their identities, in hopes of jogging Superman's memories. To their surprise, they find out that this "Superman" is actually Deegan who used the book to rewrite reality again.[97]
Barry and Oliver manage to evade the police, but in order to fix the reality and save Kara, Barry suggests they track down Cisco, and have him open a breach to Earth-38 in order to get help from Clark Kent. They encounter versions of Gary Green and James Olsen before they find Cisco, who is a crime lord in this reality. Cisco is at first uninterested, but when Barry and Oliver say he can expand his criminal empire to other Earths with his powers, he relents, and opens a breach to Earth-38.
They end up on Earth-38, and meet with Clark, who takes them to the Fortress of Solitude. Here, Barry and Oliver reveal him, what's going on and that Kara is in trouble. Clark claims he has seen Book of Destiny before, and confirms it is the key to fix everything. Cisco breaches everyone to S.T.A.R. Labs on Earth-1. In the chaos Kara is freed and she gets the Book, and Barry and Oliver deliver it to Clark, who has been fighting Deegan. Clark claims the book and begins to fix reality, giving Barry, Oliver and Kara their powers back, but Deegan interrupts him, reclaims the Book and begins to rewrite reality again.
As Deegan rewrites reality, Barry concludes they need more time to stop him, and in order to do so, he suggests he and Kara speed around the Earth in opposite directions fast enough to temporarily stop Earth from rotating. Oliver and Clark realize the effort will kill them in the end, but they can't talk them out of it. Barry and Kara go for it, and they succeed slowing down time, and they eventually survive, thanks to Oliver, who used a cosmic arrow he received from Mar Novu on the Book of Destiny.
Barry and Kara join others, just as Deegan brings out A.M.A.Z.O.. With assistance from Kara's friends from Earth-38, the heroes are victorious and Clark uses the Book to restore reality. Deegan has been disfigured badly due to the book, and he is delivered to the Arkham Asylum.
Barry, Oliver and Team Flash bid farewell to Kara and her friends as they return to Earth-38, with Kara saying this is becoming an annual thing. Afterwards, Barry and Oliver have a drink in a bar, where Oliver refuses to have Barry hug him. Oliver excuses himself, when he receives a phone call from Batwoman, who says Deegan has made a new friend in Arkham.[98]
King Shark vs Gorilla Grodd
To test the Meta-human cure with Cicada, Barry and the team decided to use it first on King Shark. Due to the King Shark going crazy, Barry and the others asked Tanya Lamden for help, who was investigating the shark's activity. Flash, XS, and Vibe managed to control King Shark and gave him the cure to turn him human. The team saw that Shay couldn't control her form.
Barry and Cisco argued about the cure until Grodd showed up to get revenge. Barry and the team were to get the telepathic crown that Grodd stole from Shay to control people. Flash and XS tried to defeat the gorilla, but were defeated until Shay appeared as King Shark to help. When Shark beat Grodd, Barry said "Long live the King." By returning Grodd to his cell and giving Shay a nice reward for helping them, Barry apologized to Cisco for using the cure quickly.[99]
Another Cicada
After the first Cicada was defeated, the second appeared, which was actually Grace Gibbons of the future. Grace was part of the Reverse Flash plan to be released from prison, unfortunately Nora sacrificed herself to fix her mistakes.
Coming Crisis
Crisis draws nearer
- "We can start by preparing the team for this Crisis. Maybe even a world without the Flash."
- —Barry about the preparation for his legacy.[src]
Several minutes after watching Nora West-Allen's video recording of her last words, Barry and Iris noted a massive power surge originating from the time vault. As the two rushed over to investigate, the plinth within the vault was destroyed under unknown circumstances, completely frying Nora's message.
In the months that followed, Barry coped with the loss of his daughter by assuring himself that he would see her again in the future, although Iris had a much tougher time coming to terms with Nora's passing. During this time, Team Flash was alerted to the emergence of the evil speedster Godspeed from the future, although they only ended up encountering mysterious decoys of the speedster rather than August Heart himself. By October, Barry had captured his fourth false Godspeed, all of which had no language skills and could only emit a static warbling sound.
Shortly after this, Barry and Team Flash were alerted to the existence of a black hole that was randomly appearing throughout the city. After it appeared on more than one occasion, the team determined that the black hole was really the consciousness of scientist-turned-online streamer Chester P. Runk, whose mind had been split between his human form and in the form of the black hole after a freak accident involving a gravitational wave emitter. After Barry journeyed into the black hole and destabilized it from inside, he was able to save both Chester and the city, with the former finally becoming conscious. As the team celebrated their victory, The Monitor appeared to Barry and Iris and informed them that he was the one who destroyed Nora's message, before proclaiming that Barry's fated death in the Crisis had been moved up to December 10, 2019 instead of the original date of April 25, 2024, and that there was nothing Barry could do in order for him to survive. Before leaving, Novu stated that the Flash must die in order for billions to live.[100]
Unsure of whether to fully trust the Monitor, Barry decided to time travel to December 11, 2019 (one day after his supposed death) to witness the Crisis himself, although he was hit by a wall of antimatter in his attempt to do so, preventing him from completing his journey. As an alternative, Barry traveled to Earth-3 to seek the help of Jay Garrick, who, with his wife Joan Williams, was able to connect Barry to a device which allowed him to witness billions of future timelines. Unfortunately, in each timeline Barry viewed, Earth-1 was engulfed by a wave of antimatter, killing all its inhabitants, with the notable exception of the timeline where he sacrificed his life. Concluding that the Monitor spoke the truth and that he truly had to die to save billions, Barry returned to Earth-1 and solemnly informed Iris that there was no escape from his destiny, although, after realizing that to give up would be the worst way to deal with the ordeal, Barry revealed that he wouldn't resolve to his fate but be willing to die when the time came.[101]
After Barry eventually informed Team Flash of his fate, many of them struggled to come to terms with it but gradually did so, with Barry's encouragement, with Ralph prepared to be the city's hero in Barry's absence and Cisco ready to assume the role of team leader. Despite the Crisis's looming threat, Barry and Team Flash were forced to divert their attention in order to contend with Ramsey Rosso, a friend of Caitlin's that had been diagnosed with HLH, the same disease that ended the life of his mother. With Ramsey also dealing with a limited timetable, like Barry, and desperate for a cure, Barry offered to help Ramsey and even provided him with the cure he wished for. Unfortunately, though, Ramsey rejected the cure and instead took the darker path by infusing dark matter into his cells, transforming himself into the sinister metahuman Bloodwork.
Infected by Ramsey Rosso
When Ramsey Rosso attacked Ralph, he managed to infect him with his blood. Barry came to his aid, but all he could do was to bring him back to S.T.A.R. Labs. He pleaded Frost to help him, but she instead let Caitlin take over and she concluded that a blood transfusion can save Ralph, but warned Barry she is not fully certain. Since Barry was a universal donor, he agreed to do it. Ralph was saved and taken to A.R.G.U.S. for recovery.
Barry was told by Caitlin to rest easy for a while. While at home, he began to feel pain and suddenly, Ramsey Rosso was standing in front of him. he determined that Barry was the Flash. He attacked him, but his punch did nothing. Ramsey then attempted to convince him to join him, because through him he can save himself as well as everyone. Barry refused, and later saw he was hallucinating.
Later, he tried to pour a glass of water. The pain returned, and he saw his mother, who was really the Speed Force. She came to warn him, that when he saved Ralph's life, a small amount of Ramsey's blood transferred into him, and now that blood is trying to bind Barry into Ramsey's will. Barry then found himself struggling between choosing the Speed Force or Ramsey; Ramsey trying to convince him that if he joins him, he will survive and can have the life he has always wanted, with Nora as his child with Iris; Speed Force trying to convince him not to listen to him. Barry eventually seems to reject Ramsey, claiming that his lies were so convincing. However, the Speed Force told him Ramsey wasn't lying. This causes Barry to get angry at Speed Force, since he never had any choice of becoming the Flash; it chose him, and ever since then he has been doing what the Speed Force wants. Ramsey appears again to convince him to reject the Speed Force and choose him, as the Speed Force will continue to use him and push him into his death in the Crisis. As Barry begins to accept Ramsey, the Speed Force reveals, that choosing Ramsey would save him and grant him what he wants in its twisted way, it would cause Barry to lose his soul, the very thing that Iris loves about him. Both Ramsey and the Speed Force attempt to pull him towards each other, with both claiming only he can end it.
Barry awakes in S.T.A.R. Labs, after Cisco and Frost found him lying on his apartment floor in pain. They determined that Ramsey's blood found its way to him, but now Barry claims he beat it. Iris arrives and is also relieved. Later, Barry is doing some work in the Labs and Iris comes to him and starts asking if he's okay. However, Iris notices Barry acts strangely, and she quietly walks away and tells Cisco and Frost that is not Barry. They walk slowly to him, and he turns around, now having a twisted face due to Ramsey's infection. He speeds away in a black lightning, knocking down Iris, Cisco and Frost and joins Ramsey.[7]
Ramsey begins his reign of terror in the city with Barry to help him. Cisco activates hidden protocols in the Labs, which he made in case Barry ever goes bad, dubbing Barry as the Dark Flash. Iris refuses to give up on Barry and tries to convince him to come back to her. She seemingly fails. When Cisco attempts to take out Ramsey, he too fails because of Barry, and Ramsey tells him to deliver a message to S.T.A.R. Labs; he will come to use the particle accelerator in order to infect everyone in the city. The last thing he says "I knew I chose the right guy!"
As Barry and Ramsey arrive at Labs, Iris and Cisco learn that Ramsey used Barry to sabotage the accelerator. Both eventually realize that Ramsey spoke with exact words that Barry had previously spoken to them. This causes both of them to realize, that Barry is working on the inside to thwart Ramsey's plan. He also provided them with the answer to stop Ramsey and cure everyone; use Allegra Garcia's ultraviolet radiation powers combined with the particle accelerator to burn out Ramsey's blood in a massive ultraviolet-blast. Iris and Cisco lets Barry and Ramsey in and they make their way to accelerator. Ramsey's blood starts circling around the pipeline, but Frost brings Allegra and encourages her to use her powers. When Cisco gives the signal, Allegra gives it her all, and it works: Ramsey's infection is burned away by UV-light and Barry is also back to normal.
Barry reveals how difficult it was to fight Ramsey's control, but he managed to deliver the necessary clues to Team Flash. However, Ramsey is still large. Barry goes to fight him in the streets, where he transforms into massive blood monster. He gains an upper hand and binds Barry, but Ramsey then sees his mother. Ramsey is shocked and stops. Barry then reveals how Ramsey was able to tap into his doubts, he did the same to him. Despite his madness he still had doubts about doing what he did, and seeing his mother now in his mind is all that doubt. Using this to his advantage, Barry speeds Ramsey and locks him up in the MAC, as it is way more powerful than the pipeline. Ramsey is then delivered to A.R.G.U.S.
Later, Team Flash has gathered in the S.T.A.R. Labs lounge, sitting silently as Barry watches his watch, with only minutes left to December 10th. Barry then says sitting in silence is not how he wants to spend the final minutes. Everyone in Team Flash start to reminisce about their lives, from when Barry became The Flash. Barry thanks Joe for being there for him, when he needed someone and Joe says he is proud of the man Barry has become. Cecile says how she considers Barry as the son she never had. Cisco reminisces the old days right after Barry became the Flash, how it was just him, Barry, Caitlin and Eobard Thawne. Caitlin tells Barry how her life fell apart after the particle accelerator exploded, but then Barry entered her life, and she found new joy in life again, and thanks Barry for saving her life. Iris claims that no matter if Barry won't survive the Crisis, he will never leave her, as the only thing more certain than the Crisis is them. The clock then hits midnight, and the team witnesses as the skies turn crimson red and lightning starts striking. The Crisis has begun.[8]
Anti-Monitor Crisis
Barry is running around Central City doing what he can as the Crisis hits. He then encounters Lyla Michaels, who now calls herself the Harbinger. She tells him she needs to come with her.
Barry joins alongside Sara Lance and Ray Palmer at Earth-38 to do reconnaissance and later joins Oliver Queen, Kara Danvers, Alex Danvers, J'onn Jonzz, Mia Queen, Kate Kane, Clark Kent and Lois Lane in the D.E.O.
They tell them that the massive quantum tower that rose is not a threat, but the only thing that can stop the impending antimatter-wave. It must be protected from the forces of Anti-Monitor, or Earth-38 will be consumed like Argo City a short while ago.
Barry meets with Oliver, who reveals to him that he is destined to die in this Crisis. Oliver doesn't agree with this and demands to speak with the Monitor. Barry is confused about this.
Oliver asks Barry, Kara and Clark to help out with the evacuation of Earth-38 while he, Mia, Kate, Sara and Ray take up positions in the tower. Suddenly, Anti-Monitor's Shadow Demons attack the tower. Barry, Kara and Clark come to their aid, and they manage to stop two waves of demons. Suddenly, the tower powers down, forcing Kara and Clark to power it up with their heat vision. They succeed, but only temporarily. The heroes keep fighting the demons, but the Monitor arrives and declare this battle is lost. He teleports everyone to safety, as Earth-38 is lost.
In the Arrowcave at Earth-1, Monitor brings mortally wounded Oliver to the heroes. Oliver reveals to Barry and Kara, how he sacrificed himself last year to save them, so that they could help save the multiverse now. Oliver dies soon after. Barry, Kara and others are saddened that Oliver is gone. The Monitor reveals that he was destined to die in this Crisis, but not like this, and remarks how his selfless sacrifice ensured the survival of one billion extra Earth-38 refugees. Nash Wells appears, and Barry is amazed to see him dressed like an omnipotent being. Nash claims he is now a Pariah, a man sentenced to bear witness to events he caused by releasing the Anti-Monitor.[102]
Barry joins with others on Earth-74 Waverider, where Mar Novu reveals, that they need to find the seven Paragons, destined individuals, who can save the multiverse. Kara is the Paragon of Hope, while Sara is the Paragon of Destiny. However, he's not really interested. Iris joins him, and she says Mar Novu had a mission for her to help tracking the Paragon of Truth. Barry instead joins up with Mia, Sara and John Constantine to find a working Lazarus Pit in order bring Oliver back to life. Despite John's dwindling magic powers due to multiverse getting destroyed, he manages to find a working pit on Earth-18. They travel there and place Oliver's corpse into the pit. At first it doesn't seem to work, but he suddenly wakes up and attacks them. Eventually, Sara tranquilizes her, and they bring him back to the Waverider.
By the time Barry, Sara, and Mia return, Ray had managed to use his Paragon Locator to identify the Paragon of Courage, who is Kate Kane. Also, Iris, Clark and Lois had managed to find the Paragon of Truth, Clark Kent of Earth-96. As more Earths are getting wiped out, rest of Team Flash arrive at the Waverider, and with Cisco's help, Ray manages to install the Paragon Locator into the Waverider. With it, the remaining Paragons are identified, and Barry is revealed to be the Paragon of Love. Paragon of Honor is J'onn Jonzz and Paragon of Humanity professor Ryan Choi. With all the Paragons identified, Mar Novu tells the heroes they now need to stop the antimatter-wave.[103]
Cisco traces the source of the antimatter-wave in Earth-1 Central City. Mar Novu restores his powers as Vibe, and Team Flash led by Barry, and Pariah joining them, travel to the location. Here they find Nash Wells' excavation, where he released the Anti-Monitor. Cisco realizes this is why he needed to become Vibe again, because as Pariah, Nash can no longer remember, how he opened the door. Cisco vibes his memories and discovers the sequence to open the door.
As they open the door, they enter into Anti-Monitor's realm. Here, Team Flash discovers the source of the antimatter-wave; an antimatter cannon powered by a treadmill, and a speedster running it. Barry enters Flashtime to find out, who is the one powering the cannon, and to his shock, he discovers it is the Flash of Earth-90. He tries to release him, but the cannon is shielded. Cisco uses his powers to breach Earth-90 Flash out from the treadmill. But he then says to put him back, because the Anti-Monitor built a failsafe, which would cause all the universes to be destroyed, if he didn't power it up. Barry refuses, and Pariah brings help in the form of Jefferson Pierce/Black Lightning, since his electrokinetic powers can be used to delay the cannon's destruction. Barry, Cisco and Frost try to come up with a way to destroy the cannon, and Barry realizes the only way is to run the treadmill the opposite direction. But it also means that whoever does this will die. He realizes this is the death Mar Novu destined for him.
Barry tearfully says goodbye to Cisco and Frost shares a tender hug with them. But Earth-90 Flash walks up to him, and steals Barry's speedster powers. He then claims, that Mar Novu said that in order for billions to survive the Crisis, the Flash must die; he never said which Flash. He encourages Barry to keep running, and that after he has been running as long as him, he will understand, why he is doing this. Cisco breaches him back to the treadmill, and he starts running the opposite direction, causing the antimatter cannon go into a feedback, overloading it. As the chamber begins to collapse, Barry refuses to let Earth-90 Flash die, but Cisco, Frost and Jefferson drag him by force back to the Waverider. Earth-90 Flash's sacrifice destroys the antimatter cannon, and killing him in the process.
In the Waverider, everyone think it's over. Out of all the universes in the multiverse, only Earth-1 is left, and Iris, Ralph and Ray managed to find Ryan Choi. Barry meets with Jefferson Pierce, and reveals how Earth-90 Flash was a doppelgänger of his father, Henry Allen. He tells him, that despite being convicted of a crime he didn't commit, he kept on with his hope, and in times like this, he tries to do the same. The two heroes shake hands.
When Lyla returns, after she suddenly disappeared, Diggle hugs her. However, Barry, Clark and Ralph determine, that this is not Lyla, but Harbinger under the control of the Anti-Monitor. She drops the ruse and attacks the heroes, eventually managing to kill Mar Novu. He summons one last antimatter-wave, which wipes out Earth-1. Pariah realizes Mar Novu's final words about knowing what he must do, when the time comes, and he uses his powers to send all the Paragons to safety, before Anti-Monitor kills them. The antimatter destroys the Waverider, and everyone still onboard.
The Pariah sent the Paragons to Vanishing Point, the one place Anti-Monitor can't reach them, since it is located beyond time and space. Barry insists that they go back and help the others, but J'onn says it's no use; only they are left. Earth-96 Clark suddenly grows weak, and he begins to disperse, and Lex Luthor appears in his place, as the Paragon of Truth, having used a page from the Book of Destiny to rewrite reality that much.[104]
Months later, the Paragons are still stuck in the Vanishing Point. Lex and Ryan Choi tried to use the Time Masters remnant tech to construct a time machine, but it failed. Barry has been trying to enter the Speed Force to travel back, but all his efforts have failed. When he returns with blast, Kara and Sara stop him from trying anymore, despite him being adamant. But everything changes when Oliver Queen, now as Spectre, appears before them. Oliver tells the Paragons, that since the multiverse is gone, their only hope is to travel to the Dawn of Time to recreate the universe. In order to do so, Barry needs to lead the Paragons to the Speed Force, but with his current power, he can't. Oliver can give him a power, boost, but the Paragons also agree to make a backup plan. Since Anti-Monitor was created by accident by Mar Novu, Oliver says someone has to go to Planet Maltus ten thousand years in the past to stop him from going forth with the experiment, that results in Anti-Monitor's creation. Kara volunteers to go with Lex and Ryan, while the rest travel to the Dawn of Time.
Oliver gives Barry the boost and he leads the Paragons to the Speed Force. He drops Kara, Lex and Ryan to Maltus. But then, the Anti-Monitor attacks and causes Barry and the remaining Paragons get trapped into the Speed Force. Barry meets Oliver, who tells him he must find the others. Barry quickly learns they are trapped in different moments in Oliver's life. Barry is at the moment, when he and Oliver first met. As he proceeds further, he finds himself in the Elseworlds and learns, how Oliver was able to save him and Kara back then. He talks with Oliver again, and Oliver claims that dying is the easy part, but the real heroes will have to keep going.
Further on, Barry ends up in the moment, when Laurel Lance and John Diggle mourn over Sara's death, who is lying on the table. Barry touches Sara, and she comes back to life, and this is the Sara, who went to the Speed Force with him. They leave and grab J'onn and Kate, as well as Kara, Lex and Ryan and end up in the Dawn of Time.
At the Dawn of Time, the Paragons encounter the Anti-Monitor. Ryan thinks it's not possible, since he managed to convince Mar Novu not to go through with his experiment. However, Anti-Monitor claims that he only did that with one Mar Novu, as there are other Mar Novus, and one of them will always go through with his ambition, which results in his creation. Oliver appears to the Paragons again, and tells them, that they can recreate the universe here. He will light the spark, but the Paragons must fan the flame. And so, the Paragons begin fighting Anti-Monitor's Shadow Demons, while Oliver fights him. Eventually, with the help from Paragons, Oliver defeats the Anti-Monitor, with the cost of his life, and creates a new universe. Sara demands Barry takes her to Oliver, and they both claim Oliver will make it, but Oliver says he is at peace, and reiterates, what he told Barry; dying is the easy part, but the real heroes are the ones, who have to keep going.[105]
New multiverse
Early life
When Barry was a child, his mother Nora Allen made him a blanket. After Nora was murdered, Barry would snuggle in the blanket when he seeked comfort.[106]
Sometime after Iris came back from her first year in college, Joe told Barry that he felt sorry for all the unnecessary arguments he was having with his daughter.[107]
Being the Flash
Being one of the survivors of the original multiverse, Barry would take the place of his Earth-Prime counterpart after the multiverse was recreated[108] (though his counterpart's suit remained in its display at S.T.A.R. Labs). As a result, residents of Earth-Prime remember actions taken by the Flash that Barry himself doesn't remember.[109]
Barry learned to throw lightning a year earlier than he originally did, implying he was taught by Eobard Thawne instead of Hunter Zolomon. Barry used this technique to defend himself against Hartley Rathaway's right-hand man, Roderick Smith, inadvertently causing him to go into an unstable molecular state, in which he remained for several years.
Hartley was never reformed and the bridge battle still happened, meaning the events of Barry traveling from 2016 and changing the timeline happened differently or not at all.[110]
At some point, the Flash faced a criminal known as Ringmaster.[111]
Final battle against the Anti-Monitor
On the new Earth, Barry attacked the Weather Witch before Supergirl could defeat her. Barry and Kara realized that their Earths had been merged as a result of the Spectre recreating the multiverse. Soon, Barry and Kara went to Arrow Cave to meet with Diggle, Sara, Rene, and Dinah to find out what happened. When a giant Beebo attacked, Barry, Kara, and Ray went to confront it. During the fight, Mick joined them, but they were no match for him until Kate arrived, who informed them that Beebo was a distraction, so Barry and Sara faced the cause of everything, Sargon the Sorcerer, whom they easily defeated.
Believing that the threat of the Anti-Monitor was over, Barry has a talk with Sara Lance. She confesses to him that she is saddened that all of her family is gone; she felt that Oliver was her last connection to her past, to before her being a costumed hero. Barry helps her by explaining that family is not necessarily biological and that the other heroes will always be there for her. Later, Sara and Barry were attacked by a shadow demon. Sara remembered that Ryan Choi could be next, so she was saved.
Barry immediately went on Star City to join the final battle alongside Sara, Wild Dog, the Dreamer, Spartan, Martian Manhunter, Superman, Batwoman, Alex and Kara, to stop the resurfaced Anti-Monitor from destroying everything once more. They are attacked by Shadow Demons, who merge into Anti-Monitor. He claims they are mere insects and demands their surrender, but with Sara leading them, they refuse. All heroes attack the Anti-Monitor, but he is impervious. He then enlarges himself. At the same time, Ray Palmer, Nash Wells and Ryan Choi constructs a shrink bomb to trap the Anti-Monitor into an eternity of shrinking, since he can't be destroyed without Earth-Prime being destroyed as well. After getting the necessary components ready, Barry speeds to S.T.A.R. Labs to assemble it. After, the bomb is delivered to the battle by Ray, and he gives it for Kara to throw. The bomb works, and Anti-Monitor is defeated for good.[108]
Memorial for Oliver Queen
Sometime later, Barry, together with Supergirl, Superman, White Canary, Batwoman, Martian Manhunter and Black Lightning took part at a memorial for Oliver Queen at a S.T.A.R. Labs building, after which Barry proposed the others to officially create a pact between the seven of them in order to work side-by-side more often now that they live in the same universe, so that they would be able to prevent and face any future crisis.[108]
During their time together, Clark recommended food from Kansas to Barry.[112]
Barry later attended Oliver Queen's funeral.[113]
War against Black Hole and Mirror Monarch
Death of the Speed Force and the return of Eobard Thawne
Due to the power boost Barry received from the Spectre to save the multiverse from the crisis, the Speed Force was overwhelmed with the foreign energy and started to meltdown.[114]
Barry's power started to fluctuate, manifesting as lightning surging around his hand and joint pain that his healing factor didn't immediately relieve.[109][115][116]
After a confrontation with Pied Piper, Barry became upset that Chester P. Runk knew his secret and denied him being on the team. Barry was locked into Grodd's mind and had to work with him to escape. Seeing his mistakes, Barry trusted Grodd and the two ended their rivalry. Barry merged with Grodd to share his power to defeat the Solovar from Grodd's mind, and together they managed to escape. Barry now knew he could trust Grodd and accepted Chester into the team.[117]
Wally West also noticed this and confronted Barry about it, initially angry, but after understanding the full scope of the situation, forgave him and both resolved to move forward and use their remaining speed responsibly. Eobard Thawne resurfaced soon after, possessing Nash Wells. Taunting Barry about his remaining speed, Thawne promised he'd reconnect to the Negative Speed Force and claim his Nash's body with a goal to end Team Flash.[114]
Eobard's plan backfired, instead being exorcised from Nash's body and continuing to exist only as a wave of negative tachyons. Being reminded how much he loved Nora, Barry decided he would use her journal and the information Eobard had taught her to create a new Speed Force.[111]
Black Hole's attack on Joe
After Joe's brakes were snipped while he was driving on the road, Barry and "Iris" started to investigate where they found a strand of Peter Merkel's hair and determined that Rag Doll was behind the attack. Barry, as the Flash, went to the CCPD to prevent three bullets, thrown by Rag Doll, from hitting Joe. Unfortunately, he only managed to stop two of them.
Later on that day, Cecile Horton was kidnapped so Joe and Flash went to a warehouse to find her. Flash engaged in a fight with Rag Doll before placing meta-human cuffs on him and going to help Joe. When he reached, Joe had taken Cecile's spot on a pressured-bomb. Joe ordered Barry to get Cecile away which he did. He then rushed back to the warehouse to stop Joe from exploding, only to see that Joe has escaped from the chair and wants to go into witness protection.
When Barry arrived home, he found "Iris" angry at him for not giving her a chance to say goodbye to her father. Iris then kicked Barry out of his apartment.[118]
Discovering the Mirrorverse
Barry went to the West house and asked Cecile could he stay there; she agreed because she was alone after she sent Jenna to her older sister's house for her protection. A week passed and Barry worked on the Artificial Speed Force machine, but his mind continually worked on his domestic problems, causing his Speed gauge to stay red. When the machine was activated, it did nothing.
Barry decided to take a break from working on the machine and went to the house to continue his work on who or what "Iris" truly was, as Barry was convinced that she was not the woman he married. When Cecile arrived, she discovered that Barry had brought to the house so much research that the door was blocked. Barry and Cecile talked about the different possibilities as to who "Iris" truly was, including Everyman or a White Martian. Cecile revealed that she had a spare key to Barry and Iris's apartment and allowed Barry to look through Iris' computer. There, he found a picture of "Iris" with Wally West, but "Iris" was a giant crystalline entity and the picture requested a Prismatic filter.
The two talk to Nash at S.T.A.R. Labs and told him to be ready for the arrival of "Iris". "Iris" was called and when she arrived, she was surrounded by the three, with Nash pointing his gauntlet at her. Barry told her that he was going to prove that she was an imposter. He picked up the prismatic filter from a reflective tray and fired it at "Iris"; everyone was confused, because nothing happened. "Iris" grabbed the device and fired it at Barry; he looked like a crystalline entity. Barry's allies sided with "Iris", who called him an imposter for not fighting for their marriage, placed him in Power-dampening cuffs, and imprisoned him in the pipeline.
Later, Cecile freed Barry because she could feel that something was wrong, but not with Barry.
He ran back to his apartment to find "Iris" talking to a mirror, then placing blood on it. Barry wanted his wife. Suddenly, "Iris" transformed her arms into swords and started to fight, cutting Barry across his face. As the battle continued, Barry was stabbed multiple times by "Iris" who used the mirrors in the place to her advantage, including a ceiling mirror that suddenly shattered and rained down around him. Barry still wanted his wife, but "Iris" teased him that she was his lover for the past few weeks. Suddenly, the Reflection acted weird and stopped paying attention to Barry, causing him to "feel" Iris West-Allen's presence near a mirror. Barry asked the clone to be her own person, but, just as she agreed, she exploded into shards and Eva McCulloch emerged from a mirror, telling Barry that Iris was safe if he did not fight her. Eva escapes and Barry passes out due to bleeding wounds.
Later, he awakened after his wounds healed and promised that he was going to find Iris wherever she was.[119]
Battling Godspeed
That night, Barry went to see Joe West and told him the events of the past week.
In the morning, Barry called a meeting of Team Flash and told his friends that Iris, Kamilla Hwang, and David Singh had been replaced; Cisco was highly upset and hypothesized that the originals were dead, causing an argument between Barry and him that had to be calmed by Cecile. Barry decided that he needed to make the Artificial Speed Force work if he was to be useful.
While he was working on the machine, Allegra Garcia talked to him about whether she was leader of Team Citizen with the others gone and how she must not be a good reporter if she was surrounded by clones without her knowing. Suddenly, another Godspeed appeared and attacked Barry, drawing on Barry's speed, but Nash appeared and blasted the foe, causing him to flee.
The team met again and Barry proposed that Hartley Rathaway should help them; Cisco revealed a change caused by the Crisis and why Rathaway wouldn't help. Barry decided to try anyway. Eventually, Barry figured out that Hartley and Roderick Smith were lovers, but Godspeed demanded on television that the Flash should surrender at penalty of the deaths of citizens.
The Flash told Godspeed to chase him for what he wanted; Barry lost the race and was punched hard. When he chased Godspeed to retaliate, he almost fell from a building, but Pied Piper caught him in a cascade of sound. The two worked together by combining their powers to injure Godspeed and make him bleed.
Barry interrogated Godspeed at Iron Heights to learn that he was not August Heart.
Meeting for a third time, Team Flash was told by Barry that they will work together for their loved ones. Cisco chose to leave for Atlantis to get a part needed for the machine; Allegra wanted to accompany him, but Barry told her that he needed her for the battle to come.[110]
Protecting Carver
Barry asked Team Flash to meet him at the police precinct because he wanted to review ideas on how to find Iris; he chose there because he wanted to work to keep from losing his job. At the meeting, Ralph Dibny revealed the Black Hole diamond; with the help of Allegra Garcia, Ralph and Barry found a warehouse that belonged to Black Hole. Barry however was not able to prevent Mirror David from burning it down.
Barry and the team decided that protecting Joseph Carver from the advances of Eva might be the best plan, so Barry went to Jitters to meet with Carver. There, Carver revealed to Barry that he already knew that Iris was in the Mirrorverse and Carver discouraged Barry from trying to retrieve her.
Originally, Carver did not want Barry to protect him, but he later changed his mind, causing Barry to call A.R.G.U.S. to put him in witness protection. While waiting on the transport, Barry was approached by "David" who asked if he could trade Iris for Carver. Suddenly, Nash pushed "David" and teleported Team Flash from the police precinct to S.T.A.R. Labs. Nash then berated Barry for even considering the trade, citing that Barry lately was acting less than heroic.
Carver convinced the team that he would be better protected at McCulloch Technologies because he could make it impossible for Eva to enter. The Flash became Carver's personal bodyguard. Eva McCulloch's team soon entered and a fight between them, Team Flash, and McCulloch's security guards began. "David" appeared and Eva used him as a transport into the building. Eva sent glass shards to kill Carver, but the Flash blocked the attack, causing Eva to send the glass through him into Carver, eventually killing him. The Flash was too wounded and healed too slow to stop the assault.
Discouraged, Barry went to Caitlin Snow's apartment and wished her farewell as she went with Carla Tannhauser to the north to heal her injuries. Caitlin reminded Barry that he was the Paragon of love and his love for Iris will see him through these hard times.
Later, Barry was reunited with Joe because, with Carver dead, he was no longer in witness protection.[120]
Barry regaining his powers and Nash's sacrifice
Waking up from the Cryo Pod with 1% speed remaining, Barry donned the Flash suit and ran through town chasing Eva. However, her speed was too low for him to catch up. Barry then climbed into a glass building still chasing Eva. He attempted a "supersonic" punch, but failed, as Eva's cells operate at the speed of light. Having been hit by Eva, his arrival at the Black Hole Facility was delayed and he found Rosa Dillon in tears due to Eva killing Sam Scudder, and took her into custody. The next day, Barry told Cecile and Joe that he went to all the Black Hole hideouts and couldn't stop Eva. He then went to the S.T.A.R. Labs for further testing of the Artificial Speed Force.
At the Speed Lab, Barry, Chester and Nash worked on the ASF machine. However, Chester's near-death experience caused Nash to ask Barry for fennel, and some coffee. Hours later, Nash has a new method to power the Fusion Sphere. But the plan backfired as Allegra's powers were unable to contain the Multiversal Particles in the sphere. While saving Allegra, Barry was hit by an explosion with all of the Harrison Wellses of the Original Multiverse and they were trapped in his mind, possessing his body.
Later, Nash used a particle magnet constructed by Chester to collect the particles in Barry's body. In a split second, Nash touched the sphere, sacrificing himself for Allen to run again. Nash then told him that the entire Council of Wells agreed with him and told him that he no longer needs a Wells to be the Flash. Sherloque Wells, H.R., and Harry Wells then took over Nash's body, respectively, and said goodbye to Barry, as well as encouraging him. Harry told Barry to run and went back to Nash. When Nash disintegrates in the Artificial Speed Force and Barry regains his maximum speed. Barry then ran through the city and took the jet bomb out of the Black Hole, saving the city. Back at the lab, Barry sees Nash's burned remains and comforts Allegra and Chester in the hall.[121]
Days later, Barry and the team set up a hall of fallen heroes in the S.T.A.R. labs Barry then gave a speech to the team about assisting countless people on his journey as The Flash. As Cisco informs Barry that his Portal Machine could not be activated, Barry began to finish Cisco's sentences before he could begin. So Cisco then realized that the ASF gave Barry additional powers and tested his predictions with an unpredictable quantum ball.
Later, Barry, Cisco, and Allegra returned to Cortex and tried to find the missing piece to open the portal to the Mirrorverse. As they continued, Barry was slowly losing his emotions and was becoming more cold and calculating. The team then heads to the Black Hole hideout where Eva was attacking. Barry then put on the Tachyon Enhancer and collected the particles emitted by Eva when she uses her hyperactive photons to evade Frost's attacks. After the collection was completed, Frost was struck by lightning by Eva, and Barry did nothing to stop it.
Back at the Labs, Barry quickly created a serum for Frost's predicament. With preparations for the opening of the portal ready, Barry and Cisco stayed at Cortex and witnessed Eva's live interview on television. Barry then hacked into the McCulloch Technologies database and released the actual footage of Eva's death on television, exposing Eva's identity as a Reflection.
Upon discovering that the particles he has collected can only bring Kamilla and Singh or Iris back to Earth, he comes to the conclusion that saving Iris would be the most logical choice as she has more information about Eve. Cisco then arrived at the Speed Lab and tried to convince Barry otherwise. Cisco then discovered the choice Allen made and turned the team against him. As he shoots Barry with an energy weapon, Barry throws the Quantum Ball at him. However, Frost was able to inject himself with Velocity X and gained super speed. The two then ran around town. Barry won, only to be stopped by Allegra with Nash's smoke bombs teleporting Allen back to base. Despite his efforts to defeat Barry, the Quantum Ball he threw at the start of the fight returns, knocking the entire team unconscious.
Barry then opens the portal trying to bring Iris back home. However, with Singh and Kamilla in a near-death state, she refused to go. Barry then admitted that this wasn't in any of his simulations and increased the portal's suction. Iris was then successfully taken home and immediately fell unconscious. While she is in pain, Barry's emotions return and he destroys the Artificial Speed Force. Trying to comfort Iris, Barry was struck by a blue beam inside her body and also fell unconscious.[122]
Rebirth of the Speed Force
After bringing Iris to the med lab, Barry discussed with the team as to why he would not want to reactivate the Artificial Speed Force. He was kidnapped by Eva and was told that she would not kill anyone, he was then quickly released. After the sudden return and help of the resurrected Earth-1 Harrison Wells, Team Flash found an alternate usage for the Speed Force machine. Channeling the residual Speed Force energy Iris from her various interactions with speedsters through hers and Barry's love for others into the machine, they were able to restore the Speed Force and Barry's powers. Barry, Cisco, and Frost braced themselves and went to confront Eva and her army of mirrors.
The trio took on Eva and after defeating almost all the mirrors, Barry took on Eva directly. Barry was about to lose to Eva, but Iris arrived and convinced Eva to be a good person and Barry along with Iris and Eva destroyed all the mirror clones returning everyone who was trapped to the real world and said goodbye to Eva before for her to return to the Mirrorverse. They later said goodbye to Ralph and Sue. Barry and Iris joined the others to celebrate the victory.[123]
Facing the Forces
Barry and the team supported people to rebuild the city. Flash was presented to all so that they could resist if the city is attacked again. After capturing his old enemy, Abra Kadabra with Cisco's help, Barry wanted a romantic evening with Iris, but when the evil techno-wizard broke free, Barry had to confront him only to realize that Kadabra plans a Crisis 2.0 to destroy everything the city. Confronting Kadabra, Barry convinced him to spare people's lives to honor his deceased family and spoke to him about his losses as well. Barry and Kadabra stopped being enemies, however, he and Kadabra were attacked by a beast with super strength and Barry had to watch with horror as the beast killed Kadabra. After honoring Kadabra's death, Barry and the team decided to find out what the beast was.[124]
While resting from the fight against Fuerza, Barry and Iris were shocked to see Caitlin and Frost separated. Seeing as the Speed Force as Nora, Barry decided to help her to prevent her from dying again. Barry kept living images of the fight against Fuerza and spoke with Cecile about what was happening. At that moment an alarm sounded and Barry went to the action where he found two scared Crows guards, but there was nothing. Barry encountered a psychic villain, who used his fears against him, which were projections of Thawne and Savitar. Upon surviving, Barry and the team argued over psychic powers and named the villain "Psych." Barry made it clear to Cecile that there is nothing to worry about what happened. Barry along with Cisco and Frost confronted Psych, but they were defeated again.
Upon returning, Barry spoke with Cecile about the threats that occurred after the crisis, but Cecile managed to advise him and Barry thanked him for the talk. As an idea to stop Psych, Barry convinced Cecile to use Devoe's chair to finally destroy the villain. Finally, Barry confronts Psych to overcome his fears. In his vision, Barry saw three zombies blaming him for their deaths, but he managed to break his vision by defending himself against Psych while Cecile countered Psych's power to destroy him. To save "Nora", Barry decided to go into a coma to save her.[125] Upon awakening, Barry and the team learned from Cisco that "Nora, Fuerza, Psych, and Deon Owens are now four forces. Barry and Iris invited "Nora" to live with them in their apartment until they beat the three forces.[106]
When Jennifer Pierce exploded in the ionosphere, Jefferson asked Barry to give him a hadron particle collider to rebuild her body; since only S.T.A.R. Labs had it. Barry went to Freeland to bring it to him.[126]
While living with "Nora", Barry did not tolerate her living in his apartment until he received a call from Joe about a murder of an Ivo Laboratories scientist. Barry's powers began to fail and he was surprised to see how "Nora" followed him. Barry argued with "Nora" so that she would stop following him around. Later, Flash and Allegra went to help Frost confront Mark Blaine, but she had everything under control. Barry was saddened to see how Frost was arrested. At their apartment, Barry and "Nora" made peace.[107]
Barry, Iris, and "Nora" managed to find the location of Fuerza. He and "Nora" met Alexa Rivera, who was a doctor and had Fuerza inside her. Barry wanted to help her try to control her power, but "Nora" scared her. Barry had a theory that the forces could have been normal humans. Flash spoke to Alexa to convince her to help them. Barry was going to train Alexa until "Nora" murdered Alexa and attacked Iris. "Nora" threatened Barry, asking him which side he's on, since she planned to kill all the forces.[127]
After "Nora" escaped, Barry had the idea to kill all the forces when they were born, but Iris wanted to reform them. Barry, Cisco, and Chester knew that this would greatly affect the timeline, so Barry went to the Wells Original for help. Barry and the team were preparing to travel back in time until they were stopped by Deon Owens, who had the Still Force. When Deon left, Barry and Wells followed through on their plan, successfully traveling back in time.
Barry and Wells contemplated the birth of the forces and Barry was going to destroy them, but he saw that the forces were like his children, so he decided not to kill them and Wells respected his decision and returned to the present. Barry returned and the team watched as Alexa revived. Barry and Iris agreed to protect all the forces before "Nora" kills them.[128]
To catch "Nora", Barry and the team decided to help Alexa train. Barry investigated a murder and Iris discovered that Psych had a murder plan. When Iris was attacked by Psych, Flash went to stop the villain, but was knocked down by him as his power grew.
Barry pressured Alexa to use Fuerza and fight, but Caitlin advised him to train Alexa calmly. After apologizing to Alexa, Flash and Alexa went to confront Psych, who was actually called Bashir Malik. Barry was saved by Fuerza, and they managed to reform Bashir to help them defeat "Nora". Barry watched as "Nora" appeared and killed Iris, Bashir, and Alexa.[129]
After Nora and Deon left, Barry was happy to see that the trio was still alive and they went with the others to make a plan to stop "Nora". Barry had the idea to send Iris, Malik, and Alexa back in time when the Speed Force was dead. Barry was confronted by "Nora", who got upset that he was on the wrong side, and she warned Barry that he will destroy the entire city if he does not surrender to the forces. Thanks to Chester, Barry found Deon to try to ask him for help to beat "Nora", but he declined the offer.
Barry asked Chester and Cisco for a way to stop "Nora", but neither of them knew how to confront her, so Flash went alone to confront her until he received help from Deon, but the duo was defeated. Barry saw that Iris, Alexa, and Bashir returned to help him and Deon beat "Nora". Barry, Alexa, Deon, and Bashir combined their powers to fight "Nora" in the Speed Force and stop the storm, but all four were defeated. Barry decided to stop the storm by making a tornado and received help from the four forces, which made him faster to stop the storm and save the city. After "Nora" reformed, the forces began to live in the Speed Force and Barry and Iris said goodbye to them while hoping to see each other again. At their apartment, Barry and Iris decided to form their own family and had a romantic night.[130]
Farewell to Cisco
Barry, Iris, and Caitlin found out that Cisco and Kamilla were leaving the team. Barry congratulated Cisco on his new job at A.R.G.U.S. Upon learning of a new meta-human, Barry, Caitlin, and Cisco investigated her and Cisco considered this his last mission. Flash and Mecha-Vibe faced off against the meta-human, who was a new version of Rainbow Raider, but Flash and Mecha-Vibe were defeated. Barry and Caitlin left Cisco with Chester to keep an eye on him. Flash went to look for Carrie Bates to catch her, but fell under the influence of her powers.
Barry began to have fun with Cisco until Chester managed to get them back to normal. Barry spoke to Cisco to tell him that he missed him very much. Flash, Cisco, and Allegra took it upon themselves to confront Carrie, but Barry managed to reform her. After Cisco saved the city for the last time, Barry, Caitlin, and Joe met Cisco at the apartment to celebrate their goodbye and sang "Poker Face" together.[131]
Helping Cecile and vacations
At the Starchives, Barry and Iris had sex until Chester interrupted them. Barry went to help Cecile, who asked for his help, but this was a trap of the Psycho Mask disguised as Cecile. Barry was sent into Cecile's mind, and he tried to help her overcome her fears, as the mental landscapes reflected her past. Barry and Cecile were attacked by Psycho Pirate Mask.
Barry managed to motivate Cecile to beat his copy successfully and the duo managed to wake up thanks to Chester. Barry thanked Chester for saving them and laughed when Chester said not to have sex with Iris at the Starchives.[132] Barry advised the team that he was going on vacation with Iris. Upon returning from vacation, Barry asked how the team fared in his absence.[133]
Speedster War against the Godspeed clones
Barry had a dream, where Nora appeared, which made him believe that it was an omen that Iris was pregnant. Barry started doing pregnancy tests in his lab until Cecile showed up. Upon arriving at S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry started behaving strangely due to Iris's pregnancy tests. Barry finally told Cecile about Iris's pregnancy, but they were attacked by two Godspeed clones. Barry and the team tried to locate the clones, but couldn't because they reappeared and disappeared. Flash managed to find them to stop them, but realized that there were six clones, so he asked Chester to activate the force field to prevent the clones from entering.
Barry had a call with Iris and he revealed to Chester that Iris might be pregnant. To destroy the clones, Barry agreed to Chester's plan to use very loud sound. Flash, Frost, and Mark Blaine faced six clones while Chester turned on the music. To save Chester, Flash ran from the labs for the clones to chase after him, but six more clones appeared. When the twelve clones fought each other until they disappeared, Barry managed to flee to speak with the team about a possible war of the Godspeed clones. Barry was saddened to discover that Iris's test came back negative.[134]
Barry had another dream, where Nora was, but this time she disappeared. Barry believed that the clones had done something on the timeline. Flash was in charge of stopping more clones that kept appearing. Barry contacted A.R.G.U.S. for help. He talked to Caitlin about how Nora may have been erased from history and couldn't travel to the future due to causing another Flashpoint. When Diggle arrived to help, Barry and the team tried a trap to catch a clone to find out what they were planning. Flash and Spartan managed to successfully catch one of the clones, but he could speak. Barry discovered that the clones wanted to kill August Heart, the original Godspeed of this era, so as not to die in the future.
Barry was still worried about Nora, but Diggle advised him to travel to the future, since the most important thing is family. Flash traveled to the future, but was stopped by clones until Deon appeared and saved Barry. Barry was happy to see Deon and discovered that Iris had some kind of time sickness, but Deon told him that he would take care of protecting her. Upon returning to the labs, Barry said goodbye to Diggle, who had to leave to agree to wear an object he found. The team learned that the person they found was August Heart, but he did not remember his life as a villain. Barry was surprised to see that Nora was alive, but was even more surprised to see that she had another child, Bart West-Allen.[135]
Barry and the team discovered that when August traveled in the past, he lost all of his memories. Barry began to spend time with his children, who decided to stay a little longer in the past. When the clones attacked the city, Flash, XS, and Bart fought them, but the clones wanted to kill Bart until the clones disappeared. Barry was angered to learn that Godspeed was Bart's greatest enemy. After Iris returned, Barry was surprised to see that she knew everything that had happened. Barry and Iris banned Bart from fighting the clones because the clones could kill him.
Flash and XS used Chester's machine to kill the clones, but they couldn't because the machine lacked Allegra's energy. Flash was about to lose his speed for the clones until Frost came to the rescue. Barry and Iris also banned Nora from participating in the fight. Later, he and Iris talked about their children and agreed to take them to the fight. The team found out that the clones had Jay Garrick kidnapped, so Flash and XS went to save Jay and Bart, but there were too many clones until Mecha-Vibe returned to help and save the speedsters. Upon returning, Barry and the team thought of a way for August to regain his memories. Barry managed to enter Heart's mind to discover that his Godspeed subconscious was waiting for him.[136]
Barry demanded that Heart know how to end the war, so Heart told him that if he returned his power to regain his memory, he would absorb the power of the clones to end the war, but Barry rejected his idea. As they left, Barry told everyone what Heart told him. Barry called "Nora" to ask for her help in the war and to give more power to everyone, including Iris and Bart. Flash and the speedsters faced the first wave of clones, but the clones grew stronger until Allegra arrived with Chester's machine to eliminate the clones. The team had to repair Chester's machine to destroy all the clones, but Nora suggested giving Heart the power. Barry refused because his duty was to protect his children, but Bart told him that the city does not need parents, what it needs are heroes.
Finally, Barry agreed to give Heart the energy. Barry and Cecile watched as August returned to being Godspeed and absorbed all the clones to regain all his power. Barry dropped off his kids at S.T.A.R. Labs, as he and Iris had a plan to stop Godspeed. Barry's plan was to revive Thawne to help them. Flash started chasing Godspeed across the city, but Heart had grown more powerful. When he was going to be assassinated, Flash was saved by Thawne, who managed to be revived by "Nora". Flash and Reverse-Flash worked together using energy sabers to confront Godspeed by making a temporary truce. By defeating Heart, Barry prevented Thawne from killing him.
When Eobard went to attack Barry for revenge, he succeeded in humiliating Thawne by showing that he had become more powerful. After Thawne escaped, Barry asked "Nora" to erase Heart's memory of his real identity and then send him to prison. Barry celebrated the victory with everyone and commented on everything that happened. Thanks to Bart's speech, Barry and Iris decided to renew their wedding vows at the West house. Barry and Iris proudly watched Bart sing at the vow renewal. He and Iris proved that their love has no limits and kiss Iris in Flashtime.[137]
Stopping Armageddon
Six months later, Flash rescued people from a train that was about to collapse. Ray Palmer arrives in Central City for an event and the Flash defeat the Royal Flush Gang. Barry went to the event to cheer on Chester and Ray. Later, the powerful alien Despero shows up in Central City determined to kill Barry for supposedly creating an event that will end the world, but he is detained with the help of A.T.O.M.
After proving his honourableness to the alien by revealing your identity, Despero agrees to give Barry seven days to prove he will not cause Armageddon.[9]
Unfortunately, events quickly turn sour as Barry is suspended from his job as a CSI at the CCPD, before learning that S.T.A.R. Labs is being shut down and demolished. Barry is forced to destroy Gideon to protect his identity. Not long afterwards, Barry encounters Xotar, where he falls to prey to her abilities, causing him to temporarily lose his mind and mindlessly attack his friends, until he snaps out of it.
After later defeating Xotar, Barry, for unknown reasons, attacks Central City, an event caught on the news, although he does not remember doing it. After mentioning celebrating with Joe and Cecile, Barry is stunned to learn that Joe was dead, and had been for six months. After escaping another attack from Despero, Barry, feeling overwhelmed by recent events, calls for Black Lightning’s help at the Hall of Justice.[10]
Barry explained everything that happened to Jefferson and told him that the Injustice Protocol was activated, since the protocol consisted of helping if one of the members becomes evil, which was created due to a fight with Faust. Barry asked Jefferson to use his power to get him out of the Speed Force. Barry and Jefferson worked on a device for Jeff to use to take away his powers while talking about Joe and Bill Henderson. With everything set, Flash prepared to lose his powers, but Black Lightning's attempts were not 100% successful, leaving the Flash with some of his speed.
After the last attempt, Barry got upset that everything went wrong and started arguing with Jefferson, which caused the two to fight until they fixed things. Barry apologized and decided to travel to 2031 to find out why he turns bad, but Despero appeared to kill him. Being saved by Deon, Iris, and Black Lightning, Flash traveled to 2031, with Deon and the Still Force's help to make up for the speed he had lost, where he discovered that Thawne was responsible for everything.[138]
In the future, Thawne has stolen Barry's life and is the Flash and Barry is the Reverse-Flash. After a battle with Team Flash along with Ryan Choi, Alex Danvers and Ryan Wilder, Barry takes Iris away from the scene and tries to convince her of the truth but is chased off by Thawne. In an alley somewhere in the city, Thawne reveals he created his own reverse-Flashpoint, inspired by what Barry did after defeating Zoom in 2016. Thawne created his Flashpoint by creating multiple changes, all compounding onto each other to create a timeline where he was chosen by the Speed Force to be the Flash. He also manipulated events in 2021, including framing Barry for working with Black Hole, causing his suspension from CCPD, destroying S.T.A.R. Labs' early warning system, forcing the city to close it when they detect a radiation leak, killing Joe West and leaving Barry with no memory, and pretending to be the Flash and attacking the city, turning the city against the Flash and tricking Barry into thinking he is losing his mind. One of the changes Thawne made was to successfully kill Barry as a child, causing Barry to begin to fade.
Needing help to restore the timeline before fading forever, Barry seeks help from Damien Darhk who the Reverse-Flash had previously worked with in this timeline. Darkh helps Barry steal a piece of technology from S.T.A.R. Labs to combine with Darkh's time stone to simutaneously reverse every anachronism Eobard inflicted upon the timeline. However, when Darhk wants to kill several members of Team Flash, Barry runs him out of there and reveals his true nature. Darhk is about to kill him until Barry reveals the truth and convinces Darhk to help for his daughter Nora, who had died in Eobard's Flashpoint, as reversing Eobard's influnce would restore her. Darhk uses the time stone to determine whether Barry is telling the truth, learning he is and all about Crisis.
In trying to determine how to undo Reverse-Flashpoint, Barry determines that the speed he needs to run at to open a time portal to do so is what brings about Armageddeon. Barry is of course hesitant until Darhk convices him he can without destroying the world by drawing on his love, reminding him that his love helped rebirth the entire universe in Crisis. Before enating his plan to restore the timeline, he pays Iris a visit, where he is faced once more by Thawne. Iris chooses to shoot Thawne with a Velocity-0 gun Batwoman left her instead of Barry, allowing Barry to escape and begin running. Barry thanked Darhk for all his help.
He is soon chased down by Thawne but manages to reconnect to the Speed Force through Iris and succeeds in undoing Reverse-Flashpoint without causing Armageddeon. Returning to 2021, he finds Eobard's influence to be completly reversed, restoring his place at CCPD and S.T.A.R. Labs as well as restoring Joe to life. His speed is also completely restored as in the restored timeline, he never went to Black Lightning and asked him to follow the Injustice Protocol to steal his speed.[139]
Quickly, Barry went to Joe's house to hug him and tell him everything until they saw Darhk, who escaped the destroyed timeline thanks to his time stone, and he apologized to Damien for not helping him return home. Barry met with the team to tell them all about Armageddon until he went as the Flash to the police station to help Mia Queen, who came from the future, to stop Thawne, but they captured him because Thawne needed his help.
Barry and the team found out that Thawne would die due to not having a timeline, and was threatened by Despero to let Thawne die so that Armageddon doesn't happen, but Joe tried to convince Barry and Iris to let Thawne live so that Armageddon wouldn't happen be the villains. After realizing that Thawne became evil by being rejected as a hero, Barry opted to let him live, much to Despero's annoyance, and he decided to confront the alien so that Thawne would live, but without his speed.
However, Flash could not stop Despero due to his great power, and had to return to the lair to get improvements in his speed, and thanks to Cisco leaving him a gift, Barry put on some golden boots to face Despero, and He successfully destroyed the Flame of Py'tar to defeat Despero once and for all. Flash returned to remove Thawne's powers, managing to save his life, despite Thawne's annoyance. The team took Thawne to a cell at A.R.G.U.S. and then celebrate the victory. Barry recommended that Chester ask Allegra out while he made a speech honoring the family and the future.[140]
The fight with Deathstorm
Tracking Fast
The Flash, with Runk at the other end of the comms, sped towards Ivo Laboratories in response to a firealarm, only to find the fire already have been put out and the staff rushed to safety, much to the speedster's bewilderment; the only conclusion was that another speedster got there first ahead of him.
Rogue War
A Week after Thawne's defeat, Barry decides to make a book of timeline to make sure nothing gets in the way of his and Iris's relationship however later that day, Barry encounters Captain Boomerang who was stealing a Roemer Accelerator
Fever Dream
After Nia Nal came to Central City to look for help from Team Flash while Superfriends were off-world.
Sometime in between Barry along with Iris showed some inspectors around Star-Labs however a time thief from the future.
Bloodwork Crisis
On his 30th birthday while celebrating Ramsey Rosso comes to get revenge.
A New World
Possible futures
Original multiverse
- In the future, Barry has a museum built in his honor.[18]
- In another unspecified time, presumably erased, the Flash teams up with the Atom, Captain Cold or Leo Snart, and White Canary against an unknown metallic creature.[18]
- For reasons unknown, Barry created Gideon, an artificial intelligence and became the founding member of an unknown but revered group whose name starts with the word "Justice".[39][141]
- Barry also eventually becomes director of the CSI division of the Central City Police Department.[39]
- According to Abra Kadabra, future Barry fought him and they both have had several encounters that left Kadabra with a bitter hatred of him.[142]
- According to Eobard, Barry's speed in the future is unlimited.[39] Eobard also implied that the Flash he knew was an experienced and a veteran hero who would not use time travel for selfish or foolish reasons, such as to create Flashpoint,[58] and that the Flash he knew was nothing like the younger version of Barry whom he observed before the particle accelerator exploded in the timeline where Nora Allen was murdered.[39]
New multiverse
- Barry and Iris have two children, Nora and Bart West-Allen, around 2023 and 2030 respectively. Barry and Wally teach Bart how to run and meditate. Barry and Iris teach their children that rule number one of the West-Allen family is to protect the timeline at any and all cost.[136]
- Pursuing a case, Barry travels to 2170 and ends up dazzling saving a crowd that Eobard believes he was meant to dazzle and save. This marks the beginning of Eobard's lifelong vendetta against the Flash.[140][143]
Erased futures
Savitar kills Iris
In the future where Savitar murdered Iris West in 2017, Barry, at some point afterward, created multiple time remnants in order to stop Savitar, although the god-like speedster murdered all but the one remnant that would become Savitar himself. After eventually imprisoning Savitar in the Speed Force, Barry, as a result of his numerous losses and Iris's death, began suffering severe depression and disbanded Team Flash, opting to keep to himself in a desolate S.T.A.R. Labs. Consequently, Joe and Barry grew estranged, with the former resenting Barry for abandoning him after the loss of his children.
When a version of Barry from 2017 time-traveled to 2024, Barry informed his younger self that there would be no hope in saving Iris, although the latter disagreed and asked for Savitar's identity. After initial hesitation, Barry claimed that he didn't know the answer, indicating that Savitar never revealed his identity in this timeline. Later, Barry was confronted by his younger self in the Time Vault and accused of betraying Iris's trust by abandoning Joe. Barry justified his actions by recounting the events of the night Iris died, explaining his hopelessness once she was stabbed by Savitar and his grief in its aftermath. Determined to correct the future, Barry's younger self reassembled Team Flash and attempted to stop a rampant Mirror Master and Top, although he quickly succumbed to the effects of Top's vertigo-inducing powers. Noticing that the team was struggling, Barry offered his help and joined his younger self, donning the Flash suit for the first time in years, and took down the two criminals. Shortly afterward, Barry admitted that the team still had ways to go before officially returning, but it was a good start, before his younger self returned to 2017.[144]
Because H.R. Wells sacrificed himself in 2017 to save Iris, thus erasing Savitar from the timeline, this future has since been erased.[11]
Crisis of 2024
This event was scheduled to take place at some point in late 2019 due to timeline changes in both the present and the future due to the disappearance of Cicada's dagger, which happened due to timeline changes caused by Nora West-Allen with the manipulation of Eobard Thawne.[145] However, the events listed below are the events from the original timeline in which the Crisis happened in 2024.
Around midnight on April 25, 2024, the Flash battled the Reverse-Flash with Green Arrow, the Atom and Hawkgirl in the streets of Central City causing the most destruction the city had ever seen. The fight also somehow caused the sky to turn a deep crimson color. Their fight caused several trucks to start leaking their contents onto the streets, and caused power outages spread over 20 blocks throughout the city.[39] At some point during the conflict, Barry was able to take refuge and record a message for his daughter Nora in the event that she was a speedster, apologizing that he would not be there for her growing up.[146] The Reverse-Flash and the Flash then started battling over two overturned tanker trucks, and the lightning emitted from them caused the oil from one of them to ignite. While surrounded by smoke, both speedsters had a very heated conversation on an unknown matter, then the two sped off leaving Green Arrow, the Atom and Hawkgirl behind. The two then continued their fight up and down an unknown avenue, and then vanished without a trace.[39]
However, unbeknownst to everyone, they both traveled back in time to March 18[1] in the year 2000, with the Flash arriving shortly after the Reverse-Flash had arrived,[29] and followed his arch-foe to the Allen house and the two fought around Nora.[15] During the fight, the Flash saw his younger-self from 2015 during his first trip into the past and signaled his younger-self not to interfere, possibly because of Flashpoint effects.[18] The Flash then continued to fight his enemy before taking his 11 year old self out of the house and transported him 20 blocks away before vanishing, leaving his fate unclear.[29] 25 years after the crisis, Barry is still missing.[30] According to Mar Novu, with the crisis ultimately destined to occur in 2019 instead of 2024, Barry would die in the crisis on December 10, 2019.[100]
For possible explanations of what happened to Barry that caused him to vanish, see Anti-Monitor Crisis § Fate of the Flash.
Contacting Rip Hunter in 2056
- "Sorry to contact you like this, Captain Hunter. But I can't risk putting any more lives in danger.... And neither can this. Which is why you'll keep what I'm about to tell you a secret, even from the rest of your team. A war is coming, Captain Hunter. And at some point, you're going to be called back to Central City to fight it. So you need to know while you and your team have been in the temporal zone, I made a choice that affected the timeline. As you know, whenever you alter the past, those changes affect the present and get compounded in the future. When you return, you will be in a new timeline I created where everyone's past and everyone's future has been affected, including yours. When you come back, don't trust anything or anyone, not even me."
- —Future Barry's message to Rip Hunter
At some point in 2056, a 67-year-old Barry contacted former Time Master Rip Hunter, the leader of the Legends. He apologized for contacting him in such way, but stated that he can't risk putting more innocent lives in danger. Because he was about to tell him something that will be better if fewer people knew about, Barry asked Rip to keep the message a secret, even from the Legends.[147]
Barry told Rip that in the future he would be called to Central City to fight a war. He then warned him that when Rip and the Legends were in the temporal zone, he made major changes to the timeline that affected the present, and because of that, when Rip would return to Central City, he would be in an unpredictable timeline, in which he couldn't trust anyone.[148] Due to the possibility Rip would meet Savitar and mistake him for his original self, Barry also warned him to not trust him as well in the new timeline.[2]
Rip indeed kept the message a secret, and stored it in a secret room on the Waverider. However it was accidentally found by Jefferson Jackson and Martin Stein,[147] who later showed it to Barry's younger version from 2016 and Oliver Queen, during the Dominator invasion.[148]
Since Savitar and his future was erased from existence, this message along with the version of Barry who sent it has been erased as well.[11]
Savitar
- "I was broken and alone. I wanted the pain to end. And that's when I realized the truth, Barry. God feels no pain. All I had to do was become one."
- —Savitar to Barry Allen[src]
- Main article: Savitar
In a post-Flashpoint timeline after Iris's death, Barry created a bunch of time remnants to take down Savitar. However, Savitar killed all of them except for one. That time remnant was later shunned by Team Flash because he was a mistake in the timeline and not the real Barry Allen. The time remnant then decided to take revenge on them and became Savitar. This created a causal loop needing for Iris to die to continue his existence. In the timeline where he succeeded in killing Iris, Barry became broken and alone, causing him to disband Team Flash and quit his Flash activities, spending most of his time in S.T.A.R. Labs. This future has also affected other people, such as Cisco Ramon who lost his hand in a battle against Killer Frost, needing cybernetic hands. However, due to actions of 2017 Barry, Savitar killed H.R. Wells instead of Iris on the night of May 23, 2017, erasing this future and also Savitar's existence.
Rewritten reality
The Legion of Doom used the Spear of Destiny to create an alternate reality. In this reality, Barry became the Flash at some point before 2017, also being an ally of Green Arrow and other heroes. However, at some point, Barry had been killed by Damien Darhk and his mask and symbol were kept in a trophy case alongside the other heroes and vigilantes that Darhk had killed.[149]
Legacy
Possible future
- "Nora, I don't have much time. If you're watching this, it means you're like me. You have powers. It also means I wasn't there to help you learn how to use them. I wasn't there for a lot of things. Remember, my sweet Nora, always remember, I love you. And I'll always will."
- —Barry Allen's message to his daughter, Nora[src]
In a possible future, Barry as the Flash is one of the several heroes remembered in the era called the "Age of Heroes".[86]
Barry's disappearance saved the universe, therefore ensuring continued survival and the future for his family and friends, including his daughter, Nora.
After her husband's disappearance, Iris wrote an article on the subject titled Flash Missing Vanishes In Crisis, which ended up on the front page of the Central City Citizen, published on April 25, 2024.
Barry's disappearance had a worldwide impact on his loved ones; Iris West-Allen was heartbroken by Barry's disappearance and struggled in the aftermath of losing Barry and didn't want to talk with Nora about him or their past. While Nora didn't remember her father, she nonetheless idolized Barry.
Barry was honored and memoralized by his hometown, Central City in recognition for his disappearance in saving the universe.
The worldwide impact and outpouring of grief over Barry Allen's disappearance was massive. Barry's memory and legacy that he left behind was memorialized, notably in various forms of artwork and media.
Sometime before 2032, the Flash Museum was built to honor Barry and Team Flash for their heroics. Barry was also given a statue in his honor, toys, phones, rings, water bottles, plush toys, and a merchandise. The museum included exhibits for Barry's old enemies; including Reverse-Flash, Zoom, Savitar, DeVoe and Cicada. Following Barry's disappearance in a future crisis and in a now-erased future, Barry's daughter, Nora West-Allen went to the Flash Museum on a regular basis to learn about her father who was never able to raise her.
One day in the 2030s, Nora ran away from her home to the Central City Police Department then to the Flash Museum. There, Nora bought a comic and an action figure of her father as the Flash. Interested, she read the comic while holding the action figure. Iris eventually found Nora and told her to not run away from home again, and Nora got angry at her mother, saying that she wanted to visit the Flash Museum because of her dad. Nora then dropped her action figure and then her mother picked up the toy and gave Nora a hug, saying that she and Barry loved Nora.
Nora kept a photo of herself as a baby with her parents in her lab as a reminder of Barry.
While outrunning Godspeed, Thawne planned to teach Nora how to phase through objects by using the same phrase he taught Barry to phase for the first time. However, Nora was unable to do so.
After defeating Godspeed, Nora went into the Time Vault, where she encountered Gideon, who reveals that her father was the Flash and showed her Barry's final message to Nora. In the message, Barry says how he doesn't have much time, revealing that Nora is a speedster but also means that he won't be there to help her learn how to use her powers and for her growing up. Barry then tells Nora to always remember that he loves her and that he'll always will. This saddened Nora who realized she lost her father as the only person who truly understood who she was.
As a result, Nora then decided to make a choice to become a hero that Barry was. Eobard Thawne began passing on his wisdom to Nora, in which she honed her powers like Barry. She then became known as the "Fastest Woman Alive", a homage to her missing father.
Personality
- "I don't choose being the Flash over being with my family. I'm the Flash for my family, and I don't have to run to the future to understand why I sacrificed myself. I'd do it to save you, and your mom, all the people I love."
- —Barry Allen to his daughter, Nora West-Allen[src]
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 and 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 Queen, Barry has a strong sense of justice; due to the fact that he knows that his father, Henry Allen is innocent of a crime that he was convicted of, 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, Nora Allen's murder true and ultimately, free his father. Barry is very intelligent, like Felicity, he is socially awkward; as he sometimes gets nervous and babbles.
Barry has good morals; for example, he does not like to lie about who he really is, like when he first met, Oliver, Felicity and Quentin Lance, as he told them that he was a forensic scientist, this was only because he knew they wouldn't take him very seriously if they knew that he was only an assistant forensic scientist (at the time) when Oliver confronted him, after he found out who Barry really is, he did not try to deny it, but explained the reason why he did it.
Barry has a lot of respect for the vigilante known as the Arrow, when he found out that Oliver/the Arrow are one-and-the same, he is amazed, he also saved his life after he was injured by Cyrus Gold and consequently poisoned, despite the fact that he barely knew Oliver at the time, he also keeps his secret. Despite Barry's respect for Oliver, he is also not above standing up to him, like when he pointed out that Oliver was being a jerk to Felicity, although he said this in a respectable way.
Additionally, as said several times by Joe West and seen many times throughout Barry's life, once he makes up his mind about something, makes a decision or sets his mind to something, it is impossible for anyone to talk him out of it; such as Joe, Iris West and even his father, Henry.
- "Whenever I run, whatever I'm feeling inside, grief, guilt, I've gotta just let it go and focus on whatever I'm running toward: Iris, my friends, all the joy in my life. When I'm happy, I run faster, just like when you phased earlier. You were having a good time."
- —Barry Allen to Oliver Queen[src]
When Barry first discovered his new-found super powers, he wanted to help other individuals, like when he first tried to stop Clyde Mardon, but someone unintentionally got killed because of his actions and he had lost his confidence, however, after getting advice from Oliver Queen, he regained his confidence, as his skills as a superhero improves, Barry becomes more confident.
Barry's sense of justice has gotten stronger; to the point of using his new-found super powers not only to help other individuals, but to also fight other meta-humans who would use their new-found super powers for evil intentions; such as the meta-human who murdered his mother, Nora Allen.
Barry is very stubborn and (apparently) isn't likely to learn from his mistakes; until experiencing there consequences first hand, as seen during his training with Oliver, this prompted Oliver to show Barry a potential consequence of not surveying his surroundings before charging at an enemy by shooting him with two remote-controlled crossbows. However, despite his stubbornness, Barry is still capable of learning from his mistakes, even if he does not experience there consequences first hand.
Despite Barry's dislike of crime and meta-humans who use their super-powers for evil intentions, killing and torturing his enemies is a line that he would never cross, as he criticized Oliver for torturing Klaus Markos to gain the location of Digger Harkness. Barry even stated that he does not use his bad experiences as an excuse to torture other individuals in general who makes him angry.
Barry is selfless and honorable; for example, when he found out that his good friend, Eddie Thawne was going to ask Iris West to marry him, Barry did not try to stop this engagement, despite recently discovering future events; that Iris will become his wife, instead of Eddie's. Also, he pushed Patty Spivot away; because he didn't want her to sacrifice her dream of being in CSI for him.
However, after Eddie sacrificed himself so that his descendant Eobard would have never been born and Ronnie Raymond had done the same so that Central City could be saved, Barry's personality became slightly darker; as he became more reclusive, distant and cold to his friends, as he broke up Team Flash and went the "lone wolf", he also began to doubt himself as a superhero as he couldn't even saved Eddie and Ronnie, and considered not going to Central City's Flash Day, but after being motivated by Iris, he decided to go and reunite Team Flash. Even with this, he still remains somewhat guarded, especially after being brutally beaten by Zoom, he became even more so, even in his love life, as seen with Patty; to point that he let her go for her own safety and happiness.
Barry has became less trustful of other individuals, when Hunter Zolomon (posing as "Jay Garrick") claimed that Earth-1 was in danger by another speedster called Zoom, Barry did not believe it, even though most of his friends did, but this was mostly; due to the fact that Jay reminded him of Eobard Thawne, he eventually overcame his suspicions and allowed Jay to train him to defeat Sand Demon, however, Barry's suspicions of "Jay" ultimately turned out to be correct; as he was later revealed to be the supervillain known as "Zoom".
Barry began to have less concern for his enemies' well-being as he lured Atom Smasher into a chamber that gave him an overload of nuclear energy, which killed him, and solidified Sand Demon which again kills him, however, Barry didn't expect that it would kill them, his killing of Atom Smasher was; due to his strong belief that he would harm others, but he did apologize to Atom Smasher before he died as he felt guilt, shame and remorse, while he felt none for Sand Demon's death; this was because the latter was a homicidal maniac who did not try to avoid the death of innocents. Finally, he was willing to kill a reanimated and mindless Tony Woodward, but felt it as a mercy killing and said that despite them being enemies, he still wanted Tony to be at rest, while Tony was also already dead to begin with and his corpse was simply reanimated, meaning that he was not actually killing him.
However, when faced with the notion of having to kill Solovar in an effort to prevent them from invading Earth-1, Caitlin Snow asked Barry if he was willing to take a life, meaning that he may have not truly viewed himself as having killed his enemies since he did not kill them directly, he was even tempted to try and kill Grodd due to the threat he constantly posed towards Central City and his allies, while Iris and Harry Wells convinced him to not risk losing his humanity to achieve victory, while fighting Savitar, he threatened to kill him after Wally West was trapped in the Speed Force and even attempted to kill him with a chokehold when he revealed himself as a future version of Barry, he was even tempted to kill himself to stop Savitar's creation, but relented when he was reminded of Eobard Thawne still being in existence despite the suicide of his past relative, Eddie Thawne. When stealing salvaged technology from the Dominators, he was prepared to kill King Shark, who was guarding it, using Leonard Snart's Cold gun; until he was told that there was another way.
Barry is a forgiving individual, as after Eobard was erased from existence, it took him months before he finally forgave the latter for murdering his mother and framing his father for his crime, he stated that no matter how much he hated Eobard, he couldn't bare hating him anymore, however, this hatred was (apparently) rekindled when Eobard's time remnant appeared, enough that Barry came close to beating him to death, Barry showed great outrage and disgust at learning that their antagonistic relationship in the future and Eobard's own hatred of Barry was because Eobard was jealous of the Flash and wanted to become better than him. After being forced to release Eobard from captivity, they both stated that they hated each other, with Barry being bitter at having Eobard murder his mother, Nora in the past to restore the timeline.
Despite Barry's honorable ways and proclivity for pacifism in the face of deadly and often ruthless and sociopathic enemies, he does harbor some very disturbing and homicidal feelings towards some of his enemies in particular, these two being Zoom and Reverse-Flash, due to their parts in the deaths of his father and mother, respectively. After the capture of Eobard in the particle accelerator on the first occasion, Barry expressed an unhinged and blood-thirsty desire to kill him, even spitting with rage when he voiced this overwhelming need of his.
This is in almost direct opposition to Barry's normally restrained and merciful attitude towards his enemies, his desire to kill Hunter Zolomon may even be greater, due to how thoroughly Hunter had deceived Barry and his friends, and how Hunter tortured Barry by kidnapping his father and then stabbing him through the chest with a vibrating hand, all the while this death took place in the same room where, approximately 16 years prior, Barry's mother was murdered by Eobard. This replication of his mother's murder with his father profoundly affected Barry, and awakened a need for cold-blooded vengeance in him that he has never felt before, having had the pain of losing both parents in the same way, each to a deranged speedster, compound one another, tearing him apart emotionally.
Because of all the tragedy Barry had suffered and being unable to cope with it, he made a trip back in time, saving his mother, reforming the current timeline, despite him (seemingly) recovering, Barry seemed to be trying to kill the Rival after he impaled Wally West in the back. The only thing stopping him from doing so was his memories fading away.
Once Barry realized how big a mistake he made once seeing Wally injured, he attempted to correct the time, yet was only somewhat successful. When Jay Garrick intervened in his attempts to correct the damaged timeline, he taught Barry that time travel must not be abused, and he must learn to live with his mistakes, instead of always trying to undo them.
Although Barry does have guilt, shame and remorse for his actions, especially if they have unintentionally hurt the individuals he cares about, simultaneously, arguably Barry's greatest fault is his guilt for actions he believes that could have been stopped; due to this, he has tried rectifying his mistakes by time travel, but has actually ended up causing even bigger problems than what he initially sought out to prevent. The most major example being the creation of Flashpoint, which drew in not only Savitar, but the Dominators as well.
Barry's heroic and peaceful nature hid a more complex and powerful set of emotions that he does not fully express but has always harbored on a subconscious level, while as civilian, the Flash or when pushed over the edge by enemies, Barry has been known to act on nearly fourteen years of repressed anger and emotional stress, these emotions were obvious after being exposed to Roy Bivolo, voicing unfounded contempt for others unusual in Barry's usually calm nature and respectful attitude such as snapping at Joe for imprisoning and criminalizing his father, speaking down at David Singh for his constant barking/disrespect and condescendingly voicing jealousy for the Arrow. Barry admits that after being cured that although it was Bivolo's doing, he did mean some of the things he said during his fight with Oliver.
After Barry having sacrificed himself to and then six months later is released from the Speed Force, his personality has changed drastically, although retaining some of his traits; prior to being imprisoned in the Speed Force, he seems to be free from his tragic past as he moved on from his mistakes and parents' deaths, and (seemingly) more happier than ever. While initially suffering from dementia or schizophasia, he seemed to recover from this state after hearing Iris was kidnapped by a Samuroid and later came to her rescue.[18]
Due to Barry's bad experiences with Eobard Thawne and Hunter Zolomon respectively, he is not fooled at all by an individual's ability to appear kind-natured. He suspected that Clifford DeVoe was a meta-human (after the Council of Wells informed him that the latter may be the mastermind behind the bus meta-humans) despite the fact that he did not have a criminal record, his suspicions of Clifford were further amplified when he and his wife, Marlize lied to Barry's superior officer, David Singh, claiming that he was harassing Clifford (when in truth, he was only conducting the necessary investigation) even when every member of Team Flash believed that he was innocent - Barry's suspicions were proven to be correct yet again, regarding Clifford.
After Barry was framed by Clifford and Marlize for murder, he refused to reveal his identity as the Flash to the entire court (even though it could have exonerated him) this was because Barry knows full well that if his superhero identity is revealed to the public, every single one of his enemies would not only come after him, but also the individuals he cares about.
Barry has displayed a greater sense of responsibility when it comes to his powers, immediately shooting down Jessie's idea to use time travel to stop a nuclear bomb, remembering from experience how dangerous and damaging it can be for everyone,[90] though he would later again show recklessness in maintaining the timeline in certain situations involving Eobard, presumably because his hatred for Eobard would overtake his wisdom in those moments.[34] While the "Eobard" Barry interacted with was not the real Eobard, Barry did not know this at the time he yelled to "past Caitlin" not to trust him.[150] Also he is more willing to be reasonable to turning down certain decisions, like accepting that Harry's idea to throw the nuclear bomb into the Speed Force was too risky to it and existence itself, as every speedster throughout time and space would lose their powers and connection to the Speed Force.
- "In the future?"
- "In a future, yes. We're enemies, rivals, opposites, reverses of one another."
- —Barry Allen and Eobard Thawne[src]
In the original timeline of the original multiverse from which Eobard Thawne hails, Barry became a veteran and experienced hero who doesn't use time-travel for selfish and personal reasons in order to preserve the timeline.[58] He is one of the founding members of an unknown yet revered group. He also became the director of the CSI division of CCPD.[39] He is respected by his arch-nemesis, rivaling Reverse-Flash at his prime in both speed and cunning.[18] Despite their contrasting natures and Eobard's outspoken disdain of him, the future speedster admits to wondering just which one of them was truly right.[58]
It is unknown if Barry will become like this Flash in the current timeline's future, because Eddie Thawne's death erased the original timeline in which this veteran Barry hails from.
In the future in which Iris dies, 2024-Barry's struggles left him in utter despair and isolation from others, due to the love of his life being killed by Savitar 7 years prior, which caused him to neglect everyone important in his life, having already avenged Iris by imprisoning Savitar, the future Barry had no motivation left to continue his super heroics, resigning from it completely and spent most of his time in S.T.A.R. Labs, particularly in the time vault, looking at photos of Iris and him, after meeting his younger-self, he was reinvigorated with hope, becoming the Flash again and bringing his team back together.[144] This future was later erased when Savitar killed H.R. instead of Iris.[11]
- "Only we're not going to weaken it, Iris. We're gonna send it straight to Hell."
- —Barry Allen to Iris West-Allen[src]
Even though Barry woke up as Oliver Queen, he was determined to stop the Solntsevskaya Bratva and the Bertinelli crime family from stealing one of Ricardo Diaz's weapons cache at any cost.
Well Barry had temporarily swapped realities with Oliver; as a result of John Deegan abusing the Book of Destiny, he had inherited some of the latter's personality, most notably Oliver's aggressive, violent and ruthless traits. He also didn't want to listen to Oliver when he told him that his team betrayed him when Oliver was right since, unlike what happened with Devoe, Barry was telling the truth and the Flash team didn't believe him and drugged him.Powers and abilities
Powers
- "I've spent my whole life searching for the impossible, never imagining that I would become the impossible."
- —Barry Allen to Oliver Queen[src]
- Speed Force connection/Meta-human physiology: Barry's powers comes from his connection to the Speed Force, gained when struck by dark matter lightning and exposed to several chemicals. This altered and supercharged his DNA, cells and neurotransmitters. It also augmented his bones, joints, tissue and entire physiology well-beyond peak human condition to easily handle the rigors of his powers. High-level friction, inertia, air pressure, reduced oxygen, vectors, and kinetic impact no longer affect him. After regaining his powers from inside the Speed Force, his connection to and understanding of it improved considerably, with a newfound instinctual control and efficiency, and his improved natural performance unhindered. After Oliver Queen as the Spectre unlocked Barry's full potential, restoring the Speed Force after its destruction, and bringing harmony between the four Forces of Nature, Barry's powers were greatly augmented, reaching the highest known performance of any natural speedster in existence. Barry is also the avatar of the Speed Force, making him one of the most powerful beings in the entire multiverse.
- Accelerated healing factor: Barry's molecules move at accelerated rates, mending damage far quicker and more efficiently than normal humans. Without treatment, most damage heals in under a day with no lingering signs. Even normally permanent damage, like paraplegia, is completely repaired in under a week. His body can break down food more efficiently and, as a result, expels very little waste products that he can exhale through his skin. After the Speed Force was restored, Barry's healing powers further increased, able to recover from the most grievous of injuries in under an hour.
- Superhuman immunity: Due to Barry's accelerating healing factor, he is immune to most types of diseases, illnesses, sickness, drugs, poisons, toxins, etc. He also has greater resilience to radiation than normal humans, only suffering minor burns from it. 2,000 milligrams of horse tranquilizer only momentarily slowed him down until his body burned through it.
- Superhuman longevity: Due to Barry's accelerating healing factor, he ages much slower than normal humans and most other meta-humans. In an erased future of the year 2024, Barry who had been the Flash for 10 years, has not visibly aged. This also enhances his vitality and health, letting him retain his youthful performance for far longer. According to Abra Kadabra, a villain from the 64th century, he is still alive and an active hero that deep into the future.
- Astral projection: Originally, with the help of a tachyon prototype, Barry was able to project his mind into the Speed Force and communicate with it. Since being taught by Wally, and with increasing both his powers and understanding of the Speed Force, Barry has learned to do this of his own accord. This enables him to contact the other Forces whenever needed.
- Electrokinesis: Barry can produce yellow electricity, a physical manifestation of Speed Force energy, from his body. It is commonly seen when running to boost his already immense speed to far higher levels. This energy can be focused into his strikes, generating enough force in his strikes to greatly harm super durable foes without any harm to himself.[151] Alternatively, its intensity can interfere with surrounding electronics and overwhelm electric-absorption. He can focus it into specific body parts and produce strong static shocks to electrify a surface or stun targets on contact. Barry was later taught to harness it into his arms to repeatedly hurl lightning bolts to stun or repel enemies. Barry can also absorb electricity from other sources, simultaneously giving him an extra boost when running or throwing lightning.[152] His highest levels are about 5 billion joules (equal the power of five lightning bolts). Being taught by Wally, Barry can generate several constructs to be used in battle; such as swords and shields. These constructs can also levitate to act as platforms. While originally required extensive running to build up his lightning, by 2021, Barry became able to generate his lightning without moving. By this point, he can use it to unleash heavy amounts of destructive electro-blasts in the surroundings, block energy blasts, and even destroy a speedster's powers. His lightning also has electromagnetic capacities, able to act as barriers able to repel entire cars launched at him.[140]
- Speed Force aura: As a user of the Speed Force, Barry can build up a protective aura.[152] This allows him to withstand large gravimetric force and protects the environment from the harm caused by high-speed travel. Barry even built up his aura to be a billion times more powerful than the force of a black hole.[100] This aura also seems to affect kinetic energy and inertia as Barry was able to throw off the Turtle's ability to steal kinetic energy and increase inertia on his victims.[64] This also lets him grab other individuals at high speed without their momentum and kinetic energy ripping them apart and survive impact with objects moving so fast with only minor injuries.
- Speed Force sharing: Barry can expand his Speed Force aura to protect other individuals he carries while moving at superhuman speed. Taught by Jay Garrick, Barry can siphon the speed energy from another speedster to bolster his own speed.[77] After escaping from the Speed Force, gaining a greater an understanding of his power, he can use it in more passive means. By touching others, he can share his energy, letting them move, think, and heal as fast as himself, as this let Jesse recover immediately from a coma. By channeling enough energy, he can share his speed with others, letting them independently move as fast as speedsters without exhausting or affecting their own powers, until they burn through the borrowed energy. Barry is currently the only speedster known able to do this because after spending 6 months in the speed force he was able to absorb enough of its energies to share that energy with others.
- Speed stealing/Speed Force siphoning: He picked up the ability to temporarily steal speed from other speedsters to empower himself and make himself faster for a time.
- Energy absorption: Barry is capable of absorbing Speed Force energy that he injects himself with, for more power.
- Superhuman durability: Barry possesses superhuman resilience, most commonly seen from being unaffected by momentum build-up. He can take impacts relatively unfazed that would easily kill normal humans. While not invulnerable nor immune to pain, he withstood powerful lightning bolts, concussive shock waves, sonic blasts and inhumanly strong strikes, only being momentarily stunned. After regaining his powers, his resilience has been greatly augmented, quickly rebounding from zombie-Girder's blows, who previously seriously injured him in a single blow. Barry can also remain almost unharmed when falling from certain heights that would easily killed normal humans.
- Superhuman mental process: Barry's powers also augment his electro-chemical systems, nerve synapses, and brainwaves, and thought process. Granting him an eiditic memory and perfect recall, he takes in and retain information just as fast and efficiently. Even while using his raw speed, he can clearly think, react to events, and perform actions long before normal humans can perceive them. This lets him learn in a small fraction of the normal time, able to change his entire strategy in an instant and familiarize himself with advanced new knowledge within seconds. Flash's heightened mental capacity also lets him change his entire strategy in an instant; able to catch people completely off-guard after familiarizing themselves off his previous patterns. After six months in the Speed Force, Barry's brain activity became over five times faster than it had been previously.
- Superhuman perceptions: Barry's senses are also enhanced. This allows Barry to perceive the world as if it is nearly frozen. He can see and hear normally, even while moving at speeds faster than sound, where this would normally be impossible. Barry became able to easily perceive the attacks of other powerful speedsters. This heightened alertness enables him to instantly read and adapt to the situation. His perception of time, however, seems to vary by his emotional state, as in one instance, when he was waiting to check out from work, he described it as feeling as if it were hours away, while in real time it was merely minutes. Since uniting the four Forces of Nature, Barry's perception can follow the movements of other speedsters as if in slow motion.
- Superhuman reflexes: Barry's reaction time is augmented to superhuman levels, allowing him to react to danger and events far faster than normal humans. When shot in the neck on his blindside, Barry caught the bullet and minimized the damage before it could fully penetrate his skin. He also became able to easily react to the attacks of other speedsters.
- Speed Force awareness: Due to Barry's connection to the Speed Force, he can sense the presence of other speedster's with such energy in their system.
- Superhuman speed: Barry can move at such vast speeds. According to Eobard Thawne, Barry's speed is potentially unlimited;[39] he can run across vertical structures and ceilings, over stretching seas, effortlessly catch speeding projectiles, complete his several daily activities in seconds and even casual walking can go unnoticed by normal individuals. While reaching Mach 3.3 on his own and later Mach 13.2 from tachyons, since increasing his Speed Force connection and ability to store-up its energy, Barry has grown tremendously faster. After six months in the Speed Force, his speed reached levels far exceeding all other known super-fast beings, noted by Gideon to be at 2325 miles per second (Mach 10908.82) or 1/80 of the speed of light. After Oliver Queen as the Spectre unlocked Barry's full potential, greatly augmenting his superhuman speed, he became much faster then before. When his powers were restored by reviving the Speed Force, Barry became even faster than Eva McCholloch, whose fractal photons manipulations let her move at a superluminal speed. Barry's speed is further augmented after bringing harmony between the four Forces of Nature.
- Aerokinesis: Barry can use his speed to generate air flows on various levels and for several effects. He can create vortexes to suffocate people or extinguish fires by forming it around them. He can create large and strong tornadoes, able to repel massive targets. Alternatively, he can use this skill to propel himself through the air as a pseudo-form of flying. Later, Iris taught Barry, from her own experience as a speedster, to use this build-up to gather and direct enough water into a tidal wave capable to disperse a giant fire cyclone of over 6000 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Interdimensional travel: Barry can move fast enough to break open portals between dimensions, allowing him to travel to different universes. If desired, Barry can also bring others with him as he did with Harry and Cisco to Earth-2. While originally he could not consciously control this, as his first solo use was done by accident and required assistance to return home, after greatly increasing his Speed Force connection, he can break open portals of his own accord and consciously chose his destination, even into the Speed Force itself.
- Speed mirages: Taught by Harry Wells, Barry can generate illusions of himself to make it appear as if he in many places at once, when in reality he is simply bouncing back and forth too fast for the human mind to perceive the difference. He can create dozens of after-images. This allows him to disorientate enemies and then catch them off guard from appearing to be in more than one place at a time. Barry can also create a mirror speed projection, which he learned from fighting Thawne in 2049.
- Superhuman agility: Barry has demonstrated flawless coordination, equilibrium and dexterity. He can change direction with immediate sharp turns without sliding or losing balance and instantly stop running on the spot. He can jump and run along falling debris and launch himself tremendous distances without build-up. His efficiency of movement can even disassemble an entire speeding car in seconds.
- Superhuman momentum: Barry can generate great amounts of physical force through kinetic energy, simulating superhuman strength, even in a stationary position. Even little exertions from this build-up can generate tremendous force, able to knock a person out. He can propel himself to jump tremendous heights and distances. He can also create substantial frictional force with any object he touches, and exert enough force to hurl people into the air. This seemingly negates the weight of his target, able to move about as if targets are frozen, even in mid-air. This also lets him propel and manipulate the targets' flight path, including launched bullet with no loss of force and hurl them through a powerful barrier, followed by a person. He can completely remove the physical force from massive tidal waves, stabilize a giant singularity, or dispel F3 tornadoes by running around them. He can also snap his fingers to ignite flammable gas with the friction. After escaping the Speed Force, Barry can generate enough force to break down the natural durability of a target, as he effortlessly shattered his way out of his meta-human cell. With enough momentum, he can generate a powerful sonic boom through his punch able to destroy a crashing satellite.
- Bodily vibration: Barry can vibrate his body for various effects. This can mask his form from being clearly perceived or distort his vocal cords to disguise his voice. His vibrations can forcibly expel any toxins in him. He can also generate enough heat to recover and stay thermally insulated from extreme cold. Offensively, he can vibrate his limbs to augment his strikes or seamlessly grind through highly solid targets, which he can use to harm or kill a person.
- Intangibility: By vibrating his molecules at the frequency of air, Barry can physically pass through solid matter, even highly complex matter like carbine while in a universe of a different vibrational nature. He can do this with multiple targets, saving an entire moving train with hundreds of passengers, as well as an entire plane with hundreds of passengers with the help of Kid Flash and XS. He can also harmlessly pass through living individuals as he did to escape Atom Smasher's grasp.[1] Barry can also vibrate just parts of his and other bodies, as he phased his hand and Ralph Dibny's arm in order to eject a needle into the latter's elastic skin and give him blood.[7] He can extend this ability to others. During his final fight against Savitar, Barry's efficiency could simultaneously shift the time remnant out of his armor and encase himself in it. He can also pass through one target while simultaneously making harmless contact with another. Alternatively, he can passively phase through the target to incapacitate them.
- Invisibility: Barry can vibrate his body so fast that that he can no longer be perceived by the human eye. When Clifford DeVoe trapped Barry in a force field prison that prevented the latter from phasing through it, Barry did this in order to "trick" Clifford DeVoe into releasing him.[88]
- Seismokinesis: By vibrating at varying frequencies and with different levels of force, Barry can create small tremors to induce extreme amounts of jolt on any target he touches, even disrupt the inter-molecular bonds and cause it to shatter. This can lead to many effects such as molecular combustion upon physical contact with the target. His vibrations can even shatter targets into fragments, as he did to Savitar's armor once inside it. If Barry wanted to, his vibrations could even destroy the world.
- Limited Temporal immunity: Barry was able to reactivate his powers when the Negative Still Force froze him in time, indicating Barry’s powers have grown so strong that he is now partially immune to time related powers.
- Time travel: Barry's speed can breach the temporal barriers, letting him enter different points in time. While originally only accessed by accident when under extreme stress, Barry learned to use it at will and arrive at a destination with pinpoint accuracy. Alternatively, he can enter timelines independent from himself and unaffected by his travels. Regardless of the changes he makes, Barry's powers allow him to retain all memories of the previous timeline in addition to the new timeline and differentiate between them.
- Temporal awareness: Even if Barry is not responsible for any time alterations, he can still remain somewhat unaffected by it; he remembers that John Diggle and Lyla Michaels had a daughter instead of a son in the original timeline. Barry is able to subconsciously detect when other speedsters enter the Speed Force to time travel. After learning that Nora West-Allen had been working with his arch-enemy, he warned his daughter that if she attempted to enter the dimension and travel back to the present, he would feel it.[146] Eobard Thawne later confirmed this to be the case, as it is one of the reasons for him to create the Negative Speed Force to avoid Barry's detection.[153]
- Temporal dilution: By generating enough energy, Barry can move so fast that time essentially slows down relative to him in a large area, to a complete standstill. However, he must continuously concentrate on this action as losing such focus will gradually speed back up again before ultimately returning to its original flow. He can pull others into this state, however, non-speedsters will quickly tire from it as their bodies aren't accustomed to moving at such great speeds. Other speedsters can also remain unaffected by this even provided they retain enough stamina to expand their Speed Force energy. By running around the Earth in the opposite direction with another super fast being at Mach 7, he can generate enough centrifugal force to slow the Earth's rotation and its flow of time.
- Temporal regression: With Barry's ability to shift through time, he can also reverse the flow effects while running at a certain speed, while he remains completely unaffected. Ultimately, he can even grant himself a time do-over, wherein he enters the past and "merges" with his temporal counterpart to be fully immerse in the timeline. This ability is enhanced when he has a Still Force connection, as he was able to not only reverse the progression of Thawne's giant Negative Speed Force lightning tsunami, but undo it entirely so that Thawne would be obliterated by the absorption of his own energy.
- Time remnant construct/temporal duplication: Barry is able to "create" a time remnant by traveling back to moments before his current-self time travels, hailing from a future that no longer exists. This allows Barry to be two places at once, enabling him to interact with the world for two separate actions simultaneously. If desired, Barry can create dozens of time remnants at once.
- Superhuman stamina: Barry can handle the stresses of extreme racing without noticeable distress, letting him function much longer than normal humans unhindered, showing no change in breathing or pulse after hours of constant exertion. This is due to his augmented physiology, building far less lactic acid or fatigue toxins. Even after running from coast to coast of the country to pick up a pizza, Barry remained unfazed from the prolonged running. However, while his stamina is greater than most speedsters, Barry's reserves are not inexhaustible. Extreme and extended uses of his more advanced powers will eventually drain him.
- Superhuman strength: Due to the tremendous amounts of Speed Force energy in his body, Barry's physical strength has been heightened beyond that of normal humans, able to carry multiple individuals at once while speeding away with them. When charging his momentum, he could smash through machinery with his bare hands or send opponents flying through the air. He can even stop a speeding car unaided.
- Accelerated healing factor: Barry's molecules move at accelerated rates, mending damage far quicker and more efficiently than normal humans. Without treatment, most damage heals in under a day with no lingering signs. Even normally permanent damage, like paraplegia, is completely repaired in under a week. His body can break down food more efficiently and, as a result, expels very little waste products that he can exhale through his skin. After the Speed Force was restored, Barry's healing powers further increased, able to recover from the most grievous of injuries in under an hour.
Possible future powers
- Telepathy immunity: According to Nora West-Allen, at some point in the future, Barry becomes powerful to point that he is immune to most, if not all forms of telepathy.[99]
Alternate timeline powers
- Negative Speed Force connection: In the Reverse-Flashpoint timeline created by Eobard Thawne, in which Eobard was the Flash and Barry was the Reverse-Flash, Barry drew his powers from the Negative Speed Force.[139]
Former powers
- Artificial Speed Force connection: During the death of the Speed Force, which cost Barry his powers, Team Flash sought to create an artificial Speed Force. With help from Nora West-Allen's journal and the Wells' self-sacrifice, they succeeded in their goal. However, while restoring all of Barry's previous powers, in hoping to create a Speed Force void of negative emotions like the Negative Speed Force, this was done using an inert substance of an argon-xenon hybrid to produce no emotional fallout. It caused a side-effect of gradually sapping away Barry's emotions. This ultimately made him focus only on success with no concern for others' wellbeing. Upon realizing that his actions endangered Iris' life, the remainder of Barry's emotions made him decide to destroy the artificial Speed Force machine.
- Superhuman intelligence: Powered by the artificial Speed Force, Barry's mental parameters were greatly augmented even further. His neurons are firing at super speed and synaptic connections are at uncharted levels, pushing his cognitive functions to over a 1000-fold and near-instantaneous usage. As noted by Cisco, Barry's intelligence outpaces even the most advanced computers and is in a classifications well-beyond "genius". This enables Barry to from a single glance analyze all perceivable variables and scenarios and from this instinctively determine the most effective choice to any situation presented to him. Like Clifford DeVoe, Barry's augmented mentality have pushed his ability to process, react, memorize, deduce, analyze, and simply comprehend to surreal and super levels. With this, he could quickly create cures for various extreme conditions. This ultimately allows him to calculate and deduce the answer to almost any question and anticipate any potential outcome as if being clairvoyant.
- Corrupted Speed Force connection/Blood Brother physiology: When Barry accepted Ramsey's "cure" he became infected by the blood that was already invading his blood system turning him into a Blood Brother, altering his normal meta-human physiology thus alter his powers. Like with the other Blood Brothers, Barry's eyes turned pitch black after being infected by Ramsey Rosso.
- Mental link to Ramsey Rosso: When Barry bonded with Ramsey after giving in into his infection, Barry shared a telepathic link to Ramsey that allowed Bloodwork to make Dark Flash do his bidding. However, the mental link worked both ways as Barry was able to speak to Iris and Cisco through Ramsey giving them secret messages just as Ramsey was able to speak to Iris through Barry and threaten her before Barry could take control and tell Iris to "trust" him. Barry was also able to use this to make Ramsey see his mother one last time so he would let his guard down before Barry could incarcerate.
- Superhuman strength: Like the other Blood Brothers, Dark Flash gained a tremendous boost of strength while infected and controlled by Bloodwork.
- Still Force connection: Thanks to the Still Force having been created in connection to the Speed Force, Barry gained a subconscious connection to it, allowing him to absorb some of its energy. From this, after Deon Owens gave him some of its energy, Barry could access the same powers as him. It also causes him to emit green electricity along with his natural yellow. He can share this energy with others. However, the connection is weak, only able to access it through deep mediation. Also, the energy he had was small, quickly depleting it to escape the Still Force.
- Chrono vision: The Still Force enabled Barry to see events past, present and future. He got to see the future of his children and grandchildren.
- Selective displacement: After defeating Thawne, Barry was able to bring back Bart, Nora, and Meena from where Thawne had sent them just by snapping his fingers.
- Strength Force connection: After the positive forces returned, Alexa gave Barry access to the Strength Force to help defeat Thawne. After Thawne was defeated, Barry lost his ability to access the Strength Force.
- Sage Force connection: After the positive forces returned, Bashir gave Barry access to the Sage Force to help defeat Thawne. After Thawne was defeated, Barry lost his ability to access the Sage Force.
- Teleportation: Using the Sage Force, Barry was able to teleport to catch up to Thawne.
Abilities
- "Barry Allen is just as important as the Flash. Try to remember that. I know I will."
- —Ralph Dibny to Barry Allen[src]
- Genius-level intellect/Master tactician/Leader: A keen-minded individual from a young age, Barry displayed a natural understanding and quick capacity to learn, making it hard for his foster-father, Joe West, to help Barry with his homework by the time the latter was 12. Barry is also very well-read, greatly impressing the award-winning Professor Martin Stein. After Eobard Thawne was defeated, Barry was able to keep Team Flash together and lead them well, to the point that Eobard (as Harrison Wells) made him the new owner of S.T.A.R. Labs. Barry is able to remember everything he experiences with perfect recall; when he saw the Reverse-Flash for the first time in 14 years, Barry immediately recognized him as his mother' Nora Allen's killer, despite being only 11 years old at the time. Barry is also a quick study, as after reading through the various Earth-2 advances in physics, he instantly began making effective use of this knowledge. Barry can communicate with the 5x5 tap code, which he did with Jay Garrick when the latter wore a mask preventing him from talking.
- Bilingualism: In addition to English, after 6 months in the Speed Force, Barry subconsciously learned a strange language he would scribble in at all opportunities when he came out. However, he didn't understand this script after returning to his normal self.[79]
- Computer specialist/Expert computer hacker: Barry is adept with computers, as he was the only one who could write an algorithm that monitored the electrical manipulations to National City's network which Livewire's powers caused.
- Cooking: Barry is skilled in cooking, having made fancy meals for himself and Iris.[154][80]
- Expert investigator/Forensics: As a CSI of the Central City Police Department, Barry is highly skilled in forensics. From a single glance of the crime scene, he can quickly determine much of the events that transpired. Barry can quickly analyze any given data and quickly form accurate theories on the given situation, as seen with the Arrow; Barry correctly determined the Arrow's training background from his green attire and that he has at least one accomplice. Barry was also the first to deduce the true identity of Savitar, managing to put clues together from various things the evil speedster said and did, ultimately concluding that he was in fact a rogue time remnant of himself. Additionally, having learned from Oliver, Barry is able to case environments and predict every inch of them.
- Expert of deception/Manipulator: Despite Barry's somewhat awkward demeanor, he can be deceiving if need be. When he traveled back in time to find a way to get faster, Barry kept acting like his past self around everyone. Even when he was busted by Eobard, Barry made the latter believe he was able to achieve his goal mission of returning to his own time, when in truth, he had actually been erased from existence.[46] Barry also successfully distracted Remington Meister and Ultraviolet from launching a missile on Central City by pretending to be severely drunk.[155]
- Master engineer: Barry has very advanced skill in technology, as he was able reconstruct Captain Boomerang's projectiles from its broken pieces and build from memory a variation of the earpieces used against Hartley Rathaway to help himself and Kara Danvers confront the sonic-powered Silver Banshee. Barry was also able to build a carbine prison from which Reverse-Flash couldn't escape. In one possible future, Barry designed Gideon, a very sophisticated artificial intelligence unit with a system so complicated that even Cisco Ramon had no idea of how it works. Barry is very skilled with crafting and building, having spent weeks personally repairing Central City after the damage caused from the singularity by Eobard. He was also able to completely dismantle a speeding car using a box of mechanic tools.
- Master physicist/Chemist/Scientist: Barry graduated with a double major in physics and chemistry, making him a very knowledgeable scientist. Barry deduced that Oliver Queen was dosed with a blood coagulant and managed to use a small amount of rat poison to thin his blood again. He also created a compressible micro-fabric green domino mask for Oliver to conceal his identity more effectively without affecting his sight and aim. Barry's knowledge on physics possibly ranks among the best on Earth-1 and 2, as he was able to apply a newfound science and figure out how to close the various breaches between worlds.
- Meditation: Taught to him by Wally, Barry knows how to center himself to better access the energies that house inside his body and make contact with the other Forces. This was helpful when Barry used the Positive Forces in tandem to reset the universe.[156][157]
- Speed Force knowledge: After receiving the speed equation from Eobard, Barry gained great intelligence about the Speed Force and its usage. After regaining his connection to the Speed Force, Barry gained an even greater understanding of its nature, allowing him to heal Jesse Wells. Furthermore, he knows how to nullify another speedster's powers, as Barry did to Eobard for three months, which he may have learned from Zoom's prison. Further tutelage by Jay Garrick of Earth-3 also gave Barry greater knowledge of the lore, history, and legends of the Speed Force. He gained further in-depth understanding of it from Nora's journal filled with Eobard's own expertise.
- "Fighting is physics. It's not about strength. It's not about size. It's about energy and power. Channel your speed the right way and you can totally take this bad boy down."
- —Cisco Ramon[src]
- Master hand-to-hand combatant/Martial artist: In Barry's youth, he was trained how to box with Joe and Iris West. Although he remembers his time training with them, it never stuck since Barry wasn't much of a fighter growing up. This changed when Barry turned 25 and briefly trained with Eddie Thawne, relearning how to box due to the circumstances with Tony Woodward but this time, the training stuck, with boxing becoming his go-to style of combat as the Flash.[154] While never trained extensively in hand-to-hand combat, Barry's powers combined with his intelligence and combat skills made him a formidable opponent. At the same time, Barry continued to gradually improve his abilities, as seen by how he went from being completely outmatched by Eobard to eventually able to decisively beat Eobard during the Earth-X invasion when their speed became equally matched. Later, Barry's combat skills improved to such a level that even without his powers, he was able to swiftly take out two A.R.G.U.S. security guards.
- Expert swordsman: Against Godspeed, Barry proved capable with a sword. While requiring the aid of Eobard to fend off Godspeed, Barry was able to shatter Godspeed's own sword and force him on the defensive.[158] During everyone's grieving process, Barry traveled to Kyoto to learn the disciplines of being a Samurai, as a way to honor Frost's legacy.[159]
- Expert marksman: Barry is proven to be adept with guns, though he does not use them if they could kill someone. Barry and Ralph Dibny once used stun guns stolen from Goldface to fight and knock out all of the latter's forces, as well as briefly stun Goldface himself.[160]
- Singing: While quite modest about this skill and not always a fan of performing, Barry is an excellent singer. His karaoke performance at a bar attracted the attention of Linda Park.[47] Barry was also able to pass as a lounge singer in Music Meister's reality.[12]
- Dancing: Barry is a talented dancer, especially in ballroom and tap, as seen in Music Meister's movie musical reality.[12] He has also shown during Carrie Bates' "whammie" to be a skilled breakdancer.
- Artistic: Barry is a proficient sketch artist, able to accurately draw a picture of Vandal Savage's face.[62]
- "I'll never let the pain, the darkness, determine who I am. I will never be you."
- —Flash to Savitar[src]
- Indomitable will/High pain tolerance: Barry is known for his force of will, with H.R. Wells declaring that his real superpower is hope, having an endless reservoir of it.[161] Even when being burdened of being aged rapidly to over a 100 years old, Barry has shown he can push himself beyond his limits when running. This was displayed when Barry resisted killing Savitar, as he dismissed his urges to do so.[11] Mar Novu described Barry's determination as "boundless" and called it one of his greatest qualities. Furthermore, Barry has a history of changing individuals' hearts and minds, which includes convincing his enemies to do the right thing by knowing how to reach them. As noted by Ramsey Rosso, Barry marches towards death without fear, as he derives his strength from his loved ones. During the Anti-Monitor Crisis, Barry was revealed to be the Paragon of Love due to his positive emotion.
Alternate reality abilities
- After having his entire past and identity swapped with Oliver Queen, Barry obtained all of Oliver's skills as a vigilante.
- Peak of human physical condition: Barry is in excellent shape, sporting a well-muscled build. He is resilient enough endure superspeed punches from Oliver as The Flash. His body is also well-conditioned to effectively dislocate joints and reattach them to slip through confines.
- Acrobatics/Free-running: Barry is capable of scaling buildings and running from rooftop to rooftop with ease. He is maneuverable and graceful, able to pursue and outrun a target in various types of terrains with no wasted motion or loss of time. Barry's skills allow him to fluidly dodge and attack from different directions and perform intricate flips without losing balance.
- "Don't miss."
- "I won't."
- —Cisco Ramon and Barry Allen[src]
- Master archer: Barry's archery skills can precisely hit targets from great distances. He can shoot objects off of people without harming them and retain his accuracy even while he was in rapid movement. He can also anticipate an enemy projectile to block it with an arrow and fire multiple arrows at once. Barry was able to shoot the A.M.A.Z.O. in its left eye with an arrow from the top of a building from a distance.
- Master hand-to-hand combatant/Martial artist: Barry is a formidable hand-to-hand combatant and martial artist. He can effectively change his battle tactics and attack patterns to suit the situation at a fast rate, allowing him to take on and defeat multiple combatants of advanced fighting prowess.
Weaknesses
- Antimatter: Just a slight contact with an antimatter wall in the Speed Force when Barry tried to time travel to the day after Crisis could leave him with a lasting scar. Jay Garrick noted that if not for Barry's accelerated healing, a scratch from antimatter would wipe him out of existence.
- Cold temperatures: Because speed is produced by a build-up of heat in the target's atoms, Barry is vulnerable to extreme cold temperatures. Under these conditions, Barry's speed will be greatly reduced. Also, direct exposure to such cold will temporarily stunt his healing capacities. However, since learning to regulate his body temperature with a buildup of energy, he has a much higher resilience to cold.
- Gamma energy: Gamma energy can have a negative effect on Barry if absorbed into his body. Reacting to his Speed Force energy, each time Barry uses his powers with the gamma energy interfering, it will cause Barry to biologically age by several years.
- High density: Barry has a much greater difficulty phasing through targets with greater natural resistance like carbine and force fields.[88]
- Hyper-metabolism: While moving at superhuman speeds, Barry burns calories much faster than a normal person. While breaking down food far more efficiently, it requires him to consume large amounts of nutrients. Continued usage of his speed while deprived renders him disoriented and weak before ultimately passing out from low blood glucose. Also, he is unaffected by sedatives as he burns through them too quickly to have any affect. He also cannot experience a buzz as even 500 proof alcohol only intoxicated him for a few seconds. After naturally increasing his connection to the Speed Force, his performance noticeably increased, requiring much less nourishment in-between his meta exploits.
- Power-dampening tech: Initially, Barry's powers can be weakened, even neutralized, by specially designed tech that affects his resonance field. Later, after spending six months inside the Speed Force, Barry's massive build-up of Speed Force energy made his powers highly resilient to such tech, as he instantly smashed his way free of a cell in the pipeline. However, certain meta-powers and more advanced tech can still weaken him, as an upgraded B.O.O.T. slowed him down considerably; but not to the point of suppressing his powers.[162] It is very likely that if he had spent more time in the Speed Force, Barry would become completely immune to such tech, even ones that are very advanced. Also, being a Speedster, special kind of anti-speedster weapons can render a speedster stunned and cut off from the Speed Force. However, the effects are only temporary.
- Time alterations: While Barry's speed can break through the temporal barrier, it is not without drawbacks. In addition to potentially causing unforeseeable, damaging changes to the timeline; such reckless actions can alert the Time Wraiths. These temporal guardians become instinctively drawn to the careless speedster, driven to capture him and draw the person into the Speed Force. Also, using his powers in a timeline where he didn't actually acquire them will gradually deplete them and make him lose his memories of the timeline where he gained his powers.[58]
Former weaknesses
- Bloodwork's infection: Barry's speed healing helps him fight Ramsey’s infection, but it only slows the inevitable. Even with the help of the speed force's consciousness and Velocity X, Ramsey was still able to possess Barry. It scared even the Speed Force, which is hard to do because the Speed Force has access to every universe, and every possible timeline and their dangers. Though it is likely due to Barry allowing Ramsey to posses him to defeat him by using the connection against him.
- Cicada's dagger: Cicada's dagger has the power to disable and negate the superhuman powers of meta-humans who gained powers; due to exposure to dark matter, including Barry. However, now that the dagger's been destroyed, it's no longer a problem for Barry.[145]
- Electricity absorption: Barry's unique biology causes his body to produce massive amounts of electricity, which charges his molecules to allow for his accelerated movements. Should Barry be drained of this electrical energy, he will lose his powers. However, as this power is genetically coded into his DNA, he can potentially regain his speed by using more electricity to jump-start it. Once his powers have been "jump-started", his powers will become stronger than they'd previously been and such; attempts to drain the electricity that his body produces are more likely overload the source than disable his speed.[28] Barry confirmed he no longer has this weakness when Black Lightning tried get Barry out of the Speed Force, but it was impossible.
- External brainwaves: Having brainwaves of someone else in Barry's body endangers him greatly and can only be contained by the Speed Force. When Harrison Nash Wells and Allegra Garcia accidentally send the brainwaves of doppelgangers of Harrison Wells to Barry's body, Gideon revealed that he could only contain it; due to the remaining Speed Force in his body and that once it runs out, he would instantly die.[112]
- Kinetic energy absorption: Because Barry's powers are derived from movement, the removal of the kinetic energy he builds up will leave him in a state of temporary paralysis. However, if he can build back up enough kinetic energy within himself, the effect can be negated instantly.[64]
- Old age: Even with his decelerated aging maintaining his youth and his performance longer, upon reaching biologically old age, causes a serious diminish to his general performance and overall health. He likewise struggles with speedster feats like phasing or generating lightning.
Equipment
New multiverse
- Flash suit: Barry wears a protective suit as his alter-ego, the Flash; to hide his identity from his enemies, when he goes out fighting crime; it was designed by Cisco Ramon. The suit is comprised of a reinforced tri-polymer and is heat and abrasive resistant, organically designed to replace firefighter turnouts. It was re-purposed to help protect Barry from the vigor's of his speed and survive certain environments. It was also upgraded with several features, such as sensors to track Barry's vitals, location, power output, and speed level, and to stay in contact with S.T.A.R. Labs.
- Flash ring: Barry utilizes a ring to store and summon his Flash suit; it was given to him by his future daughter, Nora West-Allen.
- Gideon: Barry made a portable version of Gideon out of leftover parts from the damaged plinth in the Time Vault. Barry was able to salvage enough parts to help rebuild Gideon and connect to her through an ear piece so that she could help him travel into the future to witness to coming crisis. She reveals that he was hit by antimatter while in the Speed Force and that Jay Garrick of Earth-3 could help Barry, as he knew more about antimatter.
- Flash boots: Barry utilizes special golden boots made by Chester P. Runk to redirect several different types of energy.
Former equipment
- Tachyon prototype: Barry used this device to project his mind into the Speed Force and communicate with it.
- Flash suit: Before being replaced by the pre-crisis version of himself, Earth-Prime Barry wore this suit as a vigilante suit. It's the exact same suit as the first and second suit of the original multiverse.
- Speed gauge: Following the death of the Speed Force, Cisco invented this wristwatch-like device to monitor Barry's speed output.[111]
Original multiverse
Former equipment
- Speed Force transmitter: While testing the tachyon unit, Barry felt some limitations to the machine despite its benefits. Because of this, Harry redesigned the Speed Force transmitter to transfer the tachyons directly into Barry. With its smaller design, it can be concealed under the Flash suit's chest emblem. It also retains all the tachyon unit's benefits with the addition of letting Barry act with less movement restriction and without being weighted-down. It was presumably destroyed when Harrison attempted to restore Barry's powers. Due to his Speed Force connection being enhanced, Barry was able to beat Zoom without it.
- Gauntlets: Barry had a pair of insulated gloves coated in Nth metal that allow the user to grasp the Staff of Horus. The glove's had a magnetic shield that allows it to disable the staff's magnetic polarity. They were designed and created by Cisco Ramon to use against Vandal Savage in order to get the Staff of Horus from his possession. The gauntlets worked perfectly, due to Barry's knowledge of a prior timeline, and this allowed both the Flash and Green Arrow to get ahold of the staff and use it to defeat Savage.
- Tachyon prototype: After traveling back in time, Barry convinced Eobard Thawne to give him the knowledge of how to produce a Tachyon unit, amplifying his ability to absorb the Speed Force into his system. When using his speed while wearing the device, it also gives Barry the extra benefit of lowering his calorie burning rate to a normal level, allowing him to keep moving longer without drawback. However, when Earth-2 Harrison Wells later "miniaturized" the device to fit securely beneath the Flash emblem on the suit's chest by using the Speed Force transmitter, this device became useless.
- Voice filter: After Barry temporarily lost his powers he became unable to naturally disguise his voice. To compensate while talking to Wally West, he was given a voice filter similar to Oliver Queen's. It's unknown whether the device was removed from his suit after he regained his powers, or if it's still inside the suit in case Barry loses his powers again.
- Armor: Barry briefly wore Savitar's suit of armor when he phased into it and beat down his evil time remnant, nearly taking his life. Barry then destroyed the suit from the inside to prove to Savitar that he is nothing like him.[11]
Alternate timeline equipment
- Reverse-Flash suit: While in Eobard Thawne's Reverse-Flashpoint timeline, in which Thawne had become The Flash instead of Barry, Barry had the Reverse-Flash suit in his possession in place of his usual Flash suit.[163]
Alternate reality equipment
- Green Arrow suit: After swapping lives with Oliver Queen, Barry wore the Green Arrow suit during his time as Oliver.
- Oliver Queen's bow: After swapping lives with Oliver Queen, Barry used Oliver's bow during his time as Oliver.
- Motorcycle: When Barry and Oliver swapped realities, Barry briefly made use of Oliver's motorcycle as a means of transportation.[96]
Appearances
Arrow
The Flash
Vixen
DC's Legends of Tomorrow
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
Season 5
Season 6
|
Supergirl
Season 1Season 2
Season 3Season 4Season 5
Season 6
|
Batwoman
Season 1
- "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Two"
- "Take Your Choice" (mentioned)
Black Lightning
Season 3
Season 4
- "The Book of Ruin: Chapter One" (mentioned)
Chronicles of Cisco
Stretched Scene
- "Stretched Scene #2" (indirectly mentioned)
Comics
The Flash: Season Zero
Crisis on Infinite Earths Giant
EARTH-PRIME
- "Flesh and Mud" (flashbacks)
- "The (Ex) Legends of Tomorrow" (indirectly mentioned)
- "Road Trip" (mentioned)
- "Sidekick Rules"
- "Savior Complex"
- "Phantom Punch" (flashbacks)
Novels
The Chronicles of Cisco
Gallery
Concept artwork
The FlashSeason 4Freedom Fighters: The RaySeason 2VixenSeason 1 |
Promotional images
The Flash
Season 1Season 2Season 3Season 4Season 5 |