The Flash is an American superhero television series developed by Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, and Geoff Johns, airing on The CW. It is based on the Barry Allen incarnation of DC Comics character the Flash, a costumed superhero crime-fighter with the power to move at superhuman speeds. It is a spin-off of Arrow, existing in the same fictional universe known as the Arrowverse. The series premiered in the United States on The CW on October 7, 2014, and ran for nine seasons until May 24, 2023. The series follows Barry Allen, portrayed by Grant Gustin, a crime scene investigator who gains super-human speed, which he uses to fight criminals, along with others who have also gained superhuman abilities.
Initially envisioned as a backdoor pilot, the positive reception Gustin received during two appearances as Barry on Arrow led to executives choosing to develop a full pilot to make use of a larger budget and help flesh out Barry's world in more detail. The series is primarily filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
The Flashs premiere on October 7, 2014 became the second-most watched pilot in the history of The CW, after The Vampire Diaries in 2009. It has been well received by critics and audiences, but became more mixed as the series went on. It also won the People's Choice Award for "Favorite New TV Drama" in 2014. The series, together with Arrow, has spun characters out to their own show, Legends of Tomorrow, which premiered on January 21, 2016.
Series overview The first season follows Barry Allen, a crime-scene investigator who gains superhuman speed from the explosion of the S.T.A.R. Labs' particle accelerator and becomes the costumed superhero the Flash. He uses his new powers to fight criminals along with other metahumans who have also gained superhuman abilities in Central City. Barry eventually discovers that his mentor Harrison Wells is actually Eobard Thawne–the Reverse-Flash–his archenemy from the future who traveled back in time to murder his mother, Nora Allen, when he was a child. Thawne is ultimately erased from existence when his ancestor Eddie sacrifices himself, causing a singularity to form in the process.
In the second season, the singularity brings the speedster Zoom from a parallel universe of Earth-2, who seeks to eliminate all other speedsters in the multiverse where Barry meets his father Henry Allen's Earth-3 counterpart Jay Garrick. After Zoom kills Barry's father, Barry defeats Zoom and travels back in time to save his mother's life.
In the third season, Barry creates the alternate timeline "Flashpoint" following his decision to change his past. He is able to partially restore the timeline, but causes the emergence of Savitar, a god-like speedster with a grudge against Barry. When Barry accidentally travels to the future and sees Iris West killed by Savitar, he becomes desperate to change the future to prevent that from happening. After saving Iris and defeating Savitar, Barry takes his place in the Speed Force in order to repent for his creation of Flashpoint.
The fourth season sees the team successfully bring Barry back from the Speed Force, but in the process release dark matter that turns a dozen people on a city bus into metahumans, masterminded by Clifford DeVoe, an adversary with the fastest mind alive. After the defeat of DeVoe, the team is approached by Barry and Iris' daughter from the future Nora West-Allen.
During the fifth season, the team discover that Nora's presence has altered the timeline and unleashed Cicada, a serial killer bent on killing metahumans, as well as the aftermath of thwarting Thinker's plot causing ordinary items to be imbued with dark matter that turns them into Meta-Tech. They also eventually learn of her allegiance with an imprisoned Eobard, who orchestrated Nora's arrival and previously trained her when it came to her fight with Godspeed. Barry and Nora succeed in subduing an escaped Eobard, but are forced to let him go and Nora is erased from the timeline.
In the sixth season, Barry and Iris learn that the crisis in which Barry disappears has moved up to December 2019, and that in order to save billions, the Flash must die. Meanwhile, Ramsey Rosso discovers a way to cure people through dark matter, only to turn himself into a metahuman with a violent bloodthirst. Following Rosso's defeat, Barry surviving Crisis, and the multiverse's destruction and rebirth, the team navigates the world post-Crisis all while the secret organization Black Hole and quantum engineer Eva McCulloch, who is trapped in the Mirror Dimension, move forward with their mysterious plans. Eva captures Iris, Kamila, and Captain Singh and imprisons them in Mirror Dimension while their mirror duplicates hinder Team Flash.
In the seventh season, Team Flash defeats Eva and creates a new Speed Force while Iris, Kamilla, and Singh escape the Mirror Dimension. As a side effect of Eva's attacks, Caitlin and Frost are separated into different bodies. Later, Team Flash contends with the birth of the Strength Force, the Sage Force, and the Still Force. Afterwards, Team Flash gets caught up in the Godspeed War, in which Barry is reunited with his future daughter Nora and meets his future son Bart Allen. Barry briefly allies with a reconstituted Thawne in order to defeat Godspeed, and afterwards, Thawne gets away vowing to become faster than Barry.
The eighth season opens with the five-part event "Armageddon". Thawne causes Barry to be targeted by Despero, who claims that Barry will destroy the Earth in 2031. Later, Barry enters Thawne's "Reverse-Flashpoint" timeline, where he was Flash and Barry was Reverse-Flash. With help from Damien Darhk, Barry restores the original timeline, prevents Joe's death, and spares Thawne from his erasure by removing his speed. Later, Team Flash fights Deathstorm, whose defeat comes at the cost of Frost's life, devastating her boyfriend Chillblaine. Barry also encounters Meena Dhawan, who has gained super-speed with help from a revived time remnant of Thawne. They contend with the newly-born negative counterparts of the Strength, Sage, and Still Force, who use Iris to revive Thawne in his time remnant's body, but are then defeated, with Thawne being removed from the timeline.
The ninth and final season opens with Team Flash joining forces with former enemies in order to defeat the Red Death, who is later revealed to be Ryan Wilder from an alternate Earth. Later, Rosso returns to infect the newly-recreated multiverse, but Barry stops him with help from Oliver Queen, John Diggle, and Wally West. After this, Eddie, who had been mysteriously resurrected with false memories, is chosen as the new avatar for the Negative Speed Force, becoming the speedster Cobalt Blue. Bringing Eobard, Zoom, Savitar, and Godspeed back with him, Eddie fights against Team Flash, but ultimately stands down and forms a truce with Barry. The series ends with Nora's birth, and Barry choosing Avery Ho, Max Mercury, and Jess Chambers to become new speedsters.
Episodes
Cast and characters
Grant Gustin as Barry Allen / The Flash: A Central City assistant police forensic investigator. Moments after an explosion at the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator, Barry is struck by lightning in his laboratory and doused by chemicals affected by the accident. When he awakens from a nine-month coma, he has superhuman speed. In September 2013, Grant Gustin was cast in the titular role. Andy Mientus, who would eventually be cast as Hartley Rathaway, also auditioned for the role. Gustin began researching the character during the audition process, and reading as many comics as possible. Gustin primarily focused on The New 52 series of comics, because he knew it would be difficult to read everything and he felt the New 52 was the closest to the show's "look and feel". Candice Patton as Iris West-Allen: The daughter of Joe West, sister to Wally West, and eventually Barry Allen's wife, getting engaged in "Duet" and marrying during the Arrowverse crossover "Crisis on Earth-X". She initially works at Central City Picture News as a journalist, and eventually establishes her own newspaper, The Central City Citizen. Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin Snow / Killer Frost / Frost / Khione: A highly intelligent bioengineering expert, Caitlin believed her fiancé, Ronnie Raymond, was killed during the particle accelerator explosion at S.T.A.R. Labs, until he returned part way through first season. Ronnie and Caitlin get married in the first season finale "Fast Enough". She is also a metahuman with cryokinetic abilities known as Killer Frost and later Frost, and later also gains a persona, Khione, that allows her to connect to the natural world. Rick Cosnett as Eddie Thawne / "Malcolm Gilmore" / Cobalt Blue (season 1; recurring: season 9; guest: seasons 2–3 & 8): A CCPD detective who transferred from Keystone City, who works as Joe's partner and Iris' boyfriend. Although initially seeing the Flash as a menace, he later comes to be a close ally. After learning he is the ancestor of Eobard Thawne–the Reverse-Flash, Eddie commits suicide to wipe him from existence. Years later, Eddie is mysteriously resurrected, and is given a false life and memories as Malcolm Gilmore. When Eddie remembers his real identity and comes to terms with the changes that have occurred since his suicide attempt, including Eobard surviving and Iris marrying Barry, Eddie is chosen as the new avatar for the Negative Speed Force, becoming the speedster Cobalt Blue in the process. He fights team Flash, but eventually stands down and forms a truce with Barry. Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon / Vibe / Mecha-Vibe (seasons 1–7): A mechanical engineering genius, Cisco is the youngest member of the team of scientists at S.T.A.R. Labs and is a former metahuman who had the power to "vibe" a person's location and was able to travel across the multiverse. He leaves the team during the seventh season to move to Star City with his girlfriend Kamila for a job at A.R.G.U.S., but returns to help team Flash one more time in the season finale. Tom Cavanagh as Eobard Thawne / Reverse-Flash (seasons 1–6; recurring: season 8; guest: season 7 & 9) and Harrison Wells (seasons 1–7; guest: season 9): The mind and money behind the S.T.A.R. Labs' Particle Accelerator who becomes a pariah after his device implodes and creates a large number of metahumans in Central City. Wells mentors Barry and helps to increase his speed. He is eventually revealed to be Eddie Thawne's time-traveling descendant and the Flash's archenemy from the future, Eobard Thawne–the Reverse-Flash. Eobard murdered the real Wells and assumed his identity. In subsequent seasons, Cavanagh also portrays various doppelgängers of Wells from alternate realities, including the sarcastic but brilliant "Harry" from Earth-2; sci-fi novelist "H.R." from Earth-19; keen detective "Sherloque" from Earth-221; and adventurous geologist "Nash". Jesse L. Martin as Joe West (seasons 1–8; recurring: season 9): A police detective who acts as a surrogate father to Barry, taking him into his home after Barry's mother is murdered and his father is unjustly imprisoned for the crime. Joe is the father of Iris and Wally. He also now has a daughter with his fiancée, district attorney Cecille Horton, named Jenna West. Martin took a medical leave of absence from the show during season five after suffering a back injury.