The Flash (2014 — 2023)

The Flash (2014–2023) is an American superhero television series created by Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, and Geoff Johns for The CW. It centers around the DC Comics character Barry Allen, who possesses incredible speed and uses it to combat crime. The show takes place in the same fictional universe as Arrow, known as the Arrowverse. After premiering on October 7, 2014, on The CW, it ran for nine seasons until May 24, 2023. Grant Gustin stars as Barry Allen, a forensic scientist who gains superhuman speed and joins forces with other individuals with extraordinary abilities to fight against villains.

In the initial season, we follow Barry Allen, a forensic scientist who obtains extraordinary speed through the incident at S.T.A.R. Labs involving their particle accelerator and transforms into the Flash, a costumed superhero. Utilizing his newfound abilities, he combats criminals and joins forces with other metahumans who also acquired superhuman powers in Central City. As the season progresses, Barry uncovers a startling revelation that his mentor Harrison Wells is none other than Eobard Thawne – his future nemesis known as the Reverse-Flash – who traveled back in time to kill his mother Nora when he was a child. In an act of self-sacrifice, Eddie, Thawne’s descendant, eliminates him from existence and creates a dangerous singularity in the process.

During the second season, a singularity opens up in the multiverse, bringing Zoom, a speedster from Earth-2 who’s determined to eliminate all other speedsters. Barry comes face to face with Jay Garrick, his father Henry Allen’s Earth-3 counterpart. As Zoom kills Henry, Barry ultimately defeats him and uses time travel to save his mother from death.

During the third season, Barry alters his past, resulting in the creation of an alternate timeline called ‘Flashpoint’. While he is able to partially reverse the effects of Flashpoint, this unintentionally brings about the appearance of Savitar, a powerful speedster who harbors animosity towards Barry. When a trip to the future reveals Iris West’s impending death at the hands of Savitar, Barry becomes determined to alter the course of events. After successfully saving Iris and defeating Savitar, Barry sacrifices himself by entering the Speed Force in order to make amends for his actions in creating Flashpoint.

In the fourth season, the team manages to retrieve Barry from the Speed Force, but inadvertently exposes a group of individuals on a city bus to dark matter, giving them superhuman abilities. These metahumans are being controlled by Clifford DeVoe, a formidable opponent with unparalleled intelligence. Once DeVoe is defeated, the team receives an unexpected visit from Nora West-Allen, the future daughter of Barry and Iris.

In the fifth season, Nora’s appearance changes the timeline and leads to the rise of Cicada, a dangerous murderer targeting those with superpowers. The team also faces the consequences of stopping the Thinker’s plan, resulting in regular objects becoming Meta-Tech due to exposure to dark matter. Along with this, they uncover Nora’s connection with Eobard, who helped her prepare for her battle against Godspeed and engineered her arrival. Despite capturing an escaped Eobard, Barry and Nora are unable to keep him imprisoned and Nora is ultimately erased from existence.

In the sixth season, Barry and Iris are faced with an earlier date for the crisis that will result in Barry’s disappearance. To prevent billions of deaths, the Flash must sacrifice himself. At the same time, Ramsey Rosso discovers a method to cure people using dark matter, but ends up transforming into a violent metahuman. After defeating Rosso and surviving the crisis, Barry and his team must adjust to a post-Crisis world. However, things become more complicated as Black Hole, a secret organization, and Eva McCulloch, a quantum engineer trapped in the Mirror Dimension, continue with their mysterious plans. Eva captures Iris, Kamila, and Captain Singh and imprisons them in the Mirror Dimension while their mirror duplicates cause trouble for Team Flash.

In the seventh season, Team Flash manages to overcome Eva and create a new Speed Force. Meanwhile, Iris, Kamilla, and Singh successfully escape from the Mirror Dimension. As a result of Eva’s attacks, Caitlin and Frost find themselves in separate bodies. Later on, the team must also face the emergence of the Strength Force, Sage Force, and Still Force. Things escalate when they become entangled in the Godspeed War, which leads to Barry reuniting with his future daughter Nora and encountering his future son Bart Allen. In order to defeat Godspeed, Barry teams up with a revived Thawne for a brief period of time. However, Thawne ultimately escapes again with a promise to surpass Barry in speed.

The eighth season kicks off with the five-part event ‘Armageddon’. Thawne orchestrates Barry’s targeting by Despero, who predicts that Barry will bring about the end of the world in 2031. In a twist of fate, Barry finds himself in Thawne’s ‘Reverse-Flashpoint’ timeline, where their roles are reversed. Despite facing obstacles, such as Damien Darhk’s interference, Barry is able to restore the original timeline and prevent Joe’s death. Thawne is also spared from being erased after Barry removes his speed. Team Flash then faces off against Deathstorm, resulting in Frost’s tragic demise and leaving her boyfriend Chillblaine heartbroken. Meanwhile, Barry crosses paths with Meena Dhawan, who has gained super-speed with the help of a revived time remnant of Thawne. Their battles continue as negative counterparts of the Strength, Sage, and Still Force emerge and manipulate Iris into reviving Thawne in his time remnant’s body. However, they are ultimately defeated and Thawne is removed from the timeline once again.

In the final season, Team Flash must band together with former adversaries to take down the Red Death, who turns out to be Ryan Wilder from an alternate world. However, their troubles don’t end there as Rosso makes a comeback and tries to spread his virus through the newly-reformed multiverse. With help from Oliver Queen, John Diggle, and Wally West, Barry manages to thwart his plans. Along the way, Eddie mysteriously comes back to life with fake memories and becomes Cobalt Blue by tapping into the Negative Speed Force. He then calls upon Eobard, Zoom, Savitar, and Godspeed to join forces against Team Flash. But in a surprising turn of events, Eddie and Barry reach a truce and put an end to their conflict. And as the series concludes with Nora’s arrival, Barry chooses Avery Ho, Max Mercury, and Jess Chambers as the next generation of speedsters.