The Flash (TV 2014)

"My name is Barry Allen, and I am the fastest man alive. When I was a child I saw my mother killed by something impossible, my father went to prison for her murder, then an accident made me the impossible. To the outside world I'm an ordinary forensic scientist, but secretly I use my speed to fight crime and find others like me, and one day, I'll find who killed my mother and get justice for my father. I am The Flash!"

A Spin-Off of CW's 2012 Arrow series about The Flash. In this universe Barry Allen is driven to become a forensic scientist by a desire to clear his father of murdering his mother as a child, as nobody believes the claim that the murder was committed by a strange ball of lightning with a man in it (actually the Reverse-Flash). One day a S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator explodes causing, among other things, Barry in his lab to be electrocuted and fall into a coma. Nine months latter Barry awakens from the coma and learns he has Super Speed before discovering that several other people, many criminals, also have powers. Together with his surrogate father/police detective Joe West, wheelchair bound S.T.A.R. labs owner and particle accelerator creator Dr. Harrison Wells, S.T.A.R. bio-engineer Dr. Caitlin Snow and S.T.A.R. mechanical engineer/computer genius Cisco Ramon he works to stop these new superpowered "Meta-Human" criminals.

The Flash is notable for, in stark contrast to most post 2005 live action superhero work, having a fairly light tone while eschewing "realism" in favor of mere verisimilitude. Also in contrast to the questionable morality of its contemporaries, The Flash is a well loved hero of his city and Barry is solidly on the side of good.

Tropes used in The Flash include:
  • Alternate Universe: Focus of season 2.
  • Backup Twin: After Fake!Wells is Ret-Goned, his Earth 2 counterpart becomes a recurring character. He makes it very clear they're not the same person.
  • Big Eater: Barry has this as a side effect of his powers.
  • Book Dumb: Captain Cold is a rare villainous example. While a high school drop out, he's shown to have had a natural affinity for observation and planning
  • Broken Pedestal: Dr. Wells is actually the Reverse Flash impersonating the real and deceased Dr. Wells. The cast does not take this betrayal well, especially Cisco, who is particularly creeped out by his claim of Like a Son to Me.
  • Casting Gag: Barry Allen's dad is played by John Wesley Shipp. Shipp previously played Barry Allen in the first Flash TV series. Similarly the original and imprisoned Trickster is portrayed by Mark Hamill, who played the Trickster in the same series.
  • Changing Clothes Is a Free Action: A recurring scene is Flash grabbing his costume and running out the door, all too fast to see as anything more than a lightning effect and the costume disappearing, as he learns the bad guy of the episode has been spotted. He even does it to other people and undresses as a free action after his suit is turned into a bomb. The Reverse Flash uses the costume hidden in the ring from the early Flash comics and in season 2, Wells begins reverse engineering it for Barry.
  • Clark Kenting: Justified: In the first season when Flash is seen from another person's point of view his head appears as a giant red blur and he alters his voice to a substantially different and non-human one (like an electronic voice changer gizmo making it) fairly reasonable Barry is unrecognizable to even his family despite the mask showing half his face. The second season doesn't use the effects as often though implies it is still in place.
  • Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Averted: While comic!Captain Cold is one of the most blatant examples, this version makes it so his cold gun wasn't made by him (it was stolen) and it's noted he's a high school drop out who couldn't possibly build it.
  • The Disease That Shall Not Be Named: Earth 2 Wells in season 3. He's mentioned he has seen multiple doctors and that it's incurable. The whole reveal is awkwardly written to avoid naming a disease and doesn't even imply the other characters were told it, despite mentioning the Earths had different medical progression in the same episode.
  • Family Tropes: A more subtle focus of season 2.
  • Has Two Mommies: Part of season 1 is Barry and Joe accepting that, yes, they are father and son. When Henry Allen is released in season 2 this reaches full swing.
  • Healing Factor: While The Flash has always had this power to heal faster to some degree this adaptation emphasizes it, allowing Barry to recover from injuries that should cripple or kill a normal person within the span of an episode several times. The biggest use narrative wise is so criminals can get away from The Fastest Man Alive by injuring him (as running away won't work for obvious reasons) to stop the plot from ending in the first five minutes.
  • I Am Not Left-Handed: Wells is not crippled like he claims.
  • Layman's Terms: One of Joe's main jobs as part of the team, being a "mere" police detective in a group of scientists. Unusually while Joe is the most frequent subject, everyone except Wells occasionally needs this at different points due to vastly different specialties. Joe lampshade's his frequent use of this in the penultimate episode of season 2.
  • Like a Son to Me: Wells to Cisco. After learning Wells is actually the Reverse Flash Cisco is, understandably, creeped out by this. While it takes most of the first season to realize it, Joe and Barry have a much deeper relation than mere legal guardianship.
  • Man in the Iron Mask: Zoom keeps one in his lair in season 2.
  • Magical Particle Accelerator: Though given everything was designed from the start and the creator insists his knowledge is beyond the comprehension of people in the present time, it's possible it wasn't actually a "particle accelerator".
  • Mass Super-Empowering Event: The particle accelerator explosion.
  • The Messiah: Oliver Queen notices very quickly that Barry, unlike him, possesses this ability to be the shining beacon for his city's people.
  • Mirror Self: Lampshaded:

Cisco: Look Mirror, Mirror, I already told you I'm not going to the dark side side with you

Captain Cold: Reminds me of Jaws. They didn't show the shark because they couldn't afford to make it look good

  • Not Wearing Tights: Few non-device based characters wear flashy outfits their inspirations are known for. The main exceptions are The Flash, who does it because he needs his normal clothes would burn up at super speed, and Captain Cold, who wears his signature blue coat with a fur trimmed hood after acquiring his cold gun (albeit of a darker blue) presumably because it's cold near the gun that freezes stuff.
  • Not Quite Dead: Barry "dies" in Rupture. This is pretty ineffective as the next episode preview immediately afterwards shows him alive.
  • The Nudifier: One episode has the Flash's costume turned into a bomb.
  • Omnidisciplinary Scientist: While forensics, medicine and mechanical engineering/computers are generally kept to their specialist on the team, almost everything outside of these specialties is fair game for Wells and (latter) Ramon to cover. Justified for Fake!Wells: He's a genius by future standards and knows the answers for several problems before they are even given.
    • This hole is used as a plot-point with a bit of a joke in season two. When Dr. Wells attempts to create a Super Serum he notes his previous attempts have failed because his background isn't in bio-engineering. Dr. Snow, who does have a background in bio-engineering, fixes his problems in less than a minute, turning his idea into a working (yet flawed) prototype.
  • Phlebotinum Du Jour: Flash's origin has been updated from a Freak Lab Accident to Magical Particle Accelerator.
  • Police Are Useless: While the police seem to have no particular issue with normal crime (though, as with any police department, aren't perfect) even after developing a metahuman task force, the CCPD are dependent upon Team Flash to deal with super powered criminals.
  • Ret-Gone: Upon learning that Fake!Wells is actually his descendant, Eddie Thawne kills himself erasing him from existence.
  • Required Secondary Powers: Part of the reason Flash needs his suit is because normal clothes catch on fire after extended super speed.
  • Richard Nixon the Used Car Salesman: As quick gag Jesse (from Earth 2) watches an Earth 1 documentary and is surprised to learn "Senator Knowles" is a singer on Earth 1
  • Rich Idiot With No Day Job: Dr. Wells is never shown to work after the disaster (spending all his time helping The Flash / being Reverse-Flash and it's noted his company doesn't get any work after it, yet he's never shown to struggle financially. The second season notes he owns the large STAR labs building outright (which, with its size and location, should be pretty pricey) suggesting he still had enough holdings and residual income to survive from his history as a respected scientist.
  • Same Character but Different: Done intentionally to keep Tom Cavanagh on the show after his character's arch ended. Through the wonders of alternate universes, every season has him play a completely different character with the same appearance and name but wildly different personality and motives.
  • School Newspaper Newshound: Iris starts taking college journalism classes, regularly seeking out "the streak" partly for projects, though she continues them because she realizes The Flash is The Messiah
  • Self-Disposing Villain: Lampshaded: When the subject of how to contain metahumans comes up, Dr. Wells notes its fortunate all the ones they've faced so far have wound up dead.
  • Super Doc: While Dr. Snow is employed as a bio-engineer she often acts more like a surgeon and is the one who handles all of Barry's injuries.
  • Super Speed
  • Stable Time Loop: Lampshaded: Cisco wonders if them seeing a new Flash costume in a newspaper from the future inspiring them to change the costume would be one of these. He does indeed do it between the two seasons.
    • When Barry travels back to season one's time during the second season and is forced to reveal himself, Cisco wonders this again.
  • Stargate City: Vancouver is, once again, standing in for a (fictional) American city
  • There Are No Therapists: Central City Police Department seems to not value the mental health of officers. Joe shoots and kills multiple criminals yet is never subjected to the many things done to real cops after justified shootings.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: Aside from not feigning being wheelchair bound, the most notable difference between fake!Wells and Earth 2!Wells is that the Earth 2 version is an egotistical jerk instead of the fake one's fake fatherly presence
  • Typecasting: Jesse L. Martin is, once again, a police detective.
  • Was It All a Lie?: Inverted Fake!Wells' video will Barry receives after his death has him question if some of his fatherly love for the group was real. He even seems a bit remorseful about his actions, giving Barry the confession needed to get his dad out of jail and S.T.A.R. lab's numerous assets despite previously despising the Flash.
  • We Can Rule Together: Earth 2 Cisco to Earth 1 Cisco. Lampshaded.

Cisco: Are you Cloud City Vadering me right now?

  • Weaksauce Weakness: Cisco makes an anti-speedster field. Reverse-Flash beats it by walking through it at normal speed.
  • Zeerust: While Earth 2 has fully realized several things that are "just ideas" on Earth 1 but as a trade-off it's shown to be behind Earth 1 (and the real world) in several areas like cars, phones, firearms, medical treatment (especially for mental health) and, most obviously, fashion.
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