The Flash (2014 TV Series)

"I don't think that bolt of lighting struck you, Barry. I think it chose you. I'm just not sure I'm like you, Oliver. I don't know if I can be some... vigilante. You can be better, because you can inspire people in a way that I never could, watching over your city like a guardian angel... making a difference... saving people... in a flash."

- Oliver Queen and Barry Allen

The Flash is a television series based on the DC Comics character, The Flash, and the second television series in the Arrowverse.

The series is developed by Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg and Geoff Johns, with Kreisberg serving as the showrunner for the first four seasons. The first season premiered on October 7, 2014, after The CW ordered the series straight to pilot without its original intended backdoor pilot on. The second season premiered on October 6, 2015, with Gabrielle Stanton serving as one-season showrunner while Todd Helbing and Aaron Helbing joins as showrunners. The third season marks the departure of Aaron Helbing as showrunner and premiered on October 4, 2016. The fourth season premiered on October 10, 2017, with Kreisberg leaving as showrunner. On October 8, 2018, the fifth season premiered and Todd Helbing stepped down as showrunner. Todd Helbing was later replaced by Eric Wallace as showrunner for the sixth season, which premiered on October 8, 2019. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the seventh season was delayed, resulting in a premiere on March 2, 2021, and the first season to not feature any crossover events. The eighth season premiered on November 16, 2021, with its first 5 episodes serving as a special event. The ninth and final season premiered on February 8, 2023, and concluded the series on May 24, 2023, with 184 episodes.

The Flash is set in the Arrowverse and originally had no intentions of connecting to its predecessor. However, the thirteenth episode of the second season, featured archive footage from the series and connected both series as part of a greater Multiverse. In the Elseworlds crossover event, the titular character of the 1990 series returned and was featured in the Crisis on Infinite Earths event, concluding his story as The Flash nearly 30 years later.

Synopsis
Barry Allen was 11 years old when his mother was killed in a bizarre, terrifying incident and his father was falsely convicted of murder. With his life changed forever by the tragedy, Barry was taken in and raised by Detective Joe West, the father of Barry's best friend, Iris. Now, Barry has become a brilliant, driven, and endearing CSI assistant, whose determination to uncover the truth about his mother's strange death leads him to follow up on every unexplained urban legend and scientific advancement that comes along. Barry's latest obsession is a cutting edge particle accelerator, created by visionary physicist Harrison Wells and his S.T.A.R. Labs team, who claim that this invention will bring about unimaginable advancements in power and medicine. However, something goes horribly wrong during the public unveiling, and when the devastating explosion causes a freak storm, many lives are lost and Barry is struck by lightning. After nine months in a coma, Barry awakens to find his life has changed once again - the accident has given him the power of super speed, granting him the ability to move through Central City like an unseen guardian angel. Though initially excited by his newfound powers, Barry is shocked to discover he is not the only "meta-human" who was created in the wake of the accelerator explosion - and not everyone is using their new powers for good. In the months since the accident, the city has seen a sharp increase in missing people, unexplained deaths, and other strange phenomena. Barry now has a renewed purpose - using his gift of speed to protect the innocent, while never giving up on his quest to solve his mother's murder and clear his father's name. For now, only a few close friends and associates know that Barry is literally the fastest man alive, but it won't be long before the world learns what Barry Allen has become The Flash.

Season 1

 * "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.

Season 2

 * "My name is Barry Allen, and I am the fastest man alive. To the outside world, I am an ordinary forensic scientist. But secretly, with the help of my friends at S.T.A.R. Labs, I fight crime and find other metahumans like me. I hunted down the man who killed my mother. But in doing so, I opened up our world to new threats, and I am the only one fast enough to stop them. I am The Flash."

Season 3

 * "My name is Barry Allen, and I am the fastest man alive. To the outside world, I am an ordinary forensic scientist. But secretly, with the help of my friends at S.T.A.R. Labs, I fight crime and find other metahumans like me. After defeating Zoom and saving the multiverse, I ran back in time and created the alternate timeline Flashpoint. I restored the timeline to how it was, only to find things weren't as I left them. I brought new threats to our world, and I'm the only one fast enough to stop them. I am The Flash."

Midseason Variant

 * "My name is Barry Allen, and I am the fastest man alive. To the outside world, I am an ordinary forensic scientist. But secretly, with the help of my friends at S.T.A.R. Labs, I fight crime and find other metahumans like me. In an attempt to stop the evil speedster Savitar, I was accidentally thrust into the future, and I saw him murder the woman I love. But I won't let that happen. I'm going to do everything in my power to change the future, and I'm the only one fast enough to keep her alive. I am The Flash."

Season 4

 * "My name is Barry Allen, and I am the fastest man alive. To the outside world, I am an ordinary forensic scientist. But secretly, with the help of my friends at S.T.A.R. Labs, I fight crime and find other metahumans like me. But I became lost in time. It took everything in my friends' power to bring me back. And in doing so, our world was opened up to new threats, and I'm the only one fast enough to stop them. I am The Flash."

Season 5

 * "My name is Barry Allen, and I am the fastest man alive. To the outside world, I am an ordinary forensic scientist. But secretly, with the help of my friends at S.T.A.R. Labs, I fight crime and find other metahumans like me. But when my daughter came back from the future to help, she changed the present, and now our world is more dangerous than ever, and I'm the only one fast enough to save it. I am The Flash."

Main Cast

 * -|Pre-Crisis Cast=
 * Grant Gustin as The Flash (Barry Allen) / Savitar (Barry Allen)
 * Candice Patton as Iris West-Allen
 * Danielle Panabaker as Killer Frost (Caitlin Snow)
 * Carlos Valdes as Vibe (Cisco Ramon)
 * Rick Cosnett as Eddie Thawne
 * Tom Cavanagh as Reverse-Flash/Harrison Wells (Eobard Thawne) / Harrison Wells
 * Jesse L. Martin as Joe West
 * Keiynan Lonsdale as Kid Flash (Wally West) *
 * Neil Sandilands as Thinker (Clifford DeVoe)
 * Hartley Sawyer as Elongated Man (Ralph Dibny)
 * Danielle Nicolet as Cecile Horton
 * Jessica Parker Kennedy as XS (Nora West-Allen)
 * Chris Klein as Cicada (Orlin Dwyer) *
 * LaMonica Garrett as The Monitor (Mar Novu) *


 * -|Post-Crisis Cast=
 * Grant Gustin as The Flash (Barry Allen)
 * Candice Patton as Iris West-Allen / Iris West-Allen
 * Danielle Panabaker as Frost (Caitlin Snow) / Goddess (Khione)
 * Carlos Valdes as Mecha-Vibe (Cisco Ramon) *
 * Tom Cavanagh as Harrison Wells / Reverse-Flash/Harrison Wells/The Flash (Eobard Thawne) *
 * Jesse L. Martin as Joe West
 * Hartley Sawyer as Elongated Man (Ralph Dibny)
 * Danielle Nicolet as Virtue (Cecile Horton)
 * Efrat Dor as Mirror Monarch (Eva McCulloch) *
 * Kayla Compton as Accelerant (Allegra Garcia)
 * Brandon McKnight as Chunk (Chester P. Runk)
 * Jon Cor as Chillblaine (Mark Blaine) *
 * Keiynan Lonsdale as Kid Flash (Wally West)
 * Jessica Parker Kennedy as XS (Nora West-Allen)
 * Rick Cosnett as Cobalt Blue/Malcolm Gilmore (Eddie Thawne)

Notes:
 * 1) Keiynan Lonsdale is credited as a series regular from 2x09  through 4x03  and later credited as a special guest star.
 * 2) Chris Klein is credited as a series regular through 5x17  and returned to the main cast in.
 * 3) LaMonica Garrett is only credited for his respective episode appearances.
 * 4) Carlos Valdes is credited as a series regular through 7x12  and returned to the main cast in.
 * 5) Tom Cavanagh is credited as a series regular through 7x03 . He is then credited as a special guest star in  and with special appearance billing from  onwards.
 * 6) Efrat Dot is credited as a series regular from 6x12  through 7x03.
 * 7) Jon Cor is credited in 8x03 ", but does not appear.