Fastest Man Alive

"*Every kid dreams of being a superhero. Having powers. Saving people. But no kid thinks about what it's like when you're a hero and you're not saving people. Truth is... not much else changes. You still hurt. You still love. You still wish and hope and fear things. And you still need people to help you with all of it. In some ways, that's the best part.*"
—Barry Allen

## Information

### Written by

**Story by:**
Greg Berlanti
Andrew Kreisberg
**Teleplay by:**
Andrew Kreisberg
Geoff Johns

## Chronology

### Followed by

"Things You Can't Outrun"

"**Fastest Man Alive**" is the second episode of the first season of *The Flash*, and the second episode overall. It aired on October 14, 2014.

## Plot

With help from Cisco, Barry begins using his abilities to stop minor crimes and help citizens across the city. As Barry begins to push himself more and more, he begins to develop debilitating side effects. While assisting Iris on a school assignment, Barry witnesses a robbery by a crew of men, but faints while trying to stop them. The S.T.A.R. Labs team determine that Barry is becoming hypoglycemic from the use of his abilities due to a sped-up metabolism and needs to ingest more calories to maintain his energy level. The team eventually learns that the robbers are actually one man, Danton Black, who has the ability to create clones of himself. Black wants to kill his former employer, Simon Stagg, who stole Black's cloning research. With encouragement from Joe, Barry goes after Black and successfully stops him from killing Stagg. However, Black commits suicide to prevent being captured. Afterward, Barry accepts Joe's help in finding out who really killed Barry's mother. Later, Wells visits Stagg, who has already become obsessed with the Flash after witnessing his powers and plans to exploit him as he did to Black. To protect Barry, Wells kills Stagg.

## Cast

### Starring

* Grant Gustin as Barry Allen/The Streak
* Candice Patton as Iris West
* Danielle Panabaker as Dr. Caitlin Snow
* Rick Cosnett as Detective Eddie Thawne
* Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon
* Tom Cavanagh as Dr. Harrison Wells
* Jesse L. Martin as Detective Joe West

### Guest starring

* Patrick Sabongui as Captain David Singh
* Michael Christopher Smith as Danton Black/Multiplex
* William Sadler as Simon Stagg
* John Wesley Shipp as Dr. Henry Allen

### Co-starring

* Michasha Armstrong as Java
* Evelyn Chew as Woman
* Emily Delahunty as Paige
* Amina Elkatib as Young Iris
* Eli Gabay as Fire Chief
* Suzanne Ristic as Tenant
* Patrick Roccas as Prison Guard
* Ronald Patrick Thompson as Samaritan
* Seth Whittaker as Security Guard
* Logan Williams as Young Barry

## Trivia

* At S.T.A.R. Labs, Cisco built a treadmill designed to handle Barry's speed. This is possibly a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Cosmic Treadmill built by Barry in the original comics to travel through time.
* Barry's metabolism weakness is first seen in this episode. Much like the 1990s TV series *The Flash* and the comics, Barry needs to eat massive amounts of calories to replace the energy he uses while running. Failing to do so will cause dizzy spells and eventually shock from low blood sugar.
* Stagg Industries and Simon Stagg played a part in the origin of the superhero Metamorpho in the comics.
* Hex's Gun Shop is probably a reference to Jonah Hex, a hero who uses guns. Jonah Hex later appear on *DC's Legends of Tomorrow*, another Arrowverse show.
	+ Alternatively, the word "hex" is the Greek word for "six", a probable reference to the plot point that six men (Multiplex and five clones) rob the store.
* At the start of the episode, the firemen who report that they're en route to the burning building respond as "ladder 52". This is likely a reference to the DC *New 52* comic book line (a universe resulting from the *Flashpoint* story line), which *The Flash* is largely based on.
* The blue lines on the ski mask Multiplex wears is reminiscent of his original mask from the comics.
* Wells tells Barry he's become a cripple in a wheelchair and a Pariah. This is a future reference since in 2020, six years later in the Arrowverse crossover, *Crisis on Infinite Earths*, a version of Wells actually become the character known in DC comics as Pariah.
* This is the first episode of the Arrowverse in which Stephen Amell does not appear as Oliver Queen at all.

## Goofs

* At the end when Wells is sitting in front of Stagg, he takes off his glasses. When camera angle changes to the back of Wells, facing Stagg, Wells now has his glasses back on. When the camera changes to face Wells again, he's holding his glasses in his hand again.
* While Team Flash explains how Danton can clone himself, they never go into how Danton can clone his clothes and shoes, but not a gun.
* Cisco says that Barry will need to eat the equivalent of 850 tacos, which would be somewhere between 120,000 and 150,000 calories a day. However, in "Worlds Finest", Barry states he needs to consume approximately 10,000 calories a day.
* While in most scenes in Barry's lab there are notes on the map of Central City covering the City Centre, when Iris asks Barry why didn't meet her at Jitters, the notes disappear for some scenes.

## Gallery

### Videos

The Flash 1x02 Promo "Fastest Man Alive" (HD)PromoThe Flash 1x02 Sneak Peek 1 "Fastest Man Alive"The Flash 1x02 “Fastest Man Alive” Sneak Peek 2!
## References

es:Fastest Man Alive
pl:Najszybszy człowiek na świecie
ru:Самый быстрый человек на Земле