Barry Allen (Earth-1)

**Barry Allen** is a speedster known as the Flash, who uses his powers to help protect the people of Central City.

## History

### Early Life

As a child, Barry Allen's life was uprooted forever by the death of his Nora Allen, at the hands of the Reverse-Flash.

### Origins

When Central City's new particle accelerator backfired, it showered the city with exotic radiation. In the ensuing confusion, Allen was struck by lightning, and went into a coma. He awoke from his coma nine months later, with the power to move at superhuman speeds.

He would go on to meet Cisco Ramon and Caitlin Snow, who would help him in his crusade to keep the people of Central City safe, alongside the West Family (Joe, Iris and Wally).

### The Flash

During his first few years as The Flash, Barry would fight the likes of Captain Cold, Trickster, Reverse-Flash and Zoom, whilst also losing those close to him, like his father and Eddie.

### Black Flash

Barry was hunted down by the Black Flash, an evil speedster from the universe known as New Earth. When the Black Flash took Barry to New Earth, he discovered that his counterpart from that reality was a criminal and a murderer, which took a toll on Barry.

To further antagonise Barry, the Black Flash would go on to kidnap one of his closest allies, Iris West. In order to stop Barry from saving her, the Black Flash opened up many breaches to alternate Earths, bringing many new villains to Earth-1. Barry soon caught up with the Black Flash, but couldn't save Iris before the Black Flash killed her.

When Barry returned to S.T.A.R. Labs with Iris' body, the Black Flash soon followed. There, he revealed himself to be the true Barry Allen of New Earth, and proceeded to kill Joe.

The team of The Flash, Vibe, Caitlin and Wally managed to defeat the Black Flash in New Earth, and stopped the Collider from destroying the Multiverse. However, Wally was knocked into a coma with a strike of energy from the Speed Force, and Barry ended up running back in time to the night his mother was murdered, where he would then prevent the Reverse-Flash from ever killing her.

### Flashpoint Paradox

Following Barry's time-travel adventure to save his mother, he awoke in a new timeline created by his actions. In this timeline, both his mother and his father were alive. However, his best friend, Cisco, had no knowledge of who Barry was. Barry's new timeline created ripple effects, changing many of the aspects of Barry's life, and the world around him. For example, Barry never became the Flash, and Central City was being 'protected' by the Batman.

Savitar is one of the few people who is aware that they're living in an alternate timeline, and is working with the Reverse-Flash to get Barry to reset the timeline. In doing so, Savitar captured Barry and opened up a portal to the Speed Force, allowing Barry to regain his powers and become the Flash once again. Even then, Barry still refused to reset the timeline.

Barry wasn't convinced about Eobard and Savitar's warnings until he fought a new metahuman, the Mirror Master. When Barry entered the Mirror Dimension to fight the Mirror Master, he discovered that Mirror Master had full control over the dimension, and used his power to show Barry a vision from the future about the destruction that he will inadvertently cause. The paradox he created will eventually destroy itself, leading to the 'end of the world', and Barry will no longer be able to reset it.

Savitar made another attempt to get Barry to reset the timeline by putting both of his parents in danger. He threw both of them off of a skyscraper. Barry was able to save his mother, but his father fell to his death. Shortly after, Savitar murdered Nora by phasing his hand through her heart.

Finally choosing to reset the timeline, Barry was unable to do so until after he had killed the Reverse-Flash, the root of the paradox. After he killed Thawne, Barry went back in time and stopped himself from saving his mother, then returned to the time that he had originally left.

### Post-Flashpoint

Barry returned to the moment he left, on New Earth, surrounded by Cisco, Caitlin and an unconscious Wally after having stopped the Collider. However, more ripple effects started to show, as Iris (who was previously killed by the Black Flash) was alive, and among the team. Barry was the only one with knowledge of her murder.

## Notes

* This version of the character is exclusive to the continuity of the Flashverse. It is an adaptation of Barry Allen / The Flash. The original character was created by Robert Kanigher and Carmine Infantino and first appeared in *Showcase*#4.
* Barry Allen's first appearance was in Frozen Surfaces.

## Related

* Appearances of Barry Allen (Earth-1)
* Images featuring Barry Allen (Earth-1)