Across the ArrowverseExploring The CW's shared universe that sprawls across the TV series Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow, as well as several webseries, all based on characters you know and love from DC Comics.
Updated June 18, 2019 9.7K votes 1.3K voters 131.8K views
Over 1.3K Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of 20 Ways CW's The Flash Is Different from Comics
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Vote up the biggest differences between show and the comic.
FLASH FACT: The CW's The Flash might just be the most loyal adaptation of a DC Comics property to ever come across our screen. However, there might be a few details that that differ Grant Gustin's Barry Allen to the version in The Flash comics.
Ranker Comics has compiled a list of 20 differences between the The Flash the TV show and DC Comics's version of the character. Producers of the hit CW show have been doing their homework and are definitely fans of the comic - it's just that sometimes things need to be changed for a different medium. So if you're as old as Jay Garrick and new to the show, or if you're a CW zombie that's getting hip to the super hero trend, Ranker Comics has got you covered!
Much like Captain Lance on Arrow, Joe West doesn't exactly exist in the comic. Sure, Iris has had a father in different incarnations, but none are like Jesse L. Martin's version of the character. The character might have been added to aid Barry Allen in the police department while also providing a father figure for Barry and Iris.
Joe isn't Barry's foster dad mostly because he doesn't exist in the comics.
Instead, the man who raised Barry Allen was named Darryl Frye. Frye was a police officer who was having an extramarital affair with Barry's mom, Nora Allen, before her death. When Nora was murdered, her husband was framed for the crime and Darryl took Barry in and raised him as if he were his own.
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The Flash Didn't Get His Powers from the Particle Accelerator
On The Flash, Barry Allen was given the power of super speed after the explosion of the Particle Accelerator during a thunderstorm. Barry was bombarded with energy from the explosion, then struck by lighting which thrust him into a cabinet of chemicals. He awoke from his coma with super speed and became the Flash!
In the comics, there was no exploding Particle Accelerator. Barry Allen just happened to be in his laboratory when a freak lighting bolt struck him and covered him in chemicals from the broken bottles. Although the origins are similar, the Particle Accelerator has been a key plot component for much of the first season of The Flash.
Although it has since been revealed that Dr. Harrison Wells is actually Eobard Thawne/The Reverse Flash, almost everyone knows him by his secret identity. In the comics, Thawne never uses the name Harrison Wells. The name might be a nod to science fiction writer H.G. Wells, thrown in by the writers.
Caitlin Snow, as played by Danielle Panabaker, is actually a new addition to DC Comics's stable of characters. Unfortunately, after an accident in the Arctic Circle while working for S.T.A.R. Labs, Caitlin's DNA is infused with the chemicals in the coolant system - creating the heat vampire Killer Frost.
Although The Flash's version has yet to meet such a grisly fate, there have been several other versions of Killer Frost in the comics and other media. That means Panabaker's character is safe... for now!
S.T.A.R. Labs is essentially the headquarters of Team Flash. The former home of the Particle Accelerator is the command center for Dr. Harrison Wells, Caitlin Snow, Cisco Ramon, and Barry Allen.
This is not the case in the DC Comics version of The Flash. Although S.T.A.R. Labs is all over the DC Universe and has research centers everywhere, their main base of operations has been in Superman's home of Metropolis. It first appeared in Superman #246 and frequently assists in Superman's missions (if they aren't the cause of it in the first place).
