The Flash isn’t short on superheroics.
But these are the moments that have really made us feel like we could take on the world.
Though the moment is funny, it is also the birth of a superhero.
The lightning may have struck him, but that was a passive thing.
He did not choose it.
He is optimistic and kind.
Losing a friend, even a new one, weighs heavily on him.
When Plastique is shot by General Eiling, Barry is distraught.
He has no time for mourning, however.
Her death sparks an immediate reaction that nothing can stop.
More, he manages to save the city despite his sadness and shock at the loss of a friend.
He does what is necessary and performs a miracle while hes at it.
Henry tells him about his mother.
What makes this a superhero moment is the raw emotion and humanity that belongs to Barry in the scene.
He isnt a robot or merely a larger-than-life character.
He is a man with a past, who cries and feels.
Its achoice one he could have made differently.
Choices matter, and this is the one that Barry doesnt have to consider for very long.
He wants to help.
Hes determined to be good and not to stand idly by while people get hurt.
He cares and he is determined to make a difference.
This choice sets the tone for the hero he will become.
Barrys choice is simple: let the Weather Wizard kill him (in public, no less!)
or they will kill the children.
Barry knows what he has to do.
He gives up and allows for the beating.
Also, chasing Mardon is a pretty cool scene that involves leapfrog with a helicopter.
When Harrison Wells turns on the particle accelerator again, the metahumans in prison are put at risk.
Barry decides to relocate them so that they dont die.
This is what makes him a hero.
Barrys powers arent nearly as important as his dedication to humanity.
This lie isnt a small one.
Sometimes you have to have patience.
Sometimes you have to look your enemy in the face and smile.
For happy-go-lucky Barry this is a hard-won lesson.
His speed is the only thing that can keep the train wreck from killing every single person on board.
The cost of doing nothing will be another life lost to Captain Cold.
His eyes flash with the Speed Force, and then hes off.
He saves every last passenger as the train crashes dramatically around him.
Barry is faced with being a regular human after having a glimpse of being super.
Its in who he is.
Taking on the powers is no longer a passive choice, its one he undertakes with certainty and determination.
It is nothing less than the rebirth of a hero.
Superheroes have to be at the top of their game.
Without that strength, they are open to losing whatever villain they face.
When Zoom breaks Barrys back, he doesnt just harm the spine, he wedges doubt into Barrys mind.
It allows Barry the chance to see that he is perhaps too weak to face Zoom.
He isnt quite the hero he thought himself to be.
He overcomes his doubt and his failure to put the suit back on and find his confidence once more.
Facing himself may be one of the hardest fights he ever has to endure.
He learns that not every person can be saved.
Some things are faster.
Some villainy he cant outrun.
Barry has, so far, saved every innocent person hes set out to save.
There is levity and humor in his heroism.
He isnt like Oliver Queen (for better and worse).
He jokes, he quips, and he runs in the light of day.
Jay was the original Flash in the comics, and he knows his stuff.
Barry uses it to apparently kill a metahuman, but there was no other choice.
Nothing can hold the man; no easy solution is possible.
So Barry throws lightning a moment that was as cool as it was grand.
Mother and Child Reunion
Barry, though sometimes naive, is a smart man.
He understands that some fights cannot be won.
He understands that the consequences of his actions resonate into the future.
He wants nothing more than to have his mother alive and his father free from prison.
He wants his family back.
Some moments are fixed in time, resolute and sure.
Unfortunately, one of those moments is his mothers death.
He watches, with tears in his eyes, as she slips away from him once more.
He does nothing because he must.
That is the price of heroism.
He knows that the fate of the world is more complex than having his family back.
This is the cost he must bear going forward.
Back in Time
The Flash Season 1 Episode 15 Out of Time
A tidal wave.
The city at risk.
Iris and Joe near death.
He just knew that he needed to create a wall to keep the city from being wiped out.
This was the moment when Barry Allen became the stuff of legends.
Barrys relationship with Joe is like any parent with their child.
Theres overwhelming love, theres irritation and anger, and theres moments of learning and growth.
He realizes that he is more than a masked superhero.
He is both, and this is a very good thing.
His mark on the show is no less.
Barry is met again with a challenge he is not quite ready to face.
He has fought crime, bested fake Wells, and closed a black hole, but Zoom is different.
Despite knowing that Zoom is faster, Barry fights him anyway.
In the process, his back is broken.
This is often what sets heroes apart from ordinary people.
They fight when they are outgunned.
They fight because they know they must.
The entire fight with Zoom, regardless of the outcome, is one of Barrys greatest superhero moments.
He races to close it, hoping his superhuman speed and a counterclockwise motion will help close it.
The city watches as he races to save them all.
Plus the FX were really, really cool.
