Barry Allen: Reloading the Most Popular Flash

In recent years, filmmakers have increased interest in the screen version of a wide variety of comic books, including the re-launch of the most famous of them. But the audience can now see their favorite heroes not only in cinemas on the big screen, but also watch on television, because serials on comics are a new and popular phenomenon on TV. One of the most popular superheroes in the DC universe, Flash, has once again caught his attention. And if the films about this character are only announced, then the eponymous series has already won success at the most diverse audience, because the key figure in it is Barry Allen, the most famous hero of those who called himself Flash.

Character History

The first comic book about Flash appeared in the distant 1940. Then this pseudonym belonged to a hero named Jay Garrick, who had the ability to super-speed. Comics about Flash, where the main character was Barry Allen, appeared in 1956 and was released until 1985, when this character was killed, and already in the new century, in 2006, this series was restarted. Since 1986, two more super-fast heroes wore this pseudonym and a red suit with lightning, it's Wally West and Bart Allen, but it was Barry who was and remains the most famous Flash. About him were released hundreds of comic books, several animated series, made feature films in the 90's, though not too widely known to a wide audience. His character was involved in many computer games, and also received two series, and if the first one was not widely known in the 90s, the modern version of the American channel CW gathers more and more viewers in front of the television screens.

Who is he really?

In Bartholomew's comics, Henry Allen, better known as Barry, was an ordinary forensic expert, sluggish and always late. But everything changed after an accident when the lightning hit the box with various chemicals in Allen's office, and Barry was in the area affected by these substances. In an incredible way, he got superpowers, such as the incredible speed of reaction and the fantastic speed of the body. The foster father of his bride, Iris West, created for the newly-born superhero a suit and a special ring that pulled in and produced the clothes that were necessary at the moment. And Barry Allen himself subsequently invented the unit in the form of a space treadmill, allowing him to travel in time.

A new version

This is the story of the most popular Flash of all time in comics. But that's why modern screen adaptations on television are interesting, that script writers in many ways change the history and adapt the plot. The first TV show on the CW channel, in which viewers met a character named Barry Allen - the TV series "Strela", also screened the DC comics universe. Thus, "Flash", launched a little later, in 2014, is a kind of spin-off. The series about the superhero in a red suit with a zipper on his chest moved the time of action to the present. Barry Allen works as a forensic expert, as in comics, his mother died under mysterious circumstances when he was still a child, and his father was accused of her murder. The guardian of Barry was his neighbor, detective Joe West, Father Iris, who, unlike the comics, at the beginning of the story is not his girlfriend, though Allen is in it and secretly in love. The future superhero also receives his abilities with lightning, but it is not of natural origin, but is caused by an explosion of the particle accelerator at Star Labs. It is with this laboratory that the development of the plot of the entire first season of the series is connected, where Barry could find both new friends and enemies.

The main characters of the series

In the series, as in the comics, Flash faced its main enemy, the reverse Flash, but the story of their confrontation, like much more on the TV show, was altered. Professor Zoom in TV screening became Dr. Harrison Wells, who created Star Labs and was the main mentor for Barry's friends, for a long time hiding his real identity. The character of Iris also underwent some changes, she became an African-American and half-sister of Allen, and between them there are no romantic relationships. Kaitlyn Snow in comics is one of the incarnations of an antagonist named Killer Frost, but in the first season of the series she still does not have super abilities and is a positive character. But most likely in the future episodes, the heroine will be transformed, and the spectators are faced with the confrontation of such characters as Barry Allen and Caitlin Snow, as well as the Fiery Storm, which at the moment is her lover. Cisco Ramon in the series is a friend and companion of Flash, but comic fans know that the character with that name is also a superhero, better known as Vaib, and among his abilities is the ability to emit sound vibrations, so you should expect the disclosure of the character as a metacommander soon.

Cast

Who played in the new adaptation of such a famous superhero, like Barry Allen? Actor Grant Gastin, despite his youth and very little experience, successfully coped with the task, although many viewers, critics and fans of the comics were initially very skeptical about this choice of the creators of the TV show. It is noteworthy that the father of Barry Henry Allen in the series plays John Wesley Ship, who embodied Flash in the series of the 90's. Well, in 2017 fans of Flash will be able to see it on the big screen, in the film "League of Justice", and later, in 2018 will be released and the self-titled solo film, where a character named Barry Allen will play Ezra Miller. Whether he can surpass Grant Gastin, the audience will soon find out.