No matter which version of the Flash you look at, they've each got a pretty ridiculous beginning. Jay Garrick, for instance, was the first Flash. Jay amazingly gained superpowers when he fell asleep in the lab he was working in and accidentally inhaled Hard Water vapours. Not ridiculous enough for the writers they completely retconned Jay out of the continuum and replaced him with Barry Allen the second Flash. Barrys origin was just as ludicrous. He was a forensic scientist with a reputation for being slow and methodical. One evening as Barry is about to leave the lab, a lightning bolt shoots in through the window and hits a cabinet of chemicals, the very same cabinet that Barry is coincidentally walking past. The resultant blast imbues Barry with lightning speed.