7 Times The Flash Improved DC Mythology (& 4 Times It Failed)

Looking at how Grant Gustin's Sultan of Speed has impacted the lore of DC Comics.

by Andrew Pollard
The Flash Legacy 1
The CW

Soon set to embark on its ninth and final season, The CW’s The Flash has proven to be quite the hit amongst genre fans. With Grant Gustin headlining as the show’s titular Barry Allen, the series has helped to highlight one of the greatest superheroes in all of comics.

The Flash hasn’t been completely perfect throughout its eight seasons so far, of course, but there have been far more hits than misses for the Sultan of Speed and his supporting players.

Ever since The Flash premiered in 2014, audiences were promised that the Scarlet Speedster would vanish during the monumental Crisis on Infinite Earths. While that was averted during that particular Arrowverse crossover event, there's still been plentiful post-Crisis problems for Barry, with Speedforce issues, future-set shenanigans, and a slew of nefarious bad guys trying to take out Flash.

Whatever happens in the upcoming final season of the show, The Flash has certainly managed to have quite the impact on the greater lore of DC Comics. With that in mind, then, here are the ways that the series has improved on (and failed to improve on) the existing mythology of this hero and the larger world of DC.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.