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

by Andrew Pollard

1. Time Travel Is Flawed

The Flash Barry Time Travel
The CW

Time travel within the pages of DC Comics is what it is. Thanks to the benefit of being taken on each tale’s own merit in those comic book pages, inconsistencies aren’t particularly noticed or put under the magnifying glass. For The CW’s The Flash, it’s a different story.

Whichever way you look at it, The Flash has completely muddied the waters of time travel for the larger lore of DC Comics.

One minute, The Flash is proclaiming that not even the most minute of details can change in the past without causing a catastrophic Butterfly Effect. The next minute, The Flash is fine to see past events changed with no follow-on change to the present as somebody was seemingly always meant to go back in time to make these changes in the first place.

Confused? You should be.

Using time travel in any story across any medium is always going to be a case of walking a tightrope, yet The Flash’s use of time travel just makes this whole concept even more bewildering and puzzling than it needs to be.

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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 dayjob, 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.