When it comes to characters in DC Comics, there are many overpowered, God-like heroes and villains, and while he may not look it, Flash is one of those characters. As The Fastest Man alive, Flash is not only able to run at super-speed, but he can also alter time and history, travel through time, and even regenerate his body through a super-fast healing process.
That does not make him immortal, though. While Flash always seems to come back to life one way or the other, he has still died very painfully at different times in DC Comics' history. Here is a look at the 10 worst ways that The Flash has died.
10 Crisis On Infinite Earths
When looking at the times Flash died, the one death that stands above them all -- by far -- is when Barry Allen died in Crisis on Infinite Earths. The reason it was so famous was that it was the only way the heroes could beat the Anti-Monitor and the fact that Barry Allen stayed dead for many years.
In the story, the Anti-Monitor is building a weapon to destroy the multiverse. Flash runs around the machine so fast, against the antimatter flow, and directs all the energy back into the device. Flash died and saved the universe. Years later, we learned he ended up in the speed force, but it was a death that lasted a long time.
9 The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive
When it comes to the death of Flash in the Fastest Man Alive storyline, this time it was Bart Allen who died. This event took place after Infinite Crisis where Bart was aged and never seemed to be happy with the role of saving the world when Barry Allen and Wally West were not there to do so.
The actual death came in The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #13. What made Bart's death so bad? He was killed by a bunch of rogues all teaming up together to kill him. Captain Cold, Heatwave, Mirror Master II, Inertia and more all banded together to kill him.
8 Future's End
Future's End is an Elseworlds series of sorts, as it shows a future where Brother Eye has helped destroy the world. To do so, the AI that Batman created as a safeguard against rogue superhumans evolves and decides to destroy all superheroes and turn the rest into part of its army.
Some of the superheroes escaped Brother Eye's wrath, and one of those was The Flash, By this time, Flash is older as the story takes place 35 years in the future and accidentally leads Brother Eye's army to their hideout. Frankenstein's Monster has Black Canary's head imp[lanbted in his chest and uses her voice to vaporize Flash.
7 Heroes In Crisis
The most recent storyline on this list is also possibly the most polarizing. Wally West did not return with many of the heroes in the New 52, and when he finally does show up, it isn't long until he dies. Heroes in Crisis is a fascinating tale of what trauma can do to superheroes through the years.
Wally West died along with several other heroes that were committed to a place known as The Sanctuary, a place where heroes who need mental help go when things get too much for them. However, the Wally who dies here was planted by the real killer -- the victim was the Wally West from five days in the future killed by his past self as a type of suicide that gave him time to record a confession and leave a message for others in pain.
6 Camelot Falls
Camelot Falls is a different take on a Flash death. See, this one never happened -- at least not in our timeline. This timeline was in the story Superman: Camelot Falls. An Atlantean wizard named Arion travels through time to warn Superman about a possible future.
According to Arion, the superheroes in the world cause things to get worse in the future until they finally meet a force too big for them to defeat. The only way to stop this is for heroes to stop saving people. Arion shows Superman the future where heroes die. Flash ends up crippled, and since he no longer could run, the Speed Force gave up on him, and he rapidly aged and died.
5 Countdown Arena
While most of the deaths on this list are current and future Flash's, Countdown Arena was the original Flash. The story brought in heroes from all over the multiverse as the villain Monarch captured them all. His goal was to create an army to battle the Monitors.
He takes the heroes and makes them fight each other; the last living would be part of his army. The three Flash's that had to fight to the death was Jay Garrick, Johnny Quick, and Lia Nelson. What is sad is that Jay was the one people cheered for, but after giving mercy to Quick, the young speedster phased his hand through his head and killed Garrick.
4 Zero Hour
In Zero Hour, Wally West was bouncing around time. He was seeing different timelines and met a young version of himself before heading back home for his wake. See, Wally saw a vision of his future and realized he was losing his humanity as he was running too fast, transforming into energy.
This story was the battle against Parallax, who was Hal Jordan corrupted. Just like in Crisis on Infinite Earths, a Flash had to do something to help save the day and was seemingly killed in action. However, he was not dead and was bouncing around time.
3 Terminal Velocity
Terminal Velocity is the story that followed Zero Hour, and this brought all the speedsters together as DC Comics finally introduced the idea of the Speed Force for the first time. The way the Speed Force worked was that a person who used too much of the energy comes close to losing themselves. It has changed over the years.
Wally West loses himself in Terminal Velocity, and it was heartbreaking because he ended up in the Speed Force, which felt to him like Heaven. The problem is that while he got all his answers, Linda wasn't there.
2 Chain Lightning
Chain Lightning took place after Wally West headed out and captured the long-lost twin brother of Barry Allen. That seems very convoluted enough, and the rest of the storyline got even more confusing. The twin was the villain Cobalt Blue, and he vowed to destroy the Speed Force.
The entire story took place across different timelines, and that is how Flash died. Which Flash died? Cobalt Blue killed Barry Allen from a different timeline. Wally tried to take Barry's place but couldn't and ended up running back in time to save Allen's life.
1 The End Of The Road
The End of the Road took place in The Flash Annual #3 when the Flash from the future went nuts. Instead of arresting villains and being a true hero, Barry Allen killed the villains. The Flash killed Gorilla Grodd and then raced to the mainstream timeline, knocked present-day Barry into the past, and replaced him.
What is most interesting about this is that the murderous Flash gets a second chance when he replaced Barry and becomes a good hero. However, he went too far, and soon the real Barry Allen shows back up and the two work together with the Flash from the future dying in front of his younger self's eyes.