It has been a long, strange trip for Barry Allen's family. Since he premiered over a half-century ago as the Flash, every member has been affected by his career as The Fastest Man Alive. This includes his wife Iris, nephew Wally West, grandson Bart Allen, and Adam West, his distant cousin who liked to dress up like Batman.
Truth is, there have been so many tragedies in his life that they could create a live show about it. Maybe pair him up with other DC Comics heroes every year in some sort of grand crossover. It's a wonder no one has done this yet. Nevertheless, to get an idea about the tragedies in Barry's comic book universe, here are the 10 saddest things to happen to the Allen family.
10 Barry's Mom is Killed
When Barry made his Geoff John's-initiated return, something was different about his origin. Instead of being the child of a happy family, his mother was mysteriously murdered. In addition, because the authorities didn't understand the Speed Force at the time, they suspected Barry's father and threw him in jail.
What made it even worse for Barry is it wasn't his father who caused Nora Allen's death. It was his arch-enemy, Eobard Thawne, also known as the Professor Zoom/Reverse Flash. This encouraged Barry to do two things. First, become a forensics investigator. Second, to selfishly change the timeline, thus changing his universe's timeline.
9 Iris West is Killed
Barry and Iris were a rare couple in the DC Universe. They were one of the few duos who were married. Therefore, if someone should know his secret identity as the Flash, they could connect the dots to find out about his loved ones. This is what Zoom did.
He finds Iris at a costume party, vibrates his hand into her brain, then solidifies it to painlessly and instantly kill her. Barry is totally devastated about this. However, though he has a momentary breakdown, he continues to be the hero he was, though he tends to work alone. Furthermore, contrary to popular belief, he doesn't make an appearance on Dr. Phil.
8 Barry Kills Professor Zoom
Eventually, Barry does find love again with Fiona Webb. As the two are about to get married, Professor Zoom steps in to ruin the Scarlet Speedster's life by killing Fiona the same way he did Iris. This time around, Barry doesn't take it sitting down nor standing up. In an effort to stop Zoom, Barry snaps the villain's neck.
What follows is a snowball of tragedy. Fiona, thinking Barry left her at the altar, has a complete nervous breakdown. Meanwhile, the Flash is put on trial for murder just as Justice League gives his membership chair to Brother Power the Geek. Fortunately, he discovers that another part of his Rouges Gallery, Abra Kadabra, portrayed Zoom to ruin Barry's good name. Found guilty, Barry fears spending the rest of his life in prison.
7 He Loses Iris, Again
Though convicted of murdering the Reverse Flash, Barry doesn't spend much time as the fastest shiv creator on Earth. Instead, Iris comes to take him to the 30th century. Turns out, her spirit was whisked away and implanted in the body of someone else. From here, it seems like Barry and Iris will live happily ever after.
Except, you know, that pesky Crisis on Infinite Earths thing. When Barry realizes the white light immersing his future home isn't due to a beautiful sunrise, Barry dons his costume to rescue his adoptive home. Unfortunately, he's unsuccessful. Not only does he lose his one true love for the second time but also starts a journey toward ultimate demise.
6 Barry Dies Saving the Universe
Well, everyone else around him has been injured or met their untimely demise, so why shouldn't the Flash do the same thing. Once Barry leaves the 30th century, he ends up a prisoner of the Anti-Monitor. Here, he's mentally tormented by the Psycho Pirate. Soon enough, Barry is in need of a hug.
Nevertheless, he's still a hero. He breaks the Pirate's spell, beats the livin' spit out of him, and creates a speed vortex to destroy the Anti-Monitor's anti-matter cannon to anti-kill the remaining Earths, In doing so, his life essence is wiped away. The only thing remaining is his tattered costume and the the lightning-embossed ring it was stored in. While Barry's sacrifice ends a 30-year career, it doesn't end his legacy. Nephew Wally picks up the reins to become the new Flash.
5 Zoom is Behind all of Barry's Tragedies
Every soap opera needs a villainous mastermind that ties everyone else's life up. For example, in Friends it was the sadistic Gunther. Oh, you thought he was only interested in dating Rachel. Turns out, it was part of an ingenious plan to open Central Perk's sitting area to other customers. He's the one who suggested to Ross that he and Rachel were on a break.
It all comes down to Zoom for the Allen Family. During The Flash: Rebirth, Zoom tells Barry that all of the tragedies in his life were due to his enormous ego, and he's going to put the last nail in the coffin by killing Iris in the past. All is not lost, because Barry and Wally race to stop him. In the end, they prevent Iris' death and, in turn, become the original lightning bolt that transformed Barry in the first place. Unfortunately, like other soap operas, Zoom eventually comes back as a younger, hotter villain who gets his own poster.
4 Barry Loses His Mother, Again
For the most part, Barry is as pure as the driven snow when it comes to heroics. Yet, there are some instance where he listens to those other voices and does something selfish. Case in point, the moment when he went back in time to save him mom from being murdered. While he was successful at that, he completely changed the timeline.
In this new reality, Barry doesn't have his powers, Superman was never discovered by the Kents, and Thomas Wayne is an angry, alcoholic version of Batman. When Barry tries to restore his powers, he's nearly burned to death. Finally, he realizes he made a huge mistake and tries to make things right, losing his mother in the process. Though he does restore his normal timeline it's slightly altered. Okay, it's massively altered to the point DC Comics fans have no idea what happened.
3 Barry Forgets Wally
When Barry decided to change the timeline in Flashpoint he forgot one important thing -- Wally West. The man who took on the Sultan of Speed's legacy for over two decades was practically disposed of when everything rebooted. Rather than going on a search to find him, Barry went on, ignorant of his existence. He even recruits a young Wallace West, son of the New 52's Reverse Flash, as a new Kid Flash.
It's only when the original Wally reaches out from the Speed Force that Barry begins to recognize who he is. Luckily, he does so in time to pull Wally out of his exile, thus allowing all fans of DC Comics to breathe a sigh of relief that the whole New 52 debacle was over. Well, until Wally says the time shift was not Barry's fault. Rather, it was caused by a mysterious being with blue skin who's costume is a black thong. Da, da dum.
2 Wally Kills A Bunch of People
All was glorious for a time. Wally reunited with his Teen Titans friends as he took on a Flash moniker in case a hot swap was needed. Yet, the Allen family luck started to seep in. He tried to get his former wife, Linda Park, to remember their relationship. He ended up with a pacemaker for a time. Barry even got into a fight with him because he wanted to break the Force Barrier thanks to -- you guessed right -- Zoom.
Alone and the only one aware of his former wife and children, Wally enters the superhero rehab known as Sanctuary. While trying to recover, he reviews all the records of the others there, and that makes him lose control of the Speed Force, thus killing heroes like Blue Jay, Poison Ivy, and his Titans' pal Red Arrow. Instead of being sent to jail like Barry, he was assigned to save the Multiverse. Mostly to close some rips in the continuum before it destroyed Prime Earth, plus, it was the de reigueur thing to do in 2019.
1 Barry Becomes the Flash
None of this would have happened if Barry didn't stand in front of that shelving unit of chemicals. Instead, he would have continued his life as a forensic investigator, married Iris, had normal children, and probably ended up with his own spin-off of Bones. Any heroics would have been in the form of getting the right ice cream for Iris while pregnant and changing a stranger's tire.
Then again, if Barry wasn't struck with the bolt of lightning, the Justice League would have been much different. Plus, Earth Two wouldn't have been discovered. Of course, the Teen Titans may have never formed because Wally wouldn't become Kid Flash. Also, the entire DC Universe would have been destroyed by the Crisis, thus leaving comic book readers with pages of white panels. Okay, maybe it was better Barry was standing in front of those chemicals, tragedies or not.