The Flash has had plenty of time to develop its characters over the course of its eight-season run so far. During that time, some characters have become completely unrecognizable from when they were first introduced into the story.
This makes sense—it’s expected that characters grow and change over the course of a series. But it also comes with the territory of facing supervillains and saving the world weekly. The characters have to grow stronger—sometimes physically, sometimes mentally, and sometimes both—if they’re going to stand a chance against the threats that Team Flash has to deal with.
10 Ralph Dibny Found His Sense Of Justice With Team Flash
Ralph Dibny was a former CCPD officer who was kicked out for planting evidence. After being kicked out, he had nothing left and became a detective. For years he didn’t use his potential properly, but when he was brought in to work with Team Flash, things started to change. He gained superpowers, allowing him to change his shape and his body to become malleable like rubber. Though at first he was one of the more cynical members of the group, he became a proper hero by the time he was pushed out of the series due to the actor’s intolerable behaviors.
9 Caitlin Snow Knows How To Be Good And Evil
Caitlin Snow was Cisco’s partner at STAR Labs and worked alongside him and Barry after Barry’s powers awakened. She was never meant to be a fighter, instead her intelligence allowed her to do things like create a cure for Mirakuru and a version of Velocity. But eventually her super-powers awoke, turning her into Killer Frost. This gave her control over ice, but at a cost of creating an alternate personality with all her dark emotions. In time, Caitlin learned to control his powers and accept her alternate personality, which itself became its own physical person.
8 Kid Flash Became Key In The Battle With Savitar
Wally West was supposed to be just a normal kid, but in the altered Flashpoint timeline, he became Kid Flash. In the reset timeline afterwards, Wally learned what happened to him in the alternate timeline thanks to Dr. Alchemy and steals Alchemy’s device to change himself back into a speedster. Though he’s nowhere near as powerful at first, over time his speed increases and he becomes a valuable ally in the battle against Savitar. He’s even chosen by Barry to become the next Flash when Barry tries to take Savitar’s place in the Speed Force.
7 Ronnie Raymond Became The First Firestorm
Ronnie Raymond makes an appearance early on as the fiance of Caitlin Snow. He saves everyone during the particle accelerator’s explosion, but he also survives to become part of the Firestorm matrix.
The Firestorm Matrix merged Ronnie and Martin Stein together, and it took several episodes for them to learn how to control their power. Once they did, however, Ronnie became a helpful superhero working alongside Team Flash. Ronnie’s powers not only helped stop the singularity but also later are passed on to Jackson to create the next Firestorm, who worked with the Legends.
6 Cecile Horton Became A Protector Of Metahuman Rights
Cecile Horton is introduced as a district attorney in the first season of The Flash. Like Iris with Barry, Cecile had no idea what she was getting herself into when she started her romantic relationship with Joe. But the more time they spent together, the more she understood exactly what it meant to date someone involved in the world of heroes and villains. Eventually, she even gave up on her job as district attorney in order to become legal counsel for metas. With this, she becomes perhaps the most important member of Team Flash besides Barry himself, considering Central City’s abundance of metahumans.
5 Thinker Went From Scientist To Shutting Down All Of Team Flash
DeVoe was forever changed when waves of dark matter boosted his intelligence and made him into a super-genius. With his incredible intelligence, Thinker went from an ordinary human into someone who was able to absorb the powers of multiple metahumans. His powers and intelligence together made him unstoppable even to Team Flash. Though they were able to stop him, it was only because his wife betrayed him and Ralph Dibny was able to wrest control of his body from Thinker’s mind, otherwise, they would have been defeated.
4 Jay Garrick Regained His Power As Earth-3's Flash
Jay Garrick is the true Flash of Earth-3. The character was a hero for years but was eventually captured by Hunter Zolomon, who tried to steal his speed and spent years pretending to be Jay on Earth-2. Though Zolomon trapped Jay inside of a prison meant to keep his speed from being accessed, when Hunter was defeated Jay was allowed to escape. Since then, Jay has been a useful hero who’s both been a mentor and a friend to Barry as well as a hero who can protect Central City.
3 Cisco Ramon Went From Comic Relief To Powerful Superhero
Cisco Ramon was destined to be the guy in the chair. He gave advice to Barry and even helped design his suit, but only fans who knew about his identity in the comics would’ve ever had any clue he was going to become a hero.
But his multiple adventures with the Flash eventually awoke his own meta-human powers. As Vibe, he was able to fire pure dimensional energy blasts and open up gates between different areas of his world and into others so long as he knew where he was going.
2 Iris West Is The Backbone Of Team Flash
Most of the people that started out weak but became strong did so because they gained some manner of powers to change them. With Iris West, this wasn’t the case. Iris started out reporting on the good that the Flash did, but without understanding the work that went into being the Flash. Over the years though, she worked alongside her husband Barry to deal with countless threats. Even though she knew her life was on the line in the fight against Savitar, she never doubted Barry’s ability to stop him.
1 Barry Allen Improved His Powers And Learned To Believe In Himself
In both power and character development, Barry Allen doesn’t start out as the strongest guy. His powers aren’t anywhere near what they are in the comics at the start of the first season, and speedster villains dominate him for the first three seasons as he develops. He doesn’t believe in himself or his ability to fight, and it takes motivation from everyone around him to make him keep trying. Every season he loses hope in his abilities, and it’s only his allies that make him into the hero he is.