Crass, excessively gruesome, NSFF as all Hell - the characters from The Boys are the antithesis of the superheroes who inspired them; whereas Superman is humble and compassionate, the Homelander is a nihilist with a bonafide God Complex. While Aquaman tries to broker peace between to very different worlds, the Deep is a predator with severe insecurity issues.
Perhaps no two characters contrast one another as starkly as the Flash and A-Train, however; one's a meager forensic investigator and the other is a drug-abusing chauvinist. But talk is cheap by the end of the day - and doesn't get us any closer to learning who'd win in a fight between A-Train and the Flash. So we're going to pit Barry Allen against A-Train and sort this mess out once and for all.
9 Money (A-Train)
If this battle devolves into a war of resources, then we'd give the edge to A-Train without question. As weird as it is to read aloud, A-Train likely has much more money than Barry Allen does; according to Forensic Science Online, the average salary for a Crime Scene Investigator in 2015 was around $56,000 per year.
In contrast, A-Train has Vought International funding his antics - a company that has billions of dollars at its disposal. A-Train also makes bank off of his beer and cereal products, suggesting that he could his own money to fund a war of attrition against Barry and Iris - potentially buying his way to an undeserved victory.
8 Metabolism (Tie)
Characters with superspeed often don't just think fast - they also talk, think, and react to everything much more quickly than the average man. But nothing in the world is free - even superpowers. Both The Flash and A-Train have supercharged metabolisms that allow them to perform most of their inhuman feats in the first place.
Moreover, both The Flash and A-Train have to eat an insane amount of calories daily, lest they pass out in the middle of a fight. Barry once said he had to eat fifty times his bodyweight, while A-Train needed to consume 3,000 calories (in one sitting) to complete workout. As far as we're concerned, the Flash and A-Train are tied in this field - neither man could fight too long without refueling.
7 Morals (A-Train)
A-Train also has an edge over Barry in terms of pragmatism - he'd do anything to come out on top, proven by his abuse of Compound V. Think about it like this; if A-Train is willing to juice up just to win a race, Lord knows what he'd do to win a fight to the death!
Barry Allen, on the other hand, is one of the most compassionate and moral heroes in the Justice League - Identity Crisis notwithstanding. Barry wouldn't take civilians hostage or juice up to keep his opponents at bay. But that MO has A-Train's name written all over it in blood and entrails.
6 Perception (The Flash)
What good are A-Train's antics, however, against one who thinks and feels in picoseconds and attoseconds? Thus far, we've seen A-Train dodge the energy blasts of an inexperienced heroine. That's cute and all, but we've also witnessed Barry Allen dodge lightning bolts - which move at an excess of 200,000 miles/ 300,000 kilometers per hour!
Furthermore, do you understand how short a picosecond is? Barry Allen (as well as Wally West) can perform all sorts of feats in one trillionth of a second! Even jacked up on Compound V, we've never seen A-Train move or react that fast. Without question, Barry Allen takes the edge here.
5 Strength & Durability (The Flash)
A-Train also wouldn't want to try and slug it out with The Flash either. In terms of durability, A-Train barely managed to withstand blows from The Boys and Starlight. He's undoubtedly a tough character, but he's also a big fish in a small pond.
Barry Allen, on the other hand, has traded blows with Superman and lived to tell the tale! Most members of The Flash family can do things like punch through steel and survive steep falls. And let's not forget that the Flashes need to be extremely durable to survive the act of running faster than the speed of light!
4 Miscellaneous Powers (The Flash)
DC's Speedsters aren't just insanely fast - they're also incredibly versatile! How many of us would think to our superspeed powers to phase through solid matter or create vacuums of air? A-Train also fails to use his abilities in any fashion besides that of a blunt instrument - he runs really fast and hits hard, but that's about it.
Meanwhile, most of The Flash family has learned to channel and discharge lightning - giving them a much-needed projectile attack. The closest thing A-Train has to a miscellaneous ability is Compound V - a super-addictive drug that doesn't last for long. Hell, The Flash can even create objects seemingly out of thin air - similar to that of a Green Lantern's Hard Light constructs! The Flash also pioneered the Infinite Mass Punch - wherein the Scarlet Speedster runs around the entire Earth before unloading all of that kinetic energy onto an unlucky foe.
3 Allies (The Flash)
Remember earlier, when we suggested that A-Train might attempt to financially ruin Barry and Iris' lives? Well, we can think of at least a few Leaguers who'd love to see Vought try. Barry might make a comparatively minuscule amount of money to A-Train, but Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen alone could blow A-Train and Vought out of the water!
And if A-Train called on The Seven help him kill the Flash, you know the Justice League and The Flash Family would have Barry's back. Honestly, we'd love to see the League and the Family show these psychopaths what real heroes look - and fight - like.
2 Speed (The Flash)
When it all comes down to it, there are two kinds of people in life; the quick, and the dead. A-Train loves to boast that he's the "fastest ****ing man alive," but he needs Compound V to barely hang onto that mantle. Even though Barry isn't the fastest man in the DC Universe anymore, he's a close second to Wally.
Barry's so fast that he's managed to evacuate entire cities in a matter of seconds! Someway, somehow, Barry's also outrun abstract concepts like darkness, death, and time. A-Train's speed feats look like child's play compared to The Flashes' - and yes, we mean multiple members of the Flash Family who aren't even close to Barry or Wally's top speeds!
1 Conclusion
By the end of the day, we're comparing a drug-addled maniac to a hero who wrote the book on superspeed. For goodness' sake, A-Train is a knockoff of The Flash - not the other way around.
Some of you might consider this a spite article. Well, if we're being honest, it kinda is; this is a spite article against a villain that kills innocent people with little regard and uses his powers hedonistically. Don't you think that we already deal with enough of that in the real world? The Flash takes this battle with ease. A-Train can take a lap for all we care.