The Flash is one of the most beloved DC heroes of all-time -- who wouldn’t want to be considered the fastest man alive? Besides, speed is one of the best powers to have, and the Flash proves this point every time he runs. He has incredible healing abilities, he can escape when needed to and he can even turn back time; and this is only scraping the surface of what he can do. Because of all the incredible things that comes with his speed-related powers, he’s often considered one of the most invincible heroes in the DC Universe.
Unfortunately, this statement is a little inflated. The Flash isn’t exactly untouchable, as much as it may seem like it. There are a few villains, especially when they’re first introduced, that have been able to harm and defeat him regardless of his Speed Force abilities, and some of these attacks have even cost the Flash his life. The attacks in which he’s been really injured are very few and we often see them appear in places like the Injustice video game storyline or in the CW show where we see a very young and still slightly inexperienced Flash deal with his powers. This is usually when we see him most vulnerable because it’s true that it’s exceptionally hard to beat him twice in a row. While he’s defeated many of these villains down the road, or after much trial an error, here are a few that have been able to stop the most popular speedster around once or twice!
20 ZOOM
Zoom, otherwise known as Hunter Zoloman, has always been an interesting character. His agenda is usually to help whoever is the current Flash and train them to be a better hero through tragedy and loss. In most of his incarnations, he’s witnessed his father end his mother in one way or another, so it’s not a stretch to see where his mindset is at.
When Zoom appeared on the television version, people were pretty stoked, especially with the look they gave him. But what we weren’t expecting was how he defeated Barry Allen, on multiple occasions. From stabbing Barry and declaring himself the “Fastest Man Alive” to getting in the way of multiple plans for Team Flash, Zoom has been one of the scariest villains the CW has ever brought us.
19 REVERSE-FLASH
The Reverse-Flash has always been one of the Flash’s biggest enemies. We’ve seen Reverse-Flash fight Flash a number of times in the comics -- it’s usually a close call each time because they’re both speedsters. However, the CW’s version made it that much more of a betrayal when they made the Reverse-Flash Harrison Wells, Barry Allen’s own mentor.
Because the television show has been showing a much younger, less refined Barry Allen, when Reverse-Flash came on the scene, we saw that there was a lot of potential Barry hadn’t tapped yet. From this point on, the struggle to defeat him would unlock a lot more interesting challenges for him and ones that we don’t often get to see in the comics considering he’s so strong.
18 CAPTAIN BOOMERANG
Captain Boomerang is certainly a strange opponent when taking on the Flash; because, seriously, how does that guy even think he’s going to come close to defeating a speedster? Especially after the small clip we got on his backstory in the Suicide Squad movie where the Flash had no problems hoisting him to jail, you wouldn’t think him as much of an opponent.
However, if you consider the Silver Age comics, there were a few times that Captain Boomerang was actually a bit of an opponent for the Flash. One particular time, he actually folded his body into the shape of a boomerang while the Flash was trying to blow him away using air gusts. The force made Boomerang fly right back at him. It was a bit embarrassing, but at least he lived up to his namesake!
17 GORILLA GRODD
Not only has Gorilla Grodd won a fight against the Flash once, but he’s actually managed to pull it off a couple of times. It depends on the series and writer for how Grodd will be displayed as a character, but he’s actually not very far off when it comes to power against the Flash. As he continuously gains access to the Speed Force, it only makes sense that he would soon be able to stand toe-to-toe with him.
This also makes sense because telepathy is one of the few things that the Flash would be a little weakened towards. If caught off guard, it’d be easy to catch him slowing down.
16 INJUSTICE SUPERMAN
It’s not only the most obvious villains on this list -- there have been a few "superheroes" with the ability to take down the Flash and Injustice Superman was definitely one of them. Technically speaking, the Injustice version of our beloved classic hero was not exactly the same and indeed he was more of a villain. That being said, his abilities served him well in defeating the Flash at his own game.
Once Superman had a hold on Flash, it was over. The Flash might be fast and relatively strong, but not nearly as strong as his flying friend. We saw him go tumbling right into a wall and it was all over from there.
15 CAPTAIN COLD
We’ve seen Captain Cold take on the Flash a few times, and there’s a very good reason why he’s one of the better villains to match up and defeat him. The Flash may be the fastest man alive, but that doesn’t mean there are things that can't slow him down.
Captain Cold’s gun is usually the bane of Barry’s existence because it’s able to slow down his movements quite a bit. How do you take on a speedster? You take away their speed of course! If he’s too distracted by being frozen, he won’t be able to use some of his most powerful speed moves.
14 HEAT WAVE
Heat Wave is usually Captain Cold’s partner, so it only stands to reason that he’s been part of the reason they're able to take down the Flash in the first place, right? While Heat Wave may not be much for going solo on the Flash, some of the wins between him and Captain Cold can certainly be credited to a very similar attribute.
Like with Cold, Heat Wave’s gun causes a huge distraction for the Flash that makes it difficult for him to get directly at them. In the comics, he’s certainly a little more powerful and definitely helps Cold put up more of a fight when going against our favorite speedster.
13 MIRROR MASTER
One thing’s for sure, the Mirror Master is a fairly annoying villain no matter what incarnation we're talking about. In particular, he’s a challenging opponent for most people because of his ability to use optical illusions to take down his opponents.
With the help of Top, Mirror Master is able to created vivid and sometimes real physical effects that confuse any opponent he may be facing, so it only stands to reason that this is something not even the Flash can handle. When it comes to his speed, there’s not much he can do in this situation because the Mirror Master will make it too confusing for him to catch them.
12 THE TRICKSTER
The Trickster should never be underestimated; and that’s not just because Mark Hamill played him in the CW version. Since the comics, he’s always been a particularly “tricky” character because he’s exceptionally clever at figuring out how to distract his opponents. The few times that he’s embarrassed the Flash, he’s also effectively gotten away from him.
There was one incarnation with him, after DC Rebirth, that was able to actually defeat the Flash in an actual battle. Because the Trickster had been empowered by one of the newer forces, the Strength Force, he was able to not only defeat the Flash, but also Commander Cold simultaneously.
11 SAVITAR
Barry Allen versus Barry Allen -- who would win? Well, there are a few incarnations where the Flash effectively overcomes Savitar, he is still one of the hardest villains to beat purely because he is another version of Barry Allen himself and he’s also the self-proclaimed “God of Speed”, which would be hard for any speedster to beat.
We’ve seen Savitar beat Allen both in the comics and even on-screen; the blow was simply devastating. In the show, we got to actually see Savitar drag Barry through the Speed Force itself and leading Killer Frost to have to save him from almost passing away.
10 THE PIED PIPER
The Pied Piper is yet another great villain that’s excellent at causing distractions for the Flash. Not only have we seen him help take down the Flash in the CW television series, but we’ve also seen him actually take part in the demise of Bart Allen’s Flash.
As part of the New Rogues, the Pied Piper was pivotal in using his capabilities to distract Bart just long enough that the team could overcome him. Because distracting moves so well on the Flash, the Pied Piper is certainly a deadly opponent; and in this case that definitely proved to be true.
9 INJUSTICE AQUAMAN
After being blackmailed into joining Superman’s side, we see a totally different side of Aquaman being a villain. Out of fear that something will happen to Atlantis, we see him pushed to his absolute limits. This also means that he’s ready to defeat someone as invincible as the Flash if necessary.
It can be really difficult for someone like Aquaman to take on the Flash, but the biggest disadvantage is Aquaman’s telepathy. With that, he’s able to defeat the speedster easily because it’s not something Barry can actually defend against. This is a very similar tactic to what other illusionists such as Mirror Master use to slow him down and defeat him.
8 INJUSTICE DEATHSTROKE
Of course, we have to go back to the Injustice series again because there’s plenty of instances where the Flash loses to some rather impressive opponents. In the storyline fights, we get to see Deathstroke get cocky and win the battle; a really embarrassing blow for the Flash who’s just trying to save the day.
Probably the biggest advantage Deathstroke has over the Flash is his fighting prowess. The fact that Deathstroke goes into this fight with the Flash with little to no fear, tells you what kind of confidence this man has. No matter how fast Barry is, he just can’t stop him.
7 "FRANKENCANARY"
If you really want to see the stuff of nightmares, look no further than this FrankenCanary -- basically Frankenstein with Black Canary's head sewed to his chest. It’s exceptionally off-putting, but it’s also completely effective against the Flash. In the New 52: Futures End series, we saw just what Canary’s voice can do if applied properly.
One of the biggest advantages, we’d argue, is the shock value in the first place. Seeing a friend’s face stuck to a monster is enough to make someone stand still, even if they are really fast. But after Frankenstein uses her iconic scream, we see Barry wither away until there’s nothing but bones left.
6 ABRA KADABRA
Abra Kadabra has a huge leg up on the Flash in one significant way -- he has technology from the 64th century. In fact, due to the nature of his character, Kadabra’s technology is often perceived as magic in the past timelines he visits, which makes it seem that much harder for the Flash to beat.
If you pair this with the fact that he’s literally a genius, it’s no wonder he’s able to beat Barry -- despite how fast and smart he is, there’s no way that he’s going to be able to win this battle. It takes some real thought for the Flash to be able to overcome this challenger.
5 MIST
Mist was one of the harder villains for Barry to catch purely because he couldn’t touch him. How do you touch a metahuman that can literally turn into thin air? Well, it was best demonstrated in the CW show that Mist can do a lot of damage because he can technically be anywhere, and Barry can never truly fight him.
Mist’s capture would come about when Barry tired him out. Because gas is a very unstable form, Mist needs to recover frequently in order to stay in that kind of state. When Barry continued to slow him down and keep him occupied, he was finally able to land a punch.
4 TRAJECTORY
Trajectory has always been a relatively tragic character, so winning against her as always felt like a loss. Regardless, but we do have to recognize that she’s defeated Barry in a couple ways. Firstly, she has technically defeated him in battle, giving her reason toclaim that she’s always been faster than Barry will ever be.
In the show, this is because she’s taking V9, which turns her lightning blue. In this form, there’s no doubt that she’s stronger than Barry and can most certainly beat him, but it’s clearly not helping her health. She eventually runs so fast that she disintegrates -- a very hollow victory since she did it to herself.
3 MUSIC MEISTER
If you really want weird characters, the Music Meister is one of the strangest. He’s not a metahuman and he’s certainly not from our world, so no one really knows where his powers came from. As an extra-dimensional being, he has a lot of crazy abilities like hypnosis; which is exactly what we see him use in the CW version to get Barry and Kara to hallucinate.
This is, again, a huge weakness for Barry. He can’t really do anything if he’s stuck in his own head. This isn’t even touching on the fact that he was able to steal both Barry and Kara’s powers, making him exceptionally strong. In the end, nobody ever really did defeat him because he left in order to “teach his lesson” to others.
2 WEATHER WIZARD
The Weather Wizard has been defeated by the Flash, but there have been a few times where he got a leg up on our speedster. Much like Captain Cold or Heat Wave, the Weather Wizard has an advantage on using elemental-based attacks that challenge Barry to get around them.
Since these sculpt and change the kind of environment Barry will be running in, it’s exceptionally difficult to avoid. This isn’t to mention the time when he joined the new Rogues to help defeat the Flash by a team effort -- which was very effective. While he’s not the most dangerous on this list, he still deserves some credit.
1 INERTIA
Thaddeus Thawne is one of the strangest characters around because he’s technically half-Thawne half-Allen. That is, he’s only that way because he’s a literal clone of Bart Allen. Exceptionally creepy, Thawne defeated the Flash in a pretty devastating way.
When Inertia assembled the New Rogues, he gave them orders to start crimes and be careful not to get caught. After they attracted the attention of the Flash, Thawne’s real intentions came out; he was going to drain the Speed Force out of Bart and successfully did so. Bart would lose his speed and the other Rogues would beat him to his demise.