The Flash (TV 2014)
A Spin-Off of CW's 2012 Arrow series about The Flash. In this universe Barry Allen is driven to become a forensic scientist by a desire to clear his father of murdering his mother as a child, as nobody believes the claim that the murder was committed by a strange blur (actually the Reverse-Flash). One day a S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator explodes causing, among other things, Barry in his lab to be electrocuted and fall into a coma. Nine months latter Barry awakens from the coma and learns he has Super Speed before discovering that several other people, many criminals, also have powers. Together with his surrogate father/police detective Joe West, wheelchair bound S.T.A.R. labs owner and particle accelerator creator Dr. Harrison Wells, S.T.A.R. bio-engineer Dr. Caitlin Snow and S.T.A.R. mechanical engineer/computer genius Cisco Ramon he works to stop these new superpowered "Meta-Human" criminals.
The Flash is notable for being, in stark contrast to most post 2005 live action superhero work, having a fairly light tone while eschewing "realism" in favor of mere verisimilitude. Also in contrast to the questionable morality of its contemporaries, The Flash is a well loved hero of his city and Barry is solidly on the side of good.
- Alternate Universe: Focus of season 2.
- Backup Twin: After Fake!Wells is Ret-Goned, his Earth 2 counterpart becomes a recurring character. He makes it very clear they're not the same person
- Broken Pedestal: Dr. Wells is actually the Reverse Flash impersonating the real Dr. Wells. The cast does not take this betrayal well.
- Casting Gag: Barry Allen's dad is played by John Wesley Shipp. Shipp previously played Barry Allen in the first Flash TV series. Similarly the original and imprisoned Trickster is portrayed by Mark Hamill, who played the Trickster in the same series.
- Clark Kenting: Justified: In the first season when Flash is seen from another person's point of view his head appears as a giant blur and he alters his voice to a substantially different and non-human one like an electronic voice changer gizmo making it fairly reasonable Barry is unrecognizable to even his family. The second season skips the effects though implies it is still in place.
- Healing Factor: While The Flash has always had this power to heal faster to some degree this adaptation emphasizes it, allowing Barry to recover from injuries that should cripple or kill a normal person within the span of an episode several times.
- I Am Not Left-Handed: Wells is not crippled like he claims.
- Layman's Terms: One of Joe's main jobs as part of the team, being a "mere" police detective in a group of scientists.
- Omnidisciplinary Scientist: While forensics, medicine and mechanical engineering/computers are generally kept to their specialist on the team, almost everything outside of these specialties is fair game for Wells and (latter) Ramon to cover.
- Spoofed in season two. When Dr. Wells attempts to create a Super Serum he notes his previous attempts have failed because his background isn't in bio-engineering. Dr. Snow fixes his problems in less than a minute.
- Ret-Gone: Upon learning that Fake!Wells is actually his decedent, Eddie Thawne kills himself erasing him from existence.
- Clock Roaches: The timeline is, naturally, not happy about this.
- Super Doc: While Dr. Snow is employed as a bio-engineer she often acts more like a surgeon and is the one who handles all of Barry's injuries.
- Super Speed
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Aside from his ability to walk, the most notable difference between fake!Wells and Earth 2!Wells is that the Earth 2 version is an egotistical jerk instead of the fake one's fake fatherly presence
- Typecasting: Jesse L. Martin is, once again, a police detective.
- Was It All a Lie?: Inverted Fake!Wells' video Barry receives after his death has him question if some of his fatherly love for the group was real. He even seems a bit remorseful about his actions, giving Barry the confession needed to get his dad out of jail.