Why The Flash’s Speedster Problem Doesn’t Matter Anymore

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Warning: Spoilers for The Flash season 8, episode 20

The issue with The Flash having too many speedsters no longer matters in the Arrowverse. The heavy use of speedster heroes and villains was a common point of criticism in the show’s early seasons. For a while, this was perceived to be one of the show’s biggest problems.

For years now, Central City has been a host to a long list of characters who sport the same superpower. Over the course of eight seasons, viewers have seen Grant Gustin’s Barry Allen cross paths with an assortment of DC Comics speedsters, including Wally West, Reverse-Flash, Savitar, Godspeed, Jay Garrick, and most recently, Fast Track. With all the Arrowverse characters who have access to the Speed Force (or something similar), it’s easy to lose track of how many of them there are in the Arrowverse. And since the vast number of speedsters who have popped in The Flash has incidentally made Barry less unique as a superhero, it’s understandable for fans to take issue with this approach.

Related: How A Flash-Superman Crossover Can Still Happen (Despite S&L's Big Twist)

There was a time when The Flash was making noticeable efforts to fix the speedster issue. Season 4 provided a much-needed shift by making the Thinker (a non-speedster metahuman) the main villain of the season. This formula continued into seasons 5 and 6. And while the show didn’t totally abandon Barry’s fellow speedster heroes, Team Flash’s reliance on them drastically went down. But since then, The Flash has gone back to a more familiar formula by revisiting Barry’s rivalry with Reverse-Flash and featuring characters like Bart, Nora, and Meena. But in spite of that, The Flash hasn’t faced much backlash for taking this route. It would seem