The Flash is one of DC's most popular heroes. Fans may love the character from the comics, shows, movies, or all of it. But in the next heated nerd debate, an unpopular opinion could be a great conversation starter. After all, comic fans love a well-informed argument. There's nowhere better to look online than Reddit, where discourse isn't in short supply.
With celebrated runs in the comics, many well-known villains, and a plethora of different speedsters, the Flash comics are ripe for unpopular opinions. Fans can see where they weigh in on these opinions and find out if their beliefs about Wally West or Captain Boomerang are popular or not.
Captain Boomerang Isn't Even A Top 10 Flash Villain
Discussing the top 10 Flash villains in "The Flash" subreddit, Dredeuced says, "Digger probably deserves to be lower on the list, maybe even off the list altogether... He was much less a Flash villain and more a Suicide Squad character as time went on." Dredeuced lists Zoom, Weather Wizard, and Abra Kadabra as better than Boomerang.
Regardless of his place within the Suicide Squad, Boomerang was a member of the Rogues first and is recognized as one of the hero's primary villains. Almost all of Flash's non-speedster villains make up the Rogues, and they're the most commonly united group of one hero's villains. Captain Cold is certainly the top Rogue, and Weather Wizard, Heatwave, and Trickster are very common in the group. But to leave Boomerang off all together doesn't make sense.
The Rogues No Longer Work As Flash Villains
In the "Character Rant" Reddit thread, Service-Smile claims that "Most of his Rogues are just too weak to go to up against the Scarlet Speedster now... The Flash usually travels around lightspeed and has time-traveled on multiple occasions." But on the contrary, Flash needs more than just other speedsters and a really smart gorilla to face.
InspiredOni responds, "The Rogues were able to outsmart Flash for an issue by having Mirror Master create duplicates in one heist while the real ones performed separate burglaries... Flash villains don’t need to bloody him up, they just have to make him work to catch them." This is the essence of what the Rogues do as villains for Flash comics. Their smarts and their teamwork are what make the Rogues the Flash's coolest and most formidable villains.
The Only Good Flash Villain Is Zoom
This one takes the villain debate to the next level. The Flash has great villains like Gorilla Grodd, Captain Cold, Heatwave, Savitar, and Captain Boomerang. But an anonymous argues the opposite by stating "The Flash’s villains aren’t interesting except for Zoom."
Now, given the confusing naming of two similar characters, this could mean Eobard Thawne or Hunter Zolomon. Thawne is most commonly known as Reverse-Flash or Professor Zoom, whereas Zolomon is primarily known as Zoom. Zolomon was introduced during Wally West's time as the Scarlet Speedster as a "new" Reverse-Flash. Regardless of which villain this anonymous means, thinking that he's the only good Flash villain takes a lot of turning a blind eye to Flash comics. Flash's villains are ranked high, among heroes like Batman and Spider-Man.
Wally West Should've Been Removed When Barry Allen Returned
Wally West debuted as Kid Flash in 1959. After Barry Allen's Flash died during Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1986, Wally became the main Flash of DC Comics. Things stayed that way until Barry returned in 2008. From then until 2011, both were the Flash. Wally wasn't used in the New 52 but finally returned in "DC Rebirth" in 2016. TheStealthBox asserts that "Wally West returning was a mistake, in fact, he should have been removed as soon as Barry came back."
Wally is an immensely popular character, having been the official Flash of DC Comics for 22 years. When he didn't return in New 52, fans wanted to see him again. At first, he was rebooted as a new Kid Flash named Wally West, but then that Wally became known as Wallace, and the original Wally was brought back. Fans seemed pretty delighted about the original Wally is back protecting the DC Universe.
Reverse-Flash Gets Away With Changing Time And Barry Doesn't
Eobard Thawne, aka Reverse-Flash, is the Flash's biggest and best foe, and he's certainly caused havoc. His worst crime was going back in time and killing Barry's mother. When Barry tries to fix this, he causes Flashpoint, which makes things much worse. Raickoqwe says "I hate the fact that the Reverse Flash can f*** up so much the timeline and almost nothing happens, but Barry does that 1 time and everything goes down."
Fans seem to readily accept that Barry can't just go messing with time, but there don't seem to be many fans questioning that Thawne gets away with it. This may be an unpopular opinion, but it does make a good point. The heroes have it really hard, and the villains get off easy.
Flashpoint Is A Turn-Off
After the "Flashpoint" storyline in 2011, DC Comics was rebooted with the New 52. Some heroes and storylines stayed the same, others changed drastically. In "DC Comics," Saltoverload says, "I hate resetting the universes... like Flashpoint, it really pushes me away from DC."
According to Publisher's Weekly, New 52 was very popular and successfully brought in many new DC Comics readers. Some of the storylines have been adapted into DC shows and movies. But it's understandable if some comic fans don't want to see their favorite characters change. However, between "Rebirth" in 2016 and "Infinite Frontier" in 2021, it was established that everything in the old timeline still happened, with many characters ing all of those events.
Barry And Wally Are Basically The Same
There's a lot of "Barry versus Wally" debate since the two characters debuted. But Beary_bad argues that "Barry Allen and Wally West are interchangeable" due to their similar powers, costumes, and villains.
Barry and Wally have both spent a lot of time as the Flash, but that doesn't mean they're the same. The huge debate over whether Barry or Wally is better is the biggest sign that they aren't the same. The way fans missed Wally during his 5-year absence also says that Barry wasn't a placeholder for Wally to them.
All The Flash Does Is Run Fast
In the "Comic Books" Reddit thread, Zack Snyder's Justice League, "That feels like an oversimplification." Yes, he's fast, but it's much more than that.
What's important about Flash being fast is what form that takes. He can spin his arms and create whirlwinds. He can read a whole book in seconds (though he can't retain the knowledge for long, sometimes just using it to solve the problem at hand). And he can move his molecules so quickly that he can phase through solid objects.
Barry Is A Boring Flash
The title of "The Flash" has been held by many heroes, most notably Jay Garrick, Barry, Wally, Bart Allen, and Avery Ho. But if there's a main Flash through the whole history of DC Comics, it has to be Barry Allen. But Mostlytoasty claims that "Barry [is] painfully boring." The doesn't suggest a better Flash, but they do say Barry is better as someone for others to ire rather than to read about.
Fans may have a favorite Flash other than Barry with Wally being the next most popular speedster. But Barry is anything but dull. And without Barry, there wouldn't be a Wally to follow him. It's a stretch to say Barry is boring when he's the template for who the Flash is. It would be like saying Bruce Wayne is uninteresting because someone likes Terry McGinnis, aka Batman Beyond.
Barry Should've Stayed Dead
In the "DC Comics" Reddit thread, FuzzierSage argues that "Barry Allen should've been left dead" in the Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline. It's true that Wally had been fully established as the Flash of a whole generation, even being the Flash chosen for the Justice League animated series. But no one stays dead in comics.
If Barry never came back, there would be a lot of readers who would never have met him. It also works much better to have Barry alive considering he's in the Arrowverse and the DCEU. Keeping a legendary character dead wouldn't do DC any good in the long run.
