The Flash: Barry Allen & Iris West Got Engaged Off Panel | CBR - CBR - Comic Book Resources

Today, discover the major relationship milestone in the Flash comic book romance between Barry Allen and Iris West that somehow occurred off-panel in the comic books!

This is "Out of Sight," a feature where I explore notable comic book moments that occurred off-panel. When I say "off-panel," I'm mostly talking about a character not being around and then showing up and us learning that something dramatic happened to them off-panel. I'm flexible enough that I can deal with maybe something "in between panels," as well. You can hit me up at brianc@cbr.com if you have a suggestion for a future column!

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WHAT WAS IRIS AND BARRY'S RELATIONSHIP LIKE?

Barry Allen was a fascinating character in the sense that how we, the reader, saw him was a lot different than how the characters saw him in the stories. You see, to readers, Barry Allen was always sort of the "perfect" hero type. That's almost certainly why longtime Flash writer Cary Bates put the Flash through a long storyline where he killed one of his supervillains and then had to stand trial for his actions, because even back in the early 1980s, there was this sort of vibe around the Flash that he was "boring" because he was TOO noble and good (I don't buy that myself, but it was clearly a popular view in fandom at the time). Contrast that, though, with how Barry Allen appears to the other characters in the comics. He's a nice, hardworking guy, but he's also disappearing constantly and is always late to his appointments because he's off fighting crime as the Flash (that was a joke that the comic leaned into a LOT in those early years, the idea that the Fastest Man Alive is always late for things).

Therefore, right from the first appearance of the Barry Allen version of the Flash in 1956's Showcase #4 (by Robert Kanigher, Carmine Infantino and Joe Kubert), the set-up between Barry Allen and his girlfriend, Iris West, was established and it was not necessarily good for Barry, as it would show how Iris would give Barry guff over being late...

And Iris, like almost all girlfriends of guys who are secretly superheroes, would moon over the Flash to Barry (okay, there are also those superhero girlfriends who HATE the hero in his other identity, like Gwen Stacy blaming Spider-Man for the death of her father, but for the most part, girlfriends of superheroes tend to dig their boyfriends' alter egos even more than they dig their boyfriends). Iris actually coined the Flash's superhero name!

In the case of Iris West, however, since built into the set-up was the fact that Barry Allen would always be late for stuff and always disappearing on her, the comic books tended to almost lean into Iris being a bit of a jerk to Barry. She would complain about him CONSTANTLY. There were plenty of stories where she was a nice person, but most of the time she is giving Barry grief.

A funny recurring gag is that they would often end issues with Iris giving Barry grief. It happened so much that it became its own shtick. You know, "What's Iris going to be mad about at the end of THIS issue?" It's like the issues would end with a freeze frame and a laugh track after Iris tells Barry off again for being lazy, like this bit from Flash #106 (by John Broome, Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella)...

AND YET, IRIS REALLY WANTED TO MARRY BARRY FOR SOME REASON

Oddly enough, even while she spent most of her time in the comics complaining about Barry, she also was irritated that Barry wasn't proposing to her sooner. For instance, check it out, Flash #121 had two stories (one by Broome, Infantino and Giella and one by Broome, Infantino and Murphy Anderson). In the first one, Iris complains to Barry about how lazy he is...

And in the second one, she complains about how he isn't proposing to her fast enough!

But that's the funny thing, we never actually see Barry propose to Iris!

THE STRANGE ENGAGEMENT OF BARRY AND IRIS

So Barry and Iris just continue to date, with Iris complaining about him most of the time. In Flash #134 (by Broome, Infantino and Giella), Iris and Barry are specifically referenced as being boyfriend/girlfriend in the first story in the issue...

But more importantly, in the SECOND story in the issue, Barry meets Iris' famous absent-minded professor father and he assumes that Barry wants to meet him to ask for Iris' hand in marriage and that is FAR from Barry's intention, as Barry notes to himself that he and Iris are just good friends (Huh?!?)...

Later in the issue, Barry and Iris' father meet up with Iris and explain the situation and we see another thought balloon, from Iris this time, that also confirms that they are just friends (Iris thinking to herself something like, "It's a good thing we've explained to my dad that Barry and I are just friends"). It's such a weird bit.

So Iris and Barry then continue to date for the next few issues but then, suddenly, at the start of Flash #141 (by Broome, Infantino and Giella), they are now engaged!

No pomp, no nothing, just, "Oh hey, it's Iris, Barry's fiancee!"

Gardner Fox would occasionally write Flash stories when John Broome didn't write them and I imagine that Fox was, like, "This doesn't make sense," so he then at least had Iris pick out an engagement ring in Flash #151 (by Fox, Infantino and Giella)...

But by that time, they had been engaged for 11 issues! Too funny. In that same issue, the Flash recovers Iris' engagement ring and Iris insists that the Flash be Barry's best man, but that's a whole other story.

If anyone has a suggestion for a notable plot point that happened off-panel, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!

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About The Author

Brian Cronin (14896 Articles Published)

CBR Senior Writer Brian Cronin has been writing professionally about comic books for over a dozen years now at CBR (primarily with his “Comics Should Be Good” series of columns, including Comic Book Legends Revealed). He has written two books about comics for Penguin-Random House – Was Superman a Spy? And Other Comic Book Legends Revealed and Why Does Batman Carry Shark Repellent? And Other Amazing Comic Book Trivia! and one book, 100 Things X-Men Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die, from Triumph Books. His writing has been featured at ESPN.com, the Los Angeles Times, About.com, the Huffington Post and Gizmodo. He features legends about entertainment and sports at his website, Legends Revealed. Follow him on Twitter at @Brian_Cronin and feel free to e-mail him suggestions for stories about comic books that you'd like to see featured at brianc@cbr.com!