The Flash: 5 Characters From The Comics It Got Right (& 5 It Ruined) - CBR - Comic Book Resources

With its eighth season ready to begin in November, The Flash has had well over 150 episodes to play with a great number of characters from DC Comics. Taking advantage of the rich history of the comics, the writers, producers, directors, and actors on Flash have brought some of the best heroes and villains from the 80 years of stories about the Fastest Man Alive to life.

And while The Flash has done a good job bringing so many great characters to live-action, there are some heroes and villains it has failed to capture the way many fans of the comics would have hoped.

10 They Captured Barry Allen's Essence

While Barry Allen wasn't the first Flash in the comics, he has become the best-known version of the character thanks to decades of wonderful stories in the comics. What made Barry Allen so special to readers wasn't his powers - although fans love the speed - it is his heart.

In the comics, Barry is often looked at as the "blue-collar hero". A member of a team that includes an unbeatable alien (Superman), a genius billionaire (Batman), a goddess (Wonder Woman), and a man who can make anything he can think of real (Green Lantern) Flash has always been the heart because he is the closest to the common man. The Arrowverse series has captured this part of the character.

9 They Missed The Mark With Atom Smasher

While he only appeared in one episode way back in season 2, The Flash took Atom Smasher, a member of the Justice Society in the comics, and turned him into a villain of the week. This, understandably, upset comic readers who have come to know Atom Smasher well over the years.

In the comics, Atom Smasher has long had an angry streak in him, and he's even toyed with going evil, but this godson of the Golden Age Atom has always come to his senses. To see him treated so poorly in the Arrowverse didn't sit well with fans.

8 Iris West Is As Good As It Gets

While Lois Lane always gets the attention as the world's greatest investigative reporter, Iris West has more than made a name for herself in the comics for her work as a reporter at the Central City Picture News.

While the Arrowverse series has made a number of changes to Iris, the show has kept what has made her so special in the comics, namely her independent streak and, unlike her more famous peer, her ability to handle herself without needed a superhero to show up and save the day.

7 Savitar Was A Disaster

In the comics, Savitar was one of the greatest threats the Flash Family ever faced. In the one time Flash really faced off against Savitar, two speedsters died and Flash was almost trapped in the future forever. With his ability to give or take away speed, Savitar created an army of super speed ninjas that proved to be a serious threat for the heroes.

Sadly, the TV series failed to capture what made Savitar so great in the comics. Most fans would rather forget about the self-proclaimed God of Speed's time in live-action.

6 Captain Cold Was Perfect

One of the oldest and best-known Flash villains and the leader of the Rogues, Captain Cold has a special place in the hearts of Flash fans, and the Arrowverse version of the villain who sometimes acts as a hero didn't disappoint. Between Flash and Legends of Tomorrow, Wentworth Miller created a version of Captain Cold that felt like he came right off the pages of the comic, but also added something new to the famous criminal with his smooth-talking style. It's hard to imagine anyone else ever playing Captain Cold.

5 Cicada Was A Mess

In the comics, Cicada was the leader of a cult that was collecting remnants of Speed Force from people Flash had saved over the years in order to bring his dead wife back to life. Cicada was an older man who worshipped Flash in his own demented way.

On the show, Cicada was just out to kill any meta-human so he could use their power to save his daughter, and while these changes didn't ruin the character, the way the series treated him, and having him be killed by a future version of his daughter, pulled Cicada too far away from his comic book roots.

4 Elongated Man Stretched In All The Right Ways

The detective with the waving nose, Elongated Man and Flash have been friends for decades in the comics, and for fans it was exciting to finally see Ralph Dibny make his way to the Arrowverse. Even better, the series was doing a great job not only with Ralph but with his comic book bride Sue Dearbon.

Sadly Hartley Sawyer, who played Elongated Man, was fired from the series after a series of old tweets of his came to light, and with Elongated Man gone, Sue also all but vanished. Still, fans hold out hope that the show will recast everyone's favorite super-stretching private eye.

3 Jesse Quick Never Got Up To Speed

In the comics, Jesse Quick is the daughter of Golden Age heroes Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle. Using the mathematical formula her father taught her - 3X2(9YZ)4A - Jesse was able to run alongside the best speedsters in the DC Universe.

In the Arrowverse, Jesse Quick became Jesse Wells, the daughter of Earth-2's Harrison Wells. While that alone wasn't enough to make comic fans upset, her off-screen death in Crisis on Infinite Earths was. Seeing a character with such rich history in the comics be brushed away on the show didn't sit well with readers.

2 Grodd Was Better Than Anyone Could Have Hoped

When The Flash first started airing in 2014, no one really thought the series would tackle Grodd, even though the superintelligent gorilla had been teased almost from the start. But then, in Episode 14 of Season 1, Grodd did appear, and it was glorious.

Since his first appearance, Grodd has shown up a number of times across the Arrowverse, and even Gorilla City has made an appearance, delighting comic fans to no end. And while he is best known as a Flash villain, Grodd's best appearance may be in Legends of Tomorrow when he is sent back in time to murder a college-aged Barack Obama.

1 Kilg%re Was A Letdown

Kilg%re from the Arrowverse and from DC Comics

Kilg%re is a concept that is almost as hard to understand as its name is to say. In the comics, Kilg%re is an electro-mechano-organic intelligence that was trapped in a type of stasis until Wally West - the third Flash - accidentally released it. After Wally initially defeated Kilg%re, the machine being implanted itself in the body of Linda Park and used her to get close to Wally. When its plans were foiled again, Kilg%re put a piece of itself in Wally, and that piece would later save Wally's life. To say the least, Flash and Kilg%re have had an odd relationship. On the show, Kilg%re was just a former computer programmer who could control technology. Comic fans were less than enthused with this change.

NEXT: Flash: 10 Great Characters From The Comics Who Still Haven't Made It To The Show

Next What If? 10 Ways Thor’s Relationship With Loki Changed As An Only Child

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Derek Faraci (519 Articles Published)

Born and raised in New York, Derek Faraci moved to Los Angeles in 2001 and joined Activision where he worked on many successful franchises including Spider-Man, Tony Hawk, and Guitar Hero. In October 2009, Derek left Activision to join Scientifically Proven Entertainment. Since joining SPE, Derek has worked on Man vs. Wild: The Game, Blood of the Werewolf, and the film Sucker directed by Michael Manasseri. Derek has written more than 500 articles for a number of sites and magazines, including Blumhouse, CBR, Birth.Movies.Death, and Solis. Given the option, Derek would spend all of his time watching movies and reading comics. More of Derek's work can be found at DerekFaraci.com and you can find him on Twitter at @wh_woolhat.