Do you think Barry Allen's true origin will ever make a comeback?

[Jon-El]

I haven't been a regular reader in almost 20 years but I do know bits & pieces of the current Barry Allen story. I honestly like the original story where's he just had a normal life before he became Flash. I think that's just as inspirational as he had a tragic upbringing to deal with. He was always a regular guy to me. Married. Normal job. I guess it adds some layers to the character but I was good with the original story.

[Robanker]

I'd hope so. Dead parents are too common in the JLA, and it made Barry's presence there that much more interesting because he was simply a good man given the chance to do something extraordinary.

Get rid of that garbage where he generates the Speed Force, too. That just stank of trying to prove he was better than Wally so we should be grateful he's back. Make him ride the lightning same as the rest. Don't tell us he's better, show us why.

Everything they've done with him since his return has kind of diminished him to me.

[Frontier]

It's already simultaneous on 3 media: Johns went to town with this one. And right now it's already way too ingrained in public consciousness. The one thing that I can see changing that is if, at some point, we have a cartoon as succesful as JLU that doesn't use the origin. But I find this unlikely, ' cause Johns is not going anywhere.

I've actually wondered how they would be able to adapt it for a possible Flash cartoon, assuming it dives into Barry's origin at all.

The only way I could think of is to say that Nora "vanished" and Barry's been trying to find out what happened to her.

What I enjoy about Geoff Johns's retooling of the origin is that it doesn't actually change who the character is for those who already liked him. Unlike the TV show, the comics Barry still would have become The Flash without his mother dying prior to The Reverse-Flash changing time.

That was still true in the TV show, where there was the original timeline before Thawne went back in time and killed Nora and kick-started the time loop and the Particle Accelerator and Barry becoming The Flash happened later then they did in the current Arrowverse timeline.

[JackDaw]

It feels “wrong” to me to let such a material change stand UNLESS there are really substantial and valid reasons for the change.

Were there?

In my jaundiced view no...it feels to me like it was Geoff J recycling one of his favourite stories (a villain going into hero’s past and slaying parents), just because he can...and end result not being that compelling and convincing.

To write it well readers would need to be convinced that such a key event had an impact on Barry’s character in a way that made reader interested, sympathetic, and feeling overall that the personality change flowed from the trauma. I’ve seen few readers convinced the subsequent writing really achieved that.

[JackDaw]

If the story had been seen through Barry may well have ended up in an impossible dilemma.

To some degree his personality would have changed. He may courted and fallen in love with a different woman. They may have had kids.

Then when the chance comes to go back and “correct” the past...what on Earth does he do?

[The_Sneezing_Stormtrooper]

Especially if they brought back the "Iris West was really born in the future but sent back to our time in the past" angle and it turned out Barry married Iris only to learn Iris-from-the-future was the one whose body Nora's consciousness was transferred into.

Bingo

On a more serious note. To properly answer the question; I agree that angst is not even close to being the center-point of where the Barry Allen character shines. I do think that the problem is more complex than that though. When I read silver age Flash, I almost read it as a lost era of scifi in general. There was almost a twilight zone or 60s Doctor Who approach in terms of how creative and weird they were willing to get with the original stuff. I kind of miss that stuff. Barry was always a character to me who could look at an impossibly strange situation and come up with an incredibly intelligent solution in a split second situation. That was his greatest power, his super speed just gave him the ability to make it happen. A lot of those early issues aren't afraid to get really weird either. I'd like to see more of that. If they can give me that tone with a dead Nora, I'm happy.

[AquaLantern]

I rather have Barry’s “nice guy” origin than the generic “my love one is dead!” backstory.

[Cap'n_RDM]

I'd hope so. Dead parents are too common in the JLA, and it made Barry's presence there that much more interesting because he was simply a good man given the chance to do something extraordinary.

Get rid of that garbage where he generates the Speed Force, too. That just stank of trying to prove he was better than Wally so we should be grateful he's back. Make him ride the lightning same as the rest. Don't tell us he's better, show us why.

Everything they've done with him since his return has kind of diminished him to me.

I agree with this post 100%.

[Thor2014]

In recent years, Barry Allen's Post-FLASH REBIRTH origin story...with his mother being murdered during his childhood and his father in prison for the crime (which he didn't commit) has become canon in three media: the regular mainstream DC Comics, the CW TV series, and the DCEU movies. With Geoff Johns, the creator of this concept, entrenched in a high position in DC's hierarchy, it's unlikely that this development will go away any time soon.

At some point, however, Johns will leave DC behind. After that, is it possible that DC might ever restore Barry's classic, original background that he had for the first fifty years of his existence, with both of his parents alive and well throughout his lifetime and Flash career? With Barry and Iris having been in a relationship even before Barry became the Flash, and with them having been married for years?

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

I don't think so, because I feel that they wouldn't find that origin 'tragic' and 'dramatic' enough. We've seen this trope in movies for years, the detective driven by the murder of his loved ones.I for one wouldn't be against a glorious victory over RF one day, but I don't see that happening.

It's like with GL and Emerald Dawn where Hal's father's fiery death was an integral part of his development. Johns played up on that aspect during much of his run.

[DragonPiece]

Like others said, Geoff Johns made sure the current origin is in every piece of media. Hardly anyone even recognizes the original origin anymore.

[Frontier]

Like others said, Geoff Johns made sure the current origin is in every piece of media. Hardly anyone even recognizes the original origin anymore.

Well, original Barry's origin was "comic book fan hit by lightning, gets super-speed," which is kind of absurdly simple when you think about it .

[Ascended]

I do hope that eventually this gets fixed. It seems unlikely given how prevalent it's become (and so quickly!) but I'd like to see Barry "finish the story" and defeat Zoom, saving his mother in the process, and restoring his origin. It might even provide a place to find a good use for Thawne, who is so inferior to Hunter Zolomon I can't stand it.

Barry's origin is a little bland, admittedly, but that's fine; not everyone needs a crazy interesting and involved origin story. It's far more important that the stories being told right now are interesting. Besides, I feel like the classic origin fits the Everyman elements of Barry; he's such an Everyman (at least by League standards) that even his origin is a little....average.

[Frontier]

I do hope that eventually this gets fixed. It seems unlikely given how prevalent it's become (and so quickly!) but I'd like to see Barry "finish the story" and defeat Zoom, saving his mother in the process, and restoring his origin. It might even provide a place to find a good use for Thawne, who is so inferior to Hunter Zolomon I can't stand it.

I think Thawne and Zolomon are pretty even as far as Reverse-Flashes go, if only because they both serve the function of being their respective Flash's biggest enemy in different but very effective ways.

[Kyer]

In recent years, Barry Allen's Post-FLASH REBIRTH origin story...with his mother being murdered during his childhood and his father in prison for the crime (which he didn't commit) has become canon in three media: the regular mainstream DC Comics, the CW TV series, and the DCEU movies. With Geoff Johns, the creator of this concept, entrenched in a high position in DC's hierarchy, it's unlikely that this development will go away any time soon.

At some point, however, Johns will leave DC behind. After that, is it possible that DC might ever restore Barry's classic, original background that he had for the first fifty years of his existence, with both of his parents alive and well throughout his lifetime and Flash career? With Barry and Iris having been in a relationship even before Barry became the Flash, and with them having been married for years?

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

I hope so.

Of course I also hope that they bring back Jonathon and Martha, Wally's Rudy and Mary, and anyone else who got killed off solely by editorial decree. Family interaction stories are much more fun to explore than "Oh my gosh my loved one's deeeaad. Cue drama."

[MajorHoy]

Well, original Barry's origin was "comic book fan hit by lightning, gets super-speed," which is kind of absurdly simple when you think about it.

But, look ay Jay Garrick's origin!