The Flash Characters Ranked

The Flash Characters Ranked

About a week ago, The Flash season 7. So in today’s blog post I’m going to be ranking the 20 main characters on The Flash. When I say main characters I mean characters that are a series regular. So characters like Julian Albert, Henry Allen, or Firestorm were never made series regular, so they aren’t included on this list. But I also decided to throw in the villains, because some of them should have been series regulars. Let’s get started! 

NOTE: This post will contain SPOILERS for this show. So if you haven’t seen this show, be careful what you read!

22. Orlin Dwyer and Grace Gibbons/Cicada: I know these are technically two different characters, but basically one would be 20 and the other would be 19, so I just decided to include them both in this one slot. But Cicada is my least favorite main villain on The Flash, I don't think they wrote the character really well and the acting from both of the actors isn’t very good. Chris Kline and Sarah Carter just didn’t capture what the writers wanted. Both of their motivations are pretty generic, and boring. The idea of the main villain for season being a meta-human serial killer is an interesting idea, and could have been explored much better. But as is, it’s a bad character and a bad villain, so Cicada is in last place on the list. 

21. Nora Allen/The Speed Force: Very meh when it comes to characters and villains on The Flash. But I think the concept of The Speed Force being a villain was very flawed and was interesting, like I could see them thinking about it in a storyroom. But the way they presented her in the season didn’t work for me, it came out of nowhere. And the actress, Michelle Harrison is great as Barry’s mom and the good side of The Speed Force, but when she’s the villain I don’t think her acting is very good. She doesn’t have this intimidating presence about her, so a villain that’s pretty mediocre, not bad, not good, just pretty forgettable. 

20. Iris West-Allen: Now I know some people on the internet love the character of Iris, and think she is a top 5 character. But I’ve never connected with the character as much as other characters. I thought her best season was in season 1 before she knew that Barry was The Flash, and was just Barry’s friend. But when she joined the team in season 2, and became the leader of Team Flash in season 4 I just didn’t understand it. The only reason why she was the leader of Team Flash in season 4 was because she was married to Barry, which is a stupid reason all together. Now I think season 7 was a good season for the character of Iris, they side-lined her. And I think that’s when the character works best when she’s a side character. 

19. Eva McCulloch/Mirror Monarch: If I did this ranking after season 6, she might have been below Iris. But I thought the first two episodes in season 7 really made the character better. Not by a whole lot, but just a little bit. They gave her an interesting backstory in season 6, and had a lot of room to create a really good villain for both Barry and Iris. But she’s also pretty forgettable, and that’s the big thing with this character she’s forgettable. The actress didn’t do anything to make her pop or stand-out, but also didn’t do anything to make her a bad character like Cicada. So she’s fine, and has some nice elements and I like her dynamic with Iris in season 6. But a meh character in my opinion. 

18. Wally West/Kid-Flash: This is a character that I think works better in guest appearances. When he showed up in season 6 episode 14, Death of the Speed Force I thought it was great, and that episode was great. And in season 5 when he showed up he worked great. But in season 2 and 3 when he was such a main character to the storylines I don’t think the character was used very well. Keiynan Lonsdale isn’t a bad actor; he does a good job, but he can’t carry a season-long storyline. So I hope that in future seasons, they DON’T promote him back to series regular and just appear a couple times in a season, that is when the characters work the best. 

17. Cecile Horton: A fine character, a character that I don’t have any big issues with. But she’s also a character that doesn’t do a whole lot to stand-out or be really memorable. She’s just there to be the love interest to Joe, and she fills that role well enough. But I’ve never found her character partially interesting. Episode 13 of this season, Masquerade was heavily focused on the Cecile character, but I don't think she’s an interesting enough character to lead an episode. And I did not like that episode, it was my least favorite episode of the season. So a character that’s fine, but not super memorable. 

16. Allegra Garcia: A character that they’ve done a whole lot with in season 6 and season 7. She started off as a troubled kid who Iris gained her trust, and she joined the newspaper. She joined Team Flash, and became a hero in season 7. That’s a nice arc to give a character that really is just a side character. The actress I think does a solid job playing the character. Now, the stuff with Ultraviolet in the back-half of season 7, I didn’t care for that all that much. But still a good solid character, that I think they gave a nice arc to and has an interesting backstory. Not a top tier, not a fan favorite but fits the show really well. 

15. The Monitor: A very important character to the Arrowverse as a whole, where he helped set in motion Crisis on Infinite Earths. He told Oliver what he needed to do in Crisis, and told Barry that The Flash must die in Crisis. He’s intimidating, and has a nice screen presence. I feel like he’s a character that is more interesting than engaging. Because he shows up through-out season 6 to just tell Barry important information, but they don’t give him a storyline or really anything like that to do. He fills his purpose greatly on the show, but that’s about it. Also, the costume and the look for the character isn’t my favorite, not bad though. 

14. Chester P. Runk: A character that was a bit annoying in season 6, and when they promoted him to a series regular in season 7, I didn’t like it. But I have really enjoyed what they did with him. Episode 6 was the episode where he really shined, where we got to see his family. And learn more about him as a person. And I like that he’s kind of like the new Cisco, the funny tech guy. But being very different from Cisco, that’s what I like most about the character. The actor is fun, so I like this character and think he was used much better in season 7 then he was in season 6. And hopefully in season 8 they do more solid things with him. 

13. Nora West-Allen/XS: This is a frustrating character for me, because so many things about the character work. But a number of things don’t really work for me. First up, I liked Jessica Parker Kennedy in the role, she has this fun personality about her. And she has great chemistry with Grant Gustin and Candice Patton. And they present a bunch of interesting ideas for her character, but I think the ideas are better than the execution. The idea of it being revealed that she is working with Thawne is great, but I think this gives some weak writing in the final third of the season. And when they made her a villain in one episode, it didn’t work for me and that was my least favorite episode of season 5.

12. Clifford DeVoe/The Thinker: This is the most frustrating character on the list for me, because I thought The Thinker was a great villain in the first 9 episodes of season 4. But in the middle is when the character lost me. When The Thinker is played by Neil Sandilands it’s great, I think Neil is great in the role, he’s outsmarting Team Flash. But when they do the body swap stuff in the middle of the season that’s when the character went from great to good. But in episode 18 when Neil returns he becomes great again. Now The Thinker has a great rivalry with Barry in the season, and I like that The Thinker is something different, he's not a speedster. So I am all over this character. I think he’s good but could have been great. 

11. Eddie Thawne: A character that I bet a lot of people forgot about, but I’ve always dug his character. What I like about him is that he’s just a good guy, they don’t give him a dark and depressing backstory, he's just the love interest to Iris and the guy that Barry is jealous of. But he’s never meant to any character he helps in any way that he can. I like his chemistry with everybody on the show. Rick Cosnett, the actor that plays him, said that he will return on the show before the show ends, and I don’t know when or how that will turn-out but it could be interesting to say the least. 

10. Barry Allen/Savitar: I know a lot of people throw Savitar some hate because he was the third speedster in a row as the big bad for the show. The idea of having an evil version of Barry be the villain of the season is great and that provides Grant Gustin to do some great acting in like episode 23 or whenever Savitar visits STAR Labs. The look of the character is great, I think he’s one of the best looking villains in the entire Arrowverse. Two things really didn’t work for me. First up, I think the reveal that Barry is Savitar was way too late in the season. Most people by that point in time guessed that it was some version of Barry which holds the reveal down a bit. Second, some of the logic doesn’t make sense, and that’s true with the season as a whole. But still a solid villain and character. 

9. Ramsey Russo/Bloodwork: I thought this character was one of the best parts about season 6, which I had a few issues with. But what I liked most about the character was that he was something different. Barry and friends hadn’t teamed up with somebody like this before. He’s a good guy that is friends with Caitlin that through his experiments causes something to go wrong. It sounds like a number of Spider-Man villains and even The Hulk, but I think it’s an interesting concept to have a great 8 episode long story. The actor that they got to portray this character was great, he nailed the role. Now, I wish that we saw more of the monster side of the character. Meaning really only in episode 8 was when he became the big monster and I wish we got more of that in season 6, but besides that a great villain on the show. 

8. Caitlin Snow/Killer Frost: One of the characters that has been with the show since the very beginning, and this is a bit of a frustrating one. When the character shined as Caitlin Snow was in season 1 where she was just a pretty and smart scientist who helped Barry when he got injured. But when I think Killer Frost was in her prime in season 3 where she was an anti-hero and a threat towards Team Flash, that storyline was one of the best parts about season 3. And in seasons 4,5,and 6 I don’t think they used either Caitlin or Frost in a great way. But I thought Frost’s storyline was a great element in season 7. And I think Danielle Panabaker nails both Caitlin and Frost. I think the character worked best in the first, third, and latest season but everything was fine. 

7. Joe West: Similar to Eddie, what I like about this character is that he’s just a good guy. He’s kind hearted, loyal, and is willing to help in anyways that he can. I heard somebody say that he’s like the father that we all wanted, but we never got. And I think that is true about the character, he’s just a sweet father figure to Barry. I think his plot line in season 7 with Kramer was one of the best plot lines in season 7. And with what has happened in 2020, it helped ground the show. And I think Jesse L. Martin is great as the character, he can be fun, caring, and dramatic when he needs to be. So easily, this is a top tier character. 

6. August Heart/Godspeed: In a season that was pretty uneven, I thought Godspeed was one of the best parts of the season. I really dug his story in the back half of season 7. He posed a threat towards Team Flash, you felt this danger that he brought to the screen. And I thought as you moved into the finale, it was when he really shined where you saw the acting and where he was an actual villain that needed to be taken out. His final fight with Barry is great, and has a lot of nice little touches of Star Wars thrown into the mix. So I wasn’t sure how this character was going to be in season 7, but I found him to be a nice addition to season 7. 

5. Ralph Dibny/The Elongated Man: I’m really bummed that this Hartley Sawyer is no longer on the show, but I’ve always really dug this character. He’s so funny and in such a different way from all of the other funny characters. Where his personality is just so larger than life and so vibrant that it fits the show. And even the character of Elongated Man fits the tone and vibe of the show really well. This character shined in season 4, and I liked his relationship with Sue in season 6. Hartley Sawyer is great as the character. They didn’t really have any big missteps with the character. The best thing about him was how funny, fun, and charming he was and that dynamic he brought to the show was really great. So I do think he’s a top 5 character. 

4. Hunter Zolomon/Zoom: One of the great and classic Flash villains on the show. And there is a reason why he’s talked about as one of the high points when it comes to villains on the show. The look of Zoom is great, I said that Savitar has one of the best villain costumes inside of the Arrowverse. I think Zoom has the greatest villain in the Arrowverse. He was the big bad in season 2 so I think it was ok to do another speedster as the big bad for a season. And he was different enough from Reverse-Flash that it was still interesting. When they introduced him in the first episode of season 2 as Jay Garrick we all thought that he was a good guy, but when that twist happened it was unexpected and shocking because of the information that they gave us. So this is just a fantastic character, and a character that I love so many things about. 

3. Cisco Ramon/Vibe: One of the heart and soul characters on the show, and I was really really bummed when he left the show in episode 12 of season 7. But I love Cisco, he’s one of the most iconic Arrowverse characters and a character that I feel like people can relate to. I’m a big nerd of Star Wars, movies, and superheroes and that is basically what Cisco is into. I love it when he makes a pop culture reference to some movie and it’s great. Carlos Valdes is great as Cisco, it’s a casting that is a lightning in the bottle it’s so hard to imagine anyone else besides Carlos playing Cisco. But I don't think they really had a misstep with the character, I liked all of the storylines that they gave him. He’s fun, charming, relatable, and a great actor so he’s one of the best characters. 

2.Harrison Wells/Eobard Thawne/Reverse-Flash: Now, basically this placement can also just be every character that Tom Cavanagh played on the show. I didn’t want to include multiple versions of Wells on this list so that is what this rank is. My favorite would be Eobard Thawne from season 1 and a little bit in season 5, the storyline in The Flash Season 1 might be the best season long storyline in the entire Arrowverse. And a big part of that is the Eobard Thawne character that just poses himself as Harrison Wells, a mentor and father figure towards STAR Labs but the audience and the character later learn that Wells is The Reverse-Flash, and it’s filled with twists and reveals. Tom Cavanagh is great as all of the versions of Wells that he has played, and he portrayed one of the best villains inside of the Arrowverse. I knew that he was going to be very high up on this list. 

1. Barry Allen/The Flash: The main character on the show, is just a fantastic tv show character that has a number of great things about him. He’s played so well by Grant Gustin who nails this character. Grant is my Flash, he will always be my Flash, he can be fun and charming when he needs to be. But can also be dramatic when he needs to be, he can play all of it so well. And the character of Barry Allen in the comics, movies, and tv shows is written to be this fun and likable character that also has super speed and that translates so well to this version of The Flash. He’s one of the most important characters to the Arrowverse and he’s one of my favorite television characters of all time. So easily without question, Barry Allen aka The Streak aka The Scarlet Speedster aka The Fastest Man Alive aka The Flash is number 1 on this list.