The Flash's Barry Allen is the fastest man alive, and one of the Arrowverse's greatest heroes of all time. The Scarlet Speedster has saved the world on countless occasions, always stepping up to the plate when the going gets tough.
Despite his endless heroism, Barry has suffered a great deal throughout his young life, enduring more trials and tribulations than most people go through in an entire lifetime. Nevertheless, despite all the pain he's suffered, Barry remains the pure-hearted paragon of love.
Wedding Crashed
The romance between Barry Allen and Iris West was a commonly recurring storyline throughout The Flash's first four seasons, culminating in their big day, with all their friends (super and otherwise) in attendance. However, their wedding coincided with the beginning of the Arrowverse's crossover event "Crisis on Earth X," which led to the ceremony being crashed by interdimensional Nazis.
The otherworldly Nazi invasion of the West-Allen wedding put quite a damper on the big day, to say the least, ruining an otherwise beautiful ceremony. Thankfully for the two star-crossed lovers, they managed to hold a much smaller ceremony after the crisis had been resolved, even sharing their big day with Oliver and Felicity.
Imprisoned In The Speedforce
The season 3 finale of The Flash saw Barry and his team defeat his evil doppelganger Savitar, thereby saving Iris, who was destined to die by the villain's hand. Everything seemed to be resolved until a Speedforce storm caused by Savitar's absence from its interdimensional prison forced Barry to take the supervillain's place within the Speedforce. He was then forced to bid a tearful goodbye to his friends, believing he may never see them again.
Barry's willingness to sacrifice himself is part of what makes him one of The Flash's bravest characters. Thankfully for him, his friends refused to rest until they found a way to bring him back, even though it took several months to do so. By the time Barry was freed, his mind had collapsed in on itself, taking time and care to repair such damage.
Framed By The Thinker
Barry's battles with Clifford DeVoe, otherwise known as the Thinker, were far beyond anything he'd ever faced before. The supervillain's elevated intelligence made him an incredibly difficult opponent for Team Flash, as he always appeared to be ten steps ahead. In one of the season's storylines, DeVoe framed Barry for his death, causing him to be sent to prison for months.
This sequence of events tested Barry's resolve as a hero, especially given the fact that he knew he could escape at any time using his super speed. Instead, Barry stayed firm in his desire to clear his name the right way. Though there were times during his months in prison that nearly broke him, Barry still found a way to rise above the trials and become a stronger hero thereafter.
Joe's "Death"
During season 8's recent "Armageddon" storyline, Barry learns that, at some point in the future, he will descend into madness and destroy the world. Not long thereafter, Barry learns, much to his surprise, that his father figure, Joe West, had died. Barry tragically discovers that this must be the reason his future self snaps.
This moment came as a shock to Barry, as he had been certain that Joe was alive and well only days ago. Nevertheless, his friends insisted that Joe had been dead for months. All this turned out to be a scheme by the Reverse Flash in attempts to make Barry believe that he was losing his mind--and it very nearly worked.
Flashpoint
Much of Barry's young adult life dealt with him searching for his mother's murderer, whom he eventually discovered was the Reverse-Flash. After aborting his first-time travel mission to alter history and save his mother's life, Barry made a second trip almost a year thereafter, this time going through with his mission, and therefore creating a brand new timeline.
While this series of events may sound like they benefitted Barry, they only made matters worse in the long run. Barry soon discovered that his actions had broken time nearly beyond repair. The hero was then forced to say goodbye to his parents once more before restoring the original timeline, thereby mirroring the tragedy of the comic Flash's Flashpoint
Losing Nora
When Barry and Iris's daughter, Nora, arrives from the future, the lives of each member of Team Flash took a sharp left turn. Despite the pandemonium her presence caused, Nora became a bright spot on the team until the season 5 finale, when she sacrificed her entire timeline, including herself, to defeat the Reverse Flash yet again.
While each member of Team Flash had their moments to shine throughout the season, Nora was the best character of Season 5, partially due to just how joyous an addition she was to the show. Her erasure from the timeline was a loss that took Barry and Iris quite some time to surmount. However, Season 7 of the series revealed that Nora would indeed still be born, though the exact version that had come to the present day two years prior was still gone.
His Mother's Murder
Barry Allen was only eleven years old when his mother was murdered by a mysterious figure in the night. To make matters worse, his father was framed for his wife's death and was sent to prison for over a decade thereafter, despite Barry's pleas for the authorities to see his father's innocence.
This night was a turning point in the young Barry Allen's life, a moment that he would never forget for as long as he lived. It continued to haunt him throughout the show's first two seasons, as he visited the night of his mother's death twice in an attempt to change history. Even to this day, the murder of Nora Allen remains one of the most crucial events in Barry's past.
Betrayed By Wells
One of The Flash's best villains started as a friend and mentor to the Scarlet Speedster. Harrison Wells spent the entire first season of the series helping Team Flash, only to be revealed as Eobard Thawne, the Reverse-Flash. This revelation led to a brutal confrontation between the hero and his newly revealed arch-nemesis.
Thawne's reveal was a major blow to each member of Team Flash, but particularly to Barry. Not only was the man he had trusted with his life a liar and a fraud, but he was also the same mysterious figure that had murdered his mother all those years ago. Being betrayed by Wells severely damaged Barry's ability to trust, and darkened his overall view of the world.
Oliver's Death
During the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" event Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow, sacrificed his own life to save countless others from sure destruction as their world collapsed in on itself. Coming early in the crossover, Oliver's death left the other heroes to fight the ensuing battle on their own, without their leader.
Out of all the other superheroes involved in the Crisis, Barry was most affected by Oliver's death. He had fostered a brotherly bond with Oliver over the years and saw him as a mentor and friend. Barry even tried to resurrect his friend using a Lazarus Pit, only to be faced with the ultimate truth that Oliver was gone.
Father Killed
Barry's father Henry was a crucial figure in his life, even though he spent most of Barry's life in prison. Henry was finally released into the world during the show's second season when his name was cleared concerning his wife's murder. The family's celebration was short-lived, however, as mere months later, the supervillain Zoom punched a hole through Henry's heart.
This death would have been tragic regardless of the circumstances but was no doubt made all the worse because Barry was forced to watch as his father died, powerless to stop it. Worse still was the fact that Zoom had once claimed to be Barry's friend, only to betray him in the end, just like his archnemesis, Eobard Thawne.