Since the very beginning, The Flash has been one of the Arrowverse shows that introduce several characters from the pages of DC Comics. From the multiple heroes to the vast gallery of villains, the CW series has enjoyed its many comic book characters throughout the past five seasons. But one of the most fun things the showrunners get to do when the show introduces a hero or villain is to adapt their comic book costume.
While some of the comic characters that have come in haven’t gotten a costume, many of them. With the series getting into its sixth season it’s time to go through The Flash’s best costumes for both our heroes as well as some of the show’s villains.
Elongated Man
In the fourth season, we got introduced to one of Flash’s greatest allies from the comics, the Elongated Man (Hartley Sawyer.) While the first half of the season didn’t put Ralph in a good light at first, it was the second half where we began seeing Ralph’s journey to becoming a hero.
When it comes to the Elongated Man costume, it’s a mixed position. On the one hand, the color and design fits in with the style that The Flash has established with its costume designs. On the other hand, not having the orange aspect of his costume from the comics is still greatly missed. Regardless, it’s still a great costume that has earned a spot on this list.
Reverse-Flash
There is no Flash without his greatest enemy Eobard Thawne a.k.a. the Reverse-Flash (Tom Cavanagh.) Set as the show’s first big bad, the Reverse-Flash has come and gone as he pleases. Except for that one time when his distant relative Eddie Thawne (Rick Cosnett) shot himself so that Eobard wouldn’t exist in the timeline.
With that said, the Reverse-Flash costume is one of the show’s earliest solid costume designs. It still remains unexplained why the show took inspiration from Daniel West’s costume from the comics in the New 52. Ideally, we will hopefully see Reverse-Flash get a new suit eventually that is a complete yellow suit with red boots.
Jesse Quick
While we haven’t had many of them on The Flash, the show has had a few female speedsters along the way. One of them is the wonderful Jesse Chambers a.k.a. Jesse Quick (Violett Beane) who has been absent from the show for a while. Jesse has had a few choices of costumes in her comic run. In the series, however, her costume has quite the origin story.
In Season 2, Eliza Harmon a.k.a. Trajectory (Allison Paige) tried to become a speedster through Velocity 9. But when it caused her to dissolve from existence, she left behind her costume which in turn became Jesse’s in Season 3. Despite belonging to a former baddie, this is a great costume whose color schemes pay homage to her suits in the comics.
Jay Garrick
One of the major fan-favorites on The Flash is our speedster in red from Earth-3: Jay Garrick (John Wesley Shipp.) He was set up as a big mystery in Season 2 with the pay-off of having Shipp come in as the Golden Age Flash which was a major blast.
One of the greatest aspects of his character is, without doubt, his costume. This is a phenomenal modernization of his costume that he has in the comics. While a big lightning bolt across his costume would have been sweet, the CW costume for Jay still does wonders and the most important thing is the fact that he still has his winged helmet.
Vibe
Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes) has been with the series since the very beginning as the team’s resident tech guru. But just like in the comics, the TV version had him become the superhero Vibe until his big decision in Season 5 to get rid of his powers.
While his powers may be gone, it still doesn’t change the fact that his costume was greatly adapted from the comics. The only major change was that they turned his vest into a full-fleshed jacket which is understandable. Given they film in Vancouver, Canada, having Valdes run around in a vest with cold weather like that would not be fair.
XS
In Season 4, fans got teases to the arrival of XS in Season 5. Starting with Iris West-Allen (Candice Patton) getting temporary super-speed for an episode, sported a jacket that was inspired by XS’s costume in the comics. Then we actually got the introduction of Nora West-Allen (Jessica Parker Kennedy) who in this universe is the first XS in the Arrowverse.
The costume is a wonderful adaptation, changing it from a bodysuit to a leather jacket which still has XS’s logo on it. Even though Nora may no longer exist, it still doesn’t take away from the great work they did on adapting the XS costume.
Killer Frost (Season 6)
Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker) has had a handful of costumes as the chilly villain-turned-hero Killer Frost in the last couple of seasons. Sadly, Caitlin didn’t exactly get a costume in Season 5, but Season 6 is about to change all of that.
Revealed through production on the premiere, Panabaker introduced fans to her new costume that she will be sporting in Season 6. This is not only one of the best costumes done on the show, but one of Killer Frost’s best costumes of all time. This is another one of those costumes that fit perfectly with the tone that the show has set for the costume department.
Kid Flash
One of the famous speedsters besides Barry Allen has also been part of the show’s history. We are of course talking about Wally West a.k.a. Kid Flash (Keiynan Lonsdale), brother of Iris who became Flash’s partner in Season 3.
When it comes to Kid Flash’s costume, it literally came to life straight from the comics. Everything about Kid Flash’s costume in the TV version of Wally is accurate to his first costume in the comics.
Citizen Cold
As much as we love the late Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller), his doppelganger Citizen Cold from Earth-X had the far better costume. Introduced in the Crisis on Earth-X crossover, we meet the heroic version of Leonard Snart, who goes by Leo, as one of the Freedom Fighters on Earth-X.
This isn’t just a regular parka as they have some nice ice designs to make it a bit more comic book-y. In addition, he wears the famous visor that Leonard has in the comics. The costume department deserves lots of props for finding a natural way of spicing up the costume for Leonard’s doppelganger and making him be different from his Earth-1 version.
The Flash (Season 4)
Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) has had a number of costumes on The Flash throughout the five seasons that have aired so far. While Barry is getting a suit upgrade again in Season 6, with a yet-to-be-revealed cowl that will be different from all the other ones, Season 4 is as of right now Barry’s best costume.
This one has the perfect tone of red that is just bright enough. It’s also the costume that introduces the famous lightning around the wrists like the comic version. While still sticking to red boots rather than yellow ones, they do add some lightning things just above the boots. While we look forward to seeing his Season 6 suit in action, his Season 4 costume is the best one.