Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for The Flash, season 8, episode 5, "Armageddon, Part 5."

The speech Iris West delivered in the final chapter of The Flash Armageddon crossover event exposed not only her personal hypocrisy regarding the death of Savitar but also the general double-standard regarding superheroes never killing. The idea that superheroes should never kill is one of the moral foundations of most comic books and comic book adaptations, though there are exceptions such as the DCEU and MCU. However, this edict has grown increasingly problematic in recent years, especially when certain villains have proven irredeemable.

The question of whether or not a hero should allow a villain to die through inaction lay at the heart of The Flash season 8, episode 5, "Armageddon, Part 5." The Reverse-Flash, Eobard Thawne, having rendered himself temporally unstable following his latest battle with The Flash, begged his archenemy for help. Thawne was confident that Team Flash wouldn't hesitate in saving his life, even as he gloated about how nothing would stop him from coming back to destroy Barry Allen short of being completely erased from reality. This led to a series of arguments between the assembled heroes, including the future Green Arrow, Mia Queen, who argued that Thawne was only getting what was coming to him and that Team Flash would "be a lot better off if he was gone."

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Iris West-Allen attempted to rebut Mia's statement, lecturing her about how her father, Oliver Queen, ruined his life by killing criminals in pursuit of the greater good. Iris insisted that Mia was wrong when she said that "sometimes, blood for blood is the answer," and that nothing good could come from Mia being willing to kill to save her brother William from his kidnappers. This neatly ignored that Iris West-Allen's hands were far from clean in this regard, having killed the speedster villain Savitar in The Flash season 3 finale to keep him from killing Barry Allen.

The Flash Joe West Season 8

A similar bit of hypocrisy arose later in "Armageddon, Part 5," as Joe West read both Barry and Iris the riot act after they decided that it was okay for them to wait out the clock and allow the Reverse-Flash to die. Joe threatened to disown Iris and Barry, telling them, "If you let Thawne die, you don't have to worry about him destroying our family." This seemed hypocritical on Joe's part, given that, as a career police officer, he was empowered to take lives in order to save lives. Indeed, The Flash's Joe West shot and killed the first Weather Wizard right in the pilot episode to save Barry Allen's life.

The question of whether or not a death can be justified, whether it is brought about by action or inaction, is a heavy one and worthy of deep philosophical consideration. Certainly, a moral person should try to preserve life whenever possible. However, while this question can and should be debated in a superhero setting, The Flash could have chosen better in determining which characters should be arguing against justifiable homicide given their histories.

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