The Flash has followed Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) evolving as the titular speedster from several angles throughout its run since 2014, and in that time, the eponymous character's costume has also evolved. For six years, viewers have seen Barry’s character development as the leading hero, his various powers that he has been gifted by the Speed Force, as well as a change of wardrobe with his multiple costumes.
Just like the heroes and villains do in the comics, the Arrowverse versions of these characters have upgraded their looks throughout the seasons. While certain designs have received more positive responses than others, in Barry’s case, his costume has gone through a few, but significant changes, as he continues his journey as the fastest man alive.
As Barry has grown, season after season, more aspects of his Flash costume from the comics have slowly gotten introduced. While certain elements have yet to get included, such as Barry’s golden boots, anything is possible with The Flash season 7 and beyond. Earlier this season, Gustin revealed that during the designing of his season 5 suit, there was a black suit before they had applied the red fabric to it. With a black suit theoretically still existing, it's always possible that a storyline with Barry wearing a black speedster costume could be introduced in future seasons.
The Flash 1.0 Suit (Seasons 1-3)
The first suit that Barry sported as the Scarlet Speedster was made by Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes). Cisco initially created the suits for firefighters — the flame-resistant material solved Barry's problem of his clothes catching fire due to friction. The Flash’s super-suit also concealed his identity. Academy Award-winning designer Colleen Atwood, who has created several initial costumes for other Arrowverse heroes, worked on the original version of Barry’s suit for the first season. While it was still a red bodysuit, the design went with a darker red initially, a departure from the brighter tone that Barry has in the comics. Interestingly enough, this ended up being the case for Atwood’s designs for Stephen Amell and Melissa Benoist’s first costumes on Arrow and Supergirl respectively. Despite keeping the original colors, they also ended up having darker versions of their costumes’ iconic color schemes.
A big change for long-time The Flash fans with Gustin’s first super-suit was the redesign of the mask. While his cowl in the comics comes with wing accents, the TV version reimagined them as shorter lightning bolts that also functioned as earpieces that allow Barry to communicate with the team. Even though the boots didn’t go with the full gold color scheme, Atwood included a shade of gold on them as a nod to the comics. While The Flash’s first design for Barry’s superhero outfit started on a solid note, the following versions got him closer towards a more comic book accurate look.
The Savitar Suit
A big surprise in The Flash season 3 was the reveal that the season’s big bad was a version of Barry, and Team Flash ended up facing a new threat with a too-familiar face. For the show’s third evil speedster, Savitar served as the main antagonist, and the Arrowverse incarnation was a significant reimagining. While using the name, this version of Savitar ended up being loosely based on the Future Flash from The New 52 version of The Flash, rather than Savitar. Despite not sporting his blue speedster suit, the TV presentation of Savitar had a protective armor that was created by the Philosopher’s Stone. While it technically wasn’t the main Barry Allen of Earth-1, it was still a time remnant of his from that universe that was stuck in a loop due to future Barry deciding to create time remnants to stop Savitar in the future.
The visual design of the armor presented Barry as more of a demon, similar to Hunter Zolmon’s (Teddy Sears) Zoom suit. Like the good Flash, Savitar’s armor came with some special functions that made this corrupted Barry a formidable enemy. From having a mental bond with the armor to being able to function without someone inside it, Savitar’s gear was one of the most resourceful suits Barry ever had before its destruction in the season 3 finale.
The Flash 2.0 Suit (Season 4)
During The Flash season 3, Barry ended up going to the future in “The Once and Future Flash,” which gave viewers a neat surprise about his next costume upgrade. In a now-erased timeline of 2024, Barry sees himself sporting a new costume — one that is even closer to being comic accurate. Not only is the red tone a lot brighter, but smaller details such as adding lightning around his arms is implemented as well as his golden belt, after having had a red one for three seasons. At the start of The Flash season 4, despite having never seen it when Barry went to 2024, Cisco somehow had designed the exact same design, just in case Barry ever returned from the Speed Force. It’s possible that Barry told Cisco off-screen that he had seen a future version of himself wear a brighter red suit, hence why Cisco had it prepared at the start of the following season.
Since the show never explains where Cisco got the idea, it’s impossible to tell how he got inspired to design it exactly like the one Barry had seen in the alternative timeline of 2024 (perhaps Cisco used his Vibe powers). With the third season having been criticized for its overwhelming dark tone, the suit upgrade was likely done to help establish the new direction for The Flash season 4 as the producers intended to make it more light-hearted like the first season. In the beginning, the new suit came with a lot of new features, thanks to Cisco, which ended up being both a blessing and a curse for Barry. When battling the villainous "Kilg%re" (Dominic Burgess), who had the ability to control technology, the new suit ended up becoming a disadvantage for Barry. After almost dying at the hands of Kilg%re, Cisco made sure to remove several of its more powerful functions, just to make sure it never got in the wrong hands.
The Flash 3.0 Suit (Season 5)
After Barry’s suit got destroyed in the season 4 finale, it was time for yet another upgrade — but this time, The Flash ended up going in the wrong direction with this design. When Nora West-Allen (Jessica Parker Kennedy) visited the past to meet her father, Barry was without a suit when they were going to go after Gridlock (Daniel Cudmore.) But Nora came with a few gifts from the future, one being the iconic Flash ring, which was a long-time coming for DC fans as Barry keeps his suit inside the ring in the comics. While the introduction of the ring became a huge moment for the series, the costume that was inside of it didn’t live up to its expectations. After having had a cowl with a chin strap for 4 seasons, Barry’s new suit came without a chin strap. When the costume initially leaked, before getting its official first look by The CW, it became a massive discussion point amongst fans.
The choice to remove the chin strap was a huge distraction when seeing Barry sporting the costume. While the bodysuit was no longer made out of leather, like the previous ones, the season 5 design never looked like it was completely done. The biggest upside to it was that The Flash had once again increased the shade of red as it was brighter than ever. Additionally, when Nora gave Barry the new suit, she revealed that Ryan Choi had actually made it in her timeline. Despite Ryan getting introduced during Crisis on Infinite Earths a season later, there are never any hints given that he was someone who could design costumes. Since Nora ended up erasing herself from existence, it's possible that her altering the timeline caused the future Ryan in never having any involvement with making Barry a new suit in the future. But seeing Barry’s new cowl without the chin strap became too distracting which is why it thankfully only survived one season.
The Flash 4.0 Suit (Season 6)
At the start of The Flash season 6, as the team began getting ready for the Crisis, Barry received another re-design for his costume and this time, the show got it right. Not only did they finally get the bodysuit's red color at the perfect shade, but the cowl got a fresh new look that took them closer to the comic design than ever. Not only was the chin strap back, but the lightning bolt earpieces had now been replaced by short wing accents, getting it to resemble Barry's cowl from the comic books. While little to no background is ever given about what caused Cisco to get Barry a new design, it's safe to say that it was the result of the critical reception the season 5 costume received. But regardless of the story reasoning for Barry getting a fresh look, the season 6 suit has ended up being The Flash's best adaptation of the iconic speedster costume.
Since there is an interest in Gustin's part to include the golden boots, it remains to be seen if next season will give his current suit another upgrade. If the golden boots replace his current red ones, the show will basically have completed the comic look. From having the Flash ring to contain his costume, a cowl that now has wing accents, to a full bodysuit that has the same red tone as his comic counterpart, the Arrowverse has throughout six years evolved Barry's costumes to the point where it is finally comic accurate on The Flash.