In 2011, DC announced its New 52 series, where the comic company revamped its image by launching 52 new comic book series. Just a year later, the first DCEU TV show aired to general success: Arrow kicked off an entire collection of superhero tv shows on the CW. Of the spin-offs the Emerald Archer inspired, The Flash is arguably the most successful.
Led by Grant Gustin, each season follows Barry Allen's growth as the Flash, by looking into both his struggles with relationships as well as with supervillains. The Flash is now 6 years old, and though Arrow has at last concluded, Flash is showing no signs of stopping, making it as good a time as any to look into 10 Behind-The-Scenes facts about the Scarlet Streak that you probably don't know.
Arrow Started The Flash
Though the CW has made it something of a habit to trial a character in an existing show before granting them their own spin-off series, The Flash was the very first show to start off that way. Early on in Arrow's run, Barry Allen was featured: at this point in time, The Flash had no episodes written or planned. It was based on the popularity of Grant Gustin's Flash on Arrow that kickstarted the show.
Iris West-Allen's Wedding
In the 4th season of The Flash, during the 'Crisis on Earth-X' crossover event, Iris and Barry finally got married. In an attempt to add some level of realism and true emotion for the actors in the scene, Candice Patton, who portrays Iris West, was given the chance to pick out the wedding dress herself. She flew all the way out to Monique Lhullier in Los Angeles to get the perfect gown.
The Significance of '52'
Easter eggs, especially in massive comic book franchises, have become hugely popular. The prevalence of these little hidden nods and images likely owes its thanks, at least in part, to Marvel, but The Flash certainly includes its fair share of hard-to-spot easter eggs. As a nod to the 'New 52' 2011 DC revamp, every episode of season 1 of The Flash includes a hidden 52. It will take some sharp eyes and several days worth of binging to spot them all.
New Comics
Like all of the shows in the CW's Arrowverse, The Flash is, of course, based upon a long-standing comic book series. And just like the other shows in the Arrowverse, The Flash does take a fair amount of liberties with its source material.
Perhaps this, combined with the popularity of the show, contributed to the creation of a brand new Flash comic book series, which serves as a counterpart to the show, rather than the other way around.
Zooping
One of the coolest things about the production of The Flash is the way they were able to capture the lightning streaks that 'speedsters' generate. In comparison to cinematic companions, The Flash's version of these colorful streaks is arguably much, much better (certainly looks better than what Justice League gave us). The actual effect of blurring through a shot, sending papers flying into the air amidst a stream of red lightning quickly became a trademark for the show, and was actually named by the cast and crew: they call it 'zooping.'
Batman Beyond
As mentioned earlier, DC loves dropping little Easter eggs in their shows. In the 5th season of The Flash, Nora is introduced as a speedster from the future. One thing she brings back from the future is a bit of slang, specifically the word "schway," which is a substitute for the word "cool." This bit of slang actually originated on the DC animated show Batman Beyond, which followed the adventures of a retired Bruce Wayne as he trained the next-generation version of the caped-crusader.
Grant Gustin On Arrow
Before The Flash became a reality, the casting process for the titular lead took more than two months, an unusually long time for the pilot. Before Grant Gustin was, at last, cast in the role, he was almost cast in the role of Roy Harper on Arrow, which would have been more than a little weird, as Gustin perfectly portrays Barry Allen, and Colton Haynes is the perfect Roy.
Contingency Plans
The CW's Arrowverse is now home to half a dozen shows, including Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Black Lightning, and Batwoman. But before the entire Arrowverse had been so successfully and completely constructed, the earlier spin-offs did have built in contingency plans.
If The Flash had met with failure during its first season, it was slated that Grant Gustin, as Barry Allen would become a series regular on Arrow. If that had happened, team Arrow would have included Oliver, Dig, Felicity, and Barry, which would have drastically shifted the dynamic of the show. All in, we're glad that this did not have to happen, for many reasons.
Ezra Miller
As a sequel to Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, Zack Snyder's Justice League served as the first time we would get to see Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, Aquaman, Cyborg, and The Flash together on the big screen. And though this film came out 3 years after The Flash first premiered, Grant Gustin, who perfectly embodies Barry Allen, was not considered for the role, as DC wanted to keep the DCEU separated from the DCU. But it wasn't Grant Gustin who got upset over this casting call, it was his occasional co-star Stephan Amell, who plays Oliver Queen. Amell said that the way "Warner Bros. announced the slate of DC movies could have been handled better," though he did say that he was sure Ezra Miller would do a good job. The actor went on to appear in an episode of Flash alongside Gustin.
Actors and Directors
Something unique about the CW's Arrowverse is the expansive sense of family around the cast and crew. Several actors on The Flash were even given the opportunity of directing some big episodes. Both Tom Cavanagh (Reverse Flash/Harry's) and Danielle Panabaker (Caitlin) have stepped into the director's chair from time to time, with Cavanagh directing 3 episodes and Panabaker directing 2.