THE FLASH: Today Is The Day Barry Allen Goes Missing After He Vanishes In Crisis; Grant Gustin Responds

In The Flash lore, today is the day the Scarlet Speedster vanishes following a "Crisis" in Central City. Now, we're looking back at that and sharing Grant Gustin's reaction to this special DC anniversary.

By JoshWilding - Apr 25, 2024 10:04 AM EST

Filed Under: The Flash

If you're a fan of The Flash TV series, April 25, 2024 is a date which should be instantly familiar to you.

After first playing Barry Allen in Arrow, Grant Gustin raced into his own series on October 7, 2014, with that run coming to an end last May after 9 seasons.

During the series premiere's closing moments, it was revealed that S.T.A.R. Labs' Harrison Wells didn't really need a wheelchair and that, in a secret room, he had technology which offered him a glimpse into the future.

It was there we saw a newspaper headline which read, "FLASH MISSING VANISHES IN CRISIS."

If you weren't watching The Flash at the time, it's difficult to explain just how huge a moment this was for fans back in 2014. Not only did it set the stage for an adaptation of Crisis on Infinite Earths, but it strongly hinted that The CW had long-term plans for the show.

While The Flash didn't make it to 2024, that headline was addressed. Various time-travel shenanigans changed that headline and it was in 2019 when the Scarlet Speedster eventually vanished; however, there was a twist.

As time passed, the headline changed to reveal The Flash would vanish on December 10, 2019, the same day an episode of the four-part Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover aired. However, it was actually the Earth-90 version of the Fastest Man Alive, played by John Wesley Shipp, who sacrificed himself. With that, the prophecy was fulfilled, and Barry lived to fight another day.

Of course, one could argue that The Flash's cancellation and the fact this series is no longer airing means he really did vanish.

The CW has moved away from scripted television in recent years, leading to both Batwoman and Legends of Tomorrow being scrapped. The Flash was allowed to end its story, and when Superman & Lois's fourth season airs later this year, the Arrowverse will well and truly be dead.

Moving forward, the majority of DC TV shows will be set in the DCU with all of them produced under the watchful eye of DC Studios' James Gunn and Peter Safran.

0️⃣4️⃣ 2️⃣5️⃣ 2️⃣4️⃣ 🗓️ #TheFlash pic.twitter.com/3l3aHPebTi
— The Flash (@CW_TheFlash) April 25, 2024

Today marks the day #TheFlash goes missing in crisis.

The article first appeared in the pilot of the series 10 years ago in 2014. pic.twitter.com/n1c7XMGaNo
— Nexus Point News (@NexusPointNews) April 24, 2024

Today is the day in 2024 that THE FLASH vanishes in Crisis

Happy Crisis Day ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/2dLjJkMJmr
— DC Film News (@DCFilmNews) April 25, 2024

Gustin has also chimed in to share the following:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Grant Gustin (@grantgust)

THE FLASH Star Grant Gustin On Why He Was Unsure About Playing Barry Allen And His Talks With James Gunn

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THE FLASH Star Grant Gustin Confirms He's Spoken With James Gunn...But NOT About The Scarlet Speedster

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39 Comments

Evansly - 4/25/2024, 10:06 AM

The Flash disappeared for me after the second season

Lisa89 - 4/25/2024, 10:07 AM

@Evansly - Truth!!

TheVisionary25 - 4/25/2024, 10:16 AM

@Evansly - lol

S1 remained its peak (though 2 was good too)

It was up and down from there , got close at times too atleast 2 but never could reach the heights of S1 again.

marvel72 - 4/25/2024, 10:20 AM

@Evansly - I think that's when I dropped the show.

lazlodaytona - 4/25/2024, 10:20 AM

@Evansly - 💯 agree...
There was some stuff in season 3 that was alright, but that show's quality took a nose dive quickly...

DarthOmega - 4/25/2024, 10:54 AM

@Evansly - Preach

Origame - 4/25/2024, 10:09 AM

Imagine if today was the day that God awful final episode aired. An absolute disgrace.

DarthOmega - 4/25/2024, 10:54 AM

@Origame - I couldn't make it that far. It seemed like everyone got super powers at one point. It was getting too silly.

Origame - 4/25/2024, 11:14 AM

@DarthOmega - oh you haven't seen anything yet.

The finale included the return of villains like savitar, reverse flash, and zoom. All of which were taken out my the backup members of the team, not by Barry or wally.

DarthOmega - 4/25/2024, 12:08 PM

@Origame - ffs

TheVisionary25 - 4/25/2024, 10:13 AM

Such an intriguing tease that was never paid off…

Granted that due to how many instances in which the timeline changed means that this could have been cancelled out so oh well.

Anyway , the sacrifice that we did get of the 90’s Flash was still well done imo.

?si=SFmML8MV6BNBd71I

supermanrex - 4/25/2024, 10:16 AM

i miss this show. all they had to do was remove the CW style mandatory soap opera shit. focus more on comic book side of story versus the constant storming out of the room then pep talk drama that always led to the case being solved. all the supporting cast was great in concept but got bogged down in CW angst vs actually growing and doing cool shit. they dropped the ball on iris. she could have been a bad ass character if they didn't have her going through so many extreme mood swings that were nonsensical. The Arrowverse had sooo much potential to have been legendary. i loved legends of tomorrow but the CW overdid the silliness at times where it constantly would take out the feeling of big stakes around villains and their plots. CW didn't know how to balance shit with these shows and the Arrowverse just started turning into one eye rolling situation after another.

TheVisionary25 - 4/25/2024, 10:18 AM

@supermanrex - even with all its flaws , that universe still has a special place in my heart

supermanrex - 4/25/2024, 10:48 AM

@TheVisionary25 - it definitely has a special place in my heart as well. it was some cozy watching and just plane awesome to see a full on super hero universe on tv. its because of that love that i feel even more disappointed by what could have been. WB usual corporate shenanigans tying all creative hands because they wanted to preserve characters for theater appearances that only come once every two to three years [frick]ed a lot of stuff up. supergirl was hurt by the constant silhouettes of superman because corporate said no full appearance. no batman on tv since the sixties live action. so any batman related shows always centered around his support cast or sidekicks with the usual batman is dead or missing angle. like now superman and lois is a very damn good show but its getting yanked prematurely so the DCU can have its one and only superman. but easily since they are multiverse you could have left that show alone and run its natural course. superman and lois is what the arrowverse could have been. less angst and emotional bullshit and more comic book story telling. the brothers are not spending every episode butt hurt at each other for stupid ass shit.

TheVisionary25 - 4/25/2024, 11:05 AM

@supermanrex - I agree , WB really handcuffed them

Superman and Lois feels mature , yes it’s fits it’s teen & family drama which you need since there wouldn’t be a story then but it never feels too angsty and always feels real

Sucks it’s ending prematurely

Nomis929 - 4/25/2024, 10:16 AM

The show did devolved into something less that what it was after season 2 but I still enjoyed an episode here and there.

TheLight - 4/25/2024, 10:17 AM

Like it even matters anymore. Flash Prime, the OG Barry that we saw at the end of S1, ceased to exist the moment 2014 Flash went back in time and saved his mom in a already alternate timeline, creating ANOTHER alternate timeline. The show's finale was a weak attempt to having the 2014 Barry, now more adept, seasoned and skilled, rectify that event by replacing Flash Prime with him giving his past 2014 counterpart his version of the Future Flash trying to stop him from saving Nora to say "It was always him and it was part of the plan".

S1, 2 and some portions of 3 are still my all time favorites. The rest were...

NinnesMBC - 4/26/2024, 1:14 AM

@TheLight - That already happened in 9x10. OG 2024 Barry never went through the things the current one had to go, that version is history and by that point of the story, overrated.

TheLight - 4/26/2024, 4:54 PM

@NinnesMBC - Yeah I know. It's just that some people actually thought that OG Barry Allen/Flash Prime and the 2014 Barry we know were one and the same.

NinnesMBC - 4/27/2024, 1:32 AM

@TheLight - Ah ok then. A common misconception that I'm sure it's probably still believed in some places. They're different indeed. Best I could think of where that Flash ended up is somewhere out there in the concept of Hypertime that I always played around with if they ever chose to introduce it as well since they explained well how the Multiverse worked earlier on in the show.

That Barry just had 4 years of experience since his run began with the particle exploding in 2020. Our Barry we journyed through the show had 9/10 years of many, many things. So yes, their differences are quite stark.

TheLight - 4/28/2024, 11:20 PM

@NinnesMBC - "That Barry just had 4 years of experience since his run began with the particle exploding in 2020."

Very true, although I believe that due to Barry prime being older and probably and hopefully was more solo in his exploits had more experiences to know the Do's and Don'ts of the Speedforce. He did try to warn 2014 Barry not to mess up the past, which I have always had a theory about in my head canon.

"Best I could think of where that Flash ended up is somewhere out there in the concept of Hypertime that I always played around with if they ever chose to introduce it as well since they explained well how the Multiverse worked earlier on in the show."

That right there ties right into my headcanon. My theory would've tied both OG Flash Prime and Savitar together in a really cool way, which would've made the Savitar story arc much better.

dracula - 4/25/2024, 10:23 AM

Flash started as the best of the arrowverse and ended as the worst

YouFlopped - 4/25/2024, 10:23 AM

that boi holding on to the flash fr 😂😂😂 it’s over with

DocSpock - 4/25/2024, 10:23 AM

I am trying to drink enough to forget the ArrowVerse & SnyderVerse ever happened.

But I'm not sure there is enough booze in the world to remove those stains.

TheVisionary25 - 4/25/2024, 10:26 AM

I hope to see Grant on the small (or even big) screen again soon…

For all the issues The Flash had , he was never one of them and did well with the material he was given.

I know he’s currently on Broadway for “Water for Elephants” so good for him!!

comicfan100 - 4/25/2024, 10:30 AM

I'm missing the Arrowverse. It wasn't perfect, but, even in this era of expanded universes on TV and film, we'll never get anything like it again.

TheVisionary25 - 4/25/2024, 10:42 AM

@comicfan100 - I still wish Legends got a proper ending..

Just sucks that they finally got to use Booster Gold after asking for him for so long only to get cancelled.

I was enjoying Donald Faison’s performance and wanted to learn more about that version.

?si=lVSmwhROHx2Oktbw

NinnesMBC - 4/26/2024, 1:21 AM

@comicfan100 - The schedule they arranged of having 4 DC shows airing on the week (well it then extended to more with the Sunday slate) will never be replicated again. Or not in a long time, so yeah.

The Arrowverse's the definition of a solid Elseworlds setting though and after seeing such traffic and trending today on Twitter from the fandom and even some other actors anyone could make the argument it has the potential for a ripe continuation one day under the DCU's Elseworlds label.

If X-Men 97 proved it and even raised the bar for comebacks, nothing says the same couldn't happen here. Fingers crossed with that said!

VISIONaryNPa1 - 4/25/2024, 10:32 AM

Seasons 1-3 were decent.

harryba11zack - 4/25/2024, 10:41 AM

marvel72 - 4/25/2024, 10:43 AM

I got bored with the shows same story every season.

Barry loses powers gets them back
Barry crying every other episode
Barry doubting himself, I can't do it but does whatever is needed in the end.

MadThanos - 4/25/2024, 11:47 AM

@marvel72 - isn't like real life? We're always bitching around and in the end we always do what it takes to move our plot forward.

marvel72 - 4/25/2024, 2:53 PM

@MadThanos - But losing his powers every season is boring.

MadThanos - 4/25/2024, 2:54 PM

@marvel72 - that's something we agree with.

CharlesLeeRay - 4/25/2024, 4:09 PM

Somehow it's still a poor CGI render on that newspaper, why not a real photo?

CerealKiller1 - 4/26/2024, 12:30 AM

@CharlesLeeRay - Because when the show started, they didn’t have the budget to attempt a truly comic accurate costume, but the Flash in the paper needed to have one. Hence the CG

CharlesLeeRay - 4/26/2024, 10:03 AM

@CerealKiller1 - could have done that on a real Grant photo.

NinnesMBC - 4/26/2024, 1:33 AM

Was not expecting at all such traffic on social media today for this specific date tbh. The show ended almost a year ago yet The Flash tags were trending all day because of it. I've even seen Arrowverse vets like Candice Patton, Tom Cavanagh, John Wesley Shipp and even including LaMonica Garrett (Monitor) celebrate the date with related Flash/Crisis posts. The show's impact is as present.

So can we really say the Arrowverse is "well and truly dead"? ;)

And for the umpteenth time the show wasn't "cancelled", Grant made the decision that ending it in S9 was for the best. Better that way than the punks of Nexstar getting in the middle like they've done it with literally everything since they took over and start asking for budget cuts and that annoying kind of shit. Time to learn the difference.

Grant's the GOAT for remembering, as per usual.

STINGRAY - 4/26/2024, 5:38 AM

'The Flash' had it`s...slow periods....but overall was surprisingly consistent and generally fun.

'Arrow' on the other hand...
MAN! I almost gave up after that GawdAwful 'Ra's al Ghul' story arc..
(my wife DID stop watching)

Anyway, it`s nice to know where Grant Gustin is today.

That pic is pretty much how I pictured him on a 'day off'...or an 'off day'.

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