History YMMV / TheFlash

** Even the Reverse-Flashes suffer from this, and amusingly, much like with Barry and Wally, it's the more established character "replacing" the popular legacy who gets the brunt of it. ''ComicBook/TheFlashRebirth'' brought back Thawne, but ''Final Crisis: Rogues Revenge'' discarded the two new Reverse-Flashes, Zolomon and Inertia, with the former being depowered and the latter killed off after suffering a heavy degree of VillainDecay. Fans of Zolomon didn't like how the character, who had a sympathetic TragicVillain origin and an interesting and unique motivation, as well as a WeUsedToBeFriends dynamic that added a more personal touch to his and Wally's rivalry. It doesn't help that Thawne and Zolomon are very different characters, so people who ''liked'' Hunter were miffed at him being dropped (made worse by him not returning for years, and when he did, he had been severely overhauled).

*** [[EvilIsPetty Eobard Thawne]], a.k.a. [[MirrorCharacter Professor Zoom]] a.k.a. the Reverse-Flash, is the ArchEnemy of [[Characters/TheFlashBarryAllen Barry Allen]] and the one who killed his mother. Duplicating Barry's powers out of an obsession with him, Eobard attempted to replace him in life, and when rejected by the latter's wife, spitefully killed her, later forcing the pacifistic Barry to kill Eobard himself to save his then-fiancé from suffering the same fate. Resurrected, Eobard begins using his time travel powers to commit a litany of crimes, including pettily [[SiblingMurder murdering his own brother]] and [[SelfMadeOrphan parents]], as well as a rival and every single man who dated a woman he was interested in, eventually going back to her childhood to traumatize her for spurning him. Eobard, in another of his evil deeds, attempted to murder the children of ComicBook/WallyWest in front of their mother and murders Johnny Quick. Trying to force the also-resurrected Barry into becoming the Black Flash, Eobard continues carelessly shifting the time stream for no other purpose than to make Barry suffer, causing untold damage and agony in doing so, and torments Barry during the events of ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}}'', even stating now that he is free from the effects of timeline changes he will murder Barry in the womb. A vile, selfish man who will [[NeverMyFault never admit to being at fault]], Eobard is Barry Allen's worst nightmare come to life.

** A more egregious case is just how fast the Flash can be, and the assumption this makes them a BoringInvincibleHero and/or that the writers rely on the IdiotBall to avoid it. Because a few of the Flash's, mostly Wally West's, [[Awesome/TheFlash biggest feats]] are known of among casual fans, it's often assumed that they should be able to handle any threat; after all if they can cross the distance of space to return to earth fast enough to outrun instantaneous teleportation, then they shouldn't have trouble fighting Captain Cold. What's missed here is that they don't ''not'' have trouble with the aforementioned feats, and pretty much all of their Awesome moments came at a great deal of duress and effort on the Flash's part, in fact in many cases they performed these feats while just barely avoiding being sucked into the Speed Force itself (meaning they were actively pushing themselves beyond their limits), something that they can't possibly do for ''every'' fight. This would be like expecting someone to be giving 110% of their effort 24/7.

*** Her fifth outfit, introduced right before Infinite Frontier, once it settled on a streamlined look, which attempts to be a healthy mix of her Liberty Belle look at her early 90s costume, both of which were well received yet look off when mixed together. While some like that she's wearing pants now, the orange tights with yellow knee patches are a garish look, as is giving her a top that has Barry's New 52-era symbol instead of the Quick family logo or any of Jesse's own previous symbols. The return of her wearing a bomber jacket over her suit is at least largely accepted, but the decision to give her a mask that looks more like something a Golden Age character would wear.

** Savitar, being an old-world would-be God-King, once tried to offer to spare Jesse Quick in his war against the Flash Family and instead planned to take her as his concubine and SexSlave. Jesse herself reacted with appropriate disgust at such a suggestion, and it adds to Savitar's particular brad of grossness among the evil speedsters.

* MemeticLoser: Barry Allen, ''especially'' thanks to adaptations, has increasingly became this. It comes down to a few points. Firstly, it is common knowledge (and not in a CommonKnowledge way) that Wally West is the faster and more successful Flash but Barry was pushed because he's a CreatorsPet, and it's his fault why the New 52 happened, so all the DarkerAndEdgier misery the other heroes suffered is entirely because of him (Dr. Manhattan retcon be-damned). Secondly, the TV series' over-reliance on the episodic formula of having Barry get beat up by the MonsterOfTheWeek once or twice, then during the climax have a pep-talk from his team mid-battle before he finally defeats them in a very anti-climatic way, has contributed to the popular perception that 'The Flash' is a whiny man-child who needs a pep-talk every week to do ''anything''. Thirdly, the [[Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse DCEU Flash]], also Barry Allen, has so far only had a single prominent appearance in a [[Film/JusticeLeague2017 highly contested and financially under-performing instalment]], where he was depicted as the rookie of the team who's shown at one point literally ''tripping over his own feet'', making him appear completely incompetent and idiotic, not helped by his neurotic nature.

* MemeticTroll: This is the premise of the "It was me, Barry!" memes parodying TheReveal in ''Rebirth'' that Thawne has been behind every terrible thing that's happened to Barry. People began making insanely [[EvilIsPetty petty]] bad things in Barry's life that Thawne was responsible for, like splashing water onto Barry's pants to make it seem like he peed himself or pooping in Barry's underwear when he tried to silently fart. It helps that Thawne actually ''is'' so immensely petty that it'd actually almost be incharacter.

** Adding Nora Allen's death to Barry's backstory. For some, it is a horrible retcon that needlessly darkens Barry's character, is a total cliché that is done to death in comics, and unlike when Wally was given AbusiveParents (which rarely came up after Waid took over, but it is often compared to), it has swallowed Barry's character to the point it's rare for a story to not somehow relate to it or factor in his angst. For others though, particularly fans who were introduced in the GatewaySeries that were built on it, it is something that gives Barry more nuance and tragedy as it shows even someone with a traumatic childhood can grow into an upbeat idealistic NiceGuy, while it also justifies any of his dickish moments. The divide seems to line up with the Wally-Barry divide, so this is in-part down to Barry fans who think it gives him the same depth Wally's been afforded, vs Wally fans who think it changed Barry from the idealized mentor he was depicted as previously, though there ''are'' Barry fans who hate that it's taken over his character.

** The Rogues, especially Captain Cold. He's a BadassNormal who's insanely competent, to the point he can build his cold gun out of pretty much any tech he can improvise, yet he's also a NobleDemon who believes heavily in not hurting innocents and minimising bloodshed as much as he can. Despite the goofy name and costume, he's one of the most effective at fighting the Flash (be it Wally, Barry, Jay, Bart, or whoever) due to his weaponry making him an effective ManOfKryptonite against them, and he ''knows'' it.

* EvilIsSexy: Golden Glider, Captain Cold's younger sister, who was also more violent and petty than he was, certainly ticking off "evil" easily. Yet she's also a very pretty young blonde woman with a cute face, a buxom frame, and wears a short minidress as her costume that has frequent upskirts when she fights. This was also in-universe; at one point she came onto Wally after he crashed on [[FriendlyEnemy the Snart's couch one night]], and Wally was ''very'' up for it.

** ''ComicBook/{{Titans}}'' #25-onward is pretty much ignored as far as it goes for Jesse Quick's character, largely as she ends up becoming very out-of-character, loses her previously-shown competence and budding relationship with Nighwing, ''and'' the much-hated ''Phillip'' storyline. Note, when Jesse joined the cast of JSA ''right'' after, ''all'' that was said is the time was a disaster and she was now suddenly close again with Libby.

* MemeticTroll: This is the premise of the "It was me, Barry!" memes parodying TheReveal in ''Rebirth'' that Thawne has been behind every terrible thing that's happened to Barry. People began making insanely [[EvilIsPetty petty]] bad things in Barry's life that Thawne was responsible for, like splashing water onto Barry's pants to make it seem like he peed himself or pooping in Barry's underwear when he tried to silently fart.

** Jai and Irey, Wally's kids. Outside of the more fringe Barry fans who hate anything remotely Wally West related, a lot of the controversy around them initially has been forgotten due to fans having had worse to complain about, and their revival has been largely well-met for the HeartwarmingMoments it brings. Jeremy Adams' handling of them, where Wally has explicitly told them ''not'' to join him in superheroing, helps as it avoids them being a TagAlongKid type SpotlightStealingSquad.

** Before that, the retcon that the Rogues ''never'' truly reformed, but were brainwashed into it by The Top, has largely been ignored both because it soils the Heartwarming Moments that came from their previous friendship with Wally, and because the story paints Barry Allen under ''terrible'' light. The fact it ties in with the very-hated ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'' doesn't help.

** Fan favorites for Barry Allen's "voice" include Creator/GrantGustin (the Series/{{Arrowverse}}), Creator/CharlieSchlatter (''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'', ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueAction'' and ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndGuessWho''), Creator/NealMcDonough (''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs''), Creator/JoshKeaton (''WebAnimation/DCSuperHeroGirls2015''), or Creator/TaliesinJaffe (''VideoGame/MortalKombatVsDCUniverse'' and ''VideoGame/Injustice2''). This also includes Creator/MichaelRosenbaum, thanks to ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueDoom'', ''VideoGame/InfiniteCrisis'', and ''VideoGame/LegoDCSuperVillains''.

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%% Please DO NOT remove AudienceAlienatingEra entries just because you personally disagree. This is YMMV, so by its nature not everyone will necessarily agree with it. And please DO NOT ADD runs that haven't been completed yet just because you don't like it.
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** For the main ''Flash'' series, pretty much everything between 2006 and 2016 falls into this for varying reasons, and some stories after that too.
*** Right after ''Infinite Crisis'', Wally was lost to the Speed Force along with his family and this led to Bart becoming the Flash due to PlotRelevantAgeUp. Due to the character losing his individuality and FunPersonified nature, even his own fans hated it. This series ended as a massive failure, to the point that they had to kill Bart to forget it ever happened and everyone involved with Bart's character has stated active dislike towards it. The creative team of the book said they had no intention writing for DCU ever again due to a terrible experience.
*** Wally was brought back from the Speed Force after Bart's death, but this time the book, once again, faced criticism due to his twins turning out to be [[BaseBreakingCharacter Base breaking]] that some accused of being a SpotlightStealingSquad. Mark Waid left DC ''completely'' after an editorial clash and the book had to live on life support for a year with fill-in writers until Barry was brought back. Mark Waid says it's probably one of his works he was severely disappointed about.
*** Barry's return has met this reaction from many, particularly those that loved Wally's character, but also ''non''-Flash fans. With Barry's return brought about a sudden demotion of Wally into an extra at best (until being erased completely), while Barry's character was given several controversial rewrites, including giving him a DarkerAndEdgier backstory involving his mother's murder which many felt was unnecessary, to promoting him as the 'most important' of the Flash legacy that was felt as a disservice to the rest of the Flash family, who all in-turn were given a sharp DemotedToExtra status. General comic and DC fans dislike it for missing the point of the DCU and bringing back a character whose death was highly regarded[[note]]not to mention completely cheapening the emotional impact of his HeroicSacrifice[[/note]], and whose resurrection was considered altogether unnecessary. Not helping is that Barry's return also brought back Eobard Thawne, which led to the removal of other villainous speedsters like Hunter Zolomon, Inertia, the Black Flash and Lady Savitar. That Thawne came back with retcons to ''his'' history and [[NewPowersASThePlotDemands powers]], as well as the retcon of him basically being responsible for everything bad that's happened to Barry, doesn't help him from being seen as a overpowered.
*** The Robert Venditti and Van Jensen run. Neither of the writers had ''any'' Flash lore beforehand and unlike Manapul and Buccellato run, ''they'' were given the task of reintroducing important characters like Wally West and Eobard Thawne. They dropped the ball completely, with incredibly divisive changes to Wally West and an extremely inconsistent Professor Zoom. Add on to that Brett Booth's divisive 90s [[Creator/ImageComics Image]]-inspired art, coming right after Francis Manapul's acclaimed pencils. In the end, the series' sales reached bottom again and ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' had to come in and fix the damage.

** Most of Williamson's run is ''not'' this, as his run largely tries to be an AuthorsSavingThrow for the franchise, but there's a lengthy stretch between ''Flash War'' and ''Finish Line'' that many felt became this. While reception to the previous stories was mixed-to-positive, fan reception to the Other Forces and Year of the Villain tie-in arcs were decidedly not positive, as many found the stories to be an annoying distraction from the pressing issue of the missing speedsters. During this period, Wally West also got sent off to Sanctuary, which led to the ''heavily''-despised ''Heroes in Crisis'' storyline, adding to the problems. This however isn't generally blamed on Williamson at least, as most realise he was affected by heavy ExecutiveMeddling and the issue more lies with editor Brian Cunningham refusing to let the Flash Family return, and Creator/DanDiDio's [[CreatorsPest infamous hate-boner for Wally West]].

* CantUnHearIt: Eobard Thawne tends to be read in the voice of either Creator/CThomasHowell from the WesternAnimation/DCAnimatedMovieUniverse, Creator/TomCavanagh or Creator/MattLetscher both from ''Series/TheFlash2014'' or Creator/LiamOBrien from VideoGame/Injustice2. For those familiar with Zoomposting (and ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle'' to an extent), Valentine Stokes is usually the one they think of instead.

* MemeticMolester: [[EvilIsPetty Likely due to his pettiness,]] Eobard Thawne quite infamously gets this treatment [[https://youtu.be/FFRi2xsei_o from the fans.]]

** Wally being conservative Pre-Crisis. In Wolfman/Perez's ''New Teen Titans'', Wally was characterised as being a midwestern conservative, which at-the-time wasn't really a big deal outside of being an attempt to flesh his characterization out and to contrast him against a team of liberals (and Hawk), and was based on the fact Barry Allen was explicitly a conservative. It didn't come up much, and when he became The Flash, he went through CharacterDevelopment that saw his political views drastically change thanks to the influence of Pied Piper and Linda Park, with Messner-Loeb, Waid, and Johns all characterizing Wally as left-of-center. However, for some reason it gets brought up a ''lot'' in the new-10s by fans, far more than it does with Barry, despite his conservativism being a much bigger part of his character.