#major thanks to emm for giving me feedback <3

[danothan]

hi, it's f0r! gimme some 🔥🔥🔥 for jjba, kira specifically, and/or barry allen!

i can always count on you to be after my own heart <3

🔥barry: idk enough abt the general consensus on flash media to know what’s unpopular, but i will say, i don’t see enough ppl talking abt him being a fucking asshole. he drags up dead people’s names to make a point, like he fights dirty

examples + analysis under cut (spoilers for flashpoint paradox + blackest night, but mostly bc it gets real long)

this is an alt timeline where bruce died in the alley instead of his parents, resulting in his father becoming this world’s batman. barry is trying to convince batman to come with him to restore the timeline, so he brings up his DEAD SON as a persuasion point?? tbf the world IS ending, plus bruce is very much alive to barry, and he IS trying to get him back, but still a dick move

(pls forgive the ass quality, i was scrambling to take a pic bc the store was closing in 10 min 😭)

hal: death is overrated anyway.

barry: don’t tell me that, tell [the ppl whose loved ones have passed].

hal: i didn’t mean it like that—

barry: tell your dead father.

me: HELLO?!? BARRY??!?!

hal Was being an asshole too so ig barry was just trying to fight fire with fire. he seems to only go this far when ppl's lives are at risk, so i can follow his thought process at least.

the page continues to have hal taunt him for caring too much, and the crazy thing is that barry actually concedes. i was overselling it when i said barry fights dirty bc this is sm more than a petty argument to him. he's not trying to one-up or spite hal, it’s a last resort. so when hal turns it back on him, barry doesn't get defensive back. he knows how much he's hurt his loved ones by being the flash, he regrets not being there for hal, and barry admits to being scared of losing it all again—turning hal's call-out into a moment of emotional vulnerability. and only THEN does hal finally realize what barry's been saying.

so there are 2 interesting things happening on barry's end here. barry’s the type of person to follow the golden rule pretty literally. i've mentioned before in a past meta that barry believes in the goodness of humanity bc he can be—HAS to be a firsthand example, not just to others, but to himself. if he can be a good person, then surely others must be as well. props to the character consistency across all these different media bc this idea even (and especially) applies here:

1) the golden rule, treat ppl the way you want to be treated, giving hal a taste of his own medicine so that he understands. it’s important to note that, again, barry does this out of desperation, not pettiness. and he might be dishing it out, but he can take it too. he chooses kindness when he could've easily dug his heel in after hal tried to call him out, but barry is trying to reach out to hal, not fight against him, and diffuses the situation that he ramped up. before this, my immediate impression was that barry spoke callously out of heightened emotions or misreading others, but the way he’s been leading this conversation and responding specifically to hal’s own emotions shows how calculated barry actually is.

2) like i said, barry goes by the mindset of “if i can do it, then so can you.” he draws a direct comparison to both of their deaths (they died and came back btw) and says he can’t believe that even after everything hal has gone thru, he’s still acting like this. personally, i read this as genuine shock and disbelief, not necessarily a dig at hal. but regardless of intention, hal takes it as an accusation, so he flips it back on barry. however, barry realizes that hal is deflecting. this is where he draws that comparison. barry had to learn his mistakes the hard way. he only realized all of this when it was too late, when he already died. he acknowledges that he’s repeating his mistake of fearing for the worst, but the thing is that he’s learned from his past, grown and changed with it. and so he projects this growth onto hal as if their deaths were at all similar (keep in mind, this is the issue where hal tells barry “i died a sinner, YOU died a saint”). again, going back to that idea of “if i can do it, then so can you.”

i think the only reason it works here is that barry knows hal. he can read him, and more importantly, has total faith in him, more than hal is willing to accept. barry’s hope in ppl is just unconditional, for better or worse; he wants to walk hal thru this together, he switches his language from “you” statements (“i can’t believe you haven’t changed) to “us” statements (“i missed a lot of good times we could’ve shared while i was away. and a lot of bad times we could’ve helped each other through.” … “let’s both slow down and figure out a plan”). to quote my friend emm here, they know and trust each other enough that barry can push that boundary and still end up at a reasonable middle ground.

barry is so full of good intention but he doesn’t exactly play nice if he thinks he knows what’s good for you. “if i can do it, then so can you” is a double-edged sword. he wants to believe in the absolute best in others. it doesn’t matter how many mistakes they’ve made or what their past may be, barry has hope if nothing else. but in the same way, it can be a presumptuous thing, setting the bar too high, putting too much pressure onto others. barry is all about the potential of things, working towards a brighter future, but what about the present? what about NOW? barry used to be troubled by his past, but then he gained closure and learned acceptance, so all he does now is look to the future. his powers put him out of touch with time and reality, but he’s never really been able to live in the present; his superspeed only enables this. past, future, but never the present, no wonder he’s so stubborn.

god, see what i mean! do you see what discussions could arise from dissecting the intricacies of barry’s hero complex! he’s not just a superhero paragon, he’s not just some vanilla good guy (tho he is also all of these), there is an entire thought process and timeline of experiences and flaws to study under a microscope here. and buddy, i am getting my barthology degree.