Why Was The Flash The CW Network's Most Successful Spinoff?

Over the years, The CW Network has been a host to many spinoffs to successful flagship shows from continuing The Vampire Diaries Universe with The Originals and Legacies to trying to expand the All American universe with All American: Homecoming or grow out Riverdale's reach with Katy Keene.

However, through all of the network's spinoffs, The Flash is the biggest success of them all. Originally utilizing the pre-existing and established Arrow as a way to introduce eventual The Flash lead Barry Allen, The Flash was not only proof of Arrow's growing and steady popularity but also showed that The CW Network had what it took to invest in building its own DC Universe dubbed the Arrowverse.

The Flash surpassed the length of its flagship series, going on to reach nine seasons of chaos, Multiverse jumping, and timeline adventures in Central City.

This time, rather than the brooding and dark Oliver Queen, Barry Allen's light-hearted humor and bright personality opened the show up to a more positive main character, one desperate to find the good in the world after his mother was killed and his father went to jail when Barry was a child.

The Flash heavily relied on a family dynamic between Barry, Iris, and Joe. Grounding the series in a family dynamic ensured that Barry knew he had people who loved him as constant presences in his life, and those good influences constantly played a role in how he looked out for others.

Without The Flash's popularity, the Arrowverse may never have grown into what it became. Even though it was not the first series introduced, it was still the one that became the most significant in the Arrowverse and was the final one to air when the Arrowverse ended.

This show pushed the possibilities of what is possible in timelines, such as the introduction of Nora West-Allen and how different outcomes surrounding what happened to Barry during Crisis On Infinite Earths impacted her personality and development. Barry's eventual disappearance had been teased from the show's first episode, and when Barry survived what was initially meant to be his inevitable demise, it influenced the future of Central City and the West-Allen family.

The Flash was filled with a strong beating heart from its main character to its friendships, familial connections, and romances. Successful to the end, The Flash even perfectly knew how to wrap up its big ending by tying it to the future the audiences were expecting with Nora's birth and the very first episode by bringing Barry and Reverse Flash back to the fight that would go on to impact Barry's life, and the show, forever.

The Flash was a captivating story that knew how to be its own show without letting Arrow influence its tone, but still beautifully crafting a series that the following Arrowverse shows could jump off of.