DC Comics has done it again, opening up another story to one of their iconic characters on the new hit show, “The Flash” on the CW.

The show opens with the title character, Barry Allen otherwise known as, The Flash (Grant Gustin) explaining to the audience, “to understand what I’m about to tell you…you need to believe in the impossible.”

Quite the opening line to draw in the audience, but the story of The Flash is a classic example of a superhero who gained his powers in a nearly impossible way.

The audience is introduced to a young Allen as the background story of his parents is explained. His mother is killed in a mysterious accident involving what Barry later describes as “a ball of lightning”. However, the police find that the only other person on scene was Barry’s father who was framed for the murder of his wife and remains in prison.

The show immediately jumps to 14 years later, now showing a young adult Allen who works as a “brilliant CSI assistant”. Allen has the genius ability to calculate clues left at crime scenes, although his ultimate motive is to unveil the true events of his mother’s murder.

Allen was raised by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin). West’s daughter, Iris (Candice Patton) becomes Allen’s best friend. The audience discovers Allen later has feelings for Iris, whilst she only sees him as a “brother figure”. Their friendship and sometimes awkward closeness, indicates that there could potentially be a future romance between the two of them.

The night Allen gains his powers, both he and Iris were in attendance of viewing the unveiling of the Particle Accelerator. The event was hosted at S.T.A.R. Labs, a corporation of scientific and medical discovery. The machine later goes into overdrive and explodes into the sky generating a giant lightning storm into the city striking unknown amount of victims including Allen.

Nine months later Allen awakens from a coma, never flat-lining but rather having a heart beat too fast to record. He was held at S.T.A.R. Labs under the watchful eyes of three members of their research team. After a miraculous recovery, Allen discovers that he has the power of super-speed as an effect from the lightning strike.

After conducting several tests, it is revealed that Barry can reach up to speeds over 300 mph or more. The team creates a special suit for him designed specifically to withstand high speeds, heat, and possible sonic booms. After researching that the robbery and death rate had risen since the night of the storm and his accident, Allen concludes that there may be a various amount of other people in the city who gained similar powers.

Allen makes several visits to new and old characters for their advice. The audience is introduced to The Green Arrow, when Allen asks for his advice as to how he can proactively use his powers. “The Flash” forms a decent complement to “Arrow,” from which it has been spun off.

What sets The Flash apart from his fellow superheros is not just his likeability, but also how easily relatable he is to the audeince. The fact that Allen makes the life-altering choice to use his new powers not for pleasure or convenience, but for the use of others and helping the public is quite admiral. In the words of The Green Arrow, put simply, he has the power save people “in a flash”.

Light hearted yet dramatic, The Flash is definitely a show for the whole family that instills good morals and has an overall element of fun for anyone to enjoy.

The Flash airs Tuesdays evenings at 8 pm on the CW network.