All The Flash Seasons, Ranked Worst To Best

The Flash had nine seasons, and while all of them had their fair share of entertaining moments, some were clearly better than others. The Flash was the second series to premiere as part of the TV DC Universe, the Arrowverse, debuting two years after Stephen Amell’s Arrow began. From 2014 to 2023, Grant Gustin gave life to Barry Allen, aka The Flash, in the Arrowverse series. Gustin also appeared as Barry in multiple other DC TV series as part of the Arrowverse’s yearly crossover events or in more contained crossovers between two heroes. While the actor was consistently good throughout his appearances, the same can’t be said about The Flash.

There is a lot to be loved in the DC speedster’s series, with each season of The Flash having exciting characters and stories; however, the show was not always the best it could be. The reasons that lead to the difference in quality between the nine seasons of the Arrowverse’s longest show range from who was the main villain of each season, how The Flash‘s VFX became worse with time, decisions to split seasons into multiple story arcs, shortened seasons, cast, and more. All those factors combine to reveal which seasons of The Flash deserve to be ranked higher than others.

9 Season 7

The Flash season 7 is easily the show’s worst. The Flash season 7 was the first of the series after Hartley Sawyer was fired, which meant The Flash lost the comedic Elongated Man and all the work that had been done to set up Ralph Dibny and Sue Dearbon getting together. The season also included two other major exits, with original The Flash cast members, Cisco actor Carlos Valdes and Harrison Wells/Reverse-Flash star Tom Cavanagh, leaving as series regulars. Season 7’s story was convoluted thanks to the introduction of multiple “Forces,” and The Flash clearly didn’t have the VFX budget to give an epic end to its Godspeed arc.

8 Season 8

The Flash season 8 had to make up for a disappointing season 7, and the team behind the series decided to take some big creative swings. While season 8 was an improvement, it ultimately stands as one of the show’s bottom-tier seasons. The Armageddon crossover event, the return of the Reverse-Flash, and Robbie Amell’s Deathstorm were all good ideas; however, The Flash season 8 countered them by giving Candice Patton’s Iris West-Allen little to do other than suffering from time sickness, with Iris even missing from multiple The Flash season 8 episodes. Also, Cecile’s role in Team Flash and the underwhelming conclusion to Reverse-Flash’s return make season 8 a let-down.

7 Season 9

The Flash season 9 marked the end of the series and the Arrowverse as a whole. Season 9 was a fine season, with some exciting moments, such as all of The Flash‘s most beloved villains returning, but mixed it up with some truly underwhelming arcs — Batwoman‘s Javicia Leslie could not save Red Death from paling in comparison to the comics. The Flash season 9 also wasted too much time with filler episodes, and given it only had 13, that hurt the show. By the time The Flash season 9’s ending came around, the season cemented itself as a decent entry in the Arrowverse but a bad final season.

6 Season 5

Cicada sounded good on paper — a villain who wanted to wipe out all meta-humans — but the character was ultimately underwhelming. Most episodes of The Flash season 5 seemed to follow the same formula, with Team Flash defeating Cicada, wasting time talking among themselves while he was down, and the villain then managing to escape. Cicada was one of The Flash‘s worst villains, the second version of the character included. Season 5 also made a baffling decision to have Team Flash decide to only give the meta-human cure to villains with their consent, which cost a lot of lives. At least Barry and Iris’ daughter from the future, Nora, was great.

5 Season 6

The Flash season 6 was a mixed bag. Season 6 started with a bang, as every episode before the Arrowverse’s biggest crossover event, Crisis on Infinite Earths, was filled with a sense of urgency and dread over Barry Allen’s death, which had been teased since the series premiered. The first half of the season plays on Barry’s fears by pitting him against Bloodwork, a villain that makes Barry reevaluate his life and what Central City would be like if he died in Crisis. After the crossover event, The Flash season 6 lost its steam, with the show moving toward a lackluster arc with the new Mirror Master.

4 Season 4

Season 4 was a major year for The Flash, as it marked the first time that the series moved away from having a speedster as its main villain. Clifford DeVoe, The Thinker, was a great change of pace for The Flash, with the villain mastermind going on a killing spree that Barry had trouble stopping, as well as framing Barry for murder. Harry Wells’ fixation with beating the villain also made for an engaging plot. Adding to The Flash season 4’s positive aspects are the debut of the Elongated Man and Barry and Iris getting married and receiving a visit from their future daughter at the end of the season.

3 Season 3

The Flash season 3 might be the show’s darkest. Most of the season dealt with Team Flash discovering that Iris has a set date and time to be killed by Savitar. Team Flash then spends most of the season racing against time to try to stop that from coming true. Season 3 also included the show’s version of the iconic “Flashpoint” story from the comics, and though the series could never match the scope of the DC Comics event, the effects of Barry’s attempt to save his mother were felt throughout the season. The reveal that Savitar was a version of Barry gave the season a major twist.

2 Season 1

The Flash season 1 did a great job of setting up The Flash‘s world, being the perfect start for the series. Season 1 features Gustin’s Barry Allen learning about his new powers and developing them with the help of Cisco, Caitlin, and Harrison Wells — the latter secretly being the man who killed Barry’s mother, Eobard Thawne. With the audience discovering that Wells was actually the Reverse-Flash before Barry and the rest of the characters, even a slight twitch of the villain in his wheelchair created a huge amount of tension. With classic Flash villains like Gorilla Grodd, Captain Cold, Weather Wizard, and more appearing, season 1 thrived.

1 Season 2

The Flash season 2 expanded on what worked for the Arrowverse show’s first season. Season 2 featured a crossover with Arrow that set up DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, saw the multiverse begin to gain strength in live-action with the exploration of Earth-2 and the debut of doppelgangers, introduced Wally West and Killer Frost, and more. The best aspect of season 2 was its villain, with Teddy Sears playing Jay Garrick, the Flash of Earth-3, before being killed by the eerie Zoom, only for it later to be revealed that Zoom was posing as Jay all along. That twist and all the other elements helped the season become The Flash‘s best.