The Flash: 10 most disliked storylines, ranked

The Flash took on a lot of awe-inspiring storylines over the years but not all of them were a hit with audiences.

By Michael Patterson | Mar 22, 2024, 10:07 PM EDT

The Flash -- "The Curious Case of Bartholomew Allen" -- Image Number: FLA816b_0346r.jpg -- Pictured: Grant Gustin as The Flash -- Photo: Colin Bentley/The CW -- © 2022 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved. /

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10. Savitar kills Iris

I miss the days when this was regarded as The Flash's worst storyline by the fans.

The series had a pretty excellent run up until this point, but the third season wasn't quite as well-received. From the fact that the Savitar storyline went on for so long that it spoiled its own twist to the show's overly convoluted and contradictory time travel logic, the cracks were beginning to show. However, the thing that rubbed fans up the wrong way the most was how it handled the revelation that Savitar was going to kill Iris in the future.

After the midseason finale, The Flash relegated Iris to a damsel-in-distress role. She had very little autonomy in the storyline that she was at the center of, and fans of the character wanted better for her than that. Sure, the writers actually addressed this on occasion, by having Iris stand up for herself whenever Barry just did whatever he could to change the timeline without consulting her over it, but there were better stories out there for the character.

In hindsight, this wasn't the worst storyline that The Flash has ever tackled. It was messy, too complex for its own good, and it did do a disservice to the characters, but the culmination of it made at least part of the journey worth it (the season finale was excellent and Iris got the chance to take back control of the situation). Unfortunately, we can't say the same about the other storylines on this list.

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