- For her Earth-2 counterpart, see Iris West (Earth-2).
- For her Earth-53 counterpart, see Iris West (Earth-53).
- "No matter what, I know that the love that we share and the connection that we have can never be broken, because we will never stop fighting for it. I felt so powerless today, but I guess this is me saying that I'm standing on my own two feet. And I'm gonna be strong. And I know we'll find our way back to each other. We always do."
- — Iris West-Allen to Barry Allen
Iris Ann West-Allen (née West; born June 24, 2360) is a female Human who is the co-leader of Team Flash, a former journalist of Central City Picture News, a former waitress at CC Jitters, a psychology graduate student, and the owner/editor of The Central City Citizen. Iris is also the daughter of Joe West and the late Francine West, the older sister of Wally West, the older paternal half-sister of Jenna West, the fiancée of the late Eddie Thawne, the wife of Barry Allen, and the mother of her future daughter, Nora West-Allen.
In the Flashpoint timeline, Iris and Joe seemed to have some tension since Iris didn't know about Francine being alive. She also knew that Wally was the Flash and they formed a brother-sister crime fighting duo. After Flashpoint was removed from existence when Barry let Eobard Thawne kill Nora Allen in an attempt to restore the original timeline, Iris was estranged from her father Joe only to reconnect after hearing of Barry's time traveling. The life of Iris was later threatened by a powerful villain named Savitar, which they could foresee due to Barry accidentally traveling into the future trying to trap the villain, which was a future time remnant of Barry. Iris survived thanks to the sacrifice of H.R. Wells, and in the final battle, she killed Savitar, erasing him from existence.
After Barry's disappearance into the Speed Force, she took over Team Flash and coordinated the superhero activities of Vibe and Kid Flash. After Barry's return, she continued her position as team leader until she decided to retire and be a reporter again, serving as mission control, giving herself the code name "Eye in the Sky". During an encounter with the meta-human Matthew Kim, Iris briefly gained her husband's speed and took over for him as The Flash before tracking down Kim and having him return the powers to Barry. She later helped Barry and his friends defeat Clifford DeVoe and became an older sister to her father and Cecile's new daughter, Jenna.
When Iris and Barry's future daughter, Nora West-Allen arrived in the present, Iris found out that her future daughter held a grudge against her for putting a chip inside her. Iris shocked at this, but she was determined to not do that to her daughter in the future, causing the two to bond as they worked with Team Flash to stop Orlin Dwyer and a future murderous Grace Gibbons. When Iris found out her daughter was working with Reverse-Flash, she showed no animosity to her after finding out why Nora started working with Thawne. After destroying Cicada's dagger, Nora was erased from existence, leaving Iris and Barry devastated.
During the Anti-Monitor Crisis, Iris was instrumental in convincing Ryan Choi, the Paragon of Humanity, to join their fight to save all of existence. Afterwards, on the new Earth, Iris began an investigation into the assassin guild called Black Hole, but her curiosity caused her to be trapped in another dimension called the Mirrorverse. But she was released months later thanks to Barry.
When the Forces were created, Iris was supposedly killed along with Alexa Rivera and Bashir Malik by the Speed Force and Deon Owens, only to be revealed as alive a few seconds later. After the final battle, she and Barry bid farewell to the Forces. During the Godspeed war, Iris had developed a "time sickness" and was being treated by Deon in order to fix it. However, during Armageddon, Iris asked Deon to undo all of her treatments, which resulted in her sickness getting more out of hand.
After the Negative Forces killed Eobard Thawne, they also killed Iris in order to bring Thawne back to life. She was brought back to life when Barry defeated Thawne.
Personality[]
Iris wants nothing more than to help for those around her. She's highly intuitive and has an innate curiosity, being amazed and intrigued by the fantastical events that are happening in Central City, particularly the Flash. After becoming a reporter under Mason Bridge, she becomes even more so in investigating the mysterious circumstances surrounding Harrison Wells and S.T.A.R. Labs. Iris is more stubborn than her father and holds true to her morals, despite what others may want of her. She isn't afraid to take risks and or jump into action when need be, as shown when she helped take down Tony Woodward and William Tockman. Her ability to gather and analyze evidence and come to accurate conclusions is also noteworthy.
When Iris finally figures out that Barry is the Flash - and finds out Barry, Joe and Eddie - people she's explicitly trusted all kept it from her, she feels immensely betrayed and disappointed. However, soon after she came to overcome her feelings of betrayal and proved her worth to the team and reconciled with her father since he pushed for her to be kept in the dark after Grodd's attack.
Iris has shown to care about Barry a great deal since they were kids, having thought of him as a brother figure, unaware Barry has actually been in love with her since childhood. As such she can be seen as a little oblivious in regards to Barry's feelings for her until he confessed he loves her. Despite being in a committed relationship with Eddie Thawne, Iris showed slight jealousy when Barry started going out with Linda Park. This suggests, and later confirmed, that she is unaware of her own romantic feelings for Barry. Eventually in the wake of Mark Mardon's impending tsunami threat Iris, fear about they were about to die, finally realized her romantic feelings and she and Barry shared their first kiss. However, since Barry inadvertently erased those events she remains unaware of these feelings deep down.
After discovering that Barry is the Flash (though technically for the second time) Iris begins to realize her romantic feelings for the latter.
Upon reuniting with her long-lost mother, Francine, and learning of the existence of her brother, Wally, Iris felt betrayed and angered that her mother kept Wally out of her and Joe's lives, and initially wanted nothing to do with her, although her anger towards Francine was justified, but not her behaviour, as Iris unfairly treated her mother badly; even after the latter explained why she left; was to turn a life around, as she was a drug addict at the time. However, she didn't hold any ill will against her father for not telling her Francine was alive, understanding he was trying to protect her from feeling abandoned. Iris was eventually able to forgive her mother on the latter's deathbed.
- "You're my lightning rod, Iris."
- — Barry Allen to Iris West-Allen
After Barry Allen reluctantly allowed Eobard Thawne to kill his mother, Nora Allen, in order to undo the damage caused when he created Flashpoint, Iris wasn't on speaking terms with her father, Joe, because of his lie about her mother. Upon learning the truth about Barry's time-traveling actions though, Iris eventually made amends with Joe.
Iris is a very devoted and protective older sister to her brother, Wally West.
Unlike her father, Iris doesn't apologise or admit when she is wrong. The only time was when after her trip to the future, she told her husband Barry that he was right about Thawne manipulating their daughter Nora.
Iris still hasn't learned that she can't talk Barry out of anything once his mind is made up about something throughout the entire series, despite Barry's bad experiences with Eobard Thawne and Hunter Zolomon respectively, Iris and everybody in Team Flash (except Barry) is still fooled by an individual's ability to appear kind-natured, Iris didn't suspect that Clifford DeVoe was a meta-human (even after the Council of Wells informed Team Flash that the latter was the mastermind behind the bus meta-humans) despite the fact that he did not have a criminal record, Iris's concern increased when Barry's suspicions of Clifford increased when he and his wife Marlize lied to his superior officer David Singh, claiming that he was harassing Clifford (when in truth, he was only conducting the necessary investigation) when Iris tried to persuade Barry to let it go, he refused, even when every member of Team Flash (including Iris) believed he was innocent - Barry's suspicions were proven to be correct yet again; regarding Clifford. Then when Nora revealed that she's been working with Thawne to stop Cicada, she stubbornly refused to see the danger of working with him (despite the past numerous times that Thawne has used and manipulated everyone on Team Flash and murdered Barry's mother).
Once getting together with and eventually marrying Barry, Iris provides both tactical and emotional support to him regarding the latter's duties as the Flash. When Cisco and Caitlin grew alienated from Barry for a time due to the repercussions of Flashpoint, Iris stood by his side. She didn't hold Barry responsible, understanding that he didn't mean to cause so much damage to the timeline and actively tried to help him take down Savitar, Iris is also fiercely protective of her husband, as seen when Clifford and Marlize DeVoe framed Barry for Clifford's murder, she confronted Marlize about destroying their lives and threatened retribution. Iris was also unwilling to trust Marlize to help them prevent the Enlightenment until seeing firsthand how Marlize regretted her actions.
Iris of 2449 in an erased future
In an erased timeline, after Iris' husband, Barry Allen had mysteriously disappeared following the events of the Crisis of 2397, she had placed a power-dampening chip inside her daughter, Nora West-Allen so she couldn't use her speed, to (presumably) keep her from ending up like her father, she also never told her the truth, that her father was the Flash.
Iris believed that her future-self did this to protect her daughter, however, Nora corrects her, stating that her future-self did this to control her, taking away her choice to be a superhero like her father; as a result, Nora lost complete trust and respect for her mother, she became even more estranged from her mother, after she learned the truth that her father was the Flash, which Iris kept from her, as she lied, stating that Barry was killed by a meta-human, when in truth, he had actually mysteriously disappeared.
Even when Nora confronted Iris (after discovering that she had placed a power-dampening chip inside her) she is proven to be delusional in her own lies, stating that she put the power-dampening chip inside her to protect her daughter from herself, as these lies of Iris', completely destroyed her relationship with Nora.Powers and abilities[]
Powers[]
- Mirrorverse adaption: After being trapped in the Mirrorverse for so long Iris' body began to adapt to mirror realm allowing her to control it and being able to read and use it's technology. She uses this power to read the monitors to locate David Signh whom also had be entrapped within the Mirrorverse. It was pointed out by Kamilla that Iris had the power to control the Mirroverse but this also comes with a price of maddening her as a weakness.
Former powers[]
- Speed Force connection/Meta-human physiology: After Matthew Kim unintentionally stole Barry's powers, he subsequently transferred them to Iris. Doing this, Iris obtain all of Barry's essence of a speedster. Despite having them for only a short period, Iris quickly adjusted the usage of them, affectively working as a vigilante, in certain capacities showing even more ingenuity than Barry. Later, once Matthew transferred Barry's powers back to him, returning Iris to normal..
- Accelerated healing factor: Iris' transferred powers let her heal in a fraction of the time a normal person would. After breaking her leg and suffering severe smoke inhalations, she made a full recover hours later.
- Electrokinesis: Iris' Speed Force energy uniquely generates purple electricity.
- Superhuman agility: Iris is able to maneuver through enclosed areas with great coordination and dexterity. This enabled her to repeatedly traverse a tall building's staircase to save 14 people from a fire, one after another.
- Superhuman speed: Iris can move at such vast speeds; even Barry was amazed at how fast she could move despite being new to her powers. With her speed, she can easily traverse Central City or change outfits in an instant. Her speed also enables her to run above an ocean..
- Aerokinesis: Iris can use her speed to generate air flows on various levels. While struggling to properly smother a fire, she proved able to use this build-up to gather and direct enough water into a tidal wave capable to disperse a giant fire cyclone of over 6000 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Superhuman stamina: Iris is able to run tremendous distances with no signs of fatigue.
Abilities[]
- "It's my job to find out the truth. I'm a reporter."
- — Iris West to Nora West-Alle
- High-level intellect/Expert investigator/Journalism/Skilled tactician/Leader: Iris is very intelligent and an excellent investigator, as she follows every lead and rumor to discover the truth behind any story; as she eventually discovered that the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator explosion was what gave the Flash his powers. Iris's background as a psychology student has sharpened her natural wits and intuition, which she presumably inherited from her police officer father and grandfather, and gave her a methodical approach to studying and investigating the various meta-human cases around the city, starting off with the Flash. Iris' detective skills made her a prime candidate for the SCIS academy, which she only backed out of due to Joe West's disapproval. On her own, Iris figured out Barry Allen was the Flash upon remembering how Barry gave off similar electrical shocks as the speedster while comatose. Iris is a capable tactician and leader; after Barry reluctantly went into the Speed Force, she took over the leadership role of Team Flash, though nearly 1 in 3 of the criminal meta-humans they have gotten into a confrontation with have managed to escape. She has a creative intelligence, which was evident when she got the ideas of using the Quark ball from the Speed Force to stop a nuclear bomb or using A.M.A.Z.O's weaknesses.
- "You need to go after her."
"Oh, come on. Give me a break. Have you seen her right hook?" - — Cecile Horton and Ralph Dibny
- Expert hand-to-hand combatant: Planning for his daughter's safety, Joe extensively taught Iris since her childhood how to defend herself. During sparring matches against Barry as children, Iris was never once hit by her friend, though it should be noted that Barry was not actually trying to hurt her. As an adult, Iris was able to knock out the much larger Tony Woodward (when not in his metal form) after he had been dazed by the Flash. She also showed considerable reflexes, able to dodge a sucker-punch from the Alchemy-possessed Wally West before knocking him out herself. Iris was also able to hold her own against and eventually subdue Marlize DeVoe after deliberately getting impaled on the latter's katana. She even managed to take down several Earth-X Nazis and knock out Peter Merkel with two punches.
- Skilled markswoman: Iris is skilled in the use of firearms, having been taught by Joe in case of emergencies. She was able to accurately shoot off Dr. Light's mask from a distance. Iris also shot and killed Savitar to protect Barry and used a laser gun to defend herself from a katana-wielding Marlize.
- High tolerance for pain: Though not seen often, Iris can tolerate intense pain when needed; she deliberately impaled herself with Marlize's katana, allowing her to pull Marlize towards Clifford DeVoe's chair, knock her out, and transport her out of S.T.A.R. Labs despite her injury.
- Stealth: Iris was able to sneak up behind and knock out Shawna Baez without being noticed. During a Nazi invasion, she alongside Felicity could infiltrate in S.T.A.R. Labs to stop Thawne from taking Kara's heart.
Weaknesses[]
- Neural dissonance: Iris' prolonged stay in the Mirrorverse gradually degenerated her mind; the more she adapts there, the mores she loses her sanity. Iris even developed Eva McCulloch's tic of scratching her arm.
Equipment[]
- Guns: Iris is very proficient in using guns, having been taught by Joe West.
Former equipment[]
- The Flash suit: After Melting Point transferred Barry Allen's speedster powers to Iris, she briefly took on the mantle of The Flash. Cisco Ramon modified a purple jacket Iris wore for day-to-day use to be friction proof, which she wore along with an extra mask of Jesse Quick's while operating in the field. After the speedster powers were returned to Barry, Iris stopped wearing the suit. In an erased future, Iris gave the suit to her daughter, Nora West-Allen, when the latter began operating as the speedster heroine XS.