The Most Brutal Deaths in The Flash: A Closer Look

The Legacy of Brutality

The Flash saw many heroes, villains, and civilians face brutal deaths over its nine seasons. DC's Arrowverse concluded earlier this year when The Flash met its end. After nine seasons, Grant Gustin's Barry Allen went out for his final run as the Scarlet Speedster, and like all The Flash seasons, season 9 of the Arrowverse series saw multiple shocking and brutal deaths. The Arrowverse is no stranger to killing characters, with major players such as Green Arrow and Black Canary dying; however, the level of brutality of some deaths does exceed the rest.

The Legacy of Brutality

Like all the other Arrowverse shows on The CW, Gustin's The Flash featured a series of violent and/or emotionally charged deaths. Some of The Flash's best characters have even been part of the superhero series' most brutal deaths, which is explained by The Flash's choice of villains. The Arrowverse series pitted Gustin's Barry Allen with several powerful and murderous antagonists, such as Reverse-Flash, Bloodwork, and Zoom. The Flash's best villains left a trail of blood behind, which resulted in a series of brutal deaths over The Flash's nine seasons.

The Brutal Demise of Gypsy and Harrison Wells

The Flash season 6 made the controversial decision to kill Gypsy, and worse, her death was revealed through a flashback. Despite Gypsy's death coming out of the blue, the character's demise was quite brutal. Hailing from Earth-19, Jessica Camacho's Gypsy had at one point found love with Earth-1's Cisco Ramon. Sadly, Gypsy would be killed by Echo, who was none other than Earth-19's doppelgänger of Cisco. Gypsy being killed by someone who had the face of one of her loved ones was brutal, and the fact that the character was completely vaporized, with Cisco framed for her death, made things even worse.

Gypsy and Breacher in their leather jackets on Earth-19 in The Flash

Many different versions of Harrison Wells appeared in The Flash over its nine seasons, but season 1 of the Arrowverse series included the shocking twist that Earth-1's Wells had been killed, with Reverse-Flash assuming his identity. Eobard Thawne is one of the most deranged characters to have appeared in The Flash, with the villain responsible for a path of destruction like no other. Among the brutal deaths that came from Reverse-Flash's hands is that of the original Harrison Wells. Thawne used a device that led to Wells quickly decaying to death, with the villain assuming the deceased character's face and life.

Custom image of The Flash's Harrison Wells and Reverse-Flash

The Ruthlessness of Bloodwork and The Thinker

Sendhil Ramamurthy's Bloodwork was one of The Flash's best villains. While the series usually did not have non-speedster main foes who were as exciting to watch as villains such as Reverse-Flash and Zoom, Bloodwork might be the exception to that rule. The character's powers allowed the villain to essentially turn other people into zombies, with the added caveat that he could command them to do his bidding. Whenever he took people's blood, Bloodwork would leave a piece of his dark matter-infused blood behind, which led to the person he killed reanimating and becoming one of his zombies, a brutal affair that befell many.

Grant Gustin as The Flash and DC villain Bloodwork

Clifford DeVoe, aka the Thinker, was one of The Flash's most ruthless villains. While his name and monotone attitude might not lead to the feeling that the Thinker was a brutal foe, the character's actions in the Arrowverse series surely show that DeVoe was not one to be messed with. The Thinker killed several metahumans to gain their powers in an effort to bring his Enlightenment to the world. However, the Thinker's most brutal kill might be that of an A.R.G.U.S. guard, with the villain shrinking the guard and then stepping on him, crushing him to death.

Close-up shot of The Thinker sitting in his chair in The Flash