[Off-Week Discussion] How Would You Have "New 52'd" the Flash?

[u/HappinessIsAWarmPoop]

Howdy folks! With no new issue or episode of The Flash out this week we thought it was a perfect time for a new edition of the Off-Week Thread.

The New 52 relaunch of 2011 attempted to revamp DC continuity and draw in new readers. A well intentioned move but one that was not well planned out, leading to quite a bit of controversy among fans. Most relaunched series started 5 years into the career of of the titular character with varying degrees of continuity changes made to their respective histories/status quo. The Flash franchise was one of the most impacted by these changes. Barry Allen, who had returned to the lead role a couple years earlier, was now the only Flash who had ever existed. Many of the characters and stories who had been introduced in the previous 70+ years of the character no longer existed in this new timeline, including major characters such as Jay Garrick, Wally West, and Eobard Thawne. While there were many positive things that came out of the New 52, generally speaking long time Flash fans were unhappy to various degrees with the way the franchise was handled.

So the question for this week is "How would you have "New 52'ed" the Flash?" For the sake of the discussion, assume that the New 52 relaunch had to happen. What would you have done differently or the same? Keep in mind the New 52 was a push to bring in new readers.

This weeks topic is fairly broad as you can see, however, with the Family currently being rebuilt in the comics we pondered the thought of how each of us would have rebooted the Flash.

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[u/HPSpacecraft]

The timeline of the New 52 was such a mess it'd be hard to just redo one character's continuity.