Barry Allen/Leonard Snart

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Pairing
Pairing: Barry Allen/Leonard Snart
Alternative name(s): Coldflash, Flash/Captain Cold
Gender category: Slash, M/M
Fandom: The Flash (CW)/Legends of Tomorrow (Arrowverse), The Flash (comics)
Canonical?: non-canon
Prevalence: popular
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Barry/Leonard is a popular slash pairing of Barry Allen (Flash) and Leonard Snart (Captain Cold) in the in the DC Universe fandom. They started as a small pairing in The Flash comics fandom, but Coldflash quickly became the most popular pairing in CW's The Flash fandom. Ultimately Snart's character moved to the Legends of Tomorrow TV series, set in the same Arrowverse universe as the Flash, and Coldflash was initially the most popular pairing in that new fandom too.

Canon

Comics

Captain Cold is a member of the Rogues, aka the Flash's Rogues Gallery, and is often their leader.

Arrowverse

Leonard Snart first appears in episode 1x04 Going Rogue of The Flash (CW) as one of the Flash's villains. They clashed a number of times before Snart learned Barry Allen's identity in 1x16 Rogue Time. Since then, Barry went to ask Snart for his help a couple of times and they've become occasional allies, with Barry trying to convince Snart that there was good in him and Snart inviting that he had no intention of giving up his criminal activities.

After Snart's death in Legends of Tomorrow, Barry travelled to the past to in the The Flash (CW) episode 3x22 Infantino Street to carry a past version of Snart into the present in order to help him break into A.R.G.U.S. Snart agreed and after a successful mission, they parted on friendly terms when Barry dropped Snart back into his original timeline.

Fandom

The pairing of Barry Allen and Leonard Snart is known by the name smoosh Coldflash. These two characters appear on face value to be diametrically opposed, but many of the Flash story lines involving Captain Cold have allowed shippers to draw parallels between these two characters and reimagine the dynamics of their relationship. Fanfiction of this pairing often builds on the similarities in their history, while their differences in moral stance provides conflict.

In the TV series fandom, Coldflash quickly surpassed Barry/Harrison, Barry/Oliver and Barry/Eddie pairings to become the most popular slash pairing in the fandom. As of August 12, 2020, there were 4278 works tagged at AO3 with Barry/Leonard, making it the most popular ship for The Flash (CW), ahead of Barry/Iris.

There are also several threesome pairings featuring both Barry Allen and Leonard Snart. Most commonly they are paired with Mick Rory in the pairing known as Coldflashwave. There are also works with Iris West as the third party. The popularity of the canon pairing of Westallen appears to have lead to more fics pairing Iris, Barry and Len. This pairing is known as Coldwestallen.

The pairing also appears in the Legends of Tomorrow section of the TV fandom.

Common Tropes and Storylines

  • Working Together - In the Flash TV show, Barry Allen has more than once approached Leonard Snart seeking help with his metahuman of the week, and this is a common trope in Coldflash fanworks.
  • Time Travel is canon, and both of these characters have travelled through time. In fanworks employing this trope, Barry or Leonard may discover how their relationship changes in the future. These works can include fix-its, where Barry unintentionally or intentionally saves Leonard from his canon death.
  • Multiverse allows for multiple versions of each character to exist on multiple Earths.
  • A Metahuman made them do it - Under the influence of another metahuman's powers, one of these two may admit to romantic feelings for the other, or become infatuated with the other, or it may lead to fuck or die scenarios. Once this influence has been removed, Barry and Leonard often start a romantic relationship.
  • Alternative Universes - Soulmate AU, Prison AU, No Powers AU, Neighbors AU
    • Canon divergent AUs often save Leonard from his canonical death
    • Role Reversal AUs often play on the idea that Barry Allen could have been a criminal if circumstances in his early childhood were different. Similarly the character of Leonard Snart, with a family history of law enforcement, could have ended up working for the police department.
  • Established Relationship
    • Secret Relationship works often show Barry and Leonard hiding their relationship from friends and colleagues due to these two working on opposite sides of the law.
    • Fake Relationship - Barry and Leonard sometimes pretend to be in a relationship, often to protect Barry's secret identity or while Barry is undercover as a criminal.
    • Fluff and Domestic fics. Some of these works include Snart's fanon son, Michael Snart.
  • Snart is a metahuman works are not confined to the New 52 fics. In other parts of the fandom, creators create situations where a human Captain Cold because a metahuman, often acquiring ice powers similar to his powers in the New 52.

Fanworks

Fics

Comic Fics

  • Lesser Evils by tipsybluetips, In the aftermath of Lisa’s hostile takeover, Len is wounded to the point he actually accepts help from the friendly waiter at Charlie’s bar. The thing about accepting kindness, however, is that it grows. (first fic posted on AO3, based on the comics rather than TV Arrowverse)
  • Singularity: Divergence by Enina, Barry is robbed of his powers and locked away in Iron Height for a crime he didn’t commit. (as of Aug 12th 2020, this fic had the most comments on AO3)

TV Fandom Fics

  • Tumbling Together by RedHead, When Barry and Len discover that they’ve accidentally become neighbors, they learn to navigate their new living situation amongst misunderstandings and a surprising amount of common ground.(Neighbors AU) (as of August 13, 2017, this fic has the most kudos on AO3)
  • An All Too Jagged Snowflake by RedHead, When Leonard and Barry discover that they're Soulmates, they struggle with the many, many issues this causes. It might be easier without the collective difficulties of the Rogues, a meta-gorilla, and the military, but life has never been simple for either of them. (Soulmates AU)
  • Destiny, Fate, How to Throw a Curveball by Sandrine Shaw, When Mick's memory wipe fails and leaves Leonard stranded in 2014 with all the memories of 2017, he vows to try his worst to alter his path to heroic self-sacrifice. But time will have its way, and there just might be more strings on Leonard than he expected.
  • one good reason by QLaLa. When a gang of phase-shifting metas overwhelm the resources of Team Flash, the Rogues step in.
  • Out Cold by Crimson1, Captain Cold's plan for a bit of fun with his nemesis results in more than he bargained for when a head wound from dashing to Flash's rescue leaves him without any memories of who he or The Flash is. As Barry nurses Len back to health, both of them quickly start to hope that he never remembers being Captain Cold as the attraction they feel for each other turns into something more without the pitfalls of being enemies to stand in their way.
  • Rogue Z by bealeciphers, Two months after a mysterious villain started the zombie apocalypse and all of North America has been trapped in an unnaturally cold winter, the Flash has been forced to travel with Captain Cold, Golden Glider, and Heatwave to make it back to Central City and find his friends and family. (Zombie AU)
  • Seventy Three Seconds by RedHead, With a meta-human on his tail, Leonard Snart turns to the Flash for some information on how to stop them, and gets more than he bargained for along the way.
  • These Violent Delights by RedHead, As an assistant CSI and persistent rule-breaker, Barry Allen’s no stranger to getting in over his head. This time, however, he might’ve bitten off more than he can chew. Following a hunch on a serial killer case, Barry runs into a man who may not be the killer he’s tracking, but who might just kill him all the same. Lucky for him, Len's got other plans.
  • Things I Cannot Control and Do Not Admire by n_a_feathers. Following the events of the singularity, Barry retreats from his friends and family. When he fails to show up to a Rogue heist, Len decides something needs to be done.
  • those three words over even 'I love you' by QLaLa. Missing scene from episode 2x03 Family of Rogues. Later, he'd wonder if they all could've walked away from the heist in one piece if Barry had just called him Leonard.
  • To Catch a Thief by Error401, “Ugh, hi,” Barry said, staring up at the man in the parka. “Hi…” the man said slowly, staring at Barry in turn. “You’re not Garcia from the bank robbery task force, are you,” Barry said. It wasn’t a question. The man in the parka smirked and leveled a gun at Barry’s chest. “Stay cool, kid, and I’ll be on my way in no time.” (No Powers AU)
  • A Week on Rogue's Mountain by Chichirinoda, Leonard Snart has organized a special Christmas-time retreat for all his closest pals. Unfortunately for Barry Allen... there's a secret Santa auction, and he's on the block.
  • Rich Man's World by nirejseki, Leonard Snart, full-time thief and part-time accountant, is going to personally kill the guy who just inherited STAR Labs if he doesn't sign his goddamn tax returns already.

FanArt

Vids

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Recs

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References

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