Barry Allen/Iris West
| Pairing | |
|---|---|
| Pairing: | Barry Allen/Iris West |
| Alternative name(s): | WestAllen, NewsFlash |
| Gender category: | Het, M/F |
| Fandom: | The Flash (Arrowverse, '90s TV series, comics), Young Justice (TV series), Justice League: The New Frontier, Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox |
| Canonical?: | Canon |
| Prevalence: | popular |
| Archives: | |
| Other: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
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Barry/Iris, also known as the portmanteau WestAllen in the Arrowverse, is the canon het pairing of Barry Allen (Flash) and Iris West in the Flash fandoms, including CW's The Flash and Young Justice.
Canon
Young Justice
They appear together in several episodes of Young Justice. They are married and are expecting twins, one of which would be Bart Allen's father.
Arrowverse
Pre-canon, Iris and Barry are best friends before his mother is brutally murder by the Reverse Flash at age 11. His father, Henry Allen, is convicted of murdering his mother and lives with Iris and her father, Joe West.
In season 1 of The Flash (2014), Iris West is in a relationship with Eddie Thawne, and they later become engaged. Barry grapples with his feelings for Iris, before giving Iris and Eddie his blessing. Following Eddie's death at the end of the season, Barry and Iris remain close friends but neither of them bring up their romantic feelings. Barry eventually asks Iris out; but Season 2 concludes with his father's death at Zoom's hands; defeating Zoom; and going back in time, thus creating Flashpoint, a timeline where Iris West doesn't know him.
After Barry returns to his original timeline, Iris and Barry begin dating. Barry is soon consumed with the need to save Iris from her impending death at the hands of Savitar; and he asks Iris to marry him in the hope of changing the future. It is actually Iris who eventually defeats Savitar at the end of Season 3; but she loses Barry to the speedforce prison. In the Season 4 premiere, he is released from the speedforce; and they marry mid-season.
On Earth-2, Barry meets Iris' doppelganger, and discovers that Earth-2 Barry Allen is married to her.
Other Adaptations
Barry and Iris were together in the first episode of the 1990's The Flash TV series, before breaking up due to differences of where they wanted to take their relationship (Barry proposed, but Iris moved away).
Barry and Iris appeared together in two DCAOM films: Justice League: The New Frontier and Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox. In The New Frontier, Barry and Iris appear to be together and Iris knows his identity as The Flash. In The Flashpoint Paradox, Barry and Iris are originally married, but by going back in time to save his mother, he loses Iris (she ends up married to someone else). Barry eventually restores the timeline, and they are reunited.
Barry and Iris were previously together in the Injustice: Gods Amongst Men storyline, but broke up due to Barry joining Superman's side.
Fandom
While the pairing was always canon in the comics, Barry/Iris was a fairly rare pairing until the CW's The Flash series, which quickly became one of the most popular pairings for the fandom.[1]
Young Justice
Barry/Iris in the Young Justice is very rare in producing fanworks dedicated solely to them. They often appear as a background pairing or secondary characters in Wally West and/or Bart Allen fanworks.
Arrowverse
The Barry/Iris fandom termed their pairing name WestAllen, grouping Iris' and Barry's last names together.[2][3] It is the second most popular ship in this fandom and the most popular het pairing.
There has been some tension between Westallen fans and fans of other ships within this fandom. See Westallen vs. Snowbarry
Common Tropes & Storylines
- Domestic fics often build heavily on their comics backstory, with Future fics depicting Barry and Iris married before their relationship became canon.
- Established relationship fics were also very common, appearing within a month of the series premiere.
- Alternative Universes - Soulmate AU, Mob AU, Historical AU, College AU
- Canon divergent AUs often involve Westallen getting together earlier. In some works, Flashpoint didn't happen, allowing Iris to remember her second canon kiss with Barry. In others, Barry was not raised in the West household, leading to alternate first meetings
- The CW Multiverse also provides canon AUs, with Earth-2 Iris/Barry appearing in fanworks. In this universe, Iris is a police detective and Barry doesn't have metahuman powers.
The poly ships of Barry/Eddie/Iris and Barry/Iris/Leonard also appear.
Example Fanworks
Fan Art
Arrowverse
- The Present by maxbarrowart
- Domestic WestAllen with mr.McSnurtle by softjellybabe
- If Iris had a suit for an episode by sunshinesunsethappiness
- AND ALL MY LIFE, I PROMISE TO KEEP RUNNING HOME TO YOU by prettyoddchild
- Westallen 4 by darklitria
- The Flash More WestAllen by darklitria
- Westallen Wednesday by itslopez
- Westallen by kingmebruv
- Earth 3 Criminals[dead link] by americanmuffins
Comicsverse
Young Justice
Fanfiction
Arrowverse
- That Mood Indigo by gnimaerd, Iris is a waitress and aspiring novelist, Barry is her favourite customer. Anything else between them would be illegal. But in the face of overwhelming prejudice against her, Iris dares to dream, and write, and fall in love. (1940s AU)
- The Scientist and the Storyteller[dead link] by MirrorKing96, Barry Allen is a CSI working to free his father. Iris West is a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist with a secret. What happens when they have to work on an article about the mysterious Dr Harrison Wells and his Particle Accelerator and slowly discover they've secretly known each other their whole lives? (AU)
- Worlds Apart by SilverGlimmers, When Barry closes the singularity he ends up in a whole new universe. Barry must deal with alternate versions of Iris, Oliver, Harrison and even himself if he wants to make it home. Back in Central City, Iris and the others try to hold the city together without him as they try to come to terms with the events of the season 1 finale.
- A Lie, Told Often Enough by Jade4813, Iris just landed her dream job at a PR firm and her first assignment is reforming the bad boy image of celebrity artist Barry Allen. He’s overly cocky and well-known for being a playboy, but Iris has never met a challenge she couldn’t handle. (AU)
- Questions I Have for a Sinner Like Me by Cee693, Barry and Iris and a Spy Agency (AU)
- Absolution In You by HeroSavesPeople, When Barry meets Iris under unusual circumstances, he never would have imagined just how tangled in her he would become. He wasn't supposed to fall for her. It wasn't supposed to be like this. But the fates had a twisted sense of humor, it seemed and here he was... (AU)
Fan Vids
Arrowverse
- Latching Onto You (1x01)
- Iris & Barry || Story of my life
- Barry & Iris | Waiting for Superman
- Barry & Iris | Say you won't let go
- Barry & Iris || A perfect combination
- Barry & Iris || Real love, it's not that simple
- Barry & Iris ✗ Girls Like You
- Barry & Iris || Perfect
- Barry & Iris l Eighteen
- Barry & Iris | The Sun
- Half Light | Westallen
- Barry & iris || You are the reason
- Barry & Iris || Dear Future Husband
- Barry & Iris | Surrender
Challenges
Arrowverse
- WestAllen Week [1]
- WestAllen Smut Week [2]
- WestAllen Secret Santa
- WestAllen At The Movies
- Runnin’ Home to You Challenge
Archives & Fannish Links
- Barry/Iris works at AO3
- Barry/Iris works at FFN (comics)
- Barry/Iris works at FFN (Young Justice)
- Barry/Iris works at FFN (Arrowverse)
- Iris/Barry recs tagged at Het Reccers
Tumblr
- Tumblr tags: barry x iris, iris x barry, westallen
- AO3 Feed: WestAllen
- Iris and the Flash
- Iris and Barry
- Flashallens
- Westallen Gifs
- Westallenverse
- BarryandIris
- NewsflashBarryIris
- Westallen Olicity Gifs
References
- ^ FFN's Flash comics section is small (216 works as of 9/28/17) - and most of the early works seem to be more focused on the Flash's Rogue Gallery than the speedsters that portrayed Flash, and then later more Bart Allen and Wally West works compared to Barry. Only a handful of works are tagged/grouped under the pairing of Iris & Barry. Doesn't seem to have much LJ presence.
- ^ Pretty sure this appeared in the Arrowverse and not the comics, but someone more familiar might know better
- ^ Earliest examples I could find - Ship name discussion on fanforum.com; Page 1 and Page3 (07/01/2014) accessed on 17th February 2018