The Flash did the particle accelerator really create Flash?

[dru-zod2501]

This has been bugging me for a while now in Thawne's original timeline he said Wells successfully activated his accelerator in 2020, meaning no explosion so how could it have given Barry his powers? Plus if we assume that it did, then Flash would only have been active for 4 years before he disappears in the crisis, not a very long time to have a long-standing rivalry with Thawne and train and master his abilities to the point where he can control jumping through time.

I believe that in the other timeline the lightning still struck Barry, it's his destiny to be the Flash Thawne moved up the accelerator's construction solely to give himself a way into Barry's life

 

[Mike Murdock]

Thawne is from centuries in the future so the rivalry is perfectly plausible. Flash has traveled through time after only months of learning to use his abilities. Four years is plenty of time (even without Wells pushing Barry to train faster quicker).

I think the idea is Thawne moved the timeline up four years, but the accelerator still created the Flash.

 

[Tempest]

I think it did, but I did notice, when rewatching stuff, that the liquids in Barry's lab floated up out of their containers. Is that due to time travel, or to the Speed Force? I admit, the psuedo-science in the show and comics confuses me.

 

[godisawesome]

I'd say no. We've witnessed the floating liquid phenomenon in three different dates now: the earliest chronological example was the night that Nora Allen died, the day that the Flash was born (and correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Well's wine levitate before the accelerator starts to act up?) and when uncovering the real Wells, when Cisco outright ties the phenomena to tachyons and time-travel.

If the liquid did float before the explosion for Wells, I think we're looking at the Speed Force creating Barry regardless of outside interference. Now, while Wells clearly expected most of the explosions results, he seems underprepared and surprised by some of its aftershocks, like FIRESTORM, which implies that while he knows the original fate of most of its victims, he can and is taken by surprise with certain enemies.

 

[Spooderman]

Hopefully they'll answer this. I think it could go either way at this point. They'd still have to explain where the lightning bolt came from. Hopefully it's not Barry from the future becoming it because that is too weird and time is malleable so there's no time loop.

 

[Lencho01]

One of the producers said that whenever we see liquid floating around, it's a sign of time being messed with.

 

[metaphysician]

If it didn't create the Flash, it certainly created a hell of a lot of other metahumans. I suspect, for the sake of simplicity, it probably did create the Flash, at least in the direct "grants Barry Allen powers" sense.

 

[Spooderman]

Eobard stated in the last episode that he created the Flash in this timeline, so I think that answers the question.

 

[Justin]

I'd say no. We've witnessed the floating liquid phenomenon in three different dates now: the earliest chronological example was the night that Nora Allen died, the day that the Flash was born (and correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Well's wine levitate before the accelerator starts to act up?) and when uncovering the real Wells, when Cisco outright ties the phenomena to tachyons and time-travel.

If the liquid did float before the explosion for Wells, I think we're looking at the Speed Force creating Barry regardless of outside interference. Now, while Wells clearly expected most of the explosions results, he seems underprepared and surprised by some of its aftershocks, like FIRESTORM, which implies that while he knows the original fate of most of its victims, he can and is taken by surprise with certain enemies.

Offtopic a little here, but you're right that Wells doesn't seem quite prepared for everything. Like Grodd, he's obviously put in the exact place so he's aware of his future existence.

But when Cisco built the freeze gun, he went ballistic. If he knew Cisco built it at some point, and didn't want cold etc. to exist then surely he would have stopped him prior to building it.

 

[Neno_Kos]

Eobard stated in the last episode that he created the Flash in this timeline, so I think that answers the question.

In this timeline yes. But particle accelerator If I am not wrong never really exploded in original timeline from which Flash disappeared. So original Flash somehow got powers without accelerator. Also in that timeline meta-humans didnt exist like Captain Cold and others. And Wells (Thawne) didnt know about them and how to deal with them.

 

[Lilbaz]

In this timeline yes. But particle accelerator If I am not wrong never really exploded in original timeline from which Flash disappeared. So original Flash somehow got powers without accelerator. Also in that timeline meta-humans didnt exist like Captain Cold and others. And Wells (Thawne) didnt know about them and how to deal with them.

It might not have exploded but it did have something to do with Barry (and the others) transformation. Otherwise Thawne wouldn't have spent years building it and wouldn't have killed Wells. He purposefully made it explode. Why? We're not sure. Maybe the conditions had to be right (originally there may have been a storm and lightning struck?, An explosion created the same effect?) who knows. They may look at this in season 2.
Barry will have to change the timeline at some point. Seeing an alternate timeline is too good a storyline opportunity to pass up. Flashpoint Paradox?

 

[Bren]

I think Barry gets struck by lightning and gets his powers separately from the Particle Accelerator, at the same time/period (2014) regardless of Well's original timeline or this one.

Wells needs Barry to push himself to build up the Speed Force. You know what would come in handy to get Barry to push so hard?
Yeah, that's right - Supervillians.

My opinion? This timeline's Flash (after one year) is far more powerful than the original timeline's Flash after the same period, because he pushed harder (and had Wells). And the Particle Accelerator accident achieved a few goals;
1. To 'hide' the Flash's actual creation.
2. To create a reason for Wells to be close to Barry
3. To create Supervillians.

 

[The_Yellow_King]

I think the particle accelerator gave him his powers (or at least was a key element), but in the original timeline it happened years later, Wells just made it happen earlier.

The liquids in the lab floated because it was the moment when the speedforce was created, in other moments when the speedforce is heavily used for time travel there are the same "floating liquids" effects.

The speedforce has an effect in physics, using it for time travelling probably has this kind of side effects, it's not the same to use the speedforce to clean your room faster than to use it to travel several years back in time.

The particle accelerator explosion caused the creation of many metahumans, but I guess that its main effect was creating the speedforce, thus when the lightning hits Barry we see the labs liquids floating as a side effect of Barry being connected to the speedforce through the lightning.