Well thing to remember is that none of its real, but how they get their powers should have at least something slightly to do with their powers. The Barry Allen Flash has that for sure with the examples I gave up there. And Spider-Man (Raimi films) didn't mess with his origin at all and I thought it worked great. Hulk messed with his in the 2003 film but to me what they did was worse than anything in the comics and they should have just kept it the way it was in the comics because it was more simplistic and made better sense, IMO. The "my evil daddy poisoned me" angle was one of the things that drug the movie down so much for me. Fantastic Four's origin I thought worked fine in the movies too, frankly. I get tired of the genetically engineered super soldier thing, that's more cliche to me than anything in most of the comics we're talking about, IMO. Even Rocky fought a "genetically engineered" guy. Plus you kinda have that angle in MOS already, you know?
Actually I think they said in FF Galactus caused the radiation now that I put more thought in it, so that's more palatable for me. And the spider was genetically engineered in the movie, not radioactive.
LOL! Now that's hilarious. Almost reminds me of how "The Wizzer" got his powers, by drinking mongoose blood I think? Anyway, "The Wizzer" may have been a more appropriate name for your friend from the sounds of it.

Haha. But yeah, back to the whole "how is this origin related to how the powers are recieved" bit, I think The Flash's origin is every bit in relation to his powers and how they work. It's been said before that he has the "lightning" (and chemicals) coursing through his veins, his logo is even the lightning motiff. In one story it was revealed that when Barry Allen "died" in Crisis, running several times faster than the speed of light to catch the Anti-Moniter's tachyon particle, a particle which traveled so many times faster than the speed of light it actually traveled BACKWARDS in time, that Barry Allen "disintegrated" into a type of energy when he hit a certain speed and became a "Human Thunderbolt" and actually became the lightning bolt that hit himself, granting him superpowers and creating the speed Force. Mind = blown. Lol. But in all seriousness the story was very well done and it ended saying how just sometimes, lightning does strike the same place twice. I thought it was brilliant.
Heard about that, read Crisis but heard about the Human Lightning bolt. That is better as well.
THAT being said though - in regard to the whole genetically engineered thing, why is it acceptable to have him injected with chemicals when he was presumably younger or a la Captain America, but not exposed to electrolized chemicals in a lab accident whilst being struck by lightning?
I said I didn'twant that.
I would be very against The Flash being a "bang baby" or "mutant", lol. He needs to be Barry Allen, regular joe, everyman, almost a "Jimmy Stewart" type, the guy you're most likely to bump into in the DC universe or hang out with.
well, it'd just be an added thing I need for my benefit in my head. I'm not saying they flat out state it in the movie, it'll just be something I pretend.
None of it is humanly possible, even when theorized, and The Flash has the Speed Force and the protective aura around him from the lightning/accident when he got his powers that prevents things from his leg muscles being destroyed by the speeds he runs, his skin burning up (or tight fitting clothes, hence his costume), etc, as the deus ex machina for almost any "well this is what would REALLY happen if a person could run that fast" scenario - his protective aura covers all of that. If an ordinary human could run even half as fast as The Flash does, they'd very obviously have to have super strength too, saying he gets his powers from the "Speed Force" and has a protective aura around him allows him to break the laws of physics and do all of the things he does in the comic books and it still sounds semi scientific, that's why The Flash's powers work as a character.
im actually fine with Speed Force, go figure. Haha.
The whole "gods' magic is just a higher science" is a recent addition to the whole mytholigical/magic angle, it's used in some Flash stories but not QUITE to the great length it's used in things like Thor, etc, for characters like Abra Kadabra, a great Flash villain who is an evil magician from the far, far future, but The Flash is and never was based out of mythology, I think it would be sacrilege to manipulate magic into the character like that, and unnecessary. If you want to use an origin that exists in canon, use the one that he actually has, as it is good and works fine on its own, and his origin is one of the all time comic book greats and a rarity for the heavy hitter DC characters in that his is an "accident" and most the other characters' powers/abilities are all orchestrated.