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In the Flash tv show from DC in one scene of "Season 7 Episode 7 (@09:25)", Barry Allen gets struck by lightning and suffers from cardiac arrest. He came back to life by getting chest compressions by his daughter Nora Allen.

So my question is..

How a speedster gets affected by lightning?

I mean speedsters are created by lightning bolt according to stories about Flash. And they contain such amount of lightning energy called speed force in their system. Shouldn't lightning should recharge their speed force?

Any promising details would be appreciated on my confusion.

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    Speedforce != Lightning. The lightning only activated the speedforce it didn;t create it,
    – Paulie_D
    Nov 28, 2018 at 17:24
  • But now that they're containing speed force, shouldn't that mean that they're immune to lightning ? Or like hitting again by lightning would make their tachyons recharged?
    – Jeel Vankhede
    Nov 28, 2018 at 17:27

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They get affected by lightning just like anyone else would be - they're still human (ok, metahuman).

The lightning strike PLUS the dark matter released by the particle accelerator explosion is what turned Barry into the Flash and gave him access to the Speed Force.

As we've seen before with other metas who harness electrical powers, Barry can still take an electrical hit and be hurt by it, and lightning is just a large electrical charge.

So in summary, yes - if he's hit by lightning it's perfectly understandable that his heart might be stopped by it.

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He survived.

I posit that he IS somewhat immune to lightning. People CAN survive lightning, but if I remember right, he wasn't even burned or anything. His heart just temporarily stopped.

If he were completely immune to lightning, that would be quite powerful. Damage from lightning is from energy being dumped into you. If he's immune that would mean he would be immune to other methods of energy transfer as well (like standing in a fire).

Lastly, the speed force is NOT lightning. It is visually similar, and was catalyzed by lightning (where he also had heart issues), but they are different, and not to be confused.

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  • He would have died without chest compressions. So not really immune to it
    – XtremeBaumer
    Nov 29, 2018 at 7:35
  • @XtremeBaumer exactly why I said somewhat immune. It only took chest compressions. From what I understand, lightning strikes normally have much worse lasting damage. Maybe resistant would be better
    – Aethenosity
    Nov 29, 2018 at 8:00
  • @Aethenosity In that regard you'd have to also consider the insulating factor of his suit, his boots etc. There was an instance in the comic books (back in the 70s) where Barry Allen was hit by a large electrical shock and was saved by Jay Garrick. Barry later revealed he'd been playing possum and hadn't needed saved, because of his boots being insulated and rubber soled. How accurate that is may be debatable, but I doubt that speedsters gain any immunity to lightning.
    – Dave
    Dec 12, 2018 at 15:39

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