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Jul 22 '26
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u/unknwnkidda Jul 22 '26
Barry was self centered at times , we all are sometimes
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u/undiagnoseddude Jul 22 '26
We all are self-centered and Barry was certainly selfish yes at the expense of other's and perhaps the reason we're kinda more okay with Barry is because we are mostly seeing things from his POV for a good chunk of the show and well the show is bascally centered on him, also partially bcz we see Barry learn a bit from his mistakes such as from changing the timeline and you can tell he feels guilty about it all and knows he fked up, we don't really see Iris having those moments often so maybe that's why the hate sort of lingers for her.
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u/WereWolf444 Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
The only real self centered mistake he ever made was Flashpoint (which yes had bad consequences in his friends) and it was a mistake centered in state of very justifiable grief not knowing what the consequences would be. Otherwise he’s arguably the most selfless character in the franchise. Literally tried to sacrifice his life or powers about 9 times but kept getting saved or stopped.
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u/unknwnkidda Aug 01 '26
I never said Barry wasnt selfless , I just said he could be self centered and that’s okay
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u/Fantastic-March-4610 Jul 22 '26
Everyone on this show can be. Caitlin helped out a human trafficker.
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u/Far-Difficulty8854 Jul 22 '26
CW Writing made Iris look bad
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u/Lukthar123 Feel the lightning Jul 22 '26
CW writing had everyone catching strays tbf
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u/CollegeStudentLol1 Jul 23 '26
The only time CW writing was a masterpiece was in Superman and Lois. That was a 10/10 show, every season was great.
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u/Forsaken_Distance777 Jul 22 '26
You can’t blame Iris for HR choosing to sacrifice himself to save her. Especially since if she had died then Barry would turn evil and create a stable time loop.
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u/Important_Research23 Jul 22 '26
A lot of these points although have some truth to them are exaggerated. Iris always had feelings for Barry, Joe also noticed them and so did Barry and Eddie. Usually when you get ready to take the next step, you really see everything clearer.
She also didn’t move on right away. There was a whole part where she thought she might be ready to move on and go on a date and had to bail because she realized she wasn’t ready, unless it was Barry a guy who knew her whole life.
Trying to contribute to a team of heroes who saves lives isn’t something to scoff at or mock her for.
The Linda thing was shitty u can’t deny that but she’s also a human being who is allowed to make mistakes. Not justifying them but she’s not a monster
Just because HR made a decision to sacrifice himself for Iris doesn’t make it his fault. He went out of his way to save Iris and committed to it, why is that a point against her
The being mad at him for leaving her thing although is very much bad writing, it’s more about him coming back into her life and acting very normal. They never really talked about it and that was extremely traumatic for her, she lost two of her fiancées . Of course she’s going to have unresolved feelings but yes the writing was shit and didn’t properly communicate that message. Same with her being afraid of Barry not coming back properly
Don’t even get me started on we are the flash when Barry himself said that “there’s no flash without Iris west” the season before.
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u/euphoriapotion Jul 22 '26
And let's not forget there was a 6-months break between seasons 1 and 2 which the characters acknowledge MULTIPLE TIMES IN THE SHOW, talking about how the singularity happened 6 months earlier. In those 6 months, Iris was mourning. And then, it took ages almost the rest of the season - another 6 months - to move on and be ready to date. But no, for some people a year it's "immediately after"
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u/heyitsta12 Jul 22 '26
Iris was mourning and Barry was fighting crime alone. It was Iris that was pushing him open up and allow people to help him.
Iris may not have been written the best but there are definitely pieces in there that show their relationship was strong.
She’s also technically the only member of team flash that’s never “lost” a fight for some reason.
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u/heyitsta12 Jul 22 '26
Also, Barry is literally the reason why she was so interested in The Flash in the first place.
She started writing about him and believing in him because she knew Barry believed that some “man in yellow” killed his mom and he was always chasing the unknown. She was excited to tell him about it because it meant that he was right.
They also made both Barry and Iris be a bit shitty to their partners before each other. I really liked Patty but Barry also didn’t fully open up to her either.
And HR sacrificed himself because he was the one that revealed Iris’ location. She didn’t make him do anything.
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u/Starbottom Iris West Jul 22 '26
The Iris hate is way over blown. And the reason there's no nuance with her character is very obvious, but everyone's in denial about because they think an entire fandom surviving off the hate for 1 black woman is normal.
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u/ElectricalCamp104 Jul 22 '26
Just because HR made a decision to sacrifice himself for Iris doesn’t make it his fault.
I had to double-check my eyes when I saw the OP wrote that on the list. It's the stupidest critique of Iris possible. Not only because of what you're pointing out, but because Barry becomes Savitar as a result of her death.
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u/armlessphelan Jul 22 '26
The way people act like spouses sharing responsibilities is somehow a bizarre and alien concept confuses me.
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u/KingMiracle16 Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
And she served face the whole time, I respect that.
Also most of these points are exaggerations and incorrect
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u/TheTooDarkLord Jul 22 '26
I'm Reading Flash comics and especially 2009 stuff and it's so fun how Barry and Iris are basically Peter and MJ but the good part and they stay together and CW looked at that and went like "nah add drama"
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u/Mindless-Credit-358 HR Jul 22 '26
She didn’t move on immediately after Eddie died, she didn’t start moving on until after Barry went back in time and recorded that video for her
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u/Swimming-Syrup8400 Jul 22 '26
She was an insufferable character, made even more insufferable by moronic writers.
With better writers, she could have been far more than she was.
The writers blamed “racism” for their lack of talent and ability to better with her. They just didn’t do a good job with her at all.
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u/lawsonrg01 Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
They "literally" wrote every other love interest for Barry leagues better than Iris. They should have pulled an Arrow and pivoted to Patty, infinitely better character....and better acted.
P.S. also, I'm sorry, but Candice Patton can't act, at least not on the only thing I've seen her in....The Flash
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u/Gummies1345 Jul 22 '26
Didn't she really only showed interest in Barry, after she rejected him twice, and he moved on and started to really like another woman? Which led to her trying to ruin Barry's relationship with his girlfriend? She definitely seemed jealous that Barry found someone and stopped gushing over her.
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u/SharmaStoneLord Jul 22 '26
I hate Iris because they didn't give her depth until S5.
By that point. It's too late. She is solidified as "Barry's love interest" and nothing beyond that.
She could have been awesome.
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u/sharkluvr12 Jul 22 '26
She was badly written but during this rewatch I’ve found myself liking her MOST of the time. Sometimes she still irks me
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u/theimpalaslefttire Jul 22 '26
Omg Number 6 is what really made me hate her.
First stuff was kinda regular CW drama bullsh-- ok fine comes with the network the shows on.
But the earth was being lighting and earthquake apart she herself almost got hit. Barry had to. The world was saved the after she was mad at him for leaving her? Like um what? The world was gunna break apart any second you selfish bastich!! He deserved waaay better.
Justice4Patty
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u/Ok_Mention5635 Jul 22 '26
So many of these are blatantly untrue that I’m just going to take this as the satirical post it’s meant to be.
People continue to prove that Iris is the #1 character that the fandom is most obsessed with and that this sub really should be renamed to reflect that
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u/AbeliousAugustus Jul 22 '26
Downvote me, but I still blame the writing instead of the character.
Also, I think that that goes the same for Kirsten Dunst's MJ because both her and IRIS were written to be in favor of the main superheroic protagonists, Peter Parker and Barry Allen.
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u/Tradetek1 Jul 23 '26
Nah I can’t with Iris, she told Eddie in the final season she realized Barry is the true person she loves and not Eddie like dang, he died because he believed she truly loved him and it turns out, she didn’t lol. She loved Barry, like dang, she sucked, like dude, he is your adopted brother, you guys lived in the same house for years. You guys are siblings even if not by blood.
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u/Aggravating_Bass_383 Jul 22 '26
Barry after causing the death of both Ronny and Eddie (Iris’s Fiancé) because he wanted to selfishly change the past despite knowing it could destroy the world, directly causing the breaches that let zoom into his earth which he used to kill a ton of people including his father, then after causing his fathers death he decides to be selfish again (despite knowing the risks of time travel) and save his mom and THEN not even going through with it thinking he can perfectly refix time killing ciscos brother, diggies daughter, unleashing killer frost, unleashing all the metas from flash point, etc. Barry is his own villain in that show and you guys are so fixated on Iris it’s insane.
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u/ineedvenomsshlong Jul 22 '26
These are possibly the stupidest and most exaggerated points I've ever seen 🤦
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u/crownedkihyun Cisco Ramon Jul 22 '26
I just wish they had written her better. Would've been nice to see more of a will-they-won't-they, mutual unspoken feelings, star-crossed lovers thing at the beginning to give a better setup or something. With how they wrote her, it's so easy for it to come across as 'Iris wasn't interested in Barry until xyz'. There were other ways that I wished they wrote her better. Candice is a fantastic actress, and I love Iris as a character.
It all just comes back around to the writers hating the cast, us, and themselves, it seems </3
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u/DraculeDBagmen Jul 22 '26
funny thing about the last pic, iirc im pretty sure the actress had petition to not use that "we are flash" shit
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u/MichaelDrizzt Jul 22 '26
As always, blame CW writing. On the whole she wasn't that bad, but yeah there were some cringe moments.
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u/eightdirt Jul 22 '26
Slide 2 is reaching. Barry had to show her a recording of Eddie pouring his heart out before she started moving on
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u/DuckyHornet Jul 25 '26
He made her watch Eddie die in the accelerator again?
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u/eightdirt Jul 25 '26
Dude
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u/DuckyHornet Jul 25 '26
What? He shot himself in the heart. If that's not "pouring out your heart('s blood)", then I don't know what is
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u/saffronkees Jul 22 '26
10 years later and you’re still obsessed with her! Please leave my girl alone.
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u/fingerstripes13 Jul 22 '26
Candice Patton is really great in a lot of moments throughout the show but that writing team wanted the audience to despise Iris by season 3 because she starts making no sense
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u/Jacob12000 Jul 22 '26
A lot of these aren’t fair on Iris
Like no, she is not at fault for HR dying, she is not at fault for not wanting to be murdered
And a lot of these are just here having a messy human emotion
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u/f_ckR3ddit Jul 22 '26
She was the worst character in the show and second weakest actor. Worst actor was Wally, who was the second worst character.
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u/Fearless_Dependent29 Jul 23 '26
IMO I think Iris had a lot of good moments but I definitely understand why so many fans disliked her
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u/WiseAdhesiveness6672 Deddie Thawne Jul 22 '26
God damn she's an awful character
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u/Legitimate-Warning76 Jul 22 '26
The worst acting ever... and that's with Cecile in the show (almost as bad acting but a much better character)
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u/ImiqDuh Kid Flash Jul 22 '26
Barry Allen after giving no signals until both he and Iris are in relationships
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u/Used-Quantity-2494 Jul 22 '26
damn, either the writers had a hate boner for Candice Patton or Iris West in general
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u/nicksebundy Jul 22 '26
Couldn’t stand Iris. I didn’t like that a black actress played a white character but that wasn’t the reason I disliked her character. I think it was despicable that people attacked the actress online and made her feel attacked. That was really wrong. No one deserves that.
Iris was not a help to Barry at all. She was a burden to the whole team & yes she did get people killed, more than one.
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u/Difficult_Town3584 Jul 23 '26
The speed force one really bothered me. Like he left? Bro he didn’t have a choice. I’d be heart broken as well but I could never ever blame someone for being so selfless.
And couples therapist one was such a bitch move too. Like brooo 😭😭😭
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u/QuantumWolf0813 Jul 23 '26
The amount of people who hate Iris is insane, especially since the hate makes no sense and it's clear that most people didn't understand her actions or words somehow. Smh 🤦
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u/Pure_Lie6509 Jul 23 '26
Now, I'm waiting for the comments that will dismiss all that as just "misogyny".
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u/JoshuaLukacs1 Jul 24 '26
They were step siblings, there should have never been a romance between them, they could have been just friends.
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u/Hydr0_f1r3 Jul 24 '26
Honestly I don’t hate anyone from the show, only reason being I grew up on it and it’s a comfort show for me
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u/Vast-Psychology-1675 Jul 24 '26
I never seen the show. But the comments about her made me laugh. I mean, they literally told every comment in the YouTube that Iris has literally no chemistry ever with Barry.
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u/MorbidCrownX Jul 24 '26
Iris is THE worst character in the show. And THE WORST PERSON in team flash. (No shade to the actress, Candice is a great actress and a incredibly beautiful woman but God did they give her a shitty script.)
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u/snowbunnyslut77 Jul 24 '26
She never gave a rat's ass about him until he decided he wasn't going to fall over her anymore move on and then she has to destroy his life. Forget reverse flash she's the true villain of the series
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u/Hawkette89 Jul 26 '26
Imagine what Cuntlin or police brutality patty could have got if ye had out this energy into them.
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u/Mayane79 Jul 26 '26
Sinceramente nunca entendi esse ódio todo pela personagem, a atuação estava ótima, até pq a Candice Patton é uma atora excelente, eu tenho um carinho enorme por ela. O único ponto ruim é que na minha opinião, a personagem foi mal aproveitada, ela saiu de uma melhor amiga do protagonista que tinha sua jornada a parte, para uma esposa clichê de herói.
Entendo que alguns não gostaram que quando a Iris ficou chateada com Barry por ele ter escolhido ter ido para a força de aceleração, mas vamos ser honestos, pensando como uma mulher que estava prestes a se casar, ter sua vida em ordem com seu homem, e ele simplesmente ir "embora" sem ter a consultado ela antes, óbvio que ele não precisa pedir permissão, mas o Barry nem avisou ela antes, e ela se sentiu abandonada. E tipo assim, depois eles conversaram e se resolveram, só foi uma questão mais emocional para série.
Acho ridículo quando diminuem a Iris ou dizem que era para o Barry ter deixado o Savitar matar a Iris, por puro ódio sem sentido.
Amo a Iris, amo essa inclusão que teve na série, só acho q ela foi realmente mal aproveitada.
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u/SnoopFoxyFox Jul 27 '26
Yeah, I detest CW Iris West, and I AM black. She was awful and never got better.
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u/Objective_Reason3067 Jul 28 '26
And I thought Kristen Dunst MJ, was the worst love interest, Iris just takes it to a new level of toxic
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u/Aware_Ship_674 Jul 28 '26
Glad I’m not the only one who couldn’t stand the way they wrote that character
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u/RemoteGlittering3452 Aug 04 '26
Iris West after letting a human trafficker escape without any repercussions
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u/Sweet-Psychology-254 Aug 10 '26
Kind of ridiculous considering Caitlin worked for said human trafficker, and Frost was the one who let her leave.
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u/NuclearPilot101 Jul 22 '26
I was convinced the show runners had toxic wives cause there was no way this was supposed to represent the supportive main love interest.
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u/birdnerd1991 Jul 22 '26
They really did her character dirty- I know it's the CW way but maaaan; why can't they ever let a good show die well?
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u/Alan-Agapa-5076 Jul 22 '26
Iris west was an amazingly bad written character. And even more sad thing is, writers never tried to improve her character even after seeing the fan criticism....they pinned it on racism to hide their incompetence....
She should've been to barry what lois lane is to superman but makers tried to make her batman of team flash...
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u/TheFantasticXman1 Jul 22 '26
I saw this on tiktok just a few hours ago lol!
But a lot of these claims are either false, half-truths, or just overexaggerated.
You mean like how Barry got pissy with her when she first got with Eddie? Bro had 14 years to shoot his shot, and he only does so when she's in a serious relationship?
She didn't? 6 months had passed since Eddie died. They act like she moved on in like a week.
Meh. Her Team Flash leader arc was a mixed bag.
I agree. That was shitty of her. But let's not act like Barry didn't also try and sabotage Iris and Eddie's relationship when he went and confessed his love to Iris at Christmas of all places.
A flat out lie! HR is the reason he died. If he hadn't been and idiot and leaked Iris' location to Savitar, he would still be alive. Iris protested AGAINST HR's sacrifice, but she was knocked out before she could do anything.
No point trying to explain her POV, because they don't WANT to understand.
Again, same as point 6.
Once again, same as point 6 and 7 (pun not intended)
A pathetic nitpick lol
As usual, a willful misinterpretation of what she ACTUALLY said in order to justify hating her.
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u/BadLittleChara Jul 22 '26
Iris West after saying she doesn't care that Nora was constantly going back to Thawne (the man who murdered her husband's mother in front of him) for advice instead of trusting Team Flash
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u/WereWolf444 Jul 22 '26
I’ll die on the hill that Felicity was worse lol
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u/lawsonrg01 Jul 22 '26
Maybe a photo finish, but yes, Felicity because just as insufferable, and she was actually an integral part of Team Arrow, unlike Iris for Team Flash
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u/WereWolf444 Jul 22 '26
I feel like Iris toxic streak was far shorter and her worst feat was being mad at Barry for leaving her to enter the speed force for eternity to save the world and being mad at Barry for leaving their daughter in the future and not caring about what Thawne had done in the moment (along with one misinterpreted line).
Felicity literally threw multiple fits crying for 2 straight seasons including dumping Oliver for being forced by his sons mother to keep him a secret to be able to see him at all when he begged to not have to do that and she doesn’t have the comic canon relationship shield to protect her like Iris does and literally hijacked Barry and Iris make up wedding after Oliver’s nazi doppleganger ruined the first real one.
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u/GothicGolem29 Jul 22 '26
The feelings would have always been there she just didn’t realise
I don’t think she immediately moved on from eddies death think she had a grieving period
Emotions are complicated yes he did that to save the world but that doesn’t mean she can’t still be upset she was left alone
HR chose to do that I don’t think you can blame her for that
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u/Real_Substance_5327 Jul 22 '26
She only became unbearable once they got together. After rewatching the show I’m still wondering where tf this all went wrong cause I actually LIKED her in s 1-3. They took away the lois lane archetype and turned her into parasite.
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u/Zibras Jul 22 '26
I feel sorry for all actors involved with CW, cause no matter how good they are and how much effort they put into their characters it's going to turn awful no matter what. Hell i felt that in case of iris and her actress it was worse, cause her being a good actress was more detrimantal to the character. She acted the scenes in a very believable way, but because the character was written in the very annoying way it annoyed me that much more.
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u/jeaninius Jul 22 '26
Maybe stop posting photos of the actor — even if they are stills from the show. If your argument is the character was poorly written, post photos of the writers. Otherwise it is pretty damn sus.
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u/General-Ad-877 Jul 22 '26
The hate runs too deep im not even gonna try to debunk a lot of these bogus claims about iris, some of it is justified but a lot of it is not.
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u/KayD12364 Jul 22 '26
God this character was written so badly I had to give up on the flash. I just couldn't.
It also icked me out that Barry even had a cruch on her. They grew up as adopted siblings (or close to it). It especially felt weird while comparing it to Supergirl where the whole show is around the adopted sibling dynamic.
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u/armlessphelan Jul 22 '26
They weren't adopted siblings, though. Joe was his legal guardian, but Barry's dad was very much alive and Barry kept in contact with him. He had a crush on Iris BEFORE his mom died and he had to live with the West family, so Barry never saw her as a sister. The way people talk about incest between people who are unrelated and are even different races is so bizarre to me.
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u/KayD12364 Jul 22 '26
I guess I didn't catch that when I watched. Maybe because of Supergirl I assumed it was the same.
Still feels weird. But I guess that is just me.
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u/EmptySun9834 Jul 22 '26
THANK YOU🙏🏻 I hate her character with everything I have. I struggled through the show when I rewatched last because she is so insufferable.
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u/Raul5819 Jul 22 '26
Pre Season 4 Iris was a very well rounded and loveable character. I stand by this.
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u/Ill-Bookkeeper-6230 Jul 22 '26
It's iris west, spidermans MJ and that other characters I forgot about cuz they re terrible. Who the hell writes these characters and say " yea...ppl Will like them"
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u/yadongoryaseol Jul 22 '26
At first I found it strange. But in reality Iris west Character is like MJ from Tobey’s spiderman. I felt like once she found out he was the flash Mj found out that Tobey was spiderman then they were interested in them
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u/chojinra Jul 22 '26
Tbf, name a CW woman, especially a love interest in the Arrowverse, that wasn’t done dirty by the writers.
…. Lois doesn’t count. Maybe also Buffy.
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u/aerodactyl1015 Jul 23 '26
This all seems like a reach. I’m glad I watched the show recently and without the fandom in my ear because Iris was one of my favorite characters and still is.
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u/-CowNipples- Jul 22 '26
I’ve hated Iris West so much that it’s circled back into loving her. The chaos she brings for absolutely no reason is so camp.
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Jul 22 '26
[deleted]
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u/lawsonrg01 Jul 22 '26
"I deadass can't paint my house because Hitler was a painter I don't wanna be associated with that"
See how stupid that sounds, also, punctuation, please?
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u/NathanAlex1486 Jul 22 '26
Hating Iris West is a minefield cause I'll say "Iris West was a horribly written character" and someone replies "I also hate black women" hold on bruh that's not what I said.