STEP 1 • Wally West's Prime
1993
The Return of Barry Allen
Writer/Artist: Mark Waid & Greg LaRocque | Key Antagonist: Eobard Thawne (Professor Zoom)
Barry Allen seemingly returns from the dead after Crisis, but his erratic, violent behavior forces Wally West to step out of his mentor's shadow.
STEP 2 • The True Return
2009
The Flash: Rebirth
Writer/Artist: Geoff Johns & Ethan Van Sciver | Key Antagonist: Reverse-Flash (Negative Speed Force)
Barry Allen escapes the Speed Force into the modern era, discovering that Reverse-Flash has altered his past to murder his mother Nora Allen.
STEP 3 • Reality Shattered
2011
Flashpoint
Writer/Artist: Geoff Johns & Andy Kubert | Key Antagonist: Temporal Paradox & Eobard Thawne
Barry saves his mother, awakening in a dystopian world where Thomas Wayne is a gun-toting Batman and Earth is collapsing into an apocalyptic World War III.