‘The Flash’: Who Is Savitar? Is He the First Speedster?

‘The Flash‘ series ended some time ago, and the DCEU blockbuster of the same name is currently in theaters worldwide. Of course, the speedster is currently “a flavor of the week,” and we decided to discuss some villains of Barry Allen from the Arrowverse series – there were many of them, that’s for sure. In ‘The Flash’ series, particularly in season three, we see Barry living in the ‘Flashpoint,’ an alternate timeline he created when he traveled back in time and saved his mother, Nora. This led to the timeline reset; however, when Barry “supersede” himself back to that timeline for three months, he unknowingly created a time remnant named Savitar. In this article, we will discuss who Savitar is and he was truly the first speedster.

Savitar is a time remnant of the original Barry Allen from an erased potential future. Barry became a powerful armored speedster named Savitar, and his existence resulted from a causal time loop that involved Iris West dying. Team Flash shunned the time remnant, which led him to become a god. He proclaimed himself the first speedster that existed and the “God of Speed,” spreading across the multiverse that he was the fastest speedster ever. Ultimately, after trying to kill Iris West to ensure his existence, Savitar is killed by Iris herself and consequently erased from the future.

Of course, Savitar was a huge villain in season three of ‘The Flash’ series, and his role in the show was felt through multiple future episodes. The “evil” version of Barry (as I liked to call him) was a product of Barry’s desire to keep his mother alive, and frankly, the Flash had a lesson that he needed to learn – especially when it comes to time travel.

Why is Barry Allen called Savitar?

Barry is called Savitar because he is Savitar, sort of. As we already mentioned, Savitar is a “handful.” He was probably one of the strongest opponents Barry Allen ever faced in the series because the stakes were really high. In the first three seasons, Barry is still new as Flash and slowly discovers the powers and abilities he’s capable of. Of course, even in season one, Barry accidentally travels back in time and realizes that his speed force can take him anywhere he wants in the timeline and multiverse.

In season two of ‘The Flash’ series, Team Flash and Barry learn about the concept of the multiverse, especially after Jay Garrick arrives from Earth-3, and they have to join powers to destroy Zoom, the evil speedster from Earth-2. During the fight, Zoom murders Barry’s father, Henry, which prompts the Flash to go back in time and save his mother, Nora, from Reverse-Flash. Of course, this leads to ‘Flashpoint,’ an alternate timeline where Barry’s parents are alive, but he is never close with the West family.

Things get complicated from that point, but overall, Barry creates Flashpoint, which leads to Eobard Thawne murdering Nora Allen once again, creating another alternate timeline, and Barry once again trying to alter the timeline once again.

During the attempts to fix his mistakes, Barry unknowingly creates a time remnant named Barry Allen, who eventually becomes Savitar. Savitar is a phenomenon that occurs due to meta-human time travel, which causes time ruptures and changes and creates carbon copies. Time remnants are copies of the original speedsters preserved by Speed Force, who appear in the new timeline to prevent more time destruction.

When Barry caused ‘Flashpoint’ and changed the timeline multiple times, he created a carbon copy of himself that will eventually become Savitar. Of course, we later learn that the copy of Flash that killed Zoom was the reason why Barry led a happy life until the ‘Flashpoint.’

Savitar himself reveals to 2017 Barry that the 2024 version of Barry failed to mention that the lone survivor of the Savitar attack was shunned in the erased potential future timeline, pushing him to become a self-proclaimed “god of speed” and leading him to become the original Flash.

Savitar’s story is quite interesting, but let’s discuss his speed.

Who is faster Barry Allen or Savitar?

When comparing the Flash and Savitar, they are similar since Savitar is a copy of Barry Allen. However, comparing these two speedsters, Savitar seemed faster initially. How? First of all, in season three, Barry is still one of the fastest speedsters in the multiverse, but he is still quite new in the “game.” For example, one could argue that veteran speedster Jay Garrick was faster than Barry at that point since he was quite close to Speed Force and more experienced.

Despite being his copy, Savitar is faster than the Flash in the series because his potency to draw power from the Speed Force exceeded all other speedsters. Moreover, it was later revealed that Savitar was trapped in the Speed Force for a long time, even proclaiming himself the “god of speed.”

Now, this is where it gets complicated if you haven’t watched season three of the series – Savitar is faster than Barry initially, but post-Flashpoint Flash is much faster than the evil speedster hence why he beats him in the end (with the help of Iris).

When they first face each other, fresh-out-of-Speed Force Savitar clears Barry Allen’s speed, which is essentially faster than most speedsters. Especially when freed from prison, Savitar clears Barry, Jesse Quick, Jay Garrick, and Wally West in speed. However, when Flashpoint passes, and the timeline is reset back to “normal,” Barry Allen manages to go faster than Savitar in their last fight.

Why is Savitar so fast?

Savitar’s potency to draw power from Speed Force was enhanced because he was trapped in the Speed Force for years. Years spent in the Speed Force made Savitar really powerful and one of the fastest speedsters. It did help that he is essentially the “future Barry” (the time remnant) who eventually trapped himself in Speed Force and went back in time to reinvent himself as the “original speedster.”

He purposely went into Speed Force, drew power from it, and planned his arrival to Earth as the original speedster. He planned to kill Iris and destroy Barry to become the “one,” not just a copy, and he almost did it; however, with intervention from Barry, who eventually outruns him, Team Flash, and Iris West, Savitar was ultimately erased from the timeline.

For countless years, Savitar spent in the Speed Force to become the fastest man alive, and he was until Barry outran him post-Flashpoint. We see Savitar being revived by Cobalt Blue in season nine of the show, where Negative Speed Force empowers him, and he is as fast as XS (Nora West-Allen), but the young speedster from the future eventually defeats Savitar for good.

Nevertheless, Savitar’s legacy in ‘The Flash’ series is monumental since the instability of the Speed Force forced Barry Allen to enter the realm himself and spend six months in it. Later in the series, we see Iris and Barry suffering traumas from the fight against Savitar – Iris hallucinates the version of the evil speedster the night before killing him, while Psych causes Barry to hallucinate Savitar stabbing him to death.

Savitar is one of the fastest men alive, whose ascension was prevented by the post-Flashpoint Barry Allen, who eventually outruns him in the most critical moment. Moreover, Savitar isn’t the first speedster – that title still goes to Jay Garrick.

What’s your opinion of Savitar? Was he faster than Barry Allen? Let us know in the comments below.