The Flash's Barry Allen has faced off against a handful of speedsters over the first two seasons so far, and we've watched him race against terrifying nemeses like the mom-murdering Reverse-Flash and the back-breaking Zoom. Flash star Barry Allen faced a much younger (and cuter) foe in a recent race on set, and it's pretty much the most adorable thing ever. Check it out!
In Grant Gustin's defense as a runner, his young fan did get a bit of a head start. Even a small head start can make a huge difference when the race is only over twenty feet or so. Still, little Leo ran without a friction-proof suit, and friction-proof suits are always handy in footraces when the Flash is around. Who knows how much much further ahead Gustin's opponent may have gotten if he hadn't had a sweatshirt of drag?
If the clip - which Grant Gustin himself posted on his Twitter account - isn't cute enough to make you grin, know this: the young fan is actually Legends of Tomorrow star Brandon Routh's son. Leo Routh evidently stopped by The CW sets to race his favorite family-friendly superhero. Sure, little Leo's dad has played Superman and currently plays the Atom, but sometimes superspeed is just way cooler than than all the other super-abilities. It's probably just good that Leo isn't a huge Green Arrow fan; somehow I don't think he'd fare as well in an archery competition with Stephen Amell as he did in a race against Grant Gustin.
Grant Gustin vs. Leo Routh is definitely the most precious race we've seen with Barry in a while. The last time we saw a Flash racing, Barry was running to beat Zoom and stop him from destroying the universe. That race definitely didn't end with the winner doing a little victory dance and shouting that he won, and Zoom didn't really get a chance to react to his loss at length. We can bet that he wouldn't have been as gracious as Grant Gustin after his loss to Leo.
We can count on some more Flash races when the show returns for Season 3. One of the new big bads will be the speedster known as Savitar, and Wally West will don some friction-proof duds of his own as Kid Flash thanks to the Flashpoint timeline. Violett Beane will be back as Jesse Wells, who may or may not start developing superspeed powers of her own to become Jesse Quick. Flash executive producer Todd Helbing has already said that the show will continue incorporating speedsters as the seasons pass.
Given the way Season 2 ended, we should probably enjoy the adorableness of Grant Gustin's race against his young fan as much as we can. Flashpoint doesn't look like it's going to deliver much in the way of lasting cuteness. The Flash returns to The CW on Tuesday, October 4 at 8 p.m. ET. Check out our fall TV premiere schedule to see when your other favorite shows will return to the airwaves, and don't forget to take a look at our breakdown of what we know so far about The Flash Season 3.
