The Flash has had a few different suits, but DC's Elseworlds tales have given him his wildest costume upgrades, including one reminiscent of Iron Man.
The Flash has had a few different suits over the years, but one rather astonishing costume from a DC Elseworlds comic resembles Iron Man's suit. Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl gives the speedster a completely enclosing suit, which certainly has some valuable elements to it. However, the suit's full potential - and even its overall design functionalities - were not explored very well.
Created by Barbara Kesel, Matt Haley, Tom Simmons, Moose Baumann, and Bill Oakley, Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl presents a world where Batman and Superman do not exist. Instead, Gotham and Metropolis are protected by Batgirl and Supergirl - though they each have some major differences from their usual comic counterparts. For example, Batgirl has Bruce Wayne's origin, causing her to make Gotham a fascist city-state. This limits the Justice Society from being able to provide any assistance - or even enter the city without her permission. She requires them to prove their identities via tests when visits ARE approved.
While the Justice Society are presented as guests of honor within Gotham, readers get a good look at Flash's suit in the world of this Elseworlds comic. It completely covers the hero's face and the rest of his body. This Flash suit has no openings whatsoever and looks more metallic in nature. Combining the hard exterior with the eye shape and coloration, it looks very reminiscent of Iron Man's suit. However, this suit could have some very intriguing perks to its design that aren't usually considered.
For starters, the face covering could protect Flash from the energy contained by the Speed Force when he's running in it, as well as the potential of windburn on a standard day. Additionally, with his mouth continuously exposed, Flash certainly runs the risk of swallowing bugs when he's running outdoors. Even though he has his own kind of healing factor thanks to the Speed Force and bugs are just a little added protein to his diet, neither would be very comfortable to endure. This suit would prevent all of that, while allowing him to breathe fresh air. While these are excellent perks, the suit is never actually fully seen in action within this particular comic.
This comic revolves largely around the titular heroines, as well as Lex Luthor and the Joker. It spends much less time on the other members of the Justice Society and the roles they play in this new world. As a result, there is no official reason given for the mouth section or for the armored pieces on the Flash's arms. The armor looks particularly bulky and Flash rarely has additional protection of this nature on his usual suits. This element would make more sense if there was a specific threat Flash faced in this world (Earth-1098) that required this addition. However, DC has never revisited this version of the hero - or even revealed if this is Barry Allen, Wally West, or another iteration of the Flash entirely. This Flash suit has also never been revisited or brought back. This Iron Man-style costume has some intriguing features and could definitely be one of the Flash's most interesting, if DC would bring it back long enough to make it worthwhile.
