How to Watch The Flash Online in 2020, and Quickly

The Flash is the second show in the Arrowverse, and almost as popular as the first, Arrow. It follows a young scientist named Barry Allen, who, after a scientific experiment gone wrong, gets superhuman speed and starts wearing red spandex to help people out of tight spots. If you find this premise appealing, we’ve put together this guide on how to watch The Flash online.

The Flash is a bit more lighthearted than the show it spun off from (check out our guide on how to watch Arrow to see what we mean), though it does at times get a bit more serious as Barry and his team track down and imprison the other people affected by the same accident that befell him. While some of them are using their new-found powers for good, plenty more are using them to commit atrocities.

It follows the example of Arrow, though, in that its cast becomes even bigger as seasons progress, with ever more people joining Barry and the others to stop evildoers both natural and supernatural. Simply jumping in and start to watch the upcoming season 6 is not an option, so you may want to make sure you watch from the very start.

Adding to the confusion is the rest of the Arrowverse, with characters and subplots jumping in and out from not only Arrow, but also from the Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl. However, if you sit down and make time to watch all of it, you’re guaranteed hundreds of hours of quality entertainment. With that in mind, let’s get you started with The Flash.

How to Watch the Flash Online

The Flash airs on the CW, as does the rest of the Arrowverse, and as such can be watched for free via the CW site and the CW app. As we explain in our guide on how to watch the CW, you can watch the last five episodes or so from the site, while the app lets you watch all of The Flash for free, but with ads.

All in all, a pretty good deal, though there’s one catch: you need to have a U.S. IP address to watch the CW. Anybody dialing in from abroad gets hit by a geoblock. We assume this is to avoid licensing issues between the CW and other networks, but for us viewers it’s a right pain.

However, there is a way around any geoblock, and that’s by using a virtual private network. In short, a VPN will allow you to pretend you’re somewhere else and secure your connection, to boot, so it’s a pretty good investment in your own security as well as a way to access most entertainment. Our best VPN provider, ExpressVPN, seems to have no trouble whatsoever accessing the CW.

Watch The Flash on Netflix

However, one of the outlets the CW has a deal with is Netflix, which has all of the Arrowverse, including The Flash, on offer in Europe, and up to date, too. Though it’s not free like the CW app, it has as an upside that it has an even bigger library of shows to watch once you have binged your way through all the fantastical adventures of our motley superheroes. 

If this sounds more appealing to you because you already have a Netflix account anyway, yet aren’t in Europe, you can use a VPN to pretend like you are. Though the Netflix VPN ban is a lot tougher than the one the CW employs, our selection of the best VPN for Netflix should stand you in good stead.

How to Watch the Flash for Free

If all the above seems too much hassle for you, because either you’re not in the States or because you don’t feel like shelling out for Netflix or the cost of a VPN, we have you covered. Though the morality of it is your own affair, there are several less-than-legal ways of catching The Flash online.

First up is illegal streaming, for which we usually refer you to PutLocker, simply because it’s the least bad experience among its ilk. A quick look shows that all seasons of episodes of The Flash are on there.

However, the problem with most of these free streaming sites, PutLocker among them, is the insane amount of pop-ups and ads, many of them containing malware. For the best viewing experience, and really the only one that won’t have you tearing your hair out, is to use one of the best pop-up blockers or simply go mad with the constant interruptions.

How to Watch the Flash on Kodi

Your next option is to check out Kodi, which is a great streaming alternative. It’s a media platform, originally developed for the Xbox, but will now run on pretty much anything. If you want to know more about it before taking the plunge, check out our full Kodi guide.

A quick search found all seasons of The Flash on Poseidon, one of the best Kodi add-ons, Poseidon, which you can find under one of the best Kodi repositories, Kodil. Installing both is a piece of cake, so if you’re interested in watching pretty much hundreds of shows, you know where to go.

The Flash Torrents

Last up is a more old-fashioned piracy in the form of torrenting. A quick look at our favorite mirror of The Pirate Bay shows that every season of The Flash is available, though we haven’t checked the quality of each one of those files. However, there are some known names among the uploaders, so you should be fine.

Of course, torrenting anything is just asking for trouble, so whatever you do, make sure you have a VPN enabled when you do it or expect DMCA notices and the like coming by registered mail. We have put together a list of the five very best VPN for torrenting, so make sure to sign up with one of them before venturing into dark waters.

Final Thoughts

The Flash is a very engaging and fun show that will surprise you both with genuine emotion as well as some darker moments. Any of the avenues above will allow you to watch it in full and at your leisure, so we suggest firing ahead right now.

What do you think of The Flash? Do you prefer Arrow? Let us know in the comments below, or feel free to share any methods to watch either show we may have missed. Thank you for reading.