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Since the latest episode of The Flash just aired, the question and title are full of spoilers. Read at your own risk.

In Arrow vs Flash, Barry and Oliver get into an all out brawl due to what Prism's powers did to Barry. Up until this point, Barry has had little to no development of his powers, the fastest we've seen him move is mach 1. However, during Barry's and Oliver's fight, Barry is hit with 200mg of horse tranquilizer and is nearly taken out. However, he's able to vibrate himself at such a speed that he literally phases through the stuff. At no point, thus far on the show, has he been shown to perform such a feat.

When did he learn he could do something like this? What gave him the inclination that it would actually work? Should we assume that he was so amped up and focused that he was able to access his powers more easily?

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Barry already knew he could increase his metabolic activity because of his inability to get drunk on alcohol. He learned this a few episodes ago.

It is a perfectly reasonable assumption that like he, a learned scientist would make that like an engine, if he ran hotter, he would use more fuel and amp his metabolic process enough to get rid of the tranquilizer.

We also saw in his last episode he had been supercharged by the electrical-powered metahuman, "Blackout" and was now charged even higher than he was before. It is possible he may not even realize he is able to do more powerful feats such as phasing (if indeed this is what he did.)

In the episode recap of "Power Outage" by GotchaMovies:

  • Barry now faces off against Farooq once again, and eventually gets siphoned by him. This time however, Farooq's power overloads which causes him to have a meltdown and die.

  • The group is left puzzled as to why, but discover that the experiment used to give Barry his powers back supercharged his cells to make him faster and stronger than ever.

  • Farooq simply could not handle all the power inside of Barry's body and met his fatal end because of it. Farooq's body is dumped inside one of the cells just in case he ever returns. Cisco is disappointed Farooq died because he wanted to give him the name "Blackout".

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"Look, this is a sample of your blood from just after you were struck by lightning." (The energy representation is silver and energetically moving.)

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"Now your cells are generating more energy than ever before. It was more energy than the meta could safely handle. It's almost like he choked on you." (The energy representation is now golden and even more energetic.)

In the comics, Barry was known for experimenting with his powers on the fly, learning by doing. When you are the fastest man alive, trial and error can be implemented, learned from and corrected, in a Flash...

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  • I didn't think about that. But he got his powers stolen by Farooq, not supercharged.
    – Robert
    Dec 3, 2014 at 3:12
  • If you watch until the end of the show, the geneticist shows Barry a screen with a representation in silver of his previous cell energy structures and a golden screen with his supercharged energy structure. It is a quick explanation that is easy to miss.
    – Thaddeus Howze
    Dec 3, 2014 at 3:44
  • Right, I saw that, but that was after they electrocuted him on the treadmill. I did miss the part where she told him that Farooq choked on him due to the massive amount of energy though.
    – Robert
    Dec 3, 2014 at 12:21

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