User blog comment:Tupka217/Rumor roundup/@comment-99.35.49.28-20121016035659/@comment-1038387-20121016071605

Barry Allen has been the Flash since 1956. Okay, he was gone for 20 years, but he's never been anything else. He returned from the dead Speed Force well before the reboot. As in, five years or so.

Either way, not the point here. It's not about changes to characters, it's about changes to characters' legal status.