The holidays are upon us and another year is in the books. But before we move on to the excitement of next year, we wanted to take some time to look back at 2015 and to reminisce about a few of the great things it brought to the world of DC Entertainment. Whether it was a remarkable development inside one of our comics, a cool, game-changing twist that played out on the screen, or a real-life change that will impact the comics, movies, TV shows, toys and games that you’ll be seeing from us in the future, this year had no shortage of moments that stood out. However, some resonated more than others. Some really stood out. These are DCComics.com’s “Ten Moments that Mattered” for 2015.

We’re used to seeing our heroes win. While things may look grim at times and we’re not always sure how they’ll end up on top, we watch our favorite super hero TV shows and movies with the unspoken confidence that good will prevail. The fun is in seeing how. So when that expectation is subverted, it can really catch us off guard, much as it did during “Out of Time,” one of the many standout episodes in The Flash’s debut season.

Throughout the course of the episode, we watched as Mark Mardon, the Weather Wizard, carved a path of destruction through Barry Allen’s life—seriously injuring Captain Singh, whom we learn may never again walk, and kidnapping Joe in an attempt to avenge the death of his brother. Meanwhile, Cisco discovered the truth about Harrison Wells being the Reverse-Flash, and was killed (yes, killed!) by Wells in a stunner of a scene. And as if this wasn’t enough, Iris finally reveals her true feelings to Barry, who in turn reveals that he’s the Flash to her before speeding off to try to contain a tsunami that Mardon’s sent towards Central City by running fast enough to create a wind barrier to hold the giant wave at bay…

…only that’s not what ends up happening. Barry runs so fast that he unexpectedly travels through time to the night before, prior to any of this happening. Fade to black.

While time travel is a staple of Flash comics, it hadn’t been used on the show prior to then, and we’d been given no indication that it would be. As far as we knew, Singh was crippled, Cisco was dead and Mardon was shockingly going to win. Barry’s jaunt through time was an unbelievable twist in what was already a roller coaster of an episode.

However, it’s what the twist signified that was important. If there were any doubt, “Out of Time” was the episode that made it clear that The Flash wouldn’t be playing it safe. It wouldn’t be taking the route that Arrow had adhered to in its first few seasons and trying to stay grounded. No, everything in the comics was fair game, no matter how extreme, surreal, challenging or crazy. If we’d seen Barry time traveling, then we might see the Speed Force. We might see parallel worlds or other Flashes. We might see a city of psychic talking warrior gorillas. In short, we might see the very things that people have since come to love about The Flash. Barry Allen traveling through time was essentially him embracing his comic book roots, and taking us breathlessly along for the ride.

Be sure to check DCComics.com again tomorrow for another moment that mattered in 2015.