Richelle was a lonely kid/teenager and immersed themselves in comics from a young age. Mostly Superman, Archie, and Scooby-Doo.Now as an adult with a family, She has rekindled her love for comic books with the help of her son - mostly Adventure Time, Scooby-Doo, Spiderman, Angry Birds, Wolverine and CatWad. Richelle adores all things Marvel too, and outside of comics, she is also a huge collector of soft plush toys and a tabletop gaming enthusiast.
The most captivating and timeless attraction to the stories of the Flash was the mixture of adventure and humor that was woven into a lighthearted series that was never seen before. People loved that combination and it never took long for the public to rekindle the roaring fire of devotion they felt for Flash.
Behind the Scenes of the Flash
The Golden Age of Comics
In the early 1930s, after the Great Depression, was when newspaper comics took on a huge new role and popularity and broke out into their own “mini-comic newspapers”.
What do Jay Garrick, Bartholomew Allen, Bart Allen (grandson of Bartholomew), and Wallace West all have in common? You guessed it! They were all alter egos of the DC Comic character known as “The Flash” aka the Fastest Man Alive, the Crimson Comet, and, my favorite, the Scarlet Speedster! (I used to read my dad’s old comics and create my persona around the fancy name of “Scarlet Starlet”)!
The creation of the Flash happened when one of the greatest comic writers of all time, Gardner Fox, and the incredible Golden Age artist Harry Lampert, got together and discussed their ideas and fine-tuned them to become Jay Garrick – the first Flash in 1939.
Interestingly, most experts agree that the Golden Age of comics began in 1938 with the birth of Superman. The idea of a superhero archetype first came into being, also. The Golden Age cemented the artforms of comic books as mainstream and defined a whole new genre of communication and traditions.
And the rest is, history!
DC Universe Starts
The Flash character is published through DC Comics, which heads up DC Entertainment.
A short hierarchy lesson is that DC Entertainment is owned by Warner Brothers, which is a subsidiary of AT&T.
DC Comics was founded in 1934 as National Allied Publications and was situated in Manhattan before moving its headquarters to Burbank, California in 2015. After a few years, one of the comics – Detective Comics, was launched to great popularity and would become the new name for the company officially in the 1970s, although people had been calling the comics “DC” for decades.
In 1938, the first-ever masked superhero, Avenger, showed up in National Allied productions.
The biggest rival to DC Comics is Marvel, which was bought by Walt Disney Productions in 2009. (Thus Walt Disney and Warner Brothers are rivals). In 2017, DC Comics and Marvel boasted approximately 70% of the American comic book market.
DC Comics has the most iconic and groundbreaking superheroes, including Flash, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. They have the Justice League, Teen Titans, and supervillains like the Joker, Lex Luther, and Darkseid.
DC Comics enduring and unfailing signature mark is its creation of the Flash character. While they have the trinity of heroes: Superman, Batman, and WonderWoman, those three icons lack what the Flash has and what keeps people coming back again and again.
Why the Flash is more important than the Trinity of Superheroes
Superman
Almost a God-like character, Clark Kent is so far removed from human emotion and the reality around him that we hardly see any aspect of humanity in him or his actions at all. He is given the perfection of form – and perfection of morals. Those traits in themselves are disconnected from the imperfection of humanity.
WonderWoman
Seen as a female God, she thinks more softly than does Superman or Batman and his ideals for the world, but her perfection of form and her morals of godly proportion make her disconnected from what makes humans human and humane. Her efforts never truly make any lasting changes on earth because of the insubstantial human element involved in her actions.
Batman
At a disconnect for what would effectively help the world out. He could solve the problems of the Earth at their core if he spent his money, but his persona would be studying that solution for years, not doing it unless he was certain it would work. He is very wrapped up in his psychological issues to be truly altruistic.
More reasons why Flash is so important to DC Comics
One aspect that we can add atop a pile of unique qualities for the Flash, is the fact that almost immediately he got a comic series and it served as a foundation of new characters, ideas, and timelines that were all established by Flash.
If this wasn’t enough, these new characters didn’t just stay with Flash, they became popular enough to break out into their roles in other comics as well. The ideas and timeliness transgressed the Flash comics and became embedded in many others.
The influence that the Flash had from 1940 to the 1950s was consistent, with countless characters and ideas showing up all over the place.
In addition to that, when the Silver Age of Comics began with new and evolved characters, the Flash was right in the center of the spotlight! This era propelled archetypical characters into the DC Universe and they still have their titles today!
The Flash began the idea of a timeline continuity to bring the DC characters together to interact more, both with each other and with the entire universe instead of just their limited domains. He helped their efforts affect the whole of the world and not just their respective corners.
The Flash can consistently and permanently create a continuity of timeline that included all the DC characters. That was one Earth. Then, he accidentally broke through the different dimensions with his
vibrational speeds and found other Earths! The characters could come and go in different universes and bang! the Multiverse of DC Comics was created!
Having a current-day Earth where the characters were steady and reliably present, and an Earth 2, and then more Earths, allowed the fan base to feel more secure with the continuity and actions of the characters. This had a huge impact on the public and drew more devoted fans to DC’s comics.
DC comics got such a leg up on others with the Flash’s created multiverses because they could create any story they wanted and still have it believable. After all, it happened on a different version of Earth. This left the door open for amazingly creative stories where characters were living on their Earth, but had gone through another dimension and had morphed into something new.
The Flash gave DC Comics a character that felt human emotions and had altruistic views and acted on them regularly. He was not a god-like creature, but someone who would give his life to save others. The Flash consciously makes decisions to sacrifice himself to save millions because he can see that far into the future and understand the ramifications of not surrendering himself.
The Flash knew that every time he ran, or vibrated, or time traveled, he was doing each thing for friends, family, cities, and planets. Not just for himself to take down an enemy, but for everyone out there who didn’t have the means to fight back. Those without voices.
When we see the Flash, we associate him with someone who would self-sacrifice for the greater good, like firemen, first responders, and police. His humanity draws us deeper into his character than others. He fills us with hope and a feeling that someone is out there fighting the good fight for us.
Flash is Born
The names of the comic series which featured Flash are many and varied, (as are all the comics that feature characters) and some were translated into different languages. Names of the comic series included:
The Flash
JSA
Flash Comics
All-Star Comics
All-Flash Quarterly
JSA Classified
All-Star Squadron
Comic Calvacade
Universe DC
Earth 2
Earth 2: Society
52
Infinity Inc.
Trinity
Impulse
These are just a few of the hundreds of comic titles in which Flash is saving people and worlds. For a complete list, you could visithere.
Jay Garrick’s “Flash” had a birthday during the “Golden Age” of comics which ran from 1938 to roughly 1956, and he is known as the “Golden Age Flash”. The first comic had a title release of January 1940 but was pre-released in November 1939, and featured Jason Peter “Jay” Garrick as a human who morphs into Flash.
The story tells of Jay as a boy, reading pulp fiction and having a favorite character named “Whip Whirlwind”, and later going to Midwestern University in Keystone City, Kansas, both as a student and as a coveted football player.
The Flash’s first pages!
Majoring in Chemistry and Physics, he is in his lab late one night (of course!) conducting a complex experiment that is exhausting. He sits down and takes a break, enjoying a cigarette (and lung cancer, but I suppose it is 1940 after all!). When he leans back in his chair he tips over the bottles and vials of chemicals – they mix and produce noxious fumes, thereby knocking Jay out and he ends up inhaling the chemicals for hours.
It is during this time that he is connected to the “Speed Force” which is a force outside of Earth – an alternate dimension’s energy and power source, as well as a superhero’s afterlife destination. This is true for all DC Universe’s “Speedsters”.
Flash forward to a hospital bed, where Jay lays on the verge of death for weeks, until one day he sees a young woman that has long caught his eye – he forgets about the hospital bed, and bang! A blur as he whizzes downs stairs and out many doors to catch up with this lovely lady. His adventures begin, and amidst them, they marry.
Jay was the first “Flash” and a founder of the Justice League of America. He was an inspiration to Barry Allen (the next Flash) with his legendary heroics and positive aura. (Barry liked to read the comics of the Flash as a boy when Jay was the alter ego – if you can figure that one out!).
After Jay had “died” in 1951, Barry Allen’s alter ego to the Flash was created in 1956 and shown to the world. The Golden Age of the comics had come and gone and the superhero theme was losing traction and being taken over by new genres of horror and funny animal comics.
In 1956 with the introduction of a new Flash alter ego, the character began anew and soon had a comic series. With the increased sophistication of a new Flash, as well as other evolved superheroes, and fun storylines, the traction began to gain momentum again. This started the Silver Age of Comics.
Barry used to read comic books about The Flash when Jay Garrick portrayed him. Barry sees Jay as his idol and doesn’t realize that soon he will be taking over the role of Flash.
Barry Allen is first “born” into being the Flash in 1956 as he is a forensic chemist experimenting at night (of course) and a lightning bolt comes through the window and shatters bookcases full of bottled chemicals, dumping them all over Barry. Very similar to Jay Garrick’s incidence in the lab.
Barry also has a female interest, whom he marries, and his father-in-law assists in making his costume and other gadgets. At this time, Wallace West is kid Flash. (Wallace will go on to become the 3rd Flash after Barry “dies”).
In “The Flash of Two Worlds” comic, Barry can cross dimensions and goes to a second Earth and meets Jay Garrick.
Eventually, after many adventures, Barry dies in 1985 in the series “Crisis on Infinite Earths”, and his image is seen in the mystical power source of the Speed Force, where all DC characters go for their afterlife.
Barry Allen, the 2nd Flash, after almost 30 years, would leave the DC Universe without a Flash for 23 years. However, Barry returns in 2009 due to being saved from an infinite death.
Barry introduced the idea of a Multiverse to the comics and helped invent the Cosmic Treadmill which allowed for precise time travel.
In 1985, when Barry Allen “dies” as Flash, the series “The Flash” was canceled and the character was only seen in other series. The Momentum had slowed for Flash, but when Wallace took over as Flash in 1987, the fans piled up again, and DC Comics re-instated the Flash’s series.
Wallace West
Wally West first appeared in 1960 as kid Flash alongside Barry, and then he took over as Flash in 1987 with an edgy and more youthful appearance. Though the creative team of this Flash tried to shift the storylines and characters a bit to conform to the times, it was always the tried and true recipe of the first Flash and the Justice League that garnered the most popularity. They quickly realized that what worked for decades would continue to work for decades more.
After Wallace’s (the 3rd Flash) apparent death as the Flash in 2006, the Kd Flash at the time, Bart Allen, grows up and takes over the Flash role. He is, in fact, the grandson of Barry Allen who was the second Flash.
Bart Allen
Bart Allen (the 4th Flash) was first seen in 1994 as the Impulse character – a hyperactive youth that had been sent back in time from the 30th century. Fans of the “Impulse” grew exponentially and Bart had hiscomic from 1995 to 2002 as Impulse and then Kid Flash, before becoming the Flash in 2006.
Breaking it Down – the differences between the alter egos of the Flash
Each alter-ego of the Flash had some unique qualities to them that made them different from the one before. I will break them down for you here.
Jay Garrick – 1940 to 1951
The Golden Age Flash
He is an adult scientist when he becomes the Flash
During an experiment, he leans his chair back, knocking over bottles, and inhales a mixture of chemicals that give him the superpowers
He was never Kid Flash
He uses his superpowers at first to become the best football player at his college
Barry Allen – 1956 to 1985 (2011 to 2021)
The Silver and Bronze Ages Flash
Also, an adult scientist when he becomes the Flash
Was never Kid Flash
During an experiment, a lighting bolt comes into the lab, smashing bottles of chemicals that get on Barry
Before the experiment, Barry is known to be (ironically) very slow, always late, and “running behind” constantly
When Barry was a youth, he idolized his favorite comic book character, the Flash (Jay Garrick)
Wallace West – 1987 to 2006 (2016 to 2021)
Was only ten when he visited his Uncle Barry’s lab (that’s right, Barry Allen – the second Flash) and had chemicals splashed on him
He became Kid Flash first, then the Flash
Bart Allen -2006 to 2011
He was Barry Allen’s (again) grandson, and so he was born with superpowers (It’s looking like a family theme, here)
First, he was the character “Impulse”, then Kid Flash, and then when he got old enough he became Flash
Some Weaknesses of the Flash
Though Flash can speed up his thinking so that he is not vulnerable to telepathic attacks, there are times when he is taken by surprise and doesn’t have time to speed himself up to prepare for an attack. He has his mind read by his enemies multiple times this way, which leads them to have an advantage.
The Flash also needs his enemies to be in the physical realm so he can destroy them. He loses to “Anti-Monitor” when he destroys the armor and finds an intangible force underneath rather than a physical entity.
The cold also affects Flash, requiring him to use immense amounts of energy to vibrate himself back to a functional temperature. This causes him to be less powerful in combat.
Enemies that can bend time and space will prevent any Speedster from reaching maximum speed potential. An example is Captain Atom.
Causing the Flash to perpetually run at a high rate of speed will eventually drain him of his powers. When he uses his Speedster super force, it takes a lot of energy and he needs to rest and replenish himself. When he cannot do this, he can be defeated. Ironically, Batman discovered this.
The Meaning of being “The Flash”
The Symbolism and the Science of the Flash
Each character in comics can be linked to the sciences, whether it be the first “event” that gave them their superpowers or the resulting nature of their superpowers. The Flash is all about physics. His science is motion-oriented – his speed, which has with it friction and combustion. Many fans think of Flash as the embodiment of science – science’s symbol of the benefits and opportunities that successful use of scientific methods brings. So many comic characters show what happens when science goes extremely wrong and has an undesired outcome, while the Flash is the opposite. He portrays hope and optimism and a “we can solve anything” kind of mentality. His name means “always moving forward, getting better, and making progress”. This is what most fans see as making Flash the best and most powerful comic character there is.
One fan said it rang true to her that Flash symbolizes hope in an emotional sense, not a physical one. A psychological force that keeps people on the right track despite what is happening on the outside. That is why millions of fans have made Flash such a pivotal character in the history of comics.
Aside from other superpowers, the Flash also has superhuman:
Problem-Solving
Invisibility
Empathic Alerts from other Speedsters
Tracking
Being the Flash means being an incredibly intelligent human being to start with. A Forensic Scientist, no less. It means possessing the ability of “super speed” – and this applies to his thinking, his moving (including running), his reflexes, and anything he does. He is a “speedster” – and so has superhuman speed. It doesn’t end there.
It gets pretty fascinating as he can speed up his molecules to different vibrations so that he can get through any object by reaching the same oscillation level.
Mentally no one can read his mind because his thoughts move too fast for telepathy to work. Oh, and he also speed-reads and has a photographic memory. This is sounding kind of good, here.
He helps many people, not least of all the police force by reading hundreds of documents quickly, and problem-solving things that don’t make sense. Thus, a higher percentage of crimes get solved, buildings get rebuilt with stability to save tenants, land barriers get fixed in seconds before the tsunami hits.
He has the power of defying gravity and can gain momentum to race up towers and falling debris, mountains, and many other vertically inclined items. When Superman thought he could outrace The Flash up a building, The Flash just smiled and said, “I haven’t used all my speed in the past with you”, and then became a disappearing pinpoint in front of Superman.
And, if you can believe it, Flash also can run on water! If anyone out there has been bare-foot waterskiing before or watched it, you know how incredible it feels! We, as humans, without being pulled by a boat, would have to run over 99 feet of water every second in order not to sink!
In 1956 Flash began to create tornadoes!
Flash needs to eat thousands of calories every single day because his metabolism runs so fast, he needs it for the energy. On the same token, his metabolism enables him to endure severe injuries and heal almost immediately! I’d like that one! The character Deathstroke the Terminator tried to kill The Flash but his mighty power only stopped him for a few seconds.
Just like creating tornadoes means bringing in air currents, creating a vacuum means getting rid of air! He creates a tornado by running in circles and the middle of the tornado is a vacuum – perfect for eliminating fires and killing enemies! This is getting creative!
Why does Flash leave a sonic BOOM behind him in so many instances? That’s because he can break the sound barrier with his speed, which he first does in the tv episode, “The Flash is Born”.
Oh, and Superman’s punch has nothing on a punch by Flash. Flash can tap into his special resource, “the Speed Force” and have an endless mass behind his punch. In the “Justice League of America” comic series, Flash uses his killer force and punches his enemy, a White Martian, all the way around the world!
Not only can Flash break the sound barrier but he is faster than the speed of light – and with that amazing speed comes the ability to ramp up all his other powers and get him anywhere he needs to be in the world even before he needs to be there! Some crazy things happen when he has to save people from impending doom and has enough time before they fall to kill all the enemies, rebuild a commando tank, and take two trips to the beach before becoming the hero of the day!
So here’s something interesting – Flash only acquired the ability to throw electricity like a generator in the last few decades! I guess he didn’t have enough superpowers!
Flash realized early on how beneficial the power of cloning yourself can be, especially for a superhero. He can use illusionary talents to run so fast that it appears he is more than one person, but if in running so quickly that he can step out of the “stream of time” then he does clone himself! (And I thought we were working on that in reality!).
Along with that “stream of time” storyline, Flash is ALSO able to break through to other dimensions with his speed and visit alternate Earths. In his world, he isn’t just tied to our Earth, he can also be at many Earths on many different dimensions! (That sounds a bit scary to me!). This was first introduced in 1953, and then again in 1961, and since then on multiple television episodes.
The Power that is the “Mixed Blessing”
The 15th power is “save the best for last” or “save the most complicated power for last”. This power comes with baggage if you know what I mean. It is a mixed blessing, and Flash has to walk a very fine thread to do this right.
With all of this “time” talk, it wouldn’t make sense if Flash wasn’t able to travel through time, would it? So, you guessed it, Flash can time travel to the past and the future. His speed enables him to make a hole “in time” and go through it to land wherever and whenever he wants.
This has some huge ramifications, however, probably more so than his other powers. If he changes the past, terrible results can follow all down the timeline to the present and he will destroy the timeline that he has worked so hard to build!
When he saves his mother, he finds out the next day that he has no powers at all and he doesn’t recognize the world! (I guess that is the scariest of all – hide in your bed covers kind of scary?).
Main Characters/Villians within the Flash Comics
Arch-Nemesis Villians
Each Flash identity, from Jay to Bart, has its arch-nemesis of Reverse-Flash (even though this term wasn’t coined until 1963 – so the first arch-nemesis of Jay Garrick, the Rival, was awarded this name years after his “death”). The Reverse-Flashes usually wear reverse colors of the Flash’s costume, but not always.
Professor Zoom
Jay Garrick
For the first Flash, Jay Garrick, during the Golden Age of Comics, Rival was his arch-nemesis and was a speedster who looked like the Flash but with a more malicious appearance. He did not wear the reverse colors. He shows up for the first time in 1949 in #104 of the Flash comics. Rival is Dr. Edward Clariss, a university professor when Jay attends Midwestern University in Kansas. Rival thinks he has discovered the formula to becoming a superhero speedster and is sorely denied that honor by other science colleagues. He becomes a criminal for a short time with his temporary power for speed, but when that vanishes, he is defeated, and “dies”.
Fifty years later, the Rival’s role is revived by showing us that months after he arrived in the comics, he did battle the Flash, achieved super speed, and is thrown into the abyss of the Speed Force. When the Justice League becomes the Injustice League, Johnny Sorry retrieves Dr. Clariss in 2000 from the Speed Force and invites him to join. The Rival has become insane and speedily rushes throughout the world, murdering and killing, and is eventually absorbed by the current Flash before he can kill the first Flash’s (Jay Garrick’s) wife. The Rival has a brief return in 2002 but has not been seen since that.
There is a brief appearance of another Reverse-Flash nemesis of Jay Garrick who is also called The Rival, but this one is a robot, wears reverse colors, and is easily defeated in one panel of the Flash comics in February 1998.
Later on in the life of the Flash, Jay does share an evil avatar with the other 3 Flashes called Zoom.
Barry Allen
Barry Allen faces several major foes in his lifetime, one of them being the speedster arch-nemesis and the first one to call himself a Reverse-Flash, Professor Zoom, in 1963. ProfessorZoom is a time traveler, born in the 25th century, and hates everything that the Flash symbolizes. He is deceitful and kills to destroy anything good that any Flash has created – and he focuses on Barry Allen as the Flash.
Professor Zoom also goes under the names of Zoom (who is not a speedster and only manipulates time), and Reverse-Flash depending upon which time zone he is in and which Flash character he is making miserable.
Wally West
Zoom is a time-morph of Professor Zoom and focuses on making the Flash’s life difficult because he is angry that Flash could not save his wife. He pretends to be a speedster but never gets connected to the Speed Force.
Bart Allen
The reverse-Flash enemy for Bart Allen would be Inertia, who cloned himself to be an evil type of Impulse (the superhero name given to some young members of Flash’s family).
Other Primary Enemies of Flash
Rose Canton
Rose Canton: Was an enemy of the Golden and Silver Age Flashes, and beyond. Her split personality of The Thorn was first seen in 1947. She was a botanist who developed a second, evil persona that had powers over plants and committed much murder and mayhem. She married and had children, but had to commit suicide when her darker forces threatened to kill them.
The Rogues
The Rogues: A group of villains headed by Captain Cold who was a major villain in the Flash’s comics. Before 1957, villains had fought independently and had not been part of a gang. The Rogues were comprised of characters that included Golden Glider (sister of Captain Cold), Chroma, Heat Wave, Rainbow Raider, Weather Wizard, Mirror Master, the Pied Piper, the Top, Abra Kadabra, Captain Boomerang, and the Trickster. As this group grew, it also became known as the Rogues Gallery. The Rogues Gallery
Allies of the Flash
Team Flash (the Flash’s Family)
An informal group of characters who center around the Flash and help him to promote goodness. They are allies.
Central City Police Department:Barry Allen works in the Crime Unit for this city’s Police Department. They help him fight the Renegade group and the Rogues group along with other enemy groups.
Keystone City Police Department: Helps Jay Garrick fight the Rogues and the Rogues Gallery, enemies.
Speedsters: First founded as a superhero team that had super-speed powers and aided the Flash with eliminating the villains. This was established by the Speed Force and is comprised of Metahumans. The group eventually evolved into both villains and heroes. The Super Force of Speed was created when the first Flash had his accident in the lab that gave him superhuman powers – 1940, and so the first Flash was the first Speedster.
Tornado Twins: These are the twins of Barry and Iris Allen. Named Don and Dawn, they were “born” after their father’s death and thus felt jealous of Wally West, who had seen Barry as a father figure. It was Wally West, however, that convinced the twins to bring out all their superpowers and fight together as the “Tornado Twins”. Don Allen had one son with Meloni Thawne, named Bart Allen.
Justice League: Initially created in the 1940s as an informal team known as The Justice Society of America, it was revived in 1960 with a formal team and a name change to just the Justice Society. It was originally made up of Aquaman, Batman, The Flash, Green Lantern, The Martian Manhunter, Superman, and Wonder Woman. As it evolved, it would come to include more characters with each decade.
Other Main Characters
Iris West Allen: Appears in over 800 issues of the Flash comics and is first Barry Allen’s (the second Flash’s) girlfriend and then his wife. She is found in the same comic that Barry Allen is first in as the Flash in 1956, beginning the Silver Age of Comics.
Kid Flash (Wally West and Bart Allen): Nephew and grandson, respectively, of Barry Allen.
Jesse Quick (Jesse Chambers Wells): Born to Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle, she helped teach younger members about their powers and spent her life studying superheroes. Appeared in the comics in 1992.
Linda Park: Linda Jasmine West, was a Korean reporter and wife to Wally West. She is also a television reporter and she has colleagues such as Lois Lane. Her first appearance in comics was in 1989.
Joan Garrick: Appearing first in 1940, she was Jay Garrick’s (first Flash’s) girlfriend
FAQs
Question: Who had the first run of being “The Flash”?
Answer: Well, it depends. Don’t you just hate it when someone answers a question with that? Alright, here’s the fast, flash version answer to that:
Jay Garrick had it right from the start – “The Golden Age Flash”. The first comic issue was in January 1940 according to the date on the cover, but it was released sometime in November 1939, so he was a “preemie”. He would later go on to be in about 1,175 comic issues – (fans disagree on an exact number, ranging from 1,170 to 1,538).
Question: Who are Flash’s main enemies?
Answer: Flash has an arch-enemy, Captain Cold, who can prey on Flash by causing him to resist intense cold by using up all of his energy, thereby making him much less powerful or fast. Captain Cold is the head of a group of villains called The Rogues, which are the main enemies of Flash.
Question: Why is Flash such an important character?
Answer: He brought a continuity of humanity to the “superhuman” archetype that was born in the 1930s. He had such an abundance of power but what was on his mind was saving people. He had altruistic and other human kindness traits that other superheroes either didn’t have or couldn’t find because of their psychological problems.
Audiences loved the Flash – time and again, it brought DC Comics the fans and financial gains during times that we’re seeing lower comic book popularity.
Question: In DC Comics, which Flash is the Fastest?
Answer: Wallace “Wally” West, the fourth Flash, is the fastest Flash. Up to this moment, however, until Jay or Barry comes back to life in a future story, and DC deems one of them to have found even more speed. We know Wally is the fastest Flash so far because in the recent “Flash War” he is said to be faster than Barry Allen, the 3rd Flash (and Barry was the fastest Flash until that point). This makes Wallace not only the fastest Flash but the speediest character in all of DC Comics!
Question: How Many Movies and TV series were there of the Flash?
Answer: Dozens of attempts (beginning in the 1980s and continuing until 2016) by film companies met with the incompletion of a Flash movie for a variety of reasons. The Flash was first seen in a movie in 2016 with “Batman vs Superman – Dawn of Justice”. There were a few other bit parts in several movies after that, but despite a revival of hope for a movie centering around Flash in 2018, the character has not been seen in any films that were not animated.
The television series for the Flash is now in its 8th season with over 150 episodes aired. There are dozens of DC Comics animated films in which the Flash is a part.
Flash Conclusion
It seems that the Flash has been a very modest character, indeed, and that is one of the many human traits that make him so popular and likable. I’ll bet many people would not name the Flash as DC Comics’ most important character simply because he is not the hyped-up marketed version of all his attributes, as is Superman or Batman.
In a time of war, in a time where horror and gore took all the glamour, in a time of fast-selling superhero movies that the public can’t get enough of – through all these eras the Flash stood tall and presented a good-natured character, mild-by-comparison stories with humor, and characteristics of humanity and altruism that were sorely lacking in other superheroes, and in the world.
Not only did people continue to return again and again to the Flash’s comics after he had been gone on and off for decades, but they came in such droves that it propelled DC Comics status and made a statement about just how important Flash was to the public.
DC storylines always had the Flash front and center when there was a major shift – from the Gold and Silver ages to the “Multiverse”, to the many crises on “Infinite Earths”, Flash was needed to get the job done. Flash took on the initiative to put himself on the line for the sake of other people. It’s a very simple concept that is tricky to use with superheroes. Someone has got your back. And, that’s what we all want, isn’t it?
