Flash through the Ages.

By Ian Scrimger

Origins• The original Flash first appeared

in Flash Comics #1 (January 1940).

• The Flash is a super quick superhero who has been passed down through the years.

• The Flash had made been remade several times but the main flashes chronologically are Jay Garrick, Bart Allen, Wally West, and Barry Allen.

Jay Garrick• Jason Peter Garrick is a college

student prior to 1940 (later changed to 1938) who accidentally inhales hard water vapors after falling asleep in his laboratory where he had been working (later stories would change this to heavy water vapors). As a result, he finds that he can run at superhuman speed and has similarly fast reflexes.

• The original “Flash” was a founding member of the Justice Society of America.

Barry Allen• One night, as he is preparing to

leave work, a lightning bolt shatters a case full of chemicals and spills them all over Allen. As a result, Allen finds that he can run extremely fast and has matching reflexes. He dons a set of red tights sporting a lightning bolt, dubs himself the Flash (after his childhood comic book hero, Jay Garrick), and becomes Central City's resident costumed crime fighter.

• Barry Allen was one of the he founding members of the Justice League.

Wally West• During a visit to the Central City police

laboratory where Barry Allen worked, the freak accident that gave Allen his powers repeated itself, bathing West in electrically-charged chemicals. Now possessing the same powers as The Flash, West donned a smaller sized copy of Barry Allen's Flash outfit and became the young crime fighter Kid Flash.

• In addition to his appearances within the Flash title, the character was used as a member of the newly created Teen Titans.

Bart Allen• Bartholomew "Bart" Allen is

a superhero in the DC Comics Universe. Allen first appeared as the superhero Impulse. He would later go on to become the second Kid Flash and the fourth Flash.

• Allen was a member of the superhero teams Young Justice and Teen Titans.

Crisis on Infinite Earths

Barry Allen Following the trial, Allen retires and joins Iris in the 30th century. However, after only a few weeks of happiness, the Crisis on Infinite Earths intervenes, and Allen is captured by the Anti-Monitor and brought to 1985; according to the Anti-Monitor, the Flash was the only being capable of travelling to other universes at will, so the Anti-Monitor couldn't allow him to stay free. Allen escapes and foils the Anti-Monitor's plan to destroy the Earth with an anti-matter cannon, creating a speed vortex to draw the power in, but dies in the process as the power becomes too much for his body. After Allen's death, Wally West, his nephew and sidekick (known as Kid Flash), takes up the mantle of the Flash.

Wally West• During the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Barry

gave his life to save the earth. Initially unaware of this, Wally was coaxed by Jay Garrick into assisting the heroes against the Anti-Monitor's forces. During the final battle with the Anti-Monitor, Wally was struck by a blast of anti-matter energy, which put his disease into remission. In the aftermath of the conflict, Wally took on his fallen mentor's costume and identity.

Infinite Crisis

Jay Garrick• Jay and his wife Joan have guardianship of Bart Allen after

Max Mercury's disappearance. During the events of Infinite Crisis Jay states that the Speed Force is gone after a battle in which many speedsters, living and dead, wrestle Superboy-Prime into the Speed Force and disappear.

• Jay is left behind when he reaches his limit and cannot follow. Bart Allen returns, aged several years, and had absorbed the entire Speed Force during his pursuit of the escaped Superboy-Prime.

• Jay claims that without the Speed Force, his own power is less than before: like Wally West in the Crisis on Infinite Earths aftermath, he can only run close to the speed of sound. He also stated that as the Speed Force is no longer retarding his aging, his speed is diminishing with time..

Bart Allen• During the Infinite Crisis, Superboy-Prime attacked Conner Kent (

Superboy) and injured or killed several Teen Titans, thus prompting Bart to stop his rampage.

• He accomplished this by running him at top speed into the Speed Force with the help of veteran speedsters Wally West and Jay Garrick. The feat took its toll on Garrick, who reached his limit before entering the Speed Force, and West, who turned into energy and vanished, leaving Bart alone in the fight against a vastly more powerful Superboy-Prime.

• Luckily for the young speedster, Barry Allen, Johnny Quick, and Max Mercury, all of whom had been previously absorbed into the Speed Force, appeared and aided him.

Blackest NightBarry Allen

He witnesses the arrival of the Black Lanterns' demonic lord, Nekron, and his disciples Scar and Black Hand. The Justice League, the Titans, Wally, and Bart arrive to aid Barry to take a stand against Nekron. However, Nekron reveals however that all the resurrected heroes are tied to him, because he allowed them to rise again. As such they belong to him. Nekron then used a series of black rings to turn Superman, Green Arrow, Bart, and several other resurrected heroes into Black Lanterns.

• After being chosen as a Blue Lantern, Barry joins forces with the veteran Blue Corps member Saint Walker to continue battling the Black Lanterns alongside the understanding of the potentials and limitations of his new power ring.

• Barry and Bart temporarily joined the White Lantern Corps during the final events of Blackest Night.

Bart Allen• After his grandfather is chosen as a Blue Lantern by

Ganthet of the Guardians of the Universe and leader of the Blue Lantern Corps, Bart immediately engages in battle with him. Barry's blue power ring detects that Bart is still alive, but will die if he is not freed from the black ring soon.

• Barry nearly releases Bart from the black ring using blue energy constructs crafted in the images of Bart as Impulse and Kid Flash, before interference by Black Lantern versions of Professor Zoom and Solovar stops him.

The Speed Force• The Speed Force is a vaguely-defined extra-dimensional energy

force from which most, but not all, superspeed-powered heroes in the DC Comics universe draw their enhanced abilities. For example, the multiple heroes named the Flash (Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, Wally West, and Bart Allen), Johnny Quick, Jesse Quick/Liberty Belle, XS, the Tornado Twins, and Max Mercury all draw their powers from the Speed Force. The Speed Force is also seen as a physical space to which speedsters can travel. Max Mercury traveled through time as a result of his efforts to enter the Speed Force and ended up several decades into the future every time he made an attempt. Bart Allen could control the Speed Force and could "commune" with the spirits in the Speed Force through meditation. When speedsters die, they become one with the Speed Force, as it is an afterlife for them.Max Mercury's own spirit is trapped inside following his possession by The Rival.

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