Bart Allen (New Earth)

Bartholomew "Bart" Allen II
Mainstream Universe‎, 1986‎-2011‎
Gallery
Real Name	Bartholomew "Bart" Allen II
Other Aliases	Impulse · The Flash · White Flash
Relatives	Don Allen (father) Meloni Thawne (mother) Barry Allen (grandfather) Iris West-Allen (grandmother) Thaddeus Thawne I (grandfather) Owen Mercer (half-brother) Dawn Allen (aunt) Jenni Ognats (cousin) Thaddeus Thawne II (clone) Cherub (partial clone) See Allen Family for complete family tree
Affiliation	Flash Family Teen Titans formerly Legion of Super-Heroes Young Justice Black Lantern Corps White Lantern Corps
Base Of Operations	San Francisco formerly Los Angeles Keystone City Manchester
Status
Alignment	Good
Identity	Secret Identity
Citizenship	American
Marital Status	Single
Occupation	Student
Characteristics
Gender	Male
Height	5' 7"
Weight	145 lbs (66 kg)
Eyes	Yellow
Hair	Auburn
Origin
Universe	New Earth
Creators	Mark Waid · Mike Wieringo
First Appearance	The Flash Vol 2 #92 (July, 1994)
Appearance of Death	Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost #3 (October, 2011)

I am normal. It's the rest of the world that's weird.

— Impulse

History

Origin

Bart Allen is a teenage speedster and a member of the Flash Family who has gone by several code names. He was born in the 30th Century, the grandson of time-traveling speedster the Flash, although he returned to the past to continue his family's legacy. Because of his strange origins, he ages at an inconsistent rate. Originally, he took the name Impulse to reflect his impulsive nature, but later changed his alias to Kid Flash when he grew older. There was a brief period when he became The Flash after Infinite Crisis, but he was killed by the Rogues during Full Throttle. Later on, he was resurrected during Final Crisis through his connection to the Speed Force and has returned to his role as Kid Flash since then. Bart Allen has been a member of the New Titans, Young Justice, the Teen Titans, and the Legion of Super-Heroes.

Early Life

Bart Allen was the product of the union between two families who had been bitter rivals for centuries. His father, Don Allen, was the son of Barry Allen, the second Flash, and his mother was Meloni Thawne, daughter of the Earthgov president and descendant of Flash villains Cobalt Blue and Professor Zoom.

Bart as Impulse.

Shortly after Bart's birth, his family was attacked by Zoom, wishing to end the union of the rival families. They, along with the family of Don's sister Dawn, attempted to flee to a parallel Earth using the Cosmic Treadmill. However, Zoom sabotaged the device, causing an explosion which created a rift in the multiverse. Zoom was ultimately defeated by an army of three different Legions of Super-Heroes, but Bart and his family were subsequently stranded on Earth-247.

Bart was born with his grandfather's speed. He had an incredibly high metabolism and also aged at hyperspeed. When he was chronologically two years old, physically, he appeared twelve years old. President Thawne had the Dominators killed Don and his twin sister, Dawn Allen. The Dominators then abducted Bart, who was later captured by Earthgov for observation. The scientists of Earthgov raised him in a virtual reality environment so that he aged as swiftly mentally as he did physically. Bart was going to die of old age very quickly, with Earthgov not doing anything to fix his problem. His grandmother Iris West took him away and brought him back to the twentieth century, so that her nephew, Wally West, the third Flash, could show him how to control his speed.

He later adopted the superheroic identity of Impulse.

Impulse

After Wally helped him solve his problem and Bart helped him to defeat Kobra, Bart moved to Manchester, Alabama with Max Mercury. Wally had used his connections to supply Bart with a birth certificate, etc. Bart began the ninth grade at Manchester Junior High. He managed to make quite a few friends, chief among them Carol Bucklen. Max continued to train him in the art of superspeed, having him run obstacle courses while dodging axes and knives, solve jigsaw puzzles in mid-air, etc. During this time, he became one of the founding members of Young Justice.

Following Max's disappearance, he was taken in by Jay Garrick, the first Flash, and his wife Joan Garrick.

Kid Flash

Following the breakup of Young Justice, Bart joined the new Teen Titans. He soon had his kneecap blown out by Deathstroke (who was at the time possessed by Jericho) and replaced with an artificial one. While recovering, Bart read every single book in the San Francisco Public Library and reinvented himself as the new Kid Flash. Even with the artificial kneecap, he could still run close to light speed. After Superboy-Prime attacked Superboy (Conner Kent) in Smallville injuring and killing many Titans, Bart joined with Wally West and Jay Garrick to stop the rampage of Superboy-Prime by running him at top speed into the Speed Force. Jay reached his limit before entering the Speed Force and Wally turned into energy and vanished, leaving Bart alone with Superboy-Prime. Barry Allen, Johnny Quick and Max Mercury, all of whom had previously been absorbed into the Speed Force, appeared and aided Bart. After taking Superboy-Prime into the Speed Force, Barry told Bart that "Wally is waiting for you". After they disappeared, Jay claimed that the Speed Force was gone.

Superboy-Prime

A speedster wearing Barry's costume returned in Tokyo shortly thereafter to warn of the return of Superboy-Prime. This same Flash, still wearing Barry Allen's costume, would appear in the middle of the Battle of Metropolis against the army of escaped super villains. Superboy-Prime reveals that the person in the Flash costume is Bart Allen, aged 4 years older. Bart explains to the nearby Wonder Girl (who was surprised by her fellow Titan's transformation) that his grandfather's uniform was the only thing that could survive the trip back from where he had been, and that he was the only one there "who could still run". Bart then unleashed his anger against Superboy-Prime for killing Conner Kent, pummeling him at superspeed and forcing Superboy-Prime to retreat from the battle. When the crisis was over, Bart explained to Jay that he spent years in an unknown dimension where time passed quicker, causing him to grow older. Bart confirmed that the Speed Force was destroyed and he used up the residual speed locked in his body fighting in Metropolis. He gave Barry's costume to Jay and says Jay was now the fastest man alive once again.

Flash: The Fastest Man Alive

Bart as the Flash

Bart shunned his superheroic past for the next year. He received a job working at Keystone Motors and began sharing an apartment with another young man named Griffin Grey. However, he was still connected to the Speed Force, but the connection threatened to kill him. S.T.A.R. Labs modified one of his grandfather's old costumes to help him control his connection. While at first he refused to don the costume, he finally gave in and became the fourth Flash. He also began a relationship with S.T.A.R. Labs employee Valerie Perez.

Bart decided to get a fresh start and moved to Los Angeles, applying for a job in forensics with their police department.

Inertia hired the Rogues to help him build a device in Los Angeles with the purpose of transferring the Speed Force from Bart to himself. Despite warnings from his grandmother, Bart confronted them.

The Death of Bart Allen

The machine was successful in removing his powers, but in doing so, it threatened to detonate with the energy of several atomic bombs. Bart sacrificed himself heroically, distracting the Rogues while Val deactivated the machine.

Bart returns as Kid Flash

A funeral was held for Bart in a stadium in Keystone City. It was attended by a large number of costumed heroes, including his former Teen Titans teammates Robin, Wonder Girl, Raven and Beast Boy, and televised around the world. Eulogies were given by Jay Garrick, who revealed Bart's secret identity to the world. The funeral ended with the presentation of a video he had recorded shortly after becoming Kid Flash, to be shown in the event of his death.

During Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds, XS charged a lightning rod with the assistance of different versions of Garth and Ayla Ranzz in order to restore Bart to life. Bart returned as a teenager again and he received his Kid Flash costume ring from Brainiac 5.

The Flash: Rebirth

Rebirth is the recent comic The Flash: Rebirth, which features the return of Barry Allen, the Silver Age Scarlet Speedster and Bart's grandfather. At Titans Tower West, a newly returned Bart Allen views his grandfather's return with skepticism, admitting a desire for things to "go back to the way it used to be" with Wally as the primary Flash and himself as Kid Flash, as well as feeling angry that Barry is the only one to escape the Speed Force and not Max Mercury. Bart, along with Superboy, is resurrected, but Death hunts them down to reclaim their lives. Bart then asks Barry why Max was unable to come back during when the JLA were trying to de-contaminate him of Zoom's Speed Force. Bart and Jay are then attacked by Zoom, who attacks Bart first because of him being both a Thawne and an Allen.

He and Wally are present when Barry brings back Max Mercury from the Speed Force, (Barry is unable to bring back Johnny Quick, as he had already been "killed" by Professor Zoom's Negative Speed Force) and is overjoyed to see his old mentor again.

Bart, Barry, Wally, Max, Jay, Jesse Quick, and Iris West II (now taking up Bart's mantle as Impulse) and the Justice Society and the Justice League participate in Barry's plan to strip Zoom of his connection to his Speed Force, a plan that succeeds.

Blackest Night

With Bart and Conner Kent's return, both of their statues were removed from the Titans Tower "Hall of Fallen Titans" memorial. However, Nekron, the personification of Death, sought reclaim their lives during the Blackest Night crossover. Bart, along with Wally, raced across the globe to warn every hero of the Black Lantern Corps' invasion. Bart later arrived at Coast City with Wally and scattered members of the Justice League and Teen Titans to take a stand against Nekron, who was responsible for the Black Lanterns. Despite being resurrected, Bart's previous status as a deceased still allowed one of the undead lord's black rings to transform him into a Black Lantern.

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 battle with him. Barry's blue power ring detects that Bart is still alive but he would eventually die if 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 being interfered by Black Lantern versions of Professor Zoom and Solovar. Wally and Blue Lantern Bro'Dee Walker join Barry against them. Bart attempts to use his speed powers to kill Wally, only to be temporarily returned to normal. Realizing that their mutual connection to the Speed Force can save Bart, Barry uses his powers to break the ring's connection, freeing him.

Return to the Teen Titans

Sometime after Blackest Night, Bart and Conner were recruited by Cyborg to help rescue a current Titan by the name of Static, who had been kidnapped while visiting his hometown of Dakota. The three heroes arrive at the scene of a battle between the Teen Titans and a superhuman gangster named Holocaust, and intervene just as he is about to finish off the their comrades. Bart and Conner then comment that it is time for them to come out of "retirement" and rejoin the Teen Titans. Holocaust simply laughs and tells them to bring it, and Bart responds by saying "We were hoping you'd say that". After a lengthy battle, Bart deals the finishing blow to the villain by running around him fast enough to open a vacuum which sucks him into the Earth's inner core.

At the behest of Tim Drake, Bart travels to Gotham City and saves Selina Kyle from members of the League of Assassins while she is sleeping in her apartment. After knocking out the would-be killers, Bart remarks to Tim over the radio that Selina is "super-fine", and that this may be the best day of his life.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

• Speed Force Conduit: Speed force conduits possess a connection to the Speed Force, a cosmic force that allows its users to push the boundaries that keep time and space. As a conduit of the Speed Force, all aspects of their physiology are accelerated and enhanced.
  • Accelerated Healing: By having a connection to the speed force, every speed force conduit has an incredibly fast healing ability and can heal from most injuries in seconds and devastating injuries in minutes.
  • Enhanced Senses: The Speed Force enhances the speedster's senses, allowing them to perceive and process thoughts faster than the normal person.
  • Phasing: Speed Force conduits can tap into the Speed Force to vibrate their molecules in a way to achieve intangibility for short bursts, allowing them to phase through objects.
  • Speed Force Aura: The Speed Force manifests an aura around the speedster and whatever they are carrying, protecting them from adverse effects of their speed, such as friction with the air.
    • Superhuman Durability: The Speed Force Aura also protects speedsters from kinetic impacts, which in turn, makes them much more durable and resistant to injury than any normal human.
  • Superhuman Stamina: The Speed Force grants its conduits with a great increase of stamina, allowing them to fight or run much longer than the average person. Although a great increase, it is not unlimited.
  • Superhuman Speed: The universal factor of being a Speed Force conduit grants its user with imperceptible amounts of speed. All powers that conduits possess derives from their speed.. This also confers:
    • Superhuman Agility: The speedster's agility, balance, and bodily coordination are enhanced to superhuman levels. This allows them to easily maneuver while moving at superhuman speed.
    • Superhuman Reflexes: In conjunction with their enhanced senses, The speedster's reflexes are heightened immesurably, allowing them to dodge or react faster than normal.
  • Vortex Creations: Speed Force conduits are able to create vortices of air by running in circles or rotating their extremities at super-speed. These vortices can be used for a number of effects.
  • Enhanced Mental Process: The Speed Force enhances Bart's mental capacity to levels greater than any normal human, allowing him to take in and process information at an accelerated rate. While most speedsters will eventually forget information they rapidly receive, Bart does not.
  • Electrokinesis: As a conduit of the Speed Force, Bart generates large amounts of electrical Speed Force energy from his body. This Speed Force Lightning emanates off of him especially when moving at super-speeds. Bart was able to charge his hand with the lightning to electrocute Jay Garrick, in order to restart his heart.
  • Speed Scouts: Bart has the ability to create "scouts", which are energy-like avatars of himself which he could send through the time-stream, then absorb their memories when they returned.
  • Speed Force Empathy: Bart can sense when another Speed Force conduit is troubled, and can be drawn to the location of that speedster.

Abilities

• Photographic Memory: Unlike other speedsters, Bart has a true photographic memory; that is, he can permanently remember everything he has ever read, seen or heard. Other speedsters generally lose that information almost as fast as they gain it.
• Multilingualism: Bart can speak both English and Interlac fluently (he hardly ever makes use of the latter, despite it technically being his native language), and presumably more on a basic level due to his speed-learning.
• Hand-to-Hand Combat (Basic): Was trained by the LAPD and Red Robin in combat.
• Criminology: During his time as the Flash, Bart attended Forensics Classes at the LAPD and applied a job as a Forensic Scientist like his Grandfather.
• Hypnosis: Bart once taught himself hypnosis and used it to hypnotize Lil' Lobo into suppressing his violent tendencies. The hypnosis was not a perfect job, but it was successful enough to keep the Top Teen calm for a dinner date.

Weaknesses

• Illness (Formerly): Bart has suffered hyper-accelerated metabolism, causing accelerated aging.
• Artificial Kneecap: Bart suffered from a blast wound to his kneecap and had it to get replaced with a prosthetic, thanks to Jericho possessing Deathstroke.
  

Paraphernalia

Equipment

• Flash's Costume Ring

Notes

• Bart's first appearance as Kid Flash was Teen Titans (Volume 3) #4.
• His first appearance as the Flash was Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #2.
  

Trivia

• Bart has been quoted on several occasions stating that he would never become Kid Flash.
• Bart has expressed a romantic interest in Rose Wilson, the Ravager. The feeling seems to be mutual, as Rose once described him as "cute."
• Bart once channeled the Speed Force in the form of lightning to kick-start Jay Garrick's heart.
• Both Superboy and Impulse once commented on how "their" comics had been canceled yet some heroes, who were no less worthy just seem to go on, at this point Robin walks in and both of his friends give him the "evil" eye when he asks, "What?"
• Bart strongly dislikes the band Hanson.
• Batman is the one who gave Bart the "Impulse" moniker.
• Bart briefly controlled the power of Infinity Man when he merged with the Forever People. While he had a verbal cadence similar to the standard Infinity Man, Impulse's personality was the dominant one that was evident.
• Bart's favorite TV series was Tiny Titans.

Related

• 574 Appearances of Bart Allen (New Earth)
• 269 Images featuring Bart Allen (New Earth)
• 112 Quotations by or about Bart Allen (New Earth)
• Character Gallery: Bart Allen (New Earth)

Footnotes

Flash Family member This character is or was an incarnation of or an ally of The Flash, and a member of the Flash Family of speedsters. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the "Flash Family members" category.

Teen Titans member This character is or was primarily a member of the younger superhero team known as the Teen Titans, in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Teen Titans members" category.

Legion of Super-Heroes member This character is or was a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes from the 30th/31st Century, in any one of their various continuities. Including but not limited to, Original Legion, the Reboot Legion, Prime Legion and the Post-Rebirth Legion. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Legion of Super-Heroes members" category.

Black Lantern Corps member This character is or was a member of the Black Lantern Corps. Those who have died may wield the Black Power Ring, symbolizing their lack of both life and emotion. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Black Lantern Corps members category."

White Lantern Corps member This character is or was a member of the White Lantern Corps, guided by the Life Entity to wield the White Light of Life. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "White Lantern Corps members category."

Young Justice member This character is or was a member of Young Justice, a team of younger super-heroes and side-kicks who fight crime together separately from their adult counterparts, in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Young Justice members" category.