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| As a result of the New 52 in 2011, the entire line of DC characters was relaunched, incorporating properties belonging to the company's imprints: Wildstorm, Milestone, and Vertigo. As such, elements of this character's history have been altered in some way from the previous incarnation. For a complete list of all versions of this character, see our disambiguation page. |
History
Barry Allen is The Flash, the fastest man alive. Using his super-speed powers, he taps into the Speed Force and becomes a costumed crime-fighter. He is a founding member of the Justice League.
Origin
When Barry was a boy, his parents' relationship wasn't going well, and while he prepared to participate in a spelling bee at school, his mother Nora was struggling to encourage him despite working double shifts and trying to get a divorce from his father Henry. He received the divorce papers on the day of the spelling bee, and because Nora had to work, he seethed and took Barry to school. When Nora returned from work, she was happy to see that her son had won the competition, but she was obligated to speak to Henry about their relationship, and so Barry was sent to the book store in the meantime. By the time Barry returned, his mother had been murdered, and his father had been placed under arrest, though he professed his innocence.
Fortunately, Darryl Frye, who had secretly been involved romantically with Nora, pulled some strings, and was able to take Barry in. Having learned from Darryl that the search for evidence in that case would inevitably lead to the truth, Barry became a forensic scientist. For years, he visited Henry in prison, promising to look over all of the evidence of his mother's murder case until he found a way to prove his father's innocence. After years of coming back, and failing to find any proof, Henry broke down and admitted that he had committed the crime. The shock of realizing that all of his efforts had been for nothing depressed Barry. On the night of a storm, Barry angrily tore his lab apart. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning crashed through his lab's window, and struck him in the chest, causing him to drop the chemical vials he was carrying, and douse himself.
After a long comatose period, Barry woke with super-speed abilities. Inspired by Darryl's example, Barry decided to take on a symbol for himself, and fight for good. He created the ring that held his specially designed costume, and became known as the Flash, the fastest man alive.[1]
Move Forward
While on his first date with coworker Patty Spivot at a technology symposium, Barry had a chance encounter with Dr. Darwin Elias, a prominent theoretical physicist who had designed a device that could re-code the human genome. The date and the encounter were interrupted by a gang of thugs who stole the re-coder. Barry managed to recover the device, but in the process, one of the thugs he was chasing died. What was worse was that he recognized the man - it was his old friend Manuel Lago. Fortunately, the forensics showed that something other than the impact had killed Manuel, clearing Flash's name.
Barry learned with the help of Dr. Elias' device that Manuel's DNA had been altered in some way, but was startled in his study by the sudden appearance of Manuel in his apartment - alive and well. Manuel had no time to explain himself, though, as someone began banging down the door. Together, they ran for their lives. Barry ducked out of sight to become the Flash, but was surprised when he emerged to see that Manuel had been caught by several clones of himself.[2] When they claimed that they had taken reporter and old flame Iris West hostage, Barry was forced to watch them take Manuel away.
Barry learned that Manuel had been working for the CIA and had officially died 16 months ago. However, these clones who called themselves Mob Rule and appeared to be suffering from rapid cellular deterioration, had found their original and hoped to use him to lengthen their short lives. The process by which they intended to do this resulted in an EMP blast that cut power from both of the Gem Cities, and caused numerous disasters.[3] While Iris was trapped in Iron Heights during a power outage, Barry and Patty attempted to save Manuel, but in the process, Barry was shot through the head, and apparently killed.[4] Despite Patty's attempt to save him, Manuel decided to give himself up to Mob Rule, knowing that he was responsible for their creation.
Barry had not really died, though, and woke to discover that Elias had been kidnapped by Mob Rule in the hopes that he could save them.[5] Manuel had agreed to let Elias use his DNA to re-code Mob Rule's own DNA, and resolve their problem. Unfortunately, something in the process went wrong, and Flash was forced to stop it to save Manuel. Manuel was ungrateful, however, because the interruption killed all of the clones, leaving him alive.
Afterward, Barry revealed that he had survived to Patty, and later learned from Elias that it was his speed that caused the EMP blast and the problem with the re-coding process. Barry's super-speed was opening rifts in time.[6] To counter this, Elias created a device to measure Barry's built-up energy, and warned him when a rift was likely to be created. It also served the dual purpose of storing that energy to be used to power the Gem Cities during the outage.
Meanwhile, Leonard Snart had escaped Iron Heights during the outage, and had learned that his hospitalized sister Lisa's life support was threatened by a lack of power, for which he blamed the Flash. In order to draw his enemy out, Leonard staged an attack using his new cold-powers, and the Flash was forced to fight him.[7] In the process, his speed opened another rift, which sent Iris and a few others into the Speed Force, and Barry Allen was thought to have been lost with them. In the aftermath, the Flash learned of Lisa Snart's critical condition, and saw to it that she gets the treatment she needed.[8]
To save Iris, Flash entered the Speed Force where he encountered a man named Roscoe Hynes who had been trapped there long ago. From Hynes, he learned that he was actually preventing temporal anomalies by running, and that it was Hynes who had caused the EMP blast. Angrily, he attacked Hynes, and both of them fell into a wormhole, and emerged in a city populated by intelligent Gorillas.[9]
Rogues Revolution
Barry's sudden arrival in the Gorilla City was at just the same moment that Grodd was being crowned king. Unfortunately, the journey through the Speed Force caused Barry to lose his memory. Though the new king was eager to eat the visitor's brains, the city's elders believed Barry to be a messenger who deserved honour. They freed him from captivity, explaining that the same power that gave him his speed was what gave them their sentience, but it was they who were to be the messengers for him. Barry was to be the Speed Force's vessel, and he was needed to run for the sake of all mankind. Soon, Barry regained his memory and defeated Grodd, who was jealous of his power. Though it would mean the end of their civilization, the gorillas allowed Barry to return home, where he discovered with confusion that Dr. Elias was holding protests against him.[10]
Surprised by this turn of events, Flash decided to reveal his real identity to Patty, but learned that she had gone to Guatemala to solve the cold-case murder of Claudio Mardon, whose brother Marco had inherited the Mardon Cartel. She was caught and kidnapped by Mardon, requiring Barry to intervene. In the process he learned that Marco, known to him as the Weather Wizard, had gained super-powers, just like Captain Cold had. In the meantime, Patty learned from another captive that it was Claudio's wife Elsa who had murdered him, and that she was manipulating Marco. Eventually, Marco learned of the betrayal, and killed her, allowing Flash to save Patty. Unfortunately, she was not eager to see him, as the sight of him reminded her of the loss of Barry. So, Barry decided not to reveal his identity to her yet. Later, Marco found himself recruited by Lisa Snart into a new version of the Rogues.[11]
To maintain the illusion of Barry Allen's death, Barry took up residence in Keystone City, trying to keep a low profile. There, he got a job at a bar frequented by the Rogues, where Heat Wave blamed Captain Cold for the dissolution of the Rogues. Flash was forced to intervene and have them arrested, but on their way to prison Lisa Snart, the Golden Glider, staged an escape for Heat Wave - but not her brother. All the while Darwin Elias continued to decry Flash's name in the streets.[12]
Captain Cold was rescued instead by the Pied Piper, who had returned to crime-fighting in the Flash's absence, but the Piper's intent was not to let him go free. Cold was rescued from impending police capture, then, by Axel Walker, the Trickster, who claimed that the Rogues had reunited without Cold's involvement. Meanwhile, confused by Elias' turning on him, Barry learns that the physicist was using him to further his own studies. As Elias prepared to make the announcement for a green-energy monorail system, Barry was surprised to see the Golden Glider moving at a speed faster than anyone else could see, and she intended to murder Elias for what he did to the Rogues. When he was too late to stop her from injuring him, Barry realized he was being framed, when the public saw him holding the wounded Elias in his arms. In the confusion, the Rogues use the distraction to get away with stealing the monorail train, and storing it in the Mirror World.[13]
Nearly 18 months before those events, Captain Cold had been leading the Rogues, and they had all obeyed a strict moral code - though it was a corrupted one. The failure of one of their jobs thanks to the Flash led to the Trickster being fired, but the failure and discord between his friends made Cold depressed. He was accosted by Dr. Elias, who offered him the chance to even the score with the Flash. This chance involved using the Genome Re-Coder to give them all powers. Unfortunately, the process went wrong, and though they were all given powers, his sister Lisa was rendered a ghostly projection while her body remained comatose. Her boyfriend Sam, though, was trapped forever in the Mirror World.
Now that the reformed Rogues had spurned Captain Cold, he decided to team up with the Flash. Though they were successful, Cold turned on him, and came out the winner against both sides. Unfortunately, his success was short-lived, as the Gem Cities were about to be attacked by an army of Gorillas.[14]
Gorilla Warfare
Grodd attacks Central City.
Shortly afterwards, a gorilla army led by Grodd attacks Central City. The Rogues realize they will need help to defeat them, so Weather Wizard wakes Flash up with a small rain. Knowing the danger Grodd represents, Flash agrees to a temporary alliance with the Rogues. As the Rogues fight the gorilla army, Flash chases after Grodd himself.[15]
Unfortunately, Grodd has supercharged himself with Speed Force energy, giving him an edge over Flash. As the two clash, Grodd maintains the upper hand and shatters Barry's mask. Just as Grodd is about to impale him with a metal sign-pole, Solovar, another gorilla, sacrifices his life to save Flash.[16]
Barry collapses from exhaustion, and Patty (who has discovered his identity) takes him to the house of his friend Manuel Lago's mother Malaya to recover. As he sleeps, Barry's mind watches every possible outcome his battle with Grodd could cause. Each outcome ends with Patty dead or seriously injured. Realizing that he cares too much for Patty to let that happen, Barry decides to surrender himself to Grodd.[17]
As he wakes up, Barry explains his plan to Patty and they share a final moment together. As Flash faces Grodd in Dr. Elias's lab, he uses his powers to draw Grodd with him into the Speed Force, where they can end their conflict once and for all. Suddenly, a tank crashes next to them and Flash finds Iris in the cockpit.[18]
To protect Iris from Grodd, Flash summons a woolly mammoth to tackle Grodd, hurling him into the farthest reaches of the Speed Force. Flash takes Iris and other people trapped inside the Speed Force back to Central City. Meanwhile, the Central City police department has already caused the gorillas to retreat, ending the invasion. Later, Barry meets up with Iris and realizes she has lost her memories of the Speed Force.[19]
The Speed Force killer
With the battle with Grodd over, Barry begins noticing that all the people trapped within the Speed Force have acquired speed powers after their release. Later, a group of people called the Outlanders attempt to break the Trickster out of prison. Flash attempts to stop them, but his powers disappear all of a sudden.[20] Arming himself with supervillain weapons, Barry attempts to stop the Outlanders without his powers. Fortunately, his powers return and Flash is able to solve the situation without further incident.[21]
Later, Barry moves in with Patty. He also returns to work in the police department, albeit as a basement archivist. Patty tells Barry two of the Speed Force escapees have been murdered by a mysterious assailant. Flash goes to investigate Floyd Gomez, another escapee, believing that he might know something about the murders. However, Gomez refuses to cooperate and causes a train to derail, forcing Flash to let him go and save the train. Examinating one of the victim's corpse, Barry finds evidence that the killer might be Kid Flash.[22]
Flash chases Kid Flash all over the world and, after catching up to him, tries to explains his situation. However, Kid Flash does not trust him and is later extracted by the Teen Titans. Flash is suspicious of Kid Flash's reluctance to talk about his past, but decides to let him go.[23]
Later, Flash creates a suit for Iris to wear, knowing that she has also inherited powers from the Speed Force. The suit is designed to protect her from the Speed Force killer. Investigating Albert Lim's murder scene together, they ask Patty to examine evidence they found. Remembering about the stolen monorail, Flash leaves Iris with Patty to question Dr. Elias, the monorail's creator, about his involvement. As soon as he arrives to Dr. Elias's lab, he finds the Speed Force killer attacking him.[24]
Flash and the killer fight each other and the killer reveals his plans to take the Speed Force for himself and alter time. Iris intervenes in the struggle and gets hurt and the killer drains Flash of his Speed Force energy, revealing himself to be Daniel, Iris' brother.[25]
As Daniel travels to the past, he attempts to kill his father when he and Iris were kids. Flash drains his Speed Force energy and takes Daniel back to the present, where he is arrested for the murders he committed. As Flash ends his partnership with Dr. Elias, Barry reunites with Patty. After seeing what the Speed Force is capable of, Barry decides to reopen his father's case file and prove his innocence.[26]
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.[27]
- 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.[28]
- Enhanced Senses: The Speed Force enhances the speedster's senses, allowing them to perceive and process thoughts faster than the normal person.[29]
- 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.[30]
- 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.[31]
- 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.[32]
- 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.[29]
- 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.[29]. 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.[29]
- Superhuman Reflexes: In conjunction with their enhanced senses, The speedster's reflexes are heightened immesurably, allowing them to dodge or react faster than normal.[29]
- 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.[33]
Abilities
Paraphernalia
Equipment
Related
- Appearances of Flash (Barry Allen)
- Images featuring Flash (Barry Allen)
- Quotations by or about Flash (Barry Allen)
- Character Gallery: Flash (Barry Allen)
Footnotes
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #0
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #1
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #2
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #3
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #4
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #5
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #6
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #7
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #8
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #9
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #10
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #11
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #12
- ↑ Flash Annual (Volume 4) #1
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #13
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #14
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #15
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #16
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #17
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #18
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #19
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #20
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #21
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #22
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #23
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #24
- ↑ Being a speed force conduit conveys some core powers as demonstrated by Barry Allen and Wally West.
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #73
- ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 29.3 29.4 The Flash (Volume 2) #1
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 2) #76
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 2) #63
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 2) #2
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 2) #74
  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. |
 This character has been a member of the Justice League of America, or the Justice League in any of its various incarnations, sworn by a duty to act as guardians of America and the world by using their skills and/or superpowers to protect Earth from the clutches of both interstellar and domestic threats. |