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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. |
Iris West is a Central City reporter and the girlfriend of Barry Allen.
Contents
History
Origin
Iris West is the sister of Daniel West. Her mother died giving birth to her younger brother Daniel, which their father William blamed him for. Her father became an abusive alcoholic, whom Daniel eventually crippled when he pushed their father down the stairs. Her brother then ran away, leaving Iris with their paraplegic father. While Daniel eventually returned to try and mend his relationship with Iris, Daniel had been involved with a stickup crew and was eventually sent to prison after being stopped by The Flash.
Iris spent most of her life in the Gem Cities—growing up in Central City and attending college in Keystone City.
Becoming a Reporter
Iris eventually became a reporter. Interning momentarily at Gotham City's Gotham Gazette[2], where she first met and worked with Barry Allen, Iris eventually moved to and found a career at Central City. During the course of her career, she has had multiple run-ins with Barry, being a forensic scientist of the Central City Police Department, and his alter-ego, The Flash, whom Iris has been trying to write an exposé about. When they first parted ways at Gotham, Iris and Barry kissed.
In a previous version of the timeline, their first date ended abruptly when Barry, seeing her with papers on Daniel's case, suspected her of only asking him out so he could help her. Iris continued flirting with Barry though, even years after their failure of a first date. However, following the correction of the timeline to its proper state, the situation was altered.
The Rise of The Flash
In the days before Barry became the Flash, Barry and Iris had a flirtatious if gently antagonistic relationship, with Iris constantly trying to pry headlines out of Barry's CSI work. On the night that Barry Allen would be struck by lightning, Iris offered Barry a meet-up, an offer Barry's friend, August Heart advised him to take. Barry would ultimately be unable to attend as a result of being struck by the bolt that would give him his powers, sending him into a months-long coma.[3]
Later, after Barry's recovery, Barry and Iris would arrange a coffee date; however, this was interrupted by the sudden attack of The Turtle. Before confronting the Turtle, Barry quickly saved Iris from an oncoming police car.[4] After Barry defeated the Turtle, he returned to the Iris, who chastised him for keeping her waiting. However, he won her over, and they ended up heading to dinner at a nearby Diner. Afterwards, they began a romance. Over the course of the next few months, they go on a number of dates and become very close. Iris's influence would later influence Barry to make the Flash more of a public figure and a symbol for the city.[5]
Later, Iris tracked down the criminal Clive Yorkin, confronting him in public. The situation went south quickly, and Iris had to be saved by the Flash, who was shot in the process. Afterwards, Iris sought out Barry, hoping to confess and talk it out with him; unbeknownst to her, he in the process of trying to remove a bullet from his chest. She spoke to him through the door for some time before deciding that his lack of response meant he probably wasn't at home; he promptly opened the door, telling her that he'd been in the shower and hadn't been able to respond while he was clothing himself. Afterwards, they kissed and spent the night together.[6] Afterward, their relationship would become strained as Barry's obsession with solving his mother's case and defeating the Turtle worsened.
During a temporal incident, Iris was taken hostage by a future version of the Turtle, who was teaming up with his present-day incarnation.[7] While the Flash, dawning his iconic costume for the first time, confronted the Turtles, Iris managed to disable the Turtles' technology, freeing the citizens of the city. Inspired, the citizens rose up against Turtle's minions and the Flash was able to defeat both Turtles, sending the future version back to his correct place in the timeline. Later that night, Barry and Iris had dinner.[8]
Months later, Iris introduced her visiting nephews Wally and Wallace to Barry during the town's annual Flash Day celebration. Iris, however, was called away for work, and though she took the very young Wallace with her, leaving Wally with Barry. Wally and Barry's subsequent day together resulted in Wally being struck by lightning, just like Barry, and becoming Kid Flash.[9]
Later Life
At some point, Iris gave birth to two children fathered by Barry, a pair of twins: Dawn and Don Allen. They travelled to the far future, where they spent a month raising them; however, Barry was called away, back to the present, in order to combat the coming Crisis.[10] In time, Don and Dawn would use their inherited speed to become the Tornado Twins, heroes in their own right, fighting for good in the far future they inhabited. Dawn would one day raise Iris's grandson, Bart Allen, who would eventually come to the present and join the modern age of heroes alongside Barry's sucessor and Iris' nephew, Wally West.
Later, after Barry's ostensible death and Wally's ascension to the role of The Flash, Iris becomes the namesake for Wally's daughter, Iris West II, also known as Irey. One day, Barry would return from his prison in the Speed Force during the Final Crisis.
Over the years, Iris and Barry's relationship would continue to evolve, but the memories of their relationship would be stolen from them by the temporal manipulations of a quantum being. Similarly, she was robbed of her memories of her nephew, Wally, when he was pushed into the Speed Force by longtime foe Abra Kadabra, who cast a spell that erased the world's memory of Wally.
New 52
When Central City was attacked by the angry, super-powered Captain Cold, Iris, along with three other civilians, were sent to the Speed Force because of a portal opened that resulted from the Flash restraining his own powers. They were there for months and were even proclaimed dead, along with Barry, until the Flash returned and found them there. He then promptly returned them to Central City.
When the Reverse-Flash appeared and began killing off individuals touched by the Speed Force, Iris and Barry worried about each other. Being the last two targets left, Barry, as the Flash, gave Iris an outfit made of the materials similar to his that would make her undetectable to their mysterious hunter. Although for a while they all thought that Iris and Barry did not manifest powers from the Speed Force, she did, unbeknownst to her initially. When she found out that Daniel was Reverse-Flash, she rushed over to him and the Flash right before he struck the Flash with Dr. Darwin Elias' speed force extractor. Covering the Flash, Iris was hit with the beam, shocking Daniel, who then went on with his plan to go back in time to kill their father. Before they disappeared, Iris asked Flash to not hurt Daniel.
When Daniel and the Flash returned, Iris welcomed and held her brother, albeit calling him out for killing people. Iris permanently lost her powers, and Daniel was sent back to Iron Heights. Much to her disappointment, Daniel continued to defend his actions. Disappointed and surprised at what her brother was capable of and his lack of understanding of their situation, she turned her back on Daniel again, for good.
DC Rebirth
Lightning Strikes Twice
When a group known as Black Hole started committing several robberies at S.T.A.R. Labs. Iris set out investigate several leads on case. She attempted to question a guard about the incident. However one of the employees alerted their leader about Iris' snooping and it led to her getting kidnapped. The attempted kidnapping was interrupted by Flash and his new partner Detective August Heart.[11][12]
Running Scared
When Iris and Wally West II were attacked by Reverse Flash Iris had glimpses of her pre-Flashpoint life with Barry, including them as husband and wife and had a family in the original timeline, and learning that he was the Flash in the process. Knowing that Barry is indirectly responsible for the alteration of their lives through time-travels and kept it a secret from her, Iris now distrusts Barry. She also killed Thawne after he lost his powers in retaliation for him hurting Wally.[13]
Dark Nights: Metal
Events calmed down, until Red Death came into their world. Everybody has been infected by Red Death's Speed Force powers and she, Wally, and the others rapidly aged. Barry arrived, realizing that everyone including both Wally and her had been infected by Red Death's powers. Iris admitted she missed him so much that she is willing to wake up from these nightmares as well as her killing Thawne. As Barry attempts to get them to safety, he fell in the hole that has been created by The Batman who Laughs.
Perfect Storm
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Flash War
After she met Wally for the first time after his return from the Speed Force, she was apprehended by the Renegades (25th Century) for the murder of Eobard Thawne. She agreed to go with them in hope of helping Wally with his memories from another timeline.
Powers and Abilities
Abilities
- Hand-to-Hand Combat (Basic):[14][15][16] Iris revealed she was trained by The Flash.[17]
- Firearms[15][1][18][19]
- Disguise[15][20][16]
- Journalism
- Investigation
- Photography
- Indomitable Will: Iris was able to regain control of her senses due to her strong will overpowering the shadows possession on her.[21]
- Mechanical Aptitude[22]
- Multilingualism[23]
Notes
- Iris West was created by Robert Kanigher and Carmine Infantino, first appearing in Showcase #4. However, in the rebooted Prime Earth continuity her first appearance as part of the DC Universe is in Francis Manapul and Brian Buccelato's New 52 Flash series.
Related
- 155 Appearances of Iris West (Prime Earth)
- 23 Images featuring Iris West (Prime Earth)
- 10 Quotations by or about Iris West (Prime Earth)
- Character Gallery: Iris West (Prime Earth)
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Flash (Volume 5) #25
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 4) #25
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #70
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #71
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #72
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #73
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #74
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #75
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #75
- ↑ The Flash #758
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #1
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #3
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #24
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 4) #5
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 The Flash (Volume 5) #20
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 The Flash (Volume 5) #62
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #62
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #26
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #27
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #61
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #12
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #47
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #59
