Iris West (Prime Earth)

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.

Later years

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. Some time later at Central City, Iris asked Barry out; however, 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.

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.^[3][4]

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 other 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.^[5]

Dark Knights: 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):^[6][7][8] Iris revealed she was trained by The Flash.^[9]
• Firearms^{[7][1][10][11]}
• Disguise^[7][12][8]
• 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.^[13]
• Mechanical Aptitude^[14]
• Multilingualism^[15]
  

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

• 136 Appearances of Iris West (Prime Earth)
• 19 Images featuring Iris West (Prime Earth)
• 9 Quotations by or about Iris West (Prime Earth)
• Character Gallery: Iris West (Prime Earth)

Footnotes