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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 bookstore 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]
Forming the Justice League
Barry's first meeting with his future Justice League team members happened while attempting to stop a fight between Batman and Superman in Central City. Showcasing his super speed abilities, The Flash was surprised when Superman managed to defeat him with just a flick of his finger. After Batman calmed Superman down, explaining that he and Green Lantern had nothing to do with the strange creatures that had been plaguing the world, The Flash remained confused looking to Green Lantern for confirmation on whether they were still fighting. Soon after, a new portal was opened in Metropolis and the four men ensued a battle on stopping the alien creatures that were now attacking the city. It was here that they met Wonder Woman, an Amazonian princess who had recently settled onto Prime Earth. After another lengthy battle with the aliens, The Flash noticed they were forming above the water. Here, Aquaman, the legendary superhero of the sea, joined the fray as the battle continued. The team also eventually enlisted Cyborg.
Soon, the master of the creatures and mind behind the attacks was revealed to be Darkseid. However, The Flash seemed the only one conscious to see the terrifying creature enact his attempt at domination over Earth. Fearfully, The Flash attempted to rouse his fellow heroes. Superman then attempted to battle Darkseid but was swiftly defeated and captured.
Batman then formulated a plan, consisting of him being captured to rescue Superman while the others engaged Darkseid in a fight. Wonder Woman eventually did some damage but the five remaining members were proving to struggle against the alien overlord. Superman rejoined them after being saved by Batman and delivered the final punch to send Darkseid back to his world. Soon after, the seven were rewarded and began to debate on whether they should become a league of superheroes helping to protect civilians in catastrophic world situations. When asked for a name, The Flash announced they would be called 'The Super Seven'. He later stated the name was under consideration.
Move Forward
While on his first date with co-worker 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 they're 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 the honor. 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 a 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 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 afterward, 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 wooly 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]
Reverse
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. Examining 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 explain 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 the 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 at 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]
History Lessons
Barry is at a fancy restaurant with his friend Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern, who's about to go into space to lead the Lantern Corps. They're suddenly teleported to another planet, where Barry recalls their "first date." Flash and Green Lantern first met tracking down kidnapped children, when they discovered that the kids were being turned into gladiators for a tournament on War World. While Flash took the children back to their homes, unbeknownst to him, Green Lantern made a deal that the two of them would return and fight for the team that the children were representing. In the present, Barry and Hal win the tournament, but only one of them can fight the reigning champion for the title. Disconnected from the speed force, Barry uses Hal's ring to win the fight.
Tar Pit and Rainbow Raider have robbed every store on a city block, drawing the Flash's attention. While in pursuit of them, he finds a makeshift grave of skeletons. They're revealed to be old victims of a famous Keystone city serial killer. Barry believes he may have found his mom's murderer because the bodies died after the original killer was imprisoned, leading police to believe he had a partner. Flash discovers that the killer was actually a ghost that hopped from body to body, killing descendants of his old enemy, founder of the Gem Cities. The ghost can possess his own descendants indefinitely, so Darryl Frye alters police records to show that he is the most recent one when it's actually Barry. Deadman possesses the Flash to prevent the ghost from getting to him first, and together they trap the ghost in the House of Mystery.
Out of Time
Five years in his future, the Flash arrives at the scene of a car crash. Iris West is being rolled away on a stretcher, and there's a dead teenager who Barry seems to recognize. 20 years in the future, the Flash sports a blue costume and is talking about how much he's missed. A newspaper clipping on his wall reveals that the teen killed in the car accident is Wally West, Iris' nephew.
Barry is sent to talk to a criminal called Mogul about a murder that happened using his weapon. He looks into the murder further and discovers that many Central City villains' gadgets and weapons were stolen from the evidence locker during the Crime Syndicate's reign. Flash eventually finds the identity of the Mashup killer, Detective Seaborne, and gets him arrested.
20 years in the future, the Flash executes Gorilla Grodd and then starts his journey back in time to kill himself. As he travels back, he sits with Captain Cold when he dies of cancer, and stops all of the other Rogues from ruining their lives.
The Flash, at last, arrives at his last stop, 5 years in the future, on the day Wally dies. He saves Wally and Iris but fatally injures the Barry from that time, who gives his power to Wally. Flash realizes that he has to travel back another five years to completely mend the rift in the Speed Force that caused him to miss Wally's accident, and is about to sacrifice the Flash from the present to use his energy. Wally from the time of the accident travels back and uses his own life force to heal the rift instead. This leaves Barry trapped in the speed force, with the Future Flash taking his place.
Savage World
While Barry is trapped in the Speed force, he teams up with others trapped there to escape. In the end, it is revealed that they want to kill Barry to escape, but Barry manages to merge with the Speed Force again to escape, with one other enemy, who has his spine broken. Barry attacks the Future Flash, who has been maiming criminals and ruining his public image. Barry retakes his place as the flash, but the Future flash dies, his last words saying thaqt he never found their mother's killer, but found a lead. The lead is a name, THAWNE.
Zoom
Barry goes to his dad in prison to reveal his lead, which leaves his father in outrage at the mention of the name, declaring to leave him alone and stay away from him. He later goes out to fight a criminal, but sees what appears to be a yellow speedster zoom by.
Using his power to accelerate the speed of time, Flash battles Zoom.
He soon finds that his father escaped from jail, and believes that he was taken as leverage. He tracks him down, but lets him escape. Barry is soon alerted to a hold up, which was staged by Henry to get the flash's help, unaware that his son is the flash. He tells Flash that a man named Eobard Thawne killed his mother, and Barry agrees to help. As Barry goes to fight Zoom, he is approached by what appears to be Zoom's Acolytes. As Barry is ambushed by the Acolytes, Zoom then forces Henry Allen to create a Power Stealing Glove, and Zoom steals one of the acolytes powers. As they find out they feel betrayed and attack Zoom. Feeling desperate, Zoom runs off with Barry's father.
Darkseid War
When daughter of Darkseid Grail summoned the Anti-Monitor to fight against her father. During the battle between Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor, Darkseid summoned the Black Racer to destroy his enemy, but the Antimonitor stripped the Racer of Darkseid's grasp and merged it with Barry. After being bound to the Black Racer Barry was then unwillingly used the weapon to deliver a deathly blow against the Dark God, finally killing the despot of Apokolips.[27]
The Racer was quick to seize control of his new host's mind, but his efforts were almost negated by the Flash's will to resist his corrupting ideals, instigating a conflict among the two.[28]
The Black Racer was separated from The Flash by the powers of the child of Superwoman and Alexander Luthor who possessed the same ability to absorb the super powers of others as his father however the Racer could not be absorbed and instead was only separated from it's host, still needing to claim a life before it could disappear it struck Power Ring however Jessica Cruz was spared and instead the life of Volthoom was claimed and his ring destroyed The Racer then vanished. [29]
Rebirth
The Return of Wally West
After the fallout of the recent death of Darkseid a strange ripple energy occurred causing tear in the Speed Force, this tear allowed to the return of Wally West. It was revealed that Wally West had been lost in the Speed Force for about ten years, of either returning or warning them of the truth, but each attempt caused him to fall further into the Speed Force. After realizing not even Linda (his traditional "lightning rod") could remember him, Wally sank into desolation and chose to appear before Barry one last time to thank him for the life he had given him. Just before Wally disappeared, Barry remembered him and dragged him free of the Speed Force. Following a tearful reunion, Wally gave Barry his warning of the true source of the universal change and the dangers to come.[30] Although the two decide to keep Wally's return secret from Iris based on Wally's own experience with Linda, Barry encourages him to return to the Teen Titans, but also recommends that he don a new costume to reflect that he is the Flash rather than 'Kid Flash'. While Wally considers his options, Barry visits Batman to discuss the new evidence of some outside force attacking them, musing on how personal this assault appears, but despite the potential danger, Batman and Barry agree to keep their investigation to themselves until they know what they are up against.[31]
Lightning Strikes Twice
While investigating a criminal group called the Black Hole, Barry was working with his new partner Detective August Heart. The group was responsible for the theft of a van that contained equipment from S.T.A.R. Lab's, when August spot's one of the members of Black Hole spray painting the group's insignia on the former spot of his brother's murder. When the August tried to confront one of the criminals shot him. Before even Barry can even try to save him and before the bullet could hit him. Barry witnesses August being struck by lightning that created from the Speed Force. Barry then witnesses as August is able to stop the shooter using superhuman speed. After seeing him d Barry reveals himself to be the Flash, August creates his own costume and becomes Barry's partner. After they defeat the Black Hole group members, they soon witness more speedsters being born as a another Speed Force storm strikes more citizens, .[32][33]
While rounding and encountering more speedsters Barry learns about a S.T.A.R. Labs scientist named Meena Dhawan who was also super speed from the storm has created a Speed Force training center to help the new speedsters control their powers training the speedsters at S.T.A.R. Labs. After encountering her and Barry began to develop a relationship with each other. However when Barry and Meena return after recruiting more speedsters, they find an injured August who tells them that a new speedster called 'Godspeed' killed the speedster criminals and took their speed. While Barry and Meena decided to take a 'day off', Godspeed arrives at the training center where he is confronted by Meena. One of the speedster recruits named Avery Ho, escapes to get the Flash, Godspeed kills Meena and two of the recruits and takes their speed.[34]
When Godspeed kills Billy Parks, the main suspect in August's brother's murder, Barry realizes that August is Godspeed. Barry confronts him and August reveals that he is indeed Godspeed and has become a murderous vigilante. August reveals that when he was near the speedster criminals, he could feel the Speed Force within them connecting with him. He decided to take their powers from them, resulting in their deaths and August being injured. After realizing that it was possibly to siphon another speedster's speed without killing them when he, Barry, Meena, and two recruits took Dr. Carver's speed. August tried it again on Meena and the two recruits. However, it garnered the same results as the first time. With his increased speed, August reveals to Barry that he can create a double or himself and be at two places at once, a feat that is limited and takes a physical toll on him.
Barry uses this to his advantage and escapes. August proceeds to interrogate the other Black Hole members about his brother's death but kills them all when he receives no information. When the speedster recruits safely give their speed to Barry and Wally to stop Godspeed, August arrives and is able to take Avery's speed. Barry chases after Godspeed who reveals that he'll head to Iron Heights and do the one thing Barry couldn't, kill his enemies, including Eobard Thawne. However, the new Kid Flash intervenes and helps the Flash in taking down Godspeed, who is later incarcerated in Iron Heights.[35] [36] [37]
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Speed Force Conduit: After being struck by a bolt of lightning and doused with chemicals, Barry gained a connection to the Speed Force, a mysterious cosmic force that pushes time and space itself forward. As it does this, the Speed Force creates excess energy that builds up and needs to be released. The Flash is effectively the Speed Force's release valve. When Barry uses his powers, he taps into that built up energy and expends it.[9]
- Superhuman Speed: Barry is capable of moving at incredible superhuman speeds. While running, he can only be perceived as a blur.[38] He is faster than Superman on foot,[39] and was fast enough to repair an entire city without anyone realizing he ever left the room. He's so fast in fact time seems to slow down around him, making him appear to be effectively invisible to others within their relative time frame.[40] Flash has shown that when he approaches the speed of light he may create "time rifts" from the Speed Force, creating vortexes that pull things into and out of the timeline.[41] (Though it is revealed that most of the wormholes were actually caused by Turbine) Every step closer to lightspeed the chance of opening a wormhole increases,[42] and if Barry runs at lightspeed he will reach critical mass and open a portal into the speed force.[43] Barry's speed also allows him to utilize superhuman force. He can channel the force to simulate superhuman strength, such as when he crashed and broke through a wall made of steel.[44] Barry can move so fast that he can move at superhuman speeds while everyone is standing still and time has practically stopped.[45]
- Superhuman Reflexes: Barry possesses reflexes far greater than a normal human being. His great reflexes have allowed him to perform feats such as dodging lightning.[46]
- Superhuman Stamina: Barry's body can handle the stress of moving at superhuman speeds for long periods of time without out getting tired or weak.[38]
- Superhuman Agility: Barry's agility, balance, and bodily coordination are enhanced to superhuman levels. This allows him to easily maneuver and leap far distances while moving at superhuman speed.[38]
- Accelerated Healing: Barry can heal at a rate much quicker and efficiently than regular humans. His arm healed within minutes of it being crushed. He was also able to quickly heal from the "bone crushing pressure" and "antagonizing trauma" of being 2,000 feet below the ocean, which dealt extreme damage to his body.[47] After Godspeed beat up Barry, Barry ran to STAR Labs and when Avery asked him if he was okay, he commented to her that the Speed Force will take care of his injuries.[48]
- Aerokinesis: By rotating his arms at super speed or running in a circular motion, Barry can create strong vortexes of wind.[49] He has also used the slipstream of airflow created by his speed to drudge vast amounts of water from a flash flood to keep a small village from washing away[50], and pull two 600-ton barges behind him.[51]
- Dimensional Travel: When approaching the speed of light, Barry is able to create wormholes to the Speed Force.[52] Using his Speed Mind also enables him to willingly enter and exit the Speed Force at will, for as Solovar once said "The mind will always be faster".[53]
- Electrokinesis: Barry is able to generate and manipulate the electrical energy he draws from the Speed Force. The Speed Force lightning's properties are seemingly identical to common electricity, as it reacts magnetically to metals. The heat from Barry's lightning also creates a thermal expansion that allows Barry's suit to be stored in his ring.[54] By focusing the lightning in his hands, Barry is also able to electrically enhance his strikes[55], as well as generate lightning to provide people with warmth during cold weather.[56] Barry is also able to feel electromagnetic pulses in objects such as glass.[57]
- Electro-Blast: Barry can project bolts of lightning from his hands.[58] He was also able to forcefully discharge a large burst of lightning from his body to knock back Professor Zoom.
- Electromagnetism: Due to the electricity generated from his body, Barry possesses some level of magnetic manipulation, which he uses to control his suit's armor. Every time Barry releases his suit from his ring, the metal pieces of it are conducted by his lightning to form the suit around him.[54] He can also manipulate the metal pieces that form his mask and cause them to unravel, unmasking himself.[59]
- Speed Force Negation: By interlocking his Speed Force energy currents with another speedster, Barry is able to temporarily short circuit the other speedsters power.[60]
- Luminescence: Barry is able to generate blinding amounts of light through his Speed Force lightning.[61]
- Enhanced Mental Process: By tapping into the Speed Force with his brain, Barry can eliminate the natural bottle-necking of information, that occurs due to the limits of human physiology.[49] Because of this, Barry can think exponentially faster than any normal human, and possesses superhuman intelligence.
- Speed Mind: By tapping into the Speed Force with his brain, Barry has the ability to tactically assess and predict the numerous possible and probable outcomes of most any given situation, by playing advanced variable examinations within his head he can simulate a quick pre-play sequence of a number of causes, effects and inevitable outcomes at an accelerated rate.[62]
- Increased Perceptions: The Speed Force grants Barry enhanced senses that allow him to see, hear, smell, touch and/or taste at an increased speed and understand it as it is processed.[38]
- Molecular Control: Barry can vibrate his own molecular structure at varying degrees for a number of purposes, by adjusting to different frequencies. As he does that to a high enough degree he causes things to explode.[49] Flash can vibrate fast enough to get out of ice.[63] When possessed by the vengeful ghost of the Keystone Killer, Allen was able to turn the tables by adjusting his frequency in order to contain his essence instead.[64] Flash can vibrate so fast as he vibrated 10,000 vibrations per second to destroy the mirror monster that Mirror Master created.[65]In order to vibrate through the monster constructs to disintegrate them, Barry is able to vibrate his eyes in order to "see" their frequency.[66]
- Vibration Generation: When Barry vibrates at a certain frequency even while phasing, he can cause the ground beneath him to rupture and explode.[67]
- Intangibility: By accelerating his molecular frequency to a high enough degree, Barry can make his body intangible and allow projectiles to pass through him.[68]Flash can vibrate so fast that he can become intangible through explosions.[69]
- Phasing: By vibrating his molecules on an atomic level, and by doing so at just the right frequency, he can allow himself to become momentarily intangible, and phase through objects.[49]
- Speed Force Aura: The Flash's body is surrounded by a "friction cushion", a field of kinetic absorbent energy that protects him and anyone who is running with or carried by him from the rigorous effects of using his speed. Including friction, airborne particulate matter, heavy impacts, G-Force and the like.[70][71]
- Superhuman Durability: Thanks to his protective Speed Force aura, Barry is capable of resisting tremendous kinetic impact forces that could easily crush or kill a human, without suffering any serious external or internal injuries. He was able to hit Gorilla Grodd with enough to force to shatter his own armor,[72] and strike Superman hard enough to send him crashing through a wall, without sustaining any injury.[73]
- Speed Force Sense: Barry can sense the whereabouts of other Speed Force conduits, by using their connection as a homing beacon and track them.[74]
- Speed Force Theft: Working in conjunction with other speedsters, Barry has shown the ability to drain away the Speed Force from others who's DNA has not completely bonded to the Speed Force, such as Dr. Carver[75], by circling around another speedster at super-speed, one speedster's speed transfers into the others in the process, as the Speed Force does not want to be separated.[76][77] Also, when drained of his Speed Force energy by Daniel West, Barry was able to absorb it back.[78]
- Speed Force Empathy: The Speed Force grants Barry an empathetic connection to other conduits of the Speed Force, allowing Barry to sense their emotions.[79]
- Time Acceleration: In his final battle with Professor Zoom, Barry realized that, like Zoom, his powers are also connected to the flow of time and that he can move it forward, whereas Zoom can slow it. This allowed Barry to speed up time around him to move at speeds on par with Zoom, despite the latter being much "faster" than Barry due to his slowing down of time. While speeding up time, Barry's lightning turns white.[55]
- Time Travel: Barry can use the Speed Force to travel throughout the timestream, although he states he doesn't because he doesn't want to alter the timeline.[80] After absorbing Daniel West's power, Barry was able to travel through the time stream in order to go back to his point of origin from battling Daniel West originally.[81]
- Clairvoyance: In certain cases, Barry Allen receives visions from the Speed Force when something is not right, such as the first time the Wally West's met each other. Sometimes these visions give Barry headaches and in some cases pull him into the Speed Force, which forced both Wally's to pull him out.[82]
Abilities
Paraphernalia
Equipment
Notes
- Barry Allen was created by Robert Kanigher, John Broome, and Carmine Infantino, first appearing in Showcase #4. However, in the Prime Earth continuity, Barry Allen first appeared as part of the New 52 DC Universe in Flashpoint (Volume 2) #5 by Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert.
- Flash (Barry Allen) appears as The Flash (Prime) a playable character in the Infinite Crisis video game.
Trivia
- Barry was named after his grandfather.[84]
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
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 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
- ↑ Justice League (Volume 2) #44
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedJL45 - ↑ Justice League (Volume 2) #50
- ↑ DC Universe: Rebirth
- ↑ The Flash: Rebirth
- ↑ The Flash Vol 5 1
- ↑ The Flash Vol 5 3
- ↑ The Flash 5 4
- ↑ The Flash Vol 5 6
- ↑ The Flash Vol 5 7
- ↑ The Flash Vol 5 8
- ↑ 38.0 38.1 38.2 38.3 Flash (Volume 4) #1
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #26
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #13
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #6
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #6
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #7
- ↑ Batman: The Dark Knight (Volume 2) #3
- ↑ Justice League (Volume 3) #7
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #10
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #44
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #7
- ↑ 49.0 49.1 49.2 49.3 Flash (Volume 4) #1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "Flash2" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #10
- ↑ 51.0 51.1 Flash (Volume 4) #5
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #7
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #14
- ↑ 54.0 54.1 Flash (Volume 4) #0"
- ↑ 55.0 55.1 Flash (Volume 4) #47"
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #1
- ↑ Justice League vs. Suicide Squad #3
- ↑ Justice League: Rebirth #1
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #6
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #8
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #12
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #13
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #48
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #29
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #15
- ↑ Justice League Dark #20
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #1
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #34
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #14
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #2
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #26
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #14
- ↑ Justice League (Volume 2) #3
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #20
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #4
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #7
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #8
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #24
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #7
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #8
- ↑ Flash (Volume 4) #24
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #9
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #18
- ↑ The Flash (Volume 5) #12
  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. |