Flash (Barry Allen)
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Barry Allen is a fictional superhero in the DC Comics universe and the second Flash. He first appeared in Showcase #4 (Oct. 1956), created by writers Gardner Fox and Bob Kanigher and penciler Carmine Infantino.
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[edit] Fictional character biography
Barry Allen is a police scientist in 1956 with a reputation for being very slow, deliberate, and frequently late, which frustrates his fiancee, Iris West. One night, as he is preparing to leave work, a lightning bolt shatters a case full of chemicals and spills them all over Allen. As a result, Allen finds that he can run extremely fast and has matching reflexes. He dons a set of red tights sporting a lightning bolt (reminiscent of the original Captain Marvel), dubs himself the Flash (after his childhood hero in the comic books, Jay Garrick), and becomes a crimefighter. In his civilian identity, he stores the costume in his ring, which can eject the compressed clothing when Allen needs it and suck it back in with the aid of a special gas that shrinks the suit.
[edit] The Justice League
In the JLA: Year One retcon storyline, Allen, Hal Jordan, Black Canary II (Dinah Lance), Martian Manhunter and Aquaman are presented as the founding members of the League. Barry is considered the leader of the group because, methodical and cerebral by nature, he is the one who most often comes up with the plans that best utilize the group's vast array of powers.
He and Black Canary also are depicted as having a romantic attraction to one another, but although they kiss once, they do not pursue a relationship because Allen feels his real love is Iris, and Dinah does not want to be anyone's "other woman". During his time with the League, he also becomes good friends with Green Lantern Hal Jordan, which would later become the subject of the mini-series Flash and Green Lantern: The Brave and the Bold by the same creative team of JLA: Year One.
In time, he married his girlfriend Iris, who learned of his double identity because Allen talked in his sleep. She kept his secret, and eventually, he revealed his identity to her of his own free will. Iris was eventually revealed to have been sent as a child from the 30th century and adopted.
[edit] Tragedy
In the 1980s, Flash's life begins to collapse. Iris is murdered by Professor Zoom (who had long loved her and been jealous of Allen), and when Allen prepares to marry another woman, Zoom tries the same trick again. Allen stops him, killing Zoom in the process by breaking his neck.
Put on trial for Zoom's murder, Allen is eventually acquitted, and learns that Iris's spirit has in fact been taken to the 30th century, where she is given a new body.
[edit] Crisis on Infinite Earths
Following the trial, Allen retires and joins Iris in the 30th century. However, after only a few weeks of happiness, the Crisis on Infinite Earths intervenes, and Allen is captured by the Anti-Monitor and brought to 1986; according to the Anti-Monitor, the Flash was the only being capable of travelling to other universes at will, so the Anti-Monitor couldn't allow him to stay free. Allen escapes and foils the Anti-Monitor's plan to destroy the Earth, but dies in the process. It has been said that Allen travels back through time and becomes the very same lightning bolt that gives him his powers, but later it is also strongly implied that the soul of Barry resides in the Speed Force, the mystical source and Valhalla open to all dead speedsters, and from which the living ones draw their amazing powers. After Allen's death, Wally West, his nephew, takes up the mantle of the Flash.
[edit] After death
Marv Wolfman, DC Comics Editor-in-Chief and scribe for the Crisis on Infinite Earths, has repeatedly stated (first hinted at in his introduction to the original Crisis collected edition hardcover), then fully explained on his website [1]) that he left a loophole in the script wherein the Barry Allen Flash could be re-introduced, without a retcon necessary, into DC Universe continuity. This loophole would have featured Barry being pulled out of time at some period during his desperate run to annihalate the anti-matter cannon, but, knowing that he would someday have to return to the time loop, he would become ever more determined to use his speed to help others, cramming everything that he could into the little time he had left before he would have to return and die to ensure the stability of the timeline.
It should also be noted that the way Barry Allen seemed to have "died" in Crisis on Infinite Earths, was that he ran so fast that he was able to stop the Anti-Monitor’s anti-matter cannon from firing by catching the tachyon beam at the heart of the weapon. After this act, according to Secret Origins Annual #2 (1988), Barry Allen turns into a lightning bolt, goes back in time, becoming the lightning bolt that hit his lab, splashing his past-self with chemicals and transforming him into the Flash. [2]
In Deadman: Dead Again, Barry is one of the heroes whose spirit Deadman helps to enter Heaven, and the Green Arrow storyline "Quiver" depicts Barry Allen in Heaven.
[edit] Legacy
Iris is pregnant when Allen dies, and she has two children, the Tornado Twins, who later meet the Legion of Super-Heroes. Each of her children themselves have children. One, Jenni Ognats, grows up to become the Legionnaire XS, while the other, Bart Allen, is born with a rapid-aging illness, and is sent back to the 20th century where he is cured by Wally West. He remains there as the superhero Impulse (later becoming the second Kid Flash and even later, the fourth Flash).
[edit] Post-Crisis Appearances
Due to his time-travel abilities, even death does not stop Barry from aiding his friends and family.
Barry first reappears during the Chain Lightning arc, where Flashes from different eras join together to defeat Cobalt Blue (Previously, a man that was thought to be Barry Allen, was in fact a past version of Professor Zoom, the Reverse Flash, who had been driven mad on a visit to the past and believed himself to be Barry Allen). Cobalt Blue is Barry Allen's twin brother, who had been given to another couple at birth due to a mistake at the hospital. The resulting battle takes place shortly before Barry Allen is kidnapped during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Barry is nearly killed in this battle, almost rewriting the outcome of the Crisis.
When Wally West, wracked by grief for the loss of his unborn twins at the hands of Zoom, regrets the public knowledge of his identity, Barry comes from somewhere in time, counseling him, and talking the Spectre into granting his wish. He then disappears, telling his nephew that he will come in his aid three times, in three difficult moments that will be especially hard for Wally. In fact, when Zoom enlists the aid of Professor Zoom to make Wally relive the loss of his beloved twins, Barry is already there, trying to stop his own Reverse Flash. For the second time, he helps Wally to undo the damage dealt by Zoom, also allowing Wally to save his twins, and then he returns to his proper timeline. When his third appearance shall occur is unknown at this time.
[edit] Infinite Crisis
In the fourth issue of Infinite Crisis, Barry Allen's soul comes out from the Speed Force, along with Johnny Quick and Max Mercury, to help his grandson Bart to deal with Superboy Prime, taking the villainous lad with him in the Speed Force.
For four years on an alternate reality's Keystone City, with Max Mercury, Wally, Bart, and an alternate version of Jay Garrick. The Superboy-Prime has escaped from his prison, and the Alt. Garrick failed to stop him. All the speedsters rallied together for planning to return to their dimension so they can warn about Superboy-Prime. However, they knew not even the fastest men alive can get there before the insane Boy of Steel. Barry suggested Wally to somehow absorb the entire Speed Force, but it may also kill him. Bart bravely volunteered, because Wally have his family to think of, and Barry is incapable of it because he's already dead. Wally handed him the ring and Barry gave Bart his Flash suit, which both can help Bart to survive his journey.
Bart Allen appears wearing Barry Allen's costume in Tokyo near the end of Infinite Crisis #5 to tell the heroes that Superboy Prime has escaped the Speed Force. Bart again reappears in Infinite Crisis #7 in Barry Allen's costume to combat Superboy Prime once more.
[edit] Rogues gallery
The Flash acquired a colorful rogues gallery of villains. These criminals typically had unusually modest goals for their power level (robbery or other petty crimes), and each adopted a specific theme in his or her equipment and methods.
[edit] Trivia
- In addition, Allen invented the cosmic treadmill, a device that allowed for precise time-travel and was used in many stories.
- In Flash #123's "Flash of Two Worlds," Allen is transported to Earth-Two where he meets Jay Garrick, the original Flash in DC Continuity; it is revealed that Jay Garrick's adventures were captured in comic book form on Earth-One. This storyline initiated DC's multiverse and was continued in issues of Flash and in team-ups between the Justice League of America of Earth-One and the Justice Society of America of Earth-Two. In the classic story from Flash #179 – "The Flash - Fact or Fiction?" – Allen is thrown into the universe eventually called Earth Prime, a representation of "our" universe, where he seeks the aid of the Flash comic book's editor Julius Schwartz to build a cosmic treadmill so that he can return home.
[edit] Other versions of Barry Allen
- Barry Allen guest-stars in Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again. He's been kept by Lex Luthor as a power source for most of the East Coast, constantly running on a treadmill to provide cheap electrical power or Iris will be executed. After being rescued, Barry wears a black version of his original Flash costume and aids Batman and other heroes in restoring order.
- Barry Allen also stars in JLA: Age of Wonder as a scientist working with Superman and a consortium of early twentieth-century scientists such as Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla. The uniform incorporates the silver age look with the Mercury-style helmet worn by Jay Garrick.
- Other Elseworld appearances include: League of Justice, a Lord of the Rings-type story, where the character is re-cast as "Phaeton," who wears a mystical brooch resembling Flash's lightning-bolt chest emblem, and has bathed in dragon's blood in order to protect himself from speed friction; and Batman: Holy Terror, where he is one of a number of metahumans imprisoned by a theocratic state, and is killed when his captor deactivates the aura that protects him from friction.
- A story in the Marvel comic book series Quasar has the Marvel universe speedsters facing off in a competition set up by a being called The Runner. The contest is a race from the Earth to the Moon. During the race, a surge of energy hits the track, leaving a being with blonde hair and dressed in the remains of a red outfit with yellow boots. This being has no memory, but an enormous desire to run. He goes on to win the race, passing Marvel speedsters such as Quicksilver and Northstar in the process. When asked what his name is, the man replies, "I don't know... Buried Alien, or something like that." When asked how it felt to be the fastest man alive, he replied, "It feels... right!" Buried Alien goes on to take the name Fast-Forward, disappearing into the universe in an attempt to help Makkari, who is stuck at hyper speed.
[edit] Barry Allen in other media
- He had some adventures in the rotating series of 'guest star' superheroes cartoons included in The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure, with Kid Flash.
- He also appeared in Super Friends, as a important memeber of the superteam.
- Barry Allen was the Flash in the 1990s Flash live-action TV series, although this character incorporated elements of Wally's personality and social life, as well as previously non-existent characters such as a brother and nephew. He was played by John Wesley Shipp.
- In the Justice League Unlimited episode Flash and Substance, the Wally West Flash mentions his uncle "flying in" to attend the dedication of a Flash Museum.
- An episode of Smallville entitled "Run" in series 4, episode 5, featured a speedster played by Kyle Gallner named Bart Allen. He is portrayed as a self-centered teenager who uses his powers for personal gain, (including the Flash logo on his rucksack) although by the end of the episode, he was showing signs of changing his ways. Bart also carries around identification of Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, and Wally West, three Flashes in the main DC Universe.
- Ballad of Barry Allen - A song by the band Jim's Big Ego on their album, "They're Everywhere". The song portrays Barry as a tragic character, whose perception of the world is so accelerated that all of reality appears to proceed at a snail's pace, causing him to gradually slip into depression. The band's frontman, Jim Infantino is the nephew of Flash co-creator Carmine Infantino, who provided the cover art for the same album.
- In the movie Catch Me If You Can, Frank Abagnale, Jr. (Leonardo DeCaprio) uses the name Barry Allen from The Flash comic book as one of his aliases in the film. The fact that he uses the name of a comic book character leads Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks) to believe that Abagnale is much younger than he had previously thought.
[edit] External links
- Alan Kistler's Profile On: The Flash - An analysis of the history of the Flash by comic book historian Alan Kistler.
- Silver Age Flash Toonopedia entry
- The Flash: The Continuity Pages
- The Flash JLResource.com entry
- The Flash: Those Who Ride The Lightning - Fan site with information about the super-speed characters of the DC Universe.
- Index to Barry Allen's Earth-1 adventures
- The Unofficial Flash Biography
