The Life Story of The Flash - Part 3

20 Mar

Posted by roland as Comic Books, Features

Welcome to third part of this series retelling the story of The Flash!

Last time we left with the ascension of Wally West to the Flash throne. When Wally first took upon the mantle, for some reason unknown to him at the moment his powers were severely reduced. Barry Allen could run approximately as fast as light, being able to vibrate his molecules in order to traverse matter, and even travel through time using a special device invented by himself which looked exactly like a threadmill (Barry would run on it and gather enough power to travel through time). Wally could do all those things before the crisis….But not after. His top speed was cut to around Mach-3 (3 times the speed of sound). The reason for this was later discovered to be psicological, Wally not wanting to be as good as Barry, since he thought of him almost as a god.

First Issue of The Wally West's run as the Flash

Wally West Becomes The Flash

Through the years, Wally managed to surpass this limitation, and came to regain his full potential while battling his uncle worst enemy, proffesor Zoom. The story regarding this battle was very good, and in it it was explained why Proffesor Zoom hated Barry so much. This story took place before Zoom encountered Barry even for the first time. Let me explain. Remember how Zoom came from the future? Well, his first stop was not, as was believed, in Barry’s time, but in Wally’s. Eobard Thawne (Zoom’s alter ego), was Barry Allen’s greatest fan in his own time period. He spent all his money in replicating Barry’s power and stole a time machine in order to come back in time and meet his greatest hero. Thawne knew everything about Barry, except one thing. The identity of his greatest foe. When Thawne traveled through time, something went wrong, and he landed several years in the future. Confused because of the trip, he stumbled into the Flash Museum. And here he learnt a terrible truth. The identity of Zoom, was himself. Horrified by the fact that his greatest hero was also his killer (remember how Barry snapped Zoom’s neck?), he lost the last remnant of sanity in him, and bowed revenge towards The Flash. He impersonated Barry, and showed up upon Wally’s doorstep. Everybody was convinced that Barry had come back (Thawne had went under surgery to look exactl like Barry…He was a real fan!). Some time later the gig was discovered, and a terrible battle ensued. Here, Wally reconnected with his powers and managed to beat a pitiful Zoom, who went back to the time machine and off to his last destination, Barry’s time.

Wally Vs. Zoom

Wally later married a reporter (have you noticed how this a recurring thing with super heroes?!) named Linda Park. During the next few years Wally kept getting stronger and faster, managing even to surpass Barry. He regained his ability to vibrate through objects (although he couldn’t do it without making said objects to explode afterwards), gained control of time travel without using the threadmill and even gained the ability to lend speed to others, or even still it from then. And there was a reason for this. During Wally’s tenure as The Flash, an old aquaintance of Jay Garrick appeared. This man was called (among many other names) Max Mercury. Max introduced Wally to the nature of his power, an extra dimensional force he called the Speed Force. From here came the power of all speedsters (all flashes and Max Mercury himself, among many others). And from the discovery of the Speed Force came something else. The knowledge of where the speedsters went, if they dared to move faster than light. This was the resting place of Barry Allen, and a place where once inside, you couldn’t get out. Wally was the first to be able to do this, to enter the Speed Force and come back. And this resulted in all this new abbilities of him.

Max Mercury

Another important person to come into Wally’s life, was Impulse. Remember how Barry spent a few months in the future before he died? Well, he wasn’t idle during his stay there! Some time after Barry’s death, Iris gave birth to twins, Don and Dawn Allen. Barry’s sons inherited all his powers, and became heroes as well, calling themselves the Tornado Twins. Don’s son was called Bart Allen. Bart was afflicted with a condition born of his super speed. For some reason he was aging at a heart pounding rate. In a few weeks he was a teenager. He was able to keep his mind in sync with his body through a Virtual Reality learning program. But this had a downside. Bart saw everything as a video game and had no sense of his own mortality, which made him very impulsive. Worried that her grandson was going to die if nothing was done, Iris sent Bart back in time, to meet his unlce Wally. In this trip Wally was able to cure Bart from his condition, by making him move faster than ever before. Afterwards Bart decided to take on the family business and became a super hero himself, under the code name Impulse (very aptly named).

Enter Impulse!

Some time later, Bart renounced the name Impulse, and took on the mantle of Kid Flash. Bart was always supposed to become the Flash after Wally retired.

During what was called Infinite Crisis (I am not going to go into detail here), the Flashes fought an alternate Universe version of Superman, called Superboy Prime (a remnant of the original Crisis on Infinite Earths). During this fight, Wally and Bart dissapeared in order to take Superboy Prime to a prison inside the Speed Force. Superboy Prime managed to scape, and Bart came back in order to warn everyone. For some reason, Bart came back a full grown adult, and Wally did not come back at all. It was later learnt that the whole Speed Force lived inside Bart now, and with Wally gone, it was time for Flash the fourth, Bart Allen, while Wally, his wife Linda and their new born twins, Iris and Jai, where missing (but according to Bart, in a safe place). This will be all for now, but stay tuned for the fourth part of the series! We are nearing the end!