The Flash - Wally West
Origin - As a boy, Wally would often daydream, most notably about being the Flash. He idolized the Flash and was the president and sole member of the Blue Valley Flash Fan Club. One summer, when he was ten years old, Wally went to Central City to stay with his aunt, Iris, who he called his best friend. Iris was going out with police scientist Barry Allen, who was "friends" with the Flash. Barry "introduced" Wally to his idol, the Flash. In the back room of Barry's apartment was a lab, where Wally asked the Flash all sorts of questions. When he asked Flash how he got his powers, the speedster set up his cabinet of chemicals just as it had been when he was created. Wally wished that something like that could happen to him; the Flash dismissed it as a billion-to-one chance. Just then, however, lightning did strike the cabinet, bathing Wally in the same chemicals that created the Flash. Flash told Wally to keep this a secret, even from Iris. He gave Wally a Flash costume specially tailored to fit him, and Wally became Kid Flash. The Flash taught Wally everything he knew about how to use speed to his advantage, and about the rogues gallery. The next summer, Barry told Wally his secret identity, which surprised Wally, who had always thought Barry was kind of boring. Again, lightning struck, causing a matter-transforming machine to transform Wally's costume into a newer, predominantly yellow, costume, the design of which Barry had been toying with in the back of his mind. He also joined the Teen Titans. As Barry's sidekick, Wally met Hal Jordan the Green Lantern of Earth, and became Jordan's friend just as Jordan had been Barry's friend. Because Wally had been struck by lightning and affected by the charged chemicals when he was a kid, rather than a full grown man, it affected his body differently than it had Barry's. Although he was able to run through the crippling pain he called "hitting the wall" the summer after he got his powers, when adolescence hit, it came back with a vengeance, to the point that Wally was forced to quit his super heroic career. During the Crisis on Infinite Earths, after Barry Allen sacrificed his life to destroy the Anti-Monitor's antimatter cannon, an antimatter ray fired by the Anti-Monitor hit Wally full force. While it knocked his speed down to that of sound, it also removed the malady that caused him intense pain. Wally took Barry's uniform and declared himself the Flash, just until Barry returned. However, the rest of the population did not share Wally's feeling that Barry was still alive, and they also did not appreciate Wally's attempts at filling Barry's boots. After being publicly embarrassed in a fight, Green Lantern declared that he would protect Central City. For about a week, Wally donned his Kid Flash costume again. However, during the next fight with Dr. Alchemy, he finally realized that Barry was not coming back. He saved Green Lantern and Jay Garrick from Dr. Alchemy. Finally, he was accepted as the Flash. When Barry Allen seemingly returned from the dead, Wally didn't know what to think. Jay and Hal Jordan had both embraced his return, but Wally remained skeptical, mostly because he hadn't mentioned Iris, who had died at the hands of Professor Zoom, at all. However, when Wally saw Barry visit Iris' grave, his heart was won over. Barry was back, or so he thought. Barry began to behave irrationally, as if he, and only he, was the true Flash. When they were both stuck in a trap, Barry left Wally to die, then told the rest of the world that Wally hadn't been up to being the Flash, and had passed away trying. In fact, Wally had escaped, but after watching Barry speak so badly of him, decided to give up on the Flash identity, telling only Linda that he was still alive. In an aimless mood wandering through the streets, he came upon a tattered old book in the alleyway where Barry had materialized. It contained the truth: this Barry was fake, his true identity being Eobard Thawne, better known as Professor Zoom, the Reverse-Flash. With the help of the older speedsters, Jay, Johnny Quick, and Max Mercury, Wally brought Zoom down. In this fight, his speed returned to its old glory. Wally was every bit as fast as Zoom, because he had finally come to terms with the fear that he would be replacing Barry. Aunt Iris returned from the future, where she had gone, instead of actually being dead. She wasn't alone either; with her, she brought along Bart Allen, a young man with amazing speed, who turned out to be her and Barry Allen's grandson. His power was accelerating him to the point that he'd die of old age before reaching his 4Th birthday, and she needed Wally's help. He was already in the body of a 12 year old despite only being alive two years. Wally managed to stabilize his speed, but the two did not mesh very well at all, Wally claiming it was because they were too alike. Bart took up the speedster gig, but laughed at the idea of going by Kid Flash, instead dubbing himself Impulse. During what has become known as Infinite Crisis, Kid Flash, Barry Allen (who had returned from the speed force), Max Mercury, and Johnny Quick, were able to temporarily subdue Superboy-Prime by sending him to the Speed Force and Wally once he had gotten his family followed them (which later turned out to be an alternate Earth). He and the other speedsters, along with Linda and their recently born twins, were sent to an alternate Earth, home of another Jay Garrick operating as the Flash. They decided to absorb the Speed Force into Bart and send him home to battle Superboy-Prime. Content with passing the Flash mantle on to Bart, Wally and Linda decided to raise their children on the alien world Savoth, where the Savothian were longtime friends of the Flashes. However, shortly after their arrival, the twins began to age very rapidly. Wally, along with Linda and their children, was brought back to Earth by seven members of the Legion of Super-Heroes using lightning rod devices. When Wally came back, he indirectly took away Bart's portion of the Speed Force, and with the return of Wally West, the Speed Force also returned as he mainlined it and was practically one with it. He was then invited to join the newly reformed Justice League of America. Wally and Linda moved back to Keystone City. Since they were afraid the twins could, at any time, age rapidly, possibly even to old age and death, they decided to let Iris and Jai, who had developed their own super speed-related abilities, live their lives to the fullest by helping their father fight crime. Wally later found out that the cause of his children's rapid aging was not because of the Speed Force, but because of the Black Flash. He then absorbed the Speed Force fragments from his children and defeated the Black Flash, thus caused Jai and Iris to revert to their actual age. During the Blackest Night storyline, Wally races across the globe with Barry and Bart to pass to every hero around the world Barry's message of the rise the Black Lantern Corps and their universal invasion. He later arrives at Coast City with Bart, Justice League, and the Teen Titans to aid Barry in taking a stand against Nekron, the black personification of Death and lord of the Black Lanterns.
Powers and Abilities - The Speed Force is a vaguely defined extra-dimensional energy force from which most super speed-powered heroes draw their powers. The Speed Force serves as the ultimate measure of velocity in the DC Universe. They are often referred to in terms of barriers: Sound barrier, Light barrier, Time Barrier, Dimensional Barrier, and finally the Speed Force Barrier. While all speedsters are powered by the force, West mainlines the power from the force itself and cannot be cut off from the source, unlike the others. Wally is the fastest of all the Flashes and the fastest man that ever lived. He is arguably the fastest being that has ever existed. He is currently fast enough to easily break all the barriers and even enter the Speed Force. Wally has, on several occasions, traveled much faster than light and been pulled into and exited the Speed Force by his own volition. The Flash is considered to be one of the most formidable and powerful meta-humans on the planet. He is able to "steal" speed and/or momentum from anyone or anything, including beings such as Superman or Inertia effectively turning them into living statues. Also can steal speed from bullets and other fast moving objects thrown at him or at others. This ability is so great, that he once took the speed from the entire planet, and its population, including the very fast beings such as Superman, Jay Garrick etc. The Flash's body is surrounded by what he calls his "speed force aura". This aura protects him and anyone who is running with him or carried by him, from the effects of using his speed. This includes friction and airborne particulate matter. It also protects him from injury from high speed impacts such as punches he delivers and receives from his opponents. With this aura, he is able to absorb kinetic energy. He possesses a level of superhuman resistance to injury which at times does extend far past normal physical interactions, as received from normal combat. Wally can sync his aura with his children, giving him the ability to pull either of them to him with a thought. The Flash possesses vast superhuman endurance that is nearly inexhaustible. He was able to run non-stop for over 10 days straight without tiring. Theoretically, speeds greater than Mach 10, are dangerous to both the people and to the environment. This speed would still be the equivalent to approximately 2 miles per second, allowing him to cross the United States in about 23 minutes, or circle the world in about 3 hours, but the Speed Force has shown that if needed, Wally West can use it to prevent such effects from occurring, hence why he is able to run at speeds much faster than light on the planet Earth without it having devastating effects on the planet. He can also run across bodies of water and up the sides of buildings. Wally has shown that he can achieve practically any speed he wishes and that there are no limits to his speed. Accelerating his healing factor while using the Speed Force to sustain him, he could heal from any injury instantly. By spinning like a helicopter, he can even perform a limited kind of flight. The Flash possesses the ability to alter his perceptions so that falling objects can appear to be standing still and can be caught and moved back to their normal position. He can disarm or jam any number of opponents weapons before they are even aware of his movement and can hurl small projectiles at hypersonic velocities. The Flash's mental abilities are also increased in speed, simple computations can be done at lightning speeds, and his ability to perform normal feats at increased speeds has allowed him to build hundreds of force field generators in a matter of minutes, move sandbags to cover a beach or search an entire area for something as small as a paper clip. By running in a circle at a certain speed, Flash is able to create a vortex with a variety of effects. One effect is pulling the air away from the center in order to suffocate an enemy. Another effect is levitating whoever and whatever was in the center.
Weaknesses and Limitations - At one point due to a psychological block, Wally had to consume large quantities of calories in order to fuel his speed. Early in his career as Kid Flash and later as The Flash, Wally's speed fluctuated and was limited to as low as 700 mph. At one point his powers left him completely and left him confined to a wheelchair.
My name is Wally West. I'm the fastest man alive. I'm the Flash.
Origin - As a boy, Wally would often daydream, most notably about being the Flash. He idolized the Flash and was the president and sole member of the Blue Valley Flash Fan Club. One summer, when he was ten years old, Wally went to Central City to stay with his aunt, Iris, who he called his best friend. Iris was going out with police scientist Barry Allen, who was "friends" with the Flash. Barry "introduced" Wally to his idol, the Flash. In the back room of Barry's apartment was a lab, where Wally asked the Flash all sorts of questions. When he asked Flash how he got his powers, the speedster set up his cabinet of chemicals just as it had been when he was created. Wally wished that something like that could happen to him; the Flash dismissed it as a billion-to-one chance. Just then, however, lightning did strike the cabinet, bathing Wally in the same chemicals that created the Flash. Flash told Wally to keep this a secret, even from Iris. He gave Wally a Flash costume specially tailored to fit him, and Wally became Kid Flash. The Flash taught Wally everything he knew about how to use speed to his advantage, and about the rogues gallery. The next summer, Barry told Wally his secret identity, which surprised Wally, who had always thought Barry was kind of boring. Again, lightning struck, causing a matter-transforming machine to transform Wally's costume into a newer, predominantly yellow, costume, the design of which Barry had been toying with in the back of his mind. He also joined the Teen Titans. As Barry's sidekick, Wally met Hal Jordan the Green Lantern of Earth, and became Jordan's friend just as Jordan had been Barry's friend. Because Wally had been struck by lightning and affected by the charged chemicals when he was a kid, rather than a full grown man, it affected his body differently than it had Barry's. Although he was able to run through the crippling pain he called "hitting the wall" the summer after he got his powers, when adolescence hit, it came back with a vengeance, to the point that Wally was forced to quit his super heroic career. During the Crisis on Infinite Earths, after Barry Allen sacrificed his life to destroy the Anti-Monitor's antimatter cannon, an antimatter ray fired by the Anti-Monitor hit Wally full force. While it knocked his speed down to that of sound, it also removed the malady that caused him intense pain. Wally took Barry's uniform and declared himself the Flash, just until Barry returned. However, the rest of the population did not share Wally's feeling that Barry was still alive, and they also did not appreciate Wally's attempts at filling Barry's boots. After being publicly embarrassed in a fight, Green Lantern declared that he would protect Central City. For about a week, Wally donned his Kid Flash costume again. However, during the next fight with Dr. Alchemy, he finally realized that Barry was not coming back. He saved Green Lantern and Jay Garrick from Dr. Alchemy. Finally, he was accepted as the Flash. When Barry Allen seemingly returned from the dead, Wally didn't know what to think. Jay and Hal Jordan had both embraced his return, but Wally remained skeptical, mostly because he hadn't mentioned Iris, who had died at the hands of Professor Zoom, at all. However, when Wally saw Barry visit Iris' grave, his heart was won over. Barry was back, or so he thought. Barry began to behave irrationally, as if he, and only he, was the true Flash. When they were both stuck in a trap, Barry left Wally to die, then told the rest of the world that Wally hadn't been up to being the Flash, and had passed away trying. In fact, Wally had escaped, but after watching Barry speak so badly of him, decided to give up on the Flash identity, telling only Linda that he was still alive. In an aimless mood wandering through the streets, he came upon a tattered old book in the alleyway where Barry had materialized. It contained the truth: this Barry was fake, his true identity being Eobard Thawne, better known as Professor Zoom, the Reverse-Flash. With the help of the older speedsters, Jay, Johnny Quick, and Max Mercury, Wally brought Zoom down. In this fight, his speed returned to its old glory. Wally was every bit as fast as Zoom, because he had finally come to terms with the fear that he would be replacing Barry. Aunt Iris returned from the future, where she had gone, instead of actually being dead. She wasn't alone either; with her, she brought along Bart Allen, a young man with amazing speed, who turned out to be her and Barry Allen's grandson. His power was accelerating him to the point that he'd die of old age before reaching his 4Th birthday, and she needed Wally's help. He was already in the body of a 12 year old despite only being alive two years. Wally managed to stabilize his speed, but the two did not mesh very well at all, Wally claiming it was because they were too alike. Bart took up the speedster gig, but laughed at the idea of going by Kid Flash, instead dubbing himself Impulse. During what has become known as Infinite Crisis, Kid Flash, Barry Allen (who had returned from the speed force), Max Mercury, and Johnny Quick, were able to temporarily subdue Superboy-Prime by sending him to the Speed Force and Wally once he had gotten his family followed them (which later turned out to be an alternate Earth). He and the other speedsters, along with Linda and their recently born twins, were sent to an alternate Earth, home of another Jay Garrick operating as the Flash. They decided to absorb the Speed Force into Bart and send him home to battle Superboy-Prime. Content with passing the Flash mantle on to Bart, Wally and Linda decided to raise their children on the alien world Savoth, where the Savothian were longtime friends of the Flashes. However, shortly after their arrival, the twins began to age very rapidly. Wally, along with Linda and their children, was brought back to Earth by seven members of the Legion of Super-Heroes using lightning rod devices. When Wally came back, he indirectly took away Bart's portion of the Speed Force, and with the return of Wally West, the Speed Force also returned as he mainlined it and was practically one with it. He was then invited to join the newly reformed Justice League of America. Wally and Linda moved back to Keystone City. Since they were afraid the twins could, at any time, age rapidly, possibly even to old age and death, they decided to let Iris and Jai, who had developed their own super speed-related abilities, live their lives to the fullest by helping their father fight crime. Wally later found out that the cause of his children's rapid aging was not because of the Speed Force, but because of the Black Flash. He then absorbed the Speed Force fragments from his children and defeated the Black Flash, thus caused Jai and Iris to revert to their actual age. During the Blackest Night storyline, Wally races across the globe with Barry and Bart to pass to every hero around the world Barry's message of the rise the Black Lantern Corps and their universal invasion. He later arrives at Coast City with Bart, Justice League, and the Teen Titans to aid Barry in taking a stand against Nekron, the black personification of Death and lord of the Black Lanterns.
Powers and Abilities - The Speed Force is a vaguely defined extra-dimensional energy force from which most super speed-powered heroes draw their powers. The Speed Force serves as the ultimate measure of velocity in the DC Universe. They are often referred to in terms of barriers: Sound barrier, Light barrier, Time Barrier, Dimensional Barrier, and finally the Speed Force Barrier. While all speedsters are powered by the force, West mainlines the power from the force itself and cannot be cut off from the source, unlike the others. Wally is the fastest of all the Flashes and the fastest man that ever lived. He is arguably the fastest being that has ever existed. He is currently fast enough to easily break all the barriers and even enter the Speed Force. Wally has, on several occasions, traveled much faster than light and been pulled into and exited the Speed Force by his own volition. The Flash is considered to be one of the most formidable and powerful meta-humans on the planet. He is able to "steal" speed and/or momentum from anyone or anything, including beings such as Superman or Inertia effectively turning them into living statues. Also can steal speed from bullets and other fast moving objects thrown at him or at others. This ability is so great, that he once took the speed from the entire planet, and its population, including the very fast beings such as Superman, Jay Garrick etc. The Flash's body is surrounded by what he calls his "speed force aura". This aura protects him and anyone who is running with him or carried by him, from the effects of using his speed. This includes friction and airborne particulate matter. It also protects him from injury from high speed impacts such as punches he delivers and receives from his opponents. With this aura, he is able to absorb kinetic energy. He possesses a level of superhuman resistance to injury which at times does extend far past normal physical interactions, as received from normal combat. Wally can sync his aura with his children, giving him the ability to pull either of them to him with a thought. The Flash possesses vast superhuman endurance that is nearly inexhaustible. He was able to run non-stop for over 10 days straight without tiring. Theoretically, speeds greater than Mach 10, are dangerous to both the people and to the environment. This speed would still be the equivalent to approximately 2 miles per second, allowing him to cross the United States in about 23 minutes, or circle the world in about 3 hours, but the Speed Force has shown that if needed, Wally West can use it to prevent such effects from occurring, hence why he is able to run at speeds much faster than light on the planet Earth without it having devastating effects on the planet. He can also run across bodies of water and up the sides of buildings. Wally has shown that he can achieve practically any speed he wishes and that there are no limits to his speed. Accelerating his healing factor while using the Speed Force to sustain him, he could heal from any injury instantly. By spinning like a helicopter, he can even perform a limited kind of flight. The Flash possesses the ability to alter his perceptions so that falling objects can appear to be standing still and can be caught and moved back to their normal position. He can disarm or jam any number of opponents weapons before they are even aware of his movement and can hurl small projectiles at hypersonic velocities. The Flash's mental abilities are also increased in speed, simple computations can be done at lightning speeds, and his ability to perform normal feats at increased speeds has allowed him to build hundreds of force field generators in a matter of minutes, move sandbags to cover a beach or search an entire area for something as small as a paper clip. By running in a circle at a certain speed, Flash is able to create a vortex with a variety of effects. One effect is pulling the air away from the center in order to suffocate an enemy. Another effect is levitating whoever and whatever was in the center.
Weaknesses and Limitations - At one point due to a psychological block, Wally had to consume large quantities of calories in order to fuel his speed. Early in his career as Kid Flash and later as The Flash, Wally's speed fluctuated and was limited to as low as 700 mph. At one point his powers left him completely and left him confined to a wheelchair.
My name is Wally West. I'm the fastest man alive. I'm the Flash.
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