10

The Flash - Barry Allen

Origin - Barry Allen and a twin brother were born on March 19, two weeks late, his brother was pronounced stillborn. The fact that Barry was born late was to become a hallmark of his life as he was always late. Barry grew up reading the adventures of his favorite superhero, Jay Garrick, the original Flash. When he was a child, his mother was killed and his father was convicted. The drive to prove his father was innocent gave Barry a strong belief in justice. Barry loved chemistry from an early age, and that helped his skills as a farmer. He won first place in the Fallville County Fair Agricultural Competition, a prize which included an scholarship to Sun City University. He graduated in three years with a major in organic chemistry and a minor in criminology. While a senior, Barry helped the authorities apprehend a bank robber, and he was offered a job as a police scientist for the Central City Police Department Scientific Detection Bureau. Eager to be in the sister city of his childhood hero's home, Keystone City, he accepted the offer. After moving to Central City and getting an apartment with a laboratory in the back, Barry began dating Picture News reporter Iris West, who he met while examining an apparent murder that she was reporting. She was charmed by his honesty and stability. That night during an electrical storm, Barry returned to an experiment after a short break. A bolt of lightning streaked through a window, shattered a chemical cabinet and covered Barry in the electrified chemicals. Dazed, he decided to return home in a taxi. However, the taxi started to pull away without noticing him. Barry sprinted after it, only to run straight past it as if it had been standing still. The next day, Barry saved Iris from a stray bullet. There was no question about it: the freak accident had somehow given Barry superhuman speed! Deciding to use his powers to help humanity, Barry designed a special costume. He used a special cold cast polyester he developed in college, which could be molded into miniature outfits from liquid material, that, when submersed in a special liquid, became sensitive to hydrogen, expanding on contact with the hydrogen in the air. A charge from a battery-powered ring he wore on his finger caused the fabric to release the extra hydrogen and shrink into the ring. He later revised the process, making the fabric sensitive to nitrogen instead. He called himself the Flash, a tribute to his childhood idol. He briefly considered wearing a costume that would show his face, like Jay had, but decided that it would be best to wear a mask to conceal his true identity. As the Flash, Barry later became a founding member of the Justice League of America, where he befriended Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern, with whom he had many adventures both with and without the Justice League. Later still, he discovered that Jay Garrick was real, and became friends with him as well. Barry proposed to Iris on a Ferris wheel at the fair. She accepted, and they were married, in spite of the efforts of Professor Zoom, who attempted to foil the ceremony. It was not long before Zoom took Iris's life at a masquerade party. Barry chased him into the time-stream and left him there. Barry was brought to the 30Th century, where Iris was from and had been reborn. There they lived in happiness and soon after Iris would later have twins, Don and Dawn Allen. The Crisis on Infinite Earths brought Barry out of retirement. Flash returned to the 20Th century to warn his fellow heroes. Just as he started to warn Batman, he was pulled into the Antimatter Universe by the Anti-Monitor, where he was mentally tortured by the Psycho-Pirate. Finally, he used the Psycho-Pirate to turn all of the Anti-Monitor's servants against him. This gave him enough time to destroy the Anti-Monitor's anti-matter cannon by running around it and destroying the outer casing. He ran so incredibly fast that he entered the Speed Force forever. Although there were no remains, a grave for Barry was placed in New York City. Barry reappeared during the Final Crisis. He chased the bullet fired backwards through time that killed Orion, and being chased by the Black Racer and what appears to be the Morticoccus Virus. He simply says to Wally West and Jay Garrick "Run!". Barry and Wally accelerate one month into the future, only to find that Darkseid has conquered the world. Shortly afterwards, although his family and friends were overjoyed that he was back, Barry himself was uneasy, as he was unable to explain how he alone escaped the Speed Force, while others such as Max Mercury and Johnny Quick were still trapped inside. Deciding not to waste this second chance, Barry went to the Flash Museum to catch up on what he had missed. While there, he met up with his old friend, Hal Jordan, who had also died and returned. During the Blackest Night storyline at the grave of Bruce Wayne in Gotham City, Hal Jordan and Barry Allen reflect on Batman's death and how the hero community is avoiding linking Wayne and Batman. This reflection turns to the pair looking at their own deaths, comparing the sadness that Barry's death engendered in others while Hal's death produced anger. Hal sums it up by telling Barry, "I died a sinner. You died a saint." When it was decided to deputize an individual for each Lantern Corps for 24 hours, the Flash was chosen as the deputy for the Blue Lantern Corps. During the battle, Barry is forced to fight his own grandson, who his ring detects is still alive but would eventually die if not free from the black ring soon. Afterward, Barry and Hal begin searching the country for Prometheus, who had escaped after destroying Star City during Justice League: Cry for Justice. The pair go to the Shade, who then reveals that he helped Ollie track down Prometheus, and that he killed the villain in cold blood. After confronting Ollie with this knowledge, he flees through use of a transportation key that Prometheus had used to escape during a previous encounter with the JLA. Barry then vows that he and the League have to track down Ollie before he kills again.

Powers and Abilities - Barry Allen is a Speed Force conduit. 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 DCU. They are often referred to in terms of barriers: Sound barrier, Light barrier, Time Barrier, Dimensional Barrier, and finally the Speed Force Barrier. In Final Crisis, using the Speed Force, Allen was able to undo the effects of the Anti-Life Equation upon an individual: an ability he used on his wife Iris to free her from the bondage of Darkseid's mind control. He has been revealed to not only be connected to the Speed Force, but is the very source of it, generating it with every step he takes. As such, he presumably has some if not all of the Speed Force-related abilities other speedsters have demonstrated (such as lending and stealing speed), though he has yet to demonstrate such abilities. Along with every speedster that draws their powers from the Speed Force, the loved ones of the speedsters will gain eternal youth like Jay's wife and Barry's wife ages have shown. 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 may also protect him from injury. He does seem to possess some level of superhuman resistance to injury but this does not extend far past normal physical interactions, as received from normal combat. Able to accelerate his healing factor while using the Speed Force to sustain him, he could heal from any injury instantly. It appears that Barry Allen can practically run at almost any speed, even exceeding the speed of light under his own power. After returning to life, when he is running away from the league, Barry admits to Superman that the reason why Superman won races against him was due to the races being for charity. 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. Barry Allen has shown to be able to traverse time and dimensions. He previously used the Cosmic Treadmill for this feat, but recently he has shown that he no longer needs to since he can now do it on his own with precision and control. By spinning like a helicopter, he can even perform a limited kind of flight. Barry is skilled as a forensic scientist. As a forensic scientist, he is an expert chemist. As a police officer/forensic scientist, Barry is adept in criminal psychology and often discusses these topics with Batman.

Weaknesses and Limitations - Although Barry (like most speedsters) is able to travel through the time stream at will, he is unable to affect or change the past to his liking unlike The Reverse Flash, Professor Eobard "Zoom" Thawne who is able to and has done on numerous occasions affecting Barry's life.


Hey, Kid. Name's The Flash, nice to meet ya.