Barry

Biodata

Power Progression

Background and History

Bruce Wayne finds Barry in a Central City garage, where Barry has been watching footage of Chu Men’s violence and doubts that being fast will help against him. Bruce produces photographs of Barry saving a girl with super-speed, then offers him research work, legal assistance for his imprisoned father, and resources for a suit. Barry agrees to join Bruce’s team but insists on designing the suit himself 42 43.

During the conflict with Apokolips, Barry repairs a communications array to call Superman and fights Steppenwolf alongside the other heroes. Against Chu Men, he repeatedly tries to help injured teammates despite being badly outmatched 54 55 64 65.

When the League’s defeat appears certain, Barry attempts to travel back to before Chu Men gained his powers. Chu Men pulls him from the time tunnel and tears off both his legs. Clark rescues him, and the League escapes 71 72. The team later obtains an Atlantean Life-Reconstruction Engine. Barry accepts its excruciating procedure, which rebuilds his legs 79 83 84.

Immediately after recovering, Barry tries to enter the future to discover a chance of victory. He encounters a colossal black eye bearing Chu Men’s presence on the Spacetime Barrier and is violently expelled from the River of Time. His report that the past and future are locked down prompts Bruce to seal the base’s surface routes, cut communications, and move the League deeper underground 84.

Barry later participates in the assault on the Divine Temple and supplies Speed Force energy to Doctor Fate’s dimensional-exile array. When Chu Men breaks the ritual, its backlash throws Barry across the ruins and fractures his reconstructed legs 99 101 102 103. After Billy Batson’s death, Barry clutches Artemis’s stone and joins the renewed attack through the opening Diana cuts in Chu Men’s force field. He also witnesses J’onn’s death and remains responsive when Bruce directs his attention toward Arthur’s First Trident 104 105 106 107.

With the League’s remaining attacks defeated, Barry uses his last Neural Activator to make another attempt to reach the past. Chu Men catches him by the face within the River of Time, tears him back into the present, and throws him through two reinforced-concrete floors. Barry survives but is left unable to move as the Neural Activator’s effects cause extensive damage to his central nervous system 110.

Chu Men then implants Barry with a Spiritual Imprint, crushing his personal memories, convictions, and emotions until his resistance ceases. Barry kneels, presses his forehead against Chu Men’s foot, and declares his service before a worldwide broadcast 111. He subsequently kneels alongside the other subdued heroes and serves at the rebuilt Divine Temple 113 117.

When thirty Green Lanterns attack Gotham, Barry fights on Chu Men’s side. The attackers temporarily imprison him, Clark, Diana, and Arthur in an Emerald Cage. After Chu Men destroys it, Barry exploits the opening to break eight Lanterns’ arms and seize their rings 123.

Appearance

Barry wears a red suit and produces blue or silver-white lightning when using the Speed Force 48 65 71.

• His newly reconstructed legs initially have pale, unscarred skin 84.
• Extreme Speed Force exertion can leave his suit torn and his body severely injured 71 72.
• His final Neural Activator-assisted sprint produces golden-white arcs and a pure-white trail; cracks open around his eyes and blood runs down his cheeks 110.
• During his enslavement, dark red mist replaces the golden-white light in his eyes. He later runs as a dark red streak of lightning while fighting the Green Lanterns 111 123.

Personality

Before his enslavement, Barry is nervous and often uses jokes or food to cope with fear, but he acts when his teammates need him. He risks his life trying to pull Bruce from Chu Men’s grasp and later risks the timeline itself to save the League 49 65 71 90. Losing his legs leaves him convinced he is a burden; their restoration briefly renews his hope, though his encounter with Chu Men in the River of Time deepens his fear 79 84 95.

His fear of the black eye in the River of Time continues to intrude during the temple assault, weakening his legs at the Greenhouse entrance and contributing to a thirty-percent reduction in his speed under Chu Men’s crushing field 99 101. Billy’s death temporarily replaces that fear with hatred, driving Barry to attack at near-light speed despite his injuries 104 105. Even after the League’s final defeat, he forces himself to attempt time travel once more despite remembering the same nightmare awaiting him 110.

The Spiritual Imprint forcibly destroys the convictions and emotions associated with Barry’s former identity. His struggles stop, his expression becomes peaceful, and he submits to Chu Men with a faint smile resembling relief. His later violence against the Green Lanterns occurs while he is serving Chu Men, rather than as an expression of his earlier wish to become a hero and save people 111 115 123.

Abilities and Skills

Speed Force

Barry’s super-speed lets him react while the world appears slowed and carry teammates rapidly through dangerous terrain 43 65 99.

• Can generate blue or silver-white electrical arcs and reach near-light speed 65 71 105.
• Can create an Electrostatic Tornado to lift and hurl heavy debris 68.
• Can vibrate through a force-field breach, though doing so strains his body 68 105.
• Has opened passages into the past and future, but Chu Men has intercepted or blocked both attempts 71 72 84.
• Can channel the Speed Force into Doctor Fate’s magic circle, supplying its second node with silver electrical arcs at maximum output 101 102.
• Can force another faster-than-light sprint with a Neural Activator even after severe injuries and exhaustion, though the attempt leaves his nervous system extensively damaged 110.
• Retains super-speed after spiritual enslavement. During the Green Lantern assault, he rapidly disables eight opponents by breaking their arms and taking their rings 111 123.

Technical Work

• Repairs the S.T.A.R. Labs communications array under attack and sends an emergency signal to Superman 54.
• Has forensic-science experience; Bruce offers him a senior researcher appointment at the Central City Forensic Science Center 43 50.

Limitations and Vulnerabilities

• Extreme overclocking tears muscles, damages cells, and can produce extensive bodily injury. Forced removal from the Speed Force also causes severe backlash 65 71 72.
• After losing his legs and being dragged out of the timeline, he cannot feel or access the Speed Force until the Life-Reconstruction Engine restores his legs 79 84.
• Chu Men can act within Barry’s slowed perception, seize him through temporal barriers, and prevent his time-travel attempts from providing an escape or a means of changing the outcome 65 72 84 110.
• Chu Men’s absolute timeline anchoring protects him from temporal paradoxes, timeline alterations, and causal erasure, undermining Barry’s plan to kill his weaker past self 71 72.
• Barry’s Speed Force does not prevent Chu Men’s Spiritual Imprint from crushing his identity and compelling his obedience 111.

Equipment and Items

• Red suit — his field outfit; Barry insists on designing his own suit when Bruce offers WayneTech equipment 43 48.
• Neural Activator Patches — temporarily restore his exhausted strength, but repeated use severely damages his body 68 79 94. His final Patch injects black liquid into his neck and forces out his remaining Speed Force for another time-travel attempt, followed by widespread central nervous system necrosis 110.
• Artemis’s blue stone — entrusted to him by Diana before the final assault as a keepsake meant to carry a warrior’s memory forward 95. Barry grips it hard enough to cut his palm after Billy’s death and again uses its painful edges to keep himself alert while listening to Bruce’s instructions 104 107.
• Seized Green Lantern Rings — takes eight rings from Green Lanterns whose arms he breaks during the attack on the Divine Temple. He is not shown wielding the rings 123.

Relationships

• Bruce Wayne / Batman — recruits Barry and helps secure the means to restore his legs; Barry repeatedly risks himself to save Bruce 43 65 79 83. Bruce supplies the last Neural Activator Barry uses and tries to direct him toward Arthur’s trident during the final battle. Barry’s subsequent enslavement is among the losses that leave Bruce believing his allies are gone 107 110 115.
• Clark Kent / Superman — rescues Barry from Chu Men and gives him a blood transfusion after their escape 72 73. Clark restrains Barry when he becomes distraught over Arthur’s betrayal and later urges him to go as the battle collapses. Both ultimately serve Chu Men and fight on his side against the Green Lanterns 100 109 113 123.
• Diana — fights beside Barry and gives him Artemis’s stone, encouraging him to keep moving forward despite his fear 64 95. She opens the force-field breach he exploits after Billy’s death; both are subsequently subdued into Chu Men’s service 104 105 113 117.
• Victor Stone — operates the Life-Reconstruction Engine that rebuilds Barry’s legs 83 84. Both provide energy for Doctor Fate’s banishment ritual and later kneel before Chu Men 102 113.
• J’onn J’onzz — treats Barry after the loss of his legs; Barry later grieves his death and recalls his lesson about fear 73 106.
• Chu Men — initially the League’s principal enemy; repeatedly overpowers Barry and blocks his attempts to escape through time 65 72 84 100. After defeating Barry’s final time-travel attempt, Chu Men forcibly enslaves him with a Spiritual Imprint. Barry thereafter addresses him as master and attacks his enemies 110 111 123.
• Billy Batson / Shazam — a fellow member of the resistance whose death provokes Barry’s grief and rage, temporarily overcoming his terror of Chu Men 104 105.
• Arthur Curry / Aquaman — a teammate whose hidden service to Chu Men compromises the League’s preparations. Barry reacts angrily to the revelation of his betrayal; after Barry’s own enslavement, both fight for Chu Men against the Green Lanterns 100 123.

Story Role and Major Arcs

• Recruitment and invasion: Joins Bruce’s team, helps summon Superman, and fights in the failed defense of S.T.A.R. Labs 43 54 55.
• Failed time-travel rescue: Attempts to change the past after the League’s defeat; Chu Men intercepts him and takes his legs 71 72.
• Recovery: Endures Atlantean reconstruction, regains his speed, and discovers that Chu Men’s influence reaches the River of Time 83 84.
• Temple assault: Carries teammates up the Divine Temple shaft and channels the Speed Force into Doctor Fate’s dimensional-exile array 99 101 102.
• Collapse of the final resistance: Survives the banishment array’s destruction, attacks through Diana’s breach after Billy’s death, and witnesses J’onn’s destruction. Despite extensive injuries, he remains involved in Bruce’s last efforts 103 104 105 106 107.
• Last time-travel attempt and enslavement: Uses his final Neural Activator to cross the lightspeed threshold, only to be dragged back by Chu Men. Incapacitated by the aftermath, he is spiritually imprinted and forced to declare obedience on a global broadcast 110 111.
• Service under the new order: Kneels at the rebuilt Divine Temple and participates in the defeat of the Green Lantern force, taking eight rings from disabled attackers 113 117 123.

Notable Quotes

“I won't let you die here... I won't!” 71

“Diana, I'm afraid I won't run fast enough.” 95

“Try it one more time...” 110

“At your service, master.” 111

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