The Flash

Biodata

Power Progression

Background

Barry was born in Fallville as one of a pair of twins. After drunken physician Isa Gillmore failed to save the Thawnes’ baby during delivery, he secretly gave them Barry’s brother and told the Allens that their second child had been stillborn. That brother grew up as Malcolm Thawne, later becoming Cobalt Blue 376.

His mother’s murder and his father’s wrongful conviction drove Barry to become a forensic scientist, determined to uncover the truth and clear his father’s name. Reverse-Flash was responsible for murdering his mother, Nora Allen 153 378.

Barry gained his speed after lightning struck chemicals in his laboratory. Lola later argues that the lightning struck because Barry was destined to become the Flash, rather than creating that destiny by chance; Roland confirms her explanation 352 377.

Personality

Barry believes that people deserve opportunities to improve. He argues for giving Magpie a chance to reform and encourages Fashionista to abandon his ambition of becoming a supervillain after rescuing him from The Suit 358 371.

His loyalty extends beyond immediate safety. When Mirror Master proposes leaving Roland behind, Barry refuses and offers to remain while Mirror Master and Wally escape. His concern for innocent bystanders is equally strong: the danger posed by Savitar’s followers pushes him to accelerate rather than allow civilians to suffer because of him 368 383.

He is gracious toward friendly rivals, thawing Quicksilver after their race, praising his speed, and inviting him to eat. Around his fellow heroes, he also enjoys mischief, joining Roland and Superman’s elaborate prank against Batman even while on his honeymoon 300 398 400.

Abilities & Skills

Speed Force and Super-Speed

Barry draws on the Speed Force, which he identifies as one of the seven cosmic forces. His experience includes encounters with Flashes from numerous universes 342.

• Faster-than-light movement: His stated maximum already exceeds light speed before his later breakthroughs 355.
• Accelerated perception and thought: Entering the Speed Force’s domain accelerates his thinking as well as his body 534.
• Rapid intervention: Disarms the assembled Rogues and frees Wally before they can meaningfully react 385.
• Airflow manipulation: Generates a gale by running, clearing Weather Wizard’s rain from city hall 373.
• Early metabolic cost: Initially requires enormous quantities of high-calorie food. By his confrontation with Savitar’s followers, this is no longer necessary 139 368.

Phasing

Barry teaches Wally to pass through solid obstacles using high-frequency vibration 358.

• The technique requires more than simply vibrating and charging forward: Wally’s first attempt smashes a human-shaped hole through the wall instead of phasing through it 358.

Time and Multiversal Travel

Barry can transport himself and others across universes and travel through time 199 338 373.

• Timeline analysis: Recognizes that two universes’ timelines have intersected and proposes using their Batmen and Jasons as anchors to return the displaced people 199.
• Group transport: Pushes a space pod to Other Gotham and later pulls a carriage carrying the heroes during the Luthor War 199 338.
• Speed Force Storm navigation: Determines a storm’s direction and accelerates enough to rescue trapped Flashes from its edge 338 341.
• Temporal caution: Refuses Batman’s request to undo the League’s naming dispute by going back an hour, warning that doing so would cause a Flashpoint 215.
• Technical adaptability: Quickly learns to operate a Time Machine during the Mirror World journey 383.

Speed Force Constructs and Transfer

Barry can give the Speed Force a tangible form and transfer speed between speedsters 371 372 385.

• Golden suit: A compressed, three-dimensional manifestation of pure Speed Force overcomes The Suit’s Time Force restraint 371.
• Lightning cage: Reshapes the suit into a cage, although it fails to imprison Black Flash 372.
• Speed sharing: Accepts speed from Wally and later redistributes speed to Wally and Bart 384 385.
• External connection: Supplies a Speed Force connection for Batman’s collaboratively constructed powered armor 334.

White Lightning

White Lightning turns Barry into the Speed Force itself in living form. Its first demonstrated use depends on speed supplied by an alternate Wally, who also carries speed taken from Bart and Inertia 384.

• Withstands Black Flash’s attempt to embrace him without apparent harm 384.
• Reaches into Black Flash to retrieve Bart’s soul, then accelerates Black Flash to the end of time 384.
• Uses the form again during Blackest Night after absorbing the other speedsters’ speed, racing across the universe as white lightning 521.

Forensic Science and Investigation

Barry’s police work informs his superhero investigations 153 370 371.

• Recognizes the temporal implications of finding what appears to be his own corpse 370.
• Investigates The Suit’s victims and Fashionista’s disappearance, identifying the relationship between its hosts and stolen powers 371.
• Helps Barbara and Wally investigate Starting Point of Victory’s interconnected apps and suspicious employment practices 358.

Limitations and Counters

• Cold weapons: Captain Cold and the Rogues successfully freeze him, requiring Superman to free him 139.
• Superior Still Force interference: He can counter Johnny Quick’s black lightning, but Shadow Luthor’s version slows him until he cannot move 349 350.
• Time Force: The Suit initially immobilizes him and sends him an hour into the past; Barry overcomes the restraint only after deploying compressed Speed Force 370 371.
• Speed Force Storms: Their aging and de-aging effects remain dangerous even to him 240 338.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Cold Gun — Temporary race equipment used to freeze Quicksilver and secure victory 300.
• Weather Wizard’s wand — Another race item; Barry produces only light drizzle, earning Weather Wizard’s criticism of his handling 300.
• Boomerangs — Throws them at Savitar with Speed Force reinforcement. Their special material prevents them from disintegrating at that speed 369.
• Proposal ring — Given to him by Batman and brought out when he attempts to propose to Iris 372.

Relationships

• Iris West — Girlfriend and later wife. Barry’s early awkwardness about romance contrasts with his later heartfelt declarations to her 288 373 385.
• Wally West — Iris’s nephew and Barry’s speedster pupil. Barry teaches him phasing, recommends S.T.A.R. Labs to investigate his fluctuating speed, and rescues him from the Rogues 342 355 358 385.
• Bart Allen — Grandson through Don Allen. Barry learns of Bart’s dangerous accelerated aging and later rescues another universe’s Bart by recovering his soul from Black Flash 365 384.
• Don and Dawn Allen — Twin children described by the future Iris. Known as the Tornado Twins, they inherited Barry’s abilities and died protecting Earth from the Dominators 365 378.
• Nora Allen — Mother, murdered by Reverse-Flash. She is alive again by Halloween; Barry also meets a future version of her who reassures him that their time together was real 378 402.
• Malcolm Thawne / Cobalt Blue — Long-lost twin brother whose resentment centers on Barry’s happier upbringing and powers. Barry eventually brings him to the Allens, where Nora accepts him as her son 376 379.
• Roland — Friend and frequent multiversal traveling companion. Barry refuses to abandon him, but angrily confronts him over the manipulation surrounding his predicted death 373 383.
• Batman / Bruce Wayne — League teammate, investigator, and occasional prank target. Bruce examines Barry’s health and suspected memory tampering; Barry once believed Batman was a vampire 244 336 365 400.
• Green Lantern / Hal Jordan — Teammate and traveling companion. Hal pursues Insomnia into Barry’s nightmare and helps break the trap 431 533 534.
• Reverse-Flash — Barry’s stated archenemy and his mother’s murderer. Barry distinguishes him from the Rogues, whom he considers regular opponents rather than his greatest enemy 344 378.
• The Rogues — Recurring adversaries with a complicated personal bond to Barry. They help investigate his apparent death and join the League’s effort to find him when he disappears 265 370 371.
• Lola — Claims Barry is her grandfather and arranges dangerous encounters intended to push him beyond his limits. Roland openly doubts her claimed family connection 367 368 370.
• Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch — Cross-universe friends. Barry befriends both after racing Quicksilver and embraces them before their departure 300 314.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Central City and the League’s Founding

Superman frees Barry after the Rogues freeze him. While Roland and Batman pursue Grodd’s disguised army, Superman stays with the recovering Flash 139.

Demon Nero later tries to exploit Barry’s grief over his parents, but Barry rejects the temptation. Soon afterward, the Rogues unexpectedly gain enough speed to chase him directly 153 154.

Barry helps resolve the overlap between two universes and transports Roland, Batman, and Red Hood to Other Gotham. He subsequently participates in the League’s founding, only for Roland’s group to reveal that they have already registered the Justice League name. The adult heroes proceed as the United States Justice League 199 214 215.

Olympus and the Dark Knights

On Olympus, Hephaestus frees Barry from the Throne of Hephaestus. During the later Dark Knights battle, Barry and other Flashes distract the Red Death, an Earth -52 fusion of Batman and that world’s Flash. The battle costs many lives, and the Speed Force Storm ultimately separates the Red Death into an elderly Bruce and a young Barry 224 240.

Disappearance and the Luthor War

Barry’s disappearance prompts the Rogues and United States Justice League to cooperate. Blue hope energy at Central City Bank leads Roland to conclude that a Blue Lantern ring probably selected him; the investigation presents this as a deduction rather than a confirmed recruitment 265.

Later, Barry suspects that a foreign-universe Lex Luthor has interfered with his memories. During the Luthor War, he transports the heroes between universes and rescues Jay Garrick from a Speed Force Storm. Jay remembers an earlier meeting that Barry cannot recall, reinforcing the memory discrepancy 336 338 341 342.

Wally’s Training and the Black Sun Investigation

Barry discovers that Wally has acquired powers through an accident resembling his own. He becomes Wally’s mentor and joins him and Barbara in investigating Starting Point of Victory, whose apps connect suspicious services, manipulated data, and the abduction of homeless people 352 355 358.

The Fated Death and Marriage

Warnings of impending death lead Batman to examine Barry, but the tests reveal no physical illness. Lola describes numerous possible deaths and arranges escalating threats intended to force Barry beyond his limits 365 366 367.

Barry fights Savitar and then The Suit, which uses stolen Time Force to create the apparent discovery of Barry’s own corpse. After surviving the attack, he investigates the creature, defeats it with compressed Speed Force, and frees Fashionista 369 370 371.

Black Flash then pursues him. Barry runs to the end of time, where he encounters Roland and confronts him about the recent manipulation. After returning, Barry proceeds with his marriage to Iris despite further villainous interference 372 373 376.

Cobalt Blue, Mirror World, and Bart’s Rescue

Cobalt Blue reveals himself as Barry’s stolen twin brother. The ensuing conflict spans future generations of the Allen family before Lola destroys the Cobalt Blue Gem. Barry brings Malcolm home to meet the Allens 376 378 379.

Barry, Roland, and Wally subsequently become trapped in Mirror World. Their escape journey brings Barry and Roland to another universe where Bart has been murdered. Rather than rewrite the past, Barry proposes recovering Bart’s soul and resurrecting him 379 383 384.

Using White Lightning, Barry takes the soul from Black Flash and gives it to Roland, who restores Bart to life. Barry celebrates with the family before returning home and freeing his own Wally from the Rogues 384 385.

Later Crises

Notable Quotes

“Everyone deserves a chance to become a better version of themselves, don’t they?” 358

“When you’re in trouble in Central City, you stand still and wait for The Flash to save you. Everybody knows that.” 371

“No matter how fast I run, my time won’t stop, and it never has. You’re the only one who can make it stand still.” 385