Flash, The [character]
Entry updated 15 June 2026. Tagged: Character, Comics.
DC Comics Superhero, capable of moving at amazing speed, and later granted the additional power of vibrating so fast that he can pass through solid objects. The original version of the Flash, college student Jay Garrick, was created by Gardner Fox and Harry Lampert in 1940 for Flash Comics; he had a red and blue costume and a helmet recalling the Greek god of speed, Mercury. The second, now more familiar Flash, police Scientist Barry Allen, was created by Robert Kanigher, John Broome, and Carmine Infantino in Showcase #4 (1956); he wore a red body-suit and was eventually given his own comic, The Flash, which began with #105 (the numbering being a continuation of Flash Comics) in March 1959. In recent decades, there have been several other characters taking the name and sharing the abilities of the Flash, some more enduring than others, but Allen has remained the most prominent Flash.
Both of the first two Flashes gained their powers by ludicrous means: Garrick inhaled fumes from "heavy water", while Allen was standing next to shelves filled with chemicals when a lightning bolt struck and bathed his body with chemicals. Even more absurdly, Allen acquired a sidekick, Kid Flash, when young Wally West, the nephew of Allen's girlfriend Iris West, acquired super-speed because he happened to be standing next to identical shelves of chemicals when an identical lightning bolt bathed his body with an identical mixture of chemicals. (However, the honour for having the very worst explanation for super-speed goes to Marvel Comics' The Whizzer, who developed super-speed after an injection of mongoose blood.)
There was an early attempt to revise the second Flash's origin by stating that a magical elf (see Supernatural Creatures) had brought about Allen's transformative exposure to chemicals, but this story was thankfully forgotten. Decades later, DC replaced these idiotic origin stories by stating that the Flash had actually gained his super-speed by being exposed to a mysterious "Speed Force" that randomly affects various individuals, who then develop super-speed and become versions of the Flash.
In the 1960s, it was revealed that the first two Flashes lived in Parallel Worlds, and they regularly met and dealt with various menaces. The second Flash also occasionally worked with another superhero introduced in his stories, the stretching Elongated Man, who later departed to star in his own series, and the Flash teamed up with Green Lantern in a few adventures. He was a charter member of the Justice League of America and functioned as its de facto leader until Superman and Batman became full participants in the League.
In his own stories, the Flash spent most of his time combating a rotating cast of Supervillains employing advanced Technology, including Captain Cold, who wielded a gun that emitted blasts of intense cold; Captain Boomerang, an Australian who employed modified boomerangs as Weapons; Mirror Master, who used special mirrors to bedevil the Flash; the Trickster, who battled the Flash with various gimmicks; the Top, whose powers derived from his ability to rapidly spin his body; the Pied Piper, who manipulated sounds to Hypnotize people; and Abra Kadabra, a magician from the future who travelled to the past because his contemporaries were not impressed by his tricks. (One notable story involved the tailor who provided these supervillains with their stylish costumes, an issue rarely addressed elsewhere.) A unique adversary was Gorilla Grodd, an intelligent gorilla with Telepathic powers who came from a secret city of similar gorillas in Africa (see Apes as Human), though the city's leader Solovar was virtuous and an ally of the Flash. He also acquired a "cosmic treadmill" that enabled him to travel through time (see Time Travel). Over the years, the Flash engaged in some races with Superman, who could also achieve super-speed, to determine who was the fastest, but the results were usually inconclusive.
Even by the low standards set by DC superheroes in his era, Allen was regarded as an especially bland character, and marrying Iris West did little to make him more interesting. As a result, few lamented the decision to kill him off in the mid-1980s, to be promptly replaced by a now-adult Wally West who adopted his name and costume. Of course, Allen was inevitably brought back to life, but he is sometimes supplanted by the younger versions of the Flash in recent comics; one of them is his grandson Bart Allen.
In other media, the Flash has appeared in several animated series and Videogames as a supporting character, and he starred in two television series. The first The Flash (1990-1991) was not well received and only lasted one season, but the second The Flash (2014-2023) was more successful as one element in DC Comics's "Arrowverse" (see Green Arrow), with other superheroes such as Green Arrow and Supergirl occasionally featured. The second series also inspired several Tie novels. On the big screen, after a cameo appearance in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and a larger role in Justice League (2017), he starred in his own film, The Flash (2022); but even though this included appearances by several other DC superheroes, its disappointing returns brought his film career to a temporary end. [GW]
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