The Flash Explained: Origins, Abilities, and the Speed Force

Barry Allen. Forensic Scientist. The Scarlet Speedster. The Flash. In the upcoming Justice League movie, Barry will be playing the role of the rookie on the team. Unsure, nervous, and barely having been in any actual fights, the Flash will lend his speed to his fellow Leaguers in an attempt to stop the diabolic Steppenwolf. Flash, of the three characters that we are covering as part of our spotlight series, is the most well known thanks in part to the wildly successful series of the same name on The CW. The Flash has been one of the most recognizable superheroes that the DC Universe has to offer and while his costume may have changed a bit to reflect the modern retelling on the silver screen, the basic tenants of the character remain. I'll get into them in more detail below.

If you need a primer on fellow Justice Leaguer Aquaman in the meantime, be sure to click here.

The Origin of The Flash

the-flash-explained — Image via DC Comics

For those who don’t know, Barry Allen’s origin is that he was struck by a bolt of lightning that connected him with a mysterious source of power he dubbed the "Speed Force.” Originally created by Harry Lampert and Gardner Fox in Flash Comics #1 in 1940, “The Flash” wasn’t Barry Allen when he first appeared. Rather, the Flash first appeared as Jay Garrick, a speedster who wore a costume different from the hero we know who stumbled his way into super speed thanks to a lab experiment gone wrong. Jay Garrick started the legacy of the character and, while Barry Allen was the second hero to take up the mantle, there have been a number of different Flashes to appear over the years. When Barry had died during a big comic book crossover titled “Crisis on Infinite Earths”, his protege Wally West took up the mantle, followed by brief stint of Barry’s grandson, Bart Allen, putting on the yellow boots. Eventually Barry would return from the grave thanks to time travel shenanigans and is currently the one and only Flash in both comics, television, and the movies.

Barry himself was created by Robert Kanigher and Carmine Infantino in Showcase Comics #4 in 1956, over fifteen years after his predecessor. Wearing the now famous red-and-yellow spandex, Barry touted himself as the fastest man alive and protected Central City from a gang of villains calling themselves “The Rogues” along with any other threat that made its way there. Barry originally was a normal kid who grew up with his parents in the suburbs and had a pretty standard upbringing until becoming a superhero. However, as part of Barry’s “rebirth” his origin was changed whereby his arch-nemesis, Professor Zoom the Reverse Flash, traveled back in time, killing Barry’s mother and changing his timeline from then on. With a new and more tragic backstory, Barry continued being the main speedster of the DC Universe, surviving reboot after reboot while still running with two different Wally Wests and others in tow.

Speed Force Abilities

So the Flash can run fast, why is that such a big deal? Well when that speed can be faster than the speed of light, that can be a very big deal. Barry Allen is able to move every part of his body at super speed, allowing him not just to run thousands of times faster than the average human being but also, in some cases, vibrate his own atoms. Allen has managed to use his powers creatively to vibrate through walls, create tornadoes by spinning his arms, travel to different dimensions, quickly heal from wounds, loan his speed to others and/or take speed from others, along with a ton of other applications of the speed force. Most importantly for the DC Cinematic Universe among Barry’s powers is his ability to travel through time. As seen in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, Allen traveled back from a future timeline to warn Bruce Wayne of his upcoming battle with the Man of Steel (while also making an extremely brief appearance capturing Captain Boomerang in Suicide Squad). In the comics, Barry’s ability to travel through time would take the assistance of the “Cosmic Treadmill”, which was essentially a treadmill that Allen could run on to change his placement in the timeline.

The Flash’s costume is tied to the source of his power, a lot of the time anyway. It heals when needed, can perform a number of different functions at Allen’s whim, and sometimes he can even store it inside a tiny ring that he wears on his finger. The costume itself hasn’t changed much from it's earliest appearances, mostly giving way to a design that adds a number of lightning bolts that are pulsating across the seams. Aside from simply his speed, Barry Allen is also an accomplished forensic scientist for the Central City Police Department, able to examine crimes with a large degree of efficiency. Barry’s intellect can also grow thanks in part to the fact that his super speed can allow him to read and retain an entire library’s worth of information in a matter of seconds. Wally West, at one point during his career, put back together a crumbling bridge by first reading as many books as he could about construction, gathering the materials and then rebuilding it by hand all while the bridge itself was falling. Quite an accomplishment!

Flash in the Media

justice-league-ezra-miller-3 — Image via Warner Bros.

As mentioned earlier, Barry Allen is currently enjoying his fourth season on the CW with his hour long, weekly escapades as one of the architects, along with Green Arrow, of the superhero block that include Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, and Black Lightning (which is coming soon). Prior to this however, the Flash appeared in numerous different incarnations on the small screen. While not appearing first on the original iteration of the “Super Friends”, when the show expanded its roster in “Challenge of the Super Friends”, Barry was front and center to help fight the Legion of Doom. The Flash was also one of the founding members of the Justice League in the Bruce Timm animated series, though Barry himself never made an appearance, rather his protege Wally West was the Scarlet Speedster. Following the Justice League animated series’ eventual end, Barry was given the role of the Flash again in the numerous DC Animated Films that went direct to video, most notably Justice League: Flashpoint which followed the comic book storyline of the same name and rebooted the characters for a new generation.

The CW wasn’t the first place that the Flash appeared in live action however. John Wesley Shipp, who plays the part of Barry’s dad and Jay Garrick in the CW’s Flash, played the part of Barry Allen in the 1990 short lived television series. Fun fact, this also included Mark Hamill of Star Wars fame as longtime Flash villain, the Trickster. The Flash also appeared in the unbelievably terrible, Justice League of America pilot, that is better left forgotten. In the DC Cinematic Universe, Barry Allen will be played by Ezra Miller, focusing more on a nervous, shaky interpretation of the character who is new to the hero game. Depending on the success of Justice League, a movie that puts the Flash front and center in the form of Flashpoint is planned.

And to get caught up on our recent write-ups for The Flash, be sure to take a look at following links: