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Among the myriad of characters appearing in DC Comics, the most universally beloved hero has remained The Flash. Whether hailing from the Golden Age, Silver Age, or the Modern Age of heroics, every generation has a claim on a “Flash” from an extensive Flash Family. The Scarlet Speedster has also dependably played a significant role in every milestone event across the nearly 100 years of DC’s history.
Whether it was Barry Allen, Wally West, or Jay Garrick, The Flash has always been the first to run toward the center of the action. In the last several decades, The Flash has also exhibited a dynamic that transcends time and space, even beyond the limits of the DC multiverse. For a hero that lives on the fast track, lately he’s largely been stuck running in place. Perhaps it’s time The Flash is due for a deeply resounding reboot.
The Fastest Man Alive Inspires a New Age of Comics
The Silver Age of Comics is heralded by the arrival of a new Flash. Barry Allen, a forensic scientist who is struck by a lightning bolt and bombarded with chemicals from his lab, learns that, as a result of the fateful accident, he has heightened speed and reflexes. Inspired by the adventures of his childhood hero, the Golden Age Flash, Jay Garrick, Allen assumes the identity to become the Scarlet Speedster.
Readers were fascinated by the science fiction pulp books of the 1950s and a nation intrigued by UFOs and theories of alien invasions; The Flash’s adventures catered to this popular phenomenon with all things otherworldly and fantastical. With Allen’s life now moving at the speed of light, he is confronting an array of colorful new adversaries determined to turn any and every technological menace against his fleet feet.
The Flash’s Silver Age adventures, as chronicled by John Broome and drawn by the legendary Carmine Infantino, introduce the classic rogue’s gallery of villains, including Gorilla Grodd, Mirror Master, and the time-displaced Abra Kadabra, but none is more notorious than Professor Zoom/Reverse-Flash. Arch-rival Eobard Thawne is first introduced in The Flash #139 (1963) and would terrorize Allen for decades.
Not alone in his fight for justice, The Flash also welcomes allies that include the master sleuth Elongated Man and a sidekick. Wally West, the nephew of his long-time love interest Iris West, is introduced as Kid Flash. An ally from a parallel earth crosses barriers, and the multiverse is established in the classic tale “The Flash of Two Worlds” appearing in The Flash #123 (1961) by Gardner Fox and Infantino.
The Flash Faces One Crisis After Another
As DC Comics prepared to commemorate its 50th anniversary, The Flash had entered a new era of the Modern Age, and his tales were taking a twisted turn. The long-running series would be canceled with the landmark issue number #350 (1985). Caught between the paradoxes of time-travel, Barry Allen is accused of murdering long-time rival the Reverse-Flash in the final story arc “The Trial of the Flash.”
The most consequential event in The Flash’s history is undoubtedly the Crisis on Infinite Earths. When held captive by the evil antagonist, the Anti-Monitor, Barry Allen eventually escapes and thwarts the villain’s plan by destroying the anti-matter engine responsible for unleashing the wave that destroys the multiverse. Using his super speed to reverse its effects, The Flash saves the remaining worlds.
The fate of The Flash is sealed in this final heroic act. In the classic Crisis on Infinite Earths #8 (1985), Barry Allen’s sacrifice gives the heroes the fighting chance they need to defeat the Anti-Monitor and survive the most significant crisis event, forever altering the face of the multiverse. The former Kid Flash, Wally West, assumes his place in the legacy, becoming the latest Flash and signaling the beginning of a brand new heroic age.
Taking the mantle very seriously, West inspires a new generation of super speedsters and discovers that his ability (and that of every “Flash”) is actually tethered to the Speed Force, an elemental source of energy that binds the multiverse. West learns quickly that the Speed Force enhances his abilities, giving him an entirely new perspective on time and space that will make him a lightning rod for critical events to come.
A Flashpoint in Time Leads to Rebirth After Rebirth
The Flash stories of the Modern Age are marked by excitement as they follow West's discovery of his true potential and the role The Flash legacy plays in the scheme of continuity. Wally takes his place among the “big league” of legends in the DC Universe and inevitably accepts the consequences that come with the red suit.
Wally gets erased from continuity, not once but twice, and returns in time to witness the remarkable rebirth of Barry Allen in Final Crisis #2 (2008), written by Grant Morrison. Now existing as a part of a living legacy of Flashes of several generations, with Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, and Wally West the stewards of the Speed Force in an increasingly hostile world.
In a moment of hubris, Barry Allen is confronted by his longtime foe Eobard Thawne and triggers Flashpoint (2011), dramatically resetting the entirety of existing continuity. Determined to set things right, Barry reenters the time stream, returning to the moment where the timelines converged in an effort to abort the Flashpoint.
Unaware that other forces were at work, Barry believes he has corrected course, but in fact everything was completely different. The most dramatic restart in DC Comics continuity, The New 52 (2011), set up a reconstructed multiverse guided by the creative forces of Geoff Johns and Jim Lee and largely cleaned the slate. Many long-lived legends were retconned, and some heroes were written out of history entirely — including Jay Garrick and Wally West.
It would take a “Rebirth” to set things right. Erased in the Flashpoint arc, Wally West is pulled back into existence by Barry Allen and begins taking steps to piece together the missing parts of his life. His reintegration into prime continuity reignites the Golden Age and starts to assert a more familiar return of historical continuity to the Prime Earth timeline.
A Dark Crisis, Absolute Loss of Power, and The Passing Of The Torch
It’s a fact that a Flash inevitably plays a significant role in practically every event that has a critical causality in continuity. The Flash, in practically every incarnation of the character, has been a sort of lightning rod for crisis events. After the Justice League is believed lost, Barry Allen tirelessly runs the lengths of the multiverse to find them to help stop the Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths (2022).
As a result of the machinations of the power-hungry Amanda Waller, Barry Allen loses his powers in Absolute Power (2024). He passes the torch to Wally West, and retires from superheroics to chronicle the complexities of the multiverse. Written by Mark Waid, The New History of the DC Universe is told from Barry Allen’s perspective and richly details the heroic journey.
Certainly the legacy of The Flash remains in good hands with Wally West leading the charge, but if there’s a constant in the currency of this heroic legacy, it is The Flash’s resilience. Many gifted writers, including Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, and Mike Baron, to name a few, have charted the hero’s course, determining his destiny as one of comics’ most enduring and vibrant characters.
The Flash’s legacy is in constant evolution, and the race will inevitably continue. The hero's adventures have leaped from the comic book page and into other media, from the big screen to not one, but two successful primetime series. Barry Allen has been portrayed by multiple actors, including Grant Gustin and Ezra Miller, but only one actor has been positioned uniquely in the hero’s live-action legacy…
John Wesley Shipp: Creating The Flash's Legacy Unlike Any Other
John Wesley Shipp has some insight into The Flash. The actor has portrayed four different characters in the Flash orbit over the course of three decades. He played Barry Allen in the 1990 original series The Flash, which aired on CBS. “I was most intrigued by playing Barry’s struggle with coming to terms with himself as a superhero,” Shipp said. “I love Barry’s vulnerability and self-doubt, his sincerity, which makes him relatable.”
In Shipp’s version of The Flash, “he has no aspirations of being a superhero." There was a bit of an elaboration on such a statement. “He immediately wants to be rid of his powers. It’s after the death of his brother [Jay] that he decides to use his powers and do the right thing.” The actor reflects on the character’s greatest virtue, noting, “Barry’s heart is in the right place, and his head is furiously trying to process and keep up.”
The genre has evolved dramatically since the 1990s, largely in part to the success of Tim Burton’s Batman and Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo’s television take on the Scarlet Speedster. “The transformation of the entertainment industry by superhero entertainment since I first donned the red cowl has been amazing to experience,” Shipp enthused. He was inevitably tapped to return to The Flash in The CW 2014 reboot.
Shipp played Henry Allen opposite Grant Gustin’s Barry Allen, who also portrayed the titular hero. Serendipitously, the two actors have many similarities: they are both from Norfolk, Virginia, have an extensive stage background, and their birthdays are days apart, though Gustin was born in 1990, the year that Shipp was starring in The Flash.
“In those days,” Shipp said when referring to how superhero stories were brought to life in the 1990s, “few A-list actors lined up to put on a suit and play these characters truthfully like there are today.” Since then, both Marvel and DC heroes have exploded into the cinematic mainstream. “Having been at the cutting edge of a new template for how these characters are presented today is enormously gratifying.”
John Wesley Shipp Reflects On His Role As The Flash of Two Worlds
One of the most surprising turns of The CW series was when, at the conclusion of Season 2, in a startling moment, Henry Allen is murdered by Zoom. Later, it is revealed the villain has been kept a prisoner. That prisoner was another speedster, Jay Garrick, the Golden Age Flash of an alternate earth who was a doppelgänger for Henry Allen, also played by Shipp.
“Jay Garrick is very much ‘The OG Flash’ in how he views himself and his role in the Speed Force,” Shipp said. “He’s skeptical of Barry at first — [Jay] wants to help Barry navigate this new world.” Shipp played the Golden Age hero, who also traversed the primetime multiverse, as a guest star on Stargirl. He admits that he would have been excited to further examine Garrick’s potential.
“I would have liked,” Shipp reflected, “to play out the role of mentor to a really young speedster — either Wally, or later with Bart.” Toward the final season of The Flash, Garrick is positioned as such to both Nora/XS (Jessica Parker Kennedy) and Bart/Impulse (Jordan Fisher). “As an actor in a franchise undergoing its own transitions, I try to learn from Jay’s example — he transitions into ‘speedster emeritus’ with extraordinary grace.”
Humbled by the experience of participating in a franchise across three decades while playing four different characters, Shipp is grateful for the influence that The Flash has had on his career as a whole, especially the unique appeal of this hero. “He is kind. He is good. He is sincere. Barry is identifiable,” Shipp says, “and audiences can read their own experiences into his adventures.”
It’s inevitable that, in the right hands and with a creative direction, with a similar passion for the speedster’s legacy, as exquisitely expressed by John Wesley Shipp. “The Flash of Two Worlds” race will continue, and The Flash will always remain ahead of the curve, as the audience keeps pace.
