Comic Book Trivia: Barry Allen, The Flash

LadyTerror

My last one was about Wonder Woman. I had promised to write one about Flash and Hulk (which I'm still writing). There have been many different characters going by this name but this take is about Barry Allen. Some of these facts should be pretty obvious to comic book fans.

Comic Book Trivia: Barry Allen, The Flash

10. He wasn't the first Flash.

Even though he's the one most people think about. In 1940, DC introduced a character called Jay Garrick who acquired the ability to move at superhuman speed after a bizarre laboratory accident. He chose to fight crime as a costumed vigilante, calling himself the Flash.

Comic Book Trivia: Barry Allen, The Flash

His character didn't perform that well though. They later introduced a new character, Barry Allen, also known as Flash, who gets his powers from a similar incident. This was in a new universe. They also had a crossover in 1961 in a series known as Flash of Two Worlds.

Comic Book Trivia: Barry Allen, The Flash

This was the first appearance of the DC multi-verse.

9. He can think faster than anyone on the planet.

Comic Book Trivia: Barry Allen, The Flash

8. It's tough to read his mind.

This is because of how fast he can think. He has so many thoughts going on through his head that even the most powerful telepaths find it difficult to figure out what he's thinking.

Comic Book Trivia: Barry Allen, The Flash

7. He started DC's Silver Age.

Superman is said to have started superhero comics during the Golden Age since he was the inspiration for pretty much all of the ones you see today. However, DC Comic's sales were going down and they needed a new idea for a character. As I said in #10, they already had a character called Flash. They created a new one in a different universe who was a fan of the comics and went by the same name.

Comic Book Trivia: Barry Allen, The Flash

They started creating new versions of many Golden Age characters in this universe. This wasn't a reboot since both of them existed as parallel universes. Remember when I said that they had a crossover with both Flashes? This is when Barry realized that his favorite character Jay Garrick was indeed real and existed in another universe.

Comic Book Trivia: Barry Allen, The Flash

6. He Has A Time-Traveling Treadmill.

He has the ability to time travel if he runs fast enough, but he doesn't always have complete control over where he ends up. This is why he created a treadmill which helps him with that.

Comic Book Trivia: Barry Allen, The Flash

5. He can phase through solid objects.

This happens because he can make his molecules vibrate through the objects.

Comic Book Trivia: Barry Allen, The Flash

4. He's worn Green Lantern's ring.

This happened in a New 52 story called Blackest Night.

Comic Book Trivia: Barry Allen, The Flash

3. Newton's third law of motion doesn't affect him.

Formally stated, Newton's third law is:

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

What this means is that when you apply a force on an object, the object applies the same amount of force back at you. This is the reason a ball bounces when it touches the ground. It's also the reason you can push yourself away from a wall (or even the ground when you're doing push-ups).

Flash gets his powers from the Speed Force, which protects him from this. This is why he can punch a wall hard enough to break it without breaking his own hand instead.

The Speed Force gives him a bunch of other abilities too, including accelerated healing, speed theft, and as I said earlier, the ability to phase through objects. The speed force also protects the people he's carrying with him so they can survive his speed.

2. Marvel made a tribute to the character after his death.

This is when he died in the Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline. It's still considered one of the biggest sacrifices a comic book character has made. Marvel created a character called Buried Alien who even wore the same colors.

Comic Book Trivia: Barry Allen, The Flash

They kept trying to imply that he was indeed Barry who made his way into the Marvel Universe. He was said to be a speedster from another universe and beat several other speedsters. He was also declared to be the fastest man alive and had yellow energy which looked like lightning surrounding him. He later adopted the alias Fastforward.

1. He's the most influential character in the DC Universe.

I did say the most influential character in the DC Universe. I'm not talking about who had the highest comic book sales or who inspired other characters. Barry has had a greater impact on the story than any other character. Not only did he start the Silver Age, but he was also responsible for 2 reboots after that. He's the one who started the post-crisis continuity as well as the New 52.

Comic Book Trivia: Barry Allen, The Flash

I'm still writing the take about Hulk and the one about Justice League's power rankings :)

Update: I finished writing the take about Hulk.

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Comic Book Trivia: Barry Allen, The Flash
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