Flash Thompson

Eugene "Flash" Thompson is a character from Marvel Comics. He is a high school jock and bully who commonly bullies Peter Parker aka Spider-Man. Ironically enough, Flash idolizes and admires Spider-Man, unaware that he and his rival Peter are the same.
He makes his debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming. In the film, he is reimagined as an academic rich kid of Indian ethnicity.
Flash Thompson was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.
==Appearances==
===Marvel Animation===
====Ultimate Spider-Man====
Ever since he met Peter, Flash has caused constant torment for Peter at school which is only made ironic as he idolizes the superhero Spider-Man, Peter's alter-ego. When the Frightful Four invaded the school, he saw Spider-Man and he wanted to help and Spider-Man put him in a locker, making Flash believe that he was helping.
After Spider-Man defeated the Frightful Four, Flash tried to put Peter in a locker, but got saved by Luke and accidentally trapped himself in the locker.
At Harry's party, Flash was in the bathroom when he encountered Peter and was about to give him a swirlie. The symbiote came out and attached itself to Flash, Flash enveloped by the symbiote fought with Spider-Man and Nova. Eventually the symbiote detached itself from him and attached to Nova instead.
Flash took the test of coach Yaeger/Taskmaster, he passed and attended the next day of him along with Harry and Danny. The next day Flash was chased by Taskmaster who thought he was Spider-Man, who was trying to capture Spider-Man. Flash ditched Harry and hid in Peter's locker. After Taskmaster was defeated by Spider-Man and White Tiger, he distracted Spider-Man and the villain escaped leaving his mask behind.
He was given the role on Spider-Man in Mary Jane Watson's play which led to the Trapster mistaking him for the real Spider-Man.
He later started bullying Alex O'Hirn that resulted in his car being trashed by the Rhino. After he was attacked, Spider-Man explained to him that Rhino was Alex and he apologized for beating him up after he was arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D.
In the third season episode "Agent Venom", Flash attempts to follow Spider-Man's footsteps in becoming a superhero like him while the webslinger was collecting a piece of Venom temporarily bonded to Scorpion. Flash tries to assist Spider-Man as the Scarlet Spider, but Spider-Man keeps him away from the fight to keep him safe. While being told by Spider-Man and S.H.I.E.L.D. to leave, a part the Venom symbiote secretly attaches to Flash as he leaves the scene.
When Taskmaster and Beetle attack Spider-Man during school, Flash dons a self-made costume to aid him, but when Flash witnesses Spider-Man fighting Beetle, the symbiote responds and engrosses Flash while modifying his suit, turning him into a purified Venom. Though Spider-Man assumes that the symbiote will try to control him, Spider-Man accepts and encourages Flash to be ready as a real hero as Spider-Man does after.
After capturing Taskmaster and the Beetle, he is temporarily confined in S.H.I.E.L.D. until Spider-Man convinces Nick Fury to release him and recruits him into their Training Program as Agent Venom. He is officially inducted into Spider-Man's "New Warriors" team following the recruitment of Amadeus Cho.
====Marvel's Spider-Man====
Flash Thompson is a student at Midtown High where he is the star quarterback on his school's football team.
Flash tried to apply for enrollment at Osborn Academy for Geniuses but was rejected.
Later, he was seen at Coney Island where he tried to help Spider-Man defeat the Sandman.
Flash took part in Stark Expo with a baking soda volcano. After Ghost attacked, he helped Iron Man remove V-252 from Spider-Man's body. Surprisingly, he ended up being the winner of the Expo, as everything else was destroyed during Ghost's attack.
Later on, Flash asked Peter to help him with his school work or else he would be taken off the football team. Then, it was discovered that Flash had unknowingly bonded with the V-252, later known as Venom. Thankfully, Spider-Man managed to remove Venom from Flash's body and they both stopped it after it effected the other players. When Flash passed his test, he became friends with Peter.
In a video on the Screwball website, Flash yelled at her to stop pranking Spider-Man. He also revealed that he wrote a blog about him.
===Marvel Cinematic Universe===
====Spider-Man: Homecoming====
Flash appears in the film as a student at Midtown School of Science and Technology. This interpretation is multi-racial (due to Revolori's ethnicity), an academic rival of Peter Parker and does not bully him physically (except in one instance where he slaps him), but rather verbally, mostly by calling him vulgar names. A smug, rich kid, Flash is a member of the academic decathlon team who prioritizes speed over accuracy in terms of answers, hence his nickname. He is also depicted as a DJ on the side, leading a chant at Liz Toomes' party that causes the crowd to harass Peter and Ned Leeds out of the house. As with most of his other portrayals, Flash is shown to respect Spider-Man immensely, not knowing that he and Peter are the same person.
During the film's climax, Spider-Man hijacks Flash's father's car and damages it in the process.
====Avengers: Infinity War & Avengers: Endgame====
In 2018, Flash becomes one of Thanos' victims of the blip and is resurrected off-screen by Smart Hulk in 2023.
====Spider-Man: Far From Home====
Flash returns after being resurrected by the Hulk's snap and joins Parker, Jones, Leeds, Brant and others on the summer trip around Europe. Flash makes daily live streams whilst visiting different countries. Flash, although he does make fun of Peter during the flight, seems to have warmed up to Peter and instead starts to dislike Brad Davis, Peter's rival for MJ’s affections. Flash even mocks Davis and asks him why he took a lewd picture of Parker back at the rest stop. It is suggested that he has a poor relationship with his parents, as he is shown texting his mother saying he hasn’t heard from her in several days.
Later in the film, Happy Hogan and Peter learn from Flash's live stream that the group is now in London, where Mysterio is planning to attack the Tower Bridge. Happy locates Flash, Michelle, Ned and Betty to rescue them from the attacks. Flash gets overly excited when he miss hears Happy, thinking he said he works for Spider-Man, when he actually said he works with Spider-Man. In a deleted scene, it shows Flash filming the London attacks whilst running, which later goes on the Daily Bugle website. When everyone returns back to the US, Flash is greeted by his driver and asks if his mother couldn't make it and looks disappointed when the driver says she couldn't.
====Spider-Man: No Way Home====
After Spider-Man's identity is revealed, Flash is shocked to discover his longtime bully victim is his hero, but accepts it. Later, he writes an autobiography called Flashpoint where he claims to be Peter's best friend. He, Peter, MJ, and and Ned all apply to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but only Flash is admitted. When he learns that Ned and MJ were not, Ned angrily tells him that they were denied admission to MIT because they are actually Peter's friends.
Flash attends an MIT mixer, where he meets an admissions officer for the school. Peter, in search of her so he can ask her to reconsider his friends' applications, asks Flash about her. Flash agrees to help him on the condition that Peter swings him to school for two weeks and pretends to be his best friend. With Flash's help, Peter is able to locate the admissions officer on her way to the airport and save her from Doctor Octopus.
Due to Doctor Strange's final spell, Flash (along with the rest of the world) later forgets that Peter exists, let alone the fact that he is Spider-Man.
==Gallery==
==Trivia==
*In Ultimate Spider-Man Season 3, Flash became the next host of Venom as Agent Venom (a version of Flash Thompson bonded to Venom). This coincides with Flash becoming Venom in the mainstream comic.
*In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Flash's nickname is derived from his tendency to come up with answers quickly, but inaccurately.
*In Ultimate Spider-Man, the temporary name Flash gives to himself, Scarlet Spider, this and his costume are a reference to the name of the Spider-Man (Ben Reilly) clone in the comics.
*It appears in Spider-Man: Far From Home that Flash doesn't have a good relationship with his parents as he is seen texting his mother, saying he hasn't heard from either her or his father in days and then towards the end of the film, neither of his parents came to pick him up from the airport. A reported scene from Spider-Man: Homecoming reveals the same for Michelle Jones, when neither of her parents came to pick her up from Washington DC so Peter and May apparently offered to take her home. This shows that Flash and MJ seem to have similar family backgrounds.
*Flash is a big fan of Spider-Man, but was previously seen as a bully to Peter Parker. However, Spider-Man: Far From Home showed that Flash had warmed up to Peter and become more friendly with him and vice-versa, despite Flash still sometimes making fun of Peter. He also takes Peter’s side when the public turns against him in No Way Home.
*He has blond hair in Spider-Man: No Way Home, referencing his comic book and original media counterparts.
==External links==
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