Artificial Speed Force

*For other uses of "Speed Force", see Speed Force (disambiguation)*.

The **artificial Speed Force**, also known as the **A.S.F.**, was an artificial extra-dimensional energy source that was created by Team Flash sometime after the death of the original Speed Force, in order to permanently restore Barry Allen's powers. The artificial Speed Force was destroyed after Barry damaged the artificial Speed Force machine because it caused him to harm Iris West-Allen when he retrieved her from the Mirrorverse.

## Overview

The artificial Speed Force was powered by the multiversal particles that resided inside of Harrison Nash Wells following the Anti-Monitor Crisis.

Since Team Flash didn't want to make the same mistake that Eobard Thawne made with his Speed Force machine, they didn't use emotions to stabilize the artificial Speed Force. However, this caused users of the artificial Speed Force to lose their emotional response and to rely only on logic when making decisions.

## History

After the death of the original Speed Force, Barry Allen and Team Flash decided to use Nora West-Allen's journal, which contained knowledge of the Negative Speed Force taught to her by Eobard Thawne, to create their own Speed Force. Using this knowledge, they built a machine that would be able to create it a new Speed Force.

Later, with Iris West-Allen trapped in the Mirrorverse and Eva McCulloch targeting Black Hole, Barry became obsessed with creating the artificial Speed Force so he could regain his speed. With the help of Chester P. Runk, Harrison Nash Wells, and Allegra Garcia, Barry was able to create the artificial Speed Force, although it cost him Nash's life. The artificial Speed Force eventually caused Barry to lose his emotional response and to rely only on logic when making decisions. After that loss of emotion caused Barry to harm Iris when he retrieved her from the Mirrorverse, he threw lightning at the artificial Speed Force machine, damaging it and destroying the artificial Speed Force in the process.

When Cisco Ramon and Caitlin Snow discussed the possibility of finding a way to fix the artificial Speed Force machine in order to restore the artificial Speed Force, Barry quickly rejected the idea.

## Physical manifestations

### Lightning coloration

Once a speedster makes a connection with the artificial Speed Force, their speed is physically manifested through the lightning/electricity that trails from their bodies as they run.

* **Yellow:** Yellow lightning represents a pure or natural connection to the artificial Speed Force. Simultaneously, as speedsters continue to develop their powers; such as Barry Allen, they eventually begin to exhibit a more orange coloring.

The Flash emitting yellow electricity.pngThe Flash emitting yellow lightning
### Eye transformation

By tapping into the power of the artificial Speed Force, speedsters can cause their eyes to transform in some way, such as by filling them with yellow electricity, which can cause the surrounding skin to glow yellow.

Barry can run.pngYellow lightning flickering in Barry Allen's eyes
## Powers and abilities

### Powers

#### Speedster powers

The artificial Speed Force, like the Speed Force, enhances all movement, momentum, and force exerting capabilities of its user, down to a microscopic level, as well as giving the user conscious control over it. This enhances overall acceleration, agility, reflexes, coordination, balance, and reaction time to inhuman levels. In addition, the body becomes conditioned beyond human potential, allowing them to handle extreme physical exertion and performance, which is also enhanced. *The only powers listed below are the ones that differ between the artificial Speed Force and the Speed Force. For all of the powers that a speedster can have, see Speed Force powers*.

* **Superhuman intelligence:** Users of the artificial Speed Force possess intelligence that is amplified to superhuman levels. This enhanced intelligence enables users to analyze every variable in every scenario and to solve any problem presented to them.

### Weaknesses

#### Speedster weaknesses

Like with the Speed Force, speedsters may show one or more weaknesses despite their connection to the artificial Speed Force. Whether this hints towards inherent limitations of the artificial Speed Force itself or just to limitations of its users' control over their connection to it, is not known for certain, but the latter seems more likely. *The only weaknesses listed below are the ones that differ between the artificial Speed Force and the Speed Force. For all of the weaknesses that a speedster can have, see Speed Force weaknesses*.

* **Artificial Speed Force machine:** The existence of the artificial Speed Force is dependent on the artificial Speed Force machine. If the machine is shut off or damaged, users of the artificial Speed Force will lose their powers. This was seen when Barry Allen used lightning to damage the machine after retrieving Iris West-Allen from the Mirrorverse.
* **Lack of emotions:** Users of the artificial Speed Force lose their emotional response and rely only on logic while making decisions. The reason this happens is because emotions were not used to stabilize the artificial Speed Force in order to prevent any emotional fallout.

## Known users

* Barry Allen/The Flash (co-creator; temporarily; returned to using the original Speed Force)

## Appearances

### *The Flash*

#### Season 6

* "The Exorcism of Nash Wells" (mentioned)
* "Liberation" (mentioned)
* "Pay the Piper" (mentioned)

#### Season 7

* "All's Wells That Ends Wells"
* "The Speed of Thought"
* "Mother" (mentioned)
* "Timeless" (mentioned)

## Trivia

* According to Barry Allen; the artificial Speed Force is completely different from Eobard Thawne's Negative Speed Force.
	+ Cisco Ramon later confirmed this when he revealed that emotions were not used to stabilize the artificial Speed Force, but negative emotions were used to stabilize Thawne's Speed Force.
* As noted by Cisco, the artificial Speed Force didn't just give Barry his old powers back, it gave him a new one as well.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "All's Wells That Ends Wells"
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 "The Speed of Thought"
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "The Exorcism of Nash Wells"
4. ↑ "Liberation"
5. ↑ "Mother"