Barry Allen (DC)

**Barry Allen** is a male comic superhero that features in DC Comics.

## Biography

### Origin

Barry Allen was the male son of Henry and Nora Allen where he lived in Central City. He became a police scientist with a reputation of being slow and typically late to work with this frustrating his fiancée Iris West. On one night, he was preparing to leave work when he was struck by lightning that had hit a case full of chemicals that spilt on him. A result of this event was Allen being gifted with the ability to run extremely fast along with matching reflexes. He later donned a red tight suit with a lightning bolt whereupon he adopted the name of the Flash with this being based on his childhood comic hero namely Jay Garrick. As a result, he became a costumed crime fighter with his uniform provided by Ira West who designed the Flash suit and the ring that stored it which he kept hidden when he was in his civilian identity.

Whilst at the police laboratory, lightning struck the room and caused a number of the chemicals present to spill on him. He gained the ability to travel at super-speed where he began to experiment with his new abilities. Allen later saved his date Iris West from a stray bullet that was fired by the villainous Turtle Man. This inspired him to become a superhero where he drew inspiration from the adventures of the Flash and made a costume for himself. (Showcase v1 #4)

*In Flash v1 #167 (1967), a being known as Mopee the 'Heavenly Help-Mate' claimed responsibility for directing the lightning that gifted Barry Allen his powers.*
In reality, Allen joined the Speed Force where he shed his identity where he became completely lost with his sense of individuality vanishing. (The Flash: Rebirth v1 #1)

### Rebirth

In this timeline, his mother Nora Allen was killed with it being claimed that his father Henry Allen had killed her. However, Henry Allen had proclaimed his innocence with Barry seeking to prove his father being not responsible for the death. Despite his efforts, his father died in prison with Barry unable to vindicate him. (The Flash: Rebirth v1 #2)

In an attempt to stop Superboy-Prime, the speedsters attempted to shunt him into the Speed Force. However, the rogue Kryptonian threatened to break from their grip but Barry Allen along with Johnny Quick and Max Mercury emerged where they managed to force Superman Prime into the Speed Force to end his rampage. (Infinite Crisis v1 #4)

Wonder Woman had used her connections to arrange for a cover story to explain Barry Allen's civilian absence. Iris was aware of this with it being said that Barry Allen had returned from Witness Protection in order to explain his death and absence for many years. He later accompanied Hal Jordan to Fallville to investigate the speed surge among the speedsters where the pair discovered the Black Flash's deceased body. The pair were attacked by Christina Alexandrova who was angry at her master Savitar's demise after his contact with Allen. Alexandrova's body began to disintegrate after being in contact with Barry whereupon his body began to transform as he was being turned into the new Black Flash. (The Flash: Rebirth v1 #2) Barry was kept contained in a container to prevent his energy from killing others but he succumbed to surges in his power. He convinced Hal to release him where he decided to run in order to re-join the Speed Force as he believed that it was calling to him and that he was not meant to had returned to life. Whilst there, he encountered Johnny Quick and Max Mercury who died after encountering Allen but warned of the return of Professor Zoom. (The Flash: Rebirth v1 #3)

### The New 52

Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a new history of event.

## Overview

### Personality and attributes

In his superhero guise, he was known as the **Fastest Man Alive** and as the **Scarlet Speedster**. (Showcase v1 #4)

According to Batman, Barry Allen was one of the most optimistic men he had ever known. As a forensic scientist, he looked at life differently than most in his position as he saw his job in the crime lab being the protection of the innocent rather than damning the guilty. (Flash v2 #205) Batman stated that Barry Allen was the kind of man that he had hoped to had become if his own parents had not been murdered. (Justice v1 #8) He was noted for being honest and meticulous in his approach to work. (The Flash: Rebirth v1 #2)

It was said that Barry always looked to a person in the eye when he was speaking to them. Allen never yelled or never said that he was disappointed in another person with him having a great deal of patience. (The Flash: Rebirth v1 #1)

Wally claimed that Barry was the kind of person who knew everything and during his training of West he would pull out small pieces of useless information that he called **Flash Facts**. (JLA v1 #3)

In the Justice League, he at first did not like Hal Jordan as he found him reckless and that he stared at Wonder Woman too long whilst also laughing whenever they were outnumbered by their enemies. Barry claimed that this changed when he heard Jordan refer to a foe as a 'perp' whereupon he determined that the Green Lantern was a cop. (The Flash: Rebirth v1 #1)

He was noted to had collected the adventures of the fictional superhero The Flash Jay Garrick in the comic magazine Flash Comics where he enjoyed reading of his adventures. (Showcase v1 #4)

### Powers and abilities

The death of his mother led to his dedication to a life of studying forensics to the point that the crime lab was a second home for him. From there, he had developed the skill to picture a crime scene even before he completed any tests. From that, he could picture the origin of every blood spot and the intent behind any attack. (The Flash v5 #21) In time, he became noted for being the best forensics scientist that Central City ever had. (The Flash: Rebirth v1 #2)

Upon gaining his powers, his molecular structure was altered allowing him to vibrate with eye-blurring speed whilst being propelled by a mysterious force causing him to sprint at incredible speeds allowing him to outrace his shadows and break the sound barrier. Barry's reflexes also allowed him to see objects in slow-motion allowing him to grab objects in air with immeasurable speed. As the Flash, he was able to travel at such speeds that gravity had no effect on him allowing him to run up or down buildings. Similarly, he travelled at such speeds that he could run across water as his feet did not sink into the water. He could also travel at supersonic speeds to create a vortex-like hurricane around targets or locations. (Showcase v1 #4)

Through physical contact, he was able to determine the vibrational frequencies of a world determining whether it was his own reality or an alternate world. (Batman v3 #22) The Flash was able to vibrate his body to make it into a tuning fork allowing him to match the frequency of dimensional transportation allowing him to follow teleportation. (Justice League of America v1 #140) Similarly, he could use his super-speed causing himself to become invisible and match the wavelength frequency of other objects that were invisible such as a hidden Power Battery. (The Flash v1 #168)

The Flash was able to gather compressing air by collecting the air-molecules at super-speed and could shoot them like a battering ram at a target. He could also rotate his arms at super-speed to set up a tremendous gust of wind that had the dual effect of stopping projectiles in mid-air and slamming a target to the ground. (The Flash v1 #153)

He had a ring that had a button that opened a hidden compartment that ejected his superhero costume that expanded to full-size due to being treated with certain chemicals. (Showcase v1 #4)

## Notes

* The Barry Allen Flash was created by Robert Kanigher and Carmine Infantino where he made his first appearance in Showcase v1 #4 (October 1956).

## Alternate Versions

* In Elseworld's Flashpoint (1999), a possible version of history showed Barry Allen becoming the world's first superhero in 1956 where he helped fight crime and served his nation in stopping the Cold War along with pushing the Communists from Vietnam in 1963. His career came to an end when he took a bullet aimed at President John F. Kennedy with him being paralyzed from the neck down. He was unable to run fast though he became the fastest mind on Earth and founded a high-tech research firm called **Allen Industries**. Allen later got married with his wife being Iris West and by 1988 he was involved in a leading a manned exploration of Mars with Vandal Savage who headed Immortality Inc. His contact with the Speed Force empowered Wally West cured Allen of his paralysis though he was still too slow to save Van. Ashe raced to intercept the flashpoint energy, each connection made himself faster along him to circle the globe and save the world until he returned the artifact whereupon he took the relic with him into the flashpoint itself.
* In Trinity (2008), an alternate reality was created when the Trinity were removed from history. On this world, no Justice League was formed but rather the Justice Society International was created that was aggressive in its role in policing it from danger. Barry Allen joined their ranks as the Flash but was inexperienced when they battled Felix Faust. During the fight, he attempted to vibrate away from a mystical attack but failed with shards of rock embedded in his legs making him unable to run again. He was confined to a wheelchair and hid from the world with people believing he had died where he saw the aggressive means the Justice Society accomplished their goals. Barry in time disagreed with their approach as he saw themselves as heroes but the group seemed more concerned with security rather than liberty. As a result, he formed an underground branch of heroes called the League that he led on this Earth.
* In Flash v3 #6-12 (2011), an alternate world counterpart Barry Allen arrived in the present with him being known as **Hot Pursuit**. He stated that he was a version of Barry from within the fifty two worlds of the Multiverse. This version was shown to not naturally harness the Speed Force but instead built a **Cosmic Motorcycle** with the aid of his nephew Wally West. Through it, he was able to travel through time and the Multiverse where he sought to remove any anomalies. This version of Barry Allen later discovered the approaching Flashpoint that threatened to change all of the Multiverse and sought to stop the damage leading him to arriving on the mainstream Earth. Ultimately, it was revealed that Professor Zoom was the anomaly and Hot Pursuit attempted to stop him only to be killed by Thawne who aged the alternate Barry Allen to dust.

## In other media

### Television

* In the Arrowverse, Barry Allen made a number of appearances in the shared continuity setting.
	+ In Arrow, Barry Allen made his first appearance in the live-action television series second season where he was portrayed by actor Grant Gustin.
	+ In The Flash, Barry Allen served as the protagonist of the 2014 live-action television series spinoff show from Arrow where he was once again portrayed by Grant Gustin.
	+ In Vixen, Barry Allen as Flash appeared in a guest role in the animated web series where he was voiced by actor Grant Gustin.

### Films

* In the DC Extended Universe, Barry Allen made a number of appearances in the shared continuity setting.
	+ In Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Barry Allen made a cameo appearance in the 2016 live-action film where he was portrayed by actor Ezra Miller. He initially appeared to Batman where he gave a warning about the future but the incident appeared as a vision to Bruce Wayne. A second appearance showed him in a security footage that Lex Luthhor had acquired during his search for Metahumans where Barry in his civilian guise stopped a robbery with his superspeed whilst attempting to not reveal his true identity.
	+ In Suicide Squad, Barry Allen in the Flash suit appeared in the live-action film with actor Ezra Miller reprising the role where he was shown in a flashback to be responsible for apprehending Captain Boomerang.

### Video games

* In Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, Barry Allen as the Flash appeared as a playable character in the fighting video game where he was voiced by actor Taliesin Jaffe.
* In Infinite Crisis, the Barry Allen Flash appeared as a playable character in the MOBA game where he was voiced by actor Michael Rosenbaum. He had a number of alternate costumes available to him including the standard **Flash**, **Hypersonic** and **Olympian**.
* In DC Legends, the Barry Allen Flash was a playable character in the iOS video game.
* In Injustice: Gods Among Us, the Barry Allen Flash appeared as a playable character in the fighting video game where he was voiced by actor Neal McDonough.
* In Injustice 2, the Barry Allen Flash appeared as a playable character in the fighting video game sequel where he was voiced by actor Taliesin Jaffe.

## Appearances

* *Flash v1*:
* *Flash v3*: