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| The Flash: Every Speedster That Exists In The Arrowverse |
The Flash: Every Speedster That Exists In The Arrowverse
Arrowverse is filled with Speedsters. Barry Allen might consider himself the fastest man alive, but he is far from the only Speedster in the multiverse. Since that fateful day struck by lightning, Flash has found himself facing countless friends and foes that seem to match his speed.
From an out-of-universe perspective, superhero comics and TV shows have long enjoyed attacking heroes against twisted mirror-image enemies. In the case of the flash, writers seem to have initially struggled to imagine scenarios where Barry Allen could actually be fought by anyone who does not have the same set of power. After all, any threat can be quickly executed so that they don't see it until it comes. The show became more creative as it continued, realizing that he had fallen into a repetitive trope.
Of course, The Flash indulged in both time travel and the concept of multiple universes, which means speedsters come from countless different times and dimensions. The following list is all the characters in Arrowverse with speedster abilities; it does not include characters such as Trajectory, Savitar, or Zoom, who were killed, or speedsters mentioned in tie-ins that may not be canon.
The Flash - Barry Allen (Earth-1)
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| The Flash - Barry Allen |
Barry Allen himself is undoubtedly the first, best, and the fastest. He has an intimate connection with the Speed Force, which was created when he was struck by lightning. At one point, the flash spent six months trapped inside Speed Force, his cells were saturated with Speed, permanently changing and enhancing his powers; later, it seemed that Oliver Queen as The Spectre - enhanced the flash's speed even more. Barry's previous maximum speed was measured at 1.25 percent of the speed of light, but he is now able to far exceed that.
The Flash - Barry Allen (DCEU)
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| The Flash - Barry Allen (DCEU) |
The crisis on the Infinite Earth an unexpected cameo from DCEU Flash from Ezra Miller, confirming that DCEU is part of the same multiple universes. It was the final piece of fan service, bringing Miller and Grant Justin head-to-head, and even suggesting that Earth-1 Barry Allen gave the embodiment of DCEU his idea of his code name. It is not entirely clear how this works, because technically the encounter happened after the destruction of multiple universes, which meant that it should have been truly impossible.
Kid Flash
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| Kid Flash |
Next is Wally West, also known as Kid Flash, son of Joe West and Iris's younger brother. He was exposed to the Speed Force in the Flashpoint timeline. although the timeline was reset, Wally regained connection with Speed Force when faced with a philosopher's stone. Wally is one of the most powerful Speedsters, as his powers grow at a much greater rate than Flash's, although it is not clear whether this is still the case. Some Wally powers seem to be a little different when compared to the other speed. His superior healing is particularly inconsistent.
Reverse-Flash
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| Reverse-Flash |
Eobard Thawne is the most dangerous super-speedster ever, born in the 22nd century and obsessed with flash. He succeeded in recreating the accident that gave Barry Allen his powers and became the speedster himself. Thawne became a reverse flash, learning how to use a new force called the negative speed force. This is the yin to the Speed Force's yang, an extradimensional field of negative energy that eats away at the Speed Force like cancer. Obviously, a speedster with negative speed power can use it to do everything the speedster does with Speed Force. Following the reveal that Thawne merged into all Wells versions after the crisis, his current Arrowverse status is unknown.
Nora West-Allen
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| Nora West-Allen |
Nora West Allen grew up from a future timeline in which the flash died during the crisis on Infinite Earths, and she traveled again to meet her father. Unfortunately, Nora unwittingly rewrote the timeline, eventually, she was erased from reality itself. The aftermath of the crisis on the Infinite Earths may have brought Nora back into existence, but in this new timeline, we hope she has grown up with Barry Allen to help bring her up.
Jay Garrick
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| Jay Garrick |
The Flash of Earth-3, Jay Garrick designed himself in the name of The Crimson Comet and was a frequent ally of the Flash team. He knows the Speed Force better than probably any other speedster bar Reverse-Flash, and, during the buildup to Crisis on Infinite Earths, he was the only person to successfully discover the anti-matter waves destroying various realities. Earth-3 has been erased, but Shipp has indicated Jay could return. Curiously, Jay did mention training a protege, an unknown super-speedster.
Jesse Quick
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| Jesse Quick |
Jesse Quick is the daughter of Harrison Wells of Earth-2, and her Speed Force connection is unlocked by the STAR Labs antimatter wave. She was a frequent ally of Team Flash, even moving to Earth-1 for some time and dating Wally West. Unfortunately, after Savitar was defeated, she returned to Earth -2 and was living there when her dimension was struck by an antimatter wave. It is not known whether she was restored when Oliver Queen restored the multiverse.
The Accelerated Man (Earth-19)
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| The Accelerated Man |
It is easy to forget the Accelerated Man, who lives on Earth -19. Assuming it is similar to the equivalent of his comic book, he's an alter-dimensional Barry Allen; the Accelerated Man was only found a few times by dimension-hoppers like Gypsies, and it is impossible to say whether he still exists in the post-crisis universe.
Blitzkrieg (Earth-X)
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| Blitzkrieg |
Another exotic one, Blitzkrieg only appeared in the animated series Freedom Fighters: The Ray. He is the Earth-X speedster, a ruthless member of the new Reichsmen, and has enhanced his powers as a speedster by using a rapier as a deadly weapon. He was captured by freedom fighters and no one has seen him since.
Godspeed
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| GodSpeed |
Godspeed is probably the most confusing of all speedsters yet. He originates from Nora West-Allen's future timeline, as Nora beat him after she was trained by Eobard Thawne. After Nora was wiped off the timeline, though, he started sending Speedsters back in time to cause trouble for the Flash team. This appears to have stopped after the Crisis on Infinite Earth's events, which means that Godspeed's timeline has supposedly changed again.