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"A flowing world of mystery, silver, morphing hyper-dimensional gels. Speed Heaven, the source of my power. "
— 'Quote from Wally West'

Superspeed

Flash and Kid-Flash use their super speed by tapping into the Speed Force.[1]


The Speed Force or Speed Field[2] was an energy field that granted all speedsters their power.

Although many characters might have had super speed, they weren't considered speedsters, unless they were able to tap into the Speed Force.



Background Information[]

The Speed Force provides super speed which is a super power that can allow a person to move beyond the fastest normal person's speed. Some speedsters are able to move fast enough to break the time barrier, allowing them to travel through time. The power can also be used to vibrate molecules at such a high speed it allows the speedster to pass through solid objects without disturbing the structure. Characters that can move at super speed can typically also heal at super speed.

Jay Garrick[]

In the parallel universe of Earth-Two (Earth-2A in the SuperFriends Universe), in the late 1930s, at Midwestern University in Keystone City, a young 'Jay Garrick' was playing football and pursuing a double-major in chemistry and physics. For three years Jay has been working on an experiment to purify 'hard water' without any residual radiation in a cyclotron. On one evening, he was involved in a lab accident, and inhaled some "hard water gas" fumes, which put him in a coma for two weeks. For the next few weeks, Jay would remain in the hospital. His doctors, are baffled by his 'positive' progress. They come to the conclusion that, ‘hard water’ makes an ordinary person much quicker if ingested in its liquid form, but an intake of its gases will make a person walk, run and think swifter than thought. Meaning Jay will probably be able to outrace a bullet. And this indeed proves to be the case. Jay has been given superhuman speed by the accident.[3]

Barry Allen[]

In the parallel universe of Earth-One, 'Barry Allen' is a police scientist with a reputation for being very slow, deliberate, and frequently late, which frustrates his fiancée, Iris West. One night, as he is preparing to leave work, a lightning bolt shatters a case of chemicals and spills them all over Allen. As a result, Allen finds that he can run extremely fast and has matching reflexes. He dons a set of red tights sporting a lightning bolt, dubs himself the Flash, (after his childhood comic book hero, Jay Garrick), and becomes Central City's resident costumed crimefighter.[4]

Wally West[]

In the parallel universe of Earth-One, 'Wally West' was the nephew of Iris West and founding member of the Teen Titans. When Wally was ten years old he vacationing with his aunt Iris during the summer. One day he went to visit his aunt's fiancée, Barry Allen at the Central City police laboratory where Barry worked. The freak accident that gave Allen his powers amazingly repeated itself. Wally was shot into a rack of chemicals by a bolt of lightning, just like Barry. As Barry recovered, Barry revealed his Superhero identity and offered to train the boy on how to use his new powers. Wally was the first person, aside from Iris to know the Flash's double-identity. Wally became Kid Flash (the first Kid Flash and the third Flash), fighting crime either alone or with the Flash.[5]


References[]

  1. Image from the Filmation animated series, The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure in the Flash Segments, episode: To Catch a Blue Bolt (1967).
  2. As it was called in comic story: Round Two (January 1996).
  3. Jay's origin revealed in Flash Comics, #1 (January 1940).
  4. Barry's origin revealed in Showcase, #4 (October, 1956).
  5. Wally's origin revealed in the Flash, Vol. 1 #120 (May, 1961).
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