FLASH III (Wally West)	BIOGRAPHY
Created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino

Flash (Wally West)

PERSONAL DATA

Real Name: Wally West
Full Name: Wallace Rudolph 'Wally' West
Aliases: Kid Flash
Occupation: Auto repairman for Central City Police Department
Citizenship: American
Marital Status: Married
Known Relatives: Rudolph West (father), Mary West (mother), Barry Allen (uncle), Iris Allen (aunt), Ira West (adoptive grandfather), Mr and Mrs Edgar Rhodes (uncle and aunt), Inez Rhodes (cousin), Don and Dawn Allen (cousins), Meloni Thawne (cousin-in-law), Jeven Ognats (cousin-in-law), Bart Allen (second cousin), Jenni Ognats (second cousin), Linda Park (wife), Jai West (son), Iris West II (daughter)
Base of Operation: Keystone City (formerly Blue Valley)
Group Affiliation(s): Justice League of America; formerly Justice League Europe; formerly the Teen Titans, Justice League Elite, and the Titans
Gender: Male
Height: 6'
Weight: 175 lbs.
Eyes: Green
Hair: Red
First Appearance: (as Kid Flash): Flash Vol. 1 #110/2 (December 1959-January 1960)
(as Flash III): Crisis on Infinite Earths #12 (March 1986)
Creators: John Broome and Carmine Infantino

I'd never given up my dream of meeting the Flash [Barry], and so that dream became a reality... rewarding me then ... and forever. - Wally West Quote taken from Flash Vol. 2 #0 (October 1994)

OVERVIEW

Wally West is the fastest man alive and possibly the fastest man ever. He is the third Flash, having grown up in the embrace of superspeed. He is one of the most experienced members of the Justice League and years ahead of other heroes his age.

The Flash has a direct line to the extra-dimensional energy source called the Speed Force, it is a form of speedster Valhalla. Time and time again Wally has brushed up against it, feeling it call him into its eternal embrace as it claimed his uncle Barry Allen. Yet Wally is linked to our world by an emotional bond with girlfriend Linda Park, and due to this link he always returns where other cannot or would not.

HISTORY

Beyond human understanding exists an elemental essence known as the Speed Force, it the source of power that lets those superhumans with the ability to superspeed to move at velocities that far exceeds anything the human body can or should be able to do. To join with the Speed Force is to go beyond the limits of physically known speed and to enter a realm that is more a metaphysical afterlife rather than a normal dimension.

To those that have attained the ability of superspeed the Speed Force is literally the Creator, and at times it can seem to be an intelligence that guides the fates and destinies of any that are fortunate enough to be part of it. Those that do for what ever reason become connected with the Speed Force are destined to became heroes or in the rarer case villains. One name that has become synonymous with the ability is the name of the Flash and the three generations of heroes who have carried the mantel.

The first Flash was Jay Garrick whom first gained his superpowers while a student at Midwestern university. He would go onto become one of the stars of the Golden Age and a founding member of the Justice Society of America. Jay retired when the JSA disbanded. To an extend the memory of Jay Garrick and his home of Keystone City would fade because of a plot by a number of his foes to isolate Keystone City from the rest of the world by a memory clouding spell.

Meanwhile police scientist Barry Allen was transformed into a second Flash when his laboratory was struck by a bolt of lightning knocking over a cabinet of unknown chemicals onto him. Like his predecessor before him Barry Allen became one of the core members of the superhero community and a founding member of the Justice League of America.

Wally West grew up with a strained family life, but for all intents and purposes he was a normal child. Except for three events in his childhood. One was being the head of the Flash Fan club at school, the second was the words of a stranger to never let go of his dreams (that stranger was later to be revealed to be Wally himself on a roller coaster ride through his own life via the Speed Force), the third was the fact that Wally was the nephew of Barry Allen (a.k.a. the second Flash).

Barry actually arranged for Wally to met the Flash and while at the lab where the original accident had transformed Barry into the Flash, Wally asked if the same thing could happen to him. As if fate needed to no more promoting a second lightning bolt hit the building and this time transformed Wally West into the Kid Flash, junior side kick of the Flash.

Wally played the part of the Kid Flash along side Barry and eventually became a founding member of the Teen Titans. At that time Wally was as fast as Barry but some have conjectured that perhaps Barry was actually subconsciously transferring speed to Wally in the same way that Wally can now do to others. However things have always been for more complex for Wally, his collage work began to suffer and he discovered that he had gained a condition where if he overused his superspeed then he might very well die.

Retiring from the adventuring life Wally was to eventually return to active status during the Crisis when a blast from the Anti-Monitor sent the disease into remission yet at the same time dramatically reduced his top speed. After the death of Barry while saving the planet, Wally took up the name of the Flash and tried to follow in the foot steps of Flash II.

At almost every stage Wally was somehow reminded of Barry and he grew tired of the comparisons, particularly from people such as Ralph Dibny (a.k.a. The Elongated Man). However as time went by Wally began to increase in speed again and to move from under the shadow of Barry Allen. Along the way he has had as always a roller coaster private life including winning the state lottery, loosing the money, finding out that his dad was actually a Manhunter agent and slowly falling in love with the television reported Linda Park. All this was to be turned on its head when as part of the Zero-hour Wally had to push his speed to the limit in an effort of close an Entropy rift, in the process he was catapulted into the timestream and was plunged into the Speed Force as Barry once had in his final moments.

Wally was different, the Speed Force transformed Wally to the point that he now has a "direct line" to the heart of the force that grants all the speedsters their speed. It has transformed his abilities and he may now well be the fasted man that has ever lived. It has also galvanised Wally as never before and forced him to examine his humanity. At last Wally West is the Flash in his own right and is only now taking his rightful place among the statesmen of the superhero community.

Wally faced perhaps his greatest challenge in the form of Savitar, who had joined with the Speed Force sometime after the retirement of the original Flash and the emergence of the second. He had devoted his life to the study of the speed force and had turned it into his religion. During the course of the battle Johnny Quick lost his life and Wally finally realized that he had to give Savitar what he wanted. Wally used his speed to boost Savitar to such a velocity that he was propelled into the Valhalla of the Speed Force.

On yet another roller coaster flight through the future Wally found himself teaming up with future Flash John Fox and the Tornado Twins (the children of Barry Allen). Meanwhile back in his home time John Fox (also time traveling) had tried to take the place of Wally. This started to generate feels for John by Linda with the result that the emotional bond that anchors Wally to this world started to breakdown leaving at the mercy of the Speed Force. It took everything that Wally had to return to our own time, make John Fox realize his errors and defeat the bad guys. The emotional bond between Linda and Wally was further reinforced during a recent battle with Neron.

POWERS AND WEAPONS

The effect of the Speed Force on the original two Flashes was to grant them the ability to move at superhuman speeds, often at their peak moving at a good fraction of light speed. They could also vibrate their molecules allowing them to pass through solid objects. Both were skilled in the use of their superspeed and often used the ability creatively.

All the Flashes seem to have a special aura that allows them to move at superspeed without occurring the effects of friction or air resistance.

Recently Wally had his legs broken by a supervillain called the Suit. In order to defeat the villain he experimented with his Speed Force powers to create a costume around himself out of solid speed force energy. The new suit cycles excess energy away from Wally, reacts to shape itself subtly against air resistance and acts to absorb momentum from impacts.

The third Flash originally had powers identical to the other two Flashes when he was Kid Flash, however as he slowed down his maximum speed was more of the order of the speed of sound. However now that Wally has encountered the heart of the Speed Force his abilities have been altered racially.

Wally West can now run faster than any of the other Flashes before him, if he hits light speed he is catapulted into the Speed Force with an effect that often means that he enters the timestream allowing him to time travel under the control of the Speed Force.

Wally can also impart kinetic energy to objects turning normal materials into superfast bullets, by the same effect if he vibrates him self and passes through an object now he imparts to much kinetic energy to the molecules of the object that it is not unusual for the object to explode.

CHRONOLOGY

For a definitive list of appearances of Flash in chronological order click here

PROFILE REFERENCES

Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #12 (February 1986)

Who's Who: Update '87 #2 (September 1987)
Who's Who in the DC Universe #2 (September 1990)
Who's Who in the DC Universe #10 (June 1991)
JLA Secret Files #1 (September 1997)
Flash Secret Files #1 (November 1997)
JLA-Z #1 (November 2003)