Guest post by MrMurdock. If you want to write a guest post too see the requirements here. Known as the "Scarlet Speedster", the mantle of The Flash has been donned by 4 different heroes over the years. all of which have lived up to the name of "The Fastest Man Alive." Currently Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, Wally West and Bart Allen have all served as The Flash. Here's my take on who'd be good a translate these brilliant characters onto the big screen.
HISTORY
Nicknamed the Scarlet Speedster, all incarnations of the Flash possess "super-speed", which includes the ability to run and move extremely fast, use superhuman reflexes and seemingly violate certain laws of physics. Thus far, four different characters—each of whom somehow gained the power of "super-speed"—have assumed the identity of the Flash: Jay Garrick (1940–present), Barry Allen (1956–1985, 2008–present), Wally West (1986–2006, 2007–present), and Bart Allen (2006–2007). Before Wally and Bart's ascension to the mantle of the Flash, they were both Flash proteges under the same name Kid Flash.
The second incarnation of the Flash, Barry Allen, is generally considered the first hero of the Silver Age of comic books and the superhero has remained one of DC's most popular ever since. Each version of the Flash has been a key member of at least one of DC's three premier teams: the Justice Society of America, the Justice League, and the Teen Titans. Wally West has recently rejoined the Justice League, and Barry Allen recently returned to life in the pages of Final Crisis.
Golden Age
The Flash first appeared in the Golden Age Flash Comics #1 (Jan. 1940), from All-American Publications, one of three companies that would eventually merge to form DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, this Flash was Jay Garrick, a college student who gained his speed through the inhalation of hard water vapors.
Jay Garrick was a popular character in the 1940s, supporting both Flash Comics and All-Flash Quarterly (later published bi-monthly as simply All-Flash); co-starring in Comic Cavalcade; and being a charter member of the Justice Society of America, the first superhero team, whose adventures ran in All Star Comics. With superheroes' post-war decline in popularity, Flash Comics was canceled with issue #104 (1949). The Justice Society's final Golden Age story ran in All Star Comics #57 (1951; the title itself continued, as All Star Western).
Silver Age
This new Flash was Barry Allen, a police scientist who gained super-speed when bathed by chemicals after a shelf of them was struck by lightning. He adopted the name The Flash after reading a comic book featuring the Golden Age Flash. After several more appearances in Showcase, Allen's character was given his own title, The Flash, the first issue of which was #105 (resuming where Flash Comics had left off).
The Silver Age Flash proved popular enough that several other Golden Age heroes were revived in new incarnations (see: Green Lantern). A new superhero team, the Justice League of America, was also created, with the Flash as a main, charter member.
The Flashes of Two Worlds
Allen's adventures continued in his own title until the advent of Crisis on Infinite Earths. The Flash ended as a series with issue #350. Allen's life had become considerably confused in the early 1980s, and DC elected to end his adventures and pass the mantle on to another character. Allen died heroically in Crisis on Infinite Earths #8 (1985). Thanks to his ability to travel through time, he would continue to appear occasionally in the years to come.
Modern Age
Due to the Infinite Crisis miniseries and the "One Year Later" jump in time in the DC Universe, DC canceled The Flash (vol. 2) in January 2006 at #230. A new series, The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive, began on June 21, 2006. The initial story arc of this series, written by Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo with art by Ken Lashley, focused on Bart Allen's acceptance of the role of the Flash.
Flash: Fastest Man Alive was canceled with issue #13. In its place The Flash (vol. 2) was revived with issue #231, with Mark Waid as the initial writer. Waid also wrote All-Flash #1, which acted as a bridge between the two series.[4] DC had solicited Flash: Fastest Man Alive through issue #15. All Flash #1 replaced issue #14 and The Flash (vol. 2) #231 replaced issue #15 in title and interior creative team only. The covers and cover artists were as solicited by DC, and the information text released was devoid of any plot information
In 2009, Barry Allen made a full fledged return to the DCU-proper in The Flash: Rebirth, a six-issue miniseries by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver.
FANCAST
JAY GARRICK
Jason Peter Garrick: The first Flash was Jay Garrick, a Golden Age hero who gained his super-speed from exposure to radioactive "heavy water" as a student. He used his powers to fight crime in his hometown of Keystone City, and was one of the founding members of the Justice Society Of America (JSA). After World War II, Garrick retired, only to be brought back into action by the second Flash, Barry Allen. Jay Garrick has been kept active and in his middle years through various means over the decades (his body is that of a fifty-year old, though he is over ninety), and still occasionally puts on the costume to fight crime. He has been a stalwart member of JSA in every incarnation.
As a boy, Jay Garrick used to read pulp magazine stories about super-hero, Whip Whirlwind. Little did he know that he would be granted the same powers of super speed. Jay would go to Midwestern University in Keystone City. He was double-majoring in chemistry and physics. An experiment he was working on during his junior year was to purify hard water without any residual radiation in a cyclotron. When a test tube of the hard water was accidentally spilled, the fumes knocked him out. His friend Elliot Shapiro dragged him from the lab. After a week of unconsciousness, Jay discovered his metabolism had dramatically increased by the accident, granting him super-human speed. Jay Garrick used his new-found speed to protect the innocent as The Flash, the fastest man alive.
JOAN GARRICK
Joan Williams: Joan Williams was a student at Midwestern University, she was the girlfriend of Jay Garrick who was her classmate. But they took different ways; Joan went to Washington and Jay to New York. She was one of the people who know about his lab accident that gave him powers and when her father was kidnapped she asked Flash (Jay) to help her locate him.
When she returned to Keystone City and she and Jay married before the Society disbanded and Jay retired as Flash. It was discovered that Joan has leukemia and she moved to Denver to an experimental treatment but she got better and they returned to Keystone.
BARRY ALLEN
When he ended his studies, he turned into a police scientist with a well known habit for lateness. He lived in Central City and had a steady girlfriend named Iris West (later Iris Allen-West). He had a love of comic books, his favorite being the Flash (Jay Garrick). Working late one night, lightning struck the chemicals in the metal rack next to where he was working and they exploded over Barry who was knocked over. As he stood up, he realized that he was unharmed. After clearing up, Barry went about his business, but it is not long before he discovered the world around seemed to have slowed. More accurately, he had become much faster! Realizing he had become like his hero, Barry decided to follow in his foot steps and become a hero. He discovers that not only is he fast, but he can also vibrate his molecules, rendering him almost invisible and allowing him to phase through solid objects. He also created a costume and treated it with a special chemical that would shrink so that it can fit inside a ring, allowing him to have it with him ready so that he can change in a moment. Flash, used this ring to compress and conceal his costume while operating in his civilian identity. By thumbing a small stud on the side, the top of the ring opened, releasing the costume, allowing Barry the ability to change clothes at super-speed.
PROFESSOR ZOOM
However, the treadmill was not at full power like it used to be, the reason why is because it had not been used for centuries. It miscalculated Eobard's arrival and Eobard appeared several years after Barry's death, at this time Wally West (3rd flash) is The Flash. Eobard saw his trip pointless. Eobard visited the Flash Museum later that day and that's when he learned that he was destined to become the Flash's greatest villain, Professor Zoom.
Eobard Thawne was the first Reverse Flash. He also goes by the name Professor Zoom. He is best known for being the archenemy of Barry Allen, as well as murdering Barry's true love, Iris West.
IRIS WEST ALLEN
Iris Ann Russell West Allen: In her first appearance, Iris was a reporter for the Picture News, based in Central City, and the girlfriend of the chronically late Barry Allen. Eventually, she learned that Barry was the Flash through his sleep walking and that her step-nephew, Wally West, was Kid Flash. In Flash #165, she married Barry. During this time, the couple discovered that Iris was adopted and that she was born about a thousand years in the future in the 30th century, and had been sent back to the present shortly before "Earth-East" attacked "Earth-West", when Central City was a self-contained city.
After years as a prominent presence in the Flash's life and Central City, she was killed by Professor Zoom during a costume party. Zoom vibrates his hand into her head, solidifying it just enough to kill her. But at that very second her soul was brought to the 30th century by her real parents. Barry killed Professor Zoom and when he was tried for the murder, she was brought back to he 20th century disguised as a juror to make sure he was acquitted. Barry and Iris left for the 30th century together. After Barry was killed in the crisis, she had his twins. She returned to the 20th century to teach her grandson, Bart, how to use his speed.
WALLY WEST
One summer, Iris offered to let Wally stay in Central City with her. Wally gladly took the chance to get out of his hometown and away from his parents, and looked forward to the excitement of the big city. Iris introduced Wally to Barry, whom Wally thought was dull and uninteresting until Barry offered to introduce Wally to the Flash.Barry used some simple super-speed tricks to pull off the double identity, and gave Wally the surprise of his life. In Barry's lab, the Flash told Wally about how he had gotten his powers - a stray bolt of lightning that hit a rack of chemicals, which in turn hit him. A bolt of lightning struck chemicals which spilled on Wally granted him super-speed powers similar to Barry's. This was the exact same way in which Barry received his powers! Wally would later find out that the Speed Force used these accidents as a cover to grant super-speed powers to both him and Barry. Barry revealed his dual identity to Wally and a new partnership was forged. Wally became Flash's sidekick, Kid Flash. Initially, Wally wore a costume mirroring Barry's. As a strategic decision during a battle, Flash altered Wally's costume to a primarily-yellow design. After the battle, Wally chose to keep the costume, and wore it through his whole career as Kid Flash.
LINDA PARK
About a year later, Linda worked on a story about Porcupine Man and his altercation with Captain Cold. Captain Cold was then reformed and head of Golden Snowball Recoveries. Porcupine Man was in truth the Flash after a rather unfortunate series of events. Wally was wanted for the murder of several missing boys, but proved his innocence by finding and returning them home. Needless to say, they did not exactly hit it off. She hounded him about his involvement on their first meeting and he returned the favor on their second - criticizing her as a sensationalist only caring about her reviews. She thought Wally West was brash and arrogant - she was right. Linda also saw something else in him, the spark of a better man. As their relationship developed, that spark became the flames of love. But first they were friends, even helping each other out on cases. When Wally was duped by a cult, the Celestial Enlightenment Ranch, Linda helped him reveal the truth behind the religious group. When Linda was seemingly possessed by the spirit of an 800 year old Irish Bard named Seamus O’Relkig, Wally helped her. By the time that Seamus O'Relkig was revealed to a way for Kilg%re to lure Wally into thinking it was gone for good, the two of them had a bond that was difficult to break. Of course, even after realizing how much they meant to each other, even after realizing that they thought of the other as more than just friends, it proved a little bit harder to move into a romantic relationship. Like many new couples, Wally and Linda had their share of awkward dates and boundary disputes. But their slow and steady progression in falling in love kept them going. Only after Wally's house was demolished did they move in together, starting a new life in the suburbs of Keystone City.
ZOOM
Hunter Zoloman came from a troubled family background. His parents rarely spoke too one another or even to him. On the day Hunter was set to leave home to go to college, on his way home he found the police laying siege to his home. He found that his father was a serial killer who in his time had killed six young girls. Hunter's mother gave her husband up to the police but he was killed after he refused to come willingly. After this, Hunter became obsessed with understanding how the criminal mind functions and stopping people like his father from killing innocent people. Hunter studied psychology and criminology at college. It was also here that he met his girlfriend, and later wife, Ashley. They both joined the F.B.I. together and became agents. Unfortunately, by a miscalculation on Hunters part, Ashley’s father was killed. Hunter said that the criminal they were pursuing would be unable to face his adult life and thus would be unable to use a gun as a weapon, he was wrong. Ashley left him soon after this. Due to the events that took place and the subsequent killing, Hunter was let go from the F.B.I., he left with an injured knee now needing a cane to walk. Hunter found himself in Keystone City, home to the Flash. There, he was able to get a job in the local precinct as a profiler, working in the Department of Metahuman Hostilities. With his new range of work, he was in constant contact with the Flash, Wally West. The two soon struck it off and became good friends. Hunter was a key player in several of Flash’s cases, yet he always felt resentment towards the Flash as he was stuck behind a desk.
Hunter was injured by Gorilla Grodd when Grodd staged a massive prison break and as a result was left paralyzed from the waist down. Hunter asked Wally to use the cosmic treadmill, found in the Flash Museum, to travel back in time and stop the event from taking place. Wally declined the offer saying that he could not take the chance in disrupting the time stream. Hunter was angered by this. He felt Wally had refused his offer as he had never suffered personal tragedy or loss like the previous Flashes (i.e. Barry Allen) and thus could never understand the importance of what he had asked Wally to do or how terrible it truly felt. Hunter broke into the Flash Museum in a desperate attempt to use the cosmic treadmill himself. It didn’t work. The resulting explosion destroyed the museum. It was soon after that Hunter found that all was not well. The explosion at the Museum had knocked Hunter's connection to time out of sync. With this he was able to slow down time and move normally through out it, thus giving the impression of super speed. Hunter decided that if he could cause a great tragedy in Wally’s life he would be able to make the Flash a better hero. He became the new Zoom. Zoom began a reign of terror which of course grabbed the attention of the scarlet speedster. To defeat his new enemy, Wally had to reach Zoom's near light speed motion. Flash had to steal Kid Flash’s (Bart Allen) and Jay Garrick's speed to catch up with him, and in Wally’s words, "even with their speed, Zoom was still a blur."
BART ALLEN
When it became clear that the simulator was not working his grandmother, Iris Allen decided to take Bart into the past to see her nephew, Wally West in hopes Wally would have a solution to his cousins problems. Wally made Bart use his super speed at new levels. This extreme burst of speed shocked Bart’s metabolism back to normal. Because Bart spent most of his childhood in the reality simulator Bart had no concept of danger and would often act before thinking. Bart proved too much to handle for Wally so Wally passed him over to the veteran speedster Max Mercury who taught Bart about the Speed Force and how to use his powers responsibly.
MAX MERCURY
Upon reentering the Speed Force, Barry encounters both Johnny Quick and Max Mercury. Johnny is obliterated right after touching Barry like Lady Flash and Savitar before him and it is then revealed to Barry and Max that it is the returned Professor Zoom who is causing the speedsters who encounter Barry to be destroyed. Professor Zoom exits the Speed Force intending to hurt those close to Barry. Barry sets off in pursuit and asks Max to return with him. Max explains that he is too tired and will never be able to make the trip out. Barry refuses to let Max stay and responds by offering him a helping hand telling him he still has a long race to run. Barry and Max escape the Speed Force and arrive just in time to save Kid Flash from the clutches of Professor Zoom.
THE ROGUES
Since the beginning of Wally West's career he inherited a group of villains from his predecessor Barry Allen. Since then some have come and gone but the core group have stayed it consists of Captain Cold, Weather Wizard, Mirror Master, Captain Boomerang, Trickster and Heat Wave. At heart, they are a group of thieves and crooks but generally do not resort to murder or schemes to take over the world.
During the Silver Age, the group worked together, sharing profits, pulling jobs and hanging out afterwards. Captain Cold and Heat Wave teamed up a few times with little success. To make fighting the Flash easier, they recruited the Pied Piper, Captain Boomerang, Mirror Master, Heat Wave, the Top and later Weather Wizard, and the Trickster. Occasionally, the group would team up with Dr. Alchemy, the Rainbow Raider and even Gorilla Grodd. The Rogues suffered from occasional fighting among themselves, mainly due to rivalries between Captain Cold and Heat Wave, the Top's attitude of superiority and the group's general rudeness to Piper (both over his sexual orientation and because he was a much tamer villain than the rest of the group).
CAPTAIN COLD
As a child, the only good influence in Snart and his sister Lisa's life was their grandfather, who was an ice deliveryman. He would take the children with him to restaurants, ball parks, etc and give them ice cream. Snart's grandfather died before he turned twelve. At that point, he and his sister had learned to never cry, to be emotionally cold. Eventually, Snart left home. Lisa wanted to go with him but he told her to stay since she was a talented ice skater and he didn't want to ruin her chance to be a professional skater or let her get involved with the kind of people he planned to work for.Snart worked with a small gang of thieves that had designed special glasses to protect their eyes from gunflares. While breaking into a building to rob it, the gang was captured by Barry Allen, the Flash. Snart swore revenge. In prison, Snart studied kinetic energy and thermal motion, realizing that absolute zero temperature would stop even the Flash. When he finally got out on parole, he broke into a lab and stole blueprints and a cyclotron to power his new weapon: the cold gun. Taking the glasses from his former gang, he changed his name to Cold, adding the title "Captain" to give the illusion of authority.
WEATHER WIZARD
Mark Mardon, however, was going to use these discoveries to help himself! Using his own inventive skill and following the principles Clyde had discovered, Mardon built a wand that would enable him to control the weather over limited areas. He then created the costumed identity of the Weather Wizard. As the Weather Wizard, Mardon set out on a revenge mission against the three police officers who had arrested him. He suceeded in getting the first two men, but was prevented by the Flash (Barry Allen) in his attempts to get the third. The Weather Wizard later created a weather control station and used frigid weather to cut Oakley County, Wyoming, off from the rest of the country. His next plan was to build a gigantic weather control station from which he could take over the whole country. His plans were foiled by Wally West (Kid Flash). His most regular opponent was Barry (Flash). On occasions he teamed up with other members of the Rogues Gallery to overcome Barry but without success.
MIRROR MASTER
CAPTAIN BOOMERANG
George 'Digger' Harkness: Part of the Flash's original Rogues Gallery, George "Digger" Harkness never achieved the success he thought he deserved. He was eventually killed by Jack Drake after he was sent to assassinate him. When the assassination went bad, and both ended up dead.
Owen Mercer: At first he joined the Rogues, but soon changed his ways. He was able to move past his feeling and help Robin with one of his cases.. He joined the Outsiders and became friends with Supergirl. Eventually he left to be in the Suicide Squad, due to Batman's restructuring of the team. He worked with the rest of the Suicide Squad to catch villains to send to planet Salvation.
During Blackest Night, Owen thought he could resurrect his father. Putting Black Lantern Digger in a pit, Owen threw people in for Digger to feed on. Digger had convinced Owen that if he took the hearts from enough people he would come back to life. After dealing with the undead Rogues at Iron Heights, the live Rogues found Owen. Seeing that he had been killing women and children, Captain Cold pushed him into the pit with his father. Digger took Owen's heart, and he became a Black Lantern. Captain Cold then froze both Captain Boomerang's and left them.
TRICKSTER
Axel Walker: The one thing Axel really took to heart was something his father told him: Everyone in the world is either a trickster, or one being tricked. Axel was mostly ignored by his parents, who were divorced. His time to shine came when Blacksmith put together her Rogues. She helped Axel to steal the first Trickster, James Jesse's, gear. Trickster's test is to steal all the profiles from Hunter Zolomon. While doing so Axel first encounters the Flash, Wally West. He uses a fake glove to trap the Flash, and makes his escape.
Trickster is then initiated into the secret of Blacksmith's Network, a super-villain black market. The other, more experienced Rogues are somewhat skeptical, but Axel is determined to prove himself. He is caught in the midst of the crossfire between the Flash and the Thinker, and does admirably. Along with Mirror Master and Weather Wizard, Axel joins Captain Cold's Rogues. James Jesse is extremely unhappy about Axel taking up the Trickster mantle. He, along with Heat Wave, Pied Piper, and Magenta, go to take down the Rogues. The Top interrupts, and undoes the brain washing he had put onto Heat Wave and James. Now villainous once more, James beats up Axel and tells him never to wear the costume again.
HEAT WAVE
At school, Heat Wave always wore winter clothes inside. The kids made fun of this. This led to a friend locking him in a walk-in freezer as a joke during a school field trip. Mick escaped, and was compelled to lock his friend in his house, and set it on fire. Mick often cited this freezer incident as a trauma that left him with an intense fear of cold.He ran away from home, eventually joining a circus as a fire-eater. He was happy and thought he had his obsession under control, but it broke loose again, and he burned down the circus. Rory was inspired by the Rogues to channel his obsession into a new identity. He invented a handgun-sized flamethrower and wore an asbestos suit and committed crimes under the identity of Heat Wave. When they met at a bank robbery, Captain Cold invited Heat Wave to join the Rogues.
PIED PIPER
The Pied Piper got tired of the Rogue world, and eventually retired from being a super-villain and became a hero. He is one of the first characters of the DC company to 'come out' as gay, revealing his orientation to the current Flash of the time, Wally West. This was important at the time, as it showed that DC was a very open minded and politically correct company. The Pied Piper has been a symbol of equality in some comic book groups, as homosexual comic fans have sometimes been attacked for their sexuality. The Pied Piper is one of the few Rogues who have turned good, and although he has tendencies to turn back to evil occasionally, he remains, deep down, a good person. In the DC series Countdown, he expressed to fellow Rogue the Trickster, that with Wally West's disappearance, he felt he had no where else to belong.
TOP
The top began to commit daring robberies in Central City, and came to the attention of the Flash (Barry Allen). On a number of occasions, Top teamed up with other members of the Flash's rogues gallery, but always came unstuck against the Scarlet Speedster. The Top became romantically attached to Lisa Snart, sister of Captain Cold. The Top coached Lisa on spinning which enabled the already talented skater to become even better. Eventually, the continual spinning around caused the Top's brain to be affected to the point where he developed mind over matter powers. During an encounter with the Flash, the Flash's super speed vibrations somehow, unwittingly, lethally affected the Top's super powered brain. Before he died, the Top decided he was going to destroy Central City through a series of powerful bomb explosions. However, with the aid of the Rogues, the Flash managed to save the City.
DOCTOR ALCHEMY
ABRA KADABRA
Kadabra's technology was accidentally damaged and he wasturned into a ghost-like entity. When restored to normal, Kadabra was taken back to the 64th century by a bounty hunter named Peregrine, and was about to be executed, but was saved by the Flash Bart Allen. Abra and the demon Neron made a deal and he became a real sorcerer in the 21st century. Recently he took part in murdering the latest Flash, Bart Allen.
GORILLA GRODD
On an exploratory mission, their leader Solovar was captured by humans. Rather than reveal the existence of Gorilla City, he played dumb and allowed himself to be taken to a Central City circus. Grodd came after him, but not for rescue; his intent was to steal Solovar’s secret for controlling others through force of mind. He succeeded, but ran afoul of the Flash for the first time. His plan to create an army of his fellow gorillas and take over the world was foiled. Since then, Grodd has spent most of his time imprisoned in Gorilla City, breaking out only when he has a plan ready. Often, he has gone to Central City hoping to eliminate the Flash before he could interfere with his plans. At times, he has led a political faction within Gorilla City, sometimes even becoming the dominant force.
What do you think of my cast? Do you approve?
