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| “ | As long as I have my loved ones around me, nothing much else matters. Honest. If I lost my powers tomorrow and they never came back, at least I could say... I had a great run.
— Wally West
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Wally West was born to Rudolph and Mary West in Blue Valley, Nebraska. As a boy, Wally would often daydream, most notably about being the Flash. He idolized the Flash and was the president and sole member of the Blue Valley Flash Fan Club. His parents thought he was setting himself up for failure and did their best to dampen what they believed to be unrealistic expectations, in rather harsh ways. His father encouraged him to work at the same plant he did, but Wally grew frustrated and hurt by their lack of faith in his abilities.
At a family reunion held at the Wests, Wally accidentally spilled some soda while pouring, and was yelled at by his father for keeping his head in the clouds. He went to his room crying and a familiar-looking man, who he thought was maybe his uncle or something, came in and talked to him, saying he shouldn't give up on his dreams and giving him confidence that he'd reflect on for years to come.
During the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Barry gave his life to save the Earth when destroying the antimatter cannon that was aimed at Earth. Initially unaware of this, Wally was coaxed by Jay Garrick into assisting the heroes against the Anti-Monitor's forces. During the final battle with the Anti-Monitor, Wally was struck by a blast of anti-matter energy, which put his disease into remission. In the aftermath of the conflict, Wally took on his fallen mentor's costume and identity.
The decision by DC Comics' editorial staff to radically change their fictional universe saw several changes to the status quo of the character. Wally West became a less powerful new Flash than his predecessor. For example, instead of being able to reach the speed of light, he could run just faster than sound. Also, the character had to eat vast quantities of food to maintain his metabolism.
Those changes were quickly followed up and 1987 saw the publication of a new Flash comic, initially written by Mike Baron. These stories focused not only on the Flash's superhero exploits but also on the state of Wally's wealth. West won a lottery, bought a large mansion, and became something of a playboy. The character's finances and luck continued to ebb and wane until Flash vol. 2, #62 when his playboy ways ended and his fortunes stabilized.
The 1990s also saw further modifications to the look of the character, with a modified uniform appearing in 1991.[8] This modified costume altered the visual appearance of the traditional Flash costume, with a belt made of two connecting lightning bolts meeting in a "V" at the front (where Allen's costume had a single bolt in a horizontal band), removal of the wings from the top of his boots, a change in the material of his costume, and opaque lenses added to the eyes of his cowl. This modified design utilized elements of the costume designed by artist Dave Stevens for the live-action television series, The Flash.
A difficult encounter with a particularly vicious foe, the Reverse-Flash, also served to increase the speed of the character, forcing him to push past a psychological block he had placed on his powers. To prevent himself from truly "replacing" Barry, Wally had subconsciously limited his speed so that he could never become his mentor's equal, but Thawne's bragging that he would become the true Flash forced Wally past this block as he feared Thawne replacing Barry more than he feared himself doing so. After this encounter, he was Barry Allen's equal in speed and eventually became even faster. Though he still had not been able to recover Barry's vibrational/phasing abilities (he could vibrate through objects but they would explode instead) he gained several new powers that Barry never had. He was able to share/steal speed, use his speed to kinetically upgrade his attacks, and super heal others.
Writer Mark Waid expanded on the character's powers thematically and further redefined the character by introducing the Speed Force, an energy source that served as a pseudo-scientific explanation for his powers and that of other fictional speedsters within the DC Universe. Using this concept as a basis, the character's ability to tap into the Speed Force was used to expand his abilities. The character was now able to lend speed to other objects and people and create a costume directly out of Speed Force energy. Traditional powers such as vibrating through solid objects were also restored. The Flash was sued for not saving a woman from a burning building. Because of this, The Flash felt pressured into having to constantly be heroic 24/7.
The 2000s saw writer Geoff Johns revitalize the character by introducing new versions of characters such as Zoom; making significant use of the Rogues; and marrying the character to longtime girlfriend Linda Park.
After Johns left the series, sales dropped significantly and DC editorial decided that it was time for the status quo to change once more. Using the miniseries Infinite Crisis as a narrative device, the character of Wally West and his family were seen leaving for an alternative reality. This allowed the character Bart Allen to become the fourth Flash and headline a relaunched third volume of the title, called The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive.
The critical reaction to this new version of the character was mixed and the character was killed off in the final issue of the short-lived third volume. It was decided that Wally West should return; and the JLA/JSA story "The Lightning Saga" was used to return the character to Earth along with his wife and children, who appear to have aged several years.
The character next appeared in All Flash #1 (2007), seeking vengeance on those who had killed Bart Allen. This was followed by The Flash vol. 2, which resumed publication after the long hiatus with issue #231 (October 2007). The series found the character struggling with trying to raise his two super-powered twins, plagued by accelerated growth and their inexperience in the heroic game, a task made more difficult by Wally's unemployment, his inability to keep a steady job, and the mistrust of the League for his decision to bring two children into the fold. The series was canceled with issue #247 (February 2009).
In Final Crisis, the character was reunited with Barry Allen, who had returned to life.Battles here were deemed to be unfair or otherwise not in accordance with wiki standards, and have been removed from the statuses of the warriors and displayed below.
Battle vs. Spider-Man (Comics) (by Drayco90)[]
No battle was written.
Expert's Opinion[]
No expert's opinion was written.
To see the original battle, weapons, and votes, click here.
Reason[]
The battle was declared unfair for Spider-Man because of the Flash's top speed is faster than light, which is too fast for Spider-Man to deal with.
Battle vs. Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic) (by Narendra Modi)[]
The battle begins with Sonic running through the hill zone, where a city is nearby. Sonic goes to check it out. As he is running through the civilised area, Sonic is knocked to the ground. The speedy hedgehog looks up to see who had knocked him down, as he gets up, he sees The Flash. "What are you? An alien, a rat, or even a parasite?" asked Flash, not knowing that Sonic is a hedgehog. "I'm a hedgehog, you dumbass." responds Sonic. Flash tells Sonic to take it easy, but is punched in the face. Flash tries to hit Sonic but the hedgehog dodges the fists that Flash swings at him but gets hit by Flash again.
Flash starts beating up Sonic for 2 minutes, which weakens Sonic and gives him a skull fracture. Sonic is weak and about to die. Sonic tries to run out away before he dies, but his efforts are futile. Flash, thinking that he won, runs away. Suddenly, he heard Sonic's voice and looks back. A explosion comes out of the ground, and Super Sonic emerges. Flash gets ready for a final fight.
The two then jump in the air and they attack, blocking each others' moves. Sonic prepares to finish off Flash, but is knocked out. Flash watches Super Sonic turn back into normal. Flash doesn't want to kill Sonic, instead, he takes him to the pound.
Sonic is euthanized by an intravenous injection, typically using a very high dose of pentobarbital or sodium thiopental. Unconscious, cardiac arrest follow rapidly inside Sonic's body, within 30 seconds. This method leads Sonic to a quick and peaceful death.
Winner: Flash
Expert's Opinion[]
None written.
To see the original battle, weapons, and votes, click here.