Flash (Barry Allen)

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Barry Allen
Barry Allen as depicted in The Flash #170 (May 1967). Art by Carmine Infantino.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Showcase #4 (October 1956)
Created by	Robert Kanigher Carmine Infantino
In-story information
Alter ego	Bartholomew Henry "Barry" Allen
Species	Metahuman
Place of origin	Central City
Team affiliations	Justice League S.T.A.R. Labs Central City Police Department Blue Lantern Corps Justice Incarnate
Partnerships	Speedster partners: Kid Flash (various) Jay Garrick Wally West Bart Allen Wallace West Other hero partners: Green Arrow Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) Green Lantern (John Stewart) Zatanna Plastic Man Wonder Woman Patty Spivot
Notable aliases	Flash Fastest Man Alive Sultan of Speed Scarlet Speedster Monarch of Motion Soldier of the Speed Force Black Racer Negative Flash Trans-visible Man
Abilities	Genius-level intellect Advanced hand-to-hand combatant Brilliant chemist Speed Force grants: See list Immense superhuman speed, agility, and reflexes via speed force aura conduit Speed Force absorption, negation, and empathy Electrokinesis Air and temperature manipulation Intangibility and invisibility via molecular vibration at high velocity Time travel and dimensional travel via superluminal speed Energy transformation Light projection Accelerated healing Enhanced perceptions and senses Time manipulation Sonic shockwave projection Hyper-accelerated metabolism

The Flash (Bartholomew Henry "Barry" Allen) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is the second character known as the Flash, following Jay Garrick. The character first appeared in Showcase #4 (October 1956), created by writer Robert Kanigher and penciler Carmine Infantino.^[1]

A forensic chemist, Barry accidentally gains superpowers following a lightning strike in his laboratory. Like other heroes who go by the Flash, Barry is a "speedster", with powers that derive mainly from his superhuman speed. He wears a distinct red and gold costume treated to resist friction and wind, traditionally storing the costume compressed inside a ring. Created as a reimagining of the popular 1940s superhero The Flash (Jay Garrick), the success of Barry Allen's Flash comic book helped to bring about the Silver Age of Comic Books and contributed to a large growth in DC Comics' stable of science fiction comics and characters. During popular early volumes as the Flash, Barry established his own Rogues Gallery of colorful villains and sci-fi concepts like Gorilla City. Through crossovers with popular characters like Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman, Barry Allen's Flash also helped establish DC's flagship Justice League title, whose success would define its publishing strategy for decades to come.

Barry Allen's classic stories also introduced the concept of the Multiverse to DC Comics, which has played a large part in DC's many continuity reboots over the years. As a result, the Flash has traditionally always had a significant role in DC's major company-wide crossover stories, and in the crossover Crisis on Infinite Earths #8 (November 1985), Barry Allen died saving the Multiverse and would not appear again for 23 years. His return to regular comics is foreshadowed during Grant Morrison's crossover story Final Crisis #2 (June 2008), preceding his full return in Geoff Johns' accompanying The Flash: Rebirth (June 2009) limited series. He has since played a pivotal role in the crossover stories like Blackest Night (2009), Flashpoint (2011), Convergence (2015), DC Rebirth (2016), Doomsday Clock (2017-2019), Infinite Frontier (2021), and Absolute Power (2024).

Barry Allen has been featured in several media, first appearing in animated form in the 1967 The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure and then in the related Super Friends program. Since then he has appeared in several DC Universe Animated Original Movies. Actor John Wesley Shipp portrayed the character in the live-action 1990s television show The Flash and the Arrowverse. The character was portrayed by Grant Gustin in the Arrowverse shows in a main capacity, especially the 2014 television series The Flash, while Ezra Miller portrayed the character in the DC Extended Universe films Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Justice League, the director's cut Zack Snyder's Justice League, the Arrowverse event Crisis on Infinite Earths, the HBO Max series Peacemaker, and the 2023 film The Flash.