THE FLASH III (Wallace Rudolph "Wally" West, aka Kid Flash I)
Created By: John Broome & Carmine Infantino
First Appearance: The Flash #110 (Dec. 1959)
Role: Speedster, The Average Guy, Team Stick-In-The-Mud
Group Affiliations: The Teen Titans, The Justice League of America, The Titans
PL 12 (244)
STRENGTH 3
STAMINA 3
AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 8/10
DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 2
AWARENESS 2
PRESENCE 3
Skills:
Athletics 7 (+10)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 4 (+12, +14 Speed Force)
Deception 2 (+5)
Expertise (Science) 3 (+5)
Insight 5 (+7)
Investigation 6 (+8)
Perception 4 (+6)
Persuasion 2 (+5)
Ranged Combat (Thrown Objects) 3 (+13)
Sleight of Hand 2 (+6)
Stealth 1 (+6)
Technology 3 (+5)
Vehicles 2 (+6)
Advantages:
Agile Feint, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll 5, Equipment (Uniform Inside Ring), Evasion, Great Endurance, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Defense, Improved Disarm, Inspire, Move-By Action, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 6, Redirect, Seize Initiative, Set-Up, Takedown 2, Teamwork
Powers:
"Access to the Speed Force"
Speed 20 (2,000,000 mph) [20]
Quickness 20 [20]
Enhanced Advantages 5: Enhanced Initiative 5 [5]
Enhanced Fighting 2 [4]
Immunity 1 (Friction Heat) [1]
"Lend Speed"
Speed 8 (Extras: Affects Others Only +0) (Flaws: Fades) [4]
Quickness 6 (Extras: Affects Others Only +0) (Flaws: Fades) [3]
Enhanced Fighting 4 (Extras: Affects Others Only +0) (Flaws: Fades) [4]
Enhanced Dodge 4 (Extras: Affects Others Only +0) (Flaws: Fades) [2]
Senses 2 (Rapid Vision & Hearing) [2]
"Speed Feats"
Movement 3 (Wall-Crawling 2, Water-Walking) (Flaws: Limited to While Running) [3]
"Knockdown Whirlwind" Affliction 12 (Dodge; Hindered/Prone) (Extras: Area- 60ft. Line +2) (Flaws: Limited Degree, Instant Recovery) Linked to Damage 6 (Extras: Area- 60ft. Line +2) (30) -- [42]
- AE: "Suffocating Whirlwind" Affliction 12 (Fort; Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated) (Extras: Area- 30ft. Cylindar) (24)
- AE: "Move Debris" Move Object 11 (Extras: 60ft. Cylindar +2) (Flaws: Touch Range) (22)
- AE: "Rapid Attack" Strength-Damage +5 (Extras: Multiattack 8) (13)
- AE: "Hyperfast Punch" Strength-Damage +7 (7)
- AE: "Hit Everyone in Range" Strength-Damage +5 (Extras: Area- 60ft. Burst +2 for 8 ranks) (21)
- AE: "Throw Debris" Blast 8 (Extras: Multiattack) (Quirks: Requires Debris -1) (23)
- AE: "Spin Attack" Affliction 12 (Fort; Impaired & Dazed/Stunned & Defenseless/Incapacitated) (Extras: Extra Condition) (Flaws: Grab-Based) (12)
- AE: Deflect 12 (12)
- AE: "Vibrating Molecules" Damage 12 (Extras: Multiattack) (24)
- AE: "Vibrating Molecules to Make Things Kersplode" Damage 12 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst) (24)
- AE: "Heal Others" Healing 8 (Flaws: Limited to Capabilities of Natural Recovery) (8)
- AE: "Stealing Speed" Weaken Speed Powers 10 (Extras: Perception-Ranged +2) (30)
Offense:
Unarmed +14 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Hyperfast Punch +14 (+10 Damage, DC 25)
Rapid Attack +14 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Vibrating Molecules +14 (+10 Damage, DC 25)
Hit Everyone +8 Area (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Throw Debris +12 (+8 Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Spin Attack +12 (+12 Affliction, DC 22)
Whirlwinds +12 Area (+12 Affliction, DC 22)
Initiative +21
Defenses:
Dodge +16 (DC 26), Parry +16 (DC 26), Toughness +3 (+8 D.Roll), Fortitude +6, Will +10
Complications:
Motivation (Honoring Barry Allen's Memory)- Wally West treated Barry like a beloved father, and was among those most-struck by his death. He devotes his career as The Flash to upholding Barry's memory.
Relationship (Linda Park, Kids, etc.)- Wally has a pretty massive supporting cast of his own.
Enemy (The Rogues)- Wally & Barry's large Rogues Gallery of nutty Gimmick Villains and others provide a constant source of annoyance. Some are more good-natured, some are just in it for money, and some are straight-up murderous (Professor Zoom).
Relationship (Kyle Rayner)- The two got off to a bad start (Wally was actively against the rookie Lantern, feeling he hadn't earned his keep), but eventually became close friends.
Relationship (Dick Grayson)- Wally & Nightwing are best friends.
Quirk (Big Eater)- Wally requires a great deal of nourishment to maintain his high-speed lifestyle.
Total: Abilities: 56 / Skills: 44--22 / Advantages: 28 / Powers: 110 / Defenses: 28 (244)
Kid Flash- Kid Sidekick in a Much Better Costume:
-Wally West debuted as "Kid Flash", debuting as a generic Kid Sidekick, gaining Flash's powers in a horribly-contrived way by JUST HAPPENING to be struck by a lightning bolt hitting the same chemicals that'd caused Barry Allen's transformation. He was an off-and-on sidekick of The Flash, and even joined the Teen Titans in their first incarnation. He initially just wore a Flash costume, but he got a REALLY amazing yellow version with the hair showing in 1963- something that impressed even my DC-hating ass back when I first discovered the character in a
Who's Who issue. He has kind of has a weird place in Titans history, though, as he was there for almost all the major initial stories (the '60s era, the debut of the Wolfman/Perez era, the mass battles against Trigon), but then rapidly disappeared from the book- he thus missed out on
The Judas Contract, which was the high water mark of the series. This essentially makes him the Titans' "Banshee"- the guy who was on the team during the Golden Years Creative Team (Claremont, Cockrum & Byrne/Wolfman & Perez), but left right before the epic "Iconic Tale" (
Dark Phoenix/Judas Contract), meaning that the character was unfortunately forgotten, even in retrospectives. See, he would quickly gain one of those "Quick, we gotta write this guy out" maladies, as his super-speed would make him ill, and he more or less retired, volunteering the young Terra to take his place.
-In the '80s however, Wally was kind of the "boring guy"- the regular guy with powers, dealing with all the nutty characters around him who were all obsessive and stuff (Dick, Raven & Victor were pure angst, Gar was a joker, Starfire all passion, and Donna was the only other normal one), but with a sense of middle-American douchebaggery, as he constantly gave Red Star crap for being a "Commie" etc. He was the one dishing out all the conservative points of view, while the others were all more liberal. Made for a unique perspective, even though Wolfman clearly didn't take his side most of the time, making him a strawman at points (and by "almost" I mean "Wally was depicted as a giant, uncompromising ass every time politics showed up, and justified it by implying that this was natural behavior for a Conservative").
-But Wally just wasn't a good FIT for the book sometimes- he didn't fit the two "Triangles" that Wolfman & Perez had designed around the team. In a preface to one collected
Titans edition, Wolfman explains that Cyborg was serious & Changeling too much of a joker, and that Raven was serious and Starfire was pure passion- Dick & Donna represented the "balance" between the extremes. Wally, of course, was the odd man out, and this is why he basically had to leave.
Wally West- The Flash:
-Wally would get a shocking re-push in 1985, when he replaced his dead uncle Barry Allen as the NEW FLASH, something that was a crazy leap for the time- no major hero had ever died and been replaced by his Kid Sidekick growing into the role before! This was HUGE! Wally would start out a bit slower, but would rapidly become one of DC's most powerful superheroes. 1987 saw a new
Flash series, where Wally would win the lottery and spend it lavishly, kind of being a douchebag hero, I guess. He would gain power after fighting the Reverse-Flash, and Mark Waid would write a HUGE run that featured many new "Speed Force"-related feats, as well as a more elaborate explanation of what the Speed Force actually WAS. At the same time, he'd be recruited in a true-blue "Big Seven" JLA, with Grant Morrison writing even MORE insane Power Feats for the guy in his legendary
JLA run.
-Wally also joined
The Titans during this time, as it was a big thing to reunite the Original Five Titans along with the "Wolfman/Perez" Titans that were available (an iffy move that split up the BEST team and left some disparate adult heroes on the squad). Devin Grayson wrote him more or less dealing with the fact that he was on multiple teams, with it actually being an issue (ironically, The Fastest Man Alive would have more trouble juggling TWO teams than Wolverine would have juggling FIVE). Grayson was also mortified when she got her book IMMEDIATELY screwed up by a
Flash story, as Wally was replaced by another version of himself, so she was left with a character she knew nothing about on her team- she rightfully complained about this in later interviews; the kind of thing that makes modern comic book writers miserable. Wally would eventually bail on this team. He was really too powerful for it, anyways- the Titans were a "PL 10" kind of squad, and Wally was EEEEEEEEEEEEASILY PL 12 by this point, pulling off ridiculous feats in other books that would have made the rest of the team redundant.
-The 2000s saw Geoff Johns revitalize the character yet again, as he took his natural preference for villains over superheroes and made the "Flash Rogues" into this iconic group of bad guys. Being a Marvel fan with no early love for DC, I never saw guys with idiotic names like "Captain Cold", "Captain Boomerang" or "Mirror Master" as anything but a giant bunch of imbeciles, but people swear that the run was VERY GOOD and that the villains all became great characters. In this series, Wally would settle down and marry Linda Park, have children, get The Spectre to make his identity secret once more, and then disappear into the timestream so that Bart Allen could be the new Flash. However, Bart is quickly killed, and Wally returns with super-aged children (AGH THAT DAMN TROPE AGAIN).
-Around this time, the character would appear in the phenomenal
Justice League series, though to fit the team dynamics, he was converted into a wacky, immature jokester, prone to sight gags, pranks, and "dudebro"-type dialogue. This made him HILARIOUS, however, and he quickly became a favorite, even though he was almost nothing like his comic book version.
Post-2000s Wally:
-Wally kind of got the shaft over the past decade, as Johns would reintroduce Barry Allen, thus reversing one of the most legendary heroic deaths in all of comics. This muddled up Wally, Barry and several other characters, and would be the impetus behind the "New 52" which started a new continuity. Here, DC attempts to add diversity by making "Wallace West" biracial, and Barry's sidekick of sorts. And then he restarts continuity AGAIN as "DC Rebirth" brings about a "sort of the same" version of the old continuity.
The Fastest Man Alive:
-Like much of the Big Seven, The Flash is a high-level character, packing PL 12 stats and a points cost equalling Marvel's top-tiers as well. Super-Speed can end up pricey with all the add-ons and Extras and Power Feats and stuff, but hey- it's The Big Seven. No time to save points, ya know? He's got a TON of tricks to use with it, from rapid-fire bursts to massive super-fast punches, to air currents, spinning, vibrations that blow stuff up, etc. His Super-Speed boosts his Attack & Defense bonuses up to REALLY high levels, too, but he can still be caught flat-footed alright. He's also capable of Lending Speed to others, which he did often enough that I felt like including it, but it's not a regular thing. He's only PL 11 with his Super-Speed Punches (varying between a Multiattack, a stronger Super-Punch, and Area Effects), but at PL 12 defensively, he's one of the hardest super-heroes to land a solid hit on.
KID FLASH I (Wallace Rudolph "Wally" West)
Created By: John Broome & Carmine Infantino
First Appearance: The Flash #110 (Dec. 1959)
Role: Speedster, The Average Guy, Team Stick-In-The-Mud
Group Affiliations: The Teen Titans, The Justice League of America, The Titans
PL 10 (185)
STRENGTH 3
STAMINA 3
AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 8/10
DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 2
AWARENESS 2
PRESENCE 2
Skills:
Athletics 5 (+8)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 4 (+12, +14 Speed Force)
Deception 2 (+5)
Expertise (Pop Culture) 2 (+4)
Insight 3 (+5)
Investigation 2 (+4)
Perception 4 (+6)
Persuasion 1 (+3)
Ranged Combat (Thrown Objects) 1 (+11)
Sleight of Hand 2 (+6)
Stealth 1 (+6)
Technology 2 (+4)
Vehicles 1 (+5)
Advantages:
Agile Feint, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll 2, Equipment (Uniform Inside Ring), Great Endurance, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Defense, Improved Disarm, Move-By Action, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 6, Redirect, Seize Initiative, Set-Up, Takedown 2, Teamwork
Powers:
"Access to the Speed Force"
Speed 13 (16,000 mph) [13]
Quickness 12 [12]
Enhanced Advantages 3: Enhanced Initiative 3 [3]
Enhanced Fighting 2 [4]
Immunity 1 (Friction Heat) [1]
Senses 2 (Rapid Vision & Hearing) [2]
"Speed Feats"
Movement 3 (Wall-Crawling 2, Water-Walking) (Flaws: Limited to While Running) [3]
"Knockdown Whirlwind" Affliction 10 (Dodge; Hindered/Prone) (Extras: Area- 60ft. Line +2) (Flaws: Limited Degree, Instant Recovery) Linked to Damage 6 (Extras: Area- 60ft. Line +2) (28) -- [35]
- AE: "Suffocating Whirlwind" Affliction 10 (Fort; Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated) (Extras: Area- 30ft. Cylindar) (24)
- AE: "Move Debris" Move Object 10 (Extras: 60ft. Cylindar +2) (Flaws: Touch Range) (20)
- AE: "Rapid Attack" Strength-Damage +3 (Extras: Multiattack 6) (9)
- AE: "Hit Everyone in Range" Strength-Damage +3 (Extras: Area- 60ft. Burst +2 for 6 ranks) (15)
- AE: "Throw Debris" Blast 8 (Extras: Multiattack) (Quirks: Requires Debris -1) (23)
- AE: Deflect 12 (12)
- AE: "Vibrating Molecules" Insubstantial 4 (Flaws: Limited to While Running) (16)
Offense:
Unarmed +14 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Hyperfast Punch +14 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Rapid Attack +14 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Hit Everyone +6 Area (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Throw Debris +12 (+8 Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Whirlwinds +10 Area (+10 Affliction, DC 20)
Initiative +17
Defenses:
Dodge +14 (DC 24), Parry +14 (DC 24), Toughness +3 (+5 D.Roll), Fortitude +6, Will +7
Complications:
Relationship (Barry Allen)- Wally looks up to Barry greatly, but doesn't talk about him much to his fellow Titans.
Relationship (Raven)- Wally was convinced that he loved Raven, but grew to despise her when he found out it was due to manipulation on her part (she wanted him to help her fight Trigon).
Responsibility (Conservative)- Wally is extremely conservative, and violently against Russian people and "Commies" like them. He wishes his Liberal teammates wouldn't give him trouble over this.
Disabled (Speed Kills)- Wally's own powers are in fact slowly killing him. He would discover this, and eventually retire due to them. It was fixed during The Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Relationship (Frances Kane)- Magenta eventually hooks up with Wally, and her desires to have a normal life would help convince him to retire.
Total: Abilities: 54 / Skills: 30--15 / Advantages: 25 / Powers: 70 / Defenses: 21 (185)
-As Kid Flash, Wally is a great help to his teammates, but often gets overshadowed by their greater power. At this point, he's basically just Flash Lite. At PL 10 (184), he's the priciest of the squad so far.