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Wally West

Wally West
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Real name Wallace Rudolph West , Kid Flash, Supersonic, Kid Lantern

Wally West (Wallace Rudolph West) (The Flash) is an American fictional superhero that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. He is the first Kid Flash and the third Flash. Wally is also the second most recognized Flash in the comic books and the most recognized Flash in the DC animated universe, playing a central role in the Justice League, its successor, Justice League Unlimited, and Young Justice; Wally gained a level of prominence, popularity, and absolute recognition from so many fans that rivals that of Barry Allen. He is also known for being the Flash that experienced the most character growth and development, thanks to rising from his childhood days as Kid Flash to becoming the third and main Flash for 23 years in DC's main lineup.

On May 6, 2011, IGN ranked Wally West #8 on their list of the "Top 100 Super Heroes of All Time", ahead of any other speedster, stating that "Wally West is one of the DCU’s greatest heroes, even if he doesn’t rank as the original Scarlet Speedster". In 2013, Wally West placed 6th on IGN's Top 25 Heroes of DC Comics.

The character has appeared in many forms of media, including the Justice League cartoons. Wally West is set to make his live-action debut in the second season of The Flash (2014 TV series), where his origins will be explored; he will be portrayed by Keiynan Lonsdale.

Biography

Kid Flash

Wally West was created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino and introduced in The Flash #110 (1959). The character was the nephew of the existing Flash character's girlfriend and later wife, Iris West. During a visit to the Central City police laboratory where Barry Allen worked, the freak accident that gave Allen his powers repeated itself, bathing West in electrically-charged chemicals. Now possessing the same powers as the Flash, West donned a smaller sized copy of Barry Allen's Flash outfit and became the young crimefighter Kid Flash. Wally had a strained relationship with his own parents and often looked to his beloved aunt and uncle for moral support and guidance.

This costume was later altered (in The Flash #135 (1963)) to one that would make him more visually distinctive. The original red was replaced with a costume that was primarily yellow with red leggings, gloves, and ear-pieces.

In addition to his appearances within the Flash title, the character was a founding member of the newly created Teen Titans, where he became friends with Dick Grayson, then known as Robin, later known as Nightwing. Sometime later, Wally contracted a mysterious disease: the more he used his speed powers, the faster his body would age.


The Flash
During the 1985-86 miniseries 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. Wallys role as Kid Flash got taken over by Bart Allen The second Kid Flash

The decision by DC Comics' editorial staff to radically change their fictional universe saw a number of 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 that of 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 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. 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 first Reverse-Flash (Eobard Thawne), 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 the ability to vibrate 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.



In 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.


The Flash: Rebirth

Interviews with The Flash: Rebirth artist Ethan Van Sciver revealed that the character would adopt a newly designed costume in the limited series that reintroduces Barry Allen as the Flash. The new costume is heavily inspired by the original changes made to the suit in Flash vol. 2, #50 (cowl lenses, "wingless" boots, the belt-line V-shape, and the darker red color of the suit), which were slipping in and out of usage when the character was drawn by different artists. Wally's costume has also been given a straight cowl which cuts off at the bottom of the nose, similar to Batman's. Wally has also gained a new symbol identical to the symbol worn by his animated counterpart in the Justice League animated series, to further distinguish Wally from Barry Allen. After the end of "The Flash: Rebirth", Barry Allen became the star of a new ongoing "Flash" series, with Wally West making only one, out-of-costume appearance during the series' 12-issue run.


Blackest Night
During the Blackest Night, Wally West assists Barry Allen in spreading the word to every hero on Earth about the rise of the Black Lantern Corps. When Black Hand brings back Nekron, Barry is attacked by an army of Black Lanterns, while struggling to fight them off, Wally comes to his rescue, bringing with him the Justice League & Teen Titans, Bart Allen, the Kid Flash, among them. The three Flashes fight their way through Black Lanterns and charge at Nekron. Before they can strike, the Black Lantern Guardian Scar attacks them, attempting to convince them into becoming Black Lanterns. Right after, Hal Jordan and the leaders of the seven Lantern Corps arrive to assist. The heroes attack the Black Lanterns, but soon Black Hand raises Batman from the dead, turning him into a Black Lantern. He soon plants Black Lantern Rings on Superman, Superboy, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Kid Flash, transforming them into Black Lanterns. Black Lantern Bart Allen attacks Barry Allen, and the two brawl for a moment before Wally fights him off. A pair of Black Lantern Rings then lock onto Barry and Hal. Wally flees with Barry, with Barry telling him to stay and protect himself and Bart. Barry and Hal then flee the scene to avoid becoming Black Lanterns.


The New 52
Following the events of Flashpoint storyline, all DC titles, including The Flash, were cancelled and relaunched as part of its The New 52 publishing event. In the new continuity, Barry Allen is the only Flash; he has never been married to Iris West, and Wally is not alluded to. When asked about Wally's whereabouts, DC creators have had no comment, and Dan DiDio has stated that Wally is currently benched. Iris's ex-con brother Daniel West does feature however, in his capacity as the Reverse-Flash. In January 2014, it was reported that Wally would make his debut in The New 52 in The Flash Annual #3, set for release in April 2014. Wally appears in The Flash #30 five years later from the current timeline with a bi-racial look and new backstory. Wally is shown to be dead five years into the future from a fatal car crash. Later on in #30, Barry is seen twenty years into the future much older, and now wearing a blue Flash costume, promising to never be late again while looking at a news article about a funeral being held for Wally. Although speculated that Daniel was the father of Wally since he is shown to be Iris's only other sibling, writer Robert Venditti has since confirmed Iris has another brother who has yet to be seen but is indeed the father of Wally, and Wally himself is now African-American on his mother's side.

It is revealed in Flash Annual #3 that Wally's father is actually Rudolph West, who abandoned him and his mother when Wally was just a baby. Wally's mother has gone missing during the Crime Syndicate's invasion of Earth. He is seen spray painting graffiti on a wall and is caught by Barry and arrested. Iris tells Barry that Wally looked up to his uncle Daniel, even after the latter became the Reverse Flash. After getting out of jail, Iris asks Barry to watch over him for a while.

Played by the actors

Josh Keaton
Josh Keaton
(1 films)
Anton Yelchin
Anton Yelchin
(1 films)
See more : Wikipedia

Filmography of Wally West (2 films)

Display filmography as list
Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths
Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (2010)
, 1h15
Directed by Lauren Montgomery
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Action, Adventure, Animation
Themes Films about children, Batman films, Superman films, Films about extraterrestrial life, Superhero films, Super-héros inspiré de comics, Films about extraterrestrial life
Actors William Baldwin, Mark Harmon, Chris Noth, Gina Torres, James Woods, Erica Durance
Rating72% 3.649533.649533.649533.649533.64953
In an alternate universe where evil usually triumphs over good and where the roles of the heroes and villains are reversed from their counterparts in the mainstream DC Universe, heroic analogues of Lex Luthor and the Joker (called the Jester) are attempting to steal a device, the "Quantum Trigger", from the headquarters of the Crime Syndicate. The pair trip an alarm but manage to secure the device. The Jester sacrifices himself to allow Luthor to escape and kills J'edd J'arkus and Angelique (alternate versions of Martian Manhunter and Hawkgirl respectively) with a radioactive bomb. Luthor is confronted by the remaining Syndicate members (Ultraman, Superwoman, Power Ring, Johnny Quick and Owlman) but escapes to the Earth of the heroic Justice League by activating a dimensional travel device.