I would have to go with Barry for five reasons:
1. Barry created the Speed Force because of his actions and knowledge.....even though Wally was the first to recognize the Speed Force and what it could do, Barry has technically always been connected to it and can use it for powerful abilities like undoing the Anti-Life Equation. The fact that we haven't seen him steal/lend speed or create speed force costumes is the fact that these were concepts Wally and other's came up with during Barry's death though he is now aware of them.
2. After Flash:Rebirth, it was stated now that Barry is aware of his complete connection to the speed force he is faster than before and the fastest of the Flashes.
3. Barry has greater control of his speed than the others, most clearly seen in the complete control he has over his molecules and the ability to vibrate through almost anything without ill effect to himself or destroying the object unless he wants to. A good example of this is when Barry reformed himself after being turned into a mirror and then shattered.
4. Barry can travel precisely through time and other dimensions, something Wally has always had trouble with in the absence of the cosmic treadmill.
5. The Rogues are almost all Barry's enemies and just transitioned down to Wally over time. But when they heard of Barry's rebirth they were visibly concerned by Barry's return where they just treat Wally as another hero.
Outside of pure speed, Barry is also smarter than Wally or Bart given his scientific background which lends to his ability to use his speed creatively based on the situation.
Barry Allen
Character » Barry Allen appears in 5080 issues.
Having discovered his mother murdered and his father blamed for the act, forensic scientist Barry Allen sought to clear his father's name and find the real killer. After being doused in chemicals and struck by lightning, Barry was granted the gift of super-speed. Now he protects his hometown of Central City as The Flash, the fastest man alive and founding member of the Justice League.
Who is the Best Flash?
Wally is the best Flash.
@Tom Pinchuk said:
I don't know about that. When you think of Barry Allen, he only has a few landmark events and one of them is the Trial of The Flash, where his character was questioned in the killing of Professor Zoom. Was it justified or a reprisal for the murder of Iris West? Certainly he was let go in the end, but like Wonder Woman's killing of Max Lord, it still carries a certain stigma to it even if forgiven. The other two big Barry Allen events would be The Secret of Barry Allen and Flash Rebirth. In Secret it was revealed that Barry had pressured Zatanna into brain-washing his entire rogues gallery, arguably a pretty heinous act which Barry could live with (but not die with, leaving it to Wally to undo). In Rebirth, Barry did a lot of questionable things including killing two other speedsters (Savitar and Lady Flash), he tried to commit suicide and run back into the Speed Force despite everyone wanting to help him, acted more like Dirty Harry than Gil Grissom having a new hardline attitude about "the guilty", and he's largely ignored all the revelations of Rebirth fairly irresponsibly. Granted, Johns likes to write compromised characters so maybe that's a good thing, but current Barry isn't exactly someone to look up to." Hal Jordan and Ollie Queen may have gone through dark periods, but Barry's noble character has never been compromised."
Edit. In The Trial, even Barry himself didn't know if he meant to kill Zoom or simply stop him.
Wally definitely while Barry is awesome Wally has worked harder to understand his powers than any of the other flashes.
As a hardcore fan of the Flash, I'm gonna have to say that I like all of them equally. But if you asked me which one of them is my personal favorite, then I'll have to say Barry, with Wally being a close second. =D
Best? Yikes, there's so many different criteria for "best" I could kill too much time on this topic (which I'd love to do but not today)... there's favorite, best stories, most heroic, most worthy, tenure, iconic, ground breaking, unique, fastest, most powerful, etc. So many metrics for measuring "best" that nearly any opinion can be justified (certainly "favorite" or "who I grew up with" is subjectively undeniable to any individual).
For me, the character with the best writers, stories, and characterization has to be Wally, who had the benefit of modern storytelling (Jay and Barry never had their "Man of Steel", "Dark Knight Returns", etc. moment), characterization, and great writers like Waid, Morrison, Millar, and Johns. The other Flashes might get there someday, hopefully, but they're not there yet.
"4. Barry can travel precisely through time and other dimensions, something Wally has always had trouble with in the absence of the cosmic treadmill."
Jay says, "Wally, I know you can zip through time on your own, but haven't you forgotten? The rest of us need the time treadmill-"
Barry was a better Flash in a superhero way but Wally West in some ways is more entertaining to read as you see his character develop from a rude teenager to a responsible adult. Barry's character hasn't been developed as much because un the silver age everyone has the same personality but what Geoff johns has done with him so far defines his character already and he is very likable as soon as you read him. Barry Allen is better because he created the speed force. I'd say their equals as heroes by now which barry even admits. Wally West is going to go on to be better than him because when Barry was Wally's age he had no big story arcs to look back on.
Wally, because I look at it this way...IMO Green Lantern: Rebirth needed to happen. Hal is the definitive GL and great stories have come from it. Flash: Rebirth...not so much. Wall can old the mantle just fine and has held a strong ongoing solo series for a long time. There is room for both, but Barry's return wasn't VITAL
Barry for me. He does seem, as Pinchuk says, to be the most uncompromisingly "good" Flash out there. That's something I find reassuring and refreshing in an age where every character has to have such huge dark arcs and personality flaws. Barry's flaw seems to be the fact that he WANTS to be everywhere at once, to do EVERYTHING, but despite his speed he just can't.
Some might question his killing of Eobard Thawne, but I think that's the only time he's really made a morally qustionable action.
I guess what I'm saying is... Barry's my favorite, and I think he is the best Flash.
" Wally West, it's not even a question. The fastest, the most powerful and the best character of the lot. Wally ftw. "Preach brother, I'll admit I'm partial to wally because I grew up with him. BUT he is the best Flash for all the reasons you said. I really Wish Geoff Johns left well enough alone and kept Wally as the Flash, the only reason he brought him back was because he's partial to Barry. Same reason he replaced the much more interesting Kyle with Hal.
"Some might question his killing of Eobard Thawne, but I think that's the only time he's really made a morally qustionable action."Not just some, even Barry himself isn't sure if he killed Thawne out of bloodlust (that he wanted Thawne dead as opposed to just stopped), see the image I posted.
The Secret of Barry Allen is also another mistake Barry admits. He had Zatanna brainwash The Top (who in turn brainwashed many of the Rogues) and instead of correcting it during his lifetime, he left the task to Wally.
In Rebirth, Barry kills two people and doesn't blink. He then seeks to commit suicide by running into the Speed Force despite everyone wanting to help him. Finally, despite finding out all this heavy stuff about the Speed Force and knowing it's something that can be studied, manipulated, and mastered (the way Savitar or Thawne or Wally did) and that he's responsible for putting this reality-altering power out there into the universe, Barry more or less ignores this revelation and takes no steps towards taking responsibility for the awesome power he's giving to time traveling mad men like Zoom.
Two time travel related issues which are probably more a reflection of unintentional bad writing than morality (inspired by a post by someone on another forum), but: 1) If we take the characterization of Barry in Rebirth seriously, then he spent his whole adult life obsessed with the murder of his mother spending years pouring over her cold case, but he never thought to use his powers to just see who killed his mom? 2) Why should Barry stay in this time? Just because that's when Zoom resurrected him? Barry's personal timeline ended after COIE, why wouldn't he go back to his young wife and raise his two kids rather than leaving her a widow for 20+ years, letting his kids grow up fatherless and dying leaving their families, and returning to a timeline where he's been absent for years? Subjecting his family to all that at Zoom's whim seems to be rather immoral.
" Wally, because I look at it this way...IMO Green Lantern: Rebirth needed to happen. Hal is the definitive GL and great stories have come from it. Flash: Rebirth...not so much. Wall can old the mantle just fine and has held a strong ongoing solo series for a long time. There is room for both, but Barry's return wasn't VITAL "I don't think Jordan's return was necessary, but of course I'm partial to Kyle. I think Rebirth was done just because John's loves Jordan and wanted to write him. He was doing fine as the Specter IMO. The Corps Wars, etc. all could've been done with minor adjustments without him being back. I've enjoyed the stories thus far, but I still gotta admit I don't like that they stemmed from his rebirth.
I do agree that it was more vital to current GL tales than Barry's rebirth. I still feel that his resurrection was Johns fan fiction, folk. I'm an 80's baby and I love Barry, but Wally's had the better writers/stores as many before me have said. I'm disheartened that he's been shafted to bring back Barry. That being said I'm loving the current Flash run, BUT I can't help but wish Wally was back on the scene. Hopefully he'll play a role in Flash Point.
I hadn't read Rebirth to be honest, but yeah, his actions in there definitely seem to be... questionable, almost un-Barry-like. I suppose one could chalk it up to poor writing and characterization, but yes these things are now part of the character's mythos and can't be ignored.
I do maintain though that Barry doesn't have the same penchant for using the Speed Force for time-travelling as other speedsters have, and therefore it makes sense that he's not only reluctant, but afraid to screw with the timeline that much, even if it means his family has had to endure multiple hardships.
It comes down to Barry Allen and Wally West.
Even D.C comics can't figure out what do to with the two. Wally is awesome...but has a family now and I believe they retired him. Barry is back and doesn't seem to be going anywhere.
Its like will Wonder Woman die or retire and give it to Donna or Cassie.
I like Wally!!
I'd be lieing if I said I cared about any of the other Flash's so I won't, Wally West is the Flash I grew to know and while Jay & Barry may be to the liking of other Wally is the only one I care about and Barry return and takeover all of sudden just sorta feels forced on me and I won;t have none of that
The first is always the best. They've never really improved on the template laid down by the Golden Age Flash. Besides, the original Flash spent his formative years putting the beat down on Nazi's. It doesn't get any cooler than that.
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