Kid Flash

The Scarlet Speedster is one of the major heroes of DC comics and of the universe. The mantle of the Flash has passed between four different heroes(for the record, they are Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, Wally West, and the new, Flash Bart Allen who was killed in The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #13 ). And most major heroes have a sidekick in some way, shape or form. Batman and Robin. Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl. Green Arrow and Speedy. The Kid Flash, superfast kid, was the liege, partner and sidekick to the Flash. There have been two iterations of Kid Flash-Wally West and Bart Allen who is currently filling the post. All the Kid Flashs have been residents and protectors of Keystone City, where they live.

Wally West

Barry Allen was the Silver Age Flash, and probably the most popular of them all. Allen was a police chemist known for being slow and always late. One night when he was in the lab working with chemicals, a freak lightning bolt shot through the window and shattered the chemicals he was holding. The lightning combined with the chemicals somehow imbued Barry with the Speed Force, and he got a red costume(like his hero, Jay Garrick) and became the Flash. He married Iris Allen West, and fought crime in the best way he could. Iris's nephew was named Wallace-Wally West. Barry was Wally's hero in every way. One day, he was exploring his uncle's lab when the same thing inexplicably happened. A lightning bolt shattered chemicals and spilled them over Wally. He was granted manipulation of the Speed Force, and when Barry found out, he made Wally an offer-use your powers for good and become my sidekick and partner. Wally was thrilled to be his hero's partner, so he took a costume like Flash's(with a backwards color scheme, yellow and red), and became Kid Flash. Barry showed Kid Flash tricks over the years, such as how to vibrate his molecules and phase through solid objects. Kid Flash at first only worked with Flash, but when he met other teenage heroes and sidekicks, he decided to work with them. Kid Flash helped form the original Teen Titans with Robin(Dick Grayson version, sidekick to Batman), and Tempest(sidekick to Aquaman). In the Titans' second appearance, Wonder Girl joined, and the team grew from there. Kid Flash was a major member, and the Teen Titans often acted as a junior Justice League Of America(as all the members were sidekicks to heroes in the JLA).

However, Kid Flash's powers started to fail and damage him, forcing him to quit crimefighting for a long time. But then, Flash was absorbed in the Speed Force in the universe-altering Crisis on Infinite Earths while saving the Earth from the evil Anti-Monitor. Kid Flash's powers stabilized, and he decided to quit the role of Kid Flash and take on the mantle of the third Flash. This left the Kid Flash position vacant, as it stayed for many years as Wally grew up, quit the Teen Titans, and joined the Justice League himself. He also got married, to Iris Allen West.

Bart Allen

Bart Allen was born anything but normal. He was the grandson of Barry Allen, and inherited a connection to the Speed Force from him. However, the Speed Force gave Bart a crazy metabolism that aged amazingly fast. It made him have a twelve-year old's body at the age of two! This would have driven him insane, so he was placed in a virtual reality machine that kept pace with Bart's aging speed. However, it wasn't really helping him, so Iris Allen(his grandma) took him back to the present time. Allen was confused and ran off, but Wally West, who was then Flash, tracked him down in a race across the world and shocked him into such a burst of speed that it fixed his metabolism. Unfortunately, Allen had spent all his life in a virtual world where his actions had no consequences, and any mistake he made could easily be erased. He had no concept of danger and didn't look ahead. Wally found him hard to control, so he shipped him off to be raised by old speedster Max Mercury, who in turn shipped him to Alabama. When Bart became a hero, Batman named him Bart Allen as a warning that reflected his recklessness.

Impulse joined the Teen Titans, but soon quit and helped form a similar junior group, affiliated with the Justice League, called Young Justice. Along with Bart Allen, Young Justice was formed by Robin(who was now Tim Drake), and Superboy(Kon-El, also called Connor Kent). Bart figured out how to make duplicates of himself out of energy(so he could do two things at once), but one of the dupes was killed and it showed Bart his own mortality. He quit Young Justice and was taken in by previous Flash Jay Garrick. He helped reform the Teen Titans and became a member.

But while in the Teen Titans, Bart was shot with a tranqualizer which slowed him down for a minute then shot in the kneecap by mercenary and villian, Deathstroke. He read constantly while healing, learned to be patient and cautious, and quit being Bart Allen. Instead of Impulse, he was now the new Kid Flash, sidekick to Wally West! He operated as Kid Flash for a while after he healed and rejoined the Titans.

However, in the Infinite Crisis, Superman Prime attacked the Earth, killing and injuring many Titans(including killing Superboy). Bart, Jay Garrick, and Flash ran at top speed to catch Prime, but Wally and Jay went so fast that they were absorbed into the Speed Force, leaving Bart and the immensely powerful Superboy-Prime alone. However, Barry Allen, Johnny Quick, and Max Mercury reappeared from the Speed Force and helped Bart win before being absorbed back in. Kid Flash was now the only speedster left-so he decided that he would become the new Flash. That's how he is now-so until fate grants another the Speed Force, there currently is no Kid Flash, only a Flash. But if history is an indicator-another is coming soon.

Powers and Abilities

As Wally West-When Wally West was Kid Flash, his powers were much like the Flash's of that time. Kid Flash was roughly as fast as the Flash was. He couldn't quite reach light speed, but he could get close and travel at that level of speed for a long time. Kid Flash also could phase through solid objects then, and he possessed one of the strongest powers-he could travel through time and to other dimensions. When he phased through objects, he could make them explode. When his body began to break down, it gave him pain to run at superspeed and he was limited to 700 mph, causing him to temporarily quit.

As Bart Allen-Bart Allen had all of the same powers Wally West did as Kid Flash, with one other-he could make duplicates of himself. However, he hasn't done it much after one was killed.

Other Media

Teen Titans

Kid Flash appears in the Teen Titans animated series voiced by Michael Rosenbaum. Although The Flash’s true identity is never given in this series it would be implied that he is Wally West as Rosenbaum voiced Wally West as The Flash in Justice League/Justice League Unlimited. To further back this up the character has many similar traits as Wally West if not the same, like his laid back attitude to work and his Flirtatious nature. One of the only notable differences between him an his comic book counter part are his green eyes, in the comics Wally West has bright blue eyes.

Kid Flash first appears in the episode “Light speed”, where Kid Flash is seen ruining the H.I.V.E Five’s evil robbery of a museum . Kid Flash soon begins to flirt with the groups leader Jinx and tries to get her to try to turn away from evil, but his words are ignored. The H.I.V.E. soon capture Kid Flash and keep him prisoner in cage. When Jinx is interrogating him she asks him whom he is working with, when he states, “I work alone these days” which would imply he was working with The Flash. Kid Flash escapes the captures demonstrating some of his powers like his ability to re vibrate his molecules through walls and creating wind vortexes using his hands. Jinx and Kid Flash would later have a romantic relationship.

Kid Flash also appears in the episodes “Calling All Titans” in a screen shot of all the Titans. It also transpires that Kid Flash has a communicator and the Titans have been in contact with him. In “Titans Together” Kid Flash is also seen with Jinx, now a member of the Titans, trying to infiltrate The Brotherhood of Evil’s base.

Alternate Forms

Kingdom Come: This Kid Flash is a female version of the original. Her name is Isis and after being introduced to Rip Hunter becomes one of the Teen Titans of that world