Wally was the nephew of Iris West, fiance of Barry Allen who was, unknown to her at the time, The Flash of Central City. Wally grew up in a small town called Blue Valley with emotionally distant parents, and dreamed of living in Central City and perhaps one day meeting his hero, The Flash. Wally was only close to one relative, his father's sister Iris.

One summer, Iris offered to let Wally stay in Central City with her. Wally gladly took the chance to get out of his hometown and away from his parents, and looked forward to the excitement of the big city. Iris introduced Wally to Barry, whom Wally thought was dull and uninteresting - until Barry offered to introduce Wally to The Flash.

Barry used some simple super-speed tricks to pull off the double identity, and gave Wally the surprise of his life. In Barry's lab, The Flash told Wally about how he had gotten his powers - a stray bolt of lightning that hit a rack of chemicals, which in turn hit him. To Wally's disappointment, though, he said it was a unique event that would probably never happen again.

He was wrong.

A bolt of lightning once again came through the window, once again hit a rack of chemicals, and this time doused Wally, giving him the super-speed that his hero had. He was eager to join The Flash in fighting crime, and Barry indulged him. He created a kid-sized version of his own costume, and Kid Flash was introduced.

Soon, he changed to a different red-and-yellow costume, but kept the Kid Flash moniker. He was one of the founding members of the Teen Titans and appeared to have a great career as a hero. As he got older, however, his body started to react to his powers. Running any faster than the speed of sound became painful, and Wally discovered that his speed was killing him. The only way to live a normal life would be to stay at normal speeds. Wally left the Titans and resigned himself to a slow pace.

The Crisis on Infinite Earths brought him out of retirement, and the death of Barry Allen gave him a new sense of purpose. Despite the risk, he took the name and costume of The Flash, and was determined to live up to the example that Barry Allen had set for the world. That job, however, would not be easy.

He was still consigned to relatively low speeds, only 700 miles per hour or so. Also, he won the lottery and gained a fortune, which allowed his more selfish characteristics to thrive, and when he lost it all, his life seemed to be going into a tailspin.

West's life eventually stabilized, and he joined the re-formed Justice League. He also discovered the existence of the Speed Force, a quasi-mystical energy field that gives speedsters their powers. He was at first reluctant to reach the full potential of the speed force, lest he be drawn into it. Also, his respect and love for Barry unconsciously stopped him from ever realizing his power, thus officially 'replacing' his fallen hero.

After an insidious plan to destroy the city, he was pushed himself to his full potential and tapped into the Speed Force. He had reached speeds never achieved by anyone before, but as he was energized by the Speed Force he was also being engulfed in it. It was his love for Linda Park, a reporter in Keystone City, that gave him the strength and direction to lead him back. His overcoming the Speed Force and the psychological blocks that had been keeping him from fully realizing his powers, enabled him to reach far greater levels of speed and ability. His identity was public, a rarity among costumed heroes, which made him a popular celebrity as well.

He married Linda Park, a reporter in Keystone City, whom he called his "lightning rod". His love for her was able to bring him back from whatever far-flung future or alternate reality he might be in. After they were married, Linda became pregnant with twins, but suffered a miscarriage due to an attack by the second Reverse-Flash, Zoom. West realized his public identity put those he loved in danger, and so he begged the current Spectre (a repentant Hal Jordan) to erase the knowledge of the Flash's identity from the minds of the world. This caused some friction with Wally's former allies including his best friend, Dick Grayson.

Due to a combination of time-travel and the surprising intervention of Barry Allen, the attack by the Reverse-Flash that caused Linda's miscarriage was thwarted, and thus never actually happened. She soon gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, who are currently unnamed, although the miniseries The Kingdom, a followup to Kingdom Come gives their names as Barry and Iris West. Following the birth of his children, Wally decided to devote more time to his family and got a job as a mechanic in the Keystone Police motor pool, with his duties as Flash coming as time permitted.

During the Infinite Crisis, Wally disappeared while trying to force Superboy Prime into the Speed Force. Before vanishing entirely, he was able to appear to Linda in order to say goodbye. Linda refused to be separated from him, and she and the twins joined him in the Speed Force. Their current whereabouts and condition are unknown.

Wally West and family where returned when the Legion Of Super-Heroes try to resurrect "the Last Legionnaire" by channeling released Speed Force energy via lightning rods. The legion traveled to spots that were important both to Wally and Bary Allen. Both Hal Jordan and Batman realize this fact and believe Allen's return is imminent. However, they instead retrieve Wally, Linda and his twin children, who appear to have aged several years. Wally was offered membership to Justice League, which he accepts. It is later said that his return was a freak accident but the Legion Of Super-Heroes still got who they wanted. When Wally became aware of Bart's Death and tracked down Inertia stealing his speed and turning him into a living statue. He was placed in the Flash Museum, and forced to stare at Bart's old Kid Flash and Impulse uniforms forever.

Other Media

Superman: The Animated Series

This is the first animated series where Wally West is given the title of the Flash . In an episode called speed demons Superman and The Flash both take part in a race around the world for charity, unaware that they are generating energy for the evil Weather Wizard. Flash is portrayed as cocky and selfish, which is noted by Superman, but later he finds that behind this Flash is a hero too. The Flash was voiced by Charlie Schlatter.

Justice League/Justice League Unlimited

This animated series stars Wally West as The Flash (voiced by Michael Rosenbaum) as one of the seven founding members of the Justice League. This incarnation of Wally is very similar to that of Superman: The Animated Series as a flippant almost adolescent hero often tending to annoy some of the League members. The series cashes in on Wally’s sense of humour in many cases having him provide the comic relief from the other more stiff members. Although in some instances he is seen complaining about his now persona of a “teenage sidekick”. Flash also has his super high metabolism also providing several gags through out the series. Flash’s endorsement of the “Lightspeed” candy bar play homage to that fact as Flash is seen in several occasions eating the bars, which have also been know to have an image of The Flash on them adding to the ironic humour.

Although Flash provides the lighter hearted side of the series he also has some major run ins with major villains. He stars through out the episode "Divided We Fall," in which he manages to take down Lex Luthor who has fused with Brainiac by building up enough speed by running around the world and then crashing into him, then using his infinite mass punch. As a result of the speed used to destroy Lex and Brainiac Flash is called into the Speed Force but is pulled out by the remaining six founding members.

Others such episode include, "Flash and Substance,” where several rouges from The Flash gallery make an appearance to try and destroy Flash on “Flash Appreciation Day” the main battle between them also takes place in a museum dedicated to The Flash, “The Great Brain Robbery” where The Flash switches bodies with Lex Luthor and also

“I Am Legion” where Flash is shown to have feelings for Fire.

This incarnation of the Flash is seen to have a lot in common with the X-men character Iceman, someone who is commonly portrayed as a slacker and joker but when using their powers to their fullest is one of the stronger members of the league.

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.