The average person may think that Superman is the most powerful hero in the DC Universe, and while they could be forgiven for thinking that, they would be wrong. Die-hard fans know that while Superman is surely the greatest hero in the DCU, there are many characters more powerful than the Man of Steel. Like Flash.
Best known for his super speed, the truth is that Flash is far more powerful than even his Justice League buddies seem to realize. No matter who’s riding lightning right now, the Scarlet Speedster has proven time and time again that he just might be the most powerful hero in the multiverse.
Flash’s infinite mass punch packs a big punch
Grant Morrison understands DC characters better than anyone, so when they show a character’s abilities, they really show them. Morrison’s JLA #3, with art by Howard Porter, the writer decided to feature an ability that Flash had never used before, the Infinite Mass Punch.
In a fight with Hyperclan’s Züm, Flash shifts into high gear, moving at the speed of light to gain infinite mass. Flash puts all of his mass into one punch, hitting Züm so hard that the villain flies across the globe at seven miles per second before landing in the southern savannahs, crashing into the earth so hard that he creates a large crater.
Flash can rewrite history
Flash originally needed his trusty cosmic treadmill to travel through time, but he soon learned to do it without the device. Like any good hero, Flash usually does everything he can to avoid changing the past and affecting the future, but he sometimes breaks this rule. Flash point was one such case, and it caused severe time distortions.
In an attempt to stop the murder of his mother, Flash rewrote the entire history of the DC Universe. The end result was a much darker world. Bruce Wayne was dead and Batman was Thomas Wayne. The kingdoms of Atlantis and Themyscira were at war. And, worst of all, Superman was held captive by the US government, never becoming the shining example of heroism he was supposed to be. Although Superman has had his own adventures throughout time, he has never shown the ability to alter the very fabric of reality like Flash did.
Flash can escape reality
Flash has been able to travel to other realities for ages. It was Barry Allen who first discovered the multiverse when he traveled to Earth-Two and met Jay Garrick, the original Flash. Since then, each Flash has had many adventures across the multiverse, but only Wally West has escaped all realities to discover the “Blobsphere” thanks to a power he calls “bypass”.
Seen in Si Spurrier and Mike Deodato Jr. Flash #6, Wally enters the Blobsphere, a psychic ecosystem that seems to contain the consciousness of the dead. Here, Flash also discovers the “Gallery of Moments”, a place where memories are stored. This level of the Blobshpere proves difficult to escape, but Flash manages to do so.
Flash can save (almost) everyone
With the ability to move at the speed of light, Flash can save everyone. Readers have seen it in the work of Mark Waid and Alex Ross. The Kingdom will comewhere Flash became an omnipresent force in Keystone City, protecting every inch of the city at once. At Joe Kelly and Doug Mahnke JLA #85, he gets everyone out of the North Korean city of Chongjin in 0.00001 microseconds, saving them from a nuclear explosion.
Superman has certainly saved the world and the multiverse on numerous occasions, but Flash is the only hero capable of doing so on a daily basis. The problem, as shown in the work of Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo Flash #91 is that doing this takes a toll on the Scarlet Speedster’s mental and physical health, so he will only do it when the situation is truly dire.
Flash can escape fast force
When first introduced, the Speed Force, which gives speedsters their powers, was something the Flash family wanted to avoid. If a speedster goes too fast, he will enter the Speed Force and never be able to get out. Wally West and Barry Allen are two of the three speedsters who managed to escape the cosmic energy field.
Of course, Superman will never be able to move fast enough to enter the Speed Force. The Man of Steel will never reach the speeds that Flash can achieve. But if by chance, like using Johnny Quick’s speed formula (3X2(9YZ)4A), Superman entered the Speed Force, he could never escape it.
Flash’s love is stronger than Superman’s
Wally West was the first person to escape the Speed Force, and he did so because his love for Linda Park was so strong that it allowed her to break free from unbreakable cosmic energy. Wally’s love for Linda also helped him return home when he was stuck in the future, and Barry Allen’s love for Wally made him remember his former sidekick even after Doctor Manhattan erased Wally from the timeline.
Time and again, the Flash have shown that their love for others is their greatest strength. And while Superman surely loves humanity, and Lois Lane in particular, it still didn’t help him when he was dead or stuck in space and time. You could say Flash loves it at 3000 mph.
Flash can resist telepaths
Few things can bring Superman down. Kryptonite is the most well-known, but it is also weak to magic and telepathy. And even if magic is a problem for Flash, telepaths would do well to stay away from the head of the Crimson Comet. While telepaths like Gorilla Grodd can take control of almost anyone’s mind, speedsters prove more difficult.
Indeed, unlike others, Flash can think faster than the speed of light. After all, being able to move faster than light would be useless if Flash’s mind couldn’t keep up. Otherwise, it would simply hit a wall and explode. Because his mind can move so quickly, Flash is able to thwart attempts to control his mind.
Flash killed Darkseid
In Justice League #44, by Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok, the League fights against the greatest threat in the universe: Darkseid. After Flash and the Black Racer merge into one being, the Anti-Monitor uses him to deal a fatal blow to Darkseid. And this isn’t the only time Flash deals a deathblow to the God of Mischief.
In Final Crisis #7, by Grant Morrison and Doug Mahnke, Barry Allen and Wally West bring the Black Racer to Darkseid, moving so fast that they distort time, forcing the human-fired Omega Beams that Darkseid has taken over to follow them and crash directly into the Lord of Apokolips. Between the beams and the Black Racer, Darkseid falls. While Superman would go on to save all of reality from erasure through the use of the Miracle Machine, he could never defeat Darkseid.
- Created by
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Gardner Fox, Harry Lampert, Carmine Infantino
- First appearance
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Flash comics
- Alias
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Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, Wally West, Bart Allen, Avery Ho
- Alliance
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Justice Society of America, Justice League, Teen Titans
- Race
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Human
- Franchise
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