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Dude, the bad guys went down, and nobody got hurt. You know what I call that? A really good day.
~ Flash to Orion in Justice League Unlimited episode, Flash and Substance

Wally West, alias The Flash, is one of the main protagonists from the TV series Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. He made his first appearance as a guest character in Superman: The Animated Series.

He is commonly known as the "Fastest Man Alive", and was a young and popular superhero from Central City and a founding member of the Justice League. Apart from his vast speed powers, Wally's most significant qualities were his approachability and his down-to-earth, quintessentially human nature—qualities that many said made him the "heart of the Justice League".

He is voiced by Charlie Schlatter in Superman TAS, Michael Rosenbaum and Clancy Brown in Justice League and Justice League: Unlimited.

Origin

Wally West was a science assistant. A freak accident would give him super-powers when a lightning bolt struck him, but the chemicals beside him at the time stabilized him and made his body start moving at lightning speeds. The bolt would link him to the primordial power of The Speed Force, which gradually increase his speed even faster than lightning.

Superman The Animated Series

Flash appeared in one of the precursor series to Justice League, Superman: The Animated Series, in the episode Speed Demons. In the episode Flash and Superman race each other to prove who is faster, partly out of an amicable rivalry, and partially for a charity event. The devices hooked up to them to keep track of their positions for the race also used their kinetic energy as a power-source to empower the inventor, Mark Mardon, who would take on the name "The Weather Wizard". Weather Wizard uses the kinetic energy to power a scepter which could theoretically, generate natural disasters - as it turned out the experiment worked. Weather Wizard's use of the scepter gets Superman and Flash's attention, and when the disasters can target their exact location, Flash and Superman figure out their trackers are to thank, destroy them and team-up to find and defeat Mardon. By the end of the episode, with Weather Wizard defeated, the two race once more, purely for the sport of it.

Justice League

In the episode Secret Origins of Justice League, Flash meets Superman again when dealing with an alien invasion. An alien race hive-mind known as the Imperium invade Earth. Flash meets Superman at the invasion point but also comes across an powerful warrior-woman going by the title Wonder Woman an Earthling returning to Earth after being recruited to the Green-Lantern Corps - an intergalactic law-enforcement agency. Flash, Superman, Wonder Woman and the Green Lantern would fight the creatures on the outside while the masked detective, Batman helped break-out a captured resident of Mars - the Imperium's previous victims, on the inside. The six heroes would manage to save the planet on a scale, none had thought possible solo. As a result they decide to form a regular team - The Justice League.

Personality

As a young hero, Wally West was given to immaturity and impetuousness. Flash would frequently meet even the gravest threats with a flippant remark, often showing a certain underestimation of the true danger of the situation. He was somewhat given to flirtatious behavior around members of the opposite sex that annoyed teammates, particularly Hawkgirl, but if truly taken with a woman as he was with Fire, he could be bashful, awkward and even shy.

Wally's heroism and bravery were beyond question, of course, and he brought a laid-back, down-to-earth quality to the Justice League. He was in many ways the League's most idealistic member, and his friendliness and compassion were the "glue" that held the disparate team of heroes together. These qualities were best illustrated by events in the alternate universe of the Justice Lords, in which Flash's murder transformed the League from heroes to tyrants. His down-to-earth personality also included being thankful for things in his civilian life, such as having a rent-controlled apartment with a laundry room conveniently located on the same floor.

Flash was well liked by the populace of Central City. Namely due to the fact he ran across rather than fly, he was able to easily interact with the citizens at large rather than just hover over them when situations arose. Flash reciprocated his friendliness beyond simply heroism; utilizing his super-speed, he donated a significant portion of his time to helping individual townsfolk, being on a first-name basis with many of the city's residents. He also did charitable work for the city's underprivileged.

Skills and Abilities

Flash had the ability to move and react at incredible speeds, many orders of magnitude greater than those of ordinary humans. He could run at velocities approaching that of light itself, and possibly faster. Simply put, he truly was the "fastest man alive".

Flash found many other applications for his super-speed. One was the ability to generate whirlwinds by rotating his arms at an incredible rate or by running in circles. These whirlwinds could be used to buffet opponents, or perhaps to cushion the impact of falling people or objects. Flash could even use such a whirlwind to briefly propel himself through the air.

Flash also had the ability to vibrate his molecules at tremendous speed, allowing him to pass unharmed through solid objects, such as through solid ice. Or vibrate to generate enough friction to achieve high temperatures such as melting ice he was encased in. The unstable resonance created by these vibrations would frequently cause objects to shatter or explode, such as when he defeated the Android Replica Flash. Because of that destructive capability, Flash used this ability only sparingly. Flash is also able to manipulate his heart rate, fooling Justice Lord Batman into thinking his heart stopped beating.

Because of the sheer speed and momentum his body generated, Flash could produce results similar to that of a metahuman who possessed enhanced strength. Since his body was naturally protected from most of the effects of his speed, the ultra-fast punches and movements of Wally's limbs could produce devastating impacts that could stun or injure otherwise stronger or more powerful beings such as Superman or Brainiac. He could also throw objects at extremely high speeds, as he was able to hold off the likes of Justice Lord Superman simply by throwing rocks. There are, in fact, many other instances that show the devastating impact of a projectile thrown by the Flash.

The true potential of Flash's power can be seen when his body was taken over by Luthor who then proceeded to systematically take down Elongated Man, Ice, Wildcat, Stargirl, Starman, Booster Gold and even Captain Atom all apparently almost instantly and with minimum effort. Luthor also alluded to a particularly disturbing ability of the Flash: by vibrating his fingers against a person's head, he could literally destroy their brain using the powerful vibrations.

One side-effect of the Flash's powers was a hyper-accelerated metabolism requiring significant sustenance, which caused him to be almost constantly hungry to the point that he considers an armful of hotdogs a "small snack".

Trivia

  • He is dating with Linda Park.
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