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Warning! Spoilers ahead for The Flash #11!I’ve been reading Flash comics for a while and I have to say, the latest revelation about his powers is probably the creepiest interpretation I’ve ever read. The last year of The Flash has made some wild changes to the speedster’s mythos, but this new development makes the Speed Force incredibly terrifying.
In The Flash #11 by Simon Spurrier and Ramón Pérez, Wally West has been weaponized and implanted with the Crown of Thawnes. The masterminds behind Flash’s torment, the Arc Angles, guide him as Wally runs and attempts to break into the Speed Force and deliver their weapon. Along the way, the Arc Angles liken speedsters to parasites who leech off the Speed Force. But the Arc Angles hypothesize that the relationship is built on reciprocity. The Speed Force gives the Flash and other speedsters powers while they act as living ‘sensory organs’ to connect the Speed Force to the world.
The Flash is a Living Nervous System for the Speed Force
The Speed Force may have given the Flash and the DC Universe’s numerous speedsters their powers, but the exact relationship between the two has been in flux. Sometimes it’s simply an energy source, other times is a conscious phenomenon that uses speedsters as living avatars. But whatever the truth is, the Speed Force became a target of the cosmic beings known as the Arc Angles. Believing that time was the source of all suffering, they chose to cut time off at the source by eliminating the Speed Force by weaponizing the fastest speedster that’s ever lived, Wally West.
Granted, the things we hear about the Speed Force here are from the Arc Angles’ perspective. But at the same time, what they say kind of makes sense, even if it is perturbing. I’m all on board with the idea that the Speed Force is sentient and even that it consciously chooses speedsters. But the idea that it wants them not for justice or meaning, but to act as organs like eyeballs and skin is a bit…icky. I suppose it’s better than the Speed Force being a source of evil, but it puts the Flash Family in a creepy new light.
The Flash’s Powers are Part of an Unsettling Dynamic
I suppose there are worse things in the world than being the Speed Force’s sensory organs (it does mean getting cool powers). But none of the speedsters had a say in that dynamic. If you ask someone if they want speed powers, sure, they’ll probably say yes. But you’re probably going to get a much different answer once you find out the trade-off is being used to help a god-level phenomenon interact with the physical world. I suppose the Flash Family is fine with it, but I think it’s a very disturbing way of twisting the Flash’s powers.
The Flash #11 is available now from DC Comics.
The Flash
The Flash is the superhero name given to the DC Comics character who utilizes unparalleled speed tied to a dimensional power known as the “speed force” to overwhelm their opposition. Premiering in 1939, the original Flash arrived as Jay Garrick. Still, it would be superseded by Barry Allen in popularity and featured status, but the Flash is one character that has met many of their alternate selves. The character is typically seen as a part of the Justice League in nearly all incarnations.
“}]] The Flash’s sees the Speed Force in a new light. Read More