Warning! Spoilers ahead for The Flash #8!With two incredibly powerful speedsters in the DC Universe, one moment proves which Flash has a better handle on their abilities. As reality starts coming apart at the seams, the Flash Family’s response to the crisis reveals who truly deserves the Fastest Man Alive title between Barry Allen and Wally West.
In The Flash #8 by Simon Spurrier, Ramón Pérez, and Vasco Georgiev, the DC Universe is coming apart at the seams and strange events are breaking out all over the world. To make things worse, Wally West is still missing, leaving Barry Allen to lead the Flash Family’s global response.
The older Flash tries to be in multiple places at once, but it’s incredibly hard for him. Barry can’t focus and he keeps running into other speedsters. Flash laments his situation and wonders how Wally can manage this kind of response on top of raising a family.
Things have been incredibly complicated in the Flash’s corner of the DC Universe. After Wally gained his new ‘side-stepping’ power and discovered hidden layers of reality, strange cosmic events began popping up. Creatures from various dimensions began invading Earth and the world was observed by a traveling group of cosmic explorers known as the Stillness. Things finally started to become clear when science detective Inspector Pilgrim postulated that speedsters and other time-travelers were inadvertently, destabilizing the DC Universe’s timeline. However, what Pilgrim didn’t know was that Flash’s foes had teamed up with an unknown power to destroy everything.
There’s no doubt that Barry and Wally are the two fastest people in the DC Universe. But when it comes to who is faster, both Flashes are quick to admit that the other one has them beat. Admittedly it’s hard to accurately judge oneself, but one simply has to be a better Flash. This instance shows that for all of his speed, Barry can’t handle bigger moments like this. It’s too much information for Barry to process at once and even the older Flash knows that his former sidekick is capable of things Barry isn’t.
When Barry returned in Final Crisis and saw how much Wally had done as the Flash, it was clear who the dominant speedster was. Wally trained hard and found amazing new applications to his powers. While no one doubts that Barry is a prime speedster as well, Barry is the first to admit Wally passed him a long time ago. While Barry is always there to save the world when it needs him, he knows that when speedsters need someone to lead the pack, it’s the Wally West version of the Flash who’s the best.
The Flash #8 is available now from DC Comics.