Bart Allen

Origin

Bart Allen was given birth in the late 30th Century, around the time of the Legion of Superheroes, and was the son of Don Allen (the son of Barry Allen, the current and silver age Flash) and Meloni Thawne, the daughter of Professor Zoom (Thaddeus Thawne, not Inertia but President Thawne). Bart was born with his grandfather’s super speed, but this came with it’s serious downfalls. Bart suffered from a hyper-accelerated metabolism, meaning that he was aging a lot faster than a normal human being and he would die of old age at a very young age. For example, when he was 2 years old, he looked physically 12 years old, 10 years older then he actually should be. To stop Bart from developing mental problems, Bart was placed in a VR (virtual reality) simulator which creates a virtual world that kept pace with his unusually fast growth.

When it became clear that the simulator was not working, his grandmother, Iris Allen decided to take Bart into the past (our present) to see her nephew, Wally West (The Third Flash), while he was the Flash, in hopes Wally would have a solution to his cousin’s problems. Wally made Bart use his super speed at new levels. This extreme burst of speed shocked Bart’s metabolism back to normal, at least for a speedster. Because Bart spent most of his childhood in the VR (virtual reality) Bart had no concept of danger and would often act on impulse (before thinking), this ended up with Batman (Bruce Wayne) giving him the nick name, Impulse. Bart proved to be too much to handle for Wally so he passed him over to the veteran speedster Max Mercury a.k.a. the The Zen Master of the Speed Force. Max moved Bart to Manchester, Alabama, where he taught Bart about the Speed Force and how to use his powers in a responsible way.

Creation

Bart Allen was created by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo. Bart Allen made his first comic book appearance in the pages of The Flash #92. In his first appearance he was in his Impulse persona. Bart made his first appearance in his Kid Flash persona in Teen Titans #4. Bart would later go on to take the prolific mantle of the Flash in Infinite Crisis #5.

Character Evolution

Impulse

Bruce Wayne a.k.a. Batman gave Bart the name Impulse as a warning not a compliment. Bart was one of the founding member’s of Young Justice along with Robin (Tim Drake) and Superboy (Conner Kent). For a time, Impulse came into the possession of a spaceship given to him by a rich man in thanks for saving his castle. The team used the ship to reunite Doiby Dickles with his queen and restore the rightful rule of Myrg. Impulse stayed with Young Justice for a long time becoming best friends with Tim Drake and Superboy who he actually stayed with for the majority of his time in the Teen Titans.

While in Manchester, at Manchester Junior High School, Bart became friends with Preston Lindsay and Carol Bucklen. On his adventures Bart has helped Preston to come forward about his mother abusing him, because he was apparently upsetting his father, and helped Carol’s brother to get his job back which he needed to provide for their family with both of their parents gone.

Bart’s mother, Meloni Thawne would eventually come back in time to see her child and bring him back to the 31st century. His mother quickly demonstrated whom he had inherited his impulsive nature from. Unfortunately President Thawne still held a grudge against the Flash’s family so in the 31st century Bart was a wanted boy along with relatives he had in that era including his cousin Jenni Ognats a.k.a. XS, a future member of The Legion of Superheroes, although she was merely a baby at the time. In order stop the feud between the Thawne and Allen families Bart’s mother, Thawne’s daughter, Meloni Thawne agrees to stay with her father in the future and be his little girl again while Bart goes back to the past. Thus separating Bart from his mother.

During his time with Young Justice, Bart discovered he had the ability to make Speed Force duplicates of himself that he could send through the time stream. They could remain in their selected place for a certain amount of time before they had to return to Bart and when they returned they would rebound with Bart and Bart would learn and feel everything his “clones” had but when one of his duplicates got killed Bart got the trauma from it. And Bart has never used that ability since that day.

When Max disappeared, Bart was taken in by Jay Garrick, the golden age Flash, and his wife Joan. Bart would continue his training with Jay and Wally and prove himself as an excellent hero. When Young Justice disbanded, Bart joined a new roster of Teen Titans along with Robin and Superboy.

Impulse Vol 1: 1000000

In Impulse #1000000, Bart was informed by John Fox, one of the future flashes that Vandal Savage had placed Jesse Chambers in a radioactive rocket that was sent to destroy Singapore. Bart and John went to one of the locations the rocket was going to pass by so they could execute their plan and save both Singapore and Jesse Chambers. When the rocket came by, John and Bart had a successful plan, they defused the bomb and saved Jesse just as they planned.

Joining the Teen Titans and Becoming Kid Flash

Bart joined the Teen Titans shortly after the Young Justice team he was on dissolved. Early in his Teen Titan career Bart is shot in the knee cap by Slade Wilson, Deathstroke.

This put him out of action for a while but while he couldn’t run he decided to read every book in the San Francisco library. When Bart fully recovered he returned to the teen titans and he did chose to shed his Impulse identity and become Kid Flash, although he needed a prosthetic knee cap but this never seemed to hugely hamper him.

Bart Allen: The Flash

Bart spent four years in an alternate reality’s Keystone City, with Max, Barry, Wally and an alternate version of Jay Garrick. There, Superboy-Prime managed to escape from his prison, and the alternate Jay failed to stop him. All the speedsters came together to return to their dimension so they could warn everyone about Superboy-Prime. However, they knew that not even the fastest men alive could get there before the insane Boy of Steel. Barry suggested to Wally that he somehow absorb the entire Speed Force, but cautioned that it might kill him. Bart bravely volunteered, because Wally had his family to think of, and Barry was incapable of it because he was already dead.

Wally handed him the ring and Barry gave Bart his Flash suit, which would both help Bart survive his journey. Bart reappeared in Tokyo wearing his grandfather’s costume. He later helped the heroes against the army of escaped super villains in the Battle of Metropolis. Bart then explained to the nearby Wonder Girl that his grandfather’s uniform was the only thing that could survive the trip back from where he had been, and that he was the only one there “who could still run”. Bart then unleashed his anger against Superboy-Prime for killing Conner Kent, pummeling him at super-speed and forcing Superboy to retreat from the battle. When the crisis was over, Bart explained to Jay that he had spent years in an unknown dimension where he grew older. Bart confirmed that the Speed Force was destroyed and that he had used up the residual speed locked in his body fighting in Metropolis. He gave Barry’s costume to Jay and said that Jay was once again the fastest man alive.

After about a year pretending to be powerless, Bart eventually was forced to reveal that the Speed Force has been inside him all along in order to defeat a rogue pseudo-speedster, The Griffin. He became the Flash, and joined the Justice League. He also moved to Los Angeles and started at the L.A. Police Academy. During this time he dated Valerie Perez. Soon he was attacked by Inertia and the Rogues, who drained him of the Speed Force and beat him to death. Ironically, Wally West was returned to New Earth by the Justice League at almost the same time, sadly a little too late to help his protege. Bart is survived by West, his grandmother Iris and girlfriend Valerie.

Keystone city held a funeral for Bart. Jay Garrick, Cyborg, Wonder Girl and one of Bart’s best friends, Robin gave eulogies. At the end of his speech, Robin plays a video of Bart just after he became Kid Flash, in the video Bart says no matter what happens he will always be proud of being in the Flash legacy and on how happy being a Titian made him. After the Keystone funeral, the Teen Titans held a small private ceremony of their own, the Titans that were present at it were Robin (who spoke at the ceremony), Flash (Wally West),Supergirl, Wonder Girl, Cyborg, Starfire, Ravager, Kid Devil, Beast Boy, Raven and Miss Martian. A gold statue of Bart as Kid Flash was put up next to the Superboy statue.

Resurrection and Return to the Present

When the Legion of the 31st Century came back to the past, the Justice League thought that the return of Wally West was the culmination of their efforts, yet it was only a happy side-effect. Using his lightning rod, Brainiac 5 was able to capture the essence of Bart Allen. Returning to the future, he found his Legion beset by Superboy Prime and the Villains he had assembled to destroy them. After calling forth other Legions to help them from alternate Universes, Brainiac 5 prepared to implement the second of his three stages in his Psychological war against Prime.

Gathering all of the Lightning wielders of the 3 Legions in their headquarters he also gathered along with Bart’s cousin XS, and Light Lass. He had XS ran along the Cosmic Treadmill, and while Light Lass used her power to keep her from becoming a singularity, and had the Lightning Twins hit her with their power. Bart found himself in the 31st Century along with his cousin and the members of the Legion. Taking the Flash Ring offered to him. Dressing himself, Kid Flash launched himself at Superboy Prime, ready to continue the fight.

Back with the Teen Titans

Following Blackest Night and his return to the 21st century, Bart has permanently re-taken the mantle of Kid Flash. When the Teen Titans are captured in Dakota and require back-up, Cyborg calls Kid Flash and Superboy out of retirement to rejoin the team once more. After the battle with Holocaust, Kid Flash officially rejoins the Teen Titans as he is with them on the T-Wing as they return to San Francisco to question a hostage. Things take a turn for the worse however when the hostage transforms into a mythical creature, destroys the T-Wing, and takes Raven through a dimensional rift. The team does battle with the magical enemy known as the Wyld and comes out of the skirmish unscathed, unlike the majority of his team members.

Since this line-up altering battle, Bart has remained a constant on the team and has shown that he is back with the Teen Titans for good. It is revealed that Bart has a lot of knowledge that he picked up while in the 31st century and is desperately attempting to jot it all down before it fleets his memory for good. Kid Flash and the rest of the Titans get embroiled with the surfacing of the Feral Boys, Dr. Caligan and Headcase.

In his remaining time on the Teen Titans team, Bart battled many enemies such as the returning Superboy Prime and Calculator. He also met new heroes such as Solstice and Damian Wayne, the current Robin.

New 52

Following the events of Flashpoint, much of Bart’s history with the DCU was erased. Bart has no recollection of his past, but he took up the name of Kid Flash and started helping people. After much observation, he was invited to join Tim Drake’s Teen Titans, the first team of its kind in this newly formed universe. He fought alongside Red Robin, Wonder Girl, Superboy, Solistice, Bunker, Raven and Skitter as they were hunted down by the villainous organization known as N.O.W.H.E.R.E.

In a visit to S.T.A.R. Labs, he is analyzed and given a new costume by young scientist Virgil Hawkins, a costume that was made to keep his molecules aligned and stable after they were thrown off balance in a fight with Superboy. It is in Hawkins’ analysis of Bart that it is implied he’s from the future.

It is later revealed in a meeting between Bart and the Flash that his powers have nothing to do with the Speed Force in any way, nor is he the grandson of Barry Allen. He simply believed he was since they had similar powers, and took up the name in his honor.

As he and the Titans are flung into the future by Johnny Quick during the events of Forever Evil, the truth behind this new incarnation of Bart was revealed: His real name is Bar Torr and he is a revolutionary from the future who was sent to the past as part of a witness protection program.

Imprisoned for his future crimes, he remains stuck in the future.

Rebirth

During the events of Flash War, Wally and Barry ran as fast as they could, which ultimately broke the Force Barrier. This was of course all according to Zoom‘s sneaky plan, since it would release new forces, such as: Sage force, strength force, etc. Despite the fact that it went downhill for our heroes, the destruction of the Force Barrier has one positive outcome: the return of Bart Allen! For now, it seems that the Force Barrier was the only thing imprisoning him. Bart Allen is now back in full glory, in his classic costume!

Major Story Arcs

Zero Hour

For More Information: Zero Hour

Bart helps the heroes of Earth during the events of Zero Hour. After the event when Wally is believed to have died Bart takes it quite badly.

Infinite Crisis

For More Information: Infinite Crisis

During Infinite Crisis Bart was forced to fight Superboy Prime after he attacked the Teen Titans. Bart teamed with Jay and Wally to take him down. The three went all out to force Prime into the speed force. Prime was preparing to use his heat vision on the speedsters until the timely interception Jay provided by using his helmet to prevent the blast but Jay stumbled and went out of the race and Wally seemed to vanish leaving Bart alone to try and force Prime into the speed force that is until emanations of Barry Allen, Max Mercury and Johnny Quick, all of whom were former speedsters who had been taken into the Speed Force, appeared to assist Bart.

As a result Bart ended up being absorbed into the speed force himself. Stuck in the speed force with Wally and Barry, Barry says that they should pool their speed together so that one of them could get back and warn the world of Superboy Prime. Barry nominates Wally but Bart puts himself forward because Wally had a family and Barry was just a ghost. Bravely Bart races and gets to Metropolis just in time to help the other heroes fight against prime.

Final Crisis

For More Information: Final Crisis Legion Of Three Worlds

During Final Crisis the Legion of Super Heroes bring Bart back to life in order to have him help them to stop Superboy Prime.

Flash Rebirth

For More Information: Flash Rebirth

During Flash Rebirth Barry Allen returned. This gave Bart an opportunity he never had, the opportunity to meet his grandfather. It also brings back Bart’s mentor and friend Max Mercury.

Road to Flashpoint

For More Information: Flashpoint

With Barry Allen back in the Central City Police Crime Lab, he doesn’t seem to have time for his Flash family, exceptional Bart. And one day when Barry chooses to spend time on the murder of the Elongated Kid instead of going to a family picnic, Bart takes offense and goes to the Crime Lab to confront him. When he gets there he sees Barry chase after Hot Pursuit. Bart gives chase and when he catches up he sees Hot Pursuit reveal his identity to be Barry Allen from a parallel Earth, who came to Barry’s earth chasing a time anomaly. Barry seems to be believing Hot Pursuit story but Bart is more skeptical. When Hot Pursuit learns that Bart is from the future he informs the pair of speedsters that Bart will feel time anomaly first.

After Hot Pursuit leaves Bart confronts Barry about missing the picnic and blames himself. Barry tries to explain that its not Bart that Barry is going though his own personal issues but Bart doesn’t believe him and runs off. This prompts Iris Allen to stage and intervention for Barry, after Jay Garrick and Wally West say their peace about how Barry has been acting, Bart get furious and storms out. Barry chases after but Bart gets attacked by Hot Pursuit. Hot Pursuit believe Bart is the time anomaly and feels that Bart’s death is the only way to stop the anomaly.

Hot Pursuit then realizes its not Bart, but its Professor Zoom. Bart, Hot Pursuit and Barry fallow Hot Pursuit’s time stick to Zoom, who is attacking Patty Spivot. Bart and Barry try to stop him but Zoom kills Hot Pursuit and escapes. Barry then later explains to Bart that it wasn’t Bart he was avoiding it was everyone for fear that Zoom might come after them to get to him. Bart excepts this reason and the two bond over their losses.

Flashpoint

For More Information: Kid Flash Lost

During the events of Flashpoint Bart finds himself in a virtual world, he shortly discovers it’s not real and awakes to find himself in a pod. He finds that it was Brainiac who was behind it but he also find that his connection to the speed force has been severed. He is saved though by the timely intervention Hot pursuit,Patty Spivot, who had also been abducted by Brainiac. Brainiac claimed that the pair were “time anomalies” and that he abducted them as he wished to learn everything about space and time. The pair escape Brainiac only to learn that the future is a terrible place. Bart finds out he is in the year 3011, one thousand years after Flashpoint, and that Brainiac had taken over Earth five centuries ago and placed everybody in pods where they experience virtual reality. Bart and Patty realise they have to stop this from happening and the only way to do that was to get back the speed force power cell from Patty’s speed force motorcycle. They break into Brainiac’s skull ship and fight off Brainiac but in the ensuing battle Brainiac impales Patty but in her last act she releases the power contained in the speed force power cell. Bart quickly starts running and finds himself transported back to 1889 where he finds he has undergone a costume change which resembles that of Black Flash. He sees his friend and mentor Max Mercury but Max does not recognize him (as they haven’t yet met). Bart warns Max to stay away from him but Max touches Bart and is suddenly struck down by a bolt of lightning. Bart is then once again flung through time and ends up in a lab where he finds Jay on the floor dead, he rushes to Jay’s side only for Jay to be struck by a bolt of lightning also. Once more Bart is flung through time only to find himself in a grave yard before a tombstone dedicated to the late Wally West. Bart pounds the ground and he himself is struck by lightning only to find himself chasing his grandfather Barry. He then realises he was given this power so he could become the first White Flash. He then realises that he must give the speed he has absorbed from Max, Jay and Wally to Barry so that he could prevent the terrible future Bart witnessed from occurring.

Personality

Bart Allen is impulsive, he acts without thinking, to which Batman gave him the name ‘impulse’. He’s a typical kid, He loves to play games, eat chocolates, and play space games. Bart is also a lady charmer, it happens that he gets a lot of attention from girls, rather than charming them like Wally West. Bart is a good friend, He’s a nice guy, funny, and he is very loyal and protective. He wants to help who ever he can. there is also a more serious side to Bart, he wants to be a good hero and a good person. He is very determined.

Powers & Abilities

Bart’s primary power is his super speed which he gets from tapping into the speed force. As Impulse and Kid Flash, Bart could achieve speeds greater that mach 10, but when he returned from the alternate dimension he could reach incredible Speeds, such as Light speed. Wally West has said that Bart was faster than all the speedsters put together. Bart can lend and borrow speed from other people, a good example of this is when Wally West fights Professor Zoom and Bart and Jay Garrick among other speedsters lend Wally their speed so he can bear zoom. Bart can move his limbs at such speeds that he can make vibration wave and manipulate his bio mass that he can appeared invisible. Bart can also run across water and up vertical surfaces such as walls. Bart can create vortexes by running and moving his limbs in a circular motion at high speeds.

Bart is very good (maybe the best) at manipulating the Speed Force as Impulse, Bart discovered that he had the ability to create clones of himself that he can send any where through time, the clones have a small amount of time away from Bart when they do return Bart absorbs their memories, however when one of his clones got killed, Bart felt the trauma of its death, Bart has never used the power since the incident.

Unlike other speedsters Bart has an photographic memory that lets him remember everything he has ever read, a good example of this is when he read every book in the San Francisco library in 5 minutes.

Before he died the Speed force had actually lived inside Bart, making them one in the same. Although it became very dangerous when Bart ever tapped in to speed force, Bart had to wear the flash suit while running to stop it from killing him. He would gain control over the speed force, however. Bart would have been the most powerful Flash ever but died before we saw any of the effects. Bart said when he did absorb the Speed Force he was the fastest man to ever live.

Also, the speed force also gave Bart a kind of aura that gave him immunity from friction and heat generation while running, the aura also gives Bart a small amount of invulnerability.

Thanks to his hyper-accelerated metabolism Bart can heal faster than normal humans. The injury, however, may not necessarily heal correctly.

Bart’s reflexes, stamina and agility are also at superhuman levels.

Bart is a good hand to hand fighter, thanks to his super speed he can land hundreds of powerful punches a second. Bart is also very knowledgeable thanks to his photographic memory. Bart has had hand to hand training from the LA Police department and Batman’s protege, Robin. He is also very knowledgeable in anatomy.

Statistics

• Height: 5 feet 7 inches
• Weight: 145lbs (66kg)
• Hair color: Auburn
• Eye color: Gold
• Marital status: Dating, with Solstice
• Occupation: None

Alternate Realities

Titans of Tomorrow

In the Titans of Tomorrow story arc, Wally West is dead and Bart is the new Flash. The Titans are now a fascist team of superheroes who control the world and enforce a zero tolerance life style for the people. Bart is part of this team but is having an affair with Rose Wilson who is on a freedom fighter team, Titans East. Bart is found out by Batman (Tim Drake) and takes a bad beating, he helps the Teen Titans escape back to their time. Due to Bart’s and Superboy‘s deaths, this future changed slightly. The versions of Bart and Superboy in this future are actually clones of the originals, created after years of trying by Tim Drake. Unlike the flash in the first part of Titans of Tomorrow, Bart is completely loyal to Batman’s Titans.

Dark Tomorrow

After the death of Max Mercury and Helen Claiborne, Bart and his girlfriend, Carol Bucklen, travel back to future to be with Bart’s mother. Carol begins to study the source of Bart’s powers, the speed force, to benefit the human race. But Bart’s grandfather, President Thawne, uses Carol’s research to strengthen his army and make it stronger. He makes Super speed soldiers. An adult Carol and Bart manage to pull their younger selves (main-stream Bart and Carol) into the future. When they return to their time, Bart prevents Max’s and Helen’s deaths to stop this future from ever happening.

In Other Media

Television and Board Games

Smallville

Bart Allen appears in the television series Smallville. He first appeared in the episode “Run“. His name is Bart Allen but Clark finds 3 fake I.D.’s of Bart’s with different names; “Jay Garrick“, “Barry Allen” and “Wally West“. Bart leaves and tells Clark he is going to search the world for others like Clark and himself.

He is seen later in the episode “Justice” working with Green Arrow, this time wearing a proper costume.

The Flash/Arrowverse

Bart Allen appears in CW’s The Flash in the episode P.O.W but as the son of Barry Allen and Iris West instead of their grandson, he is also the younger brother of Nora West and goes by codename Impulse. In Flash TV series Bart acts as archenemy of August Heart/Godspeed who call him the Adversary.

Heroclixs

In 2002 a game called Heroclixs was made Bat Allen was made in the series and he has a power card in the series pack called Justice League in 2007 and in 2013 after the events when DC Comics relaunched in the New 52 series called Teen Titans we see Kid Flash with his costume on and his power card and his comic book series the he appeared in. The Flash Family is made in the series they would be a good team to fight off anyone in the game series.

Animation

Legion of Super-Heroes

Bart once appeared in a comic book adaptation of the Legion of Super-heroes Animated Series when the two Legionnares, lighting Lad and Bouncing Boy, were trapped in a virtual reality machine Bart helped them to escape.

Young Justice: Invasion

Bart appeared in episode 6, Bloodlines as Impulse, and acted as a ‘tourist’ to travel in the past.When Bart first arrived in the cave he met Robin (Tim Drake), Dick Grayson (Nightwing) and Garfield Logan (Beast Boy). He caused mayhem in the cave and revealed Nightwing and Robin’s real names but was stopped by Nightwing who took a sample of his DNA and made Bart swallow a tracer. Bart escaped from the cave and found his way to Central City. Bart burst into Barry and Iris’ house during a party celebrating Jay and Joan Garrick’s 70th wedding anniversary he revealed to Barry that Iris was pregnant and then shocked the couple by accidentally revealing that they were going to have twins. The speedsters were told that there was a villain named Neutron, Barry and Bart raced to where the villain was attacking. There, he helped Flash (Barry Allen) and Kid Flash (Wally West) to defeat Neutron (Nathaniel Tryon). Barry attempted to grab Neutron and take him to the desert to minimize the damage caused by Neutron when he released a powerful blast of energy. Bart accidentally made Barry trip and land on the ground, Bart and Barry were then saved by Wally and Jay Garrick.

Wally accused Bart of almost getting the Flash killed but Barry told Wally that Bart actually saved him because he would never have been able to take Neutron to the desert in time.

Later back at the cave, after Bart was proved to be truly from the future, he attempted to use the machine he came in and go back. But the time travel machine didn’t work, so he was stuck in the past.

It was later revealed at the end of the episode, that Bart knew that using his time travel machine was a one way trip. But he did so to escape the dreary state of Mount Justice in 40 years time. He also appeared to have made a deal with Nathaniel to help him alter his past self back into human form so he wouldn’t have to suffer in the future.

Bart was shown to not be from the 31st century as he was in the comics but instead from 40 years in the future, while Iris was pregnant with both Dawn and Don before Barry’s “death”. It has not been confirmed if Meloni is his mother in this universe, let alone existing in it at all.

Bart is currently staying with Jay and Joan Garrick, it’s not been said if he will permanently join the team.

Bart’s other mission for his trip in the best was to prevent Jaime, from joining the Reach and helping them enslave the entire human race. Over time, Bart and Jaime became good friends, keeping him in the dark about his future. However, under circumstances, Bart told him about what happens in the future, and in a ironic twist, help lead it becoming true because it pushed Jaime to seek help from Green Beetle, offered to help Jaime be “free” from his scarab’s control, but rather reprogrammed it to be under Reach control.

Bart, along with other members of the team, are able to capture and free Jaime from the Reach control.

In the final episode of the series Bart is among the heroes that stop the Reach’s MFD weapons. One of the MFD escape Blue Beatles radar and Bart and Flash race off to the north poll to stop it. They are too late and are informed by Lex Luthor to run parallel to the vortex to stop it from destroying the earth. Bart, Flash and Kid Flash are able to stop the MFD, but Kid Flash does not survive. Later in the Watch Tower, Bart is shown wearing Wally’s costume and will keep the legacy of Kid Flash alive.

In this episode of Young Justice Bart uses phrases like “Crash” instead of good or cool and “Mode” instead of bad, but although he have never used “Crash” or “Mode” as references to good, cool or bad in the comics.