Creation
Jesse Chambers first appeared in Justice Society of America v2 #1 in 1992 and was created by Len Strazewski and Mike Parobeck.
Origin
Jesse Chambers is the daughter of the Golden Age heroes Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle, and was born in Queens, New York. Jesse was never really torn up over her parents divorce, as she was very young. While growing up she was closer to her father and eventually learned how to access the speed force using his mantra. When Jesse was studying at Gotham University her thesis topic was “The Impact of Superheroes on Society” but she later changed it to “Mystery-Men and Their Effects on Culture”. Jesse began to follow the JSA members, and later Johnny asked Jesse to deliver some documents to his friends, the members of the JSA. After this encounter she took the identity of Jesse Quick and became an honorary member of the Justice Society of America, due to her father’s honorary membership.
Major Story Arcs
Terminal Velocity
When the Kobra organization had threatened Keystone City, all of the speedsters helped the current Flash in defeating the organization. Wally West, in an attempt to teach Bart some responsibility, brought in Jesse to teach Bart the ways of super-speed, but then Wally realized that he might not return from the speed force and he named Jesse as his successor. Later Jesse realized that Wally duped her and she was furious, but she forgave him and saved him from a laser blast from the Kobra’s troops. To amend his relationship with her, he recommended her to the Titans to be a honorary member.
Dead Heat
Jesse and the others speedsters mysteriously lost their powers and Wally and Jesse went to Savitar‘s lair to regain her powers. Through the battle against Savitar, Johnny Quick lost his life to save Jesse.
Libby blamed Jesse for Johnny’s death and said that she warned him when she retired from being Liberty Belle. Jesse took over her father’s company Quick Start Enterprises after his death.
A few years later Wally helps Jesse to reunite with her father, and to show Wally she was very grateful, she kissed him.
The Titans
The Titans’ founding members decided to reunite the team again, but Wally didn’t rejoin and he recommended Jesse to be the speedster of the team. Nightwing was the one who invited Jesse to be a member, but she knew that it was Wally’s idea. After Nightwing persuaded her she accepted. Jesse Quick and Nightwing become close friends, and he usually went to her office, where they stayed talking about their work or training new sidekicks; eventually he told her his identity.
When Libby was visiting Jesse’s she said that she was getting married and Jesse became very surprised. In Titans #26, Libby invited Jesse to meet her fiance, but she said that she was busy due to being a superhero and a businesswoman, but Jesse really didn’t want to go due to her troubled relationship with her mother. Nightwing offered to be her “pretend boyfriend” and she accepted. Sometime later Phillip Geyer (Libby‘s younger fiancée) was found dead in his bed, and the Titans were investigating the situation. The Titans’ investigation revealed that Phillip was cheating on Libby with her Jesse. Libby and Jesse stopped talk with each other after that revelations. After the events of Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day, the Titans and Young Justice broke up, and Jesse decided to go solo. During this time she became friends with Donna Troy, Dick Grayson and especially Damage and Argent (who later moves to Jesse’s house).
Powerless period and JSA: Blitz/Brand New Day
When Wally needed help to defeat Zoom, Jesse lent him her speed powers and she stayed for a time without them. She accepted an offer to be the JSA’s business manager and she fell in love with Rick Tyler, the current Hourman and son of the original, and after reconciling with her mother she becomes the new Liberty Belle. Eventually Jesse and Rick got married and joined the Justice Society of America.
Becoming the new Liberty Belle
When Jesse’s father died she felt she didn’t deserve to be Jesse Quick anymore, and when she lost her powers because of Zoom she admitted that she gave up her speed and wearing a mask.
Before Jesse and Rick got married, she started to talk with her mother again (they were mad at each other because of what happened to Libby’s fiancé). A few months later her mother confronted her at the Brownstone wanting to know why she quit and if she could help (Johnny Quick thought that Jesse could use his mantra and her mother’s at the same time, but Libby disagreed).
Rick heard Jesse and Libby arguing, and also heard Jesse saying awful things to her mother. He asked her why she was so hard on herself and on her mother, and Jesse revealed that she always sought to be perfect and she expected everyone else to be perfect too. Rick didn’t understand why, so he drew Liberty Belle’s costume on a piece of paper and according to Jesse, he said “Just because something has a crack in it doesn’t mean you throw it away” and the Liberty Bell became Jesse’s new mantra. She said that her father was right because it was then revealed that she has all of her mother’s powers too.
When Zoom (the man who was the reason why Jesse gave up her speed) was trying to kill Damage (one of Jesse’s best friends) she recovered her speed in time by to save him by speaking her father’s mantra.
The Hourman And Liberty Belle Co-Feature
After marrying Rick Tyler, Jesse and her husband moved out to a new home in 1304 Sycamore Street, in a residential neighborhood in New Rochelle, New York. In JSA All-Stars #6 Jesse Chambers and Rick Tyler have a personal conversation about having a baby, but Rick is worried about them being distant parents (like their fathers were) and he is also afraid of what effect the Miraclo in his blood stream would have on a baby, and decides to stop using it until Jesse gets pregnant.
Flash Rebirth
When Barry Allen returned from the dead during the Final Crisis, Jesse was having regrets about seemingly abandoning her father’s identity in favor of her mother’s. Her husband states that doing so brought her closer to her mother and that it would be what her father wanted. Jesse then experienced a spasm when Barry first accidentally kills Savitar and later Christina Alexandrova. Professor Zoom, the Reverse Flash created a negative Speed Force and used Barry as a means to try and kill his family and fellow speedsters. Jesse manages to re-establish her link to the Speed Force and arrives at the West home just as Thawne is about to kill Wally’s family. Jesse also helps Iris West establish her link as a speedster to the Speed Force. Iris and Jesse join the other speedsters to help fight the Reverse Flash. Wally then uses his access to the Speed Force to alter his, Iris’ and Jesse’s respective costumes. Jesse now wears a suit reminiscent of her father’s costume.
Blackest Night
During the fight against the Black Lanterns, Jesse had trouble fighting the zombified Damage; she couldn’t focus because she felt guilty about his death. Later, the Black Lantern Johnny Quick appears and when he sees his daughter as the new Liberty Belle, he accuses of forgetting him. A hurt Jesse shows her dad that she never forgot him by donning her new outfit as Jesse Quick again. While they were running around the world Johnny and Jesse started to remember when Jesse was a child and he was teaching her the formula. When they arrive in Manhattan, Johnny starts to vanish and Jesse continues to run.
JLA Omega and Eclipso Rising
At the end of the JLA/JSA crossover story “Dark Things”, Jesse is invited by Dick Grayson (now the current Batman) to join the League to fill in the void left by Wally West. She accepts, as she feels she should try being with the newer generation. She becomes friends with another new member, Supergirl.
When the JLA was fighting against Crime Syndicate of America, Jesse Quick faces Johnny Quick from the Antimatter Universe, where she notices that “This Johnny Quick has my father’s face”, implying he’s the antimatter version of Johnny Quick.
During the Eclipso Rising story, Jesse started to lose her speed.
In Justice League Of America #60 it’s revealed that Jesse was losing her speed because she was pregnant. Supergirl asked Jesse what was Rick’s reaction when she told him she was pregnant and she said he started crying. She also said to her teammates that this was the last time they would see her in costume, at least until the baby is born.
Powers
Superhuman Strength: She possesses super strength like her mother.
Super Speed: Using her father’s formula “3×2(9yZ)4A” she is able to move super fast and to turn it off she can speaks the formula “Z25Y(2AB)6. She was eventually able to solve the formula.
Flight: She can fly by running at super-speed and then lunching into flight.
Phasing: She can vibrate her atoms at such a high speed that they can slip past atoms of solid objects.
Character Profile
- Height: 5’11”
- Weight: 152 lbs
- Eye Color: Blue
- Hair Color: Blond
- Citizenship: American
- Place of Birth: Queens, New York City
- Marital Status: Married
- Occupation: Adventurer, Businesswoman
- Known Relatives: Johnny Chambers (father, deceased), Libby Lawrence (mother), Rex Tyler (father-in-law), Wendi Harris (mother-in-law), Rick Tyler (husband), Johnny Tyler (son)
Other Versions
JLA Created Equal
In this universe Jesse Chambers is no longer Jesse Quick, she’s the Flash.
Teen Titans GO!
Jesse Quick is male and an alternative alias of Robby Reed.
Justice League Adventures
In Justice League Adventures #9, Wally West is seen on a date with a girl named Jessica. It’s possible this girl is a alternate version of Jesse Chambers although she has no powers. The cover title of the issue is “Kiss me Quick”.
Trinity
Liberty Belle (Jesse) appears in several issues of Trinity as member of Justice Society International along with her husband Hourman and some of her fellow JSA members like Damage and Atom Smasher.
DC Super Friends
Jesse made a brief cameo on DC Super Friends #27. She was at Flash’s birthday along with Impulse and Jay Garrick. She was wearing her Flash Costume.
Tiny Titans
Jesse Quick appeared in issue 41 of the Tiny Titans.
Ame-Comi Girls
Jesse appears on the new DC Comics digital series Ame-Comi Girls. She first appeared on Ame-Comi III: Duela Dent #2 helping Steel and Robin. In this universe she’s the Flash.
DCeased
Jesse, along with members of the Flash Family Impulse and Max Mercury made a return to the alternate universe of DCeased. The zombie infested reality had mixed elements from pre-Flashpoint and Rewbirth and Jesse, with the uniform used after Terminal Velocity, was one of those elements. Along with several other people, they escaped to a parallel earth.
In Other Media
Arrowverse
Flash
Jesse is played by Violett Beane, and is the daughter of Earth 2 Harrison Wells. She debuted in the second season in the episode “The Darkness and the Light”.
She has genius level intellect and that’s why her father gives her the nickname of Jesse Quick. She is kidnapped by Zoom in order to blackmail Harrison into stealing Barry’s speed. After Wells comes clean and the team rescue Jesse, she becomes a refugee in Earth 1 until Zoom gets neutralized. While being there, she is hit by a wave of energy used to restore Barry’s powers. She eventually recovers and return with her father to Earth 2.
In the third season, Jesse and her father return to Earth 1 to seek for the Team’s help after Jesse got her speedster powers. Barry start training her and she became Jesse Quick in full costume. After a few days, they go back to their earth, not before she kissed Wally West.