Warning: Spoilers for The Flash #13!The bottle May be the fastest man alive, but he hasn’t been able to outrun some of DC’s greatest tragedies. Whether it’s Barry Allen, Jay Garrick or Wally West, the Flash is a family man, and being a superhero means that the lives of loved ones are threatened by supervillains. But Wally West is done letting his family get hurt, and he’ll do anything to save them this time.
The Flash is more than just a super-powered hero. He channels the power of the Speed ​​Force, but in The bottle #13 By Simon Spurrier, Ramón Pérez, Pete Pantazis, Matt Herms and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, the Speed ​​Force has a poison in it. Declaring that time itself must die, the nefarious Ark Angles make one fatal mistake by threatening Wally’s family.
Descending into the time stream, Wally emerges unscathed with his family intact as they stand in the very in-between space of time itself. He then explains to the seemingly unstoppable cosmic forces that He will never let his family be hurt again, Show comic fans that Wally West isn’t going back down as The Flash anytime soon.
The story of The Flash is framed by the loss of his loved ones
The Park West family did not have it easy
The Flash’s legacy is more than just his superpowered Flash family. Especially in the case of Wally West, The story of the Flash is framed by tragedy. Not only does Barry Allen’s death last forever, but Flash family members often meet gruesome ends, too. In Pre-Crisis, Barry Allen’s arch-nemesis Reverse Flash killed his wife, Iris West-Allen, and in a later sequel, Zoomer did the same to Wally West’s twins.
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Thanks to DC’s ever-changing continuity, the deaths are often justified and rectified, although some other consequences take place – like when Barry Allen created Flashpoint and thereby Deleted Wally West and his entire history from the DC Universe. After this change, the New 52 came into being with no red-haired Wally West. It took Wally many years to get back to reality – and even then, it was even harder to bring his family back.
Wally West’s famous return to comics as The Flash
A man out of time with a non-existent family
DC’s Rebirth era ushered in a return to iconic heroes and a beloved era of nostalgia for many comic fans. One of the most important moments to come out of this era was when it was revealed that Wally West had been lost in the Speed ​​Force for the last several years in DC Universe: Rebirth #1 By Geoff Johns, Ethan Van Sciver, Gary Frank, Ivan Reis and Phil Jimenez. Wally appeared to several characters until His own uncle and mentor Barry Allen pulled him back into reality With a panel that nearly healed all the years of hurt Flash fans have endured.
The only problem was that after Wally West’s return to continuity, he had memories of his family before they were recounted, and it would be many years before his children returned to comics. suddenly, Wally was stuck in a world with a woman who didn’t know him but was supposed to be his endgame love: Linda Park. This time, instead of saving his family from a speedster villain, he has to save his family from non-existence.
Wally West saves his family from the destruction of the multiverse
The Flash reunites with his twin children and wife
During the events of Dark Knights: Death Metal By Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, the Dark Multiverse was clashing with the Flash’s own, and Wally’s involvement changed everything about his rebirth status quo. In the end, it took Wally West standing to GodWhich is just one of The Flash’s many incredible looks, to bring together the shards of a broken multiverse, recrafting his story in its original form: a love story that rivals Superman and Lois and a family-first life with their super-powered twins .
Wally West is not about to lose his family again.
Wally West is not about to lose his family again. As many times as he has reset the timeline, he still holds the sadness of the years when his family was erased from the world. This grief only made him faster, stronger and a better hero – Or, as his children say in The bottle #13 About him being a bottle, a father, a friend and a husband:
They’re all the same hat, Dad. They all say “hero.”
The Flash is a hero because of his love – not his speed
Wally West’s life flashes before the Speed ​​Force’s eyes
As the Speed ​​Force heals, Wally learns that his love for his family is the cure for what it is. Speedsters are not just parasites feeding off an invisible source of creation; They literally feed the Speed ​​Force with their love and goodwill. Wally West’s love for his wife and children is the engine for time. Long gone are the days of Wally’s mere existence breaking the timeline. Now, his legacy is his source of life and energy. The Flash does more than just save his family—he saves all the time.
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Wally West fans can rest easy knowing that there are no current plans to kill his family again and not erase their favorite Flash from the timeline. Wally and family are here to stay, and the Flash has a message for any villain, god, or Dark Multiverse out there: don’t mess with the Flashs family.
The bottle #13 is now available from DC Comics!