Wally West (Flash II)

History
Wally West is The Flash, formerly known as the first Kid Flash and the first Velocity .While Wally was considerably slower than Barry - as all other speedsters are - when Barry was alive, after Barry's death Wally became capable of almost reaching the speeds Barry once had. Furthermore, he gained greater mastery over the Speed Force and other abilities it could bestow. While Wally wasn't the fastest speedster, that title would always be Barry's, he does currently have the best understanding of how to use the Speed Force.

Origin
Wally West was born to Rudolph and Mary West in Blue Valley, Nebraska. As a boy, Wally would often daydream, most notably about being the Flash. He idolized the Flash and was the president and sole member of the Blue Valley Flash Fan Club. His parents thought he was setting himself up for failure and did their best to dampen what they believed to be unrealistic expectations, in rather harsh ways. His father encouraged him to work at the same plant he did, but Wally grew frustrated and hurt (and eventually apathetic) by their lack of faith in his abilities.

At a family reunion, attended by all but Rudolph's brother Daniel and hosted by the Wests, Wally accidentally spilled some soda, inciting his father to yell at him for being so careless. Wally quickly went to his room in tears. Once there, a familiar looking man, who he thought be his uncle, came in and began to speak to him. The man encouraged Wally not to give up on his dreams, giving him confidence that he would reflect back on for years to come.

Kid Flash
One summer, when he was ten years old, Wally went to Central City to stay with his Aunt Iris, whom he called his best friend. Iris was going out with police scientist Barry Allen, who was "friends" with the Flash. Barry "introduced" Wally to his idol, the Flash. In the back room of Barry's apartment was a lab, where Wally asked the Flash all sorts of questions.

When he asked Flash how he got his powers, it turned out the speedster had set up his chemical cabinet just as it had been when he was created. Wally wished that something like that could happen to him; the Flash dismissed it as a billion-to-one chance. However, it just so happened that the weather that particular day was stormy and, at that moment, lightning didstrike the cabinet, bathing Wally in the same chemicals that created the Flash.

Flash told Wally to keep this a secret, even from Iris. He taught Wally how to craft a costume made of the Speed Force, and Wally became Kid Flash. The Flash taught Wally everything he knew about how to use speed to his advantage, and about the rogues gallery.

The next day, after conquering a crippling fear of fire, Wally apprehended his first criminal, Mister Element. Element had attacked the Art Museum, transmuting many pieces of art into shapeless forms. Element stole the Giardi Atom, an atomic model crafted from gold and jewels. Kid Flash followed Element to the home of Ward Wellington Weaver, owner of another Giardi Atom, where he defeated the villain and turned him in to the police.

While in high school, Wally was a member of the Eta Pi fraternity, along with his good friend, Tommy Elkin.

The next summer, Barry told Wally his secret identity, which surprised Wally, who had always thought Barry was kind of boring. It was at this point that Wally also joined the Teen Titans, and as his friend Dick Grayson had done with his Nightwing persona - Wally opted to distinguish himself from The Flash and became Velocity. He began to take classes at Taggert University, with hopes of eventually getting a doctorate in physics.As Barry's sidekick, Wally met Hal Jordan, then Green Lantern of Earth, and became Jordan's friend, just as Jordan had been Barry's friend.

Because Wally had been struck by lightning and affected by the charged chemicals when he was a kid, rather than a full grown man, it affected his body differently than it had Barry's. Although he was able to run through the crippling pain he called "hitting the wall" the summer after he got his powers, when adolescence hit, it came back with a vengeance,effectively propelling Wally to quit his super-heroic career.

The New Flash
During the Crisis on Infinite Earths, after Barry Allen sacrificed his life to destroy the Anti-Monitor's antimatter cannon, an antimatter ray fired by the Anti-Monitor hit Wally full force. While it knocked his speed down to that of sound, it also removed the malady that caused him intense pain. Wally took Barry's uniform and declared himself the Flash, just until Barry returned. However, the rest of the population did not share Wally's feeling that Barry was still alive, and they also did not appreciate Wally's attempts at filling Barry's boots. After being publicly embarrassed in a fight with Doctor Alchemy, Green Lantern declared that he would protect Central City. For about a week, Wally donned his Kid Flash costume again. However, during the next fight with Doctor Alchemy, it finally dawned on him that Barry was not coming back. He saved Green Lantern and Jay Garrick from Doctor Alchemy. Finally, he was accepted as the Flash.

After accepting that Barry was dead, Wally still had to overcome his anger of feeling abandoned, and forced into a role he did not feel ready for. Coupled with the emotional pain of what had happened with Raven, anger somehow overcame all the values that Barry had taught him, and he was rather rude and childish for a while. All these mental blocks also slowed him down, sometimes to the point where he lost his speed entirely. He also manifested the need to consume large quantities of food after using his powers, another product of his psychological condition.

Wally won six and a half million dollars in the lottery. He was able to leave his small apartment in Brooklyn and buy a mansion on Long Island. He asked Jesse Quick, a speedster from another Earth whom he had fallen for, to live with him, and she accepted, for a short while. After two weeks, she left, saying they were moving too fast and that moving to another Earth may have been a bit too much too quick. Soon afterward, Wally invited nutritionist Tina McGee to live with him, even though she was eleven years his senior and not quite divorced. Wally's mother, Mary, also came to live with him, causing tension between the two women.

After Tina left so that she could go back to her husband, Wally lost all of his money in the stock market, and had to move into a new apartment. Here, he befriended his neighbor, Mason Trollbridge. He also began seeing Connie Noleski, a Texan model who he had actually been living with for a short time before Tina.

After the alien invasion of Earth, during which Wally fought Durlans in Cuba, the aliens set off a gene bomb that robbed Wally of his superspeed. His friends, Jerry and Tina McGee, set up a device to restore his speed. It sprayed him with the chemicals that had gifted Barry and himself with superspeed while sending an electrical charge through him. However, with his new speed, Wally burned a deep trench across America, stretching from New York all the way to New Mexico. His aura, which had previously served as an energy collector, began to feed directly on him, starving him and affecting his brain, and also sending his consciousness to another energy level. He grew long spines around his body, and stalked around Swainsville, New Mexico, confused and looking for food, contributing to the citizens' belief in a local myth, the Porcupine Man. Luckily, Chunk was able to restore his essence to this dimension by using his singularity powers.[7] Afterwards, Mason Trollbridge was able to pluck the spines out of his body.

Keystone City
Wally moved to Keystone City after Joan Garrick’s suggestion.[8] Mason joined him so they could share rent.

In Keystone, he started to date Linda Park, a reporter he had met initially during the Porcupine Man incident.[citation needed]

Shortly after this, Barry Allen seemingly returned from the dead.[9] Wally remained skeptical about this resurrection due to Barry’s odd attitude.[10] When Barry left Wally to die, Wally gave up on the Flash identity.[11]However, Wally soon learned that Barry had been impersonated by Eobard Thawne, better known as Professor Zoom, the Reverse-Flash. With the help of Jay, Johnny Quick, and Max Mercury, Zoom was defeated.

Next, Wally was sued for superhero negligence. After the trial, Wally tried to increase his own speed, failing miserably and learning that he could not be everywhere, nor save everyone.[citation needed]

Establishing His Own Legacy
Aunt Iris was revealed to be alive and soon she returned from the future along with Bart Allen, Barry Allen's grandson so Wally could help him control his speed. After an extensive training, Bart took up the speedster gig as the costumed hero Impulse.[citation needed]

When Hal Jordan seemingly went mad after the destruction of his former home, Coast City, and became Parallax, he was replaced as Green Lantern by Kyle Rayner, who took his place in the Justice League of America. Flash had some troubled adapting himself to the new Green Lantern. The two eventually overcame their differences and became very close friends, like their predecessors were.[citation needed]

During Zero Hour, Wally was seemingly killed while trying to help Rip Hunter and Waverider save the 64th Century and the timestream itself from waves of destructive entropy.[13] He had actually being flung backwards through time. Wally materialized at the West Family Reunion, and turned out to be the "uncle" that gave his past self that pep talk. He soon returned to his proper time, but not until he had seen one more vision, a vision of Linda's apparent fate at the hands of Kobra, as well as his own death.[14]

Wally tried to take out Kobra as soon as possible, hoping that he could stop the tragedy. Unfortunately, Bart ruined his plans against Kobra by accident and Wally started turn into a being of pure energy. This state subsided, but it became a recurring symptom.[citation needed] Worried for his health, Flash asked Jesse Quick to take over the mantle of Flash for him, should he die. This turned out to be nothing but a ploy to make Bart jealous, in hopes that he would get more serious about his legacy.[citation needed]

However, the tragedy was not averted and Wally was forced to enter the Speed Force, where he traded Linda’s fate for what he thought would be his. However, he managed to return from the Speed Force and quickly defeated Kobra. This trip beyond the light gave Wally the power to tap directly into the Speed Force itself which granted new abilities, which consisted on projecting the speed force onto objects and many others.[15]

Savitar: The New Fastest Man Alive?
Soon, a new contender to the title of "fastest man alive" made himself known--Savitar. He had found a way to siphon energy from the Speed Force, cutting off its access to several speedsters, including Jay Garrick, Jesse Quick, Johnny Quick and Bart Allen; this power drain also resulted in the death of Kapitalist Kouriersspeedster/deliveryman Cassiopeia.[16]

Wally became aware of the power drain among the other speedsters and he learned about Savitar from a group of ninjas that were sent to attack him. When the speedsters regrouped, they met Jenny Ognats who was a cousin to both Bart and Wally and a descendant of Barry Allen.[17]

Linda managed to learn the background history of Savitar, including the fact that he attacked Johnny Quick in his quest to find the speed force. After learning this information, Wally was ready to fight Savitar. Jenni offered her help, but due to her inexperience, she was asked to give her Legion Flight Ring to Jesse Quick, who was far more experienced and would be more helpful to Wally.

Wally and Jesse arrived at Savitar’s castle and first they had to fight Lady Savitar. Jesse decided to take on Lady Savitar while Flash confronted Savitar. Jesse managed to destroy the transformer in which the speed force had been contained and the speed powers returned to all the speedsters. With their powers restored, Jay, Max, Johnny Quick and Impulse caught up with Wally and Jesse and proceeded to battle Savitar's army. Knowing that the battle was lost, Savitar threatened Linda and Flash raced to stop him from hurting her. Savitar was unstoppable and Flash could barely keep up with him. During the chase, Jenni talked to Wally and provided the only solution. Flash followed Jenni’s advice and he used the Speed Force to contain Savitar, who was pulled into the Speed Forced and merged with it. In the aftermath, not wanting the Speed Force to absorb him as well, Wally concentrated on finding his way home... and vanished..

Race Against Time!
Wally couldn’t find his way home and ended up bouncing through time. The first place Wally wound up on his journey through time was the 64th Century, where the citizens of that era worshiped the Flash and wanted to be just like him.[19] After leaving that place, he next appeared in the mid-30th Century, where he met his twin first cousins, Don and Dawn Allen (Barry and Iris' kids) and encountered Earthgov's rampant xenophobia.[20] After helping them reclaim their legacy and partially siphoning their energies, Wally time-jumped once again, this time landing in the 27th Century, where he met the Flash of that era, John Fox. Teaming up with Fox, they stopped the villain Chronos, but as Wally started to fade again, Fox told him the name he had forgotten: Linda. Armed with that knowledge, Wally attempted one last time-jump back to the 20th Century; but John, knowing that Wally would not make it back in time to prevent a great disaster, volunteered to jump back to the 20th Century himself to fill Wally's boots. John arrived first, meeting Linda and Piper, facing off against Chillblaine. He fell in love with Linda; causing Linda's love to be distracted by John, which prevented Wally from returning.[citation needed]

However, after realizing that John lied about his reason for coming to the 20th Century and that he could not stand up to the superheroic pressures that Wally normally faced, Linda told him that she would always love Wally, no matter what. Somehow sensing this, Wally emerged from the Speed Force--only to realize he was too late; Linda had been flash-frozen in an attempted second Ice Age by Polaris and Abra Kadabra. However, Wally realized that Linda was somehow still alive and he acquired some tech to keep Linda safe. After this Wally and John dropped her off at S.T.A.R. Labs in the hopes of having Doctor Tina McGee reverse her condition. Fox and Wally went looking for Polaris and Abra Kadabra in order to reverse the damage caused. The two heroes managed to defeat them and reversed the Ice Age they created, but somehow Linda was still frozen solid. At that moment, appearing from a time portal was Speed Metal, on the search for the "fugitive", John Fox.[21] Wally, allowed Speed Metal to take Fox away, but after a change of heart, he sped off to rescue John. Once free from Speed Metal, Fox suggested Wally to use the Speed Force on Linda. As a result, Linda's molecules were sped up and she was successfully saved.[citation needed]

Out Of Commission - Death of a Legend
Soon a new foe called The Suit showed up in Keystone, looking to kill the Flash. Wally performed a time feat which allowed him to survive the first encounter with Suit, but soon an explosion caused by the criminal broke both of Wally’s legs.[22] Confined to a wheelchair, Wally came up with the idea of having Max, Jay and Impulse pretend to be him and confuse The Suit. Wally then tried to focus his energy and made himself a suit made out of pure Speed Force.[23] Clad in the new, golden Speed Force suit, Wally confronted The Suit, saved Max Mercury, pulling him out of The Suit and when The Suit returned pulled Wally inside him, Wally started to vibrate in order to atomize The Suit, whose particles became one with the Speed Force.[24]

Right after this, Wally was attacked by the Mirror Master, who transported Flash into a mirror world. After a series of weird encounters, Wally finally caught the Mirror Master within his speed-stream and hauled him off to prison.[25]

Linda's Disappearance
During a brush with the Black Flash, who had apparently claimed the life of Linda, Wally saved her from the Speed Force. He proposed to her and they were almost married shortly thereafter, but she then disappeared off the face of the earth, and no one, not even Wally, remembered her.

Chain Lightning
Wally then got caught up in an adventure spanning through different eras. Malcolm Thawne, Barry Allen's twin brother, reappeared, beginning the Allen-Thawne feud. Barry's death during the Crisis appeared to have cheated Malcolm out of his dreams of revenge on his brother. Instead, Malcolm focused on Allen's descendants traveling through time in a bid to exterminate them, starting with Wally West. Under the identity of Cobalt Blue, Malcolm ignited a family feud that endured for a millennium.

The feud came to a head in the late 30th Century, where Barry Allen was living with his wife Iris. Wally West arrived to try and protect his uncle. Flashes of all eras between the 20th and 30th centuries arrived soon after, all under the control of Thawnes' spirit due to them all carrying a shard of the original Cobalt Blue gem. In the end, Wally West ended the menace of Cobalt Blue by running so fast that he skirted the edge of the Speed Force. Its power poured into the gem, and Thawne's spirit (and the gem itself) overloaded from the excess energy. Wally then vanished into the Speed Force. At that same moment, a new, mysterious Flash appeared in Keystone City...

The Dark Flash Saga
Linda's disappearance was caused by a mysterious man who had a deep hatred for the Flash; he abducted her and kept her imprisoned within Limbo. Upon her escape, Linda realized she was not in the right world.[26] Linda next encountered this world's Pied Piper, who told her to run from "Wally," as he was dangerous.

Linda ran toward a now-abandoned Flash Museum, where she found a memorial statue dedicated to her dimensional counterpart (named Linda Kiyo Park), "who sacrificed her life to save Keystone City from the villain Kobra."[27] Using his link to Linda, Wally located her and emerged from the Speed Force in this strange world. A battle ensued between Wally and Walter, where they were evenly matched.[28] During the fight, Abra Kadabra appeared and trapped both Wally and Walter. Kadabra explained that he tried to break the bond that draws Wally back to this dimension by casting a spell to make everyone forget that Linda existed and hold her outside of time, but she escaped, landing in that alternate Keystone and drew Wally to her once again. To defeat Kadabra, Wally temporarily merged his physical essence with Walter's, gaining greater speed and learning a few new skills; from this merging, Walter also finally came to terms with not being able to save his Linda from death.[29]

Kadabra, however, faked his defeat at their hands and seemingly discorporated Wally and Linda's essences, sending them through countless alternate dimensions until they found their home dimension, thanks to Bart.[30]Wally and Linda finally made it back to their Keystone City, but Linda was still forgotten from everyone's minds. Wally then decided to impersonate the Reverse-Flash in order to get Kadabra to cast back his spell on Linda.[31]After the spell was complete, Wally revealed his true identity and the final battle between Wally, Walter and Abra Kadabra ensued. Kadabra tried to use the same spell again, but it backfired and he was left with amnesia.[citation needed]

The Whirlwind Ceremony
Wally and Linda started the preparations for their wedding and after a serious discussion, they finally got married. With Nightwing serving as Wally’s best man, Wally and Linda became Mister and Mrs. West.[32] During their honeymoon, Wally and Linda attacked by Kobra and also by Lady Flash. Both threats were easily neutralized by Flash and Linda.[33]

Eventually, Wally met Linda’s fellow reporter, Billy Batson. When there was a sudden emergency, Wally suited-up while Billy transformed into Captain Marvel and they worked together to avert the crisis. Soon, Wally, Billy and Linda located the man most likely responsible for the “accident”: Felix Faust. Flash and Wally teamed up again to stop Faust and afterwards Wally and Linda bid Billy farewell as he boarded a train headed for Fawcett City, Indiana.[34]

After the Wests received a bomb as part of their wedding presents, Wally investigated and learned that someone has targeted members of the JLA. After learning the information about the upcoming attacks, Flash saved Superman,  Batman, Green Lantern and finally Aquaman from the attacks. Flash soon learned that the enemy threatening him and his allies was none other than the Turtle, the slowest man alive. Flash managed to defeat the villain without any trouble and he soon returned home to spend the night with his lovely wife.[35]

Wonderland
After this, Wally found himself in a strange world in which he was a normal human, a criminal and where Aquaman has been dead for 10 years. He was soon arrested by none other than Mick Rory (Heatwave). Wally woke from a nightmare and met a woman named Fiona, who told him she was the resident social worker for the police department. After a quick interrogation, Fiona left Wally alone in his cell and after a few seconds, Wally heard a familiar voice near his cell. When he turned to the window, he saw Barry Allen. Wally tried to escape prison, but his efforts were futile. At that moment, Officer Rory entered the room, but he was attacked by Captain Cold.[36]

Cold was the only person that remembered and recognized Wally. They soon deduced that they were trapped in an alternate dimension. When Wally and Cold tried to contact the Jay Garrick from this dimension, they learned that in this world, there never was a Flash and the Speed Force never existed.[citation needed] They also learned that most of humanity’s history was different and that the absence of The Flash, caused the death of many people, including the members of the Justice Society, Justice League, Teen Titans and more. Wally then noticed that every time Cold held his freeze gun, it was in his left hand, not his right as usual. Wally then truly realized they were not in an alternate dimension, but in a mirror dimension.[37] Flash finally confronted the Mirror Master, who explained that he and Cold tried to imprison Wally on this mirror world without a Flash, but somehow they both were pulled inside as well.

Mirror Master explains that somehow they were double-crossed by another criminal, but now that they have found the truth, they must work together to get back to their own world. Cold, Mirror Master and Flash tried to find a way back, but they were stopped by Plunder. Flash, Captain Cold and Mirror Master ran into “Mirror Master's Mirror Maze”, trying to outrun Plunder's laser bursts. Preparing to defend himself, McCulloch unsheathed his mirror gun, trying to absorb Plunder's lasers--unfortunately, the lasers activated his gun, creating evil mirror duplicates of Flash, Captain Cold and Mirror Master.[38]

During the fight, Captain Cold and Mirror Master were defeated, leaving Wally to fight alone against Plunder. Using every resource in the environment, Wally managed to stall Plunder long enough to escape the twisted mirror dimension along with Cold and Mirror Master. Back in the real world, Wally's powers fully returned. Wally and the Rogues soon resumed their rivalry, but they were shocked to see that Keystone City was somehow gone.[39] Standing on the outskirts of where Keystone City used to be, McCulloch realized that the city was not destroyed, but rather "taken".

Blood Will Run
Wally tried to lead a normal life with Linda, but Flash was always needed and soon he had to fight alongside two former love interests: Magenta and Julie Jackum. When the situation was under control, Magenta was arrested for her past crimes and Wally didn’t have a chance to talk with any of them about their past. Later that day, Julie was murdered and she was unable to tell Wally about her child, Josh.

==== Cicada and his Cult ==== Later, Wally learned of a massive ongoing murdering crusade against all the people that he has ever saved and that Julie was also part of the hit list. Saddened for Julie’s passing, Wally tried to speak with Magenta to clear things between them, but she lost her mind and attacked Wally, who finally realized she had been possessed.[42] Magenta managed to defeat Wally and took him to an underground temple, where he was stabbed in the chest by Cicada, as he pretended to revive his wife using Wally’s life force.[43] Flash managed to break free by exposing Magenta to his speed energy and once free, he proceeded to disarm the members of the cult and used the speed force energy to defeat Cicada. Wally then rejoined Linda and they decided to move back to downtown Keystone City after their house was blown to pieces.[41]

After moving to their new apartment, Wally is forced to leave Linda once again in order to confront a new monster by the name of Tar Pit. Flash manages to get the situation under control, but during the fight, he allowed Captain Cold to escape unnoticed.[44] Right after this, Wally contained a virus outbreak from Iron Heights with help from the Piper and Jay.[45]

Days later, after Julie’s funeral, the Weather Wizard appeared and created havoc in order to keep Flash busy while he revealed himself as Josh’s father.[46] Flash managed to defeat the Weather Wizard, destroyed the Weather Wand and learned that the Rogues have been working together in secrecy.[47] Around this time, Flash was introduced to Hunter Zolomon, the newest member of the KCPD and partner of Detetive Morillo and Officer Chyre.[48]

Around this time, Flash was introduced to Hunter Zolomon, the newest member of the KCPD and partner of Detetive Morillo and Officer Chyre.[48]

Linda later gave birth to twins, Iris and Jai West.

Retirement and Return
During what has become known as Infinite Crisis, Kid Flash, Barry, Max, and Johnny, were able to temporarily subdue Superboy-Prime by sending him to the Speed Force and Wally once he had gotten his family followed them (which later turned out to be an alternate Earth). He and the other speedsters, along with Linda and the twins, were sent to an alternate Earth, home of another Jay Garrick operating as the Flash. They decided to absorb the Speed Force into Bart and send him home to battle Superboy-Prime.

Content with passing the Flash mantle on to Bart, Wally and Linda decided to raise their children on the alien world Savoth, where the residents were longtime friends of the Flashes. However, shortly after their arrival, the twins began to age very rapidly. The Savothians, who were advanced scholars of velocibiology, at first did not agree to help the Wests, but finally relented and agreed to train Linda to deal with the children's rapid aging.[49]

Wally, along with Linda and their children, was brought back to Earth by seven members of the Legion of Super-Heroes using lightning rod devices. When Wally came back, he indirectly took away Bart's portion of the Speed Force, and with the return of Wally West, the Speed Force also returned as he mainlined it and was practically one with it. He was then invited to join the newly reformed Justice League of America. [50] Wally and Linda moved back to Keystone City. Since they were afraid the twins could, at any time, age rapidly, possibly even to old age and death, they decided to let Iris and Jai, who had developed their own superspeed-related abilities, live their lives to the fullest by helping their father fight crime.[51] Wally later found out that the cause of his children's rapid aging was not because of the Speed Force, but because of the Black Flash. He then absorbed the Speed Force fragments from his children and defeated the Black Flash, thus caused Jai and Iris to revert to their actual age.

Not long after, Wally found himself once again pulling a double-shift for two separate teams. He reunited with his old allies the Titans in order to face the pressing threat of Trigon.