History Trivia / TheFlash

* IKnewIt:
** New 52's Wally West being black. It was played as a twist, but many, ''many'' fans knew this was going to happen, since the Wests in the planned ''Flash'' TV series are black, and the fact that Brett Booth said Wally was on the cover of ''Flash Annual'' #3, which many correctly assumed was the graffiti artist who nothing was shown of. The issue has ''massive'' JustHereForGodzilla status, so why ''wouldn't'' they show Wally's appearance?
** Wally West's return in ''Rebirth''. The way Geoff Johns giggled like a school girl with ''Flash'' writer Joshua Williamson at the Rebirth panel, the foreshadowing in ''Titans Hunt'', leaks, and just the idea that ''Rebirth'' was supposed to re-establish legacy made it clear he was coming back.

** The Speed Force. After it was introduced, the concept of a MetaOrigin that blends sci-fi with fantasy mysticism has became a fairly common trope across other superhero franchises, such as ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' with the "Web of Life and Destiny" that unites the Spider-Verse, to the Gamma rays-connected Green Door from ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'', to more low-key ideas like in ''ComicBook/XMen'' comics depicting ComicBook/{{Cyclops}}' EyeBeams being energy from a 'Punch Dimension'.

* AscendedFanon: Fans had been suggesting since Joshua Williamson's run to rename Wallace West II "Ace West" in order to make distinguishing him from his older cousin easier. Jeremy Adams' run decided to introduce this as an AffectionateNickname Wally himself calls him (which turns out to be an EmbarrassingNickname), and begins telling others about it to encourage its usage.

** Both Mark Waid (Bart's creator) and Geoff Johns (the guy who wrote the story where it happened) have made it ''very'' clear that they hated Bart adopting the Kid Flash codename.

* MarthDebutedInSmashBros: The Flash's theatrical debut was in 2014's''WesternAnimation/TheLegoMovie''.

* ReferencedBy: ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog2020'', where Sonic is a huge fan of "The Flash", owning and reading a lot of his comics. An early scene [[Film/SonicTheHedgehog2 in the sequel]] has Sonic's adopted father Tom gift him with more.

** Iris West was slated to [[https://www.cbr.com/flash-iris-west-allen-nearly-killed/ be killed]] all the way back in Flash #176 in 1967, six years before Gwen Stacy was killed in ''The Amazing Spider-Man''. The cover proposed for the issue was instead used for #184 with an altered storyline.

** Wally West is this for former DC co-publisher Creator/DanDiDio, which he [[https://www.gamesradar.com/former-dc-publisher-dan-didio-on-the-new-52-vs-rebirth-and-why-he-hated-wally-and-dick fully admitted to]] shortly after his ousting from DC. Apparently because he believed Wally's LegacyCharacter and former status as a sidekick meant he was 'subservient' to Barry and ultimately only an extension of Barry, [[InsaneTrollLogic despite Barry himself being a Legacy Character too]].

* OldShame: Van Jensen, co-writer of the most divisive run on The Flash, admits that he's extremely disappointed in himself and he's only satisfied with his back-up issues featuring Nu Wally.
* ReferencedBy: ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog2020'', where Sonic is a huge fan of "The Flash", owning and reading a lot of his comics.

* FanNickname:
** Jesse Quick's unpopular third outfit, after the leather jacket and ZettaiRyouiki outfits, is referred to as the 'Q-boob' outfit, for how the 'Q' weirdly circles one of her, well, boobs.
** When first introduced, the New 52 Wally West was called "Nu Wally" to distinguish him from the Pre-New 52 version. After the original Wally's return, [=NuWally=] (the most common nickname for him), Small!Wally or, if the person in question is trying to be cutesy, Smol!Wally (which is pretty much the same as the second). Some fans have suggested calling New 52 Wally by the name Ace instead (as in Wall''ace'') but it hasn't picked up much steam. In an ironic bit of inversion, he was often just called by his full name "Wallace", rather than have him use the Wally nickname, which shortly after became AscendedFanon.
** ''The Flash: Afterbirth'' is sometimes used to differentiate between the original miniseries and the 2016 one-shot.

!!!About the DC Comic Book series and characters.

* CharacterSpecificPages: [[Characters/TheFlashTheFlashes The Flash]]

* OldShame: Van Jensen, co-writer of the most divisive run on The Flash, admits that he's extremely disappointed in himself p and he's only satisfied with his back-up issues featuring Nu Wally.

* AuthorAppeal:
** Geoff Johns has made it ''very'' clear that he hated the Rogues getting powers in the New 52, even mentioning on his Instagram that ''The Flash 2014'''s Rogues had weapons "as they should". In a case of WriterOnBoard, Johns would remove Captain Cold's powers in ''Forever Evil'', and take him from the ''Flash'' comics for use in his ''Justice League'' run.
** Mark Waid has gone on record that the main reason he made Abra Kadabra Wally's most recurring nemesis during his tenure was down to the fact Mark Waid just loves stage magicians.

** Treatment of Wally West and the rest of Flash Family not named Barry Allen is unfortunately disappointing because of higher ups.

* OldShame: Van Jensen, co-writer of the most divisive run on The Flash, admits that he's extremely disappointed in himself about stories and he's only satisfied with his back-up issues featuring Nu Wally.

*** Creator/EthanVanSciver also said in a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ2PBzNlTNI live chat]] that there were plans for a book called "All Flash" before Flashpoint, which was to focus exclusively on Wally and his kids. However, the editors got scared of that the phrase "All Flash, No Substance" would be used to insult the book. According to Sciver, that phrase alone killed the book.
*** There were also talks about [[https://speedforce.org/2009/12/all-barry/ a Kid Flash series focused on Bart]], scripted by Sterling Gates (who would later write for the Flash tv series) as part of the post-Flash Rebirth status quo, but it was scrapped by DC in favor of only one Flash book, focusing on Barry.
** Artist Ethan van Sciver started making commentaries on his comics on his [[https://www.youtube.com/user/fascistfrog/playlists Youtube channel]]. When talking about ''Flash: Rebirth'', he revealed that he planned to create [[TheFamilyThatSlaysTogether a family of evil speedsters]] for Professor Zoom, including a wife, a daughter (called [[PunnyName Mara Thawne]]) and Impulse's nemesis Inertia, as he believed that Thawne wasn't intimidating enough if he had to face the whole Flash family by himself. However, the New 52 ended that idea.
*** Van Sciver, who designed the Black Lanterns for the ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'' event, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tvOtwoHUpA also revealed]] that before editorial approved ''Flash: Rebirth'', it was "quite possible" that Johns would have brought back Barry as one of the main Black Lanterns. This would also give Wally Barry's place as deuteragonist of the story alongside Hal Jordan.

** There were [[http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/01/12/late-night-fun-the-flash-video-game-that-might-have-been/ plans]] for a ''The Flash'' game made by [=BottleRocket=] and Brash Entertainment. The game was cancelled in 2008 when Brash went belly up. With a story written by Marv Wolfman, it would have starred the Wally West Flash and had him deal with his famed RoguesGallery. In-game footage from the alpha had ''very'' obvious nods to Sonic (beyond the running part, there were dash pads and grinding) and the Spider-Man games. It was also highly possible to play as other speedsters from the Flash Family. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLE51D8DC24EBCBFA5&v=-fGs1QcUWsg According to this video]], the game initially started out with the idea of having the Flash help out in other legendary DC city locations, like Metropolis and Gotham City, but curtailed it back to just Central and Keystone City. Instead, it would focus on the Wally West Flash during the first twelve months of his superheroic carrer, justifying the need for tutorials and such as Wally would be getting the hang of being the Flash. The Flash would deal with his Rogues Gallery before facing down the ultimate villains of the game, Gorilla Grodd and Professor Zoom. There would also be an online multiplayer mode that would allow players to race against other speedsters with the possibility of even bringing in Superman.

* CharacterSpecificPages: [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/TheFlashTheFlashes The Flash]]

* AuthorAppeal: Geoff Johns has made it ''very'' clear that he hated the Rogues getting powers in the New 52, even mentioning on his Instagram that ''The Flash 2014'''s Rogues had weapons "as they should". In a case of WriterOnBoard, Johns would remove Captain Cold's powers in ''Forever Evil'', and take him from the ''Flash'' comics for use in his ''Justice League'' run.
** Mark Waid has gone on record that the main reason he made Abra Kadabra Wally's arch-nemesis during his tenure was down to the fact Mark Waid just loves stage magicians.

** Mark Waid has made it clear that Wally is his favourite Flash, though he never disrespected the other Flashes or anything.
** Geoff Johns' favourite character ''overall'' is Barry Allen, and he's the guy who brought Barry back. Years later, he would also say Wally was his favourite.

** Each of the above three have also spoken about who their favourite villains are. Mark Waid's is Abra Kadabra, Geoff Johns' is Captain Cold, and Josh Williamson's is Zoom (both Thawne and Zolomon). This is readily apparent in their runs, where Waid turned Kadabra into Wally's arch-enemy, Johns turned Cold into a VillainProtagonist for long stretches of the book, and Williamson made extensive use of both Zooms.

** When ''Titans'' and ''Young Justice'' was merged to create the 2003 ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' revival, Bart was renamed "Kid Flash" and given a new personality, removing his ADD-driven, humor-based personality to turn him into a brooding teenager who kept wanting to be taken seriously. Geoff Johns has made it ''very'' clear that this wasn't his idea and he actually hated it and commiserated with Mark Waid about it. Bart's been acting more like his old self since his resurrection, which was also written by Johns (and by that time, Johns had much more clout at DC).

** Treatment of Wally West and the rest of Flashfamily not named Barry Allen is unfortunately disappointing because of higher ups.
** Wally's Rebirth suit having an open top for his hair. Brett Booth has said he wanted to have it closed, but the higher-ups wanted it open (probably to help distinguish him from Barry, since eye colour is hard to show in all-but close-ups and Wally's lightning colour is subject to DependingOnTheArtist).

** The Speed Force. After it was introduced, the concept of a MetaOrigin that blends sci-fi with fantasy mysticism has became a fairly common trope across other superhero franchises, such as ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' with the "Web of Life and Destiny" that unites the Spider-Verse, to the Gamma rays-connected Green Door from ''ComicBook/TheImmortalHulk'', to more low-key ideas like in ''ComicBook/XMen'' comics depicting Cyclops' EyeBeams being energy from a 'Punch Dimension'.

** The TV show adaptation of Eobard Thawne heavily borrows from Hunter with a few twists; he is an EvilCripple who becomes an ally to Flash and trains Barry to improve him as a hero albeit with less sadistic ways. The only truly difference is that Thawne (during his impersonation) is revealed to be EvilAllAlong, and was never ''truly'' a friend to the Flash.

** Barry Allen ''himself'' can count as an example, his changed origins heavily resemble Hunter's, with his father killing his mother (though in Barry's case, Henry Allen is framed) and Barry using this tragedy as a motivation to join law enforcement and solve his case. The TV show even uses this to draw parallels between the two characters.
** Eobard Thawne's New 52 version is basically a CompositeCharacter of himself and Hunter; he has Hunter's TimeMaster powers and his TilMurderDoUsPart origins. This has fortunately been undone by DCRebirth though.
** However August Heart as Godspeed takes it to a whole new level by being a CompositeCharacter of Hunter's two versions:
*** Just like Hunter's comic version, he is introduced as part of the police department and a close ally/friend of the Flash. His push to villainy is fuelled by Barry's refusal to contemplate killing his enemies (like Professor Zoom). He also has a tragic failure in his past that motivates him and wants to show the Flash that there is a [[PayEvilUntoEvil better way]] to handle his enemies.

* OldShame: Van Jensen, co-writer of the most divisive run on The Flash, admits that he's extremely disappointed in himself about stories and he's only satisfied with his back up issues featuring Nu Wally.
* ReferencedBy: In ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog2020'', Sonic is a huge fan of "The Flash", owning and reading a lot of his comics.

*** EthanVanSciver also said in a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ2PBzNlTNI live chat]] that there were plans for a book called "All Flash" before Flashpoint, which was to focus exclusively on Wally and his kids. However, the editors got scared of that the phrase "All Flash, No Substance" would be used to insult the book. According to Sciver, that phrase alone killed the book.
*** There were also talks about [[https://speedforce.org/2009/12/all-barry/ a Kid Flash series focused on Bart,]] scripted by Sterling Gates (who would later write for the Flash tv series) as part of the post-Flash Rebirth status quo, but it was scrapped by DC in favor of only one Flash book, focusing on Barry.
** Artist Ethan van Sciver started making commentaries on his comics on his [[https://www.youtube.com/user/fascistfrog/playlists Youtube channel]]. When talking about Flash: Rebirth, he revealed that he planned to create [[TheFamilyThatSlaysTogether a family of evil speedsters]] for Professor Zoom, including a wife, a daughter (called [[PunnyName Mara Thawne]]) and Impulse's nemesis Inertia, as he believed that Thawne wasn't intimidating enough if he had to face the whole Flash family by himself. However, the New 52 ended that idea.
*** Van Sciver, who designed the Black Lanterns for the ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'' event, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tvOtwoHUpA also revealed]] that before editorial approved Flash: Rebirth, it was "quite possible" that Johns would have brought back Barry as one of the main Black Lanterns. This would also give Wally Barry's place as co-protagonist of the story along with Hal Jordan.

** Prior to Wally's New 52 reintroduction, Brett Booth posted several ideas for Wally's costume on his personal blog - Whilst mostly resembling the costume Wally had been wearing prior to the reboot, one major difference was [[http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OqeBA5lD4Ew/TmwKahX6nHI/AAAAAAAACIs/S1b8Bry1yjw/s1600/WallyRunRed.jpg the use of black on the hands and the waist down]] to give Wally a costume that whilst resembling Barry's, would allow the reader to easily distinguish between the two Flashes at a glance; and an alternate color scheme on the same costume, [[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1T5Z-NsGi2s/TnTZSGKEJuI/AAAAAAAACI0/1QQxkSPDxa4/s1600/WallyRunBlue+%25281%2529.jpg replacing the red and gold other with blue & silver]] - ultimately, Booth would use different designs when he got to introduce a future version of New 52 Wally as the Flash, and when he got to design Wally's new costume upon his return in ''ComicBook/DCRebirth''.
** There were [[http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/01/12/late-night-fun-the-flash-video-game-that-might-have-been/ plans]] for a ''The Flash'' game made by [=BottleRocket=] and Brash Entertainment. The game was cancelled in 2008 when Brash went belly up. With a story written by Marv Wolfman, it would have starred the Wally West Flash and had him deal with his famed Rogue's Gallery. In-game footage from the alpha had ''very'' obvious nods to Sonic (beyond the running part, there were dash pads and grinding) and the Spider-Man games. It was also highly possible to play as other speedsters from the Flash Family. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLE51D8DC24EBCBFA5&v=-fGs1QcUWsg According to this video]], the game initially started out with the idea of having the Flash help out other legendary DC city locations, like Metropolis and Gotham City, but curtailed it back to just Central and Keystone City. Instead, it would focus on the Wally West Flash during the first twelve months of his superheroic carrer, justifying the need for tutorials and such as Wally would be getting the hang of being the Flash. The Flash would deal with his Rogues Gallery before facing down the ultimate villains of the game, Gorilla Grodd and Professor Zoom. There would also be an online multiplayer mode that would allow players to race against other speedsters with the possibility of even bringing in Superman.

** Then New 52 Wally West is called "Nu Wally" to distinguish him from the Pre-New 52 version. Notably, this was ''before'' the original Wally returned in ''Rebirth'', and the CBR even allowed the two to have different appreciation threads, which they haven't allowed for any other character. After the original Wally's return, it's just ''necessary'', since they both call themselves Wally in-universe, and readers tend to call the Flash characters by their real names anyway, due to the Legacy thing. Post-''Rebirth'', the two individual Wallys have a couple in order to distinguish them. Together they're occasionally referred to as the "Wallace Cousins." Original Wally is sometimes referred to as either Classic!Wally or Big!Wally (due to being significantly older). Those who use those names label the New 52 Wally [=NuWally=] (the most common nickname for him), Small!Wally or, if the person in question is trying to be cutesy, Smol!Wally (which is pretty much the same as the second). Some fans have suggested calling New 52 Wally by the name Ace instead (as in Wall''ace'') but it hasn't picked up much steam. In the end, a large part of fandom even started to call them by ice cream flavors; Strawberry Wally for one and Choco Wally for other, although this hasn't picked up much steam either (due to racist connotations).

* FountainOfExpies: Hunter Zolomon has become this for ''any'' version of newly created (or recreated in case of ''ComicBook/New52'' Eobard Thawne) evil speedsters, including the other adaptations of Reverse-Flash.

** Wally West being black. It was played as a twist, but many, ''many'' fans knew this was going to happen, since the Wests in the planned ''Flash'' TV series are black, and the fact that Brett Booth said Wally was on the cover of ''Flash Annual'' #3, which many correctly assumed was the graffiti artist who nothing was shown of. The issue has ''massive'' JustHereForGodzilla status, so why ''wouldn't'' they show Wally's appearance?

* CreatorsPest: Wally West is this for former DC co-publisher Creator/DanDiDio, which he [[https://www.gamesradar.com/former-dc-publisher-dan-didio-on-the-new-52-vs-rebirth-and-why-he-hated-wally-and-dick fully admitted to]] shortly after his ousting from DC. Apparently because he believed Wally's LegacyCharacter and former status as a sidekick meant he was 'subservient' to Barry and ultimately only an extension of Barry, [[InsaneTrollLogic despite Barry himself being a Legacy Character too]].

** There were [[http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/01/12/late-night-fun-the-flash-video-game-that-might-have-been/ plans]] for a ''The Flash'' game made by [=BottleRocket=] and Brash Entertainment. The game was cancelled in 2008 when Brash went belly up. With a story written by Marv Wolfman, it would have starred the Barry Allen Flash and had him deal with his famed Rogue's Gallery. In-game footage from the alpha had ''very'' obvious nods to Sonic (beyond the running part, there were dash pads and grinding) and the Spider-Man games. It was also highly possible to play as other speedsters from the Flash Family. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLE51D8DC24EBCBFA5&v=-fGs1QcUWsg According to this video]], the game initially started out with the idea of having the Flash help out other legendary DC city locations, like Metropolis and Gotham City, but curtailed it back to just Central and Keystone City. Instead, it would focus on the Wally West Flash during the first twelve months of his superheroic carrer, justifying the need for tutorials and such as Wally would be getting the hang of being the Flash. The Flash would deal with his Rogues Gallery before facing down the ultimate villains of the game, Gorilla Grodd and Professor Zoom. There would also be an online multiplayer mode that would allow players to race against other speedsters with the possibility of even bringing in Superman.