Boomstick: And today, we're pitting together two of the fastest characters out there!
Wiz: To these two, speed is far more than simply moving fast. Wally West, the Fastest Flash from DC Comics.
Boomstick: And Sonic from Archie Comics. The most supersonic Sonic of all the Sonics!
Two fast-moving heroes who have appeared prior in the series return once more this episode, but this time, they take that speed to greater levels and back it up with powers of ludicrous proportion. In this fast-paced showdown of experience versus fate and Speed Force versus Chaos Force, Wally West and Archie Sonic are sure to let loose everything in their vast arsenals in the arena best suited to feature them: A death battle.
The analyses open with the Flash, the superhero touted as the fastest man alive. Unlike last time, however, the Flash featured in this episode would be one Wally West, the third of many heroes that have bore the alias. It seems as if fate conspired to give Wally every opportunity to carry on the legacy of his predecessor, Barry Allen; not only was Wally the president of his local Flash fan club, but his aunt, Iris West, was also Barry's girlfriend. During a meeting with Barry in the Flash persona, Wally was brought to his idol's private forensics lab, set up exactly as it was during the accident that gave him his powers. The weather that day was particularly stormy, and as if to ensure his fate in heroism, a bolt of lightning struck Wally and doused him in the same chemicals that created the Flash. As expected, Wally gained the same hyper-accelerated array of powers that Barry was blessed with. The second Flash was eager to help Wally feel way through his newfound powers, having the youth don the mantle of Kid Flash and accompany him on his outings. Barry came to see his pupil as a son and the pair worked side by side until tragedy befell them. A cataclysm spreading through the multiverse put all of reality in danger, and Barry gave his life halting this disaster's spread. It was left in Wally's hands to keep alive the legacy that Barry continued, and Wally accepted the responsibilities that came with being the third person known as the fastest man alive.
As Allen's successor, there are lofty expectations for Wally to live up to, and he has the means to fulfill such a goal. The catalyst for all of his powers stems from the Speed Force, a dimension filled with infinite amounts of kinetic energy. As the source of any Flash's power, the Speed Force supplies its users with equally limitless speed to use in any fashion; chief among them being sprinting with enough energy to generate tornados. Similar feats that can be performed through proper application of the Speed Force include draining an individual of their momentum, vastly accelerated healing, momentum-induced time travel, and lightning generation. His connections to the Speed Force resulted in Wally eventually becoming unmoored; disconnected from reality and relying on his fellow speedsters as a tether. Its users are expected to be scientifically inclined to make the most of the dimension's potential; thus, Wally's mind is as honed as his muscles. The third Flash has complete control over the intensity and frequency of vibrations in his molecular structure to fulfill seemingly any need. Phasing through matter, ascending to higher dimensional planes, matching vibrational frequencies that only exist in other universes; the applications of this ability are as diverse as the Speed Force that powers it. This speed and vibration powers combine through what is arguably the iconic technique of any Flash: the infinite mass punch. Wally, by vibrating the molecules in his fist to extremely high relativistic speeds, can similarly increase its mass. The ensuing impact releases tremendous amounts of energy upon contact; with enough built-up vibrations, the infinite mass punch even threatens to tear a singularity in the universe from its density.
Wally is one of many to bear the title of Flash and undoubtedly one of the greatest. His speed is easily his greatest claim as a hero; when Barry returned from being trapped in the Speed Force, he raced his former sidekick to see who was the faster of the two. The ensuing marathon expelled energy on such a scale that threatened the safety of the entire multiverse, ending with Wally crowned as the fastest being within its confines. Being tethered from reality, Wally can outpace the Speed Force itself while in his unmoored state, but there are showings that his speed can reach even more absurd heights than these. In one outing being pursued by the Black Racer, the physical manifestation of death, Wally destroyed the Racer by reaching the end of reality, where even death cannot exist; in another, he outraced an instant teleporter at speeds exceeding one planck time, the shortest possible unit of temporal measurement. To put it bluntly, no scientific means exist to describe Wally's highest possible speed. The infinite mass punch's mere usage demonstrates that Wally's physical might is, while not on the same scale as his speed, still an impressive force; an average infinite mass punch is equivalent to a white dwarf star, several million times more powerful than the strongest nuclear weapons. While Wally may have doubted if he was worthy of taking his place in the legacy set by his predecessors, these feats and skills show that he is indeed as worthy a holder of the Flash mantle as those who came before him, perhaps even moreso.
- Wally West: (accompanied by Batman and Orion as he addresses the Trickster) Dude! Soon as you finish your drink, turn yourself in.
Trickster: Got me again, Flash! (raises his mug as the Flash gives him a thumbs up)
Finishing up with another Flash, the second analysis covers the classic speedster, Sonic the Hedgehog. That said, the incarnation featured is not the video game icon who has graced episodes prior with his presence; rather, the focus is exclusively on his appearance as portrayed in the Archie-published comic book line. In this continuity, Earth was once the same as in reality until the alien Xorda race unleashed weapons of mass destruction upon the world. These weapons accelerated the evolution of the planet's fauna and caused untold damage throughout the land. Several millennia later, the world, now known as Mobius and since fallen under the grip of the mad scientist Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik, would be greeted with the birth of Sonic Maurice Hedgehog. Shortly after being born, Sonic's family would be taken by Eggman and forcibly made into his robotic servants. Founding a movement of freedom fighters, Sonic and his fellow humanoid animals led guerilla squads across Mobius to liberate the land from Robotnik's tyranny.
Across Mobius and beyond, Sonic demonstrates great skill in battle. The hallmark of any incarnation of Sonic is his mobility, and that idea is taken to the utmost extreme here. With his agility, the Mobian hero can surpass light-speed, create afterimages of himself, phase through solid matter, and even attain invisibility, amongst other such powers. This speed can be also used on an offensive front; in a quadrillionth of a second, Sonic can condense seawater into a ball and hurl it without the ball losing shape. The key to all of this stems from the Chaos Force, an energy field that surrounds the universe. Chaos energy is traditionally, though not always, used to enhance one's physical attributes and takes on the form of golden power rings and perfectly pre-cut gemstones in the physical realm. These power rings can be collected en masse to increase the ensuing energy boost; Sonic, having collected a billion rings, was granted a protective energy barrier around himself by the demigods behind the Chaos Force. Exposure to greater amounts of Chaos energy, such as through the Chaos Emeralds, can result in the arrival of the signature Super Sonic. Not only is this Super form a thousand times faster than even standard Sonic, but his defensive capabilities increase to the point of being effectively invulnerable. With a Super Emerald, rather than a conventional Chaos Emerald, in his possession, the blue blur can go one step further and tap into the form of Ultra Sonic. In this state, Sonic has access to all of Super Sonic's powers and even the alternate uses of Chaos energy: heightened knowledge and rewriting reality to suit one's wishes. Ultra Sonic can rewrite the atomic structure of his surroundings and himself; as similar Chaos-empowered mages have used it on other living beings, Ultra Sonic should theoretically be capable of the same. It is even theorized that, due to his repeated and intense exposure to Chaos energy from power rings and emeralds, Sonic has become the living manifestation of chaos, wherein fate twists itself to suit his agenda.
Many adventures and trials have awaited the hero of Mobius, and he tends to emerge from them none the worse for wear. Without any of his greater forms, Sonic has withstood the implosion of a black hole generator which then blasted him nearly a million light-years away onto a distant planet. The Super and Ultra forms, meanwhile, have been able to shatter moons and carry on in battle for several hours. These forms, when tapping into Chaos energy, can even rewrite the laws of the multiverse and survive being wiped from existence. As astonishing as these feats of strength and stamina are, speed is one of the most defining traits for any Sonic, and this is where the Archie Comics interpretation shines. A smaller-scale feat, for instance, would be in his ability to travel through a storm, keeping himself completely dry as he maneuvers between raindrops. For more cosmic fare, the hedgehog can traverse the length of the multiverse-spanning Cosmic Interstate in under a day and caused the destruction of the aforementioned black hole generator by reversing its momentum with his own. In a crossover with the concurrent Mega Man comic line, Sonic is even shown to maintain his speed while time is fully halted. Even within his setting, Sonic's speed is referred to as incalculable, and breaking physics in such a manner adds great credence to such a claim. For all of this, Sonic has the Chaos Force to thank for being his biggest source of power, though it is also his biggest crutch. One constant Archie Sonic shares with his game-based counterpart is that his more powerful forms run operate on limited time; overusing Chaos energy can also forcibly cut the Super and Ultra forms short. Still, it speaks volumes that Archie Sonic has won some modicum of respect from Robotnik despite this, to such a degree that he and other enemies admit the best way to defeat the hedgehog is to wait for old age to claim him. Until that time, though, Sonic and his freedom fighters will always continue to aim for a better future for Mobius.
- Sonic: Oh, I'd like to hang, but I gotta juice! (dashes off, leaving a fiery trail behind him)
With both bios complete, these two comic book speedsters are prepped, primed, and ready to roll. One advertisement for Samsung and AT&T 5G later, and now, it's time for a death battle!
A deafening boom echoes through the Cosmic Interstate as red and blue streaks barrel down its glowing trail. Sonic the Hedgehog, the freedom fighter of Mobius, is inches away from his only competition in this heated race. As he puts up with the blue blur's taunting, Wally West, the third Flash, responds with jabs of his own. The speedsters charge down the interdimensional highway until Sonic takes an unexpected lead; the hedgehog showboats by feasting on a chili dog, his back turned towards the road ahead. In a streak of lightning, Wally rushes forward as he swipes and subsequently devours the chili dog. Hungry for vengeance rather than meat, the freedom fighter curls up tightly and slams into the fastest man alive.
FIGHT!
The ensuing impact sends the pair down towards a lower level of the Interstate. Sonic makes a solid landing while the Flash tumbles uncontrollably through the path. Now out to avenge his stolen food, the hedgehog builds up momentum before closing the distance on the Flash. Wally, having regained his traction, is caught off-guard by Sonic zooming ahead of him and turning course; the scarlet speedster deftly avoids the Mobian's diving tackles and kicks. The two accelerate further down the Interstate, trading blows as they navigate the track. The third Flash takes the initiative as Sonic gets into position, unleashing a furious volley of punches upon the Mobian's form. With only his arms to shield himself, Sonic leaps towards a parallel road on the highway and continues his sprint. Soon, the paths merge anew, bringing crimson comet and blue blur side by side; each tries to demoralize the other with further verbal jabs as they shove back and forth. Gripping hold of Sonic, golden lightning surrounds the point of contact as the hedgehog abruptly stops. Wally, however, dashes ahead faster than ever. Slowly easing himself upright, the freedom fighter eyes a green glow in the void above him. A Super Emerald manifests to give Sonic the opportunity he needs to regain lost ground.
While Wally continues racing down the Interstate, he fails to notice the massive aura around him until Super Sonic rams into him from behind. With a swift kick upwards, Sonic launches the Flash skyward, leaving him exposed to a series of rapid-fire tackles from all directions. A final spin tackle from the hedgehog drives the fastest man alive through the Interstate and into a glowing wormhole floating among the abyss. The wormhole then spits the pair out into the planetoids of another dimension neighboring the Interstate. As Wally comes to, he regains his senses just in time to outrun a second charge from Super Sonic. The crimson comet gathers energy in one fist before shooting out a surge of lightning, only to be absorbed by the hedgehog's power ring barrier. This proves to be the catalyst for the Mobian to stop holding back; in an explosion of Chaos energy, said Mobian is surrounding by rings of energy orbiting him, heralding the arrival of Ultra Sonic. Wally continues to rush forward before the blue blur flanks him. At the last minute, the Flash meets this charge with as much energy as he can pack into an infinite mass punch. The moment his fist meets the hedgehog's headbutt, the forces collide before Ultra Sonic proves superior, dragging Wally across the planetoid numerous times.
Carried helplessly by the Chaos controller's flight, it is only Ultra Sonic stopping that allows Wally the chance to halt his skidding and reorient himself. He attempts to rush back into the fray, but Ultra Sonic rewrites the molecules of the terrain around the pair; the third Flash can only slide about on the ensuing sheet of ice. A straight kick to the back propels Wally further, Sonic impatiently waiting as he lets the scarlet speedster take his course. By the time Wally has made a full lap around the planetoid, the Mobian transforms the air ahead of him into a stream of flame. This, however, is something Wally is better prepared for. The Flash vibrates his molecules and safely phases through the flames, reemerging behind the hedgehog. Now, Wally meets Sonic's tackle with one of his own, drawing further into the Speed Force as between the hedgehog is slammed between dimensions. Returning to the planetoid dimension, a twirling hammer throw cleanly hurtles Sonic through several before the assault finally ends. As Wally touches onto another otherworldly body, he finds Ultra Sonic floating in wait above. With the distance between them, the Mobian describes his superiority: fate is his to command, and he commands it to wipe Wally from existence.
The Flash watches the glowing green sphere become increasingly stronger before vibrating his molecules and launching off the planetoid to meet the Chaos Control laser head on. Caught by the full brunt of the attack, Wally wastes no time calling upon his loved ones to keep him tethered to reality before becoming consumed by the Speed Force. Fully unmoored, the crimson comet hastens his flight towards Sonic and lands a solid blow on the hedgehog's visage. Once more does Wally break through the Speed Force, Sonic's distressed cries lasting only a moment. By the time he steadies himself, the Flash is nowhere to be seen. Indeed, the scarlet speedster has used his momentum to travel forwards through time, reaching the exact moment in the future when Sonic's Ultra mode times out and expels the Chaos Emerald from his body. The Flash breaks through the scene, shattering the Emerald with a final infinite mass punch hitting Sonic so hard he's forced to relive his entire life in seconds, before disappearing. Wally silently muses in the aftermath of the course of events this race had taken.
K.O.!
The hosts, struggling to make sense as to the nature of the killing blow, soon stifle their confusion to describe the match's outcome as best they can. With how both characters could reach speeds that defy explanation, that trait would be a moot point in the fight, leaving the outcome decided by other means. Sonic surviving the implosion of a black hole and his subsequent crash landing on an alien planet is a particular note brought up against him. It can be theorized that it was not a proper black hole that he faced, but instead, a wormhole that merely ejected Sonic directly to the planet in question; other debris survived the implosion and Sonic has been knocked unconscious by far less. Even if one was to be generous enough to say it was a real black hole, this would mean Sonic was hit with a force equivalent to five trillion tons of TNT. The infinite mass punch, in comparison, puts Wally's striking strength at two quadrillion times more powerful than Sonic's durability. While baseline Sonic would be severely outclassed by Wally, his Super and Ultra forms would fare a sporting chance. His connection to the Chaos Force would replenish any speed Wally would drain from him, he had the ability to rewrite reality to suit his own wishes, and his exposure to chaos established fate as constantly working for him. However, for every counter Sonic had to Wally's powers, Wally had a counter in turn. Ultra Sonic's ability to manipulate atomic structures is countered by Wally's more precise control over his own molecular physiology. The act of draining speed from Sonic would not outright hinder the blue blur, but the stolen momentum is still being channeled by the Flash; with Wally free to siphon as much speed from Sonic as he liked, it guarantees Wally would always be the faster of the two. While Chaos energy wishes could theoretically work, that likelihood is quashed by the fact that said energy takes a physical form, something that Wally could phase through with molecular vibration. While Wally may not have been able to defeat Super or Ultra Sonic outright due to those forms' invulnerability, they still operate on a time limit; Wally could use any of several means to wait out that limit and then strike, such as by travelling through time, using his immense stamina to wait it out or vibrate himself to an untouchable state. Even Sonic being the living embodiment of Chaos is neutered by Wally's own numerous reality-breaking antics, such as killing the concept of death by reaching the end of reality or almost destroying the multiverse in his race against Barry. Sonic in the Archie setting is an astronomically powerful character, and to give him his due, his victory would be assured from the start in a fight against almost anyone else. Sadly for Sonic, he was in a fight against a foe that could answer everything he had to offer and instead came up short.
- Boomstick: While Sonic didn't know it, the writing was on the Wall-y!
Wiz: The winner is the Flash!
Flash vs. Sonic contains examples of:
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: An invoked exampled by Boomstick with the uneasy partnership between Archie Sonic and Robotnik, and their dependence on one another to feel alive.
- Beyond the Impossible: The Super-Speed of both combatants literally cannot be properly measured due to how scientifically impossible their feats are; from the Flash moving faster than a pair of beings who could instantly teleport to Sonic moving during stopped time and moving so fast time goes forward... somehow. Since speed is distance divided by time, and no time was elapsed during either of these feats, this means that Wally and Sonic are literally performing a division by zero, making their speed mathematically impossible to calculate.
- Brick Joke: To see what kind of effects the Speed Force would have on someone besides your average Flash, Wiz spikes Boomstick's beer with a similar energy. It isn't until the final seconds of the episode that it finally kicks in and shows that basically nothing would happen.
- Can't Believe I Said That: DUMMI, describing the usages of Chaos energy, provides us with this variant.DUMMI: [Ixis Nagus, another Chaos energy user] changed a partial robot rabbit into a full regular rabbit, a sentence so absurd it likely damaged my internal processor.
Wiz: Don't worry, it was never great. I took it from a refrigerator. - Call-Back: This isn't the first time a DC character used the Infinite Mass Punch.
- Change the Uncomfortable Subject: Wiz tries defending himself compared to the married Wally by letting slip that's he actually married. He promptly focuses on how Wally is also capable of Speed Force-based time travel for probably more time than is necessary.
- Continuity Nod: Boomstick making Flash Gordon (1980) references upon every mention of the Flash was already done the first time the identity appeared.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: Near the end of the fight if you look closely Sanic can be seen in an easy-to-miss frame.
- Irony: Flash and Sonic are both known for their immense speed. So, one would expect that the outcome would be decided by whoever's faster, right? Well, not exactly. As Wiz points out, these two are so ridiculously fast that it's pretty much impossible to calculate which one is faster. So ironically, in a battle between two of the fastest things alive, speed ended up being a non-factor in deciding the winner.
- Lost Food Grievance: There's a lot of tension to start off the fight, but the fists don't start flying until after Wally steals Sonic's chili dog.
- Mundane Utility: With his ability to control all the molecules in his body, it's suggested that Wally has an easy method of dealing with no-apparent reason boners.
- Story-Breaker Power: Archie Sonic being unbelievably overpowered makes Wiz and Boomstick wonder why he ever has any trouble with Eggman. Wally West is equally as overpowered to the point it's acknowledged the two of them are probably the only characters capable of beating one another.
- Super-Speed: Duh. These two are so ludicrously fast, that they're eventually deemed immeasurable in terms of speed. Ironically, because they're both so incomprehensibly fast, speed ends up being kind of a non-factor in the analysis.
