Characters / The Flash – The Flash Family

The Flash Main Character Index
Title Character
The Flashes (Barry Allen | Wally West)
Supporting Characters
The Flash Family | Other Speedsters
Rogues Gallery
Evil Speedsters | The Reverse-Flashes (Eobard Thawne | Hunter Zolomon) | The Rogues

The Flash Family is the surrogate family of speedsters formed by Wally West and Jay Garrick. While their membership varies, especially with various reboots and rebirths over the years, their defining trait is their ability to come together in a crisis and be there for each other to lean on.

Quicksilver / Max Mercury

Quicksilver / Max Mercury

Alter Ego: Max Crandall

Species: Metahuman

First Appearance: National Comics #5 (November 1940)

An aged speedster, former superhero, and guru of the Speed Force. He was originally a scout with the US Cavalry in the 1830s. A friend of the local Indian tribes, he was shocked and dismayed to find them massacred on the orders of his commanding officer. Enchanted by a dying Indian shaman, he gained super-speed. In the years that followed, he became known to the Indians as Ahwehota ("He Who Runs Beyond The Wind"), and to everyone else as Windrunner. Mercury has repeatedly traveled through time, seeking to enter the so-called Speed Force become active in the 1930s and 1940s as Quicksilver when he acted as a mentor to Jay Garrick and Johnny Quick.

He then reappeared in the early 1960s, where he battled Savitar and was bounced still further forward in time. He spent some years in hiding, but was persuaded by Garrick to return to action against Professor Zoom (who was posing as Barry Allen). In recent years, he has been the mentor of first Wally West (teaching him about the Speed Force) and later Bart Allen (alias Impulse).

---

• Alliterative Name: Max Mercury.
• Cool Old Guy: He's older than Jay (in a weird chronological way (including his time travel) since Jay hasn't aged past 50), but he's patient, wise and a nice guy to everyone.
• Deadpan Snarker: If Bart complains about something, you can be sure Max will be nearby with a witty comment.
  Bart: Yesterday, you said you had plans for my future. Now you won't tell me what they are. That's not fair, Max.
  Max: Look at that. Eight in the morning, and already you've gotten today's life lesson.
• Enlightenment Superpowers: It's been implied that Max has access to the Speed Force because he wills himself to, he basically has a spiritual communion with it. While he might not be the fastest speedster, he's the one that most understands the nature of the Speed Force, and serves as a mentor to younger speedsters.
• Friendly Enemy: Develops this sort of relationship with one of his old foes.
• I Have Many Names: Really, he does; Max Mercury is only the latest of them. He's previously fought crime as Ahwehota, Windrunner, Whip Whirlwing and Quicksilver - and those are just the ones we know about.
• Magical Native American: How he got his powers; back in the 1700s, Max was bestowed his speed powers by a tribe of Native Americans so he could become their guardian and champion.
• Mentor: To the speedsters of this time, especially Bart. You really have to admire him; it takes guts and unending patience (and we mean unending) to raise a hyperactive speedster who literally has no concept of that word.
• Older Than They Look: Although this is largely due to the vast amount of Time Travel he's done.
• Parental Substitute: He's essentially Bart's father figure.
• Remember the New Guy?:
  • How he was introduced. Jay Garrick apparently knew him as a Golden Age crimefighter but we don't meet him until the early nineties.
  • Something of an aversion. He's actually a revival of a Golden Age character named Quicksilver, which DC came into the possession of when they bought out Quality Comics; however Marvel had a speedster named Quicksilver, so he was renamed "Max Mercury". His backstory now has him skipping over decades at a time between the Golden and Modern Ages to explain why we haven't seen him until now.
• Starter Villain: Back in his solo days at Quality Comics, Max's first one was von Lohfer, a Mad Scientist who mind controlled the local police department to destroy an industrialist who called him a fake in a Noodle Incident. Given his diminutive stature and Non-Action Guy status, Max made short work of him.
• Time Travel: He was actually born in the 1700s and did this multiple times to get where he is today.
• Weak, but Skilled: He's not as strong as the other Flashes, but he compensates for that with enhanced agility and acrobatics. And note that his Zen-like connection to the Speed Force enables him to mentor speedsters younger and stronger than him.

Johnny Quick

Johnny Quick

Alter Ego: John "Johnny" Chambers

Species: Metahuman

First Appearance: More Fun Comics # 71 (September 1941)

The founder of a minor speedster legacy, Johnny Quick was a contemporary of Jay Garrick during World War II and one of the core members of the All-Star Squadron. He learned a strange mathematical equation—"3X2(9YZ)4A"—from his mentor, a professor who translated it from a pharaoh's tomb in Egypt. When recited aloud, this equation granted Johnny super-speed and flight. He later learned that reciting the equation allowed him to tap into the Speed Force by way of his latent metagene, though he was a skeptic regarding the Speed Force's existence right until his death. Johnny married fellow superhero Liberty Belle (Libby Lawrence) and had a daughter, Jesse, who followed in their footsteps. The two later divorced.

During a battle with the evil speedster Savitar, Johnny sacrificed himself to save his daughter and became one with the Speed Force. He remained within it, and was later killed there by Eobard Thawne, the Reverse-Flash.

---

• Agent Scully: Johnny is grudgingly forced to accept the Speed Force's existence after Wally West first returns from it. Previously Max Mercury had spoken to him about it for years, but Johnny never believed him. Even after Wally's experience with it proved it existed, he was still reluctant to believe it.
• Battle Couple: With Liberty Belle when they were married.
• Came Back Wrong: When he was reanimated as a Black Lantern. After his daughter, Jesse Quick, realized that the man in front of her was just an evil mockery of his former self and that his resurrection was a false one, he was forcibly laid to rest again.
• Continuity Snarl: Mark Waid confirmed that he died upon entering the Speed Force, but he's somehow still alive there (until he's killed by Thawne) in The Flash: Rebirth. There's also the fact that his first appearance has him being taught the formula from his teacher, with the implication anyone could do it. This teacher has never been mentioned again and it's instead treated as he himself being the one to discover it, and that it was never actually a magic formula so much as a placebo he was using to tap into his own metahuman powers.
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check: He retired from heroics and became a venture capitalist; he converted the method used for activating his powers into marketable self-help advice, becoming a self-help guru, TV producer, and seller of alternate medicine.
• Doing In the Wizard: Initially, he believed he was tapping into magic with his formula, as he learnt it from studying ancient Egyptian. After retiring, he began studying how his power worked and came to the conclusion he wasn't using magic, but had a metahuman gene and his formula was a mental trick for activating and controlling it, leading him to encourage others to do the same. This turned on its heels when Doing in the Scientist happened and the Speed Force was introduced; it turned out he was only half-right and his method was just activating a meta-gene, but the meta-gene itself was connecting him to the semi-mystical Speed Force. He didn't buy it.
• Flat-Earth Atheist: In the 90s, how he was characterised, which seemed to be a conversion from having previously accepted he was using magic. After deciding that all he was doing was mentally triggering a latent metahuman power, he decided there was no magic cause behind his powers, despite magic being a provable thing. It's implied that he acted this way towards everyone insisting all superpowers were a result of unknown metahuman abilities and their limitations were all in their head. It made him very unpopular with the superhero community.
• Flight: Can sometimes use speed to engage in flight. This was actually his original gimmick, but he became more reliant on his running for some reason.
• Formulaic Magic: He invokes his power by reciting a mathematical formula ("3X2(9YZ)4A") taught to him by his childhood guardian, Professor Gill, who had in turn derived it from inscriptions found in a Pharaoh's tomb.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In the final battle with Savitar, Johnny sacrifices himself to save his daughter's life and runs into the Speed Force, merging with it.
• Heroic Willpower: He was one of many dead heroes revived as a Black Lantern during Blackest Night, but unlike the others, he was able to resist the corrupting influence and instead spent the story just racing with his daughter, and accepted when it was time to die again by letting himself get burnt up.
• The One That Got Away: He never got over Libby leaving him. Even in the Speed Force, he told Barry to tell her he never stopped loving her.
• Parents as People: Ironically this became more a case after he died and Jesse became more focused on. Johnny loved his daughter, but he wasn't the best father because he was so fixated on proving his own theories that he could often put intense pressure on her. He still ran head-first into the Speed Force to save her, though, and went to extreme lengths to just give her some closure.
• Significant Name Overlap: He shares the same name with the speedster/Flash-parallel member of the Crime Syndicate of Amerika from Earth 3/Antimatter universe. Depending on the Writer, he's either an Alternate Universe counterpart of Barry Allen, or explicitly an evil Johnny Chambers thriving in a world without the Flash.

Jesse Quick / Liberty Belle II

Jesse Quick / Liberty Belle II

Alter Ego: Jesse Chambers

Species: Metahuman

First Appearance: Justice Society of America vol. 2 #1 (August 1992)

The daughter of Golden Age super-heroes Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle, Jesse Chambers inherited both her parents' powers—flight, super-speed, and super-strength. All her life Jesse has felt pressure to live up to her parents' legacy. She was pressured into the role of superhero by her father, but soon proved her worth as Jesse Quick, balancing her costumed escapades with running her corporation, Quickstart Enterprises. She has been a member of the Titans, JSA, and Justice League of America; she is now married to Hourman II (Rick Tyler) of the JSA. She briefly operated under her mother's codename before returning to her original moniker.

---

• Affirmative-Action Legacy:
  • Technically speaking, she's the female successor to a male hero, her father, Jack Chambers, AKA Johnny Quick. Of course, Superior Successor is going on and she's far more notable than he was.
  • When she first became part of the Flash Family, this was teased when Wally offered her the legacy of the Flash, when under the belief he was going to die. Jesse took to the role earnestly, but later figured out that he only gave her the costume and name as an Operation: Jealousy move to get Bart into shape. She handled it maturely, but she did not take it well, and held a lot of quiet resentment for a while.
• All Love Is Unrequited:
  • Maybe not 'love' per-say, but part of her problems with Wally stemmed from the fact that she was attracted to him, but she only met him after he'd began dating Linda, at which point Wally had Single-Target Sexuality^note plus Wally was Oblivious to Love, and thought that Jesse just didn't like him. She was hurt when he set her up as his successor for the sole purpose of kicking Bart into shape, and later when he wasn't there to for her after her dad died, which she'd bottled up and only let out when Wonder Woman used the lasso of truth to hold her back from running into the Speed Force. This faded though and the two became friends.
  • When she was on the Titans, she had a bit of an obvious puppy dog crush on Dick Grayson. He seemed to see her as more like his friend's sister that he was trying to help out, though he was willing to pretend to be her boyfriend for a social event to keep her mom off her back. Starfire (his ex), picked up on it, and because of it she got quite jealous of how Dick seemed to take her under his wing.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Her mother, Libby, is a constant source of anxiety for Jesse. She's prone to questioning her life decisions, is very critical of her attempts at heroics, and is constantly reminding her of her poor social life. Whenever they saw someone Jesse's age who was an attractive suiter, Libby would immediately start trying to fix the two up.
• Battle Couple: With Rick Tyler when they were on the JSA.
• Bespectacled Cutie: When she was still a student, she was shown wearing glasses in her civvies. They were round and drawn to really make her look cute and nerdy.
• Black Sheep: Of the Flash Family. Unlike them, she's not overly personable, and is quite unsocial. Plus, her Workaholic nature means she barely shows up to the gatherings, and mostly shows up when something's going down. This seems to be due to being saddled with her dad's company as well as how his death affected her; before that she was actually quite bubbly, though a quiet bookworm, and after leaving her company and marrying Rick, she became a lot more cheery.
• Breakout Character: To a mild extent, compared to Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle, she's easily surpassed them in prominence, despite initially being introduced as the former's daughter and protege who's initial role was to be a fake-out legacy for Wally to whip Bart into shape. Since then, she's been part of the Titans, the Justice Society, and the Justice League, actually pulling double-duty on the last two. And given Bart and Wally's troubled working relationship, she's often been the one he's worked with closest, despite Bart's role as the 'true' legacy. A few adaptations and alternate worlds (such as the Anime and Bombshells worlds) present her as the Flash.
• Brought to You by the Letter "S": She used to have a big "Q" on her torso.
• Canon Discontinuity:
  • Her time with the Titans is acknowledged, but only up to the end of Devin Grayson's run. The following run saw Jesse have an affair with her mother's fiancé, which indirectly lead to his death, soiled Jesse's friendships within the Titans and damaged her relationship with her mother. Next time Jesse and her mom appeared together, there was no mention of this, nor when Jesse interacted with Donna and Dick again. Notably, Libby's appearance in that story had her as a middle-aged woman with short grey hair who was shorter than her daughter, while before and after that she appeared to be a woman who could pass for her late thirties, had long blonde hair, and was a good few inches taller than Jesse, so it wasn't as if the story was exactly following continuity itself.
  • Similarly, her time with the Justice League (which ironically involved working with Dick Grayson and Donna Troy again) and the Convergence tie-in sequel seems to be this, at least given that the last storyline she had on the team (losing her Super-Speed because she was unknowingly pregnant) and the events of the Convergence tie-in (her giving birth) haven't been referenced since she returned, and despite the attention paid to Wally West's kids Jesse's infant son is seemingly no longer canon. Not surprisingly given Convergence as a whole has been swept out of canon and Jesse being Out of Focus since her return.
• Can't Catch Up: Occasionally she's shown to have a bit of a problem with this. As much as Wally felt insecure next to Barry's legacy, Jesse felt the same way about him, especially as the means of which she harnesses the Speed Force gives her an unfortunate limit. On the plus side, she has powers the others can't access, like Super Strength and flight. This actually nearly drove her to quitting the Titans, as she felt like she was just getting his hand-me-downs and was useless to the team while he was there (prompting him to leave the team to give her room to grow).
• Characterisation Marches On: When first introduced in Justice Society of America, Jesse was a superhero fangirl who grew up hero-worshiping the Justice Society and dedicated her thesis in grad school to studying them, and couldn't stop smiling in the sight of them. When she shows up in The Flash, she's a hero-in-training who is generally a lot less bubbly and smiles considerably less, and as time goes on her characterisation becomes the workaholic who can't relax. This can partially be explained by her dad's death and her being thrust into a highly important CEO position she was massively underqualified for, leaving her constantly overworked. There's also the fact she was now an active hero, but was still quite green and still finding her footing.
• Childhood Friend Romance: Implied, when she first introduced as a teenager, she was shown visiting Rick Tyler, the second Hourman, who at-the-time was going through chemotherapy that Jesse's dad was paying for, and the two seemed to be friends. Years later, they meet again, and with him being a lot more healthy and her being She's All Grown Up, they almost immediately become attracted.
• Civvie Spandex: Wore a jacket and bike shorts in the '90s. "Liberty Belle" is mostly just a sweater and baggy WW2-era military pants, and when she switched to using a feminine version of her dad's suit, it was just a loose T-shirt and running shorts. In the 2010s, she's now wearing a jacket with aviation goggles over what looks like a colour-inverted Kid Flash costume.
• Clueless Boss: Downplayed, but whenever Jesse's business side was shown, it was clear she was completely overworked and in over her head. Jesse inherited her father's company when she was 21, and hadn't even finished college yet; she was still studying while also having to attend meetings. Its implied she stepped away from the company when she joined the Justice Society in large part because of this.
• Cool Big Sis: Acts as this to Damage in the JSA, and to some extent Bart among the Flash Fam. Interestingly, in stuff from the general Flash Family's POV (such as in the main title), she was depicted as this, being supportive of Bart early on and trying to bond with him, while in his POV (as represented in his own title), she's a bossy, mean babysitter type, which really just adds to the sibling energy of their dynamic.
• Depending on the Writer:
  • Jesse was either running a small company that was dwarfed by Wayne Tech or Lex Corp, or she was loaded and Quickstart was a big deal. Typically, Jesse herself only appeared to be middle class and she almost never used her company's resources for any actual crime-fighting (outside of occasionally writing checks or handing money to people as a bargaining tool), so it was less she had money and more her company did, but this didn't stop some writers having Jesse claim to be rich or claim partial ownership of other companies, something that otherwise never came up.
  • Exactly what Jesse's company does is also prone to this. When it was introduced as her father's company, Quickstart was explicitly a TV station that aired his self-help talks, and advertised and sold video tapes of said talks, but when Jesse took over this was never mentioned again. At one point it was just said they sold 'products', and later it was depicted buying and selling investment in other companies.
• Distaff Counterpart: While she's this for the male Flash family in general, she especially functioned as a female counterpart to Wally. She's the Legacy Character former sidekick of a superhero paternal figure who she had a "Well Done, Daughter!" Girl relationship with, who's death left her with a big chip on her shoulder. Like Wally, she's been a member of the Titans and the Justice League, explicitly invited by Wally to join both to serve in his spot when he was unable to. She even developed a close working relationship with Nightwing, Wally's childhood best friend, and developed a mild Pseudo-Romantic Friendship with Donna Troy, that was not unlike Wally and Dick's long-time bromance. She's even close friends with Jennifer-Lynn Hayden, better known as Jade, the ex-girlfriend and Distaff Counterpart of Wally's friend Kyle Rayner.
• Endearingly Dorky: Downplayed and used in a different way than most examples, but Christopher Priest's two one-shot stories and the few times Mark Waid gave her solo use, Jesse is characterised as an overworked young woman who has trouble getting a date, and is prone to self-doubt. There's also frequent times Not So Above It All comes into play to remind people she's still a woman in the early 20s and is as much of a dork as the rest of the family.
• Failure Hero: She briefly thought she was this; she could never catch up to Wally, considered her time with the Titans to be a complete disaster, always failed to balance her social life, business, and heroics, and it was shown she struggled to fight the Rogues by herself. Time with the JSA helped her shake these insecurities, but they still emerge from time to time.
• Flight: From her father. It's slower than her running, but still pretty fast. Unlike her father she doesn't have to be moving at super-speed to use it.
• Formulaic Magic: To use her speed, she would use the same Speed Force Mantra as her father. Its explicitly not magic, however; the mantra allowed her dad to focus himself to unlock his super-speed, and Jesse used it the same way. It's explicitly a crutch to control her speed, but one that's so ingrained in her its hard to use her speed without it.
• Friendless Background: She's mentioned to have been very studious in her youth because she was desperate to impress her parents through her studies, so she never tried to make friends, with one JSA story even showing that Jesse only had one friend in college (which only lasted a short while before Jesse cut ties with her), so until she actually became friends with Wally, she didn't have any friends her own age. A reoccurring plot point was Wally going out of his way to include Jesse, both inviting her to join the Titans and to various social things because he's aware she just doesn't have friends of her own. Even years later, its apparent Wally, Dick, Donna Troy, and Rick are the only people she's close with her own age.
• Goggles Do Nothing: Averted/played with, like Impulse, Jesse wore a goggles (in her case, a visor) as part of her superhero costume, despite the fact other speedsters evidently had no trouble running without eye protection. However, Jesse was shown to need glasses early on, so its likely the goggles are probably prescription.
• Happily Married: To Rick Tyler, the second Hourman. They got married off-panel after Infinite Crisis.
• Hartman Hips: Depending on the Artist, but typically to emphasise her leotard suit she was drawn with very noticeable hips and butt. This continued in her Liberty Belle days, though got downplayed when she went back to the Jesse Quick identity. After coming back after Finish Line, she was drawn with a particularly wide backside and legs.
• Hopeless Suitor: A bit of a running theme for Jesse prior to marrying Rick is she had trouble getting a boyfriend. She crushed on Wally but he was in love with Linda, then she began crushing on Dick only for him to be uninterested in anything. Besides the "Philip" incident, her only dates were short-lived disasters that never made it past the first date, even if that far.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: Pulled this on Zoom; he believed that she lost her super-speed forever when she gave it to Wally, particularly since she only used her super-strength during this time. When he was about to kill Damage, though, she revealed she still had it and caught him by surprise enough to disable him.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Minor case, but when Zoom attacked Linda and caused her to miscarry her kids, Jesse blamed herself. Wally and Linda had invited her to a Flash Family meeting to announce their pregnancy, but Jesse blew them off figuring it wasn't important, during which Zoom attacked. Jesse believed that had she took time off from work for just one day to visit her friends she might have helped avoid it.
• Improbable Age: At one point, Jesse gave her age as 22 when she was first taking over her dad's company. For reference, it was established she was still in college as she was running Quickstart, so she wasn't just too young for this responsibility, but was also underqualified for it, too (never mind she wasn't even studying business). This was somewhat Deconstructed during Geoff Johns' run as being this busy this young meant she was overworked and out of her depth, leading her to sacrificing her social life and nearly losing the company, until eventually she quit and began working for the Justice Society.
• Informed Attribute: Character bios put out by DC tend to list Jesse at 5'9 in height, indicating she's a Statuesque Stunner. No artist has ever followed this; at best Jesse will be drawn at the same height as everyone else, but if they care to give people varying heights, Jesse is usually average to even fairly short. Notably, these bios tend to also list her as taller than her husband in billing (Rick is billed at either 5'8 to 5'9), even though she's always drawn shorter, sometimes by an entire head of height.
• Legacy Character: To both parents. Her Liberty Belle costume had her namesake on the front, with the crack shaped like the Flash-based lightning bolt. She also was very briefly Wally's successor as the Flash, though it was never official and he was actually just using her to make Bart jealous. She does not take it well.
• Like Brother and Sister: Wally, Jesse, and Bart formed something of an odd sibling-like trio, with Max and Jay as the 'dads', during the height of the Flash family days. Once Jesse got over her crush on Wally the two became close and he often had a Big Brother Instinct towards her, while she always tried to be a Cool Big Sis to Bart, who acted like an Annoying Younger Sibling to them both.
• Male Might, Female Finesse: Inverted with the Flash Family but played straight with Rick. Jesse's top speed isn't as high as Wally's and seems to be on-par with Jay or Bart, neither of whom are at their peak, however she also has her mother's strength, so while she wasn't as fast as the boys, she could hit a lot harder than they could (though, this was rarely brought up). When paired with Hourman, though, initially she relied solely on her strength, but later re-embraced her super-speed and defaulted back to being primarily a speedster, while he had an hour of super-strength.
• Ms. Fanservice: Downplayed, and its far from all Jesse is there for, but her costume designs tend to show more skin than the boys^note though, Wally's suit is skin-tight and borderline Painted-On Pants, so it evens out somewhat. She prefers leotards or short-shorts to full-body suits, which are usually shown to compliment her rear and can sometimes slip into Thong of Shielding territory. This seems to be due for comfort when running; when she was without her super-speed and instead just used Super-Strength, she wore the full-body covering and loose fit Liberty Belle costume, but when she went back to being a speedster primarily she switched to a short-shorts version of her dad's costume. Since coming back, she now wears Painted-On Pants, so even when covering her legs you still see everything.
• Nerd Glasses: Early on, her civvies often included these, giving her a distinct Bespectacled Cutie look. It somewhat adds context to her wearing goggles as her superhero 'mask' since, evidently, those are prescription goggles.
• Not So Above It All: Jesse could often come across as a bossy sister and Women Are Wiser type...but it's shown she can be really cheeky when it comes to stopping badguys, such as disassembling the getaway car and happily sitting on the pile, to waving at enemies before she takes them down, to admitting she was smiling with excitement when running into a hostage situation. Her bickering with Bart in itself often comes across as more mutually childish than her maturity conflicting with his Bart-ness.
• Offscreen Romance: Jesse and Rick went from mild Ship Tease to being Happily Married entirely without any on-panel development. They just showed up after a relaunch, now married. Strangely, before-hand Jesse had expressed little interest in marriage or long-term dating, though Wally's reaction to her statement about this inferred this was clearly just her trying to excuse her inability to get a date.
• Out of Focus: Next to the other 'core' Flash Family, Jesse tends to be the one left aside the most. Partially justified at one point at least because she was a member of the Titans and later the JSA, so even if she wasn't taking part in the current Flash story she was probably doing something elsewhere. Also, though she hasn't done much in the Infinite Frontier era, she was slated to get a miniseries developed for DC's 2021 Round Robin vote-off, but didn't make the finals.
• Painted-On Pants: Since returning in Finish Line, Jesse now wears pants instead of shorts or a leotard, but said pants are drawn so tight she looks like she's naked and orange from the waist down.
• Platonic Life-Partners: Jesse and Wally are similarly aged, are pretty close, and work well together. He shows a lot of concern for her social life (or rather her lack-there-of), and she's quick to give him help when he's down. Despite her having (unrequited) feelings for him though, they've never became anything more than friends.
• Poor Communication Kills:
  • She was often quite blunt with Wally after the 'fake successor' debacle, and after her dad's death she became quite distant, so combined with her self-serious attitude Wally became convinced Jesse hated him, which in-turn lead to Wally keeping his distance. When they cleared the air, it became clear why she acted that way: She had a crush on him, and was just hurt by the fake successor debacle and him not being there for her after her dad's death.
  • One case that actually lead to death unfortunately was when Jesse kept blowing off Wally and Linda's invites. She was genuinely struggling with her failing business, but because she kept doing it, as well as Jesse's blunt dismissal of the event as 'probably unimportant', Wally got so annoyed he didn't tell her what it actually was (announcing Linda was pregnant). Unfortunately, then Zoom attacked, and because Jesse wasn't there to help, his attack resulted in Linda suffering a miscarriage.
  • Wally also kept the fact he was being haunted by Johnny during the JLA "Ghosts" crossover from her, reasoning that clearly Johnny was doing this because he blamed Wally for his death, and there was no sense in reopening Jesse's old wounds. When she finally forced him to explain, she asked if he's ever considered that not everything is about him. It turns out Wally was the only speedster Johnny could contact, but what he wanted was to say goodbye to his daughter.
• She Is All Grown Up:
  • When the Justice Society first meet 19-year-old college student Jesse Chambers, they have a downplayed version of this because the last time they saw her, she was a young child. Of course, none of them view her that way because they're all physically middle-aged men and actually in their 90s and they collectively see her as like a daughter, though Dr Mid-Nite does take advantage of her looks at one point to have her pull a Show Some Leg move when they need a distraction, something she then calls him on as being incredibly sexist.
  • Sometime later, Rick Tyler has another downplayed version of this. When he meets Jesse after she becomes the JSA's business manager, he's immediately smitten by her, especially as the last time he saw her, she was a pretty-but-bespectacled nerd. Likewise, the last time she saw him, he was a sickly recovering addict battling leukaemia, and while he was handsome, it certainly affected his looks; the first thing she notes upon seeing him again is how much healthier he looks now.
• Ship Tease: Jesse and Wally have been teased pretty much since she was first introduced. Her first adventure ends with them implying they were going to hook up, and a running aspect of their relationship after that was her one-sided crush on him, and was hurt by the fact he didn't feel the same way. After Abra Kadabra erased everyone's memories of Linda Park right when she and Wally were about to get married, Max even suggested to Jesse that she and Wally would make a cute couple. Ultimately though they've became more Like Brother and Sister.
• Show Some Leg: Dr Mid-Nite once had Jesse pull this when she was a rookie in order to take down some thugs, something she immediately called him out on after.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: With her husband, Hourman II. After they get together, and if they're in the same room, they can't stay away from each other.
• Super-Speed: From her dad. Originally, she had to use the Speed Force Mantra, but she eventually learned to use her powers without it, like her father did.
• Super-Strength: From her mother. It's not at, say, Superman levels or anything, but she's pretty strong.
• Thong of Shielding: Her leotard isn't thong backed, but it does tend to ride up, so it often looks thong-backed. This was especially notable during her time with the Titans, where she seemingly had a perpetual wedgie every panel she had her back turned.
• Tomboyish Name: "Jesse" is technically unisex but this spelling is more explicitly a boy's name^note generally when feminine, it would be "Jessie".
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: In her office wear, Jesse usually wears business skirts, and when around her husband Rick she's very affectionate. This is about the only feminine thing about Jesse; she hangs out mostly with boys, is quite sporty in style, and her casual wear tends to either be baggy pants or shorts, and even her 'night out' clothes appear to be flannel. Given she was a Daddy's Girl, it makes sense.
• Wanted a Son Instead: Of a sort; her dad really wanted her to be a speedster, since he believed she inherited his meta-gene, and put her through a lot of athletic training when she was still a rather gangly teen. Flashbacks often show her dad training her a lot like he was grooming her to follow him into sports. Conversely, her mother didn't really approve of this, and it was partially what fuelled her divorce from Jack.
• "Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: Toward both her parents. One flashback showed her dad trying to get her powers to manifest while she was younger, and when justifying his actions to Libby Johnny let's slip that he's trying to make her 'special', oblivious to how saying this effected Jesse's self-esteem.
• Workaholic: Wally complained that she usually never had time for a social life because she was always doing corporate CEO stuff.

XS

XS

Alter Ego: Jenni Ognats

Species: Metahuman

First Appearance: Legionnaires #0 (October 1994)

The daughter of Dawn Allen of the Tornado Twins and granddaughter of Barry Allen, the Flash. Jenni was born in the 31st century and, unlike her cousin Bart, did not have super-powers. However, the alien Dominators captured her for their experiments and activated her latent metagene and connection to the Speed Force. Using her newfound powers to escape, Jenni joined the Legion of Super-Heroes as their resident speedster, XS.

XS has met the rest of the Flash family, including Bart and Barry, through time travel, and helped Wally in the fight against Savitar. She prefers living in the future, however, and remains a member of the Legion in good standing, helping them resurrect Bart after his death.

---

See Legion (postboot) characters page.

Impulse II / Thunderheart

Impulse II / Thunderheart

Alter Ego: Iris "Irey" West II

Species: Metahuman

First Appearance: The Flash vol. 2 #225 (October 2005)

Wally and Linda's daughter. Iris and her twin brother Jai were miscarried when Zoom attacked Linda, but a time-travel incident resulted in their sudden "spontaneous re-conception" and birth; shortly afterwards, they and their parents were caught up in the Speed Force during the Flashes' assault on Superboy-Prime in Infinite Crisis, causing them to rapidly age ten years. Both twins inherited a connection to the Speed Force; in Iris's case, it manifested as the ability to vibrate through solid matter like her father. When Professor Zoom attacked the Flash family, the twins' connection to the Speed Force was sabotaged and almost killed them. Irey took Jai's portion in an attempt to save his life, but Jesse Chambers was able to stabilise the connection before Irey died, granting her full access to the Speed Force like the Flashes. She then became the new Impulse (much to Bart's annoyance).

When the twins returned from the Dark Multiverse, Irey continued to act as a superhero for a time, and even became best friends with Maxine Baker, the daughter of Animal Man, in her civilian identity. While Wally can be overprotective and usually doesn't want her taking part in superheroics, he's usually not able to stop Irey from following in his footsteps. When the Fraction invaded Earth, Iris was forced to step up when she thought Wally and Jay were killed, and adopted a new codename in her quest to stop the war: Thunderheart.

In another universe, Iris grew up to become the new Kid Flash. This version of Iris met "our" Wally once or twice. When Wally travelled to the future of the main DCU, he met an adult Irey, who had gotten married and surpassed Wally in skill.

---

• Affirmative-Action Legacy: She took over as the new Impulse before Flashpoint and is a girl and half-Asian. In the alternate-reality series Kingdom Come, she'd also become the new (Kid) Flash (though was not at that time identified as Asian).
• Ascended Fangirl: She's a fangirl of Bart and has taken over his old mantle as Impulse.
• Big "WHAT?!": A subdued version of this trope is Bart's immediate reaction to "the new Impulse", complete with what looks like a dismayed expression on his face.
• The Bus Came Back: Irey and Jai returned in Flash Forward, where it was revealed that, when Flashpoint occurred, they were stolen away by and stranded in the Dark Multiverse. Tempus Fuginaut returns them to Linda as thanks for Wally bonding with the Mobius Chair.
• Canon Immigrant: Originally appeared in Kingdom Come and a few stories set in the future.
• Fiery Redhead: She's energetic, sometimes snippy, a hotheaded redhead like her father.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: She's more prone to acting on impulse and ignoring instructions, much like her father. This contrasts her with Jai, who is more sensible.
• Future Badass: The mainstream Irey didn't have superspeed for a long time, and when she did get it she was slower than the rest of the Flash family. However, every future we see her in, she is Kid Flash or the Flash and can keep up with the mainstream Wally. The adult Irey shown in Infinite Frontier has outright surpassed her father and taken up the mantle of Flash.
• Generation Xerox: She's basically her father in miniature, complete with his fieriness and snark.
• Girlish Pigtails: As part of her Impulse costume.
• In-Series Nickname: "Irey", in order to distinguish her from her great-aunt.
• Intangible Man: Initially, her only power is the ability to vibrate through objects before her super-speed powers stabilized.
• Kid Hero: The youngest speedster in the Flash family, becoming Impulse and Kid Flash at different points in time before coming up with her own mantle as Thunderheart.
• Legacy Character: Iris takes up the mantle of Impulse, which Bart used before he joined the Teen Titans as Kid Flash.
• Little Miss Snarker: She snarks at her parents and brother quite a bit.
• Race Lift: Her counterpart in Kingdom Come was a white woman since her mom was listed as Angela Margolin instead of Linda Park. This version of Irey is Korean and Caucasian.
• Rapid Aging: In Flash #240-241 Iris appears to grow into a teenager wearing a costume similar to her future counterpart and displays superspeed, but her joy is short-lived, as she ages into adulthood after defeating Gorilla Grodd. The twins' rapid aging was cured when Wally discovered that their genetics were not the cause, but rather the death aspect of the Speed Force. He brought them both into the Force. While there, Wally drew the blackness out of her, turning her back into a girl.

Surge

Surge

Alter Ego: Jai West

Species: Metahuman

First Appearance: The Flash vol. 2 #225 (October 2005)

Wally and Linda's son, one of their twin children. While his sister Irey inherited their father's speed (usable through vibrations), Jai's connection to the Speed Force manifested as an ability to accelerate the growth of his muscle tissue, granting him temporary super-strength. After Eobard Thawne sabotaged their connection to the Speed Force in an effort to kill them, Irey managed to steal Jai's portion of their shared connection, in an attempt to save him. However, the arrival of Jesse Chambers instead granted Irey a full connection to the Speed Force, while Jay was left powerless.

After the twins returned from their time in the Dark Multiverse, Jai remained resentful that Irey possessed superspeed while he had to live a normal life. However, when Irey and her friend Maxine Baker ran afoul of the Fearsome Five, Irey was unable to use her speed. She temporarily shared her connection with Jai once again, allowing him to regain his superstrength for a time, and the twins later helped their dad on Gemworld. With Jai's Speed Force connection threatening his life once again, Wally bestowed upon Jai the Speed Force surge he had recently attained, stabilising Jai's powers. Wally then also made it Jai's new superhero codename.

---

• Adaptation Name Change: His sister originated from Kingdom Come and was basically unchanged, other than going by Irey to differentiate her from her great-aunt. However, in that universe, Wally's son is named Barry after his father's mentor, while Jai is named after Jay, Wally's other Flash mentor.
• Art Evolution: When he returned with his family after Infinite Crisis, he was depicted as having red hair. It was eventually changed so that he had black hair.
• The Bus Came Back: Irey and Jai returned in Flash Forward, where it was revealed that, when Flashpoint occurred, they were stolen away by and stranded in the Dark Multiverse. Tempus Fuginaut returns them to Linda as thanks for Wally bonding with the Mobius Chair.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Jai sweats bullets and struggles to make small talk while trying to ask Maxine Baker out on a date. He gets so nervous that he mutters "Oh thank God." when people start collapsing outside, giving him an excuse to jump up from his seat. Luckily for him, Maxine already understands what he's trying to say and is furious at him for nearly dying on their first date when they're attacked by Godspeed (who'd been turned into a Wicked Wasp).
• Fastball Special: Because he can tether himself to other speedsters, Jai can use the momentum to ram into people with his super strength once they come to a hard stop.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: He's the more mature child between him and Irey. He's more likely to listen to their parents' instructions and try to stop Irey from getting into trouble.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Jai is self-conscious about his limited control over his Speed Force powers compared to his dad and Irey. His frustration only mounts after losing his powers for a time, becoming The Resenter struggling to feel like he fits in a family of superpowered heroes. Even after getting his powers back, Jai can't help but feel like he sucks compared to his family members.
  Jai: [to Maxine] Sorry, I... someone's trying to reach me through the Speed Force but it's all... sideways. [to himself] (Because you suck and your connection to the Speed Force is about as predictable as the state lottery.)
• Hour of Power: He could only use super-strength in limited bursts and required rest and food to avoid passing out.
• Kid Hero: With his sister, although he never used a codename until The Flash (Infinite Frontier), when he comes up with the name "Surge".
• Logical Weakness: Jai possesses the same super-fast metabolism as other Speed Force users, causing drugs to circulate through his body far more quickly than a normal person. This bites him in the rear when he's injected with a neurotoxin by a Wicked Wasp Godspeed, as the toxin reaches Jai's heart in seconds rather than hours.
• Lightning Bruiser: The Future Badass version of him depicted in the One Minute War annual comic has learned to properly control the Speed Force energies inside of him. While he isn't as fast as his sister or Wally, the future Jai can run at super speed while demonstrating devastating feats of strength, toppling a tower designed to contain speedsters as living batteries with a single Shockwave Clap. But he has to devote Speed Force energy to one or the other, so needing his super speed reduces his strength and vice versa.
• Muscles Are Meaningful: While using his Speed Force powers to enhance his strength, Jai's muscles swell to colossal proportions relative to his size. After being reintroduced in The Flash (Infinite Frontier) and regaining his powers, Jai learns to invert this by accessing some of his Super-Strength even without changing his size. But he still has his muscles grow when he needs his full power.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: He's eight, but strong enough to lift a car.
• Rapid Aging: Like his sister. The twins' rapid aging was cured when Wally discovered that their genetics were not the cause, but rather the death aspect of the Speed Force. He brought them both into the Force. While there, Jai suddenly aged into an old man before his father drew the blackness out of him, turning him back into a boy.
• The Resenter: After he loses his connection to the Speed Force, he resents Irey for taking it and getting to be a proper speedster alongside the Flash family.
• Shockwave Clap: Power Girl teaches Jai to leverage his Super-Strength as a ranged attack by clapping his hands together extremely hard. He's soon proficient enough to demolish buildings with it by clapping repeatedly. It quickly becomes his go-to attack, especially when dealing with multiple enemies at once.
• Super-Strength: His speed only manifests itself as the ability to temporarily accelerate the growth of his muscles, causing superhuman strength.
• Synchronization: Jai can sync his Speed Force aura with his father's, causing him to fly behind Wally when Wally thinks of him. This power also works in reverse, allowing Jai to summon Wally.
• Temporary Bulk Change: Can alter his mass to complement his Super-Strength.
• Unexplained Recovery: When Jai reappears post-Flashpoint, he inexplicably not only has a connection to the Speed Force but a stronger connection than the one he previously had, now having full super speed. And it's not like that story was retconned from history since Irey wears her Impulse costume, which she gained in the same story where Jai was depowered. Jai also reappeared in his superhero outfit, which he shouldn't have been wearing since he lacked any superpowers. In Infinite Frontier, it's re-established that Jai lost access to the Speed Force in its entirety thanks to Irey, undoing his recovery until it's actually addressed in-story.

The Boom

The Boom

Alter Ego: Judy Garrick

Species: Metahuman

First Appearance: The New Golden Age #1 (November, 2022)

The forgotten daughter of Jay and Joan Garrick, erased from everyone's memories for decades. Judy Garrick, a.k.a. "The Boom," would travel back in team from 1963 to have adventures with her father in the 1940s. She developed a quirky friendship with the Tortoise, the awkward son of the Turtle. Judy stopped teaming up with her dad in 1949, the year she was chronologically born.

She's since been held captive alongside nearly a dozen other teen and kid sidekicks of Golden Age heroes on an island controlled by someone known as "The Childminder."

---

• Kid from the Future: Born in 1949, by 1963 she would travel back in time to have adventures with her dad in the 40s.
• Remember the New Guy?: The Garricks originally had no biological children due to Joan being infertile, and only briefly had an adopted son who died from Pneumonia. Now it appears they did have a biological daughter, but someone or something erased her from everyone's memories. Her Who's Who entry in The New Golden Age states she "first appeared" in Flash Comics #10.
• Ret-Gone: The explanation for her existence is that some force plucked her out of time and made everyone, including her own parents, forget she ever existed.

---