The Flash is one of DC’s most powerful heroes. Those connected to the Speed Force can move and think faster than anyone can imagine, to the point where they can run across a frozen, silent world and back again, taking their time to smell the roses and contemplate their life choices, before anyone even realizes they moved. The Flash is so powerful that he can race to the end of time itself and punch so quickly that he can effectively generate mass. And yet, no matter how strong the Flash is, there will always be a force infinitely more dangerous and deadly than he could ever hope to be. That force is called the Black Flash.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Speedsters are so fast that they can outrun the very concept of death. So death adapted, creating the Black Flash as the embodiment of a speedster’s end to bring them to heel when it was their time. The Black Flash has remained one of the Flash’s most terrifying opponents since his introduction, and now, he’s deadlier than ever. The Black Flash just got a terrifying redesign and overhaul in Asboltue Flash #15. It introduced a much more terrifying version of the Black Flash, and Wally is the one who sets it free.
The Promise of Death Is Coming
The issue started with Wally receiving a vision of the who-knows-how-distant future. He jolted out of his bed at Ralph Dibny’s Mission to find a giant black, amorphous shape wreaking havoc. It slaughtered anyone it came across, ripping them into bloody limbs and red mist. It wasn’t a skeleton in a dark version of the Flash’s costume, but an entirely otherworldly creature. It looked like a half-formed person made of wisps, pulling itself along by its massive, clawed hands, while its lower body dissipated into a razor-sharp, lightning bolt-shaped tail. It spoke in a slow fashion, like it was unfamiliar with words, telling Wally that he couldn’t run.
The Black Flash killed Ralph, and Wally gave chase, but he couldn’t catch the creature. It fled with a smile on its unformed face, leaving a trail of destruction wherever it went. A future version of Wally appeared and informed the present one that this was a vision of what would happen if he kept trying to save his dad. Returning to the Still Point would unleash the Black Flash on the world, and it would kill everybody it could. This coalligned with Wally’s previous visions of becoming a monster similar to the Black Flash, with further evidence provided by Wally’s later research into Star Labs. The layout of the Still Point was a giant lightning bolt and an Omega symbol, and the Black Flash rested at the bottom.
A New Death for a Darker World
Obviously, this Black Flash is a whole lot deadlier than the original. In the Prime Universe, Black Flash is only concerned with making sure speedsters are carted into the Speed Force. Meanwhile, the Absolute version is intent on killing seemingly indiscriminately. This is a major difference, egged on by Darkseid’s influence. There’s no Speed Force in the Absolute Universe, meaning that this Black Flash isn’t a byproduct of that. If anything, the Black Flash is the embodiment of death and entropy. He exists to bring things to their end. Flash’s powers connect to time, and if this thing came from below the Still Point, it could represent the end of time and the destruction of all things.
This Black Flash isn’t some entity created only for speedsters, but a creature that wants to ruin everything, and that makes it infinitely more dangerous than the original. Wally is racing towards a timeline where he unleashes a monster that not even an adult version of him can stop, and given that the Omega symbol appears in the Still Point, it’s even likely that this creature is connected to Darkseid directly in some way. Darkseid has an ultimate goal to destroy Earth’s heroes, and the Black Flash could be one way that wipes away even his greatest enemies. If not even the Flash can catch it, then there’s nobody alive who can outrun death.
Absolute Flash #15 is on sale now!
What do you think of this all-new Black Flash? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
Most Viewed
-
Image courtesy of Netflix -
Image Courtesy of Netflix -
Image courtesy of 20th Century Studios
