5 Powers You Didn’t Know the Flash Had

The Flash is one of the most famous characters in DC, and one of the most impactful superheroes of all time. More often than not, the Flash is at the center of the biggest events that irrevocably change the DC Multiverse. From popularizing the concept of the multiverse to inadvertently spearheading the New 52 with Flashpoint, the Flash has raced into the spotlight just as much as the faces of the company, like Batman and Superman. His connection to the Speed Force makes him the Fastest Man Alive, and lets him do everything from time travel to phase through solid objects.

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However, the Flash has a lot more powers than just running fast and phasing through things. Everyone knows that he can travel through time and space, but the Speed Force is a whole lot more complicated and a whole lot more powerful than it seems on the surface. Today, we’re going to be taking a look at five of the Flash’s lesser-known powers and exploring just how insanely powerful the Scarlet Speedster really is.

5) Duplication

The Flash is already one of the most powerful members of the Justice League, and there are already a few people who bear the mantle, but the Flash is capable of making even more. There are two different versions of this ability, manifested by different Speedsters. The original person who demonstrated this power was Bart Allen, back when he was Impulse. He was able to create energy constructs he called his Speed Scouts, which he was able to send anywhere and anywhen to act as his avatars. When they completed their missions, Bart would reabsorb the Scouts and all of their memories. However, the destruction of any of these Scouts could impact Bart, once putting him in a coma.

Wally demonstrated a different version of this ability in The Flash (2023) #14. Since Prime Earth was cut off from the multiverse in the Absolute Power event, alternate timelines couldn’t form. However, the potential for them still existed, which allowed Wally to use his time abilities to create alternate versions of himself. This let him create effectively infinite copies of himself that could exist independently. Unlike the Speed Scouts, these duplicates were Wally in and of themselves, which meant they could die or disappear without danger to the original.

4) Magnetic Manipulation

While he’s not Magneto, the Flash once demonstrated the ability to generate his own magnetic field. In Justice League of America (1960) #127, the JLA went up against one of their strongest one-time villains, the Anarchist. The Anarchist used his abilities to wrap Superman’s own belt around his neck, choking him out. By vibrating himself at high speeds, the Flash was able to create a magnetic field that matched the belt’s, repelling it from Superman. Although he only used this power once, the ability to generate and even control magnetic fields is insanely powerful and adds a whole new dimension to the Flash’s toolkit.

3) Running on Air

While he definitely prefers to keep both his feet on the ground, the Flash is more than capable of racing through the air in numerous ways. Barry has shown that he can create miniature vortexes to gather dense clouds together, giving him the leverage he needs to race on top of them for a short time. Beyond just that, because of his ability to vibrate his molecules at high speeds, the Flash can vibrate faster than air molecules and actually run on top of them.

As another option entirely, in the novel The Flash: Stop Motion, the Flash was able to kick his legs so quickly that he compressed the air beneath him, letting him clumsily move on it. With this, he was able to race into the upper atmosphere like he was climbing a set of stairs, although this would get significantly harder the less air there was around him. None of these options gives the Flash as much control in the sky as a true flier like Superman, but it definitely does make it a whole lot harder to pin the Scarlet Speedster down.

2) Anti-Life Equation Negation

The Speed Force is easily one of the most overpowered energy sources in DC, as it does way, way more than just provide speed. One of the best examples of its versatility came in Final Crisis #4, after Darkseid had successfully used the Anti-Life Equation to enslave the Earth. The Anti-Life Equation is a mathematical equation that proves that life is not worth living, and saps the will of anyone who sees it, effectively making them slaves to whoever holds it. Dealing with the Anti-Life Equation was one of the main conflicts in Final Crisis, which was blown out of the water when Barry demonstrated that Speed Force energy can free people from its effects.

Iris had been completely corrupted by the Anti-Life Equation, becoming a paranoid and hopeless shadow of herself. Barry kissed her, passing some of his Speedforce energy into her and restoring her hope. It makes sense, given that the Speedforce is effectively the energy of life itself, generated by movement and the chaos of life, which is the antithesis of Anti-Life. Still, it’s unknown if this only worked on Iris because of her connection to Barry, or if it could work on anyone. Either way, it’s an impressive feat.

1) Extended Youth (Even For Their Loved Ones)

Comic book characters never age, but while many rely on a sliding timescale, magically slowed age, or the universe resetting, the Flashes actually have an in-built reason. The Speedforce is inherently tied to time, which gives its conduits the ability to travel through the timestream. It also significantly slows their aging. Typically, people who live at the speed that the typical Speedster does should age exponentially faster, given that their bodies work so much faster, and thus so much more often, than the average person’s.

This slowed age keeps the Speedsters in their prime for much, much longer than anyone should be. In fact, their Speedforce energy is so potent that it even spreads to their loved ones, their Lightning Rods. While Jay Garrick’s relative youth can be explained by an immortality serum and his Speedforce, his wife Joan obviously doesn’t have either of those excuses. Thankfully, this protection expands to those closest to the Fastest People Alive as well. We’ve even seen the inverse of this ability, where practically every Speedster’s kids and grandchildren aged at an accelerated rate.

So there we have five lesser-known powers and abilities that the Flash possesses. If we’ve learned anything here today, it’s that the Speedforce is even more busted than it appears on the surface, which is already a significant hurdle to jump. Which additional Flash power do you think is the coolest?

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