DC Brings Back an Iconic Flash Device

It’s one of the most iconic “devices” in comics for The Flash. We’re talking, of course, about the cosmic treadmill. A device that Barry Allen built so that he could use his super speed to travel through time, the cosmic treadmill is something that Barry has used frequently over the years, jumping to the future and even to other universes, depending on what the state of the multiverse is at different points in DC Comics. It’s a device that has been destroyed and brought back multiple times over the years and now, it’s back again in this week’s The Flash #752.

Spoilers for The Flash #752 below.

In the issue, Barry realizes that the idyllic world he’s currently in, one in which his mother is alive and everything is just beautiful and perfect, is actually a trap, a construct created by Paradox and Barry is actually trapped in a different dimension, a dimension that Paradox was pulled into and given his powers by. It’s not a place that Barry wants to be, so the quick-thinking speedster uses essentially found items leftover from the previous creation of a cosmic tuning fork to start building the things he needs to get out of there, specifically armor for his suit. Once he has the suit protecting him from the harmful, corrupting energy of the dimension, Barry builds himself a new cosmic treadmill to get the heck out of dodge.

Getting to see a new cosmic treadmill is a pretty great moment in the issue, but it also has very cool Justice League movie feel. Barry’s armor looks a lot like what Ezra Miller wore as The Flash and the artwork of the suit as well as the treadmill, tonally, feels a bit like Miller’s brief appearance as the DCEU Flash in The CW’s Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover. In that appearance The CW’s Flash (played by Grant Gustin) raced through the Speed Force trying to find a way to save the multiverse and encountered Miller’s DCEU Flash. Neither speedster uses a treadmill to do so, but the idea of running and “hopping” dimensions, if you will, definitely feels at home with the moment in The Flash #752.

The Flash #752 is available now.

What did you think about Barry’s makeshift cosmic treadmill? Let us know in the comments below.