It might be the most enduring question in DC Comics, one that fans have debated for decades: who is faster, The Flash or Superman? With the two heroes meeting in the DC Extended Universe for the first time in Justice League that debate has been renewed.
Minor spoilers for Justice League below!
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In Justice League‘s mid-credits scene, the film pays homage to DC Comics history by having The Flash (Ezra Miller) and Superman (Henry Cavill) agree to a friendly race to settle once and for all the question of who is truly the fastest. In the scene the heroes have a friendly bet. If The Flash loses he must take the League out for brunch, but if he wins he gets to proudly tell everyone that he’s faster than Superman. In the scene the two heroes take off on their race, but the result is left to the audience’s imagination as to which hero won.
But just because the movie doesn’t reveal who is the fastest man alive doesn’t mean that the question hasn’t been asked and answered in comics. Over the years, The Flash and Superman have raced one another many times and while the outcomes do vary from time to time, looking at them overall reveals who really is the fastest, the Man of Steel or the Scarlet Speedster.
Read on to find out who is faster, Superman or The Flash.
Superman #199
The Flash and Superman first raced one another in 1967’s Superman #199. In the story, the race is part of a United Nations charity fundraiser. Or course, it wouldn’t be any fun if criminals didn’t show up to interfere — in this case American and European gambling networks show up to interrupt things — but the race still managed to take place. Unfortunately, the question of who is fastest isn’t resolved when the race ends in a tie.
The Flash: 0, Superman: 0
Flash #175
What happens when something ends in a tie? You get a rematch and that’s just what happened in Flash #175 also in 1967. The two heroes are forced into a rematch by Reverse-Flash and Abra Kadabra who, posing as two aliens, threaten both Central City and Metropolis unless The Flash and Superman agree to race from Earth to the end of the universe and back. They do it, but once again the race ends in a tie.
The Flash: 0, Superman: 0
World’s Finest #198 and #199
In the two-part “Race to Save the Universe” story, Superman and The Flash race for a third time with the universe as collateral. It comes about because the timeline has gotten thrown out of whack and Superman’s friend, Jimmy Olsen, has been thrown into ancient Rome. The Guardians of Oa — best known as overseeing the Green Lantern Corps — have Superman and The Flash race to restore the balance of time. However, that kind of goes awry when the heroes end up on a power where neither of them have their superpowers. With only the ability to crawl towards a switch that will save the timeline the race sort of continues with both heroes trying to get to said switch to save the day. The Flash beats Superman there, flips the switch and saves the universe. We’ll count that as a win on a technicality.
The Flash: 1, Superman: 0
DC Comics Presents #1 and #2
In 1978’s “Chase to the End of Time” Superman and The Flash must race through time to clean up a huge mess made when warring alien races land on Earth, send people back in time to prevent their war from happening and in the process, make a huge mess of things. As in previous races, the heroes manage to save the day but this time their race ends in yet another tie.
The Flash: 1, Superman: 0
Flash: Rebirth #3
When Barry Allen returned from the dead in Flash: Rebirth, the Speed Force reacted badly so Barry goes back into the Speed Force, sacrificing himself to stabilize it. As you can imagine, this did not go over well with his friends in the Justice League so Superman races after him intending to stop Barry before he can give himself up to save everyone.
As the two men race, Superman comments that he’s beaten Barry before, but in a truly iconic moment, Barry tells his friend that those wins were charity as Barry had let him win. Then Barry takes off and leaves Superman behind.
The Flash: 2, Superman: 0…maybe?
Superman #709
In 2011’s Superman #70, the Man of Steel finally gets a definitive win over the Scarlet Speedster.
Under the influence of Kryptonian mind-control, the Flash starts terraforming Metropolis, turning it into Krypton. Clearly this is not a good situation so Superman races to stop him. The Man of Steel pushes himself to the absolute limit and narrowly manages to catch The Flash and break the mind control hold.
Amusingly enough, the two heroes go to have a bite to eat in a cafe after and, as they’re talking, Superboy and Kid Flash appear on television. They are also racing and, much like the very first Superman/Flash race, it’s for a good cause: they’re racing to raise money for Smallville’s farmers.
The Flash: 2, Superman: 1
Final verdict? The Flash is probably faster than Superman truly making him the Fastest Man Alive. At least until the next race.
Justice League is in theaters now.
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