The 10 Most Powerful Speedsters in DC Comics

When it comes to Flash and the speedsters in DC, their actual speed is only part of the equation, because the Speed Force gives these heroes and villains powers beyond almost any other superhero in comics. The Speed Force is an extra-dimensional energy field that most DC speedsters tap into for their powers. It functions as both the source of their speed and also allows them to achieve other power-based feats, including time travel, phasing, the Infinite Mass Punch, stealing speed, and surviving death itself. The villains also sometimes overpower the heroes since they utilize the ability to drain, steal, or weaponize speed against the heroes.

From the Golden Age Flash to Barry Allen, Wally West, and the rest of the DC speedsters on both the good and evil side, here are the most powerful of the speedsters when the fight involves more than just moving fast.

10) Max Mercury

Max Mercury took a more mystical approach to the Speed Force, which contrasts with most other speedsters’ scientific view of the phenomenon. He was originally a Golden Age character in Quality Comics (known as Quicksilver), but he debuted in DC in Young All-Stars #27 (1989) by Roy Thomas, Dann Thomas, and Dave Simons, in a cameo with the Freedom Fighters, where he was still known as Quicksilver.

In his original origin story, Max Mercury was gifted a Speed Force connection by a Native American shaman and then ran through time as Whip Whirlwind and then Quicksilver. He has super speed, molecular control, and the ability to travel through time and dimensions, though he cannot run as fast as the Flashes. Despite this, he knows how to navigate to the Speed Force’s highest point, something other speedsters can’t do. He is the one who taught Wally West and Bart Allen to use their speed to its fullest potential.

9) Jay Garrick

Jay Garrick is the Golden Age Flash, the original DC hero to use that name, created by Gardner Fox and Harry Lampert, debuting in Flash Comics #1 in 1940. His origin saw him gain his powers by inhaling hard-water vapors, but it was later tied to a connection to the Speed Force. He was a charter member of the Justice Society of America, the world’s first superhero team in comics.

His power level is lower than most Flashes. He can still run at speeds approaching the speed of light, and he has faster-than-normal reflexes. He can also move fast enough to obscure his identity and even phase through solid objects. However, when it comes to pure power levels, he falls way short of anyone else known as Flash, since he is not as fast, which limits what he can accomplish with his speed. Despite this, he remains iconic and respected since he has mentored several generations of the Flash family.

8) Impulse

Impulse was once the youngest member of the Flash family, the former Kid Flash who replaced Wally West in that original role. Bart Allen was born in the 30th century, and he is Barry Allen’s grandson. He then raced back in time to continue his family’s speedster legacy. It has been mentioned in DC Comics that Bart is faster than Barry, and he demonstrated his massive speed by hitting another speedster, Godspeed, multiple times before the villain could react.

Bart suffers from accelerated aging and a hyper-metabolism, which caused him to look like a teenager when he was only two. Luckily, Wally West was able to help stabilize his aging and grant him control of his speed. He has some extra powers, which help him rank above some older speedsters, including the fact that he can generate electricity and vibrate his molecules to phase through solid matter, and he heals from injuries far faster than a normal human. All that keeps him lower on the list is experience.

7) Godspeed

Godspeed is August Heart, a former Central City detective and Barry Allen’s partner before being struck by lightning during a Speed Force storm. When he turned into Godspeed, he turned full evil and became a ruthless vigilante and serial killer who sought revenge on the person he believed killed his brother. He has one power that keeps him higher than someone like Bart Allen, and that is his ability to steal the Speed Force from other speedsters.

While Bart Allen was able to hit him multiple times before Godspeed knew what was going on, when he is prepared, he can steal that speed from Bart, Barry Allen, or most other speedsters, which is something he originally could only do by killing them, but now can do it non-lethally. He possesses superhuman speed, strength, durability, electrokinesis, vortex creation, accelerated healing, and intangibility/phasing. Godspeed can also create speed-duplicates of himself and create energy constructs.

6) Zoom

Zoom is Hunter Zolomon, and he was a former FBI profiler and a friend of Wally West. His origins are similar to Godspeed’s, as he started out as a Flash friend before an accident turned him into a speedster as well. This time, it was an explosion from the Cosmic Treadmill. However, Zoom has one distinctive advantage over the Flashes. He is not a Speed Force conduit. Instead, he manipulates his own personal time (chronokinesis) to move at incredible speeds.

This means he speeds up his current timeline to move faster and then slows the timeline to move slower. This also means he doesn’t have to worry about the Flashes’ weaknesses, such as friction, but it also means he can’t time-travel or phase through walls. Wonder Woman once said he hits harder than Superman when moving at superspeed. What really makes him stand out is that he brings tragedy to the Flash to “make him a better hero,” which is a strange motivation for this speedster villain.

5) Reverse Flash

Reverse Flash is Eobard Thawne, a villain from the 25th century who was once Flash’s biggest fan. However, when he learned at the Flash Museum that he would become a villain to the speedster, it caused him to decide to become the greatest villain Flash had ever had. This made him one of the most petty villains in DC Comics history, as he did things to ruin Barry Allen’s life that seemed ridiculous at times, from ruining Barry’s chance in little league baseball to killing Flash’s loved ones.

Reverse Flash is the avatar and generator of the Negative Speed Force. Speed only adds to its overall power, making Thawne more dangerous over time. The Negative Speed Force leeches off the Flash’s Speed Force throughout history, giving him power greater than typical speedsters. His mastery of time travel and reality alteration lets him rewrite history, and he even erased Barry’s best friend from history at one point.

4) Savitar

Savitar was introduced as a 1990s Flash villain for Wally West, a Cold War-era pilot whose supersonic jet was struck by lightning, granting him super speed. He named himself after the Hindu god of motion, and his goal was to become a godlike being himself with his superspeed. He then did the unthinkable when he unlocked Speed Force abilities no other speedster has achieved, including force fields and near-instantaneous healing from wounds.

He also has the power to create a null-inertia field that steals the speed from incoming objects thrown at him, effectively a speed-absorbing force field. Because of his godlike ambitions, he leads his own cult, one that worships the Speed Force and seeks to drain all other speedsters of their powers to make him even greater. He was powerful enough to fight Wally West, Jay Garrick, and Barry Allen, and it was only when Wally’s direct Speed Force link stopped him from stealing Wally’s speed that he was defeated.

3) Barry Allen

Barry Allen was the second Flash, and he was the most famous of the Silver Age Flashes. He was also the first new hero introduced in the Silver Age. He gained his powers when he worked as a police forensic scientist and was struck by lightning and doused in chemicals, accessing the Speed Force. However, in The Flash: Rebirth, his origin was slightly retconned when it was shown that Barry actually created the Speed Force himself, proving his immense power.

He can run around the world in a fraction of a second and uses Speed Force lightning in nearly all his attacks. Flash can creatively form constructs out of lightning, including lightning-enhanced punches and lightning platforms to run on. He also has the Infinite Mass Punch, which can hurt Superman or Darkseid. His power fuels the entire Flash family as the Speed Force creator, but he isn’t the most powerful Flash family member.

2) Wally West

Wally West was the third Flash in DC Comics, and he replaced Barry Allen in the role after Barry sacrificed himself to help beat the Anti-Monitor in Crisis on Infinite Earths. While Barry Allen created the Speed Force and is the architect of the Flash family, Wally West is the literal fastest man alive. When just judging the DC speedsters based on speed, he tops the list every time because Wally is the fastest living being in the entire Multiverse.

Wally also has a more potent bond with the Speed Force than Barry, constantly mainlining pure Speed Force energy for a natural speed advantage. He was the first speedster ever to enter the Speed Force and then exit it of his own volition. Wally also outran the Black Flash (Death) to the end of time, then outran the next Big Bang, cheating death itself. Wally eventually took the Mobius Chair, absorbing Doctor Manhattan’s power and becoming faster than all other speedsters and smarter than Batman.

1) Black Flash

Wally West is faster than Black Flash. However, he is nowhere near as powerful because Black Flash is the Grim Reaper-like entity originating from the Speed Force that serves as Death specifically for speedsters, returning them to the Speed Force when they die. He can move at superhuman speed and can keep pace with Barry Allen. For his power level, Max Mercury said that a single touch from the Black Flash can cause instant death.

Black Flash can absorb the life force of living creatures, including Speed Force conduits, until they die, and it has superhumanly heightened reflexes from its immense speed, allowing it to react to danger instantly. It can also make itself completely intangible by vibrating its molecules at incredible speeds. It only lost to Wally West when Wally outran it to the end of time, where Death no longer existed. Black Flash is still the most powerful, because it is an abstract, near-inescapable force that even the fastest runners can only flee, not truly defeat.

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