The Flash’s real name is Bartholomew Allen; that’s a name that’s come up time and time again since the pilot, but of course he refers to himself as “Barry.”
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Not Bart.
Yeah, Bart is arguably the more common nickname for “Bartholomew,” especially in recent years, but Barry is who he’s been since the Silver Age of comics.
So…who’s Bart?
Well, tonight’s episode of The Flash features Barry Allen suffering from serious memory loss, and he keeps referring to himself as “Bart.”
In the comics, though? He’s the successor to Wally West as Kid Flash.
Originally introduced as Impulse, Bart Allen is the grandson of Barry Allen and Iris West. Born in the far future, he grew up essentially in a virtual reality environment, so that when he actually joins the “real world,” he’s got the attention span of a tsetse fly.
Eventually Bart would evolve from Impulse to Kid Flash — an identity that had been vacant for years, since Barry Allen’s death in the Crisis on Infinite Earths had promoted Wally to The Flash in 1986 and Bart didn’t appear until 1994.
Eventually, Bart would even briefly serve as The Flash before being murdered by the Rogues (he eventually got better).
Last year, there was an episode of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow in which they seemed to be teasing Bart.
The Flash airs on Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
More The Flash news:
The Flash: Savitar’s Origin Revealed
The Flash EP Details The Team’s Plans To Defeat Savitar
The Flash: Four Great Ways to End the Savitar Saga
Will The Flash’s Savitar Bring John Fox to Season 4?
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