In the final part of “Flash War,” this month’s The Flash #50, Barry Allen and Wally West found themselves still at odds…and little did they know, a major part of the Flash family had reappeared.
Videos by ComicBook.com
That would be Bart Allen — Barry’s future grandson and the superhero known as Impulse (before he became Kid Flash and then ultimately The Flash). Impulse appeared out of the Speed Force at the end of “Flash War” and, as of today’s #51, has not actually done anything yet. It may be a while before he plays a significant role in The Flash, but series writer Joshua Williamson said during an interview at Comic Con that the hope represented by Bart’s return was important given the downcast nature of the ending of “Flash War.”
“Barry and Wally both kind of lose in that story,” Williamson told ComicBook.com. “Hunter thinks he won. He thinks he got away with it — but I wanted the reader to know that as much as Hunter thought he was lying and that doing this was not going to unleash or free anybody, he was wrong: there was somebody in there, and that was Bart. So we’re going to explore some of the new forces and stuff. Bart will be elsewhere for a bit, and then eventually we’ll bring Bart in.”
Bart’s re-emergence had been teased as far back as The Flash Annual, which introduced Hunter Zolomon as the story’s villain and showed off the future of The Flash. In that story, the Flash Museum was in shambles and many of its displays celebrated characters who had not been seen since the start of Flashpoint, including Bart, Max Mercury, the Tornado Twins, and more.
Mercury and others remain missing — and Jay Garrick has appeared only in the context of “The Button,” which tied elements of Doomsday Clock in with ongoing stories in Batman and The Flash — but it seems likely that there will be movement on those fronts soon enough.
The Flash #51 is on sale now. Wally West’s story will continue in Heroes in Crisis, which debuts in September, while Barry Allen will continue on as the series lead in The Flash. At this point it is not yet clear where Bart Allen will begin his reintroduction to the DC Universe.
