"My name is Barry Allen, and I am the fastest man alive. When I was a child I saw my mother killed by something impossible, my father went to prison for her murder, then an accident made me the impossible. To the outside world, I'm an ordinary forensic scientist, but secretly, with the help of my friends at S.T.A.R. Labs, I use my speed to fight crime and find other meta-humans like me. I hunted the man who killed my mother, but in doing so, I opened up our world to new threats. And I am the only one fast enough to stop them. I am...The Flash!"
—Barry Allen
Bartholomew Henry "Barry" Allen (born c. 1989) is a scientist in the Criminal and Forensic Science Division of Central City Police Department. Barry is the son of Henry and the late Nora Allen, the foster son of Joe West, and the best friend/foster brother of Iris West, for whom he has romantic feelings. After the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator exploded, it caused a giant thundercloud to form and Barry was struck by lightning, falling comatose for nine months. When he woke up from his coma, he discovered that he had developed superhuman speed and various other abilities derived from it, gaining a connection to the Speed Force and turning him into a Speedster, a Metahuman with the ability to move at Superhuman Speeds. Using his vast speed and these newfound super powers, he began acting as the vigilante and superhero known as Red Streak or The Streak. Soon after, the public recognized him as The Flash, stylized as the Scarlet Speedster.
Barry Allen was born in 1989 to Henry and Nora Allen as an only child. At some point in his childhood, he met Iris West who he became best friends with, and soon after formed a crush on her which her father Joe and both Henry and Nora were aware of. However, Barry was also bullied by Tony Woodward and came to greatly resent him.
On March 18, 2000 when Barry was eleven years old, he ran home from school after getting into a fight. Though not being fast enough, his mother promised that he had a good heart, and his father was proud of him for winning the fight. Later that night Barry was comforted by his mother when he admitted he was afraid of the dark but she convinced him he wasn't afraid of darkness itself, just being alone in the dark and wished him sweet dreams. This is the last time Barry would ever speak to his mother. Later that night Barry woke up when he heard a commotion downstairs which was causing the water in his fish-tank to levitate in midair, and when he went downstairs saw his mother trapped in streaks of red and yellow lightning. Barry attempted to get to his mother but she told him to stay back and a midst the streaks Barry saw a yellow suited figure for a brief second, and his father told him to run. At that very moment however Barry suddenly found himself 20 blocks away. Barry returned home in time to see his father being arrested by police, the former who told him not to enter the house. He entered, seeing Detective West standing solemnly over a body. When he walked away, Barry approached the body and discovered, to his horror, that it was his mother. Following the ordeal, Barry was fostered by Joe and Iris.
Initially, Henry asked Joe to not let Barry see him. Not knowing this, Barry kept trying to run away to see his father at Iron Heights, and he was caught and stopped by Joe every time; at one point, Barry called him out for it, telling him that he wasn't his father and that he hated him. Eventually, Barry finally reached Iron Heights before Joe could stop him, and he finally came face to face with his father. Henry told him that he simply did not want Barry to see him in prison. Despite this, Barry begged for his father's release, insisting that the man in the lightning was who killed his mother, not Henry. Henry told him that he couldn't help him and asked that he be a good boy and let Joe raised him. Henry was promptly taken away and Barry became more accepting of Joe as his new guardian.
6 months after the murder Barry was still depressed and became grumpy towards everyone. Joe saw this and understood why he was acting angry because he didn't want to let the pain of the grief in, fearing his father and mother would be disappointed in him if he did. However Joe convinced him it's ok to let the pain in and Barry finally let himself feel the grief and cried, to which Joe comforted him and promised that he'd always be there for him.
In school Barry was relentlessly bullied by Tony Woodward. Joe noticed this and had Barry spar with Iris who easily beat him. Joe then told Barry that if he ever got into a fight he couldn't win that it was okay to run the other way.
At the age of 12, Barry went to reptile camp, which was paid for by Joe.
Barry had graduated from college majoring in two fields of science. It was with this skill that Barry was motivated by his mother's murder to study criminology, in the hopes of proving that his father was innocent.
Personality[]
Pending.
Powers and Abilities[]
Barry's speed is emphasized by a trail of yellow lightning coming off of him.
Speed Force Connection/Meta-Human Physiology: After being hit by the dark matter lightning from the particle accelerator explosion, Barry's physiology was altered, granting him access to the Speed Force. Barry's powers come from the Speed Force; a mysterious energy field that he first accessed when he was hit by from the dark matter lightning and exposed to various chemicals. His DNA was altered and cells supercharge with enormous amounts of electricity, augmenting his physiology to beyond peak human condition and obtaining a lean-built frame to properly handle his new abilities. He is able to directly access the Speed Force, however it is currently unknown if he can do so at will or by instinct. By directly accessing the Speed Force, he gains access to more advanced capacities. While initially only able to accomplish this through assistance or accidental instinct, by 2016, he learned how to do so at will. He began using tachyons by the time he met Supergirl to enhance his abilities further, which ultimately caused him to move with enough speed to travel between dimensions by moving with enough speed and force. After losing his powers to Zoom, Barry attempted to regain them by recreating the original events, which made him enter the Speed Force itself. Upon proving himself worthy to the Speed Force, he regained and strengthen his connection to it, allowing him to consciously connect with it and realize much of his true potential.
Superhuman Speed: Barry is capable of moving, thinking, acting, and perceiving at vast, near-limitless, superhuman speeds, appearing as only a blur to the naked eye, while others around him can only see a vibrating blur of motion, sometimes covered in yellow electricity. He is also unaffected by the side-effects caused by moving at these speeds such as high friction, reduced oxygen, and kinetic impact. The intensity of his speed allows him to run vertically across structures and over large masses of water. While his top current maximum recorded speed is Mach 3.3, according to Eobard Thawne, Barry's speed is, or will, eventually become limitless. He has even proved to be faster than the super-powered Kryptonian, Kara Danvers, as she was momentarily disoriented after he sped off with her as his "passenger", showing that he very likely ranks throughout the universe as one of, if not the, naturally fastest beings in the entire universe. Since using a tachyon unit to further amplify his speed, as Barry has become able to move at over Mach 13.2, able to just outpace even Zoom. Since strengthening his connection to the Speed Force, Barry has naturally gotten considerably faster than ever. To which he again outpaced Hunter Zolomon, who had become much faster after stealing Barry's original speed energy.
Superhuman Agility: Barry is incredibly agile, able to change direction immediately. Barry's balance and bodily coordination are far superior to the finest human athlete. This allows him to be able to make sharp turns on city streets without sliding or losing his balance. Likewise, he is able to jump/leap tremendous distances while building up enough velocity, able to clear an entire collapsed freeway bridge.
Superhuman Reflexes: Because of his great speed, Barry's reflexes are heightened to superhuman levels and his increased speed also augments his reaction time, allowing him to react to danger instantly and events far faster than a normal human. He's able to see objects such as bullets move slowly from his point of view. He is even capable of catching bullets. When shot in the neck on his blindside, Barry was able to catch the bullet and minimize the damage before it could fully penetrate his skin.
Superhuman Endurance: Barry's body can handle the stresses of superhuman racing without noticeable distress, and his body's enhanced stamina allows him to function much longer than a normal human without getting tired or weak. He is also unaffected by the side-effects caused by moving at these speeds such as high friction, reduced oxygen, and kinetic impact. Barry is able to recover from attacks and exertion much quicker than normal humans. His durability is much greater than before, as he has been able to withstand being struck with Weather Wizard's lightning, with him only being stunned for several minutes, as well as only being stunned by Grodd's strength. While his durability is not as great as that of fully-powered Kryptonians, Barry is capable of sustaining great deals of damage, such as blunt or stunt forces, maybe due to the highly amount of energy his body produces.
Accelerated Perception: Barry's brain is process information at an accelerated rate, which allows him to perceive events in slow motion. Barry's speed also extends to his senses and mental capacities, able to take in information and process it just as fast. This allows Barry to see the world as if it is in slow motion, which combined with his physical speed lets him think, perform actions, react to events, long before a normal human around him could even perceive them. This also lets him learn new skills and sciences within seconds. Eobard didn't want Barry present when they trapped the Reverse-Flash in fear of Barry seeing through his speed-mirage. This also lets him learn in a small fraction of the normal time, able to quickly familiarize himself with Earth-Two science within minutes.
Rapidly Accelerated Cellular Regenerative Healing: Barry's also has dramatically heightened healing capacities and he is healing at a rate much quicker and efficiently than regular humans. This makes his molecules move at accelerated rates and his speed extends to him on a microscopic level, causing the chemical reactions responsible for metabolism to mend and even restore any damages much quicker and efficiently than regular humans. His body can heal itself in hours or days with no treatment, therapy, lingering effects, or even signs of any ailment or damage ever happening. Even normally permanent damage to his body, like becoming a paraplegic due to spinal damage, will completely repair itself within days. His body also has a heightened resistance to any sickness, disease, toxins, and poisons, and even when injected with 2,000 milligrams of horse tranquilizer, Barry was only momentarily slowed down until his body burned through it, which he could do himself by vibrating. His augmented cellular repair also enhances his vitality, drastically reducing his aging process while likewise extending his health and longevity.
Bodily Vibration: Barry has the ability to vibrate varying cells and overall parts of his body on command for various effects. His bodily control can vibrate his entire body to mask his form from others clearly perceiving it and distort his vocal cords to disguise his voice. Similar, he can vibrate his cells fast enough to forcibly expel any toxins that do manage to affect him. He can vibrate at varying frequencies and with different levels of force and intensity, allowing him to create small tremor-like effects on any object or person he touches and induce jolt through physical contact. His ability to vibrate also allows him to burn through and vaporize foreign chemicals, mostly those that are harmful, from his body and recover instantly from their effects.
Phasing/Intangibility: By vibrating his molecules at the same frequency as that of the air, Barry is capable of physically phasing through solid objects. He can even phase people through things as he did with Joe West and Eddie Thawne, while they were persecuting criminals in a car chase. He can even use this ability in other universes, where air frequencies are different than the ones of his own world by changing his frequency to match it.
Extreme Force Generation: Through his accelerated movements, Barry can generate great amounts of physical force through kinetic energy and friction, even in a stationary position, allowing him to overpower regular humans with little to no effort. He can propel himself through the air and create substantial frictional force with any object he comes into contact with. The friction from his speed can also cause extreme heat and set objects ablaze. Alternatively, his speed lets him channel the force into powerful strikes, often propelling targets several feet. The force he generates can even produce sonic blasts with his strikes, enough to disable a meta-human who could become as strong and hard as steel. Similarly, Barry can hurl a bullet from his hand with enough force to penetrate a powerful barrier and still pierce clean through a person.
Aerokinesis: Using his speed, Barry can control air flow on all levels by moving through them fast enough and create vacuums. He can suffocate people by creating a strong vortex around them by running around them. He can spin his arms at the speed of a tornado to remove air from fire and extinguish it and repel targets away. Alternatively, he can use this skill to propel himself through the air as a pseudo-form of flying. For larger scale feats, he can completely remove the physical force from massive tidal waves and stabilize a giant singularity by running around it.
Electrokinesis: As a speedster, Barry's body generates/produces a powerful yellow electricity from his body when he is movie moving at higher super speeds and can use it in many ways. By generating enough friction on a specific part of his body, such as his hands, he is able to produce a strong shock, capable of reviving someone. Barry is also capable of electrifying water by rapidly running on it. He can generate enough friction on a specific part of his body, such as his hands, to produce a strong static shock. After training by Jay Garrick, Barry has also learned how to hurl lightning bolts by building up the electricity he produces. Barry is also capable of electrifying water by rapidly running on it.
Time Travel: Barry can move fast enough to break open holes in the fabric of time and space, allowing him to travel through time. Arguably one of his speed's most powerful facets, this means he can alter events that have occurred, allowing him to tamper with the flow of time and possibly create new timelines. Initially, this power was random and formerly uncontrollable, as the first two of his time travels where he could only access/achieve it independently by accident when under extreme stress or emotional situations. By 2016, Barry became able to time travel at any time and since then gained partial control over this power, however his control of what date or hour of a specific time-period he will arrive is still somewhat random.
Interdimensional travel: Another one of Barry's most powerful abilities, is that he is capable of moving fast enough to break open portals between alternate dimensions, allowing him to travel to different universes. However, like initially with time travel, he is still not consciously in control of this ability, as his first solo use of it was done by accident, which ended up sending him to another alternate Earth, with other kind of superheroes, and he needed assistance to return to his own home world. His ability was unlocked by use of tachyons to enhance his abilities, especially to move at different frequencies.
Speed Force sharing: After regaining his connection to the Speed Force and obtaining a greater understanding of its nature, Barry learned to use the Speed Force in more passive means. He can allow another target to temporarily experience the energy of the Speed Force. Doing this, he can make a person to heal as fast as himself, as shown when he made Jessie recover immediately from a coma by touching her with the Speed Force electricity from his hand.
Speed Mirages: Barry can use his speed to make it appear like he's in many places at once, when in reality, he is simply bouncing back and forth too fast for the human mind to perceive the difference. He can create dozens of after-images, allowing him to disorientate his enemies and then catch them off guard.
Flight: Barry can also rotate his arms so fast that he can propel him self through the air, creating a form of flight.
Weaknesses[]
Hyper-metabolism: While moving at accelerated speeds, Barry burns calories much faster than a normal person. While giving an added benefit of letting him break down food more efficiently than a regular human, this also requires him to consume large amounts of nutrients to maintain his performance. Continued usage of his speed while deprived renders him disoriented and weak before ultimately passing from low blood glucose. Also, because of his accelerated healing, he is unaffected by painkillers, sedatives, or anesthetics, as he burns through them too quickly to have any effect. He also cannot experience joys like getting drunk as even consuming a special 500 proof alcohol only intoxicated for a few seconds.
Cold temperatures: Because speed is produced by a build-up of heat in the target's atoms, Barry is vulnerable to extreme cold temperatures. Under these conditions, Barry's speed will be greatly reduced. Also, direct exposure to such cold will temporarily stunt his healing capacities.
Electricity absorption: Barry's unique biology causes his body to produce massive amounts of electricity, which charges his molecules to allow for his accelerated movements. Should Barry be drained of this electrical energy, he will lose his powers. However, as this power is genetically coded to his DNA, he can potentially regain his speed by using more electricity to jump-start it.
Kinetic energy absorption: Because Barry's abilities are derived from movement, the removal of the kinetic energy he builds up will leave him in a state of temporary paralysis. However, if he can build back up enough kinetic energy within himself, the effect can be instantly negated.
Carbine: Barry's intangibility has difficulty passing through this compound, requiring him to build up even more momentum to get past.
Time alterations: While Barry's speed allows him to break through the temporal barrier, it is not without drawbacks. In addition to potentially causing unforeseeable damaging changes to the timeline, reckless travels through time can alert the Time Wraith. These temporal guardians become instinctively drawn to the careless speedster, driven to capture the person who disturbed the timestream and draw the person into the Speed Force with it.
