Flash Just Doomed the DC Universe for a Stupid Prank

The Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event has shown many characters fall to the corruptive power of the Great Darkness, and for one group of supervillains this is unintentionally the Flash‘s fault. He didn’t purposefully cause their downfall, but one of his seemingly harmless pranks nonetheless led to their corruption. This is likely the last thing that Wally intended.

The Flash has been known to fight crime with more humor and fun than most other superheroes. A prime example of this is revealed in Flash #781 by Jeremy Adams and Fernando Pasarin when Wally and Kid Flash go on patrol together and encounter a Legion of Doom headquarters under construction. The Flash removes a vital piece from the fledgling base, explaining to Wallace that this will set the Legion’s plans back a bit while also being incredibly frustrating to them. This is a hilarious little detail that fits Flash perfectly, but it just became much more important in Dark Crisis.

In Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #4 by Joshua Williamson, Daniel Sampere, Alejandro Sánchez, and Tom Napolitano, Deathstroke’s army attempts to destroy the Legion of Doom with the power of the Great Darkness. They are able to essentially ambush the Legion in their own headquarters due to the Legion’s security systems not detecting them in time. This may seem like just a plot contrivance that enable the two groups to have an all out brawl until Captain Cold blames the Flash for the malfunction thus tying this event back to Wally’s fun prank back in Flash #781.

This is a brilliant detail that is very easy to miss, but it also would likely make Wally horrified. His prank leads to the Legion losing the upper hand in their inevitable battle with Deathstroke’s forces, which leads to the corruption of the Legion at the hands of the Great Darkness at the end of the issue. The Flash would never wish that sort of fate on his enemies no matter how evil they are. In fact that was likely part of the reason he pulled this prank in the first place, to fight the Legion of Doom in a fun way that avoided causing any actual real harm. But his actions have had consequences beyond what he could have ever imagined.

Given how minor this detail is, the Flash may never learn exactly how his prank led to the Legion of Doom’s downfall. But that doesn’t really matter to Captain Cold or any of the other supervillains currently succumbing to the Great Darkness. Thus, even though he didn’t intend it and will likely never learn about it, the Flash has just doomed the Legion of Doom to a fate he would never intend for them.

Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #4 is now available from DC Comics.