Flash Just Subtly Proved He’s Strong Enough to Take Out Superman

Warning! This article contains spoilers for Justice League Incarnate #5

While the Flash is famous for his super speed with less emphasis on his strength, the Scarlet Speedster just subtly proved that he is strong enough to take out Superman. The Flash is fast enough to rip through time and change the course of history by tapping into a cosmic energy source known as the Speed Force. When he harnesses that energy during a standoff situation with Superman, he shows that he is just as strong as he is quick, strong enough even to defeat Superman if he really tried. 

In Justice League Incarnate #5 by Joshua Williamson, Dennis Culver, Andrei Bressan, and Jesus Merino, the titular team of Multiversal heroes that includes Calvin Ellis’ Superman, Ariel Curry’s Aquawoman, Captain Carrot, and Avory Ho’s the Flash have come together to face off against a threat that could end all life in the Multiverse. A growing darkness is creeping from the cracks in the Multiverse made by the villainous Darkseid. As the world they are trying to save buckles and bends beneath the mounting pressure of the growing darkness, the team decides they need the help of Barry Allen’s Flash, who has become trapped within a pocket dimension. The only way to reach the Flash is through a portal from which the darkness is creeping out upon the world, and so the heroes fly through it hoping to reach Barry Allen before it’s too late. 

When the Justice League Incarnate make it through the portal, they find themselves in a quiet suburb where Barry Allen is in his full Flash costume mowing the lawn of his mother’s home. While polite at first, the Flash becomes gradually more frustrated with these Multiversal heroes as they tell him the world he’s living in isn’t real and that he needs to go with them to save all of reality. In his rage, the Flash punches Superman in the face before zooming into his mom’s house at the speed of light. After the Flash delivers the mean right hook, Superman is shown rubbing his jaw in pain, indicating that the one hit the Flash delivers has actually hurt him. If the Flash can cause Superman pain—even the slightest bit of pain—with one punch, then he can presumably take him down if he delivered thousands of punches a second, which is well within his abilities. 

The idea that the Flash could take down Superman through sheer might has been tossed around within the DC Comics fandom after he revealed his super powerful Infinite Mass Punch technique. The Flash is able to achieve this devastating attack by moving at light speed and increasing his mass towards infinity, then putting all of that energy into a single punch. 

It seems like the Flash has multiple avenues he can take if he wanted to beat Superman in a fight, as he doesn’t even need to use the Infinite Mass Punch in this latest issue to cause the Man of Steel pain. If the Flash hypothetically delivered thousands of punches to Superman the same way he delivers one in this issue, then ended it all with an Infinite Mass Punch, Superman would be down for the count based on the parameters set in Justice League Incarnate #5. The Flash just subtly proved he is strong enough to take out Superman, though it seems the evidence has been staring fans in the face for quite some time before now.

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