Justice League Infinity Proves Barry Allen Stole Wally West’s Personality

Warning: contains spoilers for Justice League Infinity #1!

Ever since his resurrection as The Flash, Barry Allen effectively stole Wally West’s personality, and Justice League Infinity #1 proves it. While Barry is undisputedly the best-known Flash in current DC continuity, appearing in comics, TV shows and feature films, there existed a period of 23 years during which Wally took on the mantle as the Fastest Man Alive. But the Flash’s introduction in Justice League Infinity proves that upon returning from the dead, writers took the traits of Wally West that fans loved the most and applied them to Barry Allen.

Oddly enough, the first Flash was neither Barry nor Wally, but a man named Jay Garrick debuting in Flash Comics #1 in 1940. The character’s popularity waned after the conclusion of World War II (along with quite a few other superheroes), and it would be another 10 years before the Flash would grace the cover of a comic again. Barry Allen would fight crime as the Flash until he nobly sacrificed himself to save the universe in the company-wide crossover Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1985. This death was intended to be permanent, a rarity in superhero comics even then, and Wally West took over from Barry Allen…until Barry came back from the dead.

However, readers noticed that Barry had changed. He appeared younger, overconfident but with private doubts, impatient to a fault and prone to cracking corny jokes during fights – all traits of Wally West’s character. These were all demonstrated quite well in the Justice League animated series in 2003. Justice League Infinity #1 from JM Dematteis, James Tucker, Ethen Beavers, Nick Filardi, and Tom Napolitano continues to feature Wally West as the Flash as he dashes to the Justice League HQ, complaining about his superhero duties interfering with his dating life. Modern readers, however, are more familiar with Barry – who exhibited these exact same characteristics after his resurrection in the pages of Final Crisis #2 in 2008.

If Wally’s name wasn’t mentioned in this comic, readers could easily mistake him for Barry – understandable, given the current similarities between characters. Barry Allen, pre-Crisis, didn’t have many character flaws or even many character traits beyond “heroic”; his steady job, steady relationship with Iris, and steady personality meant the character had little room to grow and thus his death in Crisis on Infinite Earths was a fitting sacrifice with no loose ends remaining in his story. Barry post-resurrection is an easily excitable and easily distracted hero – again, just like Wally. Both The Flash television series on The CW and Ezra Miller’s portrayal in the DCEU films are excellent examples of Wally’s personality transplanted onto Barry.

Inherently, there is nothing wrong with giving Barry Allen a more defined personality, but taking the best elements from Wally runs the risk of making both characters appear redundant. Flashpoint has codified Barry into a leap-before-looking sort (again, see Wally), but that trait needn’t be assigned to all speedsters in comics (Quicksilver has that tendency too, though he’s far more serious). Justice League Infinity has yet to mention Barry at all, but the DC multiverse invites unlimited possibilities; perhaps Wally West could meet the old Flash and learn from him…if he’s not too impatient of a teacher.