The Flash Raced BEYOND The Death of DC’s Universe

Since the character’s debut, The Flash‘s super-speed has always been used to defeat villains in creative ways. From becoming bullet-proof, to healing healing faster than normal, both Barry Allen and Wally West have used the Speed Force to accomplish more than just running fast. Though these feats are impressive, few of The Flash’s accomplishments are more incredible than the time he raced Death… to the end of time itself.

Debuting in 1998’s The Flash #141 is the Black Flash. It is revealed in this issue that the Black Flash is an entity that appears before the death of every speedster in the DC Universe, and he has been appearing behind Wally West. Flash allies Jesse Quick and Max Mercury intercept the second Flash before the Black Flash can claim him. This comes at a terrible price for Wally, however, as Black Flash instead claims his longtime girlfriend Linda Park. The grief and tragedy is so much for Wally that he loses his connection to the Speed Force, leaving him completely vulnerable when the Black Flash returns to take him.

Luckily, Wally has the support of DC’s other speedsters. With the help of Jesse and Max, Wally is able to buy enough time to reestablish his connection to the Speed Force. He and the Black Flash race around the world until the two end up running so fast that they race forward through time. The DC Universe’s future plays out in hyper speed. The Flash witnesses his descendants colonize an entire galaxy in eight hundred million years, sees a figure in red boots mourn the earth’s death in two billion years, and finally sees the DC Universe end more than twenty billion years after all civilization has collapsed. It is only there, at the end of the universe and the end of time that Flash’s plan is revealed. The Flash went so far into the future that ‘Death’ ceased to have meaning. Black Flash dissolves into nothing as Wally witnesses the universe being reborn in a second big bang. Before he returns to the DC Universe though, he makes sure to take Linda out of the Speed Force.

Fans of the Flash TV show will undoubtedly recognize the Black Flash, though his depiction in the comics is much different. Black Flash is just one form of death in the DC Universe. From Death of the Endless from Sandman, to the New God’s Black Racer, and of course Nekron from Blackest Night. It was once stated in an issue of Captain Atom that each personification of death represents different aspects of it. Death of the Endless is the compassion of death, Black Racer is its inevitability, and Nekron is death as an adversary. Though creators such as Neil Gaiman have disagreed with this idea, it is generally considered canon.

The Black Flash might be viewed as a symbol of the speed and unpredictability of death. His focus on catching the Flash and returning him to the Speed Force could be viewed as an attempt to punish the Flash for all the times he has used his speed to narrowly escape death. It is also possible to look at Black Flash as representing the cyclical nature of death, with his desire to return speedsters to the Speed Force being a sort of recycling of energy.

Regardless of how Black Flash is viewed, his appearance in The Flash #141 shows that even death cannot catch the Fastest Man Alive.

About The Author

Evan Mullicane
(362 Articles Published)

Evan D. Mullicane is an editor, critic, and author based out of California’s Bay Area. He received his bachelor’s degree in creative writing from San Francisco State University in 2016. In his free time, he enjoys reading graphic novels and writing fantasy.

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