As long as there have been multiple incarnations of DC’s Flash, readers have debated which is the fastest. From Jay Garrick all the way to Wally West, there can only be one fastest Flash, and it seems that Barry Allen is about to prove that he’s the absolute fastest member of the Flash Family, albeit in the darkest way possible.

Absolute Power: Task Force VII #5 – written by Alex Paknadel, with art by Pete Woods – will put Barry Allen in a position to prove he tops the speed charts. DC has been building toward the Absolute Power event for the past year. The event is set to test many of DC’s top heroes like never before, and evidently, Flash is prominent on that list.

The solicit for the issue offers a tantalizing insight into how dire Absolute Power is going to be, and how pivotal a role Barry Allen will play.

DC Proves Barry Allen Is The Fastest Flash By Pushing Him To His Limit

Absolute Power Will Test The Flash Family’s Strength

Taking the next step in her eternal quest for control, Absolute Power finds Amanda Waller enacting a plan to syphon out the powers of any metahuman, and instead, place them inside of her Amazo androids. This results in Amanda’s Amazo Velocity draining the speed from the Flash family, except for Barry. Subsequently, previews for the series indicate Barry will have to go on the run to avoid having his own speed drained, with Velocity – having the combined speed of every Flash Family member – in hot pursuit.

The solicitation mentions that Velocity manages to drain the speed from every other member of the Flash Family. This means, that since Barry Allen can outpace Velocity, he’s faster than every other member of the Flash Family combined. It is an effective, if dark, way to prove that Barry is the fastest member of the Flash Family, one that truly emphasizes Barry as the pivotal Flash of this era. While every incarnation of Flash has done some truly impressive things, like Wally outracing death itself, this is unfortunately just a feat of his speed, which was added to Velocity, which Barry is able to outrun.

“Velocity” Is The Combined Speed Of Every Flash Member – Except Barry Allen

And Barry Is Still Faster

When there’s an entire family full of characters with the same superpower, it can be difficult to give them their own unique identities. It also always begs the question of who exactly is the fastest. DC has tried to answer this in a few ways, such as the iconic Flash Facts page, which explained things like: how certain characters are faster to start up, certain ones have a faster top speed, and some can maintain their speed for longer. It was a smart way to differentiate the characters, despite them having the same powers.

Now, however, DC is proving that Barry Allen is undoubtedly the fastest. Every member of the Flash Family has absurd feats of speed under their belt, but Barry Allen has them all beat with this new one. While Wally has outraced death itself, and Jay Garrick can easily reach the speed of light, these feats only make Barry’s race against Velocity all the more impressive. Every feat the other Flash’s have achieved simply makes Barry’s race even harder, and the fact Barry is still outrunning Velocity, even temporarily, proves that he is DC’s fastest Flash.