Warning: contains spoilers for Justice League: Road to Dark Crisis #1!
DC’s Flash is a legacy superhero, meaning multiple characters have inherited the mantle as previous holders die in the line of duty – which is why resurrecting Barry Allen practically ruined Wally West. Easily the most famous Flash of all time, Barry Allen memorably perished in 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover and remained dead for over 20 years (an eternity in comics). Unfortunately, his resurrection in 2008 doomed the current Flash – and in Justice League: Road to Dark Crisis #1, DC admits it.
Barry Allen wasn’t the first Flash, but he was the most famous. Taking over from the Golden Age Flash Jay Garrick, Allen had a completely different origin and backstory that cemented his position as a popular superhero in the science fiction-based Silver Age of Comics. Flash’s death in 1985 was intended to be permanent; he died saving the entire universe and his successor, Wally West, was the de facto Flash of the 90s and 2000s – until 2008’s Final Crisis, in which Barry Allen was miraculously resurrected (he was inside the Speed Force and was never technically dead).
Alive once more, Barry began to pull focus from Wally in multiple stories in comics (and especially outside of comics; Allen is the star of both the Flash 2014 television show and the DCEU film series). Justice League: Road to Dark Crisis #1, written by Joshua Williamson and Dan Jurgens with art by Norm Rapmund, admits as much in the aftermath of the Death of the Justice League event. The entire league is missing and presumed dead – but many heroes have been dead before, and Nightwing discusses the concept with Jonathan Kent. “I remember how much Barry’s death impacted Wally, but sometimes I think Barry coming back hurt him more.” says Nightwing – and he’s not wrong.
Wally West was indeed distraught when Barry died – but Nightwing has also inadvertently tipped DC’s hand regarding Barry’s resurrection. Not only did Barry take Wally’s place as the Flash, he began acting more like Wally; becoming headstrong, immature, and considerably more reckless. The Silver Age Barry was considerably more straight-laced, but adopted Wally’s mannerisms after DC saw how popular he had become in Barry’s absence.
Barry is missing (but is notably not dead as opposed to the rest of the Justice League), allowing Wally to become the DC Universe’s Flash once again. It remains to be seen if Barry will be killed off for real this time around. But considering that the Flash franchise is more popular than ever now that Barry is a major part of the universe again, the prospect is highly doubtful.
