Bruce Wayne may frequently be called out as the most irresponsible of DC Comics’ wealthy elite, but Batman doesn’t hold a candle to Wally West’s Flash. Early on in his solo career as the Scarlet Speedster, the former Kid Flash wasn’t exactly the most mature hero on the block. And when the Flash came into a surprising windfall of extra cash, Wally West sped through it faster than anyone – including himself – expected.
After the death of Barry Allen, it was up to Wally to take on the Flash mantle. While he’d worked as a hero for years alongside the previous Flash and his friends in the Teen Titans, West still had a lot of growing up to do. And after Wally won a $6 million lottery in The Flash #1 by Mike Barron and Jackson Guice, fans got to see just how immature the newest Crimson Comet really was.
After transporting a heart at superspeed from New York to Seattle for a transplant, the Flash celebrates his 20th birthday by flipping on the television to find he’s purchased a winning lottery ticket. After collecting his winnings, the young Wally West quickly proves he can spend even faster than he can run. Wally buys a spectacular Long Island mansion and a Lamborghini, quickly making a name for himself amongst his neighbors and as something of a local celebrity in the city, all while doing the bare minimum to keep his identity as the Flash secret. He even invites his married girlfriend and his mother to live in the mansion with him. But after Wally makes a brief disappearance, his mother makes more than a few bad investments on his behalf, losing all of his money to the stock market and forcing them to move into a shabby apartment in the city.
Wally West is undeniably a hero, and for many, he defined the legacy of the Flash mantle. But when he first came into wealth, he was essentially still a kid. He was already learning how to be the Flash, but learning how to be a millionaire on top of that was just too much for him to handle. Funnily enough, these traits have continued to this day, with Wally’s return to the role of the Flash mantle being accompanied by his desperate search for employment prior to accepting a job offer from the wealthy Mister Terrific.
A popular criticism of wealthy comic book heroes is that they could do more good for the world by using their vast resources than they could simply by punching criminals. More often than not, it’s Batman that gets the brunt of this bad faith criticism, despite the fact that comic fans recognize Bruce Wayne is a well-known philanthropist who actively works to benefit Gotham. Meanwhile, Wally West used his resources solely for personal pleasure, and it totally backfired on him and his family.
Wally West’s status as a former millionaire may not be as well-known as Batman’s, but it still had a huge impact on the character. While he was already filling his uncle’s gold boots, this proved he still had a lot to learn if he was ever going to step out of Barry Allen’s shadow. And although the Flash may have been DC Comics’ worst millionaire, he did learn to become one of their greatest heroes.
