Flash (DC animated universe)

The Flash appeared in Superman: The Animated Series, VOICED by Charlie Schlatter, in the second-season episode "Speed Demons". As in the traditional comic book storylines, the Flash and Superman race to find out who is faster, but the Weather Wizard gets in the way, which causes the two to work together. He also appears in Batman: Gotham Adventures #25 due to a theft in Central City leading him to Gotham.

The Flash in the Justice League animated series is voiced by Michael Rosenbaum (Lex Luthor On the Television series Smallville). This Flash is Wally West; however he is an amalgamation of Barry Allen and Wally West (in Justice League Unlimited, Wally is a forensic scientist, which was Barry's profession. Wally in the comics is an auto mechanic). Michael Rosenbaum also voiced Kid Flash for a Fall 2005 episode of Teen Titans animated series entitled "LightSpeed". He later appeared in a cameo in the episode "Calling all Titans" and then he reappeared fully in the episode "Titans Together".

Key episodes

The importance of the Flash as the "heart" of the Justice League was shown in the episode "A Better World", when his death in an alternate timeline triggered a series of events which turned that alternate League (the "Justice Lords") into virtual dictators of Earth. He has also proven key in saving the day in a few episodes, such as Divided We Fall, in which he defeated the fused Brainiac/Lex Luthor when all the other six founding Justice League members could not. In the process, he was drawn into the Speed Force (the first explicit use of the concept in the DCAU), and barely managed to escape.

The episode "Flash and Substance" is centered on the opening of the Flash Museum on "Flash Appreciation Day" in Central City, and featured many of the Flash's rogues in cameos, while focusing on Captain Boomerang, Mirror Master, Captain Cold, and The Trickster (voiced by Mark Hamill). Linda Park also appears as a reporter covering the museum opening. Mirror Master alludes that Wally West may not have been the only Flash stating to the rest of the Rogues, "We've all been stopped by a Flash." Additionally, the episode "The Great Brain Robbery", saw The Flash and Lex Luthor inadvertently changing consciousness-Wally West (inside Lex Luthor's body) is tasked with trying to figure out what has occurred, escape, and not be killed by the suspicious members of the Legion of Doom.

Secret identity issues

Wally West is the Flash featured as one of the seven founding members of the Justice League, in both the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited animated series. His personality is more or less the same as it was from his appearance on Superman: The Animated Series, and his flippant attitude is often used to provide comic relief from the often intense nature of his fellow Leaguers, though he is the featured hero in several episodes. However, in one episode of Justice League Unlimited, he complains to Elongated Man that he dislikes being viewed as the "teenage sidekick" even though he was part of the original seven. His super fast metabolism, which results in him eating absurdly and inhumanly large portions of food, was something of a running gag on the series. Flash's endorsement of the "Lightspeed" candy bar (which created controversy Fueled by a talk-show host who constantly dissed the League in one episode) was also a sort of running gag, as the bars make numerous other appearances, with Flash's picture on the wrapper in some cases.

Barry Allen elements

Barry Allen elements of the JL/JLU animated Flash: he's the only existing Flash in the series, he was never Kid Flash. He lives in Central City, Barry Allen's hometown as opposed to Keystone City, Wally West's hometown. He is a police scientist, which was Barry Allen's job in the comics. His origin is also that of Barry Allen's. This Flash also fought some of Barry Allen's enemies throughout the series, such as Captain Cold, Mirror Master, Captain Boomerang, Gorilla Grodd, and The Trickster. Wally also has the Flash ring, which was invented by Barry Allen in the comics, to store his Flash costume in.

Wally West elements

Wally West elements of the JL/JLU animated Flash: he has red hair and green eyes like Wally does in the comics. This Flash also has Wally's girl-crazed, occasionally big-headed manner, paired with a childlike attitude and intelligence. When he tries to vibrate his molecules through solid objects, he causes them to explode as opposed to passing through the object intangible like Barry Allen would. Linda Park, Wally's girlfriend and eventual wife in the comics, appears in an episode and is a suggested love interest for the Flash. He also has a good relationship with Hawkgirl. Wally shows a strong friendship with Shayera that is touched on several times through both the JL and JLU series, usually in a sisterly way, including him being the first to hug her after her decision to resign. In Justice League Unlimited third season's debut episode "I Am Legion", Flash says, "She loves me. She's like the big sister I never had. Only, you know... short."

Wally appears without the Flash costume twice in the series. The first time is in the Starcrossed episodes when the Justice League decides to remove their costumes and move around as ordinary people to hide and regroup. The Flash appears reluctant to trust his fellow Justice League members with his secret identity, whereupon Batman shows he already knows by exclaiming, "Wally West!" while pointing at the Flash, followed up by revealing the secret identity of Superman (Clark Kent) and himself (Bruce Wayne). Wally then removes his mask and Wonder Woman tells him that she likes his red hair just before ruffling it. The second time is in the episode "Flash and Substance", where Wally is shown to be working at the forensics lab before taking a half day off to attend the Flash museum opening. Wally's face is also exposed in one other episode, "The Great Brain Robbery". When his mind is switched with Lex Luthor's, Lex removes the mask to see if he can at least "figure out" who the Flash really is by looking at his face in the bathroom mirror, only to state in an annoyed tone, "I have no idea who this is."

Powers and abilities

Cosmic treadmill

In the Justice League episode "Eclipsed", Wally uses the term in a different way, referring to a ramp created by Green Lantern's ring to run through space towards the sun, in order to plant a device to stop the sun from going out.

Though only seen briefly, the cosmic treadmill did make an appearance in Wally West's room during the Justice League Unlimited episode "Flash and Substance."

Speed Force

The Speed Force was shown in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Divided We Fall". The Flash is forced to run faster than he ever has before to defeat the fused Brainiac/Lex Luthor. In doing so, he achieved a different state of existence he called the Speed Force. Achieving this state caused him to phase Out of Reality, appearing only as a fleeting flicker that Hawkgirl was able to grasp hold of. It took her efforts along with the help of the rest of the senior Leaguers to pull him back into their plane. Upon coming back, the Flash stated that he could never go that fast again, or he'll never come back.

Locations in the Flash's universe

Flash Museum

The Flash Museum appears in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Flash and Substance." True to form, it is destroyed in the fight between the Flash, Batman, Orion and several members of the Flash's rogues gallery. A huge statue of the Flash is built in front of the museum. Among the exhibits are Jay Garrick's helmet, the Kid Flash costume, and a globe with miniature Flash and Superman racing around it to commemorate their race in the Superman: The Animated Series episode "Speed Demons."

Gorilla City

Gorilla City appeared in the Justice League episode "The Brave and the Bold." It was seen again in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Dead Reckoning."

Supporting characters

Elongated Man

The Elongated Man appears in several episodes of the Justice League Unlimited voiced by Emmy-winner Jeremy Piven (Judgement Night). This is the first television series in which he has made an appearance. Although he appears in numerous episodes as a background character, Elongated Man has only three speaking roles.

• In "The Greatest Story Never Told", he is one of the members to help in the battle against Mordru, although to his disappointment he is put on crowd control (along with Booster Gold) as Green Lantern told him that Plastic Man was already fighting Mordru and that they didn't "need two stretchy guys." As they're on crowd control, he complains to Booster AbOUT his position. This soon annoys Booster, with Elongated Man saying that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Composite Superman (with Wonder Woman's voice) then appears and says that the team need Elongated Man's help. He willingly follows her to the fight, much to Booster's disappointment as he thought the team needed his help. The episode goes on to follow Booster's attempt to stop a black hole. At the end of the episode, it is shown that Elongated Man had devised A Plan to defeat Mordru and the team is shown praising him. As he is helping clean up the mess in the city, Booster walks past him with Dr. Tracy Simmons beside him (as he won a date with her by stopping the black hole) and says "Squeaky wheel, buddy. Squeaky wheel."
• In "The Ties That Bind", Elongated Man and Flash express concern about the fact that some other members of the League don't show them enough respect. Flash asks Elongated Man if he seems immature to him. Elongated Man replies "Not in the least". It is then shown they are playing "Brawlin' Bots" (a parody of Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots). Flash then notices Big Barda and Mr. Miracle walk by and goes to see what's going on, as they are not in the League.
• In "Clash," his powers are stolen by Parasite, who uses them to nearly defeat Metamorpho and Batman before the timely intervention of Captain Marvel. After Parasite is defeated, Elongated Man notices Captain Marvel blushing and tells him not to be modest as he thinks Superman couldn't have done a better job. Superman appears as he says this, with Elongated Man quickly saying, "We were just talking about you."

Linda Park

Linda Park appears in an episode of Justice League Unlimited ("Flash and Substance") as a reporter covering the opening of the Flash Museum. Although she tries to hide it, she has a serious crush on the Flash (a character trait that contrasts with the comic book version). She was voiced by Kim Mai Guest.

Linda reappears in #38 of Justice League Adventures, where she manages to ask The Flash out on a date, while acknowledging his obliviousness of her feelings earlier. Linda also features in Adventures in the DC Universe, playing a significant role in several issues.

Villains

Doctor Alchemy and Mr. Element

Doctor Alchemy and Mr. Element have appeared in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Flash and Substance" as two background characters at the bar where Flash's enemies hang out.

Captain Boomerang

Captain Boomerang made an appearance in the Justice League episode "Eclipsed." Though that character is played by an actor in a commercial the Flash was starring in.

The George Harkness version of Captain Boomerang appeared in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Task Force X" voiced by Donal Gibson. as a member of Task Force X led by Rick Flag. In "Flash and Substance," Captain Boomerang was released from Task Force X as the U.S. Government said he was "reformed." Captain Boomerang joins up with other Central City villains to destroy The Flash. In that episode, he appears in a streamlined, trench-coated version of his traditional costume. In both appearances, Boomerang's character is defined by his fiscal frugality; he almost gives Task Force X away by refusing to part with 75 cents ("75 cents is 75 cents. I'm supposed to throw away money?"), and he badgers his fellow Flash rogues for cost assistance with his giant boomerang.

Captain Cold

Captain Cold appeared on an episode of Justice League Unlimited called "Flash and Substance" in February 2006, voiced by Lex Lang, where he teamed up with Captain Boomerang, the Trickster, and Mirror Master to defeat the Flash in the Flash Museum. Captain Cold's personality in the animated show emphasizes his blue-collar, middle-age approach to being a costumed villain: he moans about his wife nagging him for the mortgage payment (in the comics, he has never been married), and he drinks milk to ease the pain of an ulcer. He was defeated when Orion froze him with a water hose as he fired his ice gun.

Fiddler

In the Justice League episode "Legends," the Music Master (voiced by Udo Kier) is based on the Fiddler.

The Fiddler properly appeared in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Flash and Substance." He has an unvoiced cameo as a patron in a bar where Flash's enemies hang out.

Gorilla Grodd

Gorilla Grodd is a recurring villain in the DC Animated Universe. He is played by voice-actor Powers Boothe in Justice League and reprised the role of Grodd in Justice League Unlimited. GeneRally, he is referred to as just "Grodd", although Flash mentions him as "Gorilla Grodd" in the episode "Comfort and Joy"; Dr. Fate does the same in the episode "The Great Brain Robbery".

Justice League

In his first appearance, the two-part episode "The Brave and the Bold", Grodd is a fugitive from the secretive Gorilla City, a spurned would-be tyrant who vows vengeance on his fellow primates. Maintaining an e-mail relationship with Central City scientist Dr. Sarah Corwin, he comes to Central City to cloak the metropolis in a similar shield as Gorilla City's. This provides him a hidden base from which to launch a nuclear assault against Gorilla City, while he controls the populace of Central City with his mind-control helmet. While the League hurries to stop the bombs, Flash, Green Lantern, and Solovar (re-imagined as the head of Gorilla City Security rather than its ruler) rush to defeat Grodd himself. Grodd becomes incapacitated when he tries to use the mind-control helmet on Flash, not knowing that Flash had switched around various wires.

Grodd's return in "Secret Society" showcases a different side of the villain. No longer focused on Gorilla City, Grodd becomes an opponent to the League as a whole. With his loyal follower Giganta, he recruits Killer Frost, Parasite, Shade, Sinestro, and Clayface to make a sort of anti-League dubbed "the Secret Society". Revealed in this episode is that Grodd's accident with his mind-control helmet has given him mental powers, which he utilizes in this story as a subtle type of tampering with the League's emotions. Having watched the League via secret cameras for weeks, Grodd manipulates their feelings until the Leaguers start lashing out at each other and end up Walking away from the team. Having separated them, Grodd tries to capture each Leaguer and invades a football halftime show to do away with the heroes publicly, only to be foiled by J'onn J'onzz, who frees his teammates. The Society battles the League one last time, but fail to beat them and subsequently, Grodd is defeated by Superman. Of note in these episodes is that Grodd's romantic preferences become clear: he has a taste for human females, like Corwin or the artificially-made-human Giganta.

Justice League Unlimited

In the first season Justice League Unlimited episode "Ultimen", Giganta teams up with Bizzaro in an attempt to break Grodd out of prison – only to be defeated by Wonder Woman and Long Shadow. (Grodd does not actually appear in the episode, however.) In the third season, Grodd turns up as the leader of an expanded Secret Society. As he describes it, the new Secret Society is a sort of co-op for supervillains – each free to act on their own, but (for twenty percent of their spoils) able to call in help should they need it against the expanded League.

After having the Secret Society seek out various valuable artifacts, Grodd reveals his master plan: to turn every human on the planet into an ape. The plan, however, is thwarted by the Justice League. Subsequently, an unimpressed Lex Luthor, pulls his gun and says that "I wasn't going to do this for another few weeks but seriously, turning all of humanity into apes? That was your master plan?" He shoots Grodd and usurps his position as the new leader of the Secret Society. Obsessed with reclaiming the godlike power he briefly tasted when merged with the now-destroyed Brainiac, Luthor keeps Grodd prisoner in the Secret Society's headquarters in the hopes that he will reveal how to reconstitute the living supercomputer from the last remaining fragment.

With the discovery that Brainiac had a base in deep space that was subsequently destroyed (see "Twilight") Luthor has the Secret Society refit the headquarters for space travel, promising them a place of leadership in the new order with himself as absolute ruler. Because of Luthor's heavy-handed leadership and romantic disinterest, the spurned Tala eventually releases Grodd, who then arranges a mutiny with many other villains. Luthor uses his intellect and resourcefulness to counter his adversaries' powers.

In the final battle, Grodd and Luthor finally find themselves alone together, and engage in fisticuffs. Grodd thoroughly dominates the fight and, after pummeling Luthor into helplessness, attempts to use his mind-control ability on him. However, Luthor had anticipated this and wore a device that turns Grodd's power back on him, giving Luthor control of Grodd. Luthor forces him to step into an airlock after first humiliating him by making him bow down and acknowledge Luthor as his master. Grodd is released into space to his death, all the while screaming threats.

Heat Wave

Heat Wave (spelled Heatwave in the show's billing) was shown in Justice League Unlimited voiced by Lex Lang. He appears as a member of Gorilla Grodd's Secret Society. He was seen helping Giganta, Killer Frost, and Devil Ray retrieve a frozen Viking ship containing the Viking Prince's corpse. His job was to defrost the Viking ship. In the ultimate battle he was seen burning Blockbuster and being struck by Silver Banshee, who was subsequently shot by Star Sapphire. He was with Luthor and the other remaining Secret Society members when it came to Darkseid's invasion upon Earth.

Abra Kadabra

Abra Kadabra appears in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Flash and Substance" as a background character in the bar frequented by Flash's enemies.

Mirror Master

Mirror Master cameos in the Justice League episode, "Eclipsed". An actor is hired to play Mirror Master as a part of Flash's Lightspeed energy bar commercial. The actor has a slight Scottish accent, similar to McCulloch.

Mirror Master next appears in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Flash and Substance" voiced by Alexis Denisof. He joins forces with Captain Boomerang, Captain Cold, and Trickster to attack Flash and later demolish the newly opened Flash Museum upon entering through Linda Park's compact mirror. The character seems to be a mix of Scudder and McColloch. He is clearly American and thus not the Scottish follow-up Mirror Master, as well as being a simple criminal and not a hitman; however, his mirror powers are tilted more towards the enhanced, almost supernatural McCulloch skills, including a Mirror Dimension. In his battle with Flash, Batman, and Orion, Mirror Master ended up trapped in the broken shards of the mirror after Batman threw his Batarang at Linda Park's mirror. Forensics were shown collecting the pieces of the mirror. He also had a cameo as a member of the Secret Society in JLU final season. In the episode "Flash and Substance" it was mentioned by Captain Boomerang that the Flash made Mirror Master eat his own "Laser-Caleidoscope", though Mirror Master dismissed this as being false saying "Thats a rumor! A complete exaggeration. Besides it was a laser pistol".

Pied Piper

The Pied Piper has appeared in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Flash and Substance" as a background character.

Reverse-Flash

In the Justice League Unlimited episode, "Divided We Fall", Brainiac creates robotic copies of the League's villainous counterparts, the Justice Lords, with the Flash squaring off against a duplicate wearing the red-on-yellow costume of the Reverse-Flash.

Shade

The Shade appeared in the Justice League animated series, as a member of Lex Luthor's Injustice Gang and Aresia's Injustice Gang. He is later recruited into Gorilla Grodd's Secret Society, although, by this time he is skeptical of its success due to seeing such efforts fail twice in the past.

When Grodd's Secret Society is defeated by the Justice League in a football field in front of thousands of people, Shade states "I knew this wouldn't work" before attempting to flee and being stopped by Batman.

In the Justice League Unlimited series, Shade joins a fourth anti-Justice League organization, Gorilla Grodd's new Secret Society, later taken over by Lex Luthor. The Shade is prominently shown for the last time in the series in the episode "Alive", where he sides against Luthor during the mutiny led by Grodd. During the mutiny, Shade and the other villains that opposed Luthor, are frozen by a turncoat Killer Frost. The Shade is voiced by Stephen McHattie.

In both series, his powers are a product of his staff, which he calls the "nightstick," much like that of his pre-Robinson years. In his first appearance, Star Sapphire remarks how he is "nothing" without his night stick, but by the time he joins Gorilla Grodd's Secret Society, he has learned martial arts and is able to hold his own in a confrontation against Batman. In the end though, he is no match for him. He is attracted to Giganta, who seems to return his affection. When he finds out that she had once been a gorilla he is shocked, but then looks at her and shrugs with a smile on his face.

Thinker

In Justice League Unlimited, the Thinker is a member of Gorilla Grodd's Secret Society. He also makes an appearance as a background character in the JLU episode "Flash and Substance."

Top

In Justice League Unlimited, Top appears as a member of the Secret Society. He makes a cameo entering a bar with Weather Wizard before Flash's enemies attack the Flash Museum in episode "Flash and Substance". A statue of Top can also be seen in the background during the battle.

Trickster

In the Justice League Unlimited episode "Flash and Substance", Mark Hamill (who played the Trickster in the live-action Flash TV series) reprises his role as the James Jesse version of the Trickster. The Trickster aids three other Flash villains (Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang, and Mirror Master) in their vendetta against the Flash, but his plan (involving four hundred cases of greased, fake dog vomit, a wall of metal spikes, and plenty of explosives) is rejected. He is next seen at the bar where Flash's enemies hang out, disgruntled at his rejection. When Flash, Batman, and Orion arrive at the bar in search of Flash's would-be assassins, Orion tries to muscle the Trickster into revealing the other villains' plans. Flash intervenes and speaks to him in a friendly manner, noting that James has not been taking his medication (James was apparently unaware that he was even wearing his costume again until the Flash pointed it out). Trickster informs the heroes of the plan to ambush Flash at the museum opening, and agrees to turn himself in after finishing his drink. The animated Trickster is apparently not a total villain, aware of his psychosis, and does seek treatment if encouraged.

Turtle

The Turtle appeared in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Flash and Substance." He made a cameo in the Flash Museum and in the bar where Flash's rogues gallery hang out.

Weather Wizard

Weather Wizard was introduced in Superman: The Animated Series episode titled "Speed Demons" voiced by Miguel Ferrer (and resembles him). He is a former extortionist from Central City who tracks Superman and the Flash's coordinates as they competed for the title of 'fastest man alive'. Also in that episode, Mark's brother (here called Ben) wasn't dead and Mark siphoned the energy off Superman and Flash through the monitoring arm bands, which he gave to them with the intention of using their race to generate the necessary energy to work his weather-manipulating machinery. With Ben's help, Superman and The Flash defeated him.

Weather Wizard later appeared Justice League played by voice-actor Corey Burton. Weather Wizard here, was a member of the Superman Revenge Squad and was defeated.

Corey Burton reprised his role as Weather Wizard in Justice League Unlimited. Weather Wizard appears as a member of Gorilla Grodd's Secret Society. He was also seen as a background character and a display in the episode "Flash and Substance". Later on, Weather Wizard sides with Grodd in the mutiny against Luthor. He is frozen by a turncoat Killer Frost and indirectly killed by Darkseid who blows up the Secret Societies station.

Professor Zoom

In the season two finale of Justice League Unlimited, Brainiac created evil robot versions of the Justice Lords. The Flash's counterpart wore the reversed colors like the Zoom's.

Zoom

Although Zoom never officially appeared in the DC animated series Justice League Unlimited, there is a direct reference to him. In the episode "Divided We Fall", the merged Brainiac/Lex Luthor creates artificial replicas of the Justice Lords, the seven founding members of the Justice league from an alternate dimension where they had taken control over America, reforming it into a fascist dictatorship, who wear different costumes than the Justice League, and pits them against their counterparts. Since the Flash died before the Justice League became Justice Lords, there never was a Justice Lord Flash Costume. Ergo, Brainiac/Luthor creates his own version of an "evil Flash" whose costume design is almost identical to Zoom's. While the lenses of his cowl remain white instead of black, Brainiac-Flash's comments echo Hunter's accusations.