DC Had the Perfect Successor to Its Greatest Legacy, Then Threw It All Away

DC Comics created Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, establishing what superheroes would be in the years to come. While the Trinity are the ones that everyone thinks about when they think of DC, the company has also created numerous heroic mantles that have stood the test of decades, with one of them being more important than even Supes, Bats, and Wondy: the Flash. The Fastest Man Alive has been the harbinger of change in the DC Multiverse more than once. Jay Garrick was one of the first major DC superheroes and started a legacy that would lead to the introduction of Barry Allen in 1956’s Showcase #4, which is recognized as the beginning of the Silver Age of Comics. Barry’s death would play a role in the end of the multiverse in 1985 and his return was the harbinger of the New 52, with numerous other important characters riding the lightning. There’s an entire family of Flash characters, but DC squandered one of the best of them.

Barry Allen was given a sidekick early in his run, Wally West, with West later replacing Allen after his death. For years, Wally was by himself, trying to establish his new life as the Flash, but all of that changed in 1994, with the introduction of Bart Allen. See, after killing the Reverse Flash, Barry found out his wife Iris had moved to the 30th century and followed her. They had children, the Tornado Twins, and eventually, young Bart was born to Don Allen. Bart coming to the present changed the tenor of the Flash comics of the ’90s and helped along the sidekick renaissance of the ’90s. Bart had the whole world in front of him, but in 2026, he’s basically right back where he was 30 years ago, despite having a run as the Flash. Bart is the definition of a missed opportunity with the character, but threw it all away.

Bart Allen Was Built to Be the Perfect Flash for the 21st Century

The ’90s were an awesome time to be a Wally West fan. The third Flash was under the pen of Mark Waid, giving readers one of the best Flash runs of all time. Waid had done an amazing job of making Wally into his own hero. At some point, it was decided to give him a sidekick and that was Bart. Bart was meant to be a representation of what a Gen Xer thought of the next generation. Bart was raised in virtual reality – or raised by the video games, which was the point of that development – and was known for his hyperactivity as Impulse (ADD was talked about all the time back then). The character was a hit and DC, seeing success with books like Robin and Superboy, tapped Waid and artist Mike Wieringo for Impulse.

DC making him Impulse instead of Kid Flash was the perfect way to show that they weren’t just copying the past with the character and were trying to build a new kind of speedster sidekick. Bart lived with Jay and Joan Garrick and was trained by Max Mercury. It was, in a word, awesome. Waid has always been really good at writing teens and his view of the hyperactive Bart helped define who he was as a character. It also gave him plenty of room to grown. Bart would eventually move over to Young Justice with Tim Drake, Conner Kent, and Cassie Sandsmark, reinvigorating interest in teen heroes and leading to the return of the Teen Titans. Bart ended becoming Kid Flash, a more serious hero than he was before and the next phase in his evolution.

It was the perfect growth for the young hero. Bart was fun as a hyperactive young hero, but seeing him finally set out to be the kind of hero Wally, his grandfather, Jay, and Max all were was the perfect next step for the hero. He mastered the use of his powers, becoming more grounded and intelligent thanks to his powers to learn at super speed. This would lead to Bart’s next big break. Infinite Crisis was about to change everything, with Wally West “dying” and Bart being aged up after holding Superboy-Prime in the Speed Force for the equivalent of years. He became the Flash and it was awesome. However, there was a problem – every section of DC was getting a revamp after Infinite Crisis and Bart wasn’t getting the attention of the others. Fans barely knew about the reboot, no one bought the book and the whole thing was ended in a year.

Bart Allen is an example of a character being built up into the perfect position, at which point the ball was completely dropped. Go back and look at DC books from 2006 and 2007; you won’t see many ads for The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive. Some of them the ones you see will be the one from the end of series, when the decision to kill him was made. The Flash wasn’t built up as an important part of the future of DC back then; we were still in the era of Green Lantern everything. Bart was built into a character that would have made an excellent Flash for the future. He could have become the new Wally West or, at least, become a more important character. However, he was killed, then resurrected as a teen again, put through the odious New 52 Teen Titans series, and was replaced as Kid Flash by Wallace West, who became the new smart-aleck, hyperactive young speedster. He’s since returned, but he’s basically the same character he was in the ’90s.

DC Comics Failed Bart Allen

Bart Allen showed up in the one of the best eras of the Flash and was built by three of the best writers you could ask for – Mark Waid, then Peter David on Young Justice, and finally Geoff Johns on Teen Titans (Vol. 3). He went from the mouthy sidekick to the consummate young hero and when he had his scenes getting the Flash costume at the end of Infinite Crisis #7 – mirroring the ones where Wally got his in Crisis on Infinite Earths #12 – it felt like the perfect passing of the torch. Change had become one of the watchwords of the Flash; Barry had his 20 years, Wally got his, and now it was Bart’s turn. Then DC dropped the ball.

DC had a lot going on in 2006 and 2007. Infinite Crisis began the process of undoing the post-Crisis changes to the publisher and it felt like Bart’s time as the Flash was something of an afterthought compared to all of that. With so much important happening, Bart Allen finally becoming the Scarlet Speedster became surplus to requirements, especially since DC was about to bring back Barry Allen and change the mantle for years to come. We never got Bart’s 20 years and we probably never will.