Bart Allen

Bartholemew Henry "Bart" Allen II is a fictional character in the DC Comics Universe. He originally went by the code name Impulse and later became the second Kid Flash. He first appeared in The Flash (2nd series) #91 in a cameo appearance. His first full appearance was in issue #92.

Character history

Bart is the son of Don Allen, one of the Tornado Twins, and Meloni Thawne, a descendant of Professor Zoom, the Reverse-Flash. Bart is also XS's cousin, and the half-brother of Owen Mercer (the second Captain Boomerang).

Impulse

Suffering from greatly accelerated aging, Bart appeared to be 12 when he was actually two years old. He was raised in a virtual reality machine, leaving him ill-equipped to deal with reality until he was rescued by his grandmother, Iris Allen. Eventually, Iris took him back in time to the present, where the current Flash Wally West tracked him down in a race across the world. Wally finally caught Impulse and helped him to control his "hyper-metabolism". However, while the two had to work together during the Terminal Velocity arc, it was apparent that Bart rubbed Wally the wrong way. The impulsiveness of youth that even Wally himself had displayed was too much to handle, and Bart was pawned off onto retired superhero Max Mercury, also a speedster.

Bart was one of the founding members of the superhero team Young Justice, and as revealed in Impulse #50, Batman named him "Impulse" as a warning, not as a compliment. Following Max's disappearance, Bart was taken in by Jay Garrick, the first Flash, and his wife Joan.

Teen Titans

Following the breakup of Young Justice, Bart joined the new Teen Titans. He soon had his kneecap blown out by Deathstroke (who was at the time possessed by Jericho) and replaced with an artificial one. While recovering, Bart read every single book in the San Francisco Public Library and reinvented himself as the new Kid Flash. Even with the artificial kneecap, he can still run close to light speed.

In the "Titans Tomorrow" storyline, Bart assumed the mantle of the Flash after the current Flash died in a "Crisis". In this alternate future, he was able to steal the speed of others, a power he used on his past self. At first, he appeared to be working with the Titans of Tomorrow, but was secretly spying on those Titans on the behalf of the resistance group formed by the Cyborg of this alternate future, Titans East. In this future, Bart had a romantic relationship with Rose Wilson, the Ravager.

Infinite Crisis

After Superboy-Prime attacked Conner Kent (Superboy) in Smallville and injured or killed many Teen Titans, Bart joined with Flashes Wally West and Jay Garrick to stop the rampage of Superboy-Prime by running him at top speed into the Speed Force. Jay reached his limit before entering the Speed Force and Wally turned into energy and vanished, leaving Bart alone with Superboy-Prime. Barry Allen, Johnny Quick and Max Mercury, all of whom had previously been absorbed into the Speed Force, appeared and aided Bart. After taking Superboy-Prime into the Speed Force, Barry told Bart that "Wally is waiting for you". After they disappeared, Jay claimed that the Speed Force was gone.

Bart later reappeared, several years older, in Tokyo wearing his grandfather's costume. He later helped the heroes against the army of escaped supervillians in the Battle of Metropolis. Bart then explained to the nearby Wonder Girl that his grandfather's uniform was the only thing that could survive the trip back from where he had been, and that he was the only one there "who could still run". Bart then unleashed his anger against Superboy-Prime for killing Conner Kent, pummeling him at super-speed and forcing Superboy to retreat from the battle. When the crisis was over, Bart explained to Jay that he spent years in an unknown dimension where he grew older. Bart confirmed that the Speed Force was destroyed and that he used up the residual speed locked in his body fighting in Metropolis. He gave Barry's costume to Jay and said that Jay was once again the fastest man alive.

One Year Later

In Teen Titans (3rd series) #34, Bart is referred to by Robin as "kind of retired". In The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #1, he is living with a roommate and assembling cars on a scab basis for a high-tech plant in Keystone City. Bart has nightmares about the Speed Force, such as when he and Jay were separated during Infinite Crisis and glimpses of Barry's death in Crisis on Infinite Earths. At the end of the issue, he appears to still be able to tap into the Speed Force, however the effects are uncontrollable, and possibly lethal.

In an interview with comicfoundry.com, series writers Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo stated that Bart is the new Flash and will put on the costume towards the end of the 2nd issue.^*

Powers and abilities

As with most speedsters, Bart's primary power is speed, however he possesses some abilities other speedsters do not. He has the ability to produce "scouts", Speed Force avatars he could send through the timestream, but has infrequently used it since the death of one put him in a coma.

Bart is resistant to alterations in the time stream, possibly due to an oddity of his origin; his parents met only in post-Zero Hour continuity, but he actually arrived before the event. Bart's photographic memory allows him to recall everything from his speed-reading, allowing him to spout encyclopedic information concerning the situation at hand as well as quotes from Mark Twain, whom he likes.

Appearances in other media

An episode of Smallville entitled "Run" featured a speedster played by Kyle Gallner named Bart Allen. He is portrayed as a self-centered teenager who uses his powers for personal gain, although by the end of the episode, he was showing signs of changing his ways. It should be noted that Bart also carries around identification of Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, and Wally West, three Flashes in the main DC Universe.

In the original Kids WB! pitch for the Justice League animated series Robin (Tim Drake), Impulse and a teenage female version of Cyborg were to be seen as junior members of the League. It was later decided to avoid their introduction, so as to avoid making Justice League seem like the old SuperFriends series. The corresponding short animation is available as a bonus on the season one DVD of Justice League. ^*

External links

Crimson Lightning - An online index to the comic book adventures of the Flash.
The Flash: Those Who Ride The Lightning - Fan site with information about the super-speed characters of the DC Universe.

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