Flash (Barry Allen) - Powers and Abilities

Powers and Abilities

Barry Allen is capable of running faster than the speed of light creating vortexes charged with electricity and, at times during the Silver Age, described as faster than the speed of thought. In Flash #150, "straining every muscle," he ran at ten times the speed of light. However, when he pushed himself further (during the Crisis on Infinite Earths) he appeared to waste away as he was converted into pure energy, traveled back in time, and was revealed in Secret Origins Annual #2 to be the very bolt of lightning that gave him his powers. This was later retconned in The Flash: Rebirth #1, where Barry stated that he "ran into the Speed Force," and that, "When stopped the Anti-Monitor, when ran into the 'Speed Force' and joined it, it was like shedding identity."

Barry Allen possesses abilities that Jay Garrick has not always been able to duplicate, most notably the ability to "vibrate" in such a way as to pass through solid matter. Allen has regularly engaged in time travel using the Cosmic Treadmill device (he no longer needs this to conduct this feat), and is able to "vibrate" between dimensions. Barry is unique among Flashes and most characters in the DC Universe in that he has complete control over every molecule in his body. In Grant Morrison's Final Crisis, using the Speed Force, Allen was able to undo the effects of the Anti-Life Equation upon an individual: an ability he used on his wife Iris to free her from the bondage of Darkseid's mind control. He has recently been revealed to not only be connected to the Speed Force, but is the very source of it, generating it with every step he takes. As such, he presumably has some of the Speed Force-related abilities other speedsters have demonstrated (such as lending and stealing speed), though he has yet to demonstrate such abilities. This alone is enough to make him one of the most powerful beings on Earth, and perhaps in existence. He is also immune to telepathic attacks and control, as he can shift his thoughts at a speed faster than normal thought. He used this tactic against Black Lantern Martian Manhunter in Blackest Night. Through "speed-reading" Barry can absorb large amounts of information into his short-term memory, which remain in his mind just long enough for him to make use of it. Using this technique, Barry was able to learn enough about building work to rebuild a destroyed apartment building.

Originally, Jay Garrick was thought to be the only metahuman Flash, with Barry Allen, Wally West and Bart Allen being conduits to the Speed Force itself, thus losing their powers if the connection to the Speed Force was removed, hijacked or altered. However, post-Flashpoint the notion of Barry Allen as the Source of the Speed Force is further expanded upon, with Lord Helspont and other Daemonites describing Barry Allen as a perfect example of what a metahuman is.

It was initially believed that Barry Allen was unable to alter the timeline, due to that power being tied to the Reverse-Speedforce held by Professor Zoom. It has since been revealed that Barry Allen does possess that power but, due to him researching only the most utilitarian effects of the Speed Force, he never mastered it. Still, as showcased in Flashpoint, Barry Allen lacks the subtlety and knowledge of time-travel mechanics needed to enact specific changes. This was shown during his first attempt at using the aforementioned power, to turn his own timeline into a dystopia instead of simply reverting a small change enacted by Zoom .