- "There's already a superhero with a red suit, with a lightning bolt on it."
- ―Billy Batson[src]
The Flash Suit is a protective suit used by Barry Allen to protect his identity as the Flash. Allen's initial suit was made up of his normal clothes, with a white ski mask, helmet, and elbow and knee pads, to withstand his speed and protect him from impacts.
An upgraded version made of silica-based quartz sand fabric was created later by Allen himself which he would use during the Capture of Captain Boomerang, the War for Earth, when he met his Earth-Prime self, at the Battle at Coverdale Ranch and when he fought Girder, who damaged the suit badly. The suit had a fitted face mask that covered Flash's head, but leaved his mouth and eyes exposed, with there also being wing-shaped earpieces. It would cover Flash's body entirely with protection pads scattered across the suit in various places, such as the torso, to better protect Flash, with the joints areas free for movement so he could run with little restriction.
An micro compressive version was later created by Alfred Pennyworth and Bruce Wayne, which the latter would later giftAllen the new suit. Flash used it during his fights agaisnt Tarpit, the Top, the Aquamarines, the Chase of Al Falcone, when creating the Flashpoint and during the Kryptonian Attack. This new suit has golden paneling on the boots of the suit with lightning styled braces around the forearms, helmet wings, emblem, and belt. The piping although glows yellow when Flash actively uses his Speed Force abilities, with the suit causing his normal blue lightning to glow yellow instead. The suit is also able to decompress into the Flash Ring, immediately expanding into a full suit upon the ring being open, along with helping properly store the energy he builds from running.
History[]
Homemade Suit[]
Black Zero Event[]
- "I had just gotten my powers. And i was still putting some finishing touches on my suit."
- ―Older Barry to Young Barry[src]
After getting struck by lightning, Barry Allen started working on a homemade suit that he could use without burning his clothes. On December 13, 2013, however, Zod deployed the Black Zero on Metropolis which started to terraform Earth. Allen would ran to Metropolis with his newly made suit to attempt to save as much people as he could, attempting to save a kid and his parent but failing to save the father. After the event, Allen would start to work on a new, more effective suit.[1]
Upgraded Suit[]
Running Endurance[]
- "Silica-based quartz sand fabric. Abrasion resistant. Heat resistant."
"Uh, yeah, I do competitive ice dancing."
"It's what they use on the space shuttle to prevent it from burning up on reentry."
"I do... very competitive ice dancing." - ―Bruce Wayne and Barry Allen[src]
Over the years, Barry Allen refined his suit using different types of NASA fibers and materials, such as silica-based quartz sand fabric to protect against air friction and extreme temperatures while running. The suit consisted of a collection of red pieces strung together with a gold lightning bolt design on the chest, backed by a white plate.[2] Wearing this suit, Allen apprehended several criminals in Central City, including Australian George Harkness during a robbery at a diamond exchange.[3]
War for Earth[]
In 2017, Barry Allen returned to his hideout when he was suddenly visited by billionaire Bruce Wayne, who offered him to join the newly formed Justice League. As Allen listened to the offer, Wayne noticed the suit placed on a mannequin and pointed out the materials it was made of. Although Allen tried to make excuses for Wayne not to discover his identity, the latter revealed himself to be Batman, so Allen immediately accepted the proposal.
Soon after, the two set off for Gotham City, where Allen used his suit to confront General Steppenwolf and his army of Parademons, in an attempt to prevent the conquest of Earth. After being instrumental in resurrecting Superman, Allen and the Justice League successfully defeated Steppenwolf, with Allen using his powers to reverse time and stop the formation of the Unity. Back in Central City, Allen continued to use his suit to continue his superhero career.[2]
Micro Compression Suit[]
Improvement[]
- "Nice suit. Looking good, Flash."
- ―Wonder Woman to Flash[src]
In 2022, during a fight with the criminal Girder, the upgraded suit was severely damaged, so Barry Allen turned to Bruce Wayne for help in mastering his abilities. On Wayne's orders, Alfred Pennyworth developed a new, enhanced suit contained microscopically within a special ring. Unlike the previous one, this second suit consisted of a single, red-hooded piece with bands around it that lit up whenever Flash ran. Flash would wear the suit in his encounters agaisnt Girder[4], Tarpit[5], the Top[6] and the Aquamarines.[7]
Flash wore the suit again when helping Batman deal with Al Falcone's disaster, which consisted on Gotham City's General Hospital inminent collapse. Flash would fix the pipes in the hospital's basement, rescue several people, including a baby shower, and head to the Gotham Bridge where he would find Batman with a trapped Falcone and Wonder Woman, who appreciated Flash's new suit, calling it nice. Flash would later return to Central City, where he would store the suit back in his ring. In the night, Allen would wear the suit to continue a phone call with his father, Henry Allen after learning that the footage that was supposed to confirm his alibi wouldn't help, with Allen accidentally discovering the Chronobowl after his feelings overwhelmed him. Eventually, despite being warned by Wayne, Allen used the Chronobowl, while wearing the suit, to go back in time to allow his mother, Nora Allen to live.
Flashpoint Crisis[]
Afterwards, Allen ran forward to when he initially left but he stopped when he saw a misterious dark speedster looking at him. The speedster would run at him and push Allen out of the Chronobowl. Upon Barry landing in 2013, he stole a couple's clothes and stored his suit into his ring. Eventually, Allen teamed up with this timeline's Barry Allen to grant him powers, at the cost of Allen's own powers. In the meantime, Barry gave his suit and ring to the younger Allen as he began to teach him how to use his newfound powers. As Allen handed his ring to his younger self, he stated that he needed to run into the suit once it launches in the air, however the young Allen failed at getting into the suit, before finally putting it on. After putting it on, he commented that the suit was way too tight on his nether regions, before finally getting out.
However, the two Barrys learned that General Dru-Zod was gonna invade Earth like in the original timeline and realizing that there was little to no Justice League members here, the Barrys teamed up to convince an old Bruce Wayne to help them free who they think is Superman, needing to infiltrate a Siberian black site. After convincing Wayne to help them out, the young Allen wore the suit as the three infiltrated into the base, ending up saving Kara Zor-El instead of Kal-El. As the older Allen focused on regaining his powers after returning to the Batcave, his younger self handed the micro compressive suit back to him when he was successful at that, after he had made his own suit out of an old Batsuit.
Now with his powers restored and his suit back, Allen wore and used the suit during the Battle at Edwards Air Force Base. However, during the battle, Supergirl and Batman were killed, with Zod obtaining the Growth Codex to continue his plans. Not wanting to leave this universe to be destroyed by Zod, the two Flashes used the Chronobowl to go back in time to prevent the deaths of their teammates, however the results ended the exact same, although the Flashes had to deal with Nam-Ek, with Flash tearing off his gloves to help build a strong power surge to kill Nam-Ek.
Eventually, realizing that there was no way to save the world, Allen eventually fought the dark speedster that initially pushed him out of the Chronobowl, who was revealed to be an even older version of his younger self. Before the Dark Flash could kill Allen, the young Allen sacrificing himself to save him so that he could fix the timeline. Afterwards, Allen went back to fix his initial change before running back with his now damaged dirty suit back to a similar timeline.[1]
Alternate Reality Versions[]
Knightmare Suit[]
In an alternate future where Lord Darkseid successfully conquered Earth and obtained the Anti-Life Equation, Flash's suit was modified into a metallic, armored, and technological one, with a retractable helmet that covered his entire head and opened on demand. In an attempt to stop Darkseid and a manipulated Superman, Flash joined a group of heroes and villains known as the Insurgency.
After Superman attacked the team, Flash put his last resort into action to stop the Kryptonian, running on the Cosmic Treadmill and traveling back in time to the year 2015 to warn Bruce Wayne of the danger posed by Superman. However, Flash soon realized that he had traveled too far back for Wayne to understand the warning, before his portal closed and he returned to his timeline.[8]
Prime Suit[]
- "I like your outfit, it seems, comfy."
"Yours is pretty cool, it seems safe."
"Smooth and breathable." - ―Earth-1 Flash and Earth-Prime Flash[src]
In Earth-Prime, Flash's suit is an entire friction-resistant fabric suit, with Hermes style wings poking out of the cowl, paired with a simplified emblem and a lightning bolt styled belt and forearm clasp. The suit also has 2 gold pipping sections wrapping from his shoulders to the belt. It was later upgraded with entire golden boots, replacing red boots with lightning braces on the top. It can also be stored into it's own Flash Ring.
With the help of Victor Stone, Barry Allen was able to travel through the Multiverse via the Speed Force, meeting with his counterpart of Earth-Prime, with whom he compared the quality and material of his suits. After returning to his universe, Allen adopted his counterpart's alias and called himself the Flash.[9]
Bat-Flash Suit[]
- "And what are we wearing tonight?"
"You like it? I-I made it out of that old Batsuit. But you know, I made it our colors and everything. Well, check this out. It's a bit more loose."
"It beeves." - ―Older Barry and Young Barry[src]
In the Flashpoint Timeline, Barry Allen using an old version of the Batsuit after Bruce attempted to give the suit to the older Barry Allen to help him survive their attempt to restore his powers, with the older Allen refusing and giving the suit to the young Allen. As the older Allen recovered after the successful restoration of his powers, his younger self began to modify the Batsuit, with him sawing off the nose and ears of the Batsuit, along with spray painting the suit red, with small lightning bolts on the chest and boot sides. Allen also added yellow and black arrow electrical tape around the waist and forearms along with his gold headphones and knee and elbow pads.
Flash wore the suit during the Battle at the Edwards Air Force Base, briefly having trouble turning his head in the cowl, teaming up with the older Flash to take down the Sword of Rao as Supergirl fought Dru-Zod and Batman fought the Kryptonian Dropships. Overtime, the modified Batsuit's paint began to melt off, with the cowl taking damage after a Kryptonian injured Flash's cheek, causing him to fall to the ground, with resulted on the headphones to detach from the cowl and lost in the midst of the battle. Flash would then break the suit's neck so he could move his neck better, but in the end the battle would be lost when Batman and Supergirl died. The Flashes would go back in time in the Chronobowl in an attempt to save his friends, in which after attacking Nam-Ek with lightning, shards of his armor would shot out and pierce Flash's suit. However, Flash would now use the Kryptonian Metal to kill Kryptonians which more ease, such as Faora-Ul.
After several attempts at saving Batman and Supergirl, Allen would stop using the cowl and continue his attempts to save them, with more metal shards becoming embedded in parts of his body which after years of trying over and over again, would end up giving him a monstrous and unrecognizable appearance.[1]
Dark Flash Suit[]
The Dark Flash's suit is the result of Barry Allen trying for 40 years to save his world. The suit is comprised of many blades and shrapnel of Kryptonian metal, which covered up chunk of the original modified Batsuit. In addition, the Dark Flash's energy allows some of the blades to glow through the suit, making up the eyes and lightning symbol on the chest. It and the modified Batsuit from the young Allen were ultimately erased from existance when the latter sacrificed himself to save his older self when the Dark Flash attempted to kill him with an enormous blade on his suit.[1]
Capabilities[]
The Flash suits have numerous function to help Barry in his crime fighting duties:
- Friction and Abrasion Resistance: The suit's primary function is to protection Barry from the rigors of moving at high speed. The suit's composition allows it to withstand extreme friction and impacts.
- Electrical Charge Dissipation: The suit designed by Bruce and Alfred dissipates the powerful electrical charge that Barry builds up when he runs, seemingly altering the natural blue colouration to a golden yellow as a side effect.
- Eye Protection: The suit designed by Bruce and Alfred has retractable cowl lenses that protect Barry's eyes as he runs.
- Body Calorie Display: The suit designed by Bruce and Alfred has a wrist display that dictates Barry's calorie and energy reserves, indicating if said reserves are full or depleted.
- Storage: The suit designed by Bruce and Alfred seemingly has a concealed compartment on the rear for storing, as seen when Barry places his stuffed monkey in there.
Suits[]
Alternate Reality Versions[]
Trivia[]
- Unlike the various Flash suits from DC Comics (and most other appearances of the Flash), the Upgraded suit isn't a singular piece of protective material, instead, it's made from a collection of pieces bolted together.
- The Upgraded suit seems to take inspiration from its counterparts seen in the Injustice universe, as well as the suit seen in DC Universe Online, serving as a more functional piece of 'armor'.
- The Knightmare suit bears a resemblance to the Flash's Earth-1098 counterpart.
- The Micro compression and Prime suit are the most comic accurate suits Flash suits seen in the DC Extended Universe.
- The Micro compression suit is the only one of the Flash suits to show some padded muscularity.
- The Homemade suit features a skate helmet with wing logos on the sides. This is a reference to the original suit from Jay Garrick's 40s comics.
Behind the Scenes[]
- "Barry's sewn together layers of netting and synthetic material that can be both flexible and heat resistant. He's trying to make something that's aerodynamic and reduces friction as much as possible. I like the idea that he's cobbling together this suit; it's his DIY self-preservation suit."
- ―Ezra Miller on Flash's suit in Justice League[src]
- In total, the suit is comprised of over 100 individual pieces.[10]
Gallery[]
Promotional Images[]
Justice League[]
Zack Snyder's Justice League[]
The Flash[]
Behind the Scenes[]
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice[]
Justice League[]
Zack Snyder's Justice League[]
The Flash[]
Concept Art[]
Justice League[]
The Flash[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 The Flash
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Zack Snyder's Justice League
- ↑ Suicide Squad
- ↑ The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #1
- ↑ The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #2
- ↑ The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #3
- ↑ DC's Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom Special
- ↑ Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
- ↑ Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Four
- ↑ Flash & Cyborg Technology - "Justice League" Featurette