| For alternate versions of Henry Allen, see Henry Allen's Character Hub. |
- "You can be whatever you want to be. You're brilliant, man. Absolute best of the best. I can't sit here and watch you run in place in Central City for some old dude who is not going anywhere."
- ―Henry Allen to Barry Allen[src]
Henry Allen is the husband of Nora Allen and the father of Barry Allen. Following his wife's murder in 2004, Henry was falsely convicted of killing her and sentenced to Iron Heights Penitentiary.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Henry Allen graduated from university with a doctorate, and later met Nora, whom he would later marry. and had their son Barry Allen.[1]
Murder of Nora Allen[]
In 2004, Nora Allen was murdered in their home by Reverse Flash, and Henry Allen was falsely convicted for her death and sentenced to Iron Heights Penitentiary.[2] His son Barry would often visit Henry there.[3]
Visited by Barry[]
- "Because you're holding yourself back. You're going in circles. You're working three dead-end jobs, going on four. Where do you even have the time?"
"I make the time." - ―Henry Allen and Barry Allen[src]
At Iron Heights Penitentiary, Henry was visited by his son, Barry Allen, who was obsessed with proving his father's innocence and said he would keep visiting him. Henry, however, had lost faith that he would ever be proven innocent and that he would likely spend the rest of his life in prison, and so he asked Barry to move on and not visit him again before being taken away by a guard.
An Unfinal Farewell[]
Later, Barry Allen was recruited as part of a team to stop Steppenwolf and the invading forces of Apokolips. During their assault, the team failed to stop the Mother Boxes from combining, leading to a chain reaction that killed the rest of the team and began to subsume and terraform the entire Earth. As the shockwaves spread out, possibly even killing Henry, Barry finished healing himself and began to run faster and faster until he went faster than the speed of light, intending to reverse time to the right moment. As he embarked on his desperate gamble, Barry recited a proud farewell to his father in case he died in his attempt, although his father was not present to hear his words. As it turned out, his farewell was not necessary, as Barry indeed managed to turn back time and help Cyborg and Superman stop the Mother Boxes from fully combining.
Barry would later return to show Henry that he got a job at the Central City Police Department Crime Laboratory, to which, Henry began to shout and laugh in joy, prompting Barry to joke that he might get tased again.[3]
A Last Chance[]
After a day of helping to prevent a robbery in Gotham and a day at work, Barry would talk to his father over the phone about the CCTV footage from the day of Nora's murder, he'd been given from Bruce Wayne who'd deciphered the footage using Wayne Enterprise technology. However, since Henry was wearing a cap and didn't look up at any point, his face could not be seen from the camera meaning the footage was ultimately useless. Henry told Barry it was OK and how he'd rather be stuck in prison convincing himself his wife was still alive rather than out of prison knowing she was dead. Barry went outside his old family home and remembered the day she died in which Henry had gone out to get extra can of tomatoes from the grocery store. Eventually the call was cut off, leaving Barry to run so fast he discoverered the Chronobowl which made him wonder if he could save both his parents from their fates. Despite being warned by Bruce Wayne about the dangers of time travel, a talk with Iris West convinced him if he went back in time to the moment Nora was at the store he could both prevent her murder and Henry being wrongly accused and sent down and he wouldn't be altering time drastically.
Personality[]
Henry Allen is an innocent man, being falsely convicted for the murder of his wife. Despite this, he wants the best for his son's future and asked him to never visit him again, though Barry still visited him.
Relationships[]
Family[]
- Nora Allen † - wife
- Barry Allen/Flash - son
Trivia[]
- This is the third live-action portrayal of Henry Allen, followed by Michael Emmet Walsh in CBS's The Flash and John Wesley Shipp in The CW's The Flash.
- During the Movie where Barry tells his father that the old security camera footage is useless because he didn't look up but their is more footage there are security cameras at the checkout aisles, entrance and parking lot. There are also receipts and date in the stores records so Henry has more proof to prove that he didn't kill his wife.
- Henry's fate at the end of the movie remains unknown, since Barry Allen doesn't get him out of prison but rather an alternate timeline version. This begs the question of whether or not he will eventually get out of prison or see his son ever again.
Behind the Scenes[]
- Zack Snyder's storyboards for the first sequel to Justice League involve a plot thread where Barry, Cyborg, Iris West and a group of lawyers from Wayne Enterprises team up and manage to reopen Henry Allen's criminal case which lead to Henry being freed and reuniting with Barry before the film ends.[4]
- In DC Comics, originally Henry Allen died from natural causes. However, this was retconned in Flash: Rebirth when the Flash's nemesis, Professor Zoom, traveled back in time to Barry Allen's childhood and murdered Nora Allen to get revenge on the Flash. With the blame placed on Henry, he spent the rest of his life in prison where he eventually died.
- Billy Crudup was uncredited for his appearance in Justice League.
- Henry Allen is the second DC Comics character Billy Crudup portrays. His first portrayal was as Jon Osterman/Doctor Manhattan in the 2009 film Watchmen.
References[]
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedJL - ↑ "Justice League: Part 1: The Flash Movie Featurette" - YouTube
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Zack Snyder's Justice League
- ↑ The Dreamscapes of Zack Snyder's Justice League
