Plot summary: A group of villains join forces and plot to ruin Flash Appreciation Day with the unlikely duo of Batman and Orion playing defence.

Does Barry Allen Exist in the DCAU?!

Despite their best efforts even The Watchtower Database couldn’t definitively solve this one, though they seem to mostly believe Barry is out there… somewhere.

You may recall in Flash’s debut in ‘Speed Demons‘ they were very careful to not reveal who was under the mask. The episode’s writer, Rich Fogel, said in his mind it was Wally, and official online bios identified Flash as Wally West, but neither of those are necessarily gospel. When the character returned in Justice League it was a new voice actor with a slightly different costume and personality, so to me it would have made a lot of sense to have said the STAS version was Barry Allen and in the time after that episode he handed the title over to Wally West. But this episode and other recent evidence makes that notion muddier.

On the one hand, Wally talks about his uncle – a clear reference to Barry – and there’s a Kid Flash costume in the Flash Museum. Wally debuted with that name in the comics, and the next person to hold the title was Bart Allen, Barry’s grandson from the future, and it would be pretty weird to have Bart in the DCAU but no Barry. Furthermore, a Teen Titans animated series was pitched in the 90s but never picked up, and the costume seen here is pattered after the one from that. Given the lineup from that show that never was, Wally would almost certainly have been Kid Flash, freeing Barry up to be the Flash from ‘Speed Demons’. There was also an official novelisation of ‘Secret Origins‘ that says Wally once served as Barry’s sidekick, but that kind of tie-in material is rarely treated as full canon (see also the many tie-in comics that contradicted continuity.)

However! Wally’s day job in this episode is revealed to be a forensic scientist, a role Wally has never had anywhere, but was instead Barry’s main occupation. There’s a pattern of donating character traits from one version to another in the DCAU, with the second Robin, Tim Drake, inheriting the costume, backstory and personality of Jason Todd, and Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) getting just a little bit of Hal Jordan added to him. The creative team at one point intended to do an episode of either Justice League or JLU that would see Hal Jordan, Barry Allen and Hawkman appear as members of a previous incarnation of The League but it never came to be, so does that mean anything? Dwayne McDuffie also said they never decided if the iconic winged helmet seen here in the Flash Museum actually belonged to the original Flash, Jay Garrick, instead suggesting that it was from an early Wally costume as one of several possible alternate explanations. No Jay Garrick doesn’t necessarily mean no Barry Allen, but the latter would be far more likely if the former definitely existed.

Speaking of McDuffie, he was asked how many of the Flash family are in the DCAU and replied “Flash and Kid Flash exist”… which doesn’t clear this up at all. Did he mean concurrently? Or that Wally went by Kid Flash in his youth and then decided to drop the ~~‘The’~~ ‘Kid’ when he got older? Personally I think someone wouldn’t give themselves the name Kid Flash if there wasn’t already a Flash and would skip straight to The Flash. Also in ‘The Brave and the Bold‘ Wally is subjected to a hallucination montage where we see his origin depicted and he’s clearly already an adult when he’s struck by the lightning. So not KID Flash.

My personal theory is that despite what Rich Fogel had in mind when writing the episode they instructed him to not commit either way because they did in fact want Barry to be Flash in STAS with Wally serving as Kid Flash in the proposed Teen Titans show, but when that series wasn’t picked up they said ‘Fuck it, it was Wally all along’, given he’s historically the more popular Flash and not an enormous amount of in-universe time would have passed between ‘Speed Demons’ and Justice League to justify a changing of the guard. Some of the team probably had the head-canon that Barry was once active as Flash with Wally as his sidekick and then he quietly retired, while others thought it should have just always been Wally. Bruce Timm probably didn’t care and would think you’re an idiot to even ask. Then they did an episode that pays tribute to The Flash, featuring the Flash Museum and they had to fill it with stuff, and how were they supposed to resist putting in little references to the entirety of the character’s history? Phew. Exhausting.

Notes and Trivia

Episode: 31 (S3.E5)

Original Air Date: September 24^th, 2005

Directed: Joaquim dos Santos (16) Dan Riba (16)

Written: Matt Wayne (2)

Animation: DongWoo Animation Co., LTD. (6)

Music: Michael McCuistion (11)

Captain Boomerang’s prison sentence was reduced to five years thanks to his service with Task Force X. I guess they mean that he’s out now due to time already served, because there definitely hasn’t been a 5-year time jump since that episode.

Several other prominent Flash villains appear at the bar, including Weather Wizard, Turtle-Man, Thinker, Fiddler, Doctor Alchemy, Abra Kadabra and Pied Piper.

Per the banner in The Flash Museum, Wally won the race with Superman from ‘Speed Demons’. Unclear if that means they called the official race that was never completed in Wally’s favour or if he won the rematch they started at the end of the episode.

Orion’s face below his iconic helmet is seen for the first time in the DCAU and he is not a looker. In the comics he uses technology to conceal his resemblance to Darkseid… and appear more handsome.

DCAU Debuts

All three Flash rogues were created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino in 1957, 1959 and 1960 respectively.

Leonard Snart started out as an ordinary criminal, but realised he’d need to do something special to contend with The Flash, inadvertently inventing ‘The Cold Gun’ and taking on the persona Captain Cold. He’s frequently seen alongside frenemy Heatwave, who appeared last episode. Snart predates the far more famous Mr. Freeze by 2 years, who only became so high profile thanks to ‘Heart of Ice‘. Cold was a prominent character in the Arrowverse, played with great gusto by Wentworth Miller, as well as appearing in dozens of cartoons and video games.

Mirror Master (Sam Scudder) can use mirrors for all manner of wacky functions, but predominantly hides in and travels between them, making him difficult for even The Fastest Man Alive to catch. Despite his prominence as a Flash villain he only appeared in two episodes of The Flash, though a gender-bent version of Evan McCulloch (Scudder’s successor) became a recurring character later in the series. Scudder likewise appears in a lot of animation and games.

For non-comic readers, The Trickster (James Jesse) will always seem like a Joker knock-off, especially as he’s voiced by Mark Hamill here, and played by him in The Flash. In fact, Hamill played the character in the mostly forgotten 1990 Flash series and that portrayal led to his audition for Joker in BTAS, thus they patterned the character after Hamill in this episode as a tribute. But he did indeed debut on the comic pages, and does indeed share a lot of DNA with Joker (novelty props that are in fact deadly weapons etc), though is a bit more of a con-man and less of a ‘chaos incarnate’ barely human Murder Clown.

Finally, Linda Park was created by William Messner-Loebs and Greg LaRocque, debuting in 1989. She is the primary love interest of Wally West, hence her appearance here, with the pair eventually marrying and having two children. The version that appears in The Flash (played by Malese Jow) dates Barry Allen instead.

Recap

A bunch of villains are drowning their sorrows in a bar. They plan to take collective revenge against The Flash, and on Flash Appreciation Day no less!

Wally pleads for Batman to make an appearance at the event, with Bruce relenting and in turn pressuring Orion to attend as well to punish his mockery.

Flash first thwarts Mirror Master en route to receiving the key to the city, where Captain Boomerang attacks. Wally takes a bit of a beating but survives.

Batman and Orion insist on playing bodyguard, hitting up the bar where Trickster is moping. Wally tries a gentler touch, learning the others are planning to attack The Flash Museum.

Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang and Mirror Master do exactly that, managing to trap Wally and a TV reporter inside the mirror dimension.

Batman cleverly uses a flare to lead Wally back out where he evens the odds and helps save the day. Orion thinks he finally understand the Scarlet Speedster’s hidden depths… but Wally is just chill, bro.

Best Performance

It’s lovely to hear Mark Hamill playing a role he has genuiney enthusiasm for… not that he doesn’t enjoy playing Joker, but you get the sense he has more of a soft spot for the lesser known Trickster. He’s good, obviously, but it’s also not really stretching him much as an actor so only ended up being my second favourite performance, probably upsetting some folk.

Donal Gibson’s accent remains shaky and Lex Lang is fine. Alexis Denisof is a truly terrible voice actor, seemingly incapable of a single authentic line read. Voice acting isn’t for everyone, obviously, but he’s not remotely a big enough name to justify hiring despite being so heinous when they could get a regular voice actor for cheaper.

Michael Rosenbaum is pretty good but I have to say I expected a little more from him given the episode basically exists to platform him. You could probably have constructed this performance from cutting together lines from other episodes if I’m being honest.

So for as out of left field as it may seem, I found Kim Mae Guest very charming fangirling all over Flash, not realising she’s still live on air as she gushes at one point, as well as tripping over her words when they actually get to talk. She adds some energy to an episode that is mostly getting by on visuals, in my opinion.

Oh, and I was stunned to learn Ron Perlman did the voice for Orion as he could not sound more different to his previous outings.

Episode Ranking

Much like with Wonder Woman I’m flabbergasted as to why they waited until this late to try and add an interior life to one of The Big 7. Learning Wally is a forensic scientist of all things after all his buffoonery over the years is just wild. I’m all for an extensive tribute to a character though, with the museum providing a number of cute little Easter Eggs, as well as the strong endorsement of his true goodness throughout the episode. Him connecting with Trickster on a sincere human level, demonstrating a genuine desire to help his foe to reform was sweet. I’m not mad at the ‘turn yourself in when you’re done’ joke either.

It’s also interesting to reveal Flash is absurdly popular, receiving warm greetings from everybody he encounters in the episode, getting the key to the city, a dedicated appreciation day, and his own museum. He obviously had enough juice to do the endorsement stuff in ‘Eclipsed’ but many of the civilians he’s interacted with in the past were indifferent to him at best. But here he is, with Linda Park swooning and handing him her phone number which he obliviously autographs, which is a good bit.

Speaking of Linda and good bits, the Rogues sneaking inside the museum via her compact mirror was a fun way to get around Batman’s frankly psychotic claim he’d removed all reflective surfaces in the museum. A museum! Full of glass! Bruce, you crazy.

I have no real clue why they chose Orion for this episode. Sure, he’s basically the polar opposite of Wally, grimly serious and letting his fists do the talking… but isn’t that already Batman? I guess it lets Bruce appear slightly softer by comparison, having warmed to his long-time comrade after years of bellowing at him. But yeah, not a strong showing for Orion here as he talks a lot of shit about Wally and then kind of gets his ass kicked by guys many levels below him. He’s even wrong about his final assessment of Wally using humour to mask his trauma. Does Matt Wayne just not like Orion or something? He did show his face for the first time though, and they honoured his ‘true’ appearance, the ugly one that more closely resembles his father, Darkseid.

I feel like a total nerd nitpicking two cool moments… but I can’t not. Firstly, while it was cool seeing Bruce pull off a ridiculous trick shot (because of course) to fire a flare through one of the magic mirrors to lead Wally to safety… wasn’t the whole point that the ones that you come through don’t necessarily take you back out again? Secondly while it was a nice visual gag to shatter a mirror just as Mirror Master entered it to ‘trap’ him… aren’t they just portals? He’s not IN that mirror until they glue it back together and should be able to just exit from another one, right? Or perhaps the one Linda and Wally went into worked differently to the one Mirror Master did? Who knows. I do generally shrug and say ‘who cares?’ if it means something cool happened, but given the episode is light on positives these things bother me more.

It’s a nice looking episode, between the loving designs of Flash’s iconic Rogues and the various elements of the character’s history – particularly the various costumes and props at The Flash Museum, and the drawer full of rings that house spare costumes was fun too – as well as the brief adventure into the Mirror Dimension. But there’s not really enough going on under the hood for my liking. For as much as I wanted them to do something like this for the entire Big 7 (and maybe some of the expanded roster) this episode is lacking in any real bite. I’m not really sure what would have helped though; A different set of teammates? A more elaborate battle with The Rogues? Who can say? I just know I thought this was lacking.

Double Date
For the Man Who Has Everything
Clash
Task Force X
Question Authority
Fearful Symmetry
To Another Shore
Panic in the Sky
The Return
The Once and Future Thing, Part 1: Weird Western Tales
Epilogue
Flashpoint
Shadow of the Hawk
The Ties That Bind
The Cat and the Canary
The Greatest Story Never Told
Divided We Fall
The Balance
Dark Heart
Initiation
This Little Piggy
Flash and Substance (NEW ENTRY)
Kids’ Stuff
The Once and Future Thing, Part 2: Time Warped
Doomsday Sanction
Wake the Dead
Ultimatum
I Am Legion
Hawk and Dove
Chaos at the Earth’s Core
Hunter’s Moon

Rogues Roundup

The Rogues (Mark Hamill/Donal Gibson/Alexis Denisof/Lex Lang) (first appearance)

The joke where they all order ‘soft boi’ drinks after saying they’re the hardest men in town sets the tone for what to expect from this group right away; They’re here more for comic relief than to provide a genuine threat, even if they do get a few licks in.

All Trickster does it pitch a zany plan, but the exchange between he and Flash is touching, and it was nice to give Mark Hamill his props.

Mirror Master’s laser disco looks fun but Wally breezes right through it, and only gets caught in the mirror dimension for a minute or two.

Can’t say I predicted strapping Flash to a giant boomerang and trying to fly it into a mountain, but it does mix things up from the barrage of explosive regular sized boomerangs.

Captain Cold arguably comes across best as he points out they’re being dumb taking turns to attack, incapacitates Orion for a bit and even takes Batman off his feet.

Overall they’re fun but don’t exactly cover themselves in glory.

Lex Luthor
Steven Mandragora
Amanda Waller & Project Cadmus
Circe
Task Force X
Amazo
Galatea
Chronos
Mongul
Brainiac
Shadow Thief
Granny Goodness
Gorilla Grodd and The Legion of Doom
Devil Ray
The Rogues (NEW ENTRY)
Deimos
Dark Heart
Tobias Manning
The Jokerz
Felix Faust
The Annihilator
Metallo
The Ultimen
Tala
Doomsday
Hades
Roulette
Solomon Grundy
The Thanagarians
Brimstone
Ares
Mordred (and Morgaine le Fey!)
Mordru
Virman Vundabar