In 1956, the superhero was reenergized by a bolt of lightning that crashed through the window of a Central City police scientist and gave him incredible powers. In a sleek red suit with splashes of yellow, this new hero ran towards the future, and all of comics went with him. If you haven't guessed, that hero is Flash, and what his creators didn't know at the time was that his appearance in Showcase #4 kicked off a new age of superheroes, the Silver Age.

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Following Flash came an army of new characters from a slew of companies. It's hard to imagine a time when so many of these characters didn't exist; they've become as much a part of the world as any real person, maybe even more so. These are the 10 most important characters to come from DC’s Silver Age...

10 Flash

silver age flash

Without Robert Kanigher and Carmine Infantino taking an old DC hero and updating him for the Space Age not only created the legacy superhero, but the characters and comics we love today may not exist. In essence, the story of Barry Allen wasn't all that different from his predecessors. He was a scientist dating a reporter, two of the most common jobs in comics.

What made him stand out from what came before was his costume, so sleek and futuristic for the time, and the types of adventures he went on. While other superheroes had been scientists in the past, Flash was the first true "science hero" in that his stories always had some piece of real science to them (although it would often be stretched to the breaking point).

9 Adam Strange

Adam Strange Silver Age

With a costume that screams "sci-fi" and a name that promises something different, Adam Strange was built to be a man of two worlds. A human who finds himself repeatedly being teleported to the alien planet Rann via zeta-beam technology, Adam Strange was a modern-day John Carter or Buck Rogers, and readers couldn't get enough.

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While his costume has been updated from time to time, it has retained that Silver Age feel with he fin on the helmet and ray gun. Debuting in 1958, Adam Strange helped bring in a new age of space adventures to the DC universe, though he wouldn't have to do it alone for long.

8 Green Lantern

It's hard to be more of the time than Hal Jordan. Making his debut in 1959, this new version of Green Lantern left behind the magic meteor and replaced it with a sci-fi power structure and an army of space cops who take orders from purple aliens. Hal Jordan himself was the quintessential ideal of the American man of the time.

A test pilot who soared across the galaxy, this character made it clear that while the Russians may have gotten the first satellite up into space, the Americans would be the ones to win the Space Race.

7 Kid Flash

The flash and kid flash

The first of the Silver Age sidekicks, Kid Flash would end up becoming one of the most important characters in DC history. Wally West may have started off as the president of the Blue Valley chapter of the Flash Fan Club, but he would go on to be one of the universe's greatest heroes.

Wally became the first sidekick to make good on the promise when he became the third Flash after Barry Allen died during Crisis on Infinite Earths. For over twenty years, Wally was the one to carry the lightning, introducing the Speed Force to DC comics.

6 Brainiac

Silver Age Brainiac and Superman duel in space

When we think of Superman's enemies, Brainiac is sure to come up close behind Lex Luthor. This alien genius whose legacy stretches into the far future of the DC universe is so ingrained into the mythology of the Man of Steel that it's hard to believe there are twenty years of Superman stories before Brainiac made his first appearance.

More than just about any other character, Brainiac has been reinvented a number of times over the years, from alien to robot and back, but the basics of the character have always stayed the same; he wants to defeat Superman, and he wants to put cities in bottles. Brainiac brought a new type of villain to Superman, an alien who could go toe to toe with the Metropolis Marvel himself.

5 Batgirl

While there had been a Batgirl in the Golden Age, there is no question about who people think of when they see the character; Barbara Gordon. The daughter of Gotham City's Commissioner Jim Gordon, this Batgirl came towards the end of the Silver Age and represented a pop culture future no one realized was coming.

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Barbara Gordon was introduced in the comics after William Dozier, the producer of the Batman TV series, asked for a female crimefighter that they could introduce on the show. Barbara would be the first superhero created specifically for TV or movies, but not the last.

4 Supergirl

Supergirl Silver Age

Otto Binder had made a name for himself in comics with his Captain Marvel stories, including the introduction of the Marvel Family. When Binder was brought on to write Superman stories, he quickly started to bring that family feeling to the Man of Steel, and that included bringing in a woman who was just as powerful as Superman. He first tested the waters with Superman #123 where Jimmy Olsen makes a wish for a female Superman. When that story proved to be popular with readers, the real Supergirl was introduced in Action Comics #252.

The creation of Supergirl not only added to the story of Superman and Krypton, but it brought about the birth of the Superman Family and a slew of new Kryptonian characters, including Streaky the Supercat, Beppo the Super-Monkey, Comet the Super-Horse, and one of Superman's deadliest foes...

3 General Zod

Every hero has an archenemy who is their mirror opposite. Batman works on logic and planning while Joker is pure chaos. Flash has Reverse-Flash. Captain America has Red Skull. And while many people would think of Lex Luthor as Superman's opposite, in reality, it is General Zod.

A Kryptonian like the Man of Steel, Zod was the leader of the planet's military before he was imprisoned in the Phantom Zone for trying to overthrow the Kryptonian government. Zod sees himself as the only true hope to bring back the Kryptonian race from extinction and believes that Earth is the perfect planet to become New Krypton. All he needs to do it get rid off all those annoying humans.

2 Teen Titans

While the Justice League of America was the first true sign of the massive succeeds of the Silver Age and the return of the superhero, there are two DC teams from that time that truly changed comics forever. The Teen Titans, originally consisting of Robin, Aqualad, and Kid Flash before being joined by Wonder Girl shortly after, were the first teen superhero team of the Silver Age, and their debut brought about a new age of teen heroes never before seen.

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Over the years, the Teen Titans would go through countless members and become DC's biggest selling series in the early 1980s. Today they continue to act as a doorway into superheroes with Teen Titans Go!, an animated series that has been airing since 2013 and is nearing 300 episodes - and had a theatrically released movie too.

1 Legion of Superheroes

Legion of superheroes DC and Marvel Comics

While the Teen Titans are the young heroes of today, the Legion of Superheroes are the heroes of the future. Set 1000 years from now, the Legion of Superheroes are an expansive team made up of teen heroes from around the universe.

Originally introduced as a team of heroes for Superboy to hang out with, the Legion has become its own pillar in the DC universe, introducing classic characters and storylines that have influenced countless writers and artists. It's hard to look at the Legion's Timberwolf and not notice just how much the X-Men's Wolverine looks like him.

NEXT: Superhero Comics: 5 Things From The Silver Age That Still Work Today (& 5 Modern Comics Does It Better)