After Barry Allen died in the pages of Crisis On Infinite Earths in 1985, the character defied the rule that comic book characters always come back to life -- well, almost. All rules must be broken, and as one of the DC Universe's most important characters, Barry was bound to come back one day. In the pages of Grant Morrison's 2008 event series Final Crisis, Barry finally returned during a new cataclysm that threatened all life in the universe. Having been lost inside the Speed Force for years, Barry had now returned to a world that had moved on without him.

RELATED: Flash War: First Story Details Revealed/strong>

Barry helped defeat Darkseid's invasion of Earth in Final Crisis, but it wouldn't be until 2009, in Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver's character-defining The Flash Rebirth, that the emotional toll Barry's return had on him and the rest of the Flash Family would be explored. It was a seminal story that firmly established Barry as the linchpin of the DCU's speedster family, the heart and generator of the Speed Force itself. It re-defined his role and purpose while, in true Geoff Johns-fashion, setting up many threads for exciting future storylines.

But while the miniseries served as the springboard for a new Flash comic by Johns and artist Francis Manapul, this iteration of the title would only last 12 issues. The first six explored the Rogues reacting to Barry Allen's return, while the rest dealt with the events of Brightest Day or set up the massive, timeline-altering event series Flashpoint. What we couldn't know at the time was the consequences that would stem from the Flash-centric event: The creation of the New 52, a relaunch of every DC Comics title that discarded the old continuity and started fresh with new origins and new directions for all of DC's superheroes.

This meant that virtually everything that had been built to across the DCU fell to the wayside all at once, and perhaps nowhere was this more true than in the case of the Flash. Johns had spent a great deal of time and effort bringing Barry Allen back into the DCU with a series that honored the character's past and wore its Silver Age roots on its sleeve, but all of that was largely ignored by a new, modern relaunch that discarded the old and focused on the new. Today, we look at those forgotten story threads set up in The Flash Rebirth, and wonder what the future of the Flash might have looked like in a timeline where the New 52 never happened.


View Full Article On One Page, Or Leap To A Section:


Zooms (Yes, "Zooms," Plural)

The Flash Rebirth spent a great deal of time exploring the previously-deceased Eobard Thawne's return to life and prominence as the one, true enemy of the Flash. Although the moment we would actually see him resurrected would come later, during Geoff Johns' Blackest Night series, the fact that the evil speedster is so adept at time-traveling made it so that he was able to haunt Barry in the then-present. The yellow-clad speedster even teased that his return to life would come very soon.

Flash Rebirth Reverse-Flash and Zoom

The Reverse-Flash was the villain of the miniseries, and it would take the combined efforts of the entire Flash Family, as well as a little help from the Justice League, to knock him off of his feet and defeat him. The story ended with Thawne locked upside down in Central City's Iron Heights maximum security prison -- but he wasn't alone. In the prison cell next to him there was another speedster villain who also used the name Zoom: Hunter Zolomon. Wheelchair-bound, Hunter spoke to Eobard, telling him he believed they could "help one another... be better." This seemed to hint at an alliance of sorts, a union of Zooms which would have pitted the Flash against two of his most powerful enemies: Double the speed, double the threat.

Alas, we never got around to that storyline. Thawne would later be broken out of prison by Captain Boomerang during the events of Brightest Day, and the Reverse-Flash would next be seen alone in the events building up to Flashpoint.

Page 2: [valnet-url-page page=2 paginated=0 text='It%20Was%20All%20About%20%28The%20Flash%29%20Family']



Bart Allen and Max Mercury's bond

Although he originates from the future, Bart Allen has never been shy about embracing the present as his true home. Barry Allen's grandson may be young and rash, but he more than proved himself a capable hero, going from having the superhero identity of Impulse, to Kid-Flash, and even a brief stint as the one and only Flash. The, The Flash Rebirth firmly established him as Kid-Flash, and it took some time to cement the very special surrogate father-son relationship he had with Max Mercury.

The Flash Rebirth Bart Allen and Max Mercury

Pre-Flashpoint, when Bart found himself alone, Max was the one there to encourage and comfort him. He may not be the biggest name in the Flash Family, but Max Mercury is as important as they come. The Rebirth miniseries served as a springboard to bring the white-and-blue speedster back to life alongside Barry. The relationship he had with Bart was highlighted, and it seemed like these two had a bright future ahead of them as a father-and-son team. But sadly, after the events of Flashpoint, and the advent of the New 52, Max Mercury wouldn't be seen again. We are left to wonder what his adventures with Bart could have looked like, just as we ponder if he will ever return to the DCU.

Girl Power

The Flash Rebirth girl power

In The Flash Rebirth, Johns went out of his way to re-establish the Flash Family as an ensemble, a team that is just as valuable and recognizable as DC Comics' Bat-Family or the Green Lantern Corps. With Barry, Wally, Bart, Jay Garrick and Max Mercury, the team was very prominently male. Then, Wally's daughter Iris "Irey" West II's temporary sacrifice to spare her twin brother excruciating pain resulted in her gaining the powers of a speedster thanks to the efforts of Jesse Quick, whom herself finally found the answer to the speed formula once again. Together, the two arrived on the scene, proudly boasting that the Flash Family was in great need of some girl power.

RELATED: Why The Flash Should Look To DC Comics For Its Own Rebirth

The stage seemed set for them to take on a bigger role in the DCU, perhaps even starring their own series. A lot of effort was poured into bringing these two to the forefront, with Irey even taking on the mantle of the new Impulse. However, with the arrival of the New 52, both Irey and Jesse were essentially wiped from the board, and we have not seen them since.

Page 3: [valnet-url-page page=3 paginated=0 text='Where%20Are%20The%20Rogues%3F%20Bring%20On%20The%20Bad%20Guys%21']



Abra Kadabra and Doctor Alchemy

Although he wasn't directly a part of the story of Johns' Rebirth miniseries, Abra Kadabra did make brief appearances throughout it -- three, to be exact. In the first issue, we saw the time-displaced magician dust off his old equipment as he geared up for a potential face-off with the Flash. Then, in the third issue, he would appear off-panel as Eobard Thawne proceeded to attack and seemingly kill him. But, in the closing moments of the sixth and final issue, we saw that Kadabra was very much alive and up to his tricks again, old and new.

The Flash Rebirth Abra Kadabra and Dr Alchemy

In fact, his final appearance teased that he would not only take his fight to the Flash, but the Reverse-Flash as well, as we saw that the techno-wizard had added puppets of the Eobard Thawne to his magical arsenal. Stating that he had a lot of tricks up his sleeve, the seeds were planted for an epic showdown between two very different supervillains from the future. This, combined with the fact that we never really saw what happened in their first fight off panel in the third issue of the miniseries, indicates there was a lot of story left to tell.

Doctor Alchemy made one appearance in the series, right at its start, instantly reigniting an old feud with the Flash. But the more telling scene came at the end of the series, when two guards from Iron Heights realized that Alchemy had escaped his prison cell. Whatever the Doctor was planning, we never found out, and this old rivalry was doomed to never be explored once again.

Gorilla City

Flash Rebirth Gorilla City

In The Flash Rebirth, we also saw a few appearances by the armies of Gorilla City as they reacted to the developments connected to the Speed Force. Though they were never a part of the conflict, the series ended with the seeds of a massive future story. After the immediate threat of Eobard Thawne had been stopped thanks to the Flash Family, readers were taken back to Gorilla City, where we learned that the Reverse-Flash had done something unnatural, that he had somehow corrupted the jungles surrounding the city.

While we never got to find out exactly what the Professor had done, the drawing shown on the cave wall seemed to indicate that Thawne had somehow managed to expand his powers to many others. Perhaps there was a hint of a Reverse-Flash army that would have attacked Gorilla City, an event in which the Flash Family would no doubt have had a large role to play.

Page 4: [valnet-url-page page=4 paginated=0 text='What%20About%20Wally%20West%3F']



Wally West's Future

Wally West is perhaps the biggest casualty of the transition from Flashpoint to the New 52. When Barry Allen disappeared in 1985, Wally stepped into the role of the Flash, and eventually managed to outshine his predecessor, becoming a fan-favorite character all his own. While some fans were wary that Barry's return would steal the spotlight away from Wally, The Flash Rebirth seemed to hint that they had nothing to worry about. Wally was given an entirely new costume to set him apart from the Barry's more traditional outfit, and he still had his family to ground him: Linda Park and his twin children, Irey and Jai West.

The Flash Rebirth Wally Barry Reverse-Flash

So much potential was squandered when Wally was simply pushed to the side in the New 52, and when he disappeared from the universe, so did the rest of his family. The prospect of seeing Wally and Linda raise their super-powered daughter was gone, just like the fallout from Irey taking her brother's powers to save him from the Reverse-Flash, which we never got to see.

Besides, the Reverse-Flash also whispered a warning to Wally in the fifth chapter of the miniseries, that one of his children would destroy his life in the future -- yet another intriguing idea that never got the chance to flourish. Wally eventually returned in the pages of DC Rebirth, but it's a younger version, not yet the man who had fully grown into his own as a hero, and as a father.

RELATED: Flash War: 8 Reasons Barry Is The Best (And 8 Reasons Wally Is Still Better)

So many elements were set up to flourish after the closing chapter of The Flash Rebirth, but sadly we never got to find out about any of them. We might never get answers, but at least we can always imagine what could have been.