SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for The Flash #49 by Joshua Williamson, Howard Porter, Hi-Fi and Steve Wands, on sale now.
The current “Flash War” between Wally West and Barry Allen is both one of the most personal Flash stories while also having some of the highest stakes of a solo superhero comic in recent memory. Wally West’s quest to rescue his missing children from the Speed Force is heart-wrenching and relatable, while Barry Allen’s determination to stop Wally is not only rooted in his love for his nephew but the desire to not see him make the same mistake he did with Flashpoint.
As compelling as “Flash War” has been, it’s mostly been very personal affair between the two Flashes and not quite a war; but this week’s penultimate installment sees a third Flash enter the game, changing the dynamics of the conflict in a whole new way.
Rogue Profile
Everything about “Flash War” was put into motion by Hunter Zolomon, the one-time Rogue Profiler and ally of Wally West. Zolomon was a disgraced federal agent whose incorrect analysis of a criminal led to the death of his father-in-law, the dissolution of his marriage and the end of his career. Hoping to make things right, he specialized in the Rogues of Central and Keystone City and worked with the Gem Cities’ police departments and The Flash. However, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time when a militia from Gorilla City staged a breakout for Grodd, and was badly injured as a result.
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Confined to a hospital bed, Zolomon reflected on everything bad that had happened to him and begged The Flash to let him use the Cosmic Treadmill to go back and save his father-in-law, marriage and career., When he was refused, he took it upon himself to break into The Flash museum and attempt it, but without a link to the Speed Force, it literally blew up in his face and displaced him from the timeline. What that meant was that his own personal timeline ran parallel to time, allowing him to travel up and down it, giving him the illusion of superspeed.
Inspired by Eobard Thawne, Zolomon became Zoom and rather than dedicate his life to killing or getting revenge on The Flash, he had convinced himself his purpose was to make Wally West a better hero through tragedy. Thus, he began targeting the people closest to The Flash. But even when he was engaged in the most despicable of actions, he claimed his goals were to help Wally in his own twisted way.
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He hadn't been seen since the dawn of The New 52 and the shifts in continuity, but he reappeared recently and it was revealed that he had teamed up with Thawne in the 25th century. Following the death of Eobard Thawne at the hands of Iris West in the "Running Scared" story arc, Hunter Zolomon was stranded in the future, which refocused him into seeing The Flashes as unable to be the heroes he wants them to be and planning on taking their place to do a better job himself.
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Puppets On A String
Posing as a temporal judge in the twenty-fifth century, Zolomon commanded The Renegades — an anti-Reverse Flash task force led by Commander Cold and modeled after The Rogues — to journey to the twenty-first century and arrest Iris West for the murder of Eobard Thawne. In doing so, he was able to bring Wally West to the future, where he revealed the truth about Wally’s missing children, along with the claim that they're trapped in the Speed Force. If Wally could break the Speed Force open, Solomon promised, he could rescue all the missing speedsters and be reunited with his kids.
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However, Barry Allen tried something similar once already in an attempt to save his mother’s life. It resulted in the Flashpoint timeline, which gave Doctor Manhattan the opportunity to mess with the history of the DC Universe and remove key relationships and moments, including Wally and his children. Now, Barry is sympathetic to Wally’s desire to rescue his children, but has always wanted Wally to be a better Flash than he ever was and not repeat his mistakes. This is what led to the round-the-world race in The Flash #49 as Barry tries to catch up with Wally and stop him from doing irreversible damage to the fabric of the universe.
Unfortunately, Barry is unsuccessful and in his efforts to stop Wally, he actually helped contribute to the shattering of the Speed Force, which was Zolomon’s plan all along. Arriving in the present day, Zolomon now has access to the Speed Force, with which he defeats the Justice League. Wielding the original Flash Ring, Zolomon claims that neither Barry nor Wally has suffered the necessary tragedy to be the kind of hero The Flash needs to be, and takes the mantle for himself, becoming The Flash.
The New Flash
Zolomon becoming The Flash is somewhat reminiscent of the classic Mark Waid/Greg LaRocque story “The Return of Barry Allen” where the recently deceased hero returns to the lives of The Flash family, only for it to be discovered he is actually a time-travelling Eobard Thawne determined to take his greatest hero/fiercest enemy’s place in history. There’s something about Reverse-Flashes that leads them to believe they can do the job better than the heroes themselves, most of which is rooted in jealousy of what they perceive to be the perfect, happy lives they live.
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Now that Hunter Zolomon is The Flash, we truly have a “Flash War” on our hands and the next issue blurb promises “Flash vs Flash vs Flash in The Flash #50!” which promises to be a status-quo shattering anniversary issue for both Barry Allen and Wally West. Tellingly, Wally doesn’t seem to be featured as heavily in the solicitations post-Flash #50, so it’s likely he doesn’t succeed in rescuing his family — Zoom still claims to know where they really are — and wherever Barry Allen ends up, the Speed Force is going to be a very different beast following "Flash War."