As the fastest man alive, The Flash earned his place as one of DC's greatest heroes. The legacy hero has had quite a few characters take up the mantle over the years. Most fans know about Barry Allen from The CW series or the big screen films, but iconic characters like Jay Garrick and Wally West have also operated as the Scarlet Speedster.
All versions of The Flash have also met and interacted with other variants from across DC's multiverse or the timeline. Given their unique powerset, the Flashes can freely travel across the multiverse and through time. Garrick, Allen, and West have each met quite a few different versions of the iconic character, though a few have stood out to fans more than others.
Updated on June 13, 2023, by Scoot Allan: Fans eagerly awaiting the release of 2023's The Flash couldn't wait to see which versions of Flash would appear in the character's solo film. With multiple versions of both Barry Allen and Batman appearing in the multiversal film, the possibility to see a few of the best variants of DC's Scarlet Speedster continues to hype the film's release.
13 Bizarro Flash
First Appearance: Action Comics #856 (November 2007) by Geoff Johns, Richard Donner, and Eric Powell
Fans already know Bizarro as one of Superman's most iconic enemies. Bizarros is a twisted reversal of Superman, and the same can be said for Bizarro Flash. When the third version of Bizarro gained the ability to create new versions of himself, he populated the cube-shaped world of Htrae with Bizarro-versions of the Justice League.
Bizarro Flash has a mustard stain instead of a lightning bolt on his suit to further highlight his increased weight when compared to the regular Flash. Despite being a bit overweight, he can still run at fast speeds and shares most of The Flash's powers, it's just a bit more difficult for Bizarro Flash to use them. A new slim version of Bizarro Flash appeared in DC's reborn Multiverse of Earth 29.
12 The Crash
First Appearance: Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew #14 (April 1983) by E. Nelson Bridwell and Scott Shaw
In a comical Earth-C-Minus, comic book animals populate the world much like Earth-C, though they exist in comic book form only. Captain Carrot's civilian identity Rodney Rabbit creates the comic book adventures of the Just'a Lotta Animals, which are based on the mainstream universe's Justice League.
While Captain Carrot fights alongside a unique variant of The Flash known as Fastback in his reality, he writes about a different variant of the Flash in his comic. The Crash is a cartoon turtle with a connection to the Speed Force that gives him identical powers to The Flash. The Crash is one of the most respected heroes in his universe and a legendary alternate version of the Flash.
11 Tanaka Rei/The Flash
First Appearance: Legends of the DC Universe: Crisis on Infinite Earths (February 1999) by Marv Wolfman and Paul Ryan
Tanaka Rei is from Earth-D, which is a reality similar to the real world. Superheroes only existed in comics initially, and Rei's favorite was none other than the Scarlet Speedster. When he first received his powers, he drew a lot of influence from Barry Allen's suit for his own.
Earth-D's Flash met Barry Allen during the iconic Crisis on Infinite Earths event. While Rei's world didn't survive the Crisis, he showed incredible courage and bravery fighting alongside his hero. Rei's version of the Flash fought with Earth-D's Justice Alliance of America, which featured more ethnically-diverse versions of Justice League members.
10 Accelerated Man
First Appearance: The Multiversity Guidebook #1 (March 2015) by Grant Morrison and Giuseppe Camuncoli
Fans of The CW's The Flash TV series briefly saw The Flash of Earth-19 following a few equally brief appearances in the comics. The Accelerated Man is a silent type with a huge hunger for justice. Much like the mainstream version of The Flash, Accelerated Man uses his connection to the Speed Force to do good in his world.
He even helped found a unique team much like the Justice League which included other Victorian variants like the Gotham by Gaslight version of Batman. Fans haven't learned much about the Accelerated Man, though he has worked alongside other multiversal heroes to take down the powerful Superjudge or confer with other Flashes about the multiverse.
9 Jesse Quick/The Flash
First Appearance: The Multiversity Guidebook #1 (March 2015) by Grant Morrison and Emanuela Lupacchino
On Earth-11, all of DC's recognized heroes and villains were gender-swapped. Superwoman, Batwoman, and Wonder Man led the Justice Guild, which included a female version of Flash as well. However, Earth-11's Flash was actually Jesse Quick, who briefly took on the role of the Flash in the mainstream universe before she became Liberty Belle.
Quick played a crucial role as Flash when she helped save the world from an Amazon attack led by Wonder Man. Earth-11's Flash is also Kid Quick's aunt. Jess Chambers is the non-binary hero who would eventually join the Future State's roster of the Justice League as the Flash.
8 The Flash
First Appearance: 52 #52 (July 2007) by Justin Gray and Travis Moore
Earth-10 is an evil DC reality where the Nazis won World War II, leading to a number of sweeping changes that affected the members of the Justice League as well. This led to the appearance of a Nazi speedster known as The Flash, though fans never learned which iconic character was behind the mask.
The Nazi version of The Flash has evil and horrible values and he is a ruthless and very dangerous villain. Earth-10's Nazi speedster was nearly unstoppable and very hard to see or punish for his crimes. Live-action fans saw a dark twist on the character in The CW's Crisis On Earth-X crossover special, which reimagined Reverse-Flash as the Nazi's deadly speedster.
7 Mary Maxwell/The Flash
First Appearance: Just Imagine: Flash #1 (January 2002) by Stan Lee and Kevin Maguire
Stan Lee worked with a few superstar creators to reimagine DC's most popular heroes using his Marvel method. DC's Just Imagine... line of titles featured wild new takes on established characters that included a brand new version of the Flash.
Mary Maxwell's father was a scientist who created a serum using hummingbird DNA before he was killed by a group of spies. The serum was accidentally injected into his daughter, giving Mary Maxwell superhuman speed as The Flash. She also joined Stan Lee's unique roster of the Justice League and has joined other Flashes across the multiverse.
6 Lia Nelson/Flash
First Appearance: Tangent Comics: Flash #1 (December 1997) by Todd Dezago and Gary Frank
Dan Jurgens conceptualized the Tangent universe as a DC variant where the appearance of superpowers affected the development of the world. Popular DC heroes were reimagined in completely different ways, which led to the debut of Lia Nelson as the Tangent universe's Flash.
Nelson was the first human child born in space, which resulted in the development of her light-based powers. She could move at incredible speed by transforming her body into pure light energy, though she could also manipulate that energy at will. While Nelson's heart wasn't fully into her role as the Flash due to her life as a celebrity, she ultimately proved herself as a hero.
5 Danica Williams/The Flash
First Appearance: Batman Beyond Unlimited #13 (April 2013) by Derek Fridolfs and Jorge Corona
A new speedster named Danica Williams took over as the Flash in the 2040s after Barry Allen and Wally West had long retired. Williams is always late like Barry Allen and she's overly enthusiastic about fighting crime like Wally, which could sometimes get her into trouble. She teamed up with Terry Mcginnis from the Batman Beyond comics and joined the Justice League of the Future.
Danica has all the same powers as the Flash, though she also has a very unique ability. Her connection to the Speed Force allows her to communicate with past Flashes like Jay Garrick and Wally West. This Speed Force ability helped her develop as a hero and gave her an edge that other speedsters in the past never had.
4 John Fox/The Flash
First Appearance: Flash Special #1 (July 1990) by Mark Waid and Mike Parobeck
Barry Allen and Wally West have met quite a few different versions of The Flash from future timelines over the years. one of the first and longest-lasting is a character named John Fox, who began his career as a time historian in the 27th century. He was sent back in time on a mission to gather Flashes from the past to help stop a villain in the future.
Fox's trip through time empowered him with superspeed, and he became his own version of the Flash when Wally West went missing in the present day. John Fox then headed to the 853rd Century using stolen time travel technology, where he became the Flash of DC One Million's Justice Legion A.
3 Bruce Wayne/Red Death
First Appearance: Dark Days: The Casting #1 (September 2017) by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo
In an alternate reality from the Dark Multiverse known as Earth -52, the deaths of several of Batman's Robins led the Dark Knight to find another way to save his city. He asked Barry Allen to help him gain a connection to the Speed Force, though the Flash refused. This led to a brutal fight between the two former teammates, though Batman gained the upper hand.
Using the Batmobile and the Flash's cosmic treadmill, the heroes merged together in the Speed Force, becoming the villainous Red Death. Bruce Wayne's mind was in control, though Barry Allen's consciousness lived to experience all the hurt and pain caused by their new form. Red Death became one of The Flash's fastest villains, as well as the deadliest.
2 Johnny Quick
First Appearance: Justice League of America #29 (August 1964) by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky
On the reversed world of Earth-3, fans met one of the darkest versions of the Justice League known as the Crime Syndicate. The team featured an evil version of the Flash as well, though the character was known as Johnny Quick instead.
With powers very similar to Barry, Johnny terrorized Earth-3 along with the rest of the Crime Syndicate. They were willing to do anything for their own personal gain, and they eventually set their sights on expanding to new planets across the multiverse. There have been a few different versions of Earth-3's Johnny Quick, and each has become increasingly more deadly.
1 Wally West/The Flash
First Appearance: Kingdom Come #1 (May 1996) by Mark Waid and Alex Ross
Kingdom Come's alternate Earth-22 features a much older and more grizzled Justice League. Heroes like Batman and Superman have retired as the next generation became more ruthless. Fans saw a very different version of The Flash in the dark future timeline of Kingdom Come. While the character wore Jay Garrick's iconic winged helmet, it was actually Wally West's evolved Flash form.
The fastest Flash maintained the same values as his predecessors, though he pushed himself into a new state of being by refusing to stop running. Kingdom Come's The Flash is constantly running from crime scene to crime scene to save as many people as he can, though it ultimately cost him the family life he had fought so hard to protect.