Wally West's Missing Kids May Factor Into Flash War

The upcoming “Flash War” storyline is said to be the biggest Flash story in years. Despite that promise, all we know about it so far is that the original Wally West is at the heart of it, and something may happen to drive a wedge between him and his uncle, Barry Allen.

Despite Barry’s return nearly a decade ago, there hasn’t been much interaction between the two characters, and seemingly little cause for them to fall out. However, while Wally remembers his life before the Flashpoint event, and he recalls his marriage to Linda Park, he’s shown no indication that he remembers that the two of them had children together: Jai and Irey. What happens when a man remembers children that no longer exist, and who does he blame for it? That question may very well be at the heart of “Flash War.”

Double Trouble

Wally West and Linda Park first learned they were pregnant during Geoff Johns’ run on The Flash, and it was soon discovered that they were expecting twins. However, an attack by Wally’s former-friend turned most-hated enemy Hunter Zolomon caused Linda to miscarry and lose both children in one of the most crushing defeats a superhero has ever faced. A later fight between Wally and Zoom saw them travel back in time to their original fight, where Wally was able to push the present-Zoom in front of the past-Zoom and absorb the blow, saving Linda. At that moment, Linda went into labor and gave birth to two healthy baby twins, a boy and a girl whom they named Jai and Iris.

When the Flash Family ran Superboy-Prime into the Speed Force during Infinite Crisis, Linda took the babies and grabbed onto Wally, travelling with him as a family. Shortly afterwards, Bart Allen returned to the DCU, but as an adult... and as The Flash, reassuring everyone that Wally and Linda were safe and happy.

Wally and his family eventually returned during the Justice League of America/Justice Society of America crossover “The Lightning Saga,” with Jai and Irey now tweens and in the early stages of developing their own powers, abilities that wereconnected to the Speed Force. Irey developed phasing powers similar to Shadowcat and Jai was able to temporarily super-speed his muscles to gain super strength.

During the return of Barry Allen, Professor Zoom untangled the Speed Force "knot" binding Jai and Irey, removing the former’s powers and granting the latter super-speed. Irey became the new Impulse, but wasn’t really seen again as the universe rebooted with Flashpoint not long after.

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Absent from the DCU for years during the New 52 continuity reboot, Wally West returned in the pages DC Universe Rebirth #1 and quickly established that he remembers his life before he became trapped in the Speed Force. He remembers Barry, and his aunt Iris, and his wife Linda, but he’s shown no inclination that he remembers either of his children.

Comics have tackled unique incidents like this before, of course; the recent volume of Jessica Jones, for example, dealt with the fallout of Secret Wars by showing the impact of universe shaking continuity events on ordinary people. Astro City #½, titled “The Nearness of You” followed a man whose wife was erased from existence by a Crisis-style continuity shake-up and the malaise he found himself in searching for a person that no longer exists. It’s a unique sense of existential terror to love and remember someone who never existed.

So what will happen if and when Wally West remembers his twins?

Up until DC Universe Rebirth #1, Barry Allen was thought to be responsible for the changes to DC's continuity. He went back in time to save his mother from Professor Zoom and in doing so, created the Flashpoint timeline. Upon fixing that timeline, he created a new history for the DC Universe which folded in aspects of WildStorm and Vertigo’s superhero characters. For years, as far as everyone knew, that’s how things always were. Wally’s return changed things, as he told Barry that he wasn’t responsible for the changes to continuity and it was in fact someone who stole time, memories and relationships equivalent to a decade from the heroes of the DC Universe.

Wally’s unlikely to blame Barry for the loss of his children, but he may want to go back and fix things, which is where we can see the rift come into play. Barry knows that meddling with time can lead to disastrous results, but there’s nothing more determined than a superhero separated from their children. When it comes down to it, the inevitable "Flash War" may very well be the result of Barry’s attempts to stop Wally from meddling with the timestream. And by placing Wally's pre-New 52 family at the heart of the event, it may very well live to its billing as one of the most important Flash stories in decades.