Summary

• Superman and The Flash have raced several times in DC Comics, each using the other to their limits.
• In recent years, both Wally West's Flash and Superman have experienced a significant increase in power that's granted them special abilities.
• In light of Superman and The Flash's most recent race, the winner turned out to be the most motivated contender.

The Flash may be known as The Fastest Man Alive, but he's not the only speedster hero from DC Comics. In fact, his biggest rival doesn't even come from the Flash Family. Despite being nicknamed the Man of Steel, Superman possesses superspeed on par with the Flash.

As long as those two heroes have existed alongside each other, DC Comics fans have asked themselves the question of whether The Flash or Superman is the fastest superhero in the world. The pair have raced against one another to test their skills before, but now DC has released a new version of the race with a definitive winner.

Updated on October 12th, 2023 by David Harth: The Flash and Superman are two of the fastest superheroes in comics. Over the years, Superman and the Flash have had a friendly rivalry about who was faster and many comics have pit the two against each other in races. Recent years caused both characters go through some big changes, which makes fans question of who would win in a race today.

Superman Is More Powerful Than Ever

Superman's history is full of milestones, but 2021 gave readers one they never expected. Superman's powers started to go on the wane. This often flew in the face of what readers had seen over the years. There have been many stories set in Superman's future where he became more powerful than ever, like Kingdom Come or DC One Million. Kingdom Come Superman had absorbed so much solar radiation that he was invulnerable to Kryptonite and survived being ground zero at a nuclear blast. DC One Million revealed the Prime Superman to readers, the most powerful version of Superman ever. This Superman had lived in the Solar Fortress of Solitude for tens of thousands of years, and was basically a god. Other stories revealed that future versions of Superman could become weaker, but most fans just assumed that Superman was always going to get more powerful.

Superman's powers are amazing, but at the tail end of 2021, he lost many of them. It got to the point where the Man of Steel could barely fly at all. Superman created a new version of the Authority in order to make up for his physical weaknesses. Superman left Earth in Jon Kent's hand, then he led the Authority to Warworld to free the planet from the tyrannical yoke of its leader, Mongul.

Mongul defeated Superman and the Authority, forcing the weakened Superman to fight in his gladiatorial arenas. Superman started a rebellion, giving the people of Warworld hope in the battle against Mongul. Eventually, Superman found the Fire of Olgrun, a source of power that was at the core of Warworld. Superman absorbed this power and suddenly his powers came back even greater than ever.

Superman defeated Mongul and saved the people of Warworld, bringing them back to Earth. His new powers were put to the test immediately by Lex Luthor, who had tried to wipe the memory of Superman's secret identity from the world. Superman made short work of Luthor and used new powers he'd never had before. Superman even destroyed Lex's greatest anti-Superman armor yet with little more than a touch.

At this point, it's hard to tell how powerful Superman is. Post-Crisis Superman was drastically weakened, but as time went on, he inched closer and closer to Silver Age Superman's power level. New 52 Superman was able to lift the planet Earth, which isn't something that post-Crisis Superman could do. The current Superman's power level, with the Fire of Olgrun enhancements, seems to be at pre-Crisis levels. Superman told Lex that his powers were greater than ever, and that he had control of things like gravity and spacetime. That's a major power upgrade and means that a race against the Flash would go differently than before.

Wally West Is The Flash Again

In a race against Superman, it definitely matters which Flash is doing the running. Jay Garrick is the first Flash, but he's also one of the slower ones. He would definitely lose in a race against Superman. Barry Allen is the next Flash, and the one who raced Superman in Superman: Up In The Sky. Barry is a powerful Flash, having pushed the boundaries of what super speed can do, but he's not the most powerful or fastest Flash. In fact, upon his return of life, they had to retcon the Speed Force to make Allen more integral to its power so that he could be a better Flash. Younger Flashes like Bart Allen and Avery Ho are fast, but their youth and relative inexperience with the Speed Force would hinder them in a foot race against the Man of Steel.

However, none of them are the main Flash anymore. Instead, Wally West is the Flash again. West was the first Kid Flash and learned how to be a speedster from Jay Garrick and Barry Allen. His powers weren't as great as Barry's when he took over as the Flash following Allen's death. However, that changed when the Reverse-Flash came back in time and pretended to be Barry Allen. Wally learned about the existence of the Speed Force from Max Mercury and learned how to harness its energies, reaching greater speeds than he ever had before. He mastered the Speed Force as the years went on and soon became the fastest human being to exist.

Wally West can do things with the Speed Force that no other Flash could do at the time. He could even drain the speed from an object and add it to his own, giving him a boost when he needed it. Wally could run at many times the speed of light and reach speeds that other Flashes would find impossible. His mastery of the Speed Force is unprecedented among the speedsters of the DC Multiverse. The fact Wally West is once again the current Flash changes the entire dynamic of a Superman-vs-Flash race.

The Tale Of The Tape

Superman and Wally West are both operated at the height of their abilities. In the past, Wally handily won every race against Superman, but he was also facing the weaker post-Crisis Superman. Current Superman is much more powerful, and his control of spacetime means his running speed is no longer by how fast he actually he is. This new aspect of Superman's powers hasn't really been shown a lot lately. Theoretically, it could make Superman similar to Zoom, one of Wally's enemies. Zoom isn't a speedster in a traditional sense; Zoom controls the flow of time around him, which allows him to move much faster than anyone can imagine. However, even if this is the extent of Superman's new powers, Wally can handle it. Wally learned how to channel the Speed Force in such a way that he can move faster than Zoom could, even with his control over time.

The Flash could also drain Superman's speed and add it to his own, but that would probably be against the rules of the race. At base levels — i.e. the levels of power that Wally and Superman have both showed when it comes to foot speed — Wally would take the race. With Superman's newly enhanced power, he'd likely win. But if there were no rules against how Wally used the Speed Force, then Wally would win. At this point, until DC does another Superman/Flash race that takes into account Wally being Flash again and Superman's new powers, the answer to who would win depends entirely on how the writer wants the race to go, since both of them have powers that would allow them to triumph.

Historical Rivalry

The Man of Steel and The Flash first raced each other in 1967, in Superman #199, by Jim Shooter Curt Swan, and George Klein. Like many of their future races, the pair go up against each other for charity. They competed twice for good causes, and in both instances, the races ended in a tie. The third race featured the pair working together to stop the destruction of planets, with Flash barely crawling in for the win. Most of their subsequent races have seen similar results, with either Barry Allen or Wally West proving fast enough to outrace Superman. When he really cuts loose, the Flash can run circles around Superman.

The friendly rivalry between the pair has transcended comics and appeared in other mediums. The DC Animated Universe version of the Flash was first introduced in a race with Superman in the episode "Speed Demons". The two also tested their powers against one another during one of the post-credits sequences of Justice League. Earlier in the film, Superman had kept up with Flash, but the movie concluded on a playful note as the pair decided to go all out.

Ready, Set, Go

The newest race between Superman and the Flash comprises ten laps around the world, and once more it's for charity. With the entire world watching, both men give it their all. Although Flash takes an early lead, Superman keeps going and closes the gap. The race takes on an added complication when Lex Luthor, who is watching the race, analyzes what's happening and realizes that at his current trajectory, Superman can't win. So, in another attempt to sway public perception about Superman, Luthor tells the charity that if Superman wins the race, he'll donate a billion dollars to the foundation. He figures that when Superman loses to the Flash, people will blame him for the charity losing the potential windfall he's offering.

Thanks to his super-hearing, though, Superman overhears Luthor's scheme. Deciding that he can't allow the charity to miss out on all that money, Superman tries his hardest to catch up with the Flash. He doesn't want to cheat by telling the Flash what's going on, so Superman pushes his speed to the limits. Thinking about all the impossible things he's done in the past for a good cause, Superman barrels through the race in its final moments. Superman just barely pulls ahead and crosses the finish line just before Flash. A win that forces Lex to build a massive new home for children.

Despite the Flash's connection to the Speed-Force giving him a potentially unlimited amount of power and speed, Superman never gives up if he's doing the right thing. And if going faster than the fastest man alive is what it takes, then DC just showed that Superman has it in him to do it.