My story’s one you’re probably all familiar with. Boy meets girl, boy falls for girl, boy watches his mother killed in front of him by a blur of yellow lightning, boy’s father is wrongfully imprisoned for murder, boy loses girl.

Years later, boy grows up and becomes a forensic sciences major in order to prove boy’s father was innocent, boy moves back home, boy meets girl again, boy gets a job at a crime lab for the same police department girl is writing an exposé on, boy falls for girl again. Boy gets caught up in an interdimensional resonance cascade at a high-concept super-science laboratory, boy can suddenly tap into an undiscovered force in the universe that lets him warp time and space around him to move at impossible speeds. Boy is enlisted by super-genius director of said laboratory as a proverbial guinea pig to push the boundaries of known physics, boy sees people in danger and goes off the beaten path to save them, boy begins an exciting and illustrious career fighting crime and saving people as the Fastest Man Alive.

Tale as old as time, right?

Well, I’ve been on the job for a few years now, and I’m dangerously close to having my act together. I got my BS and am working on my Masters degree. I finally moved out of Mr. Garrick’s garage and have an apartment to myself uptown. Captain West actually laughs at my jokes now…well, sometimes…once or twice. But he doesn’t stare daggers at me when I’m with Iris anymore. And speaking of Iris, I finally worked up the courage, and she said yes. And as the Flash, I’ve saved the city more times than I can count, even saved the whole world once or twice, though that’s usually as part of a team. I’ve got my own sidekick —Iris's nephew Wally— a trophy room packed with enough stuff that I could open my own museum, and I’m even on the Justice League! Like, main inner circle! I get to sit at the table with Superman and Batman and Wonder Woman! And they think I know what I’m doing! ….well, Batman probably doesn’t….

Still, even with things looking up, none of it’s guaranteed to stay that way. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that life comes at you fast. Lucky for me, fast is what I’m all about.

OOC Thoughts:
I’ll be honest, Flash hasn’t ever really been one of my favorites. Comic Barry has always been a bit of a snore, CW Barry started off fun and then fell off, and movie Barry is mostly irritating. However, there are two versions of the Flash that I absolutely love and will be drawing my inspiration from: Wally from the DCAU, and Byrd Man’s take on Flash from Ultimate DC way back in the day. Playing into the “dork in real life, swaggering adventurer in costume” archetype, I’m also infusing this version of Barry with bits of Spectacular Spider-Man, Archie and IDW’s take on Sonic the Hedgehog, and David Tennant’s run as the Doctor. Basically anyone who talks fast and banters a lot, but backs it up with genuine heroics.

ROAMING CHARACTER

Rather than being a driving character, I want to take advantage of the Flash’s speed and his nature as a team player to primarily work doing crossovers and team-ups. While Barry definitely has his own things going on, I feel like he’s best served as part of an ensemble, so I plan on keeping his dance card open as much as possible.