THE FLASH Season 2 got Wally West completely wrong

I have a lot of complaints about The Flash Season 2, mostly pertaining to Zoom and, well, everything about Zoom being a less-impressive ripoff of the Reverse-Flash. But I want to talk about Wally West today.


Wally West was introduced in 1959. He's the president of the Flash fan club, gets to meet the second Flash (Barry Allen), gets struck by lightning, gets the Flash's powers, and becomes Kid Flash. At some point, he joins the Teen Titans and serves alongside Dick Grayson (then Robin I). After Barry Allen's death in Crisis on Infinite Earths, Wally becomes the third Flash in 1986. (Indeed, one of the reasons Barry remains dead for over twenty years is because fans accept and love Wally as his successor.) Barry returns in 2008, and, barring a wrinkle in time, there have been two Flashes since. (I am not going to talk about the New 52 or Rebirth here.)

There's an interesting comparison/contrast to be made with Dick Grayson. Dick was introduced almost 20 years before Wally was, but they're about the same age, they were in the Teen Titans together, they both left the sidekick gig in the mid-80s, and they're both the third person to wear their mentor's mantle.

But Dick Grayson never wanted to be Batman. Post-Crisis, his relationship with Bruce has been (despite his efforts) distant and professional. Yes, Dick is the only Son of Batman who's allowed to question Bruce's actions (cf. Hush), but only if Bruce happens to be in a good mood (cf. A Lonely Place of Dying). For his two stints as Batman, he only takes up the role when it becomes clear that nobody else is up to the task. (The first time he does it, in 1995, it's because Bruce asks him to and he knows it's going to be a temporary role. The second time, in 2009, he thinks Bruce is dead, and does it both because Gotham needs a Bat and because Bruce's son Damian - Robin V - badly needs a father figure.) Dick never wanted to be Batman; Wally loves being the Flash.

That distance between Bruce and Dick is not present in the relationship between Barry and Wally. Wally is, put simply, the happiest, most loyal ex-sidekick/legacy character in the DC universe.

And they made him a punk kid.

Boo.