The Flash (DC Rebirth) is anAmericansuperherocomic book written by Joshua Williamson (ofNailbiter andBirthright fame) and publishedtwice-monthly byDC Comics. The title follows the adventure ofBarry Allen as thesuperheroFlash inCentral City. The title is part of DC'sRebirth relaunch, following the end ofThe New 52 initiative established following theFlashpoint storyline in 2011, and started publication in August 2016. In May 2020, the title reverted back to itsoriginal numbering with #750, and ceased publication with #800 in August 2023.

While investigating a crime scene,Barry Allen has visions ofWally West,Eobard Thawne and anindividual in white clothes. While running through Central City, Barry encounters Wally, who had been absorbed into theSpeed Force and attempts to warn Barry about the involvement ofsomeone in the timeline. Just as Wally is about to be absorbed into the Speed Force, Barry remembers him and pulls him out. Reuniting, Wally also warns Barry that they "are being watched". After discussing what to do next, Barry goes to visitBatman to talk about thebutton they found.

While at a crime scene, Barry reunites with his old friend August Heart, who was present on the day he was struck by lightning and gained his powers. Soon, citizens all over Central City gain the powers of the Speed Force seemingly at random.

As Barry neglects to train the new Kid Flash (Who coincidentally is also namedWally West), he decides to take matters into his own hands and battle theShade.

After the supervillain teamThe Rogues has mysteriously disappeared, Flash goes looking for them. The Rogues enact deadly traps to kill Flash once and for all.

Eobard Thawne (aka the Reverse Flash) returns once again to ruin Barry's life and threatens to strike down everyone close to him.

Barry's new powers aren't working properly as he faces a new villain, Bloodwork, who has secret ties to Barry Allen.

The One-Minute War takes place over issues 790 to 796 with one special in between 792 and 793.

An alien force that can harness the Speed Force known as the Fraction invade Earth, arriving with their ship in the middle of Central City and causing everyone on the planet except for the Flash Family to be frozen in time. The destruction caused by their ship took the lives of thousands, includingIris West.^[17]

Wally West eventually findsBarry Allen crying over Iris's death before rescuing him.Wallace West andBart Allen bicker and argue about what to do, before they are saved byJay Garrick and Jesse Quick from the Fraction. Finding refuge in the West house, the Flash Family briefly grief over the loss of Iris, before trying to come up with a plan to stop the Fraction.Jesse Quick andMax Mercury comment that the Fraction's spire is the same one the two saw while traveling the multiverse during theDark Crisis. The Fraction plan to collectmetahumans and the Flash family for a wedding present for the Empress, and release Miss Murder to take down the family.^[18]

The Fraction is revealed to be an alien race who originate from a planet similar toEarth and had an Empress. The Fraction found an energy source (theSpeed Force) that could help progress their civilization even further so they created a machine to harness it. After a successful attempt of them harnessing the Speed Force, the Empress wanted more and they started invading planets. The leader of the Fraction agreed to invade Earth as long as he gets to marry the Empress, to which the Empress agrees. As the Fraction invasion continues across the planet, they are faced with other speedsters likeAvery Ho andGodspeed. The Fraction even faced Surge, a Jai West from the future that learned to better control his powers.^[19]

Wally West convinces Barry Allen to leave Iris' side for a while, and help formulate a plan. The Flash family realize that the Fraction may have artificially accessed the Speed Force and they occupy a huge portion of Central City andKeystone City. Kid Flash and Impulse infiltrate the faction ship and managed to steal a vehicle from them (because Barry Allen wants a car) while also rescuing a person that they were using as a battery along with many other heroes (Superman,Captain Atom), narrowly escaping the grasp of Miss Murder.^[20]

In 2011,DC Comics published theFlashpointstory arc in whichBarry Allen travelled back in time in order to prevent his motherNora Allen's murder. While doing so, he ended up altering the universe, creating one in whichWonder Woman andAquaman are at war with one another and have decimated Western Europe, among other changes. Following its conclusion, the series radically changed thestatus quo of theDC Universe, leading toThe New 52. DC cancelled all of their titles and debuted 52 new series in September 2011 with new first issues.^[21] One of the new 52 series starting in September was the fourth volume ofThe Flash, starring Barry Allen.^[22]

In February 2015, it was announced that following theConvergence storyline in May, DC would be ending its New 52 branding, though the continuity established post-Flashpoint would continue.^[23] In February 2016, DC announced anotherline-wide relaunch of their titles calledDC Rebirth. Rebirth was an attempt to restore the DC Universe to a form similar to the one beforeFlashpoint, while still incorporating elements of The New 52, including its continuity.^[24] Due to the relaunch, the New 52Flash volume ended with #52 in May 2016.^[25]

As part of the DC Rebirth imprint relaunch,The Flash was first announced in March 2016, with Joshua Williamson writing the title.^[26] AThe Flash: Rebirthone-shot was published in June, with the series starting the same month.^[27]

Williamson revealed during a Rebirth livestream that he first approachedDan DiDio about wanting to writeThe Flash in Summer 2015,^[28] telling DiDio that writingThe Flash is "really important to [him, and] that there's a story that [he] really [has] to tell".^[28] He also revealed that during the first story arc, aSpeed Force storm would hitCentral City. The storm would strike numerous people and give them super speed, with Barry having to train them.^[28] Among the characters to receive powers, Williamson also revealed a newspeedster namedGodspeed who would act as the main antagonist during the first story arc.^[29] To differentiate Godspeed from previous evil speedsters likeEobard Thawne, Williamson made the character more sympathetic and calculating.^[30] An element of Barry's character that Williamson wanted to highlight in the title, was his passion for "doing the right thing". During the first arc, the evolution ofWallace West intoKid Flash is also explored.^[31]

According to Williamson, neither DiDio norGeoff Johns mandated any of the Rebirth titles to resemble their film or TV adaptations. During early meeting, Williamson suggest the inclusion of character similar toHarrison Wells from theTV series to be in the comic; the idea was shut down due to not wanting to make the comic similar to the show.^[30]

Williamson stated that theRogues are some of his favoriteFlash villains and planned to use them following the conclusion of the first story arc.^[30]

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• 2016 comics debuts
• DC Comics titles
• Flash (DC Comics character)
• Superhero comics

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