Character Spotlight: The Flash

Okay, the Flash isn't the only one that makes me want to run. Seeing Tom Cruise (Mission Impossible: Fallout, Tropic Thunder) run makes me want to run but I don't think he's even human. I mean, come on, you shatter your ankle doing a crazy jump and the doctors tell you that you gotta stay off of it for six months or you won't walk again and six weeks later, you're running all over the place and doing crazy stunts again like it's nothing. Not only is that dedication, but that's also gotta be some type of stuff that makes you wonder if you're human or not. Shit, I'm getting sidetracked.

Barry Allen a.k.a the Flash a.k.a the Fastest Man Alive is definitely one of my favorite characters ever since I saw Justice League on Cartoon Network as a kid. At that time, it was Wally West who's the second-best Flash but I didn't know that. I didn't know who Barry Allen was until I watched Smallville and even though it was Bart Allen who's Barry Allen's grandson, I had a friend who taught me the basics of the different characters like the Flash.

By the time I got to college, I ended up meeting people who were just like me that were into superheroes which didn't really throw me off. It was really reassuring to know that I wasn't the only one. Anyway, I met my friend, Peter who also helped me through the hard time I was facing after what I went through with the Sofia debacle and he was the one who would teach me a lot more things I never knew about The Flash. Plus, he came at the right time because the TV show with Grant Gustin had just started its first season and I didn't start watching it until its ninth episode where he tried to fight the Reverse Flash.

Every Wednesday, the next day after a new episode premiered, a few friends and I (including Peter) would lose our minds over what happened because of how awesome the show was getting. It was like every episode that came out, we were likely to end up in the hospital for nerd overload since we were experiencing the symptoms like profuse sweating, lightheadedness, and sometimes nausea but with me, that usually hits me with Marvel movies.

Anyway, I ended up becoming an even bigger fan of the Flash when one of my friends showed me The Flashpoint Paradox. It's the story of when Barry Allen changes the timeline to save his mom and when he saves his mom, a lot of other crazy stuff happens. For example, Barry never becomes the Flash, Superman was found by the government instead of the Kents while Wonder Woman and Aquaman end up in a love triangle and they start a war that affects everyone, Bruce Wayne dies instead of his parents, his mom becomes the Joker, his dad becomes Batman, and Hal Jordan never becomes Green Lantern and dies.

Ever since that story, I was doing nothing but reading up on the Flash and ended up learning that Barry Allen isn't the first. It was Jay Garrick and then it was Barry Allen.

Now, how did the Flash end up being the one who makes me want to run beside Tom Cruise? Well, when I was working out when I could, I used to listen to music that would get me going to the point where I'd go faster the more the music got louder and eventually, I ended up challenging Peter who did a lot more running than I did, but we still haven't run yet since life happened. I got a feeling it'll happen sometime.