Who Is Black Flash? ‘The Flash’ Movie Villain’s Origin, Powers, and Abilities

The upcoming Flash movie is set to reboot the DC Cinematic Universe and prepare for the upcoming phase dubbed “Gods & Monsters.” The movie is yet to be released, but we’ve gotten a glimpse of a terrifying new Flash villain set to appear in the movie. But who is this mysterious character, and what makes him so formidable? In this article, we’ll explore the origin, powers, and abilities of Black Flash and take a closer look at why he’s such a worthy adversary for the Fastest Man Alive.

Black Flash is just one more personification of death in the DC universe. Black Flash specifically targets characters that have super speed and harvests their souls. Once the souls of DC’s speedsters are harvested, they return to the source of their powers – the Speed Force itself. How Black Flash came to be is unknown except that the Speed Force created it, but it is said that the entity is incredibly powerful, with numerous reality-bending powers at its disposal, including immortality. 

Now that we’ve covered, in short, who the Black Flash is, it’s time to analyze this enigmatic character in a bit more detail. If you’re interested in more, stay with us and keep reading!

Who or What is Black Flash, and where did it come from? 

The story of Black Flash is incredibly interesting because it’s just one more personification of death within the DC universe. The Black Flash was created by the Speed Force in order to keep the balance and protect it against any harm, so in a sense, Black Flash is able to “harvest” other forces as well. This was witnessed when the new incarnation of Black Flash appeared in The Flash Vol 5 #76. 

But the primary role of Black Flash is to harvest the souls of Speedsters that are “running out of time.” It’s been theorized that Black Flash was created because speedsters are able to outrun regular old death. Thus, to be reunited with the Speed Force, Black Flash has to harvest since the entity is potentially faster than all of the speedsters combined. 

Black Flash appeared to numerous extra-fast characters over the years. He appeared to Wally West, Barry Allen, Johnny Quick, Max Mercury, and Bart Allen. Most recently, the Speed Force summoned Black Flash to eliminate the conduits of the newly reborn Still, Sage, and Strength Forces, as the revival of these forces was slowly weakening the Speed Force. 

Black Flash pursued Steadfast, the user of the Still Force, to the Flash Museum in Central City, but with the help of the Flash, Steadfast managed to escape. However, Black Flash resurfaced again and successfully located and killed Psych, the Sage Force conduit, in Scotland before the Flash could intervene. As a result, the connection between the Speed and Sage Forces was broken, partially restoring the health of the Speed Force.

As we’ve said, the purpose of the Black Flash is two-fold. The Black Flash is supposed to eliminate other forces that weaken the Speed Force, and it’s supposed to harvest the souls of other speedsters to return them to the Speed Force. 

Black Flash can cause instantaneous death 

Black Flash is an aspect of death; due to this, it has many bizarre powers and abilities. For once, even a single touch of Black Flash can cause near-instantaneous death and prove lethal, returning the souls of the speedsters back to the great source of their powers.

Black Flash once set his sights on Wally West instead of him. The entity took his girlfriend, Linda. After stalking Wally for weeks and terrorizing him, Wally managed to get rid of Black Flash by running with him until the end of time, until the whole concept of death stopped making any sense. However, those means of defeating Black Flash don’t make that much sense, and in the rest of this post, you’ll see why. 

Black Flash is not bound by the laws of nature and physics 

Black Flash is capable of dimensional travel, as it can quickly move from one universe and reality to another. It’s also powerful enough to utilize Time Travel, like most other speedsters connected to the speed force. Not only can Black Flash move forward and backward in time, but Black Flash can also freeze time completely, which is the ability reserved for some of the most powerful characters in the DC Universe. 

As an aspect of Death, Black Flash has superhuman physiology 

It goes without saying that Black Flash is extremely fast. Since the speed force itself created the entity, Black Flash can vastly outrun the speed of light and most other speedsters. I mean, it has to be fast enough to at least keep up with them to harvest their souls. 

Besides super speed, Black Flash likewise has superhuman reflexes and balance. He is capable of lifting extreme weights, and in terms of stamina, Black Flash never gets tired. 

This is most likely due to the fact that the entity is directly connected to the Speed Force, and the force itself allows the Black Flash to empower himself with it. Black Flash can run almost indefinitely. 

Black Flash is immortal and can make himself intangible 

As a personification of death, Black Flash cannot be killed through conventional means. Wally West was aware of this and realized that the only way to get rid of the Black Flash was to “trap him.” Wally West ran with Black Flash until they reached the end of time. However, this makes little sense because, as you can see, Black Flash can manipulate time and space and travel through dimensions with little effort. 

Black Flash can make himself completely intangible if needed by vibrating his molecules at incredible speeds. 

And that’s pretty much it. As you can see, Black Flash, in the comics, is one terrifying entity, and the fact that he will appear in the upcoming movie signals bad things for our favorite speedster. 

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