Comic Book / Absolute Flash

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Absolute Flash is a 2025 DC Comics series written by Jeff Lemire with art by Nick Robles. It is the fourth title in the Absolute Universe initiative.

Wally West was your typical angsty teenager whose father was an army colonel working in the super secret Project Olympus, until a freak accident exposed him to the energies of a mysterious otherwordly dimension and turned him into The Flash, the Fastest Man Alive. Adjusting to his newfound powers, he finds himself hunted by a familiar set of Rogues in the service of Project Olympus and its mad director, Dr. Elenore Thawne.

The first issue was released on March 19, 2025.

General tropes examples

• Mythology Gag

Absolute Flash contains examples of:

• Adaptational Achilles' Heel: Absolute Mirror Master needs to periodically come back to the mirror dimension or else he runs the risk of dying, whereas his mainline version has no such weakness.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: In the Prime DC universe, Wally was the third speedster to operate as the Flash, having inherited the mantle from his uncle, Barry Allen. Before that, he was Barry's Kid Sidekick, so he already had some experience when he stepped into the role. Wally is the first Flash of this universe, so he has to learn about his new powers on his own. Like most of his fellow heroes in this reality, he is also a Hero with Bad Publicity.
• Adaptational Backstory Change:
  • This version of Wally is a Military Brat, lacking friends and forced to move often due to his father's work. Rudy West is a military Colonel who doesn't have much in common with Wally, the latter only having positive interactions with friendly military scientist Barry Allen. In the first issue Wally walks in on Barry conducting an experiment seemingly intended to give himself speedster powers, but instead Wally gets the abilities and accidentally kills Barry when the latter warns him to "run!".
  • Eobard Thawne is a 1940s scientist who grew obsessed with accessing the Still Point and disappeared after finally opening a gateway into it. While he was presumed dead (and the government made him an Un-person), he was actually trapped in the Still Point where he mutated into a Transhuman Abomination.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • Zig-zagged. Captain Boomerang has always been a Badass Normal capable of regularly clashing with Speedsters, but stories will often vary on whether or not he has access to only ordinary (if absurdly sharp) boomerangs or his gimmicky trick boomerangs. Here, his boomerangs are a form of drone technology capable of following his commands and tracking people at long distances.
  • Mirror Master is also shaping up to be a very important character in the Absolute Universe, while most versions of the character wield enormous power but are content with being petty criminals or hitmen.
• Adaptational Context Change: Iron Heights is a neighbourhood in Central City, when in the Prime Timeline its a metahuman prison.
• Adaptational Heroism:
  • Gorilla Grodd is typically one of the Flash's fiercest foes, but here he becomes his Non-Human Sidekick.
  • The original Rudy West was a hustler whose constant scheming drove a wedge between him and his wife & son. While this version shares his Jerkass tendencies, he's a respectable colonel who acts as a Token Good Teammate to the Mad Scientists & Sociopathic Soldiers in Project Olympus and clearly loves Wally deeply even if he's not very good at showing it.
• Adaptational Job Change:
  • In the mainstream DC Universe, the Rogues were professional criminals, albeit with a strict code of honor. Here they are a military team working to capture Wally, being the closest thing to legally approved superheroes in this world, enforcing this reality’s corrupt status quo. However, at the end of Issue #7 they decide Screw the Rules, I Have Supernatural Powers! and go rogue, inviting Wally to join them, suggesting they'll become more like their mainstream counterparts.
  • Rather than a forensic scientist working for the police, Barry Allen is a part of Project Olympus, a classified military research project working on the cutting edge of physics and biology.
  • The Dibneys run a youth mission center, and there's no mention of them being detectives.
  • Jay Garrick was a Captain in the U.S. army.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Captain Boomerang, one of DC's biggest jerkasses, is infinitely less abrassive and unpleasant in this continuity, although he did sell out alongside the rest of his team to Syria in the past.
• Adaptational Origin Connection:
  • Captain Boomerang, Golden Glider, Captain Cold, Trickster, Heat Wave, Grodd, the Weather Wizard and Firestorm all got their powers from the experiments of Fort Fox's "Project Olympus", which employs Rudy West, Barry Allen and Elenore Thawne and is responsible for giving the Flash his superpowers too.
  • Barry Allen, Silas Stone and Sam Scudder knew each other before Scudder became Mirror Master, and were the founders of Starlabs.
• Adaptational Sexuality: Despite usually being at each other's throats, Trickster and Golden Glider sleep together in issue #15.
• Adaptational Slimness: James Jesse aka Trickster, normally depicted as being a tall, well-build man, is now depicted as a smaller and incredibly lanky woman.
• Adaptational Species Change: Absolute Grodd is a monkey, not a gorilla.
• Adaptational Superpower Change: Wally West's defining characteristic was his complete mastery over the Speed Force, which made him a Superior Successor to Barry Allen. In the Absolute Universe, Darkseid took that control away from him by replacing the structured Speed Force with something much more dangerous and unstable.
• Adaptational Ugliness: Heat Wave goes from a regular man, although one who is sometimes portrayed as covered in scars, to a grotesque walking pile of fire.
• Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Seemingly as a result of the experiments performed on them, the primates being used as test subjects by Project Olympus have begun turning green. Wally encounters on green monkey within the base; and later, multiple green apes are seen in footage within Project Olympus' archives (one of which is apparently wearing a crown and a cape).
• Adaptational Villainy:
  • The Rogues were soldiers discharged for treason after a Noodle Incident in Syria, which is a much graver crime than anything each of them did prior to becoming supervillains.
  • Jesse James is the Rogues' Token Evil Teammate who serves as The Mole to Elenore Thawne, compared to mainline James being the first Rogue to rehabilitate himself and leave his career as a costumed criminal behind to work for the FBI.
• Adaptational Wimp: Ralph Dibny doesn't become Elongated Man due to not getting superpowers, and instead remained a regular civilian.
• Age Lift: Eobard Thawne here was a contemporary of Jay Garrick rather than a time traveller from the 25th century.
• Ambiguously Evil:
  • The Free Comic Book Day Special reveals that Mirror Master has the goal of figuring out the forces controlling his world and exposing them, which is a heroic enough objective. However, the fact he uses the identity of one of the Flash's most prominent supervillain, mentions how he will "make this world fall" with a sinister smile in the Call-Forward at the end of issue #1, and is willing to collaborate with actual villains like Evan McCulloch in the FCBD Special and Brainiac in Absolute Evil in exchange for knowledge on the Prime Timeline or intel on other villains means he might not be as noble as he appears.
  • Barry Allen is introduced as a friendly Nice Guy that contrasts the flawed Rudy West, but as the comic goes on it's revealed he's a lot sketchier than mainline Barry: As he experimented on live animals, knows about Project Olympus' sinister secrets, and blackmailed the Rogues with their criminal pasts and the prospect of military jail to ensure they'd work for Fort Fox.
• Ambiguously Related: Leonard and Lisa Snart are still brother and sister, but considering he's white while she's black, it's currently unclear if they're half-siblings, step-siblings, or adopted.
• Artificial Limbs: The Glider of this universe lost her legs in Syria, and recieved a new pair of mechanical legs courtesy of Dr. Thawne to become Glider.
• Ascended Extra:
  • Rudy West is normally an incidental character in Wally West's story and had almost nothing to do with his origins as a superhero. Here, in addition to his new job as an army colonel, he brought Wally to Fort Fox and their tumultuous relationship helped cause Wally to gain his powers.
  • Implied to be the case with Mirror Master, who appears to be set up as Wally's first Arc Villain rather than being but one of the Flash's many supervillain enemies.
• Bait-and-Switch: Issue #2 ends with Snart being left with no other choice but freeing Grodd. Both Harkness and him so reservations over doing this, and when they open the door two furious eyes stare back from pitch blackness. All of this would indicate that the Gorilla Grodd of this universe is just as dangerous and imposing as the Grodd of mainline continuity, but when he finally shows up, he is revealed to be a pretty harmless-looking monkey, who looks more confused than anything else.
• Big Bad: Elenore Thawne created Wally's entire Rogues Gallery and seeks to experiment on him further against his father's wishes after using him to round up the other escapees. In the Absolute Evil special she joins the Legion of Doom alongside the likes of The Joker and Ra's al Ghul.
• Black Helicopter: In issue #16, Wally finds Grodd's hiding spot when he sees black helicopter flying overhead, after it was previously shown that the army is sending soldiers after the monkey and his father.
• Blob Monster: Heat Wave, in this comic, looks like this instead of a guy in a suit.
• Boxed Crook: The Rogues are all basically this. The task force is composed of disgraced court martialed soldiers who are very aware that at any moment they could be imprisoned for their crimes, and joined the Rogues under the promise that it would give them a second chance.
• Call-Forward:
  • Issue #1 ends with Mirror Master standing in the wreckage of Fort Fox one year later and witnessing numerous past and/or future events. These include: a flaming humanoid creature (revealed in issue #4 to be Heat Wave) rising up, Wally befriending the green monkey that spooked him (revealed in issue #2 to be Grodd), two scientists performing tests (revaled in issue #8 to be Eobard Thawne and Jay Garrick), Project Olympus' gorilla test subjects, now green and apparently intelligent, standing in the wreckage of a city, and Wally holding up his new costume.
  • In issue #9, Wally listens to a conversation he will have with Barry about Karl Schwarzschilfd in issue #11 while dissasociating.
• Cast from Calories: Wally can't use his powers when he is starving.
• Catapult Nightmare: In issue #14, Wally jolts awake after dreaming of his father speaking to him from the Still Point.
• Clark Kenting: Completely averted. Ralph and Linda immediately recognize Wally in his full costume.
• Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: Golden Glider, Trickster and Captain Boomerang all go by their real names rather than their more recognizable aliases, since they're a military team rather than supervillains. Captain Cold does at least get referred to as "Captain", referencing his Prime Universe counterpart, and Lisa is later referred to as Glider in a way that implies they maintain their usual titles as callsigns.
  • Played with Wally; he doesn't go by any codename at first since everyone knows who he is, but after the first few arcs Linda starts calling him "Flash". He doesn't like it.
• Composite Character:
  • Wally is the only Flash of this Earth, but starts as a teenager, making him a composite of the Flash and Kid Flash.
  • There's a character named Heatwave who seems to be Mick Rory, but his design—a giant pile of living, melting fire, seems taken from Tar Pit.
  • Issue #6 reveals that the Rogues of this universe are very similar to the Suicide Squad—they're a team of court martialed soldiers who committed treason who are sent in extremely dangerous missions with high risk of death.
• Continuity Nod:
  • One of the graffitis in issue #4 is of the Omega Men, from Absolute Superman.
  • The same issue also has Elenore Thawne mention how the cover for Barry Allen's secret project was an augmented-weapons program with the Lazarus Corporation, also from Absolute Superman.
  • One of the kids in issue #5 fears that Heat Wave's attack on the Dibneys' mission will be like the Tetracide's invasion of Gateway City. In issue #13, this event is referenced again when Ralph asks Wally if his powers are related to Gateway City and "that woman with the sword."
  • Hunter Zolomon works for the DEO, which had been established in Absolute Green Lantern.
• Cool Car: The Rogues have one, a military style armored combat transport.
• Crazy-Prepared: Jesse suspected that, after Syria, the government would eventually come for them, so they inserted trackers on their teammates without their knowledge to stay one step ahead.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Barry Allen was sucked in by the Flash's speed and was dragged behind him for a while, with his flesh peeling off and his body bursting into flames.
• Cue the Sun: Issue #3 has Wally put on the Flash costume for the first time as the sun starts to dawn, signifying how he has finally come to terms with his newfound powers.
• Death by Adaptation:
  • Wally's mother Mary West is almost always alive when Wally begins his superhero career, alongside his father. Here, she has died by the time the story begins.
  • Barry Allen suffers a Death by Origin Story when Wally accidentally derails the experiment that would have made him into the Flash like his main universe counterpart.
• Decomposite Character: Eobard Thawne was a scientist from the 1940s who discovered the Omega Sanction. It's his granddaughter, Elenore, who meets Barry Allen and becomes an enemy of the Flash though. Subverted when Eobard comes out of the Still Point and attacks Wally.
  • Implied in issue #12, where it seems Grodd's father is the telepathic ape that hates humanity.
• Depending on the Artist: The flashback to the 1944 Mojavi Desert experiment in issue #6 (drawn by Nick Robles) features Garrick with blonde hair while Thawne has a dark green overcoat and fedora (obscuring the upper half of his face). The one in issue #8 (drawn by Travis Moore) depicts Garrick with brown hair and wearing an army cap while Thawne is bareheaded, has blonde hair (like his granddaughter), and wears a white lab coat.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: Post-Crisis, Barry died sacrificing his life to stop the Anti-Monitor, leaving Wally to inherit the Flash name. This time around, he is killed in the experiment which gives Wally his powers.
• Downer Ending: After everything Wally went through in the first two volumes, he finally reunites with his father... only for Volume two to end with his father sacrificing himself to shove Thawne back into the Still Point, trapped there with Thawne. With nowhere to go, Wally returns to the Mission home shelter with some hope he can save his father somehow. Meanwhile, Grodd's father, who was rescued by his son, goes on the path of dealing with mankind in revenge for the experiments done onto him and his son.
• Energy Absorption: The way the Flash deals with Heat Wave and the Weather Wizard by supressing their powers and how Wally is able to calm down the latter's storm, it's implied his powers extend to absorbing other metahumans' superpowers.
• Evil Twin: When Wally and Linda enter the Mirror Dimension, they meet Mirror Master. Up until now, the man has been using the Mirror Dimension to observe others, but a flaw in the dimension is that any time he enters, the realm generates murderous copies of him that hunt him down. After making a deal with Wally and releasing them, the realm creates evil copies of Wally and Linda.
• The Faceless: In issue #6's flashback to the origins of Project Olympus in 1944, the face of Eobard Thawne, who shoved Jay Garrick into a malfunctioning lab experiment, is never clearly shown, and it takes until various issues later for it to be revealed.
• Find the Cure: Ultimately, Mirror Master promises he will help the Flash find a way into the Still Point to rescue his father, but first he needs to find Elenore Thawne and get her to find a way to release him from being bound to the Mirror Dimension.
• From Camouflage to Criminal: Leonard, Lisa, Jesse, and Digger used to be U.S. soldiers working under Colonel Rudy West, but sold out to Syria in the past and were dishonorably discharged. Years later, they were recruited by Fort Fox to serve as muscle and field agents for Project Olympus, and were given the upgrades and technology to become the Rogues of the Absolute Universe.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Issue #8 confirms that Project Olympus is just the predecessor of Blue Trinity, a secret military project created in the 1940s by Eobard Thawne, who was looking to gain access to an extradimensional source of energy known as the Still Point. Furthermore, the Still Point is heavily implied to be the Omega Sanction, making Darkseid the force that lead to the creation of Project Olympus in the present day.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Wally's father decides that in order to save his son from Thawne, he allows himself to stay trapped in the Still Point after dragging the former human with him.
• I Call It "Vera": Digger Harkness calls his main boomerang drone "Boomerang", much to the annoyance of his teammates.
• I Owe You My Life: The Rogues are motivated to rescue Rudolph West from Elenore Thawne's captivity after Leonard reminds them that he saved their lifes multiple times back when they still served the army, and he has stuck by them all this time.
• Language Barrier: When Wally enters the Still Point, he meets Barry alongside other individuals who also found the Still Point. All of them have been working together to cooperate, but have slight difficulty in communicating due to different languages. Still, they've made some progress.
• Mad Scientist: Eobard Thawne, Elenore's grandfather, was a scientist for the U.S. government who created Blue Trinity to investigate an unidentified extradimensional energy source. He combined science and shamanism and even killed Jay Garrick to ensure that he could gain access to it, but was seemingly wiped out of existence after finally opening a portal to it. In reality he became trapped inside it.
• Maniac Monkeys: Grodd's father is a misanthropic ape who, like his son, was experimented on by the scientists of Project Olympus, and now believes all men to be evil, or "bad men".
• Meaningful Background Event: While Wally is entering a gas station in issue #7, his reflection on the windows stares back at him while smiling creepily, indicating that Mirror Master is monitoring him in secret.
• Menacing Mask: This universe's version of the Trickster is seen wearing one at all times.
• Mundane Utility: Weather Wizard makes it rain to water Captain Cold's crops while staying on his farm.
• Nervous Wreck: Compared to mainline Wally being collected and cool, this Wally starts as a very anxious and nervous person, not helped by how he suffers from Power Incontinence.
• Non-Linear Character: Wally's powers start making him see both backwards and forwards in time. In Issue #2 he sees his three year old self at a carnival with his parents, the accident that made him gain his powers, and two potential futures; one where he's a beloved hero, and one where he's a monster.
• Noodle Incident: In Issue #2, Trickster brings up how Fort Fox had previously dealt with Mick Rory and "that Raymond kid".
• Not His Sled: The first Flash isn’t Barry Allen or Jay Garrick, neither of whom ever take the name in this universe. However, it's revealed that in a way Jay Garrick was the first Flash, as he got caught in the same Freak Lab Accident Wally did and was mutated in a similar manner, with Elenore Thawne's ancestor exploiting his condition much like how she plans to do with Wally.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: Barry is discovered to be alive... sorta. As he explains to Wally in Issue #11, he and all the others inside lost their physical forms and are preserved memories or souls. Either way, they're now trapped in the Still Point, but can help Wally since he's still alive.
• Papa Wolf: Rudy West is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who cares deeply for his son, giving Barry a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown when Wally vanishes during his Freak Lab Accident and later tackling Elenore when she threatens Wally.
• People Puppets: Grodd's father has the ability to Mind Control people into serving him, as an entire squad of Colorado police officers and black ops soldiers learn the hard way.
• Pretty Boy: This version of Wally is a lot prettier, which highlights his youth.
• Race Lift: The Golden Glider is African-American instead of a blonde Caucasian.
• Revisiting the Roots: While not exactly the roots of the character, Lemire has cited Mark Waid’s run on The Flash (1987) in The '90s as an influence.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Supernatural Powers!: Being a new Kid Hero, Wally naturally delves into this, as Issue #7 sees him get busted for shoplifting at a gas station after passing out from hunger. At the end of the issue, he has a mischievous smirk when Captain Cold makes his We Can Rule Together offer.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Eobard Thawne escapes the Still Point, everyone in the facility begins running away without a second thought from fear. Considering how the man is now a deranged Humanoid Abomination, they're wise to leave.
• Secret-Keeper: Both Ralph Dibny and Linda Park know that Wally West is the Flash ever since they saw him fight Heat Wave in issue #5.
• Shout-Out:
  • With his mustache, slightly graying hair, and Schwarzenegger-esque build, Captain Cold looks a bit like Omni-Man.
  • Absolute Grodd is a green monkey who's been mutated in a way that gives him pink eyes and visibly exposes his brain. Sound familiar?
• Spared by the Adaptation: Barry Allen's parents are still alive, since Eobard Thawne seemingly died years before he could target them.
• To Catch Heroes, Hire Villains: The series' incarnation of the Rogues is a government strike team sent to bring in Wally West after he received his powers and accidentally killed Barry Allen. Though it's mostly inverted since the Rogues are actually the closest thing that the Absolute Universe has to government-sponsored heroes.
• Undying Loyalty: Ultimately, the Rogues choose to side with Rudy West over Elenore Thawne because while Thawne turned them into superhumans, West and them are Fire-Forged Friends who went through war together, and thus Snart feels like he owes it to Rudy to rescue him from the clutches of Project Olympus.
• Unrelated in the Adaptation:
  • Barry Allen doesn’t appear to be related to Wally in this continuity.
  • It's safe to assume, thanks to Glider's Race Lift, that she and the Captain aren't sister and brother like in the main comics. Not biologically at least.
• Wham Episode: Issue #10. Eobard Thawne is alive inside the Still Point but transformed into a Transhuman Abomination and escapes after Wally reopens the portal to it. Wally is left trapped in his place, where he finds Barry Allen's ghost inside, still alive.
• Wham Line: Trickster reveals Elenore Thawne's location in issue #17, setting up the events for a future crossover with Absolute Superman.
  Trickster: "Elenore Thawne is in Kansas. She's hiding with something called Brainiac.
• Wham Shot: Issue #8 ends with Barry Allen seeing himself, from the future, telling him that Wally West needs to be the one to receives the power of the Omega sanction.
• You Are Not Alone: Although he is deployed to capture Wally, Grodd is able to telepathically bond with the kid and finds out they both feel lost, alone and full of grief after the loss of their mothers. At this point Wally is at his lowest yet, feeling responsible for the death of his Parental Substitute and having ran away from home and slept in an abandoned barn; and starts to cry and confesses to the monkey that he is scared. Grodd tries to comfort his new friend the following way:
  Grodd: Wally no scared. Wally Grodd same.