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"If I say I'm gonna be somewhere, I'll be there like a Flash!" – Bart Allen, Run

Bartholomew "Bart" Allen was a superhuman with the power of super speed. He was a full-time member of the Justice League and a courier. He went under the code-name Impulse.

Physical Appearance[]

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Bart Allen in Justice.

When Bart was first seen in Run, he had short blond hair, wore a red hoodie, a yellow shirt, yellow cargo pants, red running shoes and is constantly seen with his red and black-backpack with a yellow lightning bolted  insignia. He is 5'11" and weighs 175 lbs.[1]

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Impulse in Doomsday.

When he returned in Justice he had curly brown hair and his facial features matured. He still continued to wear his primary costume colors of red and yellow.

When he was last seen in Doomsday, Bart looked slightly older and he still wore a red and yellow combination of clothing and had shorter hair than in Justice.

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Bart Allen's new Impulse costume.

As Impulse, Bart wore his suit which is slightly similar to Oliver's. His costume included a red vest with a hood that has yellow lightning designs on it with a lightning bolt on the back. Underneath that he wore a long-sleeved dark red shirt with a pair of dark red jeans, a dark red belt and red shoes. He also wore a red cuff around each wrist and a pair of red sunglasses to hide his identity and usually has the hoody on.

Few months after Clark officially went public as Superman, Bart Allen changed his whole look, he shaved his hair back to his short blond hair, in order to cut down drag, similar to what swimmers do in order to be more aerodynamic when he runs.[2][3] He also changed his costume to a red sweatshirt with a white lightning bolt over his chest and torso over a black long sleeved shirt along with black running pants, red, black and white high-tech running sneakers and a red cuff around each wrist as well as a pair of red sports goggles with yellow lenses which also had an elastic band (to keep the shades from flying off as Bart drops out of super speed).

Personality[]

When I'm asleep, I'm just as slow as everybody else. - Bart Allen, Run

At first, Bart was impulsive, irreverent, and unconcerned with laws or property and didn't care how his objective would be fulfilled: he stole anything he saw in sight that he wanted. Whenever possible, Bart financed an extravagant lifestyle with stolen goods and credit cards as he hates to sleep outside since he can't protect himself with his speed whilst he's asleep. Later, Bart became more concerned with people's well-being. He also seemed to have an obnoxious sense of humor and was very flirtatious towards women, especially Chloe.

Powers and Abilities[]

When Bart was young, he was in an mysterious accident involving a bright flash of light. In turn, he realized he could move at incredible speeds and he has super fast reflexes.

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Bart escapes from Clark.

  • Super speed: Bart's chief ability was that he can run, exercise, react, or move his body at overwhelming superhuman speeds. Bart Allen can run faster than lightspeed, so he can run on water, pass through objects. He was faster than Clark Kent, even when he was younger Clark still couldn't catch him when he was jogging backwards. (Run, Justice, Doomsday, Haunted). When they raced, Bart initially held back and let Clark believe that catching Bart might be doable. After jogging backwards for a while with a smile on his face he finally let loose and accelerated to such a velocity that even Clark could only perceive him as a flash of light. In fact, based on the outcome of Clark Kent's past attempts to "catch" him, it's clear that Bart is much faster than a fully-powered Kryptonian in its prime and it is likely that Bart's top speed relative to Clark, is comparable to Clark's top speed relative to the average human and possibly even faster. When Clark uses his speed Bart almost perceives him in slow motion. Although not mentioned in the TV-series, Bart like his fellow speedsters, has a connection to the "Speed Force".
  • Super stamina: Bart can run and exercise for a very long periods of time without getting too tired. However, this endurance is far from unlimited and running too long can overtax his body to the extent of nosebleeds. (Justice)
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Impulse vibrating through a wall.

  • Phasing: According to Toyman's files, which are barely visible when they appear, Bart can move fast enough to pass through solid objects. (Prophecy) [picture needed] This ability was later shown in the comics when one of the Brain and Monsieur Mallah's monkeys hits Impulse so hard it sends Bart flying at a wall but he was able to move fast enough to vibrate through the wall before crashing into it. (Haunted)
  • Super metabolism: Bart can consume vast quantities of food without gaining weight. This is because he burns off the food considerably faster than normal people due to the speed he runs, meaning he also needs to eat and drink more than other people to keep himself from being fatigued. (Run, Justice, Haunted)
    • Healing factor: Bart's super-speeded metabolism provides him with an accelerated healing factor, due to accelerated cellular replication. This somewhat compensates for his susceptibility to physical injuries, and allows him to recover from harm at a considerable rate, though not nearly as fast as solar-powered kryptonians.(Run, Justice)
  • Enhanced durability: Bart's body is more resistant than of ordinary people, however he is very far from being invulnerable. His body can withstand the great stress of running at tremendous supersonic and even hypersonic speeds, however he is as susceptible to injury and damage as any human.(Run, Justice)

Vulnerabilities[]

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Bart's nose bleeds from exhaustion.

Although Bart is a metahuman and can run at incredible speeds, he isn't invincible as and can be hurt just as humans can. He said when he's asleep he's just as slow as everyone else. When he tried to steal LuthorCorp information regarding Level 33.1 and was tricked and knocked unconscious by an electric charge.

Also, when he uses his ability for too long, his nose begins to bleed and when he is severely depleted of energy, he is unable to use his super speed, which is shown in the episode Justice. However, it is later revealed in Haunted that this is because he was pushed into running faster than he had ever imagined by Lex's torture and it was the first time that he had tapped into the Speed Force and caught his first glimpse of the Black Flash. Later, Jay Garrick reveals that the speed force energy burns up a person's metabolism one way or another with the Black Flash acting as a debt collector of sorts, feeding on the Speedsters. He is also shown to have a supercharged metabolism that requires an abnormally high caloric intake, shown again in Justice.

Early life[]

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Bart Allen with his mother in the 31st century Metropolis meet Superman.

In the 31st century, reformatted Metropolis citizens wear jet packs to adjust to their new environmental gravity atmosphere. Superman encounters a mother trying to apprehend her son who has an obsession with speed and running. The mother mentions his name as "Bartholomew Allen", which causes Superman to shed a tear.

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Bart explains his origin to Clark and Jay Garrick.

At some point, Bart gets hit by lightning which not only gives him amnesia, but also wakes him up in 2004, with the ability to super speed. His only memories are the names Jay Garrick, Wally West, and Barry Allen. He began life as a petty thief to get by and soon began working for people who bought goods off of him. Leading him to live an extravagant lifestyle, often using false names along the way.

Season Four[]

"It's Bart. Not that it matters because I'll be a thousand miles away before you can even blink." - Bart to Clark, Run
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Bart saves Jonathan from getting hit by a car.

In 2004, Bart worked with a fence named Hanison, although Hanison often cheated Bart out of the stolen goods' true value. Bart happened to be in Metropolis when Jonathan Kent was about to get run over by a drunk driver. Before Clark Kent could rescue him, Bart rescued Jonathan at super-speed but also stole his wallet.

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Bart has Jonathan's credit card.

Clark tracked his father's credit cards and located the hotel room in which Bart was staying. Bart said to Clark, "I'll be a thousand miles away before you can even blink," and Clark replied, "I don't know, I can blink pretty fast." They had a "race" in which they seemed to be almost evenly matched in speed until Bart took off over the water, while Clark hesitantly stopped at the water's edge. Bart was amazed to find another person with super powers, just as Clark was to find someone with powers who was not from Smallville.

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Bart gets caught stealing.

Bart and Clark bonded (Bart even took to his friends, flirting with Chloe), but they argued because Clark tried to make Bart believe that stealing for any purpose was wrong. Bart believed that he only stole to buy food and shelter and that he wasn't harming anybody because the company canceled the illegitimate charges. Later, he followed Clark to the Luthor Mansion where Lex Luthor showed Clark a valuable Russian manuscript.

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Clark tries to catch up with Bart.

Bart later returned to the mansion and stole the manuscript while Clark was reading it and took it to Hanison, where Lex tracked it down. Hanison was willing to kill Bart over the manuscript but Clark saved him. Bart wanted to make a getaway with it, even after Clark asked him if he still thought that his thefts hurt no one, but was reminded of Clark's warning that he should use his gift nobly. In the end, he returned the manuscript and left Smallville to find other special people like himself and Clark. As they parted ways, Bart demonstrated vast super speed, during which he outran Clark.

Season Six[]

"Back then I needed a super kick in the butt and you laid it on me and ever since then there's been no more stealing for this gringo I swear." - Bart to Clark, Justice
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Bart reunites with Clark.

Two years later, Oliver Queen found Bart stealing a meal in Star City. Oliver believed Bart was a good kid, but just needed a little direction and offered him a job. Bart joined Oliver's group of heroes and Oliver gave him the codename "Impulse" for his impulsive nature. Bart traveled to Mexico to infiltrate a LuthorCorp facility for Oliver.

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Impulse breaks into Lex's mansion.

He returned to Metropolis in time to save Chloe Sullivan from getting shot by Dr. Caselli. Bart then got back in touch with Clark after a small race. He told Clark that he had really learned what he tried to teach him and declared that he had quit stealing. Clark soon learned that Bart had in fact stolen information from LuthorCorp, but Bart did not tell him that he was working for Oliver.

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Bart is captured by Lex.

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Bart's recollection of being captured by Lex and seeing the "speed demon" for the first time.

Bart left to do another job for Oliver, but fell into a trap set up by Lex Luthor. Lex put him in a chamber and forced him to run at super-speed or risk being electrocuted until he agreed to talk. It is later revealed that after he was pushed into running faster than he had ever imagined by Lex's torture, it was the first time he had tapped into the Speed Force. That was also the moment he caught a first glimpse of a terrifying dark creature, running parallel to him just on the other side of the cage he was trapped in. Clark rescued him from the cage, while also unknowingly saving him from the creature as well. After this, Clark was incapacitated by refined kryptonite.

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Victor, Bart, and Arthur.

Oliver donned his Green Arrow garb and along with his other team members Cyborg and Aquaman, infiltrated the lab, saved Clark and Bart, as well as blew up the facility. Bart left with the "Justice League" and continued working to stop other 33.1 facilities around the world.

Season Eight[]

"So it's the final resting place for the bony space invader?" Bart to Clark, Doomsday

When Clark and Lex disappeared in the arctic following the collapse of the Fortress of Solitude, Bart and Victor Stone searched the entire southern hemisphere for them and found nothing.

Later, Oliver mentioned that Clark went on a mission with Bart in Keystone City. Soon after, he is seen alongside Aquaman, Cyborg, and Black Canary on Chloe's computer screens in the Isis Foundation when Chloe officially commits to the role of Watchtower.

After Chloe seemingly escapes from Davis Bloome, Oliver tells Clark that Impulse, Cyborg, and Canary have cast a wide net out to find Doomsday.

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Bart is given a piece of black kryptonite.

Bart and Dinah were later called to the Kent Barn to help Clark and Oliver battle Doomsday. Bart brought schematics of the Geothermal LuthorCorp facility for Clark to help him with his plan to defeat Doomsday. Clark explained that they had a tunnel that was a mile deep under earth and he planned to bury Doomsday there before the tunnel was destroyed. He then gave Bart the Black Kryptonite and explained that it would separate Davis Bloome from Doomsday.

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Bart and Dinah deceive Clark.

Even though the two learned that Oliver killed Lex Luthor, Bart still sided with Oliver to take Doomsday down for good. Clark was at his desk when Black Canary told him via audio message that they had located Chloe and Davis and he used his super-hearing to find them. He super sped off and found their car with Black Canary and Impulse waiting for him. They told him that they're doing it for him when Green Arrow shot him with a Kryptonite dart. Clark collapsed and told them they're making a mistake.

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Bart and Dinah try to restrain Davis.

Chloe awoke at the Geothermal facility to find Green Arrow, Impulse and Black Canary standing over an unconscious Davis. Bart told her he knocked them both out at super-speed and they brought them here. She realized they wanted to kill Davis and she noticed the Black kryptonite in Bart's bag and when the league tried to get rid of Davis, Bart was punched out by Davis in mid transformation. Chloe used the black kryptonite on Davis, splitting him from Doomsday. A fight presumably took place, when Clark arrived they were all down and when he was going after Doomsday he asked the league if he could still trust them.

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Bart attends Jimmy's funeral alongside Dinah and Chloe.

After Clark trapped Doomsday under Earth's surface, Bart attended the funeral of Jimmy Olsen to pay his respects. Following the funeral, Chloe told Clark at the new Watchtower base, that Bart, Dinah and Oliver were all missing.

Season Nine[]

Although never actually shown on-screen, when Oliver Queen somehow survived being hit by a truck while sitting helplessly in a car, Bart was later credited with saving him, as Chloe orchestrated the entire thing to turn Oliver back to being the Green Arrow.

Later, Clark told Chloe that Bart was in Metropolis and offered her to hang out with him to take a break from being Watchtower.

The government agency Checkmate wanted to know the locations of the Justice League members, including Bart, but John Jones managed to erase the memories of the agent of the organization - Amanda Waller.

When the Kandorians threatened Earth, Clark was giving his speech about sacrificing himself. Bart was listening on the far left screen in Watchtower.

Season Ten[]

When Lois came to Watchtower, Bart was seen on a monitor.

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Bart attends Carter's funeral with the league.

After Hawkman sacrificed his life to save Lois Lane from the villainous Slade Wilson, all Justice League members were present at a funeral service held in Carter's home country of Egypt, led by Stargirl. He was then left unconscious along with everybody else when a mysterious pyramid rose from the ground emitting a bright light.

He along with the rest of the heroes were held captive by the VRA, but would be freed, thanks to Chloe Sullivan and the Suicide Squad.

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Captain Cold's assignment: Impulse.

It's been discovered that the Toyman was handing out assignments or missions to the super-villain group, the Marionette Ventures, so they can eliminate each member of the Justice League. Captain Cold was assigned Bart Allen.

Season Eleven[]

"Smell ya later." Bart's last words to Black Flash, Haunted
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Impulse and Superman taking down Psimon.

Out in the streets of Metropolis, a Dr. Jones who wants to be called Psimon is looking for Lex, whose Project Ares has apparently given the diminutive doctor his purple skin, an oversized and glowing-through-his-skull brain and some kind of indeterminate psycho-molecular power. Psimon is not convinced a peaceful resolution to this situation is possible and shoots a purple blast at Lex, whom Superman saves and proceeds to returns to finish with Psimon, who proves to be able to act more quickly than Superman thanks to his enhanced synaptic firing. As he tries to capture Psimon, the criminal's telepathic abilities allow him to "feel" Superman's moves before he makes them and counteract them. Moving faster than thought, Bart arrives to help his old friend. The speedster, sporting a new costume, proves too quick for Psimon and is able to punch him into submission. To celebrate, Impulse speeds ice cream cones into the hands of all the nearby citizens, including Superman.

Out in the ocean, Clark and Bart race each other above the water. Bart comments on Clark running slower than he used to, which Clark attributes to now having the ability to fly as well. Clark makes a wager that he can fly faster than Bart can run with the loser paying for lunch. As the two rocket over the coast of Cameroon, a young woman watches from a distance.

Clark arrives in Mumbai, India, assuming that he has beaten Bart. As children swarm him for an autograph, he finds that Bart was not only there first but is playing a game of soccer with some of the locals. Later, as they share food, Clark describes how he can't return to his life as Clark Kent and must remain Superman for the time being due to Lex's irradiation ploy. Research from S.T.A.R. Labs has revealed that his healing ability from the rays of the sun is slowly curing the radiation. Bart suggests he fly into the sun to speed up the process and burn the rest of it away, but Clark tells him that Emil isn't sure they could stop the process from eventually turning him into raw energy if he tried it.

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Watchtower sends Impulse and Superman to deal with Monsieur Mallah and The Brain.

Though he's happy to spend some time with Bart, Clark points out that it's not really the speedster's style and asks if something is wrong. Bart deflects by saying he had to get a glimpse of Clark in a costume. A moment of appreciation between the two is broken up by a call from Chloe at Watchtower. She tells them that a situation with art thieves in Paris has arisen and as they don't have any agents in Europe as of yet, they are the two closest to respond. They make another wager over who can get there first. Bart gives Clark a head start and his friend bolts into the sky. As he prepares to run, Bart hears an ominous voice call his name. He looks around but sees nothing but the locals. Tapping into the Speed Force, he runs after the Man of Steel. At the Musée du Louvre in Paris, Superman and Impulse arrive to help the French police with a chaotic scene, baffled at the threat art thieves are presenting. Suddenly, a huge explosion racks the front of the museum. Out of the rubble runs Monsieur Mallah, a giant gorilla carrying the Mona Lisa. In a container slung around Mallah's back is the brain of the scientist who increased Mallah's intelligence to genius levels. The two lead a gang of monkeys and apes stealing art.

As Impulse attends to the smaller primates, Superman turns his attention to Mallah and the Brain. The Brain can speak through the container and Superman asks if he is Mallah's. Brain explains that they are lovers and helped each other escape from the experimentation that led to their current states. They plan to sell the stolen art to fund and form their own nation. Mallah pulls a gun and fires at the crowd.

Impulse runs to catch some of the bullets but sees there are too many. He taps into the Speed Force to move faster and is able to stop all of the projectiles. Using the Force, though, brings on the mysterious voice again. In Speed Time, Bart sees a dark creature run out of the Force that he's seen before, telling him that "It is time." The creature bolts toward Bart, reaching out to grab him.

Clark finds a tired and scared Bart on his knees, muttering that "it" almost got him. Looking around the scene, Clark asks what Bart is talking about. Realizing the creature is nowhere to be found—and wanting to keep the secret to himself—Bart tells his friend it was nothing.

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Clark and Bart discussing the threat of the speed demon.

Flying over the Atlantic, Clark carries Bart, who told him about the creature, refusing to let him use superspeed to avoid being captured by it in the Speed Force. Bart then mentions this "Speed Demon" or "Black Racer" has always waited for him at every turn when he used his superspeed, after which he explains in detail what really happened years ago during the time he was captured by Lex. With the creature always present ever since, Clark asks why Bart wanted a race to India in the first place. Bart admits that, since Clark is the only one who can come close to keeping pace with him, he hoped that by the two going so fast and Clark not seeing the demon, he could prove it was all in his head. Clark assures his friend that he's not crazy. He states that they need to devise a way for Clark to be able to face the creature.

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Clark struggling to keep up with Bart.

At S.T.A.R. Labs, Emil Hamilton meets with his staff to discuss two problems before them: one, assisting Superman in finding a way to help Impulse with the dark creature; and two, aiding Watchtower in retrieving the technology that LexCorp used to transfer Hank Henshaw's consciousness from his charred and crippled body into one of the H.E.D. drones. Emil states he will address the technology issue and assigns the others to Impulse's case. The scientists at S.T.A.R. Labs set Bart and Clark up for a speed assessment. As Bart chats up a lovely blonde scientist, Emil asks Clark how he's able to be so jovial. Clark answers that Bart probably welcomes any distraction from being chased by the creature as long as he has. With everything set, Bart wonders how Clark will manage to match his speed, considering he runs a lot faster than Clark. Emil explains that the treadmills they are using for the assessment had been specially designed with a frictionless engine assembly when they began testing Clark's abilities. This will allow Bart to run as fast as he can while Clark's treadmill will accelerate him towards Bart's speed. They all hope that if they can get Clark fast enough, he can witness the creature as well.

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Clark promises Bart that he will save him from the Black Flash.

As they run, Clark encourages Bart to go full speed, insisting that he has his friend's back. With approval, Bart taps into the Speed Force and runs so fast that he causes the treadmill and the monitoring equipment to explode. As Clark falls to the floor, while in the Speed Force, the horrible creature towers over him, chastising his speed as "not pure." Outside of the force, Bart asks Clark if he was able to see the demon. Now knowing what he is dealing with, Clark assures his friend that he will find a way to save him.

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Clark and Bart decide to find the first speedster, Jay Garrick.

Later, on the roof of the Daily Planet, Lois shows Clark pictures of the LexCorp employee, Fritz, who was thrown into a wall and superspeed aged to death at the ruins of LuthorCorp's abandoned Ridge Facility. She shows him pictures of other incidents of it occurring over the past five years. She says that these "speed storms" have popped up in Keystone City, Mexico, Miami and islands in the Pacific Ocean, as well as have been increasing in frequency. Clark immediately recognizes each as places Bart has been and that the storms are chasing him like the dark creature. Clark worries that he won't be able to find a way to help Bart when Lois points out that he should consult someone else who has run as fast as Bart before, which leads Clark and Bart visit the JSA Brownstone, being tended to by a Mrs. Hunkel. She lets them past the security measures and Clark takes Bart into the museum honoring the members of the Justice Society of America. Bart recalls that this was Carter Hall's group but wonders how any of the artifacts will help them with his problem with the "speed demon." Clark explains they are there to begin a search for the first hero to break the sound barrier on foot, Jay Garrick.

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Bart admits to not remember anything before his accident.

Clark and Bart walk the white plains of Utah until they come upon an isolated house. An old voice asks if he can help them and Bart reveals they are looking for Jay Garrick. The man at the end of the voice steps from the house and identifies himself as Garrick. At Garrick's house, the old man chastises Bart for stealing his identity. He asks him he did it and Bart admits that he doesn't know. He also reveals that he doesn't remember anything of his life previous to waking up with his abilities, just that there was a flash of light and the names of Garrick, Wally West and Barry Allen just appeared in his head. Clark explains to Garrick the plan Carter Hall had of resurrecting the Justice Society of America with the help of the new, younger heroes. He asks for the elder's help.

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Jay reveals his fear and knowledge of the Speed demon entity.

Garrick suggests Bart talk to his old teammate, Pieter Cross, instead. Impatient, Bart asks what the old man knows about the "Black Racer." The elder speedster tells them his leg was broken when the federal government tried rounding up the JSA and he never wanted it repaired. When Clark attempts to ask why he would never want to run fast again, Bart correctly guesses that he's seen the demon. Garrick admits to it and explains exactly what is occurring to Bart happened to him. Clark mentions the speed storms and Garrick says it's the racer calling Bart out. Bart asks how the old man survived it and Garrick reiterates that he just stopped running. Bart adamantly refuses that option and the elder tells him the only other option is to die.

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Bart learns why the black racer haunts him.

As the speed storm crackles in Utah, Clark tries to reason with Jay Garrick that there must be another option to help Bart. Garrick asserts that there is no choice in the matter and that by using the Speed Force, the demon is there to collect the debt. Clark asks why there were no records of speed storms while Garrick was with the JSA. The old man surmises that Bart is so fast that it has made the creature hungry and desperate. Picking up on the thought, Clark reasons that it is sending out the speed storms to try to create a new speedster to take on as its prey. Bart realizes that the biology of the speedsters is special and that's why so many have died in the attempts.

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Bart confronting Jay on why he didn't stay in touch with the JSA.

Bart asks Garrick how many speedsters there are. The old man gives a mealy answer about not being the first and Bart not being the last. Bart confronts him about not having raced the demon himself to stop to have possibly stopped it and Garrick denounces their abilities as a curse. Clark offers that curses can be blessings if they don't let their powers control their lives. Garrick likens Clark to Carter Hall and Bart jumps on the moment to call him out for not having stayed in touch with his team, mentioning that even though he didn't know Carter he still attended his funeral. The old man owns up to not being proud of how he acted, but it's not good enough for Bart. Riled up, he starts tapping into the Speed Force before Clark manages to stop him.

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Bart collecting Speed Force energy around the world while ignoring other speedsters.

Clark fields communication from Chloe at Watchtower. He asks how she is and she tells him she's coping. She alerts him to a speed storm brewing in Las Vegas, a huge one that isn't slowing down and many dying. Clark relays the message to Bart, who tries running off on his own. Clark grabs him and Bart argues that the racer is waiting for him there and is calling to him. Clark tells Chloe that they didn't come up with a solution. She responds that S.T.A.R. Labs might have something. Patched to Emil Hamilton, the doctor explains they took the concept of sending Clark into the sun to remove his irradiation to fashion a containment suit. He states that they modified the suit to collect speed energy and that Clark might be able to use it to constantly move fast enough to confront the demon.

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Impulse prepared to confront Black Flash.

The scientists at S.T.A.R. fire a pod into the atmosphere and it quickly rockets its way to the young heroes' location in Utah. The pod opens to reveal the new suit, a black and silver affair with a glowing S-Shield. Clark quickly puts on the suit and speeds to the massive storm in Las Vegas. Boldly, Clark proclaims to the demon that it's "time for round two". While Superman is busy saving people in Las Vegas and taking down Black Flash, Jay Garrick gives Bart some advice before he goes off to join the fight. Bart, who is running faster than he's ever run before, around and around the world, gathering up the speed from every speed force outbreak. At one point, he seems to have three speedsters who want to talk with him, but they are not identified.

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Bart sacrificing his life to take down the Black Flash.

Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, Superman continues to fight the Black Flash, who Clark tells that the speedster. Just as Black Flash seems to be gaining the upper hand just as Bart arrives, prepared at last for the final showdown and his reckoning with the speed force. Black Flash, finally satisfied that Bart has arrived so he gets to feed on "Pure" speed. Bart then rushes to take Clark out of the fight and proceeds to absorb the Speed Force out of Clark's containment suit. Clark tries to talk Bart out of taking on the Black Flash with Impulse revealing that the speedsters he met with told him that he is the only one who can take him down. Bart then confides in Clark that he has never been alone and then rushes to take down Black Flash. Clark then proceeds to try to catch up and help Bart.

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Bart's final moments.

Bart rushes to Black Flash with Clark trying to convince him to slow down. They both flashback to when they first met as teenagers back in the barn. Bart, who thanks Clark for looking out for him. He says he's going to explore the world, as well as invites Clark to come. Clark asks him to stay and Bart slyly says he'd consider it... if Clark can catch him. The two superspeed down the roads of Smallville, but Bart easily leaves Clark in the dust. Black Flash then tells Bart it is finally time to feed and Bart agrees and proceeds to give him all of his speed, saying a final "Smell you Later" to Black Flash. There is soon a big Speed Force explosion that takes out both Bart and Black Flash, leaving a giant lightning bolt in the desert with Clark mourning and forced to tell Watchtower that Impulse is gone. 

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Clark and Jay mourn Bart's death.

Sometime later at the JSA Brownstone, Clark and Jay look at the first Impulse Suit in the glass case. Jay Garrick feels somber about what happened, saying Bart did what he should have done a long time ago. Clark tells Jay that everything ends, no matter what, and Bart would have never stopped running, as long as you're running towards something. Abigail Hunkel and Emil come in to pay their respects. Afterwards, Abigail and Jay leave to get some tea and leave Clark and Emil to talk. Emil reveals that the speed force Bart exposed Clark to might have had an unforeseen effect.

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Lois and Superman discuss preparation ways to honor Bart's sacrifice.

Lois sits at their apartment asking Clark if they're going to hold a funeral like they did for Carter. Clark replies he will also build a statue for Bart. He then asks if he found out anything about Lex with Lois saying considering how the night has went it's pretty much a win and she'll tell him after his next flyby. Clark replies that he doesn't think he will be doing that anymore. Then there is a knock on the door and as Lois opens it, there is Clark in his glasses and suit and tie simply saying "Honey, I'm home". As they embrace Lois wonders how this is possible, with Clark replying thanks to Bart's speed, the radiation is removed. Lois then tells him to get back into the suit because they have work to do.

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Clark expresses to Lois his grief over Bart's death.

Clark continues to mourn Bart's sacrifice and asks Lois how many more are they going to lose. Clark also asked Booster Gold being from the future if he knew what would happen to Bart, Skeets responds by saying the future is constantly changing and not everything is foreseeable.

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Bart's sacrifice inspired the creation of the Titans

During a conversation with his students Jay Garrick reveals that Bart's sacrifice inspired him to create the San Francisco school, funded by the Titan Corporation, so he can train teenage superheroes. Jay advises Mia Dearden and Jayna that Bart outran his past and that they should do the same. He also promises that he won't let Bart down by giving up on his students, no matter how often he feels they want him to. Also, outside of the school there is a memorial statue in Bart's honor.

Appearances[]

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 #
Season 4 - - - - X - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1
Season 6 - - - - - - - - - - X - - - - - - - - - - - 1
Season 8 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - X 1
Season 10 - - - - - - - - - - X - - - - - - - - - - - 1
Total 4

See also[]

In the Comics[]

Kid Flash Bart Allen 002

Bart Allen a.k.a. Kid Flash as he appears in the comics.

In the comic books, Bart is the fourth person to hold the mantle of The Flash. Preceding him were Jay Garrick, his grandfather Barry Allen and his grandfather's nephew Wally West. He has a cousin in the future named XS who is a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes.

The version of Bart Allen that is portrayed in Smallville is noticeably different from the character in the comics. For Smallville, the character has an almost obnoxious sense of humor. This is a character trait of Bart during his time as Impulse, but is toned down considerably when he becomes Kid Flash, and later, The Flash, in other venues.

254px-Impulse - ready for a fight

Bart Allen as Impulse.

In the comics, Bart Allen is born in the future, the grandson of the time-traveling Iris West-Allen. Suffering from a hyper-accelerated metabolism, Bart ages so fast that he appears to be twelve when he is chronologically and psychologically only two years old. To keep him from going insane he is raised in a virtual reality machine that creates a simulated world which keeps pace with Bart's scale of time. When it becomes clear that this method is not helping he is rescued by his grandmother, Iris Allen. Iris takes him back in time to the present, where Wally West, the Flash at the time, tracks him down in a race across the world. By forcing Bart into an extreme burst of speed, Wally manages to shock his hyper-metabolism back to normal.

Impulse and Kid flash

From Impulse to Kid Flash.

Soon after, Bart joins Young Justice under the codename Impulse. After the disbanding of Young Justice, Bart joins the Teen Titans. After a debacle involving the assassin Deathstroke, Bart picks up the mantle of Kid Flash as a member of the Titans. He carries this mantle on up through DC's universe-spanning crossover event Infinite Crisis. While attempting to stop the mad Superboy-Prime, Bart, along with Wally, Jay Garrick, as well as other speedsters of the DCU, their combined force and mass send all of the beings involved into an alternate reality. Superboy-Prime is imprisoned there for four years, with Bart, Wally and Barry all guarding him. Prime eventually breaks out and an older Bart follows him back into our reality. 

724986-bart

Bart Allen as the Flash.

After a year without his powers, Bart returns and claims the mantle of the Flash, as Wally is absorbed into the Speed Force.

Even as a short stint as the main Speedster in the DCU, Bart Allen was killed by a team of Flash rogues in a final, successful attempt to save the city of Los Angeles. At around the same time, Wally West and family are retrieved from the Speed Force by the JLA and the Legion of Super-Heroes, as news of Bart's death begins to spread throughout the superhero community. Subsequently, Wally retook his mantle as the Flash. In recognition for the second fallen Flash, a statue of him is constructed at the Flash Museum in Central City.

Around the time of Bart's death, curious things involving the Legion of Super-Heroes (who had traveled back in time) occurred. In The Lightning Saga, at nearly the exact moment of Bart's death, the Legion used a device known as a "lightning rod" to trap what they call "living lightning" in the event that they need it to defend the Legion. In Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds, Superboy-Prime (Bart's one-time nemesis and seemingly the only one who fears Bart) unleashed the Legion of Super-Villains from the prison planet Takron-Galtos.

In response to this, Brainiac 5 deemed it necessary to extract the living lightning from the rod and use it against Prime and his followers. Upon hearing of the Legion's plans, Prime rushes to the Legion HQ where XS fuels the legendary cosmic treadmill and extracts the lightning from the rod. To Superboy-Prime's fearful chagrin, the lightning was Bart: alive, back in his younger body, he received his Kid Flash costume ring from Brainiac 5. Upon seeing Prime's shocked and frightened form, Bart says only one thing as he speeds toward him: "Boo!"

In the recent comic The Flash: Rebirth, which features the return of Barry Allen the original Scarlet Speedster and Bart's Grandfather. At the Teen Titans Tower West, a newly returned Bart Allen views his grandfather's return with skepticism, admitting a desire for things to "go back to the way it used to be" with Wally as the primary Flash (Bart believes that Wally has proven himself more than worthy of being The Fastest Man Alive.

Keeping the Legacy Of The Flash alive long after Barry's death) and himself as Kid Flash, as well as feeling angry that Barry is the only one to escape the Speed Force and not Max Mercury.

Bart was slated to get another solo-series in 2010, entitled "Kid Flash", however Dan Didio has recently decided to drop the book. [4] Though Bart will star in a Flashpoint mini series called Kid Flash Lost.[5]

2339119-dcup 12

Bart Allen in The New 52.

Bart Allen makes his debut in the New 52 in Teen Titans #1, which opened with Bart six months prior to his first appearance, saving a mansion from a fire. He cannot explain how is able to move at superhuman speeds, but he is certain that he has a connection to the Flash and so begins to call himself "Kid Flash". He helps Red Robin in trying to find new team members and succeeds when he rescues Solstice from a holding cell in a facility run by N.O.W.H.E.R.E. They escape from N.O.W.H.E.R.E. to Antarctica, where they are able to head back to base. He later faces Superboy along with the rest of the Teen Titans. He fights Superboy by trying to defeat him with his speed but is stopped by Superboy's tactile telekinesis. Wonder Girl is forced to take Bart out of the fight by kicking him out of Superboy's range. After the fight it is revealed that Kid Flash is in a dangerous condition, having had his molecules sped up to the speed of thought by Superboy's tactile telekinesis. Virgil Hawkins, a brilliant intern from S.T.A.R. Labs, performs diagnostic tests on Bart and concludes that the reason for this is that Bart is not from the 21st Century, indicating that he may possibly be from the 30th Century and so Superboy's tactile telekinetic wavelengths affected him differently. Based on his test, Virgil presents Kid Flash with a new uniform, one that can keep his molecules aligned. This Bart Allen is also hinted to be from the future as his flashes from the future and the Legion Lost team's recollection of him from their history indicate.

In Justice League of America's Vibe, Amanda Waller is able to deduce from testing his abilities against Vibe's that Kid Flash draws power from the Speed Force, which Vibe is able to disrupt. Vibe's special senses also detect Kid Flash is different from others he has encountered who draw power from another dimension. When they accidentally touch, Kid Flash's past appears before Vibe's eyes and he is shown to be a criminal from Earth's future. Kid Flash says he has no recollection of his past, nor why he has been sent back in time. The pair find the spot where he first arrived from the future, which Kid Flash had been dreaming about for some time, but Bart flees the scene because he distrusts the JLA.

In The Flash #21, Kid Flash meets the Flash (Barry Allen). Barry learns Kid Flash is from the future and also senses that his powers do not stem from the Speed Force. Kid Flash claims that Bart Allen is not his real name and refuses to say who gave it to him. He also denies the Flash the opportunity to share his own secret identity with Bart.

When the Teen Titans were sent to the future by Johnny Quick of the Crime Syndicate, it is revealed that Bart is actually a wanted fugitive from that era and that "Bart Allen" is just a fiction, an alias given to him as part of a witness protection deal with the Functionary, an oppressive regime. After Bart was arrested, the team decided to attend his trial to stand by him. During his trial his true identity and his secrets are revealed to the team by unlocking his forgotten memories from his life in the future.

Teen-Titans-26-spoilers-Kid-Flash-preview-1

Kid Flash's origin is revealed.

His real name is Bar Torr, a homeless young boy who was trying to survive and protect his younger sister, Shira, after witnessing his parents' double murder at the hands of the Functionary’s Purifiers. Bar was forced to steal many times as a kid so he and his sister would not starve to death. He even killed a man once, when he tried to hurt Shira. At some point he leaves his sister with nuns and goes to get his revenge against the Functionary, infiltrating the Purifiers by running contraband. Due to his smuggling efforts, an accident occurs granting Bar Torr super speed powers. With his new found powers Bar starts a rebellion against the Functionary with the support of many people who had been terrorized by the government too. He was able to free many planets until during one of his battles he nearly killed his sister, who grew up to join the Functionary and whom Bar hasn't seen in years fearing of putting her in danger due to his status as a fugitive. Because of that experience he decided to turn himself in and betray those that followed him in the rebellion to end the bloodshed. He confessed everything to the Functionary ending the rebellion once and for all in exchange for his freedom. Because the case would take months to build he was placed in a witness protection program, giving him a new identity and personality, erasing his previous memories and sending him in the past with new memories.

Quotes[]

Bart: "A couple of years ago, there was this accident. There was this huge flash of light and my body went into overdrive."
Season Four, Run
Clark: "What about your parents?"
Bart: "Their son got zapped by a human lightning bolt, that's what happened. I mean they had this whole big deal and everything, I was going to be okay and then, I don't know, you should've seen the way they looked at me. I could tell I was never going to be the same."
Clark: "So you ran away?"
Bart: "I just didn't fit in."
Season Four, Run

Bart: If there's one thing I am, it's never late. If I say I’m gonna be somewhere, I’ll be there like a Flash!
Season Four, Run
Clark: So, um, what are you gonna do now?
Bart: I don't know. I mean, it's a big world. I figure I'd check it out, see if there's anyone else out there like us. Maybe start, like, a club or a league or something.
Season Four, Run

Bart: When I'm asleep, I'm just as slow as everyone else
Season Four, Run

Clark: What are you doing!?
Bart: Dude! It's called eating a cookie! I'm starving...
Season Four, Run

Clark: Impulse, Cyborg, Aquaman, Green Arrow, what do you guys call your team?
Bart: I dunno, I've been thinkin', you know? We need something cool, we need something like, uh... like--
Oliver: I was thinking about something with the word "justice" in it. After all, that's what Lex is going a get a big dose of.
Season Six, Justice

Trivia[]

Pilot reference bart89

"Fastest man alive."

  • In the Pilot a caption talks about the "fastest man alive." However, the name of the teen in the picture is Scott Higgs.
  • According to Toyman's files, Bart is a Central City native, is 5'11, 175 pounds and has blonde hair and blue eyes.
  • According to Season 11 writer's Bryan Q. Miller's twitter, outside of his time as Impulse, Bart doesn't have much of a civilian life.[6] He also confirmed that Bart is about a year younger than Clark and he is around 23 years old by Haunted.[7] In the comics, the Flash that is about Clark's age is Barry Allen rather than Bart Allen.
  • Bart is the only character in the show to have run on water.
  • Three I.D.s Clark found in Bart's hotel room had the names Jay Garrick, Barry Allen and Wally West, the three versions of The Flash before Bart.
  • Toyman's description of Bart (Fast as the speed of light, Central City native, can pass through solid objects, blue eyes and blonde hair) more accurately identifies him as the second Flash Barry Allen, rather than Bart Allen/Impulse, the fourth Flash and second Kid Flash.
  • Bart was mentioned in the Vengeance Chronicles by informing Molly Griggs and Nick Yang that Lex Luthor was restarting the Level 33.1 program.
  • In Stiletto, when Bruno and Ricky are looking at the files of the Justice League members, Bart Allen is referred to as Flash instead of Impulse.
  • Like his fellow Justice League members, when he first met Clark he attacked him. However, this was about a day after he really first met him, when Bart used kryptonite against him.
    Bart-allen run k77
  • While in Mexico, Bart learned a bit of Spanish. (Justice)
  • Bart had a crush on Chloe Sullivan. (Run, Justice)
  • While flirting with Chloe the first time they meet, Bart says that he is from the future and that in 100 years they are still in love. In the comics, Bart Allen was from the 30th Century and traveled back in time and it is revealed in Argo he is really from the 31st century.
Bart allen theflash78

Bart's many fake IDs.

  • Bart actually appeared in the season nine finale, Salvation. When Clark was giving his speech to the Justice League, Bart was shown on the far right screen listening to Clark.
  • Bart went to two funerals while on the show. Jimmy Olsen's in Doomsday and Carter Hall's in Icarus.
  • In the comics he is a member of Young Justice with Superboy and The Wonder Twins and later joined Teen Titans, where he worked with Superboy, Cyborg, Speedy and Slade Wilson's daughter Rose, who is known as the Ravager. Conner and Bart both died within the 2 years of each other following the events of Infinite Crisis and One Year Later. They were both resurrected at about exactly the same time thanks to the actions of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century to fight against Superboy-Prime.
  • Although Smallville Bart is not a member of the Teen Titans, he is a founding member of the Justice League (something Barry and DCAU Wally is known for), and his sacrifice in Haunted led to the creation of the Titans.

Notes[]

  • Despite using the codename "Impulse", Bart's costume is more of a real world version of the "Flash" costume than the costume Bart wore as Impulse. However the second Impulse costume Bart wears in Season 11 resembles more of the comic Impulse costume (a white spandex suit, with a red lightning bolt on the middle of his body, along with red gloves and boots, with yellow lenses and a red mask) with aspects of his previous costume (a red vest with yellow lightning designs on it with a lightning bolt on the back, long-sleeved dark red shirt with a pair of dark red jeans, a dark red belt, red shoes, red cuff around each wrist and a pair of red sunglasses) as well as resembling Jay Garrick's original costume (blue pants, a red longsleeve shirt with an upside down lightning bolt across his chest, red boots with small stylized wings).
  • Writer Steven S. DeKnight states that the reason they were forced to refer to Bart as Impulse was due to a DC request, which was a technicality…and it was like, "Alright, but the audience is calling him the Flash anyway. It absolutely doesn't matter". [8][9]
  • Bart was given the codename Impulse by Green Arrow, aka Oliver Queen, in Smallville but was given the same name by the Batman in the comics, saying that it was a warning instead of a compliment.[10]
  • Bart is mentioned in Odyssey, Dominion, Escape, Checkmate (episode) and Roulette and is seen via photographs as well as mentioned in Hex.
  • His profile name was shown in Vengeance Chronicles and Fade.
  • Bart was the first member of the Justice League that Oliver recruited and coincidentally the first member to appear on the series with the exception of Clark and Chloe.
  • As pointed out by Clark in Masquerade, the hoodie would fall off while super speed, yet this has yet to be seen to happen to Bart. However Season 11 writer Bryan Q. Miller announced a change in his costume mainly because of this fact.[11]
  • Bart is also similar to Wally in the comics and DC animated universe. He came from a difficult home kind of like Wally and in an accident involving a flash of light was at a young age like Wally, similar to Wally is more public with powers as well as a bit of a flirt and womanizer (before Spectre mindwiped the world that he is the Flash), like Wally, Jay and Bart the city they protect is Keystone City (as seen in Hex) and he has a metabolism problem.
  • During a Podcast for the episode Hex, Writer Bryan Q. Miller revealed the mention of Bart and Clark on a League mission in Keystone City (home of Jay Garrick, the original Flash) was originally expanded, revealing they were chasing after a rampaging gorilla, a nod to the Flash foe, Gorilla Grodd. Oliver also delivered a line "Bart always gets the interesting rogues." a reference to group of Flash's enemies that call themselves "The Rogues." The scene was cut for time and they didn't want another league member stealing Zatanna's thunder in her debut episode.[12]
  • Bart Allen's death in Haunted of running around the world and absorbing speed force energy and uses it against Black Flash resembles Four Flash's "death":
    • Allen escapes and foils the Anti-Monitor's plan to destroy the Earth with an anti-matter cannon, creating a speed vortex to draw the power in, but dies in the process as the power becomes too much for his body. It has been said that Allen travels back through time and becomes the very same lightning bolt that gives him his powers, but later it is also strongly implied that the soul of Barry resides in the Speed Force, the mystical source and Valhalla open to all dead speedsters and from which the living ones draw their amazing powers. It should also be noted that the way Barry Allen seemed to have "died" in Crisis on Infinite Earths, was that he ran so fast that he was able to stop the Anti-Monitor’s anti-matter cannon from firing by catching the tachyon beam at the heart of the weapon. After this act, according to Secret Origins Annual #2 (1988), Barry Allen turns into a lightning bolt, goes back in time, becoming the lightning bolt that hit his lab, splashing his past-self with chemicals and transforming him into the Flash.
Flash Barry Allen death Flash 0050

Barry's death in Crisis of Infinite Earths.

    • Wally’s sacrifice at the end of “Chain Lightning,” entering the Speed Force to defeat Cobalt Blue, appeared final. He was, in fact, drawn back into reality when Linda escaped her prison outside of time.
    • "Infinite Crisis" when Bart, Wally and Jay attempted to trap the murderous Superboy-Prime in the Speed Force, Bart found himself facing a monster alone. Jay fell behind and Wally was pulled out of this reality. Bart managed to force Superboy-Prime as far as the edge of the speed force, at which point the heroes trapped there—Barry, Max Mercury, and Johnny Quick—took over, pulling Superboy inside.
    • The Justice League Unlimited episode "Divided We Fall", Wally pushed his powers to their limit, running as fast as he could around the world numerous times and tapping into the Speed Force in order to separate and defeat the two villains. As a result, Flash was very nearly pulled into the Speed Force, but was rescued by the teamwork of his teammates. The incident left Flash with the disturbing possibility that traveling that fast again might mean he would never come back.
    • In the season 2 finale of Young Justice, Flash (Barry) and Impulse (Bart) are required to use produce enough kinetic energy to reverse the final device and Wally joins them to increase their chances of success, but his slower speed lead to him acting as a release valve for the excess energy and he is vaporized. The team is greatly effected by Wally's death and Bart takes up the mantle of Kid Flash in Wally's honor.
  • Bryan Q Miller revealed on his Tumblr page that Bart might reappear in future Smallville comics and said a fan was right to put death in quotation marks hinting at his possible survival or return.[13]

Other faces of Bart Allen[]

References[]

External links[]

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