This Special Edition of the Next Level will be a primer, to get our readers ready for:
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Unlike the previous post, Flashpoint is occuring very young into the run of the Flash, and thus there are only three major storylines to be concerned with.
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The Flash: Rebirth
This storyline concerned with the restoration of the Flash mythos, rather than the return of Barry Allen (which took place in Final Crisis). In it, Barry is reluctant to pick up where he left off, but is drawn back into his duties, when it is revealed that something is causing him to kill other speedsters on touch. It is briefly speculated that Barry is the new Black Flash, but it is revealed instead that his long-dead rival Eobard Thawne (Professor Zoom) was resurrected in the near future, and travelled back to the past to destroy Barry's life. (For more information on this resurrection, read Blackest Night and Brightest Day). He created a Negative Speed Force which poisoned Barry, who was able to burn off the red lighting and regenerate his own Positive Speed Force.
It is revealed that in this timeline, Barry's mother was murdered and his father was jailed for the crime, but how can this be possible? The Negative Speed Force allows time to change, and as a result, Professor Zoom was able to run back in time, kill Barry's mother, and frame his father. Finally, the three Flashes (Barry Allen, Wally West, and Jay Garrick), Kid Flash, Impulse, and Liberty Belle are able to incapacitate Thawne and strip him of his Negative Speed Force powers, but there is a catch. Thawne is like Barry: a Speed Force Generator. If Thawne is allowed to move at all, the Red Lightning will flow once more. So Barry arranges for Thawne to be placed in this Hannibal style rig, and imprisoned in Iron Heights.
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At the conclusion of The Flash Rebirth (well, technically at the conclusion of The Flash #1, but whatever), we are introduced to a teaser for Flashpoint)
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The Flash: Dastardly Death of the Rogues
This storyline saw The Flash returning to his job at the crime lab, working as a CSI. He is faced with the case of a murder of someone dressed like his villain, the Mirror Master. However, he is in fact the Mirror Monarch, a member of the Reverse-Flash Task Force (code-named the Renegades) from the 25th Century: A police officer. What's worse, the DNA of the killer matches Barry Allen, and so the other Renegades (designed after the Rogues - the main Flash villains) travel back in time to apprehend The Flash.
At the same time, Captain Boomerang escapes from Iron Heights, discovering that he now has the ability to generate energy-based explosive boomerangs. He attacks the Flash, and the Renegades, but is ultimately defeated. At this point in time, the Rogues get involved, carrying with them a giant mirror engraved with the words: IN CASE THE FLASH RETURNS - BREAK GLASS.
During the conflict between the Rogues and Renegades, Captain Boomerang's White Lantern vision occurs, accidentally causing him to shatter the Mirror, releasing a myriad of colours, and causing Barry to hear the voice of his mother. In the ensuing chaos, The Flash is arrested and brought back to the 25th Century, where he realizes that he's been framed by a member of the Renegades. He is able to prove his innocence, and is returned to his time. However, the Temporal Courts of the 25th Century begin to detect a temporal anomaly in The Flash's native timeline. The story ends with Hot Pursuit travelling back in time to find Barry Allen, hoping that he finds the secret of the Flashpoint.
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The Flash: The Road to Flashpoint
This story begins with two stand-alone chapters. The first involves Captain Boomerang coming to terms with the demands of his White Lantern mission. In order to understand his mission, he goes to see Thawne, in Iron Heights. Knowing that Boomerang is unaware that Thawne has already completed his White Lantern mission (as revealed in Brightest Day #7 and hinted at in The Flash: Rebirth), Thawne promises to help Captain Boomerang if he frees him. After being freed, Thawne makes some derogatory comments toward Boomerang and takes off. The second chapter is a spotlight on Thawne himself, showing how he came to be the man he is. However, every time Thawne is face with some sort of unpleasant challenge, a red lighting storm swarms the page, and it is rewritten, indicating that Thawne is using the Negative Speed Force to rewrite his own past.
Essentially, we have two smaller arcs taking place within the story. In the first arc, Barry Allen has planned to go to a picnic with his wife and the Wests, but is called away on police business. The Elongated Kid has been killed. But strangely, he's not a kid anymore... He's really really old. Barry then calls his wife to inform her why he won't be attending the picnic. When Iris comments that he could have easily run over and told her in person in half the time the phone call took, Barry reveals that after the Mirror shattered, he'd been having second thoughts after seeing his mother alive, as she should have been, before the machinations of Professor Zoom. This is very significant as it was revealed that the Mirror was designed as a long term weapon to create doubt and cause it to fester in its target.
The second arc shows the new speedster Hot Pursuit travelling back in time, looking for fuel and Barry Allen. At this point, the two arcs intersect, as Hot Pursuit finds Allen working at his desk. When Allen dons the Flash garb and chases after Hot Pursuit, Hot Pursuit stops, and reveals that he is in fact a chronally displaced Barry Allen looking to stop the "single greatest time anomaly to ever threaten reality". This story is still ongoing.
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There you have it, Ladies and Gentlemen. This post has all relevant information regarding the Flashpoint.
Thoughts? Questions? Feedback is always welcome. Leave a comment or email nextlevelstaff@gmail.com
I've always liked the Flash. Wicked post buddy. Gets me wanting to read them all.
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