Flash Facts: Iris West

This Article Originally Ran On Birth.Movies.Death.com

Every week, I’m going to take a character from the fantastic Flash TV series and give you a quick history lesson on their comic origins. This week we’re looking at the first lady of the Flash Family, Iris West...

Barry Allen wasn’t the only important character to make his first appearance in Showcase #4, along with the fastest man alive came another in a long line of characters who would be Lois Lane rip­offs, but Iris West ended up being so much more.

A photojournalist for the Central City Citizen (though originally called Picture News), Iris West was already well into her relationship with Barry when they first showed up on the scene. Iris was a tough and cool reporter, never afraid of going after the story, and unlike Lois, almost never needing saving. She took care of herself, though mainly off panel.

As with all reporters in comics, Iris couldn’t figure out that Barry was Flash. She knew that Barry and Flash were friends, but had no clue that they were one and the same. Mark Waid would explain this in his graphic novel “The Life Story of the Flash” by having Barry, when appearing as Flash, vibrate his face and change his voice by vibrating his vocal chords ­something that the Flash TV series is using to great effect. Iris discovered Barry’s secret on their honeymoon when Barry talked in his sleep. Think on that for a second ­ Barry was never planning on telling his fiance turned wife that he was a superhero. Maybe I’m alone on this, but that kind of makes him the fastest jerk alive in my book.

It was shortly after their marriage that Iris learned that she was from the future, sent back in time during the Earth East Earth West War of the 30th Century. Sadly, the war was not based around rappers or ventriloquist dummies.

As mentioned previously, Iris was killed by Reverse Flash in a most terrible way, he vibrated his fingers into her skull, whisking her brain. This being comics, Iris wasn’t dead for long; her essence had been snatched up by her biological parents in the future, where she hung out for a while before coming back to the present to help Barry with his murder trial.*

Barry only stayed with Iris in the 30th century for a few weeks before dying himself. Iris learned that she was pregnant, and soon gave birth to twins, Don and Dawn Allen. Don and Dawn inherited their father’s powers and became the Tornado Twins. Sadly, Don and Dawn would be killed by Dominators, but not before having children of their own.

Dawn’s daughter, Jenni, would become a member of the Legion of Superheroes, known as XS. Don’s son, Bart, had a harder time. Bart was trapped in superspeed from birth, aging faster than a normal person ­ by the time he was 2, Bart looked 12. To help Bart, he was raised in a VR simulation so that his learning could keep up with his rapid aging. Knowing that Bart was looking at a short life stuck inside a virtual world, Iris took her grandson and brought

her back in time to the only person she knew could help him, her nephew and the 3rd Flash, Wally West. Bart would become the hero Impulse, then the 4th Flash after Wally went missing. Then he would be killed, but come back. We’ll get to that in a future piece.

Back in the present day, Iris restarted her life as a reporter. She started up a friendship with a cop, and adopted the son of one of Flash’s greatest enemies, Weather Wizard. Iris was settling nicely into her new life.

And then Barry came back. In one of the most annoying moments for fans of Flash comics, pretty much everything that was happening with Iris was forgotten. Weather Wizard’s kid? Fuck him, he was gone. The new cop boyfriend? Fuck him, never mentioned again. Iris being in her 50s? Fuck that, she was in her 30s again.

But even that didn’t last long, as soon after Barry’s return, DC started the New 52. In this reality, Iris and Barry are just friends, though it is clear that she is in love with him. Personally, I like most of the way Iris has been treated in the New 52 stuff ­ she’s smart, she’s cool, and it is easier to believe that she doesn’t know Barry is Flash. What I don’t like is the changes to her family. In the previous version, Iris’ adoptive parents were Ira and Nadine West. Ira was a

Nobel Prize winning scientist who was a mentor to Barry in college (which is how he met Iris) and one of the few people who knew Barry was Flash. Iris’ brother, Rudolph, was not only the father of Wally, but a scumbag who tried to get his son to fight on the side of the Manhunters during the MIllenium Event, then sacrificed himself during the Invasion to atone for his sins (then showed up later on not dead and dating a demon. Rudolph was an great character).

Now, in the New 52, Iris’ father was an alcoholic who was abusive to his children. Her brother is Daniel West, a loser criminal who became Reverse Flash and went back in time to kill his father in an attempt to save himself and his sister a lot of pain. Oh, and Iris has another brother who somehow wasn’t mentioned or seen in the Reverse Flash storyline where we see Iris as a kid with her family, who is the deadbeat dad of Wally, who is a cynical hoodlum ( we

know he’s a hoodlum because when we first see him, he’s spray painting a wall).

At this point, we don’t know if New 52 Iris is from the future or not.

Personally, I’m against this current need to make every character in comics have a tragic past. One of the beauties of the Flash books, to me, was that these were characters who were generally happy, and wanted to make others happy.

On the CW series, Iris’ father is Joe West, a cop in Central City and an awesome character (my favorite on the show). We haven’t learned what happened to her mother yet. Showrunner Greg Berlanti has made it clear that they are planning to introduce Wally at some point, so it seems like Iris may have a brother or sister that we don’t know about on the show.

Iris is one hell of character on the show. I love that in 9 episodes, Iris has shown that she can handle herself, taking down both Girder and Clock King. Girder was super cool ­ she knocked him out after Flash failed to do so with a hypersonic punch! Iris is a better fighter than Flash!

I’m really looking forward to what the writers have in store for the character, and it’s great seeing Candice Patton becoming more relaxed in the role, making Iris her own.

*See the previous entry in this series about Barry Allen for more info on the trial.