Image courtesy of DC Comics and Mike McKone.
Real Name[]
Bartholomew “Bart” Allen
Known Aliases[]
Impulse, The Fastest Boy Alive
First DC Appearance[]
Flash (Second Volume) #91
First Story Appearance[]
Black and White
Weapons[]
None.
Powers[]
Connection to the extra-dimensional Speed Force allows him to run at impossibly fast speeds, and approach lightspeed in the direst situations, while protecting him from friction and other such forces. He is also able to think and read at superspeed and retain the information he reads.
Current Status[]
Active
History[]
Born in the 30th century, Bart is the grandson of the second Flash Barry Allen and son of Don and Melanie Thawne Allen. He was born with a Speed-Force induced metabolic anomaly that caused him to age in super speed. By the time he was two years old, he appeared to be twelve. Hence, he was raised in a virtual reality simulation that could keep up with his mind. The consequences was this was a life without consequences, causing Bart to become impulsive and headstrong, unable or unwilling to consider the repercussions of his reactions.
His grandmother Iris, Barry Allen’s wife, sent him back in time to Wally West, who was able to help stabilize his metabolism. Bart soon took up the heroic identity of Impulse. Impulse’s first appearance in the Legendverse would come at the climax of Black and White, in which he aided the Titans and Young Justice against the Lord of the Night. Impulse would appear again during a brawl between Starfire and Blackfire, taking bets on the action while ostensibly being the referee… or something like that.
Perhaps Bart’s greatest contribution to the Legendverse came in The Cutting Edge, in which he showed up—now dressed in his new threads as Kid Flash—to help the Titans away team take down the self-styled murderous vigilante Cauterize. Kid Flash and Cauterize fought a battle that spanned the entire planet, surpassing the speed of light in the final stages. In the end, Bart emerged victorious as Cauterized ostensibly vanished into the Speed Force.
Bart also appeared in Crisis Point, playing essentially the same role as he did in the canon Infinite Crisis, and in the non-Legendverse story Legacy of the Tamaranian, in which he helped Beast Boy and Raven patrol Jump City while the other Titans were away in space.