Wally West: The Flash Appreciation 2020

[married guy]

So I am a big Wally West fan - grew up with The Return of Barry Allen, Terminal Velocity, and Dead Heat trades and Morrison's JLA.

I was so excited by DC Rebirth and how it brought him back as this signifier that the lesser parts of the New 52 were over.

I followed the character into Titans but that book didn't grab me. And I refused to read a Barry Allen flash book so I never read Williamson's run beyond the first two trades.

Then Heroes in Crisis happened -

My question is - have they somehow redeemed what Wally did or erased it from continuity? How did they handle this in Flash Forward?

Unfortunately, it hasn't been retconned from continuity. They have said that it was Eobard Thawne mentally 'pushing' Wally to kill everyone and he wasn't in control of his actions.
I would have preferred if they'd just said outright that Reverse Flash did it all and tricked Wally etc. into thinking Wally was at fault.

[Hcmarvel]

Unfortunately, it hasn't been retconned from continuity. They have said that it was Eobard Thawne mentally 'pushing' Wally to kill everyone and he wasn't in control of his actions.
I would have preferred if they'd just said outright that Reverse Flash did it all and tricked Wally etc. into thinking Wally was at fault.

It wasn't the killing people that broke the character for me - it was the coverup and framing Booster Gold (and Harley but she is a killer of children so who cares really) afterwards. How do they explain Thawne making him do that?

[Dred]

They're unlikely to ever get rid of it short of a full reboot because it's a King story and King has absurd sway in the offices. Which is a shame because it's so fucking awful. So they're going to continue tip toeing around it, saying Wally needs redemption.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

It wasn't the killing people that broke the character for me - it was the coverup and framing Booster Gold (and Harley but she is a killer of children so who cares really) afterwards. How do they explain Thawne making him do that?

That's also covered by Thawne's mental manipulation. Basically, Prof. Zoom was responsible for all the bad decisions and storytelling mistakes made with all the various Flash characters during the latter part of Didio's reign

It was apparently a new power he gained from the Negative Speed Force

[Dred]

No part of the Thawne reveal absolves Wally from exploding and killing a dozen people. Thawne's manipulation only extends to the framing and **** which is the bulk of the awfulness but it still doesn't change the fact that Wally is an emotionally unstable liability who can accidentally kill everyone around him when he gets emotionally distraught.

This specter will likely follow Wally forever. An intentional, permanent black mark on his history and role as a hero. Get used to years of people bringing up Wally as a mass killer whenever you talk about him as a subversive ace card. It'll be the reverse of the "BARRY MADE THE SPEED FORCE" comments. King very, very effectively discredited Wally for the foreseeable future. That's the problem with "redemption" being the keyword DC is throwing around. Redemption acknowledges he is culpable and responsible for the horrible things he did.

[Hcmarvel]

What issues did the Thawne revelation happen?

[Frontier]

No part of the Thawne reveal absolves Wally from exploding and killing a dozen people. Thawne's manipulation only extends to the framing and **** which is the bulk of the awfulness but it still doesn't change the fact that Wally is an emotionally unstable liability who can accidentally kill everyone around him when he gets emotionally distraught.

This specter will likely follow Wally forever. An intentional, permanent black mark on his history and role as a hero. Get used to years of people bringing up Wally as a mass killer whenever you talk about him as a subversive ace card. It'll be the reverse of the "BARRY MADE THE SPEED FORCE" comments. King very, very effectively discredited Wally for the foreseeable future. That's the problem with "redemption" being the keyword DC is throwing around. Redemption acknowledges he is culpable and responsible for the horrible things he did.

I hope Adams resolves this to some extent since Green Arrow seems like he's coming after Wally for Roy's death.

[PennyDreadful]

They're unlikely to ever get rid of it short of a full reboot because it's a King story and King has absurd sway in the offices. Which is a shame because it's so fucking awful. So they're going to continue tip toeing around it, saying Wally needs redemption.

They already retconned the story saying it was Thawne and his Negative Speed Force powers. No one seems to want this character stuck with it. See also Hal Jordan and Parallax.

As for King, he was removed from Batman. He doesn’t have any more clout than any other creator. They should just say it was Thawne and let it drop.

[Hcmarvel]

When was it revealed Thawne was responsible for Wally's actions in Heroes in Crisis?

[WallyWestFlash]

When was it revealed Thawne was responsible for Wally's actions in Heroes in Crisis?

Flash #761

[Dred]

They already retconned the story saying it was Thawne and his Negative Speed Force powers. No one seems to want this character stuck with it. See also Hal Jordan and Parallax.

As for King, he was removed from Batman. He doesn’t have any more clout than any other creator. They should just say it was Thawne and let it drop.

And the immediate next story involves him sheepishly approaching his friends and needing to be forgiven by them for killing people. So the memo has not gotten out to anyone. The retcon doesn't matter if it's not acknowledged. We literally are talking about a solicit talking about Wally needing redemption. Why would he need redemption if it wasn't sticking to him?

[Bored at 3:00AM]

No part of the Thawne reveal absolves Wally from exploding and killing a dozen people. Thawne's manipulation only extends to the framing and **** which is the bulk of the awfulness but it still doesn't change the fact that Wally is an emotionally unstable liability who can accidentally kill everyone around him when he gets emotionally distraught.

I was under the impression that Thawne caused the Speed Force explosion and Wally's inexplicable desire to cover up the accident and frame Harley & Booster.

If it didn't, that's my head canon anyway

[Bored at 3:00AM]

And the immediate next story involves him sheepishly approaching his friends and needing to be forgiven by them for killing people. So the memo has not gotten out to anyone. The retcon doesn't matter if it's not acknowledged. We literally are talking about a solicit talking about Wally needing redemption. Why would he need redemption if it wasn't sticking to him?

We had to endure about 5 years of Hal sheepishly asking for forgiveness, so Wally's making much faster progress towards in his own "redemption from an ill-advised heel turn" hoop jumping. Hopefully, this story will bury the stank of HiC as thouroughly as GL Rebirth did for Hal, so the character can get back to being a straight-up hero again.

I can sort of understand why the new writer wants to re-open these wounds again, since not everyone knows what Thawne did yet, but I'd prefer they stop belaboring it and just move on.

[Somecrazyaussie]

When was it revealed Thawne was responsible for Wally's actions in Heroes in Crisis?

During the Finish Line story arc. Basically Thawne was able to whisper at a supersonic pitch that "persuaded" Wally that Barry was against him in Flash War. He then did it to Wally again during HiC. He also made Barry doubt himself and coerced Kid Flash to go along with Damian in the recent Teen Titans run (when he constantly had doubts over what they were doing)

Basically, every single tragedy/story misstep from the start of Rebirth until recently regarding the Flash Family is all Thawne's doing.

[married guy]

I was under the impression that Thawne caused the Speed Force explosion and Wally's inexplicable desire to cover up the accident and frame Harley & Booster.

If it didn't, that's my head canon anyway

That's the way I took it as well.
It was ALL Thawne.