Any idea(s) on why The Flash never developed a really popular female Speedster?

[Drako]

If the continuity from Jay to Barry to Wally had been allowed to continue then Iris could have been it.

I would love Iris as the next Flash. Another wasted opportunity that Future State didn't capitalize.

[The no face guy]

I just don't think Flash and Green Lantern were as popular as the trinity or Superfriends cast during the satellite era, and back than comic book readership was pretty much predominantly male.

Personally I don't mind Jesse Quick or the new girl Williamson brought in, but overall I think there are already to many speeders running around, we don't need yet another.

[9th.]

DC kinda dropped the ball ignoring their CW/Arrowverse characters.

[9th.]

Avery Ho is really promising, so is Irey if they to tackle the kid market.

[DrNewGod]

If the continuity from Jay to Barry to Wally had been allowed to continue then Iris could have been it.

I would love Iris as the next Flash. Another wasted opportunity that Future State didn't capitalize.

Confirm for me please: I assume you're speaking of Wally West's daughter rather than Iris West introduced in 1956? (I know it sounds silly, but I have comments on both cases and want to be sure I don't misunderstand).

[Drako]

Confirm for me please: I assume you're speaking of Wally West's daughter rather than Iris West introduced in 1956? (I know it sounds silly, but I have comments on both cases and want to be sure I don't misunderstand).

Yes, Iris "Irey" West, Wally's daughter.

[Alpha]

Nobody mentions Danica Williams? She has the coolest new design in the Flash Family and DC even stole it for the new Flash in Future State

[Frontier]

Yeah, but Jessie’s closer to Jade than Jessica Cruz.

Jessie’s origin depends on her parents being prior heroes. I think that’s why Jade isn’t merchandised and franchised across media like Jessica Cruz is.

The same applies to Jesse Quick.

For awhile I thought they would take Avery Ho in that direction.

Jesse's more prominent across Flash runs than Jade was in GL runs, though, since she was only really relevant during Kyle's era but Jesse extends to Waid, Johns, Johns again, and now finally back in Williamson.

I think it's just the stories in adaptions tend to not need a female Speedster so there's no real need to use her.

If they used a female Flash in the DC Superhero Girls multimedia, who would they use?

Jesse, probably.

[DrNewGod]

Yes, Iris "Irey" West, Wally's daughter.

So, the problem with Wally's daughter as a female Flash is the major problem DC continuity has struggled with since 1983. Once you introduce a character as somebody's child, you push a pin in time. Even if you're with dealing an immortal, like Wonder Woman, you're tagging everybody adjacent to them as fixed in a moment.

That works if you never age the child character, or only age them slowly. But if the character progresses, it puts a strain on the whole rest your continuity. You either have to age everything else (Batman says no), or take your story outside whatever else is going on in The Universe. That means Iris as Wally's daughter is great for an Elseworld, but not an ongoing.

Unless you do time travel. But that's already Bart's turf.

[Drako]

So, the problem with Wally's daughter as a female Flash is the major problem DC continuity has struggled with since 1983. Once you introduce a character as somebody's child, you push a pin in time. Even if you're with dealing an immortal, like Wonder Woman, you're tagging everybody adjacent to them as fixed in a moment.

That works if you never age the child character, or only age them slowly. But if the character progresses, it puts a strain on the whole rest your continuity. You either have to age everything else (Batman says no), or take your story outside whatever else is going on in The Universe. That means Iris as Wally's daughter is great for an Elseworld, but not an ongoing.

Unless you do time travel. But that's already Bart's turf.

That's why i said that Future State missed this opportunity.

Not that i think Kid Quick can't be a cool character, i would rather read this Flash story in Future State Flash than what we have being published.

[John Venus]

Nobody mentions Danica Williams? She has the coolest new design in the Flash Family and DC even stole it for the new Flash in Future State

I know her. One of the highlights of Justice League Beyond. The only problem is that she's confined to that continuity only.

[Restingvoice]

I think it's because of the multiple main Flash, so they ended up doing establishing the Flash line three times, whereas Batman and Superman never actually changed, so they can make both Supergirl and Batgirl appeared in the Silver Age and only need to reestablish them

Like this
Clark - Bruce - Jay = Golden
v
Kara - Bethy - Barry = Silver
v
Kara - Barbara - Wally = Bronze
v
Matrix - Oracle - Wally as Flash = Dark

So the Flash family's slower because they have to establish new main character first each time. People already familiar with Bruce and Clark, they can just move on with the sidekicks. The number of books and popularity I guess also count, because then they have more chances to expand the line.

Batman ended up having a gajillion of sidekicks at the same time because he has the most chances.

Oh of course there's outside incentive too. Batgirl would've never been created that early if Wertham and parents didn't push the Homosexual Dynamic Duo thing.

I don't know about Green Lanterns. Was Guy created because they want to increase sales or something like that?

[HunterX]

Nobody mentions Danica Williams? She has the coolest new design in the Flash Family and DC even stole it for the new Flash in Future State

I agree

[Riv86672]

I agree

^^^That’s a really nice take on the Kid Flash costume.

And ty to everyone who’s replied.

[Dred]

So, the problem with Wally's daughter as a female Flash is the major problem DC continuity has struggled with since 1983. Once you introduce a character as somebody's child, you push a pin in time. Even if you're with dealing an immortal, like Wonder Woman, you're tagging everybody adjacent to them as fixed in a moment.

That works if you never age the child character, or only age them slowly. But if the character progresses, it puts a strain on the whole rest your continuity. You either have to age everything else (Batman says no), or take your story outside whatever else is going on in The Universe. That means Iris as Wally's daughter is great for an Elseworld, but not an ongoing.

Unless you do time travel. But that's already Bart's turf.

Oh yes, Batman, the series that totally doesn't have Batman's fifty children running around dominating the market. Also the same continuity with...several acting participants of World War II. Yeah it's definitely impossible for their to be large age discrepancies in active heroes.

Sarcasm aside this is a false dichotomy. Having Wally be The Flash at all in the first place would've aged things up past a reasonable point if they were super worried about it and they ran with that for nearly 3 decades and he was, for all real intents and purposes, Barry's son. Same age range as Cyborg, who has been shoved onto the league for a decade now. Heck, they even tossed in Bart as The Flash for awhile, who's very close in age range to Iris.

To answer the question, Flash wasn't popular enough at the time when the were adding these spinoff characters (same reason there wasn't a Green Lantern Girl until recently) and then the characters who COULD have been the standout female characters got erased from history to establish White Straight Male Barry Allen as the definitive Flash again, since all the representation got introduced with Wally.