What do you think should be done with Wallace West?

[Rac7d*]

Oh I forgot him standing by Deathstroke during the Lazarus event….. yet he dared reprimand Damian on anything

[TheRay]

Yeah we have Booster Gold and Azure Avenger, why not just team him up with somebody else Brave and the Bold style for a book?

[Factor]

Ace West. I remember suggesting it a loooong time ago on these boards, but most didn't agree with me at the time. To me it would be the simplest solution, as it wouldn't need to involve another retcon. Wallace can simply choose to start usimg Ace as a nickname and that's it.

[Lightning Rider]

So call him Ace, have him work on the DCU's fast cars and planes, maybe put him in a streamlined version of this costume:


I don't know how people feel about his origin being so tied to Daniel West and being a criminal. But that could use some sprucing up IMO.

[BohemiaDrinker]

I don't understand why Wallace fans are so defensive when it would be in the character's best interest to have his own unique name that would allow him more room to grow as a character. I'm not saying he should give up Kid Flash or anything.

C'Mon... All of us Wally people spent more than a decade shooting down this exact same argument. Wallace fans are worried that any other role will make him less and expandable. I can understand and relate to that. That's why I proposed tying him to Jay: there's very little Wally/Wallace to build from, and Wallace and Barry seem to not really gel for some reason. That, and the fact that he has no immediate family.

The character doesn't need any radical reinvention, what he needs is a place within the family that doesn't feel like scraps. From there, there's room for his personality, powers and everything else to grow.

As for the names thing: we have 2 Iris Wests, two Bartholomew Henry Allen's, Jay and Jai (pronounced different, butt still) and so on. They're all from the very same family. The Flash fam can take it.

Also, he's black. There's no confusing them.

[Incognito]

Ace West. I remember suggesting it a loooong time ago on these boards, but most didn't agree with me at the time. To me it would be the simplest solution, as it wouldn't need to involve another retcon. Wallace can simply choose to start usimg Ace as a nickname and that's it.

I would not mind if he goes by "Ace" as a nickname it will keep him apart from Wally.

So call him Ace, have him work on the DCU's fast cars and planes, maybe put him in a streamlined version of this costume:


I don't know how people feel about his origin being so tied to Daniel West and being a criminal. But that could use some sprucing up IMO.

With his silver costume when he gets a little bit older and he felt that he is to old to go by 'Kid Flash' he can go by a new codename, I think 'Ghostrunner' sounds like a good codename to go by.

[Godlike13]

Sounds harsh but just get rid of him. Try again with the idea of introducing a new minority speedster. Sorry, but he was a bad and lazy attempt from the start and now they seem stuck trying to salvage him because of the optics. Rather then trying to do the idea right, free from any Wally West baggage.

[BohemiaDrinker]

Sounds harsh but just get rid of him. Try again with the idea of introducing a new minority speedster. Sorry, but he was a bad and lazy attempt from the start and now they seem stuck trying to salvage him because of the optics. Rather then trying to do the idea right, free from any Wally West baggage.

Disagree. The Wally baggage lasted for 3 years at most. In Comics time that's nothing. Og Wally is back and The Flash. They're established as separate entities since 2016. There's no reason Wallace can't work if just a little love is put into him. Less promising characters had way more chances.

[John Venus]

Wally and Wallace share the same name both in and out of costume, are both nephews to Iris West but also share the same costume, are both mentored by Barry, both have a history with the Teen Titans. Those are a lot of surface-level similarities for both characters to have when they are two of the most prominent speedsters currently appearing. These things don't matter individually but it's a lot of surface overlap because of how Wallace was originally constructed.


If when she was originally created in the silver age Iris West spent a large chunk of her history as an eight-year-old speedster who was daughter to the Flash and one of them was headlining the main book then I'd fully agree that something would have to be done about Irey's name, especially if we were also talking about them sharing the same superhero name and costume. I don't think Jai and Jay are even pronounced the same and they have completely different last names. I also don't see Jai West running around in a Jay Garrick hat or anything like that to even remotely insinuate the similarities.

Wally is also an adult in the present, is currently not a 'Teen' Titan, has a wife and kids, goes primarily by Flash now and he is also part of an entirely different generation of heroes. Legacy is also baked into the Flash mythos. Wally wore the Kid Flash threads until he 'graduated' to the Flash role and took on a costume similar to Barry's, now Wallace wears the Kid Flash costume and name which he shares with Wally West's pre teen daughter. Just by distinguishing them from Wally and Wallace is enough to know which one we are talking about. It's not as complicated or confusing as you're trying to make it out to be. If you need to make him stand out any further naming wise, give him a nickname like Ace or something (as suggested above). Plenty of fixes that would be better than just erasing a character.

[9th.]

Sounds harsh but just get rid of him. Try again with the idea of introducing a new minority speedster. Sorry, but he was a bad and lazy attempt from the start and now they seem stuck trying to salvage him because of the optics. Rather then trying to do the idea right, free from any Wally West baggage.

Actually I think it'd be even lazier to create a new character and the "optics" would be bad either way in this situation. There's always going to baggage for newer characters in popular franchises because everyone has a favorite that was tossed aside so that's unavoidable. I've said this once and I'll say it again characters like this need stories and as long as they keep using him it won't be much of a problem.

[Badou]

C'Mon... All of us Wally people spent more than a decade shooting down this exact same argument. Wallace fans are worried that any other role will make him less and expandable. I can understand and relate to that. That's why I proposed tying him to Jay: there's very little Wally/Wallace to build from, and Wallace and Barry seem to not really gel for some reason. That, and the fact that he has no immediate family.

The character doesn't need any radical reinvention, what he needs is a place within the family that doesn't feel like scraps. From there, there's room for his personality, powers and everything else to grow.

As for the names thing: we have 2 Iris Wests, two Bartholomew Henry Allen's, Jay and Jai (pronounced different, butt still) and so on. They're all from the very same family. The Flash fam can take it.

Also, he's black. There's no confusing them.

I didn't say give him a new role. I said give him a new name that lets him and Wally stop stepping on each others toes. Let him keep Kid Flash. That is what will keep the character relevant since Kid Flash is an identity that will always be used. So he won't be erased as long as he has that. The problem is that him and Wally sharing the same name hurts both characters because it causes them to cannibalize each other's opportunities. All you have to do is give him a new first name and then the character has more room to actually grow as an individual character.

I mean it is confusing when the live action version of Wally is also black. It is incredibly weird to have a separate black Wally West in the comics that is Iris' nephew and also Kid Flash when it is clear that other media wants the West family to be presented as black. There is far too much overlap between the two where it can be confusing and the two kind of become nearly interchangeable, which is bad for both.

And I see everyone keep trying to bring up there being two names like Jay and Jai, but that is completely different. They are two characters completely removed from each other and are put in very different positions within the Flash franchise. They don't even share the same superhero name. Then with Bart and Barry they are grandfather and grandson. They are basically immediate family and one is named after the other. It is very different than two cousins having the same name that are also Iris and Barry's nephew who are more removed from each other.

[Dred]

I'm not much of a Wallace fan but this seems rather disingenuous to me. I'm not personally that interested in him outside of his ancillary importance to the Flash franchise, mainly because I've wanted a female character to be relevant going forward for ages since The Flash has always been way too male dominated (which is why I'm a big Iris West II fan).

Maybe there's a point to be made that he could use a new name besides Kid Flash to step away from being a failed Wally clone, or giving him a more unique capability within the speedsters (Lemonpeace said make him the one who flies but that's the Quicks already). But saying he needs to change his name because someone else in the family has a similar name is silly. Wallace and Wally are different enough, that's the only thing anyone's going to call them from now on now that they both exist.

Honestly, the best argument for changing his name would be that it made no damn sense for his mom to name him after a distant West relative when the literal only thing we know about his absentee mother is that she hated the Wests. But that ship has sailed and I think we're all better off ignoring Wallace's first 2 years of existence because it was really bad. Which, thankfully, ignores his creation as a shitty Wally reboot.

The only time it's confusing is when people read those bad, old stories where he's still called Wally and is meant to be Wally as that will always, obviously be confusing. But changing his name doesn't fix that. Those comics will still read the same way and still be largely an annoyance. Frankly, all changing his name again actually does is make anyone who reads up on the character even more confused over the last 5 years where he was called Wallace. He'll have had 3 names in 10 years.

[TheRay]

I think Wallace and Wally are different enough to keep them both. However, we don’t have as much of Wallace to really compare the two, so he kind of has to be used more.

[Digifiend]

The only time it's confusing is when people read those bad, old stories where he's still called Wally and is meant to be Wally as that will always, obviously be confusing. But changing his name doesn't fix that. Those comics will still read the same way and still be largely an annoyance. Frankly, all changing his name again actually does is make anyone who reads up on the character even more confused over the last 5 years where he was called Wallace. He'll have had 3 names in 10 years.

Just update the reprints and digital comics. They've done that before, to remove pre-Flashpoint references from early New 52 books when they were released in TPBs.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

I'm cool with giving him a new ID. Both as a given name and a mantle. I liked Factor's "Ace as a nickname" idea and the "Ignition" idea. Kid Flash feels like a temporary mantle so him outgrowing it and passing it on makes sense.

In hindsight, I'd give him a different powerset from the get go but that's not Wallace- specific. I was pitching new origins/powers for Donna/Wally during the new 52. Plus I thought Barry being the Blue Lantern full time was a cool way to use him after Blackest Night.

Right now, he just needs to be used more. So a solo or a miniseries is fine. His most interesting connection is with Deathstroke so maybe have him join TRUST?