The Flash: John Fox Is Officially the Future's NEW Barry Allen Expert - CBR - Comic Book Resources

WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Flash #761, by Joshua Williamson, Howard Porter, Hi-Fi and Steve Wands, on sale now.

Ever since his introduction, Eobard Thawne had been expert on the Flash Family's legacy, growing up as Barry Allen's biggest fan and working as a curator at the Flash Museum in the 25th century. Following his transformation into the villainous Reverse-Flash, Eobard would use his extensive future knowledge to taunt and anticipate Barry's every move, going as far to rewrite his nemesis' history by causing every major tragedy in his life, including murdering Barry's mother Nora and framing his father Henry for the crime. However, as the fabric of time has begun to change throughout the DC Universe, a different speedster is the new resident expert on the Flash Family's legacy: John Fox.

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Fox was created by Mark Waid and Mike Parobeck in 1990's The Flash Special #1 as a historian for the National Academy of Science in the 27th century. As the Central City of his time is devastated by a super villain, Fox is sent back to the relative present of the DC Universe to recruit a Flash to go back to the future with him and save the day. While unsuccessful in recruiting a Flash, the energy used to send Fox back in time gives him super-speed and he assembles his own composite costume to save his city. After attempting to replace a time-displaced Wally West, Fox is accused of threatening his society's rules on tampering with history and decides to travel even further in the future to serve as a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes and, later, as a member of DC One Million's Justice Legion Alpha.

The battle between the Legion of Zoom, the Flash's greatest super villains recruited from various points of history, and the extended Flash Family is observed by Fox and his own Kid-Flash from the the Justice Legion's native time in the 853rd century. As Fox recounts to his young sidekick, this particular event is of special, historic importance because it marked the last race between Barry and Eobard, hinting that the outcome would result in a grave tragedy for the Scarlet Speedster as he confronted his nemesis one last time. Apart from being from even further in the future than Eobard, Fox appears aware of fluctuations in time that even the Reverse-Flash couldn't anticipate.

While gloating that he was responsible not only for causing every major tragedy in Barry's life but also Wally, Hunter Zolomon and August Heart's, Eobard is shocked when Wally sends a lightning bolt from the depths of the DC Multiverse through his new, omnipotent powers gained during Flash Forward. Shocked that time has changed and he wasn't aware of the changes to Wally, Eobard races off to discover exactly what had changed, with Barry in hot pursuit as Fox and his protege continue to watch from the distant future.

It stands to reason that while Eobard Thawne would be well-versed on the Flash Family's history, the other future eras of the DC Universe would know even more given their increased perspective.

As a former historian who managed to become a tangential part of the Flash Family, there is no one better to supplant Eobard's expertise than John Fox. As a futuristic speedster that has not only run beside Wally West but also the Legion of Super-Heroes and Justice Legion Alpha, Fox's superhero roots go deep into the future history of the DCU.

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Sam Stone is a 10th level pop culture guru living just outside of Washington, DC who knows an unreasonable amount about The Beatles. You can read his work in the pages of Image+, follow him on Twitter @samstoneshow, and listen to his podcast Geek Out Show on iTunes and Google Play.