The Flash Turned One of His Most Sadistic Rogues Into a Joke - CBR - Comic Book Resources

Brad Meltzer and Rags Morales' Identity Crisis was one of the most influential DC comics stories of the 2000's and remains one of its most controversial to this day. The dark murder mystery drew equal praise and criticism for the massive changes it made to the DC universe and it continued to influence stories in a wide range of series for the rest of the decade until The New 52 reboot. The story began with the brutal murder of Sue Dibny, wife of the Elongated Man, the investigation into which revealed a dark secret within the superhero community. Discovering this secret caused Wally West, a.k.a. The Flash, to question his faith in his beloved predecessor Barry Allen, and Wally's doubt was only exacerbated when further revelations about how Barry handled one of his most dangerous villains were revealed.

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After Sue's murder, Wally and other heroes discovered that a small sect of the Justice League, including Green Arrow, Black Canary, Green Lantern, Hawkman, the Atom, and Barry (who was the Flash at the time) had used Zatanna's magic to erase the memories of various supervillains who discovered their secret identities in order to keep their loved ones safe. In Doctor Light's case, they also modified his personality to make him less of a threat. This had the unintentional effect of essentially lobotomizing him, providing a retroactive explanation for the buffoonish behavior the character often exhibited in earlier appearances. Wally was one of the first heroes outside the group to learn the truth, which he was outraged by, especially since it shattered the idealized impression of Barry he remembered. Things soon got even worse for the third Flash.

In The Flash storyline "The Secret of Barry Allen" by Geoff Johns and Howard porter, which premiered alongside Identity Crisis in The Flash issues 214-216, Green Arrow gave Wally a letter Barry wrote him before he died in Crisis on Infinite Earths. In it, Barry tried to explain to his nephew why he made the choice he did. As shown in Identity Crisis, Barry's was the tiebreaking vote that decided to alter Light's mind, which was a particular shock to Wally. In the letter, Barry admitted that he knew this was a mistake, but at the time he had believed that his wife Iris was killed by the Reverse-Flash, leading him to become a more ruthless crime fighter. He explained that soon after the Light incident he stepped even further over the moral line when he made a drastic choice to neutralize The Top, one of his regular Rogues who was growing increasingly powerful and dangerous.

The Top, a.k.a. Roscoe Dillon, was a small-time supervillain capable of spinning his body at superhuman speeds. He also developed telepathic abilities, eventually resulting in him discovering the Flash's identity. The Top launched a series of horrific personal attacks against Barry's friends and family, including defiling Iris' grave. After defeating him, Barry went to his cohorts in the League with a drastic idea. He proposed that Zatanna should alter The Top's basic morality and personality so that he would use his considerable power as a hero. Although some objected to this, Zatanna agreed and for a time the process worked, with Top even briefly serving as a crime-fighting partner to Barry. But Top's new moral psychology could not reconcile his past vile actions and guilt drove him to madness. Barry had to subdue him after he violently attacked the Rogues. Top's consciousness, which had been inhabiting a different body since his was killed, escaped. In his letter, Barry told Wally he knew one day Top would return in a new host and that when he did he wanted him to give him back his original personality.

Wally worked with Zatanna to do so, but once he was back to his old self the Top was even more dangerous than ever. He revealed that while under Zatanna's influence he had used his mental powers to attempt to alter the minds of the Rogues in a similar way, which is why so many of them attempted to reform. He told Wally that he would soon "take all of their goodness and rationality back. And your world will come crashing down." He set about doing so as part of the "Rogue War" story arc, also by Johns and Porter, during which he was killed by Captain Cold. After this, Top was briefly resurrected as a Black Lantern during Blackest Night, before altered versions appeared in The New 52 and Rebirth.

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About The Author

Gregory Mysogland (36 Articles Published)

Gregory Mysogland is a freelance writer living in Fairfield, Connecticut. He is a lifelong fan of comics and film, especially the superhero genre and currently works as a Freelance Comics Features Writer for CBR. He graduated from Fordham University with a major in Film and Television and minor in Journalism in 2020. He has previously reviewed comics, films, and television for Sequential Planet. In addition to his media interests Greg enjoys playing basketball, watching the New York Giants, and going to the beach.