DC's Flash Family Just Gained a Powerful New Ally | CBR - CBR - Comic Book Resources

WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Flash #779, now on sale from DC Comics

As both individuals and as a team, the various members of the Flash Family have proven themselves to be some of the most powerful heroes in the DC Universe. However, the family's made many enemies over the years, and sometimes their collective power simply isn't enough to save the day. Thankfully, the kindness that the Flash Family has shown to others has allowed them to make many powerful allies within the superhero community, sometimes without even realizing that they've done so.

Soon after she's enrolled in a new school, Wally West's daughter Iris "Irey" West became fast friends with Maxine Baker, a seemingly normal girl with a bit of a mischievous streak. However, after Irey accidentally pulls her into the middle of a battle between her father and Eclipso in The Flash #779 )by Jeremy Adams, Fernando Pasarin, Matt Ryan, Brent Peeples, Jeremiah Skipper, Peter Pantazis, Jeromy Cox and Rob Leigh), Maxine reveals that she's the daughter of former Justice League member Buddy Baker, aka Animal Man. With her unique animal-based powers, Maxine helps turn the tide of battle in the Flash Family's favor, cementing herself as a powerful new ally.

Maxine first debuted in Animal Man #1 (by Grant Morrison, Chaz Truog, Doug Hazlewood, Tatjana Wood, and John Costanza) as one of Animal Man's two young children. At first, Maxine didn't appear to have inherited her father's ability to mimic the unique abilities of nearby animals, powers that he'd been granted as the Avatar of the Red, an elemental force born from the collective life energy of all animals. However, Jeff Lemire and Travel Foreman's 2011 run on Animal Man revealed that Maxine was the true Avatar of the Red and that the Parliament of Limbs who rule over the Red only gave Animal Man a fraction of the power they'd given Maxine to ensure that she had someone to train and protect her until she was strong enough to fulfill her destiny by defeating the Red's entropic counterpart, the Rot.

At the height of her power, Maxine possessed abilities on par with those of the Swamp Thing, one of the most powerful beings in the DC Universe. Unlike her father, whose abilities were limited to animal mimicry, Maxine's status as the Avatar of the Red gave her access to a diverse set of impressive powers, allowing her to communicate with animals, manipulate elemental energy to create protective shields and offensive blasts, and heal injuries to both herself and others. On top of that, Maxine also shares many of her father's more "mundane" abilities, including superhuman strength and stamina. Outside of her supernatural abilities, Maxine's also surprisingly clever for her age and was able to hide her abilities from her father for years and find clever and unconventional ways to use them in and out of battle.

Although Maxine eventually lost her status as the Avatar of the Red after she fulfilled her destiny and her father convinced the Parliament of Limbs to let him take her place, Maxine still appears to have a connection with the Red that grants her the ability to create and control elemental constructs that channel the abilities of nearby animals. After being pulled into the mystical realm of Gemworld alongside Irey and Irey's brother Jai, Maxine taps into the power of Gemworld's unique fauna and single-handedly defeats Dark Opal, one of Gemworld's most powerful villains. Shortly afterward, Maxine scatters Eclipso's assembled army of brainwashed mystical heroes by creating a construct of a Kaiju-sized worm known as a Crystalyrm, taking out several veteran members of Justice League Dark in the process. Maxine's abilities are so impressive that she's complemented by Wally, perhaps the most powerful person to ever take up the mantle of the Flash, who tells her that she's just as great of a hero as her father.

By helping the West family save the universe from Eclipso, Maxine proves herself as a powerful potential hero and deepens her friendship with Irey, who's openly in awe of her friend's abilities. Although she may no longer be the Avatar of the Red, Maxine is still one of the most powerful heroes in the entire DC Universe, and she's just become a member of its greatest superhero family.

KEEP READING: DC Has Found a Way to Make the Flash Family Their Version of The Incredibles

Doesn’t Ben Reilly, Marvel's Other Spider-Man, Deserve A Break?

Related Topics

About The Author

Drew Kopp (121 Articles Published)

Drew Kopp is a Comics Features Writer for CBR who holds a Bachelor's Degree of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. As a die-hard fan of comic books, fantasy/sci-fi literature, and video games, he loves nothing more than injecting his love of storytelling into his writing, and he also loves nothing more than writing about all things nerdy. When he isn't busy obsessively theorizing over comic book plots or drooling over the next big indie game, he can be found writing about those topics.