# Silver Age Flash question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 17, 2012, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-age-flash-question/622215 "2012-05-17T15:39:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-age-flash-question/622215/1 "2012-05-17T15:39:41Z")
Barry Allen had a ring, and when he wanted to become the Flash, he would open it up and a super- compressed Flash suit would pop out. What then? Did he struggle into this skin tight costume with his street clothes still on? That would seem to be pretty uncomfortable, not to mention the mother of all panty lines. If he was going to remove his street clothes any way, why not wear the Flash suit under his regular clothes, ala Superman? 😕 Come to think of it, this would be a good question to pose to Leonard and Sheldon. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-age-flash-question/622215/2 "2012-05-17T15:43:40Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > If he was going to remove his street clothes any way, why not wear the Flash suit under his regular clothes, ala Superman? For one thing a full cowl is a lot harder to hide than a leotard. And he can change at superspeed…the convenience of not having to be doing so repeatedly in his civilian life (when he goes to the bathroom, has alone time with Iris, whatever) easily overpowers the inconvenience of having to do it when he has to respond to an emergency. ---
**Author:** ![SnakeBabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@SnakeBabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakeBabe)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-age-flash-question/622215/3 "2012-05-17T15:48:23Z")
I never got that ring/costume thing. With his super speed why didn’t he take a split of a split of a split second to run home and get his costume. He could have hung up his clothes, got the costume on and returned to the scene of the crime before the bullet left the chamber 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-age-flash-question/622215/4 "2012-05-17T16:19:51Z")
> [@SnakeBabe](#): > > I never got that ring/costume thing. With his super speed why didn’t he take a split of a split of a split second to run home and get his costume. He could have hung up his clothes, got the costume on and returned to the scene of the crime before the bullet left the chamber 🙂 He generally could, yes, but remember that his perceptions have to speed up along with his movements. Just because he can run home and back so fast we can’t see him do it doesn’t mean it’s not a long, boring jog for him. Besides as the DCAU version of Wally West puts it when he uses one of the rings, “Cool, huh?” (He also adds, “The hard part is getting the costume back into it.”) ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-age-flash-question/622215/5 "2012-05-17T17:55:45Z")
SnakeBabe: > [@](#): > > I never got that ring/costume thing. With his super speed why didn’t he take a split of a split of a split second to run home and get his costume. What if he was in outer space, or the mirror dimension of the Mirror Master, or in another time, fighting Reverse-Flash or Abra Kadabra? He may be fast, but home wasn’t always accessible. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-age-flash-question/622215/6 "2012-05-17T18:04:59Z")
The Flash seemed to have varying limits on his speed and endurance. Running home to change before engaging in a fight might not be a good idea. I dimly recall that he could compress his street clothes and compress them in the ring while in costume. Is there any definitive source for a limit on his speed? He once raced Superman around the world for a charity event. The race only a few hours IIRC, so that would put him around 8000MPH for a 3 hour race. Flash would run on top of the water, but for some reason Superman decided to swim (he wasn’t allowed to fly). It gives him pretty good endurance also, and I don’t remember endurance being addressed too often, but I think he was tired after some adventures. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-age-flash-question/622215/7 "2012-05-17T18:50:17Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > The Flash seemed to have varying limits on his speed and endurance. Running home to change before engaging in a fight might not be a good idea. I dimly recall that he could compress his street clothes and compress them in the ring while in costume. > > Is there any definitive source for a limit on his speed? He once raced Superman around the world for a charity event. The race only a few hours IIRC, so that would put him around 8000MPH for a 3 hour race. Flash would run on top of the water, but for some reason Superman decided to swim (he wasn’t allowed to fly). It gives him pretty good endurance also, and I don’t remember endurance being addressed too often, but I think he was tired after some adventures. Supes did not have time to learn the run on water trick, just as he could not vibrate through objects and had to run over them. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-age-flash-question/622215/8 "2012-05-17T18:51:15Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Is there any definitive source for a limit on his speed? He once raced Superman around the world for a charity event. The race only a few hours IIRC, so that would put him around 8000MPH for a 3 hour race. Flash would run on top of the water, but for some reason Superman decided to swim (he wasn’t allowed to fly). It gives him pretty good endurance also, and I don’t remember endurance being addressed too often, but I think he was tired after some adventures. “That was for charity, Clark.” I believe the effective top speed for DC speedsters is light speed, or close to it. If they go faster, they discorporate and merge with the Speed Force. ---
**Author:** ![SnakeBabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@SnakeBabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakeBabe)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-age-flash-question/622215/9 "2012-05-17T23:38:52Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > SnakeBabe: > > What if he was in outer space, or the mirror dimension of the Mirror Master, or in another time, fighting Reverse-Flash or Abra Kadabra? He may be fast, but home wasn’t always accessible. Ahhhh, your right.:smack: ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-age-flash-question/622215/10 "2012-05-17T23:43:47Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > SnakeBabe: > > What if he was in outer space, or the mirror dimension of the Mirror Master, or in another time, fighting Reverse-Flash or Abra Kadabra? He may be fast, but home wasn’t always accessible. Why would he need his costume then? Couldn’t he just fight in whatever he was wearing at the time? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-age-flash-question/622215/11 "2012-05-18T01:37:17Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > For one thing a full cowl is a lot harder to hide than a leotard. And he can change at superspeed… So can Superman. Why did he ever bother to duck into a phone booth?! ---
**Author:** ![MegaBee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@MegaBee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MegaBee)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-age-flash-question/622215/12 "2012-05-18T11:27:01Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > “That was for charity, Clark.” That line and the panel following it were so awesome. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingDragonFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c89c15/32.png) [@FlyingDragonFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingDragonFan)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-age-flash-question/622215/13 "2012-05-18T16:50:56Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > Just because he can run home and back so fast we can’t see him do it doesn’t mean it’s not a long, boring jog for him. This is something that crosses my mind once in a while: How do speedsters’ brains work? If their perceptions speed up with their bodies, then Flash running around the world would require him being aware of something in the neighborhood of 2 million steps (depending on how much his strides increase in length at speed). Or, if he can do so without being aware of the actual distance, how does he react to things along the way? I’m sure it’s canon that “something something speed force blah blah,” but it’s something I’ve always wondered. ---
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-age-flash-question/622215/14 "2012-05-18T17:00:04Z")
> [@FlyingDragonFan](#): > > This is something that crosses my mind once in a while: How do speedsters’ brains work? If their perceptions speed up with their bodies, then Flash running around the world would require him being aware of something in the neighborhood of 2 million steps (depending on how much his strides increase in length at speed). Or, if he can do so without being aware of the actual distance, how does he react to things along the way? > > I’m sure it’s canon that “something something speed force blah blah,” but it’s something I’ve always wondered. Supposedly that’s why Quicksilver, one of Marvel’s Speedsters, is always in a bad mood. “Imagine trying to have a conversation with someone when you have to wait 20 minutes before they start to answer a question.” I don’t think they ever talked about it with the Flashes nor really talked about fueling that metabolism except a bit in the animated JL show. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-age-flash-question/622215/15 "2012-05-18T17:06:11Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > So can Superman. Why did he ever bother to duck into a phone booth?! Actually, he [didn’t use a phone booth](http://www.supermanhomepage.com/other/other.php?topic=phonebooth) very often. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-age-flash-question/622215/16 "2012-05-18T17:10:46Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Why would he need his costume then? Couldn’t he just fight in whatever he was wearing at the time? Why anything at all? They don’t call him “the Flash” for nothing. (“I swear baby, that was Lorentz-Fitzgerald contraction. And it was cold out.”) ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-age-flash-question/622215/17 "2012-05-18T17:41:39Z")
> [@FlyingDragonFan](#): > > This is something that crosses my mind once in a while: How do speedsters’ brains work? If their perceptions speed up with their bodies, then Flash running around the world would require him being aware of something in the neighborhood of 2 million steps (depending on how much his strides increase in length at speed). Or, if he can do so without being aware of the actual distance, how does he react to things along the way? It’s an obvious necessity that their perceptions and reflexes are accelerated; that’s one of the main [required secondary powers](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RequiredSecondaryPowers) for a speedster. Their thought processes must also be accelerated to some degree, or they would be incapable of making decisions about what they’re doing–decisions as simple as “Do I turn right or left at the next intersection?”–while moving at speed. On the other hand, a lot of things speedsters do would be incredibly mind-numbing if they were thinking as fast as they were moving. I think we have to assume that the DC speedsters are capable of accelerating their thought processes, but the degree of acceleration is independent of their movement speed. They typically speed their thoughts up just enough to handle whatever they’re doing. So, the Flash running home to change wouldn’t subjectively experience it as the amount of time it would take a normal person to run that distance, but it wouldn’t be instantaneous, either. More like the time it would take to drive there in light traffic with no speed limits. Based on the animated _Justice League_, the DCAU Wally had a recurring nightmare of getting stuck in accelerated perception/thought, and spending the rest of his life in a world stuck between moments. Dr. Destiny played on it as Wally’s worst fear, trapping him in the dream. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-age-flash-question/622215/18 "2012-05-18T18:11:49Z")
Bart Allen once used his speeded-up perception to read an entire library. ISTR that Wally’s perception would turn on and off. There was one story where he was sitting in a theater, watching a movie at normal speed, then he felt something pressing on the back of his neck. It turned out to be a bullet sprayed by someone at the back of the theater, and when his body felt its initial contact, it turned on his speed perception to enable him to deal with it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-age-flash-question/622215/19 "2012-05-18T18:17:51Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > ISTR that Wally’s perception would turn on and off. There was one story where he was sitting in a theater, watching a movie at normal speed, then he felt something pressing on the back of his neck. It turned out to be a bullet sprayed by someone at the back of the theater, and when his body felt its initial contact, it turned on his speed perception to enable him to deal with it. It’s worth mentioning that, before he realized what was going on with the bullet, he honestly thought the movie had stopped. ---
**Author:** ![shy\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-age-flash-question/622215/20 "2012-05-18T20:58:07Z")
In the current Flash series (I’m sure everyone knows, but the DCU got a reboot nine months ago), one of the first issues deals with the new Barry Allen learning to use his powers to accelerate the speed of his cognition. He winds up with a sort of hyper-awareness that allows him to see all the possible outcomes of minute actions. The current Flash also opens up wormholes to the Speed Force if he runs too fast. Or something like that; I sort of lost track. Oh, and regarding the bullet thing, the new Barry Allen got shot in the head while doing his super-cognition thing and instinctively vibrated enough that he survived. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-age-flash-question/622215.md?page=2)