Speed Force

With the promos suggesting that Flash: Rebirth will see speedsters killed at an alarming rate, the question naturally arises: How many speedsters are there to kill?

Assuming we’re looking only at modern-day characters in the mainstream DC Universe, and not bringing in anyone from the future or alternate realities, we have…

Major Players:

• Flash: Jay Garrick – the original. And the only major Flash who has not already “died” at some point.
• Flash: Barry Allen – not likely to die, given that DC is building a major relaunch around him.
• Flash: Wally West – depends on whether you believe DC about how he’ll have a major part in the DC Universe over the next year.
• Kid Flash: Bart Allen – They just brought him back. It would be silly to kill him off again this soon. Not that I’d put it past DC…
• Liberty Belle/Jesse Quick (Jesse Chambers) – she’s focusing on the Liberty Belle legacy these days, plus it would be bad form to kill off the only major female speedster. Again, not that I’d put it past DC…
• Max Mercury – Rival’s spirit has taken possession of his body, so he’s not dead…though his spirit seems to be hanging around the Speed Force last we looked.

Likely Possibilities for Dead Speedsters:

• The Rival – last seen in possession of Max’s body
• Savitar – technically already dead, but only in the sense that Barry was.
• Blue Trinity – Christina is alive as of Salvation Run, and the other two members are unaccounted for.
  
• Flash: John Fox – technically a future Flash, he’s visited the present day enough that he would make an impression on long-term readers.
• Kapitalist Kouriers – Cassiopeia’s death kicked off Dead Heat. Presumably the other two members are still around.
• Zoom II – just depowered in Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge
• Mas y Menos – appeared in the DCU during 52 and haven’t been used much
• Captain Boomerang, Jr. – can manage limited super-speed
• Baroness Blitzkrieg – villain introduced in the Geoff Johns-penned Justice Society of America

Long Shots:

• Speed Demon – hasn’t had his powers in years, and likes it that way
• Professor Zoom – dead, but with Barry returning and Zoom II being de-powered, it wouldn’t surprise me to see another dead character return to life – though killing him again right away seems unlikely.
• Blitzen (Shadow Cabinet) – with the Milestone characters being incorporated into the DCU, she’s presumably on the table…but it wouldn’t make sense to kill someone off immediately after getting the rights to the character.
• Blur – genetically engineered Martian/human hybrid, seen briefly in the Son of Vulcan miniseries
• Jay Garrick clone - created by the Brotherhood of Evil in Outsiders; probably degenerated by now
• Edit: Well-Spoken Sonic Lightning Flash of the Super Young Team – introduced in Final Crisis, not only is he a new character, but his team will be appearing in Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance at the same time as Flash: Rebirth.
• Anyone from Doralla Kon’s dimension, which runs at a different speed than Earth’s universe.  She hasn’t appeared since 1965, but odd ideas from the Silver Age have been cropping up quite a bit in DC comics lately.

Wow…there are more speedsters in the DCU than I thought.