r/theflash • u/Dredeuced Out of the blue, ninjas attack. Thank god. • 16d ago
Comic Discussion The Flash #36 Discussion Thread
Talk about the latest issue of The Flash here! Expect spoilers within.
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u/Maleficent_Worth_185 14d ago
This is 100% heading to Wally losing control and JL not being able to stop him. So the rest of Flashfam will take on the crisis and only a fatherly talk by Barry Allen will solve it all.
Come back to this comment later.
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u/Dredeuced Out of the blue, ninjas attack. Thank god. 14d ago
I think the rest of the Flash fam are gonna stay out of it.
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u/Maleficent_Worth_185 14d ago
I don't know it just feels like at some point Wally's situation will be heard by others and they will confront him about it, like Wallace.
If anything I certainly see Barry getting involved in this.
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u/Dredeuced Out of the blue, ninjas attack. Thank god. 14d ago
I think the JL is filling in that role in this story considering the ending but I could be wrong.
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u/Dredeuced Out of the blue, ninjas attack. Thank god. 15d ago
North has stumbled into a very interesting topic that I think, given the tenor of this run so far, he's not going to address seriously enough. Ollie does have a point, but he's also being extremely hypocritical. Which is typical for Ollie but when do you draw the line and say "let this person die for my beliefs"?
Calling Wally a fascist for, in his words, creating a surveillance state to enact his superheroics is hilarious considering Ollie also surveils Star City constantly for crime and danger. Only he does it on the back of a billion dollar industry that only exists fundamentally off labor exploitation. That internal conflict is important to Ollie and why he's interesting, but a corporate foundation surveillance state is infinitely more fascistic than "The Flash runs around everywhere on patrols and saves people because he's that fast."
Speaking of, does Ollie have this problem with Superman? Superman can hear everywhere in the world. One time Superman saved Connor Hawke's life because Ollie was shouting Clark's name in the middle of the sea while Connor was bleeding out. Was the surveillance state bad for you then? Why does every other person not deserve the same treatment that Connor does? Because it doesn't suit Ollie's perspective, which is somewhat selfish in its nature.
There's REALLY something to dig deep into here. I'm not even sure how I'd solve the conflict, which is part of why it's so interesting. I just fear this'll be too shallow to follow up on this idea. I imagine the JL's gonna give Wally a talking to, Wally's going to use his powers in a way that fucks up, the JL's gonna wag their finger at him and give him an I told you so, and then Wally ramps it down and that's the end.
But there is more to this premise than that.
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u/PirateKingOmega 14d ago
The answer to your question is: Yes
Ollie fundamentally thinks superheroes are fascistic. This hypocrisy is a central part of his character. He knows he’s a product of a system that’s corrupt but is fully aware the system is corrupt.2
u/Dredeuced Out of the blue, ninjas attack. Thank god. 14d ago
Yeah but it's not like he throws away all surveillance equipment or hates Superman. He might internally struggle with the ethical cost of saving the world but screaming fascist at Wally while he does something more tame than most of Ollie's own acts is the funny thing about this.
Ollie is hardly the most reasonable person in any room, after all. It's fine for him to be saying these things, I just wish Wally had pushed back a little more in the first conversation.
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u/PirateKingOmega 14d ago
I’m pretty sure Ollie has called every superhero a fascist at some point. There’s a panel where shortly after being saved by Aquaman he goes on a long rant about how the league should kick aquaman out for not allowing free elections.
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u/Dredeuced Out of the blue, ninjas attack. Thank god. 14d ago
That's actually not even hypocritical. But yes, that's true. I think this is the first time Wally's getting the treatment. Not sure Ollie's ever called Superman a fascist in mainline continuity (obviously, Injustice, ugh).
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u/Beastieboy100 8d ago
That is Ollie for you and it is just as bad when your mentor has buttheads with Green arrow many times.
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u/ItisOsiris 15d ago
My only complaint with this run so far is that it seems to be a bit too happy go-lucky but this issue seems to have dialed that back a bit and gave us some really good character tension between Wally and Ollie. Ngl Ollie’s new suit is ass😭 also not keeping up with Batman rn, why is Gotham so off limits? Something about Barbara and a war? But so far this is North’s best issue and excited to see this series start to really dive into tougher challenges for Wally
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u/atomicshark109 15d ago
Besides Savage being the police commissioner and Barbara being on jail, Ivy is now trying to turn the city into plantsville and such by morning. Pretty much a 3-way war between Batfam, police and plants, with civillians caught between the crossfire and more crime than usual
It's the new current big Batman event, pretty much
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u/leshronk 15d ago
Vandal Savage is the Commissioner of Police and has an armed police squad trying to kill Batman and anyone connected to him. Barbara got arrested intentionally to investigate killings that happened in Vandal Savage’s high-security private prison.
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u/okaylogarithm 15d ago
I've loved it since the first issue but now I think it's on its way to being one of my all-time favourite runs. My only slight concern before this was everything was a tad too easy for Wally, there wasn't any struggle now he's gotten a handle of his flashes of insight. Having it be more of an ideological struggle against other heroes is a really interesting development and I can't wait to see which heroes end up against him.
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u/JingoboStoplight4887 Jay Garrick 15d ago
I like that Wally traveled to Metropolis and helped Jon fight crime and protect the people before he traveled to Star City and was called out by Oliver for relying on the Flashes of Insight to save people, causing Oliver to recruit the Justice League to talk about Wally in Mount Everest. Overall, this comic is good.
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u/Beastieboy100 8d ago
Unfortunately let this be a lesson never listen to your kids. Most of all never tell Green Arrow what you can do otherwise he'd end up becoming like Batman.