Warning! Spoilers to Flash #771 below!
Thanks to DC's Omniverse, one of the Flash's Weirdest Origin Stories is now a part of comic book continuity again. Although Barry Allen did receive his powers thanks to that lab accident and lightning bolt, he encountered an entity called Mopee that claimed to be truly responsible for the entire incident and removed his powers due to a moral technicality. Although Barry would restore his powers, Mopee and his origin story were removed altogether until the Omniverse declared all stories were relevant and connected to each other, suggesting that the 10th Class Heavenly Help-Mate's claim to creating the Flash is now canon.
Created by Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino for Flash #167, the bespectacled green-robed Mopee appeared before the Flash and revealed that he was responsible for directing the lightning bolt that made Barry Allen Flash. He had come to remove the Flash's powers because the chemicals that had helped create them were technically owned by the police department, not Barry himself. The depowered Barry was able to come to an agreement that if he replaced the chemicals that were used, he could keep his powers as the Flash. Given a 24 hour window to earn this money as the Flash, not Barry Allen, he accomplishes this while still finding time to capture the diamond smugglers he was dealing with earlier. He was last seen in Ambush Bug #3 where he mockingly claimed to not only have been responsible for the Flash's origin but also Superman, Batman, and other characters in both DC and Marvel Comics.
In Flash #771, writer Jeremy Adams and a collection of iconic artists continue Wally West's adventure through time as he body hops famous speedsters in hopes of returning to the present and in his own body nonetheless. Although it began as something fun, the entire experience began to wear on Wally as he misses his wife Linda and his children, his family restored as a result of his adventures in the multiverse during Dark Metal. As his journey continues, one of his Speed Force pit-stops is running away from Mopee, claiming he gave Barry his power and that he can remove it as well.
The reason that this is important to note is that Mopee's contribution to the Flash was easily forgotten and cast aside among other stories during the Silver Age of Comics. Keith Giffen's Ambush Bug mocked this by suggesting that editors didn't want to acknowledge this change and dismissed it as an error or taking place on a parallel Earth. Mopee was one of the casualties of the destruction of the multiverse during 1985's Crisis on Infinite Earths as the entirety of the DC stories was condensed into one brand new universe. Although there would be changes to Barry's life and backstory in other stories, Mopee was a forgotten footnote in Flash's history, disregarded as an inferior Bat-Mite whose interactions with his hero were less comical or helpful and just plain old strange.
Mopee brings up an interesting question about DC's Omniverse, does this looser, more inclusive DC universe mean that every original origin story and reboot are now canon in DC's Omniverse? Comics continuity has always had this issue due to its constant rebooting and drastic changes in hopes of keeping characters fresh and relevant to the readers. Although Mopee's place in the Flash's history has been restored, it is unlikely that we'll be seeing him anytime soon as the DC universe has changed much since his last visit.
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July 05, 2021 at 12:05AM
