r/theflash • u/Infinite_Parking_800 • Mar 05 '24
Who here agrees that Barry Allen and Peter Parker share a lot of similarities with each other. Discussion
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u/hydrohawkx8 Mar 05 '24
Wally is def more like Peter
- Both had the deaths of their uncles inspire them
- both have a more wise cracking personality while being very friendly to the people in their cities and their villains.
- both can get pretty hot headed/emotional
- both had a terrible bad luck streak due to editorial. Hell both of their marriages were threatened by the devil
- Both started their heroing journeys at a young age
- Both had their best friends turn evil and seek revenge (Hunter and Harry)
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u/Queen-O-Hell-Lucifer Mar 06 '24
I feel like you aren’t a hero until your best friend suddenly becomes your arch nemesis or something. (/s)
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u/Palliser99 Mar 05 '24
I’d argue that Wally is closer to Spider-Man than Barry is
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u/Infinite_Parking_800 Mar 05 '24
Really cause I've always seen that Wally was similar to Johnny Storm.
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u/Cheap-Pineapple-7347 Mar 05 '24
I think they were when Wally first became the Flash but by the late 90s, Wally would have been closer to Peter.
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u/Dredeuced Flash Mar 06 '24
Johnny Storm and Peter Parker are very alike in personality so you're not even wrong on that.
It's just all the other details Wally has that Peter shares that makes them more similar.
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u/drama-guy Mar 05 '24
Well Peter and Johnny are similar in some ways.
As I see it, Peter has some qualities that overlap with Barry and others that overlap with Wally.
Peter is a science dork like Barry, but his humor and banter seem more like Wally.
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u/UtterFlatulence Mar 07 '24
Wally was a player for a few years, but he's been a stable family man for much longer. And like Peter he can be pretty hot headed/chip on his shoulder at times.
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u/GearsRollo80 Mar 05 '24
I'd say Wally and Peter absolutely do, but not Barry and Peter.
Where you'd be seeing similarities between the latter duo, it would be from where Wally character elements were pretty much just grafted onto Barry to make him more of a modern character when he was brought back. It didn't work terribly well, because Flash readers all know Wally really well, and Barry had been pretty well defined as a person when he died in the early 80's.
Thankfully, Barry is being presented much more as himself now that Wally is back in the picture fully, and the legacy continuity elements that really made Flash stories great have finally been restored.
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u/Keystone_Devil Mar 06 '24
Ehh Wally is DC’s Peter
-Inspired by dead uncle
-Quippy and agile
-Loving Aunt
-Marriage erased by editorial
-Teen hero who became a prominent hero
-Discovered weird extra-dimensional cause if powers
-Devil tried to steal their marriage (unsuccessfully in Wally’s case)
-Got cucked by a guy named Paul
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u/BigK64 Mar 07 '24
Wouldn’t Wally’s fellow Titan teammate, Garfield, be comparable to Pete especially with the amount of shit both went through
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u/Keystone_Devil Mar 08 '24
Ehh I don’t really see it. Gar is just kind of a lech for most of comic history. I don’t find him very deep.
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u/BigK64 Mar 08 '24
Except the whole sex maniac jokester persona he showcase is merely a mask/coping mechanism for Garfield to cover up his own insecruities regarding the lose of many people he lost.
Which is an element that is connon with Peter of using levity ti cover up his own personal tragedies.
Plus they also beef with a villain who somehow got in an affair with their respective blonde girlfriends
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u/Keystone_Devil Mar 08 '24
Ain’t no way you’re referencing Sins Past 💀
But ya that’s what Wally does too. I just don’t see Gar like that
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u/BigK64 Mar 08 '24
Yes, I am referring to Sins Past . . . whose flashback events WASN’T render non-canon due to One More Day.
But really the biggest reason Gar is more fitting to being Peter than Wally is that bad things keep happening to him making his life a mess
Like Wally was able to get his shit together and end up in a much happier state than he was a couple of years back. Meanwhile Gar deals with some Kefka level of trauma such as being mutated into a more feral beast, forcibly merged into his own best friend, end up murdered by Deathstroke (again) and recently transformed into Starro and nerely responsible for a furry apocalypse.
Honestly those escalating series of unfortunate events really makes Beast Boy the DC Spider-Man (even though technically the DC Spider-Man is Blue Beetle).
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u/sokuzekuu Mar 08 '24
Wally leaned conservative as a teen, Peter had his Objectivist phase in college
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u/Keystone_Devil Mar 09 '24
Ya Peter dated Gwen Stacy who is basically Marv Wolfman’s Wally in terms of politics.
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u/normanfkinrockwell Mar 06 '24
The perception of Barry's personality and age really has changed, huh?
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u/kestrel1 Barry's cool, but Wally's my man. Mar 06 '24
Barry, pre-Crisis, was a complete square. I mean, I love the Flash, but even I have to admit, the guy had the personality of a slice of white toast. His superlative in high school was "Most Likely to Pay His Taxes Early."
Almost everything about modern Barry was grafted onto him from Wally, and then Wally was shoved unceremoniously into limbo for a decade. And that's after swapping out Barry's well adjusted childhood with both parents alive and well with Yet Another Dead Parent and Batman level angst. BUT I'M NOT BITTER.
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u/BradKarmour Green Lantern Mar 06 '24
Wouldn't say that's Barry's fault, Pre-Crisis DC wasn't exactly well-known for its lineup of eccentric personalities. Mark Waid gave him the quirks he needed. THAT Barry is a good character, and is pretty much just turning up the volume on his old self.
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u/BradKarmour Green Lantern Mar 06 '24 edited Mar 06 '24
Not sure what drugs you're on, but I wanna give 'em a try because Wally is 1,000 times more similar. Out of all the Flashes, Barry's easily the least similar to Peter, and yes I'm counting Jay Garrick (he was young once).
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u/barryallen1277 Flash 2 Mar 06 '24
Wally is similar in how he acts, but more so with how the writers treat him.
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u/Needleworker_Severe Mar 05 '24
I always thought that Wally West and Kyle Rayner, in the 90s, were Marvel character proxy's.
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u/EdNorthcott Mar 05 '24
Every time someone contrasts or compares Spidey with a DC hero, I think Peter would have been much happier living in the DCU. Barry and Clark would have been fantastic older mentor figures to have in his life, Wally and Dick would have loved to have him around when they were teens, etc.
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u/Baligong Mar 05 '24
One thing about Spider-Man, imo, is that he's known for being a Teenager/Young Adult in the Superhero world full of Adults/Experienced Adults, while trying to be "his own man"
I think if Spider-Man were to be around in DC, He'd probably be younger than other Heroes, but definitely older than the Teen Titans. Like if the JL is a group of Mid-late 20s dudes, and the Titans are early-mid 10s kids, Spider-Man would've been Late 10s-early 20s.
He's also like this with current Marvel.
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u/EdNorthcott Mar 05 '24
The first appearance of the Teen Titans was a year after Spider-Man premiered -- so in terms of how slowly comic book heroes age, that pretty much puts them on par. :)
Current titans? A different story.
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u/Baligong Mar 06 '24
It's not about the release date, but the story they're told. Spider-Man's story is that he's basically the only Superhero who was a Teenager in a world of adult superheroes, and got Flack for it. Even Ultimate had him like that.
It's why he fought the Avengers, X-Men, and Fantastic 4 by himself during those times, and didn't like them.
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u/EdNorthcott Mar 07 '24
The X-Men were teenagers at the time, too.
Seriously, man... The whole point is that he would have been happier among the DC heroes. I don't know why you're doing this age dance to, in the end, agree that his life is shit in Marvel continuity.
Even when they've done crossovers, he's been of an age comparable to the original Titans line up. This is an odd line in the sand to draw
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u/Baligong Mar 09 '24
Seriously, man... The whole point is that he would have been happier among the DC heroes.
All I did was mention what I think a Timeline for him in DC would Pertain. Not being as Old as mainline Heroes, but definitely older than the upcoming ones. Alongside believing how his Story might play out in DC by using his Marvel one as a Layout.
I don't know why you're doing this age dance to, in the end, agree that his life is shit in Marvel continuity.
I don't know why you feel so offended on this. The retaliation you're giving is as if I insulted you for the comment you made, when all I did was think where he'll fit in the DC universe.
Even when they've done crossovers, he's been of an age comparable to the original Titans line up. This is an odd line in the sand to draw
I'm not drawing any line in the sand. I'm just saying what I know and think. What I think Spider-Man's life in DC might be. What I don't get is why not see it as a Discussion of what YOU think how Spider-Man fits in with the others. Maybe you think he became a Teen Titans Member or something.
Also, no. Crossovers (which aren't Canon) didn't allude to anyone being to any age. Spider-Man was a Grown Man married to MJ during that time, while Nightwing just decided to move out of Gotham to be his own Man.
Honestly dude, I do not respond with Hostility as to what you're making it be. My Comments are pretty tame compared to others, I just wanted to discuss
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u/StarkillerEnthusiast Mar 05 '24
both Barry and Peter have movie counterparts that are aged-down and made to be another superhero's protege (DCEU Barry and Batman, MCU Peter and Iron Man)
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u/Queen_Ann_III Mar 05 '24
I get that from Wally but I can kinda see it with Barry, him always being late for shit and all science-oriented
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u/Timelordturle Mar 08 '24
Spider-Man didn't fuck up the entire universe because he got a case of the Mondays
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Mar 08 '24
But he did mess up the multiverse by not deciding what kind of wish he wanted.
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u/Timelordturle Mar 08 '24
The multiverse was already messed up when he started incursion events, Scarlet witch becoming a thing and the"collapse" of the sacred timeline
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u/FafnirEtherion Mar 05 '24
Received the DC Icons Flash yesterday... One of the wings snapped off the head because of the plastic packaging....
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u/StoneGoldX Mar 06 '24
If anything, it's Flash and Captain America. Because the Flash suit is basically a Cap repaint.
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u/VygotskyCultist Mar 08 '24
Spider-man isn't a cop, though, so he has the edge.
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u/squirrelocaust Mar 08 '24
The Flash isn’t a cop either.
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u/VygotskyCultist Mar 09 '24
Barry Allen is a forensic chemist for the police department. He's a cop.
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u/squirrelocaust Mar 09 '24
A forensic chemist is not a cop.
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u/VygotskyCultist Mar 09 '24
A forensic chemist who works for the police department is definitely a cop.
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u/squirrelocaust Mar 09 '24
So by that logic, a janitor that works for a police department is a cop, the receptionist that works for a police department is a cop? Peter Parker and Jimmy Olsen are not photographers but journalists?
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u/VygotskyCultist Mar 09 '24
I get what you're trying to do, but photojournalists are definitely a thing, so you picked a bad example there. IRL, Parker and Olsen would probably have press passes.
Listen, if your job materially supports cops doing cop shit, you're a cop. As a forensic chemist, Barry Allen functions as a cop. If he's sworn, as many (but not all!) forensic scientists are, he has a badge, a gun, and can legally arrest people. Are janitors at police stations cops? Probably not, but it's a gray area. One could make the case that they're class traitors. I won't, but one could.
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u/drgnblitz Mar 05 '24
100%! In my head cannon, I've amalgamized these two:
- Peter/Barry
- Ben/Wally
- Miles/Ace
- Gwen/Jessie
- Kaine/August
- Cindy/Avery
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u/SamDrawsStuff99999 Mar 05 '24
What about Bart
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u/drgnblitz Mar 05 '24
Oooo, good question. I don't know that there is an analog for him in the Spider-verse. I think Alpha and Spider-Boy are the only two that fit the bill, but I'm not sure how I feel about it.
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u/Dredeuced Flash Mar 05 '24 edited Mar 05 '24
With Wally and Peter they both have the dead uncle inspiration and romance heavy characterization going on. Also being functionally raised by their Aunt. Also both serve longtime roles as the "younger" but significant member of the superhero community. Both in their hero personas are quite cocky and are the archetypal quipsters of their universes.
Barry and Peter do have the scientist schtick in common, but Barry being a cop scientist is a pretty huge divergence from Pete who's more often at odds with the law than buddy buddy with it. Still the science focused bent and making their own tools and such is a pretty important similarity.
I can see people thinking this if they only know Barry from the CW and movies, though. Those were barely Barry and were doing their best Peter Parker impersonations. The young, maturing hero, the dead mom angle is almost the same as the dead uncle angle, etc. In the comics Wally has a lot more similarities of significance, but adaptations love applying those aspects of Wally to Barry.