Questionable Friday: Flash Factual

Our question this week comes from Alexandre L. who bypassed the Facebook page to ask me, face to face, this question: "We were watching the Justice League cartoon, and this friend told me the Flash was theoretically the most powerful superhero. Is he right?"

Well, Alex, I completely agree with him that the Flash can do so many tricks with his superspeed and control over his molecules, that he is potentially the most powerful member of the Justice League. He's certainly the most versatile. He can run at the speed of light, which could be used by a science-y writer to play havoc with gravity and relativity. He can do a billion actions in the space it takes anyone else to do one. He's been known to vibrate through walls, give objects momentum and make them explode, create air currents and tornadoes, predict the future with superspeed deduction, and time travel.

But is he the most powerful superhero in, let's say, the DC Universe? Not when I think of stuff like this:
Or this, from a completely different story:
The Spectre follows up by grabbing a supernova that throwing it at the villain, by the way. A SUPERNOVA. So no, no Alex, Flash isn't even "theoretically" the most powerful superhero.

Disagree? I'll see you in the comments section. Want to ask a geekery-related question for next week's column? Likewise, or on Facebook, Google+ or Twitter. I'll be there. Lurking in wait.

Comments

Martin Léger said…
But give Batman enough time to prepare annnnnd he'd still probably get beat up by The Specter.
Doc Savage said…
The Cult of Batman continues to grow. Batman isn't even the smartest hero, much less the most powerful. Nah.
idiotbrigade said…
JLU Animated series-era Batman was the smartest Batman and indeed given enough time to plan, could beat anyone.

Proof? In "A Better World" 2-parter Batman defeats... Batman. And then is defeated by Batman.

However Flash also defeats Batman so The Flash is the best super hero.
JeffJedi said…
Not to mention fighting the Anti-Monitor.
Delta said…
Certainly my favorite JL episode is when Flash, last man standing, wipes out Luthor/Braniac by running around the world a whole bunch of times. Wonderfully executed, and it had me literally cheering and clapping when I first saw it.

Although afterward he almost dies and says "I don't think I can ever run that fast again". So if I were talking to a JL Flash fan I might humor them with, "yes, but just for that episode".

(I suppose there's a thesis to be written about stories that climax with the "forgotten guy" remaining at the end as the only only who could save the day. Interestingly I can think of two with Elongated Man: one in an old JL/JLA annual in the 70's versus Time Master, and one in the JLU show offscreen from Booster Gold).
Siskoid said…
One of my favorites of this sort is the Avengers issue where the Collector's collected them all except useless old Hawkeye, who goes on to defeat him.