OOC Application/Character Information
Player's Name: Waffle
Player LJ: captainlilith.livejournal.com
AIM or Email: theatrechocolate
Timezone: EST
Other Characters Played (at Template): Radical Edward (Template)
Character: The Flash (Wally West)
Series/Fandom: Justice League and Justice League Unlimited
Original or Template version: Original
Age: Mid to late twenties
Gender: Male
Species: Human with SUPA POWAHS
Sexuality: Oh, he likes the ladies.
Link to picture/PB of character: In costume: Here. Out of costume: Here.
Appearance: When in costume, the Flash wears bright red. It's not spandex actually. If you bug him about it, he'll probably start ranting at you, since SO MANY people joke about the spandex thing. Anyway, his logo is on the chest, and his logo is a cool little lightning bolt in a circle. The costume also has lightning bolts on the side of the head. The costume shows off his nicely toned muscles, but they're not HUGE. He's a runner, not a heavy-weight lifter.
When not in costume, Wally West is a young-looking man with short red hair and blue eyes. He generally wears comfortable clothing… button-down shirt over a t-shirt and jeans, for example. He's not really that big into style, he just wears whatever's comfortable.
Personality: Wally is a joker. A trickster. He's the one who lightens a tense mood with a well-placed one-liner, but he's also the one who's impulsive, usually acts without thinking too much, and works on the fly without a plan. He's a people person. He loves being in the company of other people, and is extremely devoted to his friends and the people he considers his family.
Because he doesn't always think first, he often says or does things that get him into trouble with other people, or are just out of place. His jokes aren't always appropriate to the situation at hand, for instance. But he gets points for trying.
He also tends to be a moral compass of sorts. It's noted several times that without the Flash, the Justice League team would most likely end up making some very bad choices in pursuit of what they believed was right. Wally, though he is devoted to justice, is extremely sensitive to doing the right thing for the right reasons as opposed to the wrong thing for the right reasons. And no matter how much he likes someone, Wally is not afraid of telling them exactly what he thinks is wrong.
So yes, Wally can be very flippant. But he can also be just as serious when he needs to be. He's kind of ADD, but when something needs to be done, he will get it done.
Abilities/Strengths: Well hey, he's a superhero. His power is super speed. He can go… well, exactly how fast is a little uncertain. Although it is said that he can go faster than Superman, which is pretty darn fast. In one episode, he goes so fast that he circles the world several times in the space of a minute. So yeah, fast. He can go fast enough to vibrate his body through solid objects, though that tends to make the object explode. So he doesn't usually do that. His brain also thinks at the speed of his movements (it has to), and that is a benefit in battle, taking stock of a situation and acting on a thought in the space of a second.
Weaknesses: Wally's not… the brightest of people. In the series he's a forensic scientist who works in a lab, so he's smart, but he's not really bright. He's also super-fast, but that's his only power (though it can be used in different ways), so he's not super-strong. So other than his speed, he has the limitations of any other normal human. Oh yeah, and his super-speed gives him a hyperactive metabolism to keep up with all the energy he uses, so he eats a lot.
History: Okay, so. The Justice League and JLU version of Flash is a bit different from the comic book version of Flash. In the comics, there are several Flashes, in a sort of "legacy" of the Flash, and a connection to something called the "speed force," which is only mentioned in the cartoon once. The cartoon is different in that its version of the Flash is the only version of the Flash. He's on his own. He had to figure out his powers on his own. He's not even entirely sure what he is or is not capable of. This can make for a pretty interesting dynamic sometimes.
But anyway, Wally West grew up as a pretty normal kid, and was pretty normal right up until the day he was working in his lab and, in true comic book fashion, there was a thunder storm. A bolt of lightning hit the lab while he was working with some very particular chemicals, and BOOM CRASH he ended up with super speed.
So he decided to become the Flash and FIGHT CRIME.
He was pretty okay doing that for a while, then he got recruited into the Justice League. Actually, it was more that he helped to form the Justice League, along with Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern, and Hawkgirl. TOGETHER. They fought crime. And evil. And all that jazz.
Some important events during this time (which in canon was the Justice League series), were the Justice League's run-in with the Justice Lords, and the invasion from Thanagar.
The following contains SPOILERS for Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, so proceed with caution.
I'll explain both briefly: the Justice Lords were an alternate-dimension version of the Justice League, very similar, actually probably almost exactly the same to begin with, as the Justice League we know and love. However, certain events led to their Flash's death at the hands of Lex Luthor who then became president. In an unexpected act, Superman actually ended up killing Luthor, which then started the Lords on a whole new path, creating a sort of dictatorial utopia. There is no crime, but there is no freedom, and it is strictly watched over by the Justice Lords.
In any case, the Lords Batman found the League earth and they decided to "help" this alternate version of earth by going over and doing things their way. So they kidnapped the League and started doing just that. It was on this alternate world that the Justice League found out about this sordid past of the Lords, and vowed never to let that happen. It was also here that they discovered just how important to them Flash really was, as a friend and as a sort of conscience to the team. That's the important part. Flash was also instrumental in the escape, but everyone leant a hand, and they got out and all that.
The attack from the Thanagarians is another very interesting story. Hawkgirl, the crazy lady with the hawk helmet, wings, and a big mace that likes to hit things, turned out to be a Thanagarian spy. The Thanagarians, under the pretext of saving earth from their mortal enemies the Gordonians, To make a long story short, earth was never in peril, but the Thanagarians actually did want to destroy earth in order to make possible some scheme which would help in their war against the Gordonians. Hawkgirl betrayed the League, and the rest of them ended up escaping and revealing their secret identities to each other in order to stay in hiding.
So yeah, those were important moments.
Other important stuff happened in the next series, Justice League Unlimited, which is basically the same thing as JL was, but with a whole lot more superheroes. One of the ongoing plots of it, which culminated in the second season finale, was the formation of Cadmus, a government organization meant to protect earth from the superheroes in case those pesky superheroes ever got out of hand. This was actually in response to the Justice Lords incident I mentioned earlier. But Cadmus also got a little out of hand, with the help of Lex Luthor.
It all ended (and this is important to Flash's history, you'll see) with a big showdown between a combined Lex and Brainiac and the original seven members of the Justice League. Flash was instrumental in this battle. When Lex/Brainiac had squished all the other Leaguers, Flash got out of Lex's clutches, and got up enough speed by racing around the world at least five times in the space of a minute, punching Lex down with his super speed, then vibrating his arms so fast that he reached in Lex's body and pulled Brainiac out. Now this was when Brainiac had been fully combined in Lex's body, mind you. So this was big. However, Flash had been going so fast at this point he actually kind of vibrated his body out of existence and into the "speed force," some kind of semi-mystical thingy that the rest of the Leaguers then pull him out of through the power of love and friendship. But hey. Let's just say that Flash didn't get pulled into the speed force at all, but rather… Template. :3