Iris West
Iris West is a female comic character who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Her father T.H. West was a renowned yet absent minded scientist. (Flash v1 #134) One account held that Iris West was actually native to the year 2945 where she was actually Iris Russell who was the daughter of Eric and Fran Russell. Eric Russell intended to save his daughter from invading forces that were threatening their home and thus sent her 1000 years into the past. She was found by Ira West and his wife who decided to adopt her where they called her Iris West. (Flash v1 #203) Iris had two older siblings that were the biological children of their parents with these being Rudy West and Charlotte West. (Flash v2 #62)
Barry and Iris went to see “Around The World In 80 Days,” and she wondered how long it would take the Flash to run around the globe. Iris reminded Barry they had a date the next day, and chided him for constantly being late. Barry tinkered around in his lab, finishing a radio-scanner watch that would let him tune into police bands from around the world. The next day he got ready for his date when he picked up a signal from the Paris police about a hostage situation at the Eiffel Tower. Barry changed into Flash and raced to Paris where Le Chat Noir stood atop the Eiffel Tower and was threatening to destroy the city with an atom bomb. Flash raced up the tower, grabbed Noir’s hostage and lept from the building, using his free arm to create a downdraft that broke their fall. He created another downdraft under Le Chat Noir, disorienting him and allowing Flash to grab the bomb. Flash fretted about getting to Iris in time, but got a signal from Cairo, where Princess Tara was being help captive by the bandit El Claw atop the Khufu Pyramid. The bandit chief coated the pyramid in oil, so Flash couldn’t run up it. Flash vibrated until the pyramid started collapsing, knocking the bandit off his feet and allowing Flash to save Tara. He repaired the damage to the pyramid at superspeed when he picked up an alert about an avalanche at Mt. Everest. He saved the Everest monitoring station by heating up the oncoming snow until it turned to steam. A call about an attacking pirate ship came in as Flash was running across the Pacific Ocean, and although extremely irritated he took out the pirates. Flash changed back to Barry and made his date with Iris just on time, pleased with himself for having traveled the globe in 80 minutes. (Showcase v1 #13)
Barry was running late for a date with Iris when they heard a police car responding to a request for assistance at the Palladium Jewelry Store. Iris went to cover the robbery for her paper, and Barry let her race ahead of him so he could turn into the Flash without her noticing. The store was being robbed by Mr. Element and his henchmen, and element said he’d not only anticipated flash’s arrival he looked forward to matching wits with him. Flash ran into the store but was entangled in nearly-invisible strands of gold Element had strung throughout the corridor, giving him time to escape. The Harrow Company received a large supply of platinum, and Flash suspected Mr. Element would make the company his next target. Flash ran into the building after hours only to find Mr. Element waiting for him behind a wall of vanadium, which was so hard Flash couldn’t vibrate through it. Element crowed that his henchmen had already stolen the platinum, and he’d just stayed behind to show Flash was fruitless it was to oppose him. Flash rubbed the wall at superspeed melting it, then grabbed Mr. Element, preparing to take him to prison, but the criminal dropped a sodium pellet into water on the ground, causing an explosion that allowed him to escape. Barry was on a date with Iruis, but she noted how distant he was, but he couldn’t tell her he was distracted because of his frustration at being unable to nab Mr. Element. Mr. Element made a neon sign in the sky challenging Flash to a final confrontation. Flash met him in a dark alley, and Element shot him with a blast of elemento, an element he discovered that was a form of magnetic light. The elemento made Flash shot helplessly into space, and as he escaped Earth’s orbit he feared colliding with the moon or being sent further into the reaches of space. Flash managed to catch the moon’s gravitational field and slingshotted himself back to Earth. Mr. Element was shocked to see Flash escape his trap and said he had a radium bomb in his watch, but Flash had already noticed the odd glow from his watch and slipped it off the criminal. Afterwards, the Flash proceeded to take Mr. Element to prison for his crimes. (Showcase v1 #13)
Whilst on a date with Barry, Iris was taken to a lecture headed by brilliant archaeologist Dr. Wiley Summers who claimed that certain cloud patterns on Earth were in fact alive. West dismissed him but then Central City came under attack from the Cloud Creatures which the Flash defeated. Afterwards, Iris revised her opinion of Dr. Summers and refused a date with Barry stating that she was going to go out with Wiley instead leading to him becoming a rival for Allen. (Flash v1 #111)
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different series of events.
Iris West was the daughter of William West and the older sister to Daniel West. Her mother was noted to had been sick whereupon she died giving birth to her younger brother which became a source of resentment from their father. This saw William West becoming drunk where he would beat Iris and hate his son Daniel. Iris in this time regularly attempted to look after her brother and attempted to reassure him that their father did not hate him. When Daniel was 12, his father began to pick on his sick and torment him causing him to accidently push William down the stairs. This event caused William West to be crippled with the incident being seen by Iris West. A result of the encounter created a divide between brother and sister with Daniel West running away from home. (Flash v4 #23.2)
In the fight, the Flash used his superspeed to save Patty Spivot from dying in the damaged ship. This created a wormhole that dragged Iris and the others into the Speed Force. (The Flash v4 #7) She and the others thus became trapped in a world within that realm. (The Flash v4 #8) Iris came to find a means of finding the Flash in order to help rescue them from the Speed Force world. (The Flash v4 #9) The Flash came to recover her and others when he used the power of the Speed Mind to open a portal into the Speed Force during his battle with Gorilla Grodd. This led to Grodd being stranded in that realm whilst the superhero rescued the people displaced in that dimension. (The Flash v4 #17) Exposure to the Speed Force world led to her gaining the powers of a speedster with Barry crafting a suit to help her with her new abilities. (The Flash v4 #22)
She accompanied Barry on his Force Quest where they travelled to the country of Badhnisia to hunt for knowledge regarding the new Force powers. Once there, the Flash came into conflict with a pair of thieves named Gemini who destroyed a church containing the clue. (The Flash v5 #58)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Post-Flashpoint: She was protective of her younger brother Daniel West and promised to always be there to protect him. However, after he crippled their father, a divide came between the siblings. (Flash v4 #23.2)
In her job as a reporter, she said that she watched people and wrote about them with her looking to see what made people tick and to find the truth in life. (The Flash v5 #13)
Powers and abilities
After being trapped in the Speed Force world, she came to be empowered by that realm leading to her briefly becoming a speedster. (The Flash v4 #22)
Notes
- Iris West was created by Robert Kanigher, Carmine Infantino and Joe Kubert where she made her first appearance in Showcase v1 #4 (September–October, 1956).
Alternate Versions
In other media
Television
- In Young Justice, Iris West appeared in the animated series where he was voiced by actor Nicole Dubuc.
- In The Flash, Iris West appeared in the live-action series where she was portrayed by actor Candice Patton. This version was Africa-American with her father being Joe West with her mother being a drug addict named Francine West who abandoned her family leaving her husband a single parent.
Films
- In Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, Iris West appeared in the animated-movie where she was voiced by actor Jennifer Hale. She was shown to be married to Barry Allen who operated as the Flash. However, in an effort to prevent his own mothers murder, he inadvertently altered the past and created an alternate reality. This world instead saw Earth ravaged by a conflict between Atlantis and Themyscira with Iris no longer married to Barry. Instead, she was shown to be married to someone else and having a child with that person with no knowledge of Barry Allen despite him remembering the previous timeline.
Video games
- In Injustice: Gods Among Us, Iris West was referenced in dialogue within the setting of the fighting video game.
Other
Appearances
- Showcase v1: (1956)
- The Flash v4:
- The Flash v5:
External Links
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