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Dark Nights: Death Metal Speed Metal Vol 1 1

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"Speed Metal": In Wally West's past...

Quote1 Hey, Flash Family, is it true a Flash has to die in every Crisis?! Quote2
— The Darkest Knight

Dark Nights: Death Metal Speed Metal #1 is a one-shot with a cover date of November, 2020. It was published on September 22, 2020.

Synopsis for "Speed Metal"

In Wally West's past...

Wally remembers the sensation: being hurled inside the Speed Force, while the world he loved changed without him. Then, he remembered a gift his uncle gave him, the same uncle he reached for to be his anchor, Barry Allen. Barry brought him back and remembered him, but still the people he knew forgot so much: relationships, friendships, even identities. He couldn't know, then, that it was because of the action of Doctor Manhattan. Now, after a personal odyssey through dimensions following Tempus Fuginaut, Wally is a new being: he sit on the Mobius Chair, and from it he took the remaining energy of Manhattan himself.

As he was ready to adempiate to his new task, the evil Batman who Laughs, with the aid of Perpetua, stole the Mobius Chair, leaving Wally alone. Saved by Wonder Woman, he was reunited with some old friends, but now once again his life, and the lives of many, are in danger: the Batman who Laughs turned into another form, who has incredible powers, calling himself the Darkest Knight. And he's hunting Wally, because he wants his powers, that energy of Manhattan which is still his.

The Present. An endless run to escape the Darkest Knight...

Wally, together with Barry and Jay, is escaping the Darkest Knight: the Speed Force has been heavily damaged by the actions of Perpetua, and with their escape it is consuming itself, instant by instant. Soon there will be no more Speed Force to travel into, and the Darkest Knight will catch them. But they must continue to run. As he felt a strain in the Speed Force, Kid Flash reaches the other speedsters, to be informed, rather quickly, about why Wally changed and is running with the others from a gigantic dark presence.

As the four Flashes keep on running, the Darkest Knight evokes a horde of Dark Flashes from the Dark Multiverse, to burn the Speed Force quicker and catch them. Jay wants to sacrifice himself, but Barry makes a stand: no Flash will be ever left behind by the Family. So, Wally decides to use the Manhattan energy flowing through him to help them, uttering a strange mathematical formula. It was the Speed Force formula created by Johnny Quick, which stopped time and bought them a few minutes of time.

But once those minutes are over, they won't be able to run anymore: the formula completely drained the Speed Force. Barry and Wally start arguing, with Barry telling Wally that he made a big mistake in using the formula, and Wally answering there was nothing else to do. Jay and Wallace are able to make them reason, and Wally comes up with another idea to use against the Darkest Knight: steal the Mobius Chair back. The Chair rejected the Batman who Laughs before, because he did not have the anti-crisis energy of Manhattan inside. Wally has got it, and that's why the Chair chose him: getting it back, he could save everyone.

Barry is against it, because it means running back, going through the maze of Dark Flashes. Wally decides to ignore his mentor, and he goes into the Central City's Flash museum to take the Chair back. As Barry follows him, Wally confesses to him that even after saving the Multiverse, and multiple times, he always felt shadowed by Barry. Flash is sorry for that, and confesses Wally sometimes he acts awkwardly with him because he fears losing him again. They reconcile and decide to follow Wally's plan, but as soon as they are out of the museum, all the speedsters, minus Wally, are transformed into Dark versions. The Darkest Knight is using his powers to corrupt the remaining Speed Force.

As the time-blocking effect of Wally's formula wears off, they start running, but this time towards the horde of Dark Flashes like Wally suggested. Jay and Wallace soon have to stop, and fight to cover them. In the end, Barry tells Wally that he was right: even when Wally reached a speed faster than Barry's, he never was the leader. He always followed. But this time, when Barry wanted to run from danger, he decided to ignore him, and keep going. He was right in doing so, and he is the leader this time. Barry gives him his remaining Speed Force, and the powers of the two Flashes combine, giving Wally a boost while he remains behind to help fight back against the Dark Flashes. Resisting the attacks of the Dark Flashes, Wally transforms his costume into the traditional red Flash suit, as a symbol for the Darkest Knight to see.

Succeeding in his plan to take away the Mobius Chair from the Darkest Knight's reach, Wally is once again being absorbed by the Speed Force: a circle closes, first the Flashpoint and now again, in the same place he went before, after giving a spark of hope to the whole Multiverse. But Barry's voice tells him he's wrong: he won't be alone in the Speed Force this time. His actions, and a brilliant intuition of Bart Allen, made all the speedsters of the Flash Family reunite into the Speed Force, including Iris and Jai, Wally's daughter and son. With them there are also Linda and Iris West, who both welcome their own Flash back.

Wally tells everyone they have to stay ready for another run, while him, Barry and Jay will deliver the Mobius Chair to Wonder Woman. The Speed Force won't shield them from the Darkest Knight forever. As Barry, once again, tells Wally to take the lead, the three speedsters start another run for the life of the Multiverse itself.

Appearing in "Speed Metal"

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Notes

Trivia

  • Barry reminisces becoming "The God of Death" after merging with the Black Flash during the Darksid War.


See Also


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