Inspector Pilgrim (Prime Earth)

Inspector Pilgrim is an adult version of Wade West from a possible future. He is a time-travelling "science detective" who appeared when Wally West began slipping into alternate dimensions.

History

Inspector Pilgrim is a time traveller with the ability to travel to any point along his own timeline, up to his death approximately two-hundred years in the future. Whilst trying to travel forwards in time he discovered that the future suddenly disappears into an empty void a few months from the present day, meaning someone or something had "murdered" the future. He was almost destroyed by the empty future but was saved at the last moment by the Linear Men. Just before they pulled him out he received a telepathic message from cosmic beings known as the Arc Angles, who warned him that speedsters and their use of the Speed Force were destroying the universe.^[1]

He first came to Mister Terrific and warned him that the Speed Force was damaged, and in order to save the universe they may need to kill all speedsters on Earth.^[2]

Pilgrim later went to speak with Jai West, who was struggling with his changing powers and feelings of low self-esteem. He appeared just as Jai involuntarily split off a "homunculus", and at the sight of him Jai was frightened and automatically teleported away to his father. Pilgrim used Jai's quantum entanglement with the homunculus to teleport him back. Jai panicked and Pilgrim triggered him to create more homunculi, telling Jai to calm down and that his mental health was of professional interest to him.

Jai teleported away again, but when he returned he was ready to listen. Pilgrim told Jai that he had a unique connection to the Speed Force, which allowed him to do things with it that his family could not as they simply tapped into it. He also revealed that Jai's teleportation worked by opening quantum wormholes between himself and other conduits, and that he teleported to his father simply because he was closer. He told Jai that he could use his power to travel to any conduit in the world or wherever he left a homunculus, and hinted that he may even be able to travel through time. Under his guidance, Jai teleported to every conduit around the city, before ending up back with his father.

Jai and Wally had an encounter with The Stillness, where the cosmic aliens tried to destroy Jai and Wally furiously attacked them with his full power. Jai told his father that he didn't want to be a superhero and returned to school where Pilgrim was still waiting for him. Pilgrim assured Jai that Wally would not be disappointed with his decision and loved him regardless; and Jai replied that he knew that, because Wally had proven he would have shattered the world for him.^[3]

The breakdown of the timeline lead to the destruction of Timepoint as it was swarmed by the Uncoiled. The Linear Men pulled all the speedsters and time travellers resident at Timepoint, including Gold Beetle, out when it was annihilated. The easiest method to "save" the Multiverse would have been to kill all the speedsters, but Pilgrim wanted to avoid that if at all possible and so kept them frozen in time and imprisoned on the Linear Men's station. Impulse and Max Mercury ended up in the ruins of Timepoint and were almost destroyed by the Uncoiled. The Linear Men saved them and imprisoned them with the others.^[1]

As reality broke down, Pilgrim dispatched some agents of the Linear Bureau to capture Barry Allen, their second highest priority target. He went to the West home and tutored Jai in the use of his unconventional powers, teaching him to create constructs from Speed Force energy. Suddenly, Hartley Rathaway burst in looking for Wally West, as the Bureau of Sovereignty had raided Terrifictech. The sight of Hartley left Pilgrim momentarily overwhelmed with emotion, but he quickly regained his composure. He told them that, although Amanda Waller was about to initiate an authoritarian crackdown on superheroes nationwide; she was not the major threat as at the rate the disturbances were progressing, the universe itself would likely implode before she had a chance.^[4] He also imprisoned Avery Ho and Kid Flash when they accidentally stumbled into Timepoint while trying to follow Wally West.^[5]

Pilgrim took Rathaway and Jai to the Linear Bureau's station to further train Jai in his powers. He and Rathaway then left to collect his younger self from the present, but when they arrived they found Barry Allen fighting off the influence of the "Crown of Thawnes", the combined ghosts of every Reverse-Flash in the Multiverse. Barry yelled at Rathaway that Abra Kadabra was hiding nearby and using hypnotic tones on Linda. Despite Pilgrim telling him that they should arrest Barry, Rathaway used his flute to counter Abra's spell and make him visible.

Linda punched Abra out and Barry told Pilgrim that the speedsters were not destroying reality and the message he received from the Arc Angles was wrong: they and the Rogues were engaged in a conspiracy to cut Wally off from everyone he loved and turn him into some kind of weapon. Barry then had to leave when a rocket fired by the Bureau of Sovereignty attached to him and warned him it would detonate in ten seconds.

Pilgrim promised Linda that the infant Wade would be safe with him and convinced her to let him take the baby by showing her his face. He returned to the station and found that Jai had discovered the vault. Jai demanded to know what he was really up to and Inspector Pilgrim revealed his identity to Jai, telling his brother that he would not let their family die.^[6]

Pilgrim initially refused to believe that the Arc Angles were behind everything that had been happening, as such powerful cosmic beings would have no reason to lie and all the data supported the theory that speedsters were destroying the Multiverse. Jai suddenly realised that the Arc Angles were warping reality to make the data fit the theory rather than the other way around. Using his "shaper" powers, he was able to "smooth out" the alterations the Arc Angles had made and prove that they, not the speedsters, were responsible for the anomalies. Pilgrim was convinced and released Max, Bart, Wallace and Avery from stasis. They and some Linear Bureau agents returned to the present to help Barry fight off a Bureau of Sovereignty agent wearing the Justice Buster suit.^[7]

Barry called a meeting of the Flash Family to discuss what was happening and how to rescue Wally. He said that the Speed Force was in spasm and Pilgrim, who had deeper knowledge of the Cosmic Forces from the future but couldn't reveal it, hinted that they needed to think bigger. Jesse Quick realised that Circuit Breaker's powers were affected as well, meaning that whatever was going on must be impacting the Still Force too. Circuit Breaker said that he believed the Speed Force and Still Force were not separate but were rather both part of the same spectrum. Jai went further, revealing he had been experimenting with the Speed Force and believed that the Speed Force, Still Force, Sage Force and Strength Force were all part of something bigger like an ocean. Irey also revealed that she had been working with a serum that granted super-speed to people and had found that it didn't come from the Speed Force, meaning that this greater Force was flowing through the normal world. Although his siblings didn't know it, they were describing the Deep Change, a living entity outside the visible Multiverse which all the Cosmic Forces emanated from.

Pilgrim gave his family another hint, saying that the Cosmic Forces were an expression of a universal constant; the fundamental dynamic of change, and Barry realised that the Forces were made of time. Max Mercury also revealed that he had had a vision recently and believed that the Deep Change was alive and in pain.^[8] Jai and Irey were suddenly able to sense Wally again, as the Arc Angle's weapon known as the Crown of Thawnes left his body and was no longer blocking him from their senses. The Flash Family followed Wally to the Source Wall, where they battled the Arc Angles. The Crown managed to penetrate The Source and began to poison the Deep Change, causing time to slow to a standstill throughout the Multiverse. Pilgrim and the others each transferred their energy to Wally, allowing him to chase the Crown into The Source and try to stop it.^[9]

Powers and Abilities

Powers

• Speed Force Conduit: Inspector Pilgrim possesses a connection to the Speed Force, a mysterious cosmic force that pushes time and space itself forward.
  • Chronokinesis: Inspector Pilgrim has the power to travel through history along his own timeline. He describes himself as a "speedster in the Fourth Dimension".^[1]
  • Decelerated Aging: Inspector Pilgrim has a lifespan in excess of two hundred years.^[1]
  • Sharing the Force: Inspector Pilgrim was able to transfer some of his Speed Force energy to Wally in order to boost his speed, much like how his younger self was able to grant super-speed to Linda when she was pregnant with him.^[9]

Abilities

• Investigation
• Science

Weaknesses

• Power Limitation: Inspector Pilgrim can only travel to a point along his own personal timeline. He cannot visit a period before his birth or after his death.^[1]

Related

• 9 Appearances of Inspector Pilgrim (Prime Earth)
• 2 Images featuring Inspector Pilgrim (Prime Earth)
• 1 Quotations by or about Inspector Pilgrim (Prime Earth)
• Character Gallery: Inspector Pilgrim (Prime Earth)

Footnotes

Flash Family member This character is or was an incarnation of or an ally of The Flash, and a member of the Flash Family of speedsters. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the "Flash Family members" category.