How Fast Can The Flash Run? The Top Speed Of The Fastest Man Alive, Explained

How fast is the Fastest Man Alive in a footrace? When DC Comics first introduced the world to the Flash in "Flash Comics" Vol 1. #1 back in 1939, the publisher likely didn't know that the character would still be around today, having only grown in popularity over the decades. We've seen fantastic animated portrayals on shows like "Justice League Unlimited," a nine-season television series starring Grant Gustin, and even a DC Extended Universe version who got his own movie in theaters.

With various incarnations of the character out there, speed levels may vary. Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, and Wally West have all been considered the fastest superheroes at some point or another, with speeds surpassing even Superman himself. When it comes to how fast the Flash can run, though, it depends on which hero we're talking about. Though Jay Garrick was the first Fastest Man Alive, Barry Allen and Wally West have traditionally battled for the title of king of the speedsters. Who takes the crown? We're going to dive head-first into the DC Universe to answer that question.

Each version of the Flash has access to a cosmic energy called the Speed Force. How exactly does the Speed Force work? Well, as with a lot of things in comics, it's a bit of a mystery, but as one of the Seven Forces of the Universe, it allows those with access to it to travel at insane speeds. The Flash can easily outrun bullets and has no problem traveling from one side of the world to the other in a short period of time (running on water is easy when you've got super-speed). In fact, the Flash can even vibrate his body at such speeds that his molecules become unstable enough for him to phase through solid objects. That's a type of speed that's hard to wrap the mind around.

In the "Final Crisis" comic book series by Grant Morrison, Jay Garrick (the original Flash) notes that he, Wally West, and Barry Allen could all run at a thousand times faster than the speed of sound, which would equal 761,000 mph. But at other times, we've seen the Flash run even faster than that. In "JLA" Vol 1. #89 by Joe Kelly, we see the Flash evacuate an entire North Korean city just before a nuclear explosion destroys it at what's described at "a hair's breadth short of the speed of light." The Flash has been known to outrun both the Black Racer and the Black Flash — both physical aspects of the concept of death — and while he can't escape dying forever, that's no small feat. 

The truth is, the Flash is only ever as fast as a writer needs him to be. Power levels may vary depending on the story, and even some of these examples are one-and-done operations. Still, he's called the Fastest Man Alive for a reason.

Which Flash is the fastest of them all? Well, the original human thunderbolt, Jay Garrick, fully admits his limitations in issues of "JSA," particularly when Mister Terrific assumes he can run at lightspeed — he can't. Jay asserts that only Wally West can do that, and he's only been able to himself by borrowing the speed of others. But what's interesting about that notion is that Wally himself says in "The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive" Vol 1. #2 that Bart Allen (sometimes known as Impulse or Kid Flash) is the fastest Flash of them all. 

Barry Allen has been considered the fastest as well since he is the one responsible for creating the Speed Force in the first place, per Geoff Johns' "The Flash: Rebirth." When Barry died at the end of "Crisis on Infinite Earths," he became the lightning bolt that then hit him and created the speed force, traveling through time at record speeds. Since Barry's resurrection, he's admitted (in "Superman" Vol 1. #709) that he can think at the speed of light, perceive events that occur in an attosecond, and even run faster than time itself. Superman doesn't stand a chance. 

And yet, Barry Allen isn't the fastest Flash, either — that title really does belong to Wally West. Not only is Wally officially considered the fastest Flash by DC Comics, but plenty of comic books have proven it. In "The Flash" Vol 1. #800, we discovered that Wally can move even beyond the Speed Force and can run so fast that he travels to alternate dimensions. The same issue has him clocking over 200 miles in only a few microseconds. Indeed, Wally was the Flash who evacuated that entire North Korean city prior to detonation, and (with help) he can even move at Trans-Time Velocity, which is faster than instant teleportation.

The first live-action version of the flash was played by John Wesley Shipp, who starred as Barry Allen in the 1990s "The Flash" television series. In the episode "Flash Forward," he travels faster than the speed of light which sends him into the future (though this was only due to the added boost of an explosion). The episode "Double Vision" notes that he can run at about 600 mph. But, while Shipp's Flash is great, the real rivalry when it comes to the fastest live-action version of the classic character is between Grant Gustin and Ezra Miller's versions of the Flash.

Both actors play versions of Barry Allen. Gustin's Flash exists in the Arrowverse timeline, primarily in his "The Flash" series, while Miller's version lives in the DC Extended Universe, which has now been rebooted by James Gunn and Peter Safran as the DC Universe. Both Flashes can run faster than the naked eye can perceive, and even run fast enough to manipulate time. In "Zack Snyder's Justice League," we watch as Miller's Barry folds time back on itself, reversing a world-ending explosion. In the 2023 film "The Flash," he can move so fast that he can travel faster than light, perceive the multiverse, and change time. The DCEU Flash runs faster on average — but he probably isn't the fastest.

Though the writers behind Gustin's Flash usually limited him to mach speeds for the sake of weekly adventures, the Season 4 episode "Enter Flashtime" shows Flash moving so fast that it effectively puts time at a standstill. For the majority of the episode, Barry is in flashtime, and he can even bring others to such high speeds with him. After Oliver Queen/the Spectre (Stephen Amell) unlocks Barry's full potential during the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover, Season 7's "Heart of the Matter, Part 2" shows that Barry can move even faster than Reverse-Flash's (Tom Cavanagh) lightspeed — the villain moves at a snail's pace by comparison. He even escaped a black hole in "Into the Void," something light can't even do.

From Road Runner to Sonic the Hedgehog, the history of pop culture is littered with speedsters, and there are more than you probably realized in the realm of comic books. But could any of them catch up with DC's Fastest Man Alive? From a purely comic book standpoint, inter-company crossovers such as "DC vs. Marvel" or "JLA/Avengers" have proven that the Wally West Flash is far superior in speed to the Marvel hero Quicksilver. Though, it's worth noting that, disconnected from the Speed Force, Wally loses said advantage. As far as live-action goes, the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is nowhere near as quick as any live-action Flash, and though the "X-Men" movie version (played by Evan Peters) comes close, he could never reverse time.

We've mentioned that Superman, one of the fastest beings in the entire DC Universe, would be left in the dust if genuinely racing either Barry Allen or Wally West, but what about characters from other media? Some have posited that Sonic could outrun the Flash, especially since he nearly outruns a black hole in "Sonic Colors." Black holes move at about one-tenth of the speed of light, meaning one could theoretically make its way around our entire planet in under two seconds. That's ridiculously fast — but not as fast as the Flash. As we've established, the Flash can run faster than light itself at his top speed, so the Fastest Man Alive is absolutely worthy of this moniker.