WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for The Flash #771 by Jeremy Adams, Kevin Maguire, Howard Porter, Berat Lekmezci, Byran Hitch, Max Raynor, Scott Kolins, Tom Derenick, Fernando Pasarin, Oclair Albert, Brandon Peterson, Michael Atiyeh, Steve Wands, on sale now.
Over the past few months, Wally West has spent been time-jumping through the bodies of various speedsters from the past and future of DC history. While this might seem like another stroke of bad luck, it gave him the chance to speak with a grown version of his daughter and help assuage any worries he had about failing as a parent in The Flash #771.
In the process of speaking with Irey, Wally learned that she would become a hero in the future and that her connection to the Speed Force was greater than Barry Allen's and even Wally's. While this isn't that much of a surprise given the powers that she's already displayed in the modern age, but it still means that Iris West II demonstrated a deeper connection to the speed force than any Flash who came before her.
In his latest journey through time, Wally wound up in the near future sitting across from a grown Irey. Stunned at the revelation that he was currently occupying his son's body, Wally was only slightly more concerned by the status of the highly destructive surge of Speed Force energy that he was supposed to be tracking. Irey quickly assuaged his fears, telling him that Jai had his power dampener on to limit its effects and then she directly absorbed all of the surge energy without any trouble or anyone else's notice. As it turned out, Irey is stronger than in the Speed Force than Wally or Barry, having enough control over her powers to slowly release the surge energy with no harmful effects.
But her mastery of the Speed Force extended beyond merely containing its vast power. Irey took Wally on a brief tour of the future, using her powers to do things Wally had never even considered possible. First, she opened a portal with relative ease, transporting her and Wally into space where she ran through the cosmos without any actual ground to run on, the Speed Force providing her both support and protection in the most inhospitable environment imaginable.
This was an incredible display of power, one that no other Flash has yet to demonstrate. Irey successfully pushed the boundaries of what a speedster is thought capable of by the time she reaches Wally's age, but this isn't terribly surprising. Ever since she was born and debuted in 2005's The Flash: #225, by Mark Waid, Brian Augustyn and Paul Pelletier, Irey has had a deep connection to the speed force. It's impacted her life negatively at some points, but it has also given her prodigious abilities at a young age that her father never had.
While briefly under the control of Queen Bee, Irey's powers evolved so that she could form "Speed Force cocoons" Anyone trapped inside would be at Irey's mercy as she had complete control over speed and time within the area of effect. She could accelerate her target's aging process until they withered away. And even before that, Irey had control over her molecular acceleration. So it seems fitting that by the time she reached adulthood. her powers would have only grown exponentially.
Irey has pushed her powers far beyond the boundaries of a usual speedster. Thanks to the Speed Force, all of DC's speedsters have an intimate connection with time manipulation, and Iris seems to have taken that connection and pushed it even further to uncover how she can manipulate space too.
While her skill level may be more of a relief to Wally than she realizes, Irey has attained a level of mastery that ensures that she will build upon the successes of her father while charting her own path with her brother.
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