Iris Allen
44 years ago - Iris West is born.
26 years ago - 18-year-old Iris attends Columbia. Her older sister gives birth to her nephew, Wally West.
22 years ago - 22-year-old Iris graduates, and becomes a cub reporter at Picture News.
19 years ago - 25-year-old Iris meets forensic scientist Barry Allen.
18 years ago - 26-year-old Iris first encounters the Flash, and starts regularly working cases involving him with Barry Allen.
16 years ago - 28-year-old Iris's discovers that Barry Allen is the Flash, and they start dating. She introduces him to her nephew Wally West, who is a huge fan.
14 years ago - 30-year-old Iris suggests to Barry Allen to take on Wally West as an apprentice & sidekick when he gains similar powers.
11 years ago - 33-year-old Iris marries Barry Allen.
9 years ago - 35-year-old Iris is pregnant with twins. Eobard Thawne begins making attempts on her life. To save her, Barry Allen is forced to outrun the speed force, sacrificing himself in the process. She survives, but is cast back along Thawne's broken timeline, arriving in the future year 2969.
2969 - 35-year-old Iris arrives from the past. She settles on the moon, where she gives birth to her twins, Dawn Allen & Don Allen.
2974 - 40-year-old Iris, raising her children in the future, steps forward as a community leader on the Moon.
2985 - 51-year-old Iris Allen's son Don Allen begins training as a science police office in the academy.
2987 - 53-year-old Iris Allen's daughter Dawn Allen attends Metropolis University, studying tachyon theory.
2989 - 55-year-old Iris's granddaughter, Jenni Ognats, is born with no apparent connection to the speed force.
2993 - 59-year-old Iris's daughter Dawn Allen earns her doctorate in tachyon theory, specializing in understanding the speed force.
2995 - 61-year-old Iris's grandson Bart Allen is born with hyper-accelerated metabolism and must be placed in virtual reality to keep up with his accelerated growth
3003 - 69-year-old Iris manages a refugee community on the moon when the Dominators take Earth.
3005 - 71-year-old Iris Allen, Don Allen & Meloni Thawne help free Dawn Allen, Jenni Ognats & Jeven Ognats from Dominator captivity. Jenni then goes on to help the Legion of Super Heroes & the Green Lantern Corps free Earth.
3006 - 72-year-old Iris Allen's granddaughter Jenni Ognats joins the Legion of Superheroes. She attends her induction ceremony.
It's an understood part of the lore of the Flash that when someone taps the speed force, the more you draw from it, the more you risk being absorbed by it. Often, when these characters are close to losing themselves, they are only able to hold on because of the emotional anchors provided by their loved ones. I believe that the fact that both Wally and Barry are fairly regularly depicted clinging to their own existence entirely through the strength of their love for their wives is the reason that these relationships feel so vital to the characters.
Of course, Iris is one of the longest-lasting characters in the DC Universe. We wanted to make sure we did something with her that would showcase just how vital she is to so much of this story.
Of course, Iris is one of the longest-lasting characters in the DC Universe. We wanted to make sure we did something with her that would showcase just how vital she is to so much of this story.
Iris's Comic HistoryIris appeared for the first time in Showcase #4 in 1956, in the very first appearance of Barry Allen, the new Flash, and the issue that is universally understood as the introduction of the Silver Age of comics.
While Lois Lane is pretty inarguably the prototype of the comic book hero's civilian 'girlfriend', a very strong argument can be made that Iris became the new ideal version of the archetype as comics moved into the Silver Age. Lois is a holdover from a much earlier era, having been around since 1938. Her relationship with Superman was often more adversarial. Iris tended to work WITH Barry. They solved crime together, and acted as partners. |
|
|
There were still weird comic-book problems; the fact that the hero was keeping his identity secret from his love interest is never not going to be creepy. Even that was resolved, though, Iris West learned his secret Identity (right after their wedding... creepy) in 1966, only ten years after they were introduced. This is honestly a huge deal, as this couple was setting a new standard for what the dynamic between a superhero and his love interest could look like.
The classic Flash stories were absolutely bananas tales of childs-imagination science fiction screwballery, and Iris was there for all of it. The fact that, canonically, Iris was actually born in the 30th century, and that the classic Flash series ends in 1985 with Barry and Iris choosing to settle down in the distant future just describes this series to a T. |
Our Iris StoryFirst of all, sadly, our Iris is not going to have been adopted from parents residing in the 30th century. She was born here, in our timeline. Whether or not she STAYS here in our timeline... well... we'll get to that.
Honestly, her actual timeline is pretty straightforward. She's a journalist at heart; a role that so many superhero love interests seem to follow (Lois is the archetype, afterall) but there's a reason it's so common; because it works so well. It actually makes a little more sense in the case of Iris and Barry, because Barry is actually a forensic scientist with the Central City police, and she's a crime reporter. The idea that they would meet professionally and start working together on cases involving the Flash just seems to work naturally. We did make one specific change to their timeline. In ours, Barry tells her his secret. On purpose. Before they start dating. It's just so much less problematic. From there, her role as his constant partner and unwavering support system is unchanged. |
|
|
Iris's AppearanceHas anyone else noticed that every time they find a comic book character to redesign as a person of color, they pick a redhead? What do you think that's about?
Iris was recast as a black woman in 2014 in the New 52, along with her nephew, Wally. This actually coincided with the start of The Flash live action CW series, where Iris is played by the very talented and beautiful Candice Patton. This is, if you ask me, probably one of the best examples of this being done well, because they didn't force any weird character changes on Iris when they started depicting her as a black woman; she was the same character she always was, just black. That's kind of the POINT, right? We all understand that when these characters were created it was considered the default to make everyone caucasian, but that doesn't mean they HAVE to be. You can even argue that this is a compelling choice, because you're immediately saying that this woman is living the life of a black woman in America, and we all know that's a complex story. Obviously I'm going to have a much easier time finding art of her as caucasian since it accounts for the bulk of her appearances, but I'm totally in favor of making this change. |
Iris's FutureIn the comics, back in 1985, Iris and Barry retired in the 30th century, before Barry returned to the present to fight in the Crisis of Infinite Earths, and lose his life. Iris would later return when she brought her grandson Bart Allen back to our time to save his life by introducing him to Wally West.
We've already created a story that explained Barry saving Iris's life by sending her into the future; we had to do it in order to make Bart Allen's story work. But from there, what about Iris? When we dug in and started detailing what her life in the future would be like; giving birth to Barry's kids, raising them by herself... We decided to give her a home that she could become a part of by making her one of the residents of the Moon in the future, a place she could call home, and where she could become part of the community, even stepping up as a leader. When her grandkids are born, one of them has to be tragically sent back in time, but the other, Jenni, actually gets to become part of that eras superhero team, the Legion of Superheroes. Iris herself gets to be part of those adventures, stepping up to help defend Earth from the Dominators. And perhaps most notably; she gets to grow to be an old woman, living a fulfilling life of family and adventure and purpose.... all in the distant future. That feels like a fitting role for one of DC's most recognizable characters. |
|