Skip to main content

dc - Is The Flash's physiology faster than normal humans?


Can the Flash do things like build muscle faster than normal (do his muscles grow right after a work-out or meal)? Can he heal faster than normal? Does he have a faster immune system to stop all illness or at least make the flu last 2 minutes or something along those lines?



Answer



As with almost anything related to superheroes, this has been inconsistently portrayed throught the history of the character.


First, we must consider which Flash you are talking about. It also depends on several other factors, notably which version of the character (mainstream comics, New 52, parallel universes, the TV show, the DCAU, etc).


To boil it down, the answer is generally yes, The Flash does do every bodily process faster than a normal human being. How much faster varies (sometimes within the same story!) as does how much control he has over it.


Generally, every version of The Flash heals faster than a normal human (though not so fast as, say, Wolverine). Bruises will be gone within a day or so, cuts and stuff will heal faster, cracked ribs will knit quicker, etc. His body processes toxins at an increased rate, which means he'd have a heck of a time getting drunk and things like drugs and knockout gasses can wear off sooner. That said, he still breathes (most of the time) at a normal human rate, and he can get sick.



Most writers generally explain this as a factor of his powers: his Super Speed isn't always on. He doesn't always move faster than everyone else, and he doesn't always perceive things the way he does when he's moving faster than the speed of sound. His body, by default, is not going that much faster than everyone else is. It does, however, speed up as he does. So if he and Batman are talking when giant metal panels shut them in a room and it fills with knockout gas, Batman will likely wake up first (due to his better constitution and higher body mass) - Flash wasn't going at super speed, so his body wasn't accelerating his metabolic processes.


That said, Flash has never shown any propensity for increased speed at building muscle mass. His physical strength is normal for a fit man of his build. He can bench his own weight and has been shown to be able to carry one or two people at a time.


The Flash can, however, read incredibly fast. Barry Allen and Wally West can read libraries in seconds, though what they learn from those books fades quickly, so it's typically used to find one or two relevant facts (which they then tell to others). Bart Allen, on the other hand, possesses a photographic memory and can (and has) read libraries and retained all the information.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.

harry potter - How could Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra?

I want to be very careful about how I ask this question – I am not asking How did Voldemort die? [CLOSED] Below the text is the relevant passages from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if anyone wants to review them (I'm sorry for the amount of text). How did Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra and kill Voldemort? I feel the reason Harry's Expelliarmus overpowered Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse has to do with who was master of the Elder Wand and how the Elder Wand works. I've always had trouble understanding fully how the Elder Wand works, though. How much did the fact that Voldemort never truly won or mastered the Elder Wand factor into how Expelliarmus reacted to Avada Kedavra and caused Avada Kedavra to rebound and kill Voldemort? An answer based in book canon would be especially welcome, but any canon source really is fine. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand: ‘ Avada Kedavra !’ ‘ Expelliarmus !...

Is there good canon evidence for the "Nightmare Matrix"?

On the Matrix wiki, there's an article about the Nightmare Matrix which says: The Nightmare Matrix was the second prototype Matrix, designed by The Architect after the massive failure of the Paradise Matrix in the hope that human minds would more readily accept an imperfect world with suffering. Unlike the first version, this Matrix instituted a basic cause-and-effect programming and forcibly made those connected to it accept the program. Vamp Prime, a possible remnant of the Nightmare Matrix. It also featured programs that resembled mythical evil creatures in various human mythologies such as vampires, werewolves, zombies, aliens, etc. It also failed, but many of the programs who were designed for it survived deletion in exile. The Merovingian and his wife, Persephone may have had their roots in this version of the Matrix. Upon its failure, the Merovingian started a smuggling ring of programs and information to provide a haven for exiles that would last for 6 cycles in the final ...

story identification - Anime with a boy hiring a creature from a stone, meets a man named Dante and starts a journey to collect crystals

I am from India, this anime or animated series (I can't remember this was made by the Japan or other countries) was aired between 2009 and 2012 probably in Jetix/Disney XD (but I'm not sure). This anime starts with a boy (the main character, I forgot his name) who find a stone (or crystal like thing) in his dad's property, his dad was missing that time. Some day he accidentally hire a creature/monster from that stone. Other day some creature attack him and he was saved by his creature and the story begins. In his journey to solve the mystery he meets a middle aged man 'Dante' (probably that was the name; this is the only character name I can remember). He had also some stone. After that they meet with one girl and a women (one of the girls is same age with the main boy character and probably will become his partner as the story goes on). Another women probably Dante's partner. Four of them started their journey to collect all the stone/crystal. They are collecti...