Biography

Early Life

Jay Garrick was born in 1918 in Keystone City, where he would grow up to become one of the world’s first superheroes. A brilliant student, he later attended Midwestern University in his hometown, double majoring in chemistry and physics.

In 1938, while conducting research into purifying hard water without residual radiation using a cyclotron, Jay was caught in a bizarre accident. Late one night, he knocked over a test tube and was exposed to strange fumes that knocked him unconscious. A friend dragged him from the lab, but Jay remained in a coma for an entire week. When he awoke, he discovered that something inside him had changed — he could now move at incredible speeds, reaching up to 500 mph.

“We’re going to get this done and we’re going to do it fast. After all, it’s how I’m used to doing things.”

Real Name	Jason Peter Garrick
Aliases	The Flash
Afilliated With	Justice Society

Characteristics

Gender	Male
Height	5’11”
Weight	178
Eye Color	Blue
Hair Color	Brown

Family

Joan Garrick

Justice Society

By 1940, Jay had embraced his abilities and began operating as a masked vigilante, quickly earning a reputation as a “mystery man.” That same year, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt learned that Adolf Hitler was seeking a powerful artifact known as the Spear of Destiny, he called on Jay and another mystery man, the Green Lantern, Alan Scott, to investigate. The two infiltrated a Nazi-occupied castle in Scotland where Hitler was rumored to be, but instead found a trap waiting — a massive war machine called the Murder Machine. Overwhelmed and captured, Jay and Alan were transported to Berlin and paraded before the crowds as trophies of the Third Reich.

In a public display, Hitler revealed that he had already acquired the Spear of Destiny and used it to summon an army of Valkyries from Norse mythology. With Alan unconscious, it was up to Jay to generate enough friction to snap their restraints. Freeing himself and Alan, the two made a desperate attempt to stop the Valkyries, but were quickly overmatched. Salvation came in the form of the Spectre, a mystical force who had sensed the Spear’s awakening. The Spectre had gathered a small group of mystery men and led them to Berlin, arriving just in time to tip the battle in the heroes’ favor. With their combined strength, they drove back the supernatural threat and returned to the United States. Inspired by their shared fight, the group formally came together as the Justice Society of America, the first team of superheroes dedicated to defending justice.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the U.S. government created the All-Star Squadron, a domestic initiative that enlisted every active superhero to protect the United States from foreign threats. Because of the mystical properties of the Spear of Destiny, many of the more powerful heroes were forbidden from entering Axis-controlled territories, as the artifact could bend them to Hitler’s will. Jay, along with many others, remained stateside as part of this effort.

In 1947, Jay married his longtime love, Joan Williams. The two shared a quiet, happy life, even as Jay continued his heroic work. That peace was disrupted in 1954, when the House Un-American Activities Commission demanded that the Justice Society reveal their secret identities to prove they weren’t Communist sympathizers. Jay and the rest of the Society refused, choosing to disband rather than compromise their principles.

Flash of Two Times

Jay quietly retired from heroics, aging slower than most due to his unknown connection to the Speed Force. In 1978, 24 years after stepping away from the mantle of the Flash, a trio of his old enemies — the Thinker, the Shade, and the Fiddler — reunited for one final scheme. Using a resonator device, they vibrated Keystone City out of phase with the rest of the world, trapping its citizens and unwittingly themselves in suspended animation.

Years later, a new speedster named Barry Allen stumbled into the forgotten city. The resulting speed energy awoke Jay from his stasis. Barry, who had adopted the name “The Flash” in honor of a comic book he had read as a child, was shocked to meet his predecessor, the very man the comics had been based on. The two joined forces to defeat the trio of villains and destroy the resonator, restoring Keystone to the world’s memory.

Jay decided to stay retired as this new speedster could go twice as fast as he ever could but he promised to help if he ever needed it.