#specifically one time Dick was upset that he couldn't save everyone and Wally DEADASS said

[givemewallywestorgivemedeath]

Can we acknowledge for a second how insane it is that both Wally and Bart had to have significant character arcs to understand that sometimes people die?

With other heroes it's just a fact of life. People die. People die all the time. That's just the job. There's no escaping that. There was never any room for doubt.

They try as hard as they can to save everyone but they're only human. Sometimes they can't and sometimes people die.

But for Wally and Bart?

Oh man.

Wally was aware of the concept of death. He'd seen corpses, he knew that people died and that it was a commonplace thing.

But someone dying on his watch? Failing to save someone, no matter what the circumstances, was not even an option to Wally. It didn't happen. He was fast enough to make sure it never happened.

His actual literal catch phrase as the Flash was "Nobody dies."

I'm not joking.

He even had a storyline where a lady was thrown out of an airplane and Wally, who obviously can't fly and who would have no way of saving her, jumped out after her because nobody dies. And he did save her. He figured out a new way of using superspeed while plummeting to his death. The moral of that adventure to Wally was that no one should die ever when he's the Flash because he can always save everyone if he tries hard enough.

He then had another adventure where someone was going to die and he couldn't save them and he could not handle that. This man STOPPED. TIME. He stopped time because "if time doesn't move then they can't die" and he intended to never restart time because he was having a full blown panic attack over someone dying on his watch.

Thankfully he was able to calm down and figure out a plan to save them. He had to accept that it might not work and they might die and he had to be okay with that. Because he tried his best and that was all he could do. He did end up saving everyone in the end. No one died.

But I mention this because the man was in his mid 20's the first time he actually had to come to terms with the inevitability of death.

He wasn't being naive or ignorant. He wasn't being arrogant or cocky. The man had legitimately never failed to save someone.

Now Bart, in comparison, had to face death in general a lot sooner than Wally did. Wally was basing his conclusions based on his experience but Bart legitimately had no idea what death was.

He had to learn that people could die by witnessing the people he cares about have close calls. He had to learn that he could die by experiencing his own death.

I'm honestly not entirely convinced Bart has had to accept that he can't save everyone. There are arguments to be made for sure but I don't think he's ever explicitly had that "Oh shit, I can't save them. They will die" moment.

Regardless though, I think this really speaks to their abilities and efficiency in the field. Also their sheer power. It doesn't matter if it's a city of 2 million people and there's a nuke 1 second away from detonating. It doesn't matter if the criminal has a hostage at gun point and has already pulled the trigger. It doesn't matter if a building gets hit during a fight and crumbles into dust. There will be no casualties. There will be no hostages. There will be no friendly fire. They save everyone. No exceptions.

#seriously tho Wally and Bart have B R E A K D O W N S when confronted with other people dying #its NOT a thing that happens to them #if they find a body or something they aren't phased because they aren't unaware of death #they just specifically cannot handle someone dying while they were a) in the area and/or b) aware of the danger #and they don't even project that onto other people. like Wally will nonstop reassure other heroes that they can't save everyone #and that its okay as long as they tried their best #he just specifically holds himself to higher standards #specifically one time Dick was upset that he couldn't save everyone and Wally DEADASS said #'hey you don't have superspeed its fine. no one can reasonably expect you to save everyone ' #with the implication being that to wally if you have superspeed you CAN save everyone #dc #dc comics #the flash #kid flash #wally west #impulse #bart allen