#but he doesn’t wanna face the hard parts of love which prlly namely that ppl die

[barrenceallence]

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Tags that read #reblogging this because I was instantly in love with August Heart the second I saw him #and now am looking up Manuel Lago #although unfortunately Manuel Lago seems to be a fairly common name. #really should have added 'comics' but well hon live and learn. #this is a not so subtle request for a primer #COUGH.

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@benbamboozled I have been summoned lmao

Manuel Lago was a character introduced in Brian Buccellato and Francis Manapul’s run for the New 52 Flash series in 2011. he’s there for a CRIMINALLY measly 5 issue arc called Mob Rule.

He’s repeatedly called Barry’s oldest friend — there’s all these flashbacks (THAT ARE CUTE AS HECK) that show Manuel and Barry’s history together, from first meeting in college right up until Barry’s gets struck by lightning. He goes MIA after that and the arc starts off with Manuel barging back in Barry’s life after all this time.

(lichrally flirting idk what to even say)

(AHHH Barry just looks so HAPPY to see him damnit)

He’s got a pretty wild backstory for a character who’s literally only there for 5 issues — his dad was killed in a plane hijacking so his natural course of action was to….join the CIA to track down the hijackers (a group called Basilisk). With the CIA he’s some sort of a deep state operative and subject to some experiments that give him a regenerating ability like a healing factor.

(That James Bond meets Batman line is the funniest thing in the world to me. No wonder Barry gets along fine with Bruce.)

he ends up getting captured by Basilisk after going rogue and they torture him for WEEKS by cutting off his hands and fingers. But those cut off pieces actually fully regenerate into straight up clones of Manuel and they start calling themselves Mob Rule.

(ITS SUCH A RANDOMLY METAL BACKSTORY LIKE oh yeah the dismemberment)

(In which manny is an absent father for his 52 clones)

(I honestly don’t even know what he was trying to do here. As far as he knows Barry is just a normal ass civilian how’s he gonna help you? He literally just wanted to see Barry)

I just really like his character bc I love the potential of what kind of friendship they must have had. They’re a bit of an odd couple but they consider each other ‘family’ and Barry’s actually knows and IS CLOSE WITH Manuel’s mom. The person Manuel calls when he’s got no one to turn to in a dangerous mission is Barry. When he thinks Barry’s dead, Manuel goes into a rage. So there’s this really close bond between that doesn’t get much spotlight besides those brief flashbacks that makes me so curious.

Honestly Manuel reminds me so much of that post that’s like men say they’re fighting their demons and then the demons are just bisexuality.

#this has been an infodump #thank you and goodnight #barry allen #Manuel Lago #finally I have added to this long dormant tag #I just think he’s actually such a cool ass character like HES SO METAL HE LITERALLY CUTS OFF PARTS OF HIMSELF ON PURPOSE #what a mad lad #like he’s such an inchresting foil for Barry as well bc like #Barry’s whole thing is how he’s slow tbh despite his powers and his arc is all about like DOING and RUNNING TOWARDS the danger #for the sake of his friends his and city and the things he’s committed to for love #and then Manuel is out here running away from everything despite being the one who’s always been the one to take action #but he doesn’t wanna face the hard parts of love which prlly namely that ppl die #he’s in deep denial and grief over his dad death I feel like and from then on he made all these crazy decisions #also in denial abt how much he loves Barry and he can’t help but keep reaching out even after he abandons him time and time again #and he just??? commanded an army of his own clones no sweat ?? he’s so goddma. chill about it #prlly a front ? his brain is fried by the Horrors #he’s really Inchresting also to compare to august heart #he doesn’t have a bitchin costume like august unfortunately #but like they have such similar elements in this backstory it’s just smth to think about #dead relative sparks quest for vengeance that shows some tragic character flaw as a direct fool to how Barry also deals with tragedy #the funny thing is I think Manuel might even have a higher kill count than august #okay august killed like 13 people in that lightning strikes back arc #I don’t really see him murderi mg after that first arc tho #but manny was in the cia for YEARS #and then he went rogue to do MORE killing #but his biggest flaw is not that but actually just being a flake #hilarious #also parallels with how Barry forgives them both at the drop of a hat #anyway long ass post and and even longer tags whoops #ye have ignited my dormant fixation on this man