Marv Wolfman, scribe for the Crisis on Infinite Earths, has repeatedly stated (first hinted at in his introduction to the original Crisis collected edition hardcover), then fully explained on his website that he left a loophole in the script wherein the Barry Allen Flash could be reintroduced, without a retcon, into DC Universe continuity.[6] This loophole would allow a writer to pull Barry out of his desperate run to annihilate the anti-matter cannon. However, Barry would know he must someday finish his death run, and would become more determined to use his speed to help others.
It should also be noted that the way Barry Allen seemed to have "died" in Crisis on Infinite Earths, was that he ran so fast that he was able to stop the Anti-Monitor's anti-matter cannon from firing by catching the tachyon beam at the heart of the weapon. After this act, according to Secret Origins Annual #2 (1988), Barry Allen turns into a lightning bolt, goes back in time, becoming the lightning bolt that hit his lab, splashing his past-self with chemicals and transforming him into the Flash.[7]
In Deadman: Dead Again, Barry is one of the heroes whose spirit Deadman helps to enter Heaven, and the Green Arrow storyline "Quiver" depicts Barry Allen in Heaven. His spirit seems to still be alive within the Speed Force, along with Max Mercury and other speedsters.
In Quasar by Marvel Comics, released between December 1990 and May 1994, an amnesiac Barry Allen, misremembering his name as "Buried Alien" and the Speed Force as the "Hyperforce", and surprised to have "form" again, enters the Marvel Universe in the middle of the great race to be the "Fastest Man Alive" after the players had passed the first warp junction, where he is discovered by the Runner co-ordinating it and invited to participate in his great race. Beating several other speedsters (Pietro "Quicksilver" Maximoff, Wendell "Quasar" Vaughn, Robert "The Whizzer" Frank, Captain Marvel, James "Speed Demon" Sanders, Ariana "Black Racer", Martin "Super Sabre" Fletcher and Makkari) he is declared to be the "fastest man alive", a title he believes feels "right", though he never recovers his memory during his time in the universe. He later adopted the alias "FastForward", before he is returned to his original universe with Makkari's assistance.
Marv Wolfman, scribe for the Crisis on Infinite Earths, has repeatedly stated (first hinted at in his introduction to the original Crisis collected edition hardcover), then fully explained on his website that he left a loophole in the script wherein the Barry Allen Flash could be reintroduced, without a retcon, into DC Universe continuity.[6] This loophole would allow a writer to pull Barry out of his desperate run to annihilate the anti-matter cannon. However, Barry would know he must someday finish his death run, and would become more determined to use his speed to help others.
It should also be noted that the way Barry Allen seemed to have "died" in Crisis on Infinite Earths, was that he ran so fast that he was able to stop the Anti-Monitor's anti-matter cannon from firing by catching the tachyon beam at the heart of the weapon. After this act, according to Secret Origins Annual #2 (1988), Barry Allen turns into a lightning bolt, goes back in time, becoming the lightning bolt that hit his lab, splashing his past-self with chemicals and transforming him into the Flash.[7]
In Deadman: Dead Again, Barry is one of the heroes whose spirit Deadman helps to enter Heaven, and the Green Arrow storyline "Quiver" depicts Barry Allen in Heaven. His spirit seems to still be alive within the Speed Force, along with Max Mercury and other speedsters.
In Quasar by Marvel Comics, released between December 1990 and May 1994, an amnesiac Barry Allen, misremembering his name as "Buried Alien" and the Speed Force as the "Hyperforce", and surprised to have "form" again, enters the Marvel Universe in the middle of the great race to be the "Fastest Man Alive" after the players had passed the first warp junction, where he is discovered by the Runner co-ordinating it and invited to participate in his great race. Beating several other speedsters (Pietro "Quicksilver" Maximoff, Wendell "Quasar" Vaughn, Robert "The Whizzer" Frank, Captain Marvel, James "Speed Demon" Sanders, Ariana "Black Racer", Martin "Super Sabre" Fletcher and Makkari) he is declared to be the "fastest man alive", a title he believes feels "right", though he never recovers his memory during his time in the universe. He later adopted the alias "FastForward", before he is returned to his original universe with Makkari's assistance.