Question about The Flash's (Wally West) speed

[Hopper99]

It seems that Wally West, as The Flash, can do a good number of ridiculous speed based feats.However, I would like to know something. Is Wally West's speed infinite at all, like how the Warp Factor 10 from Star Trek is said to be? If not, why?

 

[Babillygunn]

Some may be more knowledgeable than me (looking at you, @Milk Tray Guy), but I think that his speed has been written all over the place. I would say that probably the fastest he has ever been portrayed was in Flash Forward and Death Metal where he sat on the Mobius Chair and had Dr. Manhattan’s power infused in him. He actually outran the Speed Force in that story.

 

[Mani-Man]

That is Honestly a good question.
With my limited knowledge, i would say yes...in theory.
It comes down to how much Wallys body can handle i think.

Correct me if im wrong, but the speed force is the very essence of time...what pushes it forward.
A Cosmic energy that makes existence move.
So i assume the Speed Force is infinite and it comes down to how much the user of it can handle.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

@Babillygunn I'm flattered, but seriously, my first thought on anything to do with Wally West would have been to defer to you, no question!!

But okay... The fastest calculated speed that I've been able to find for him is in JLA (1997) # 89, where he saves half a million people from an exploding nuclear warhead. He supposedly carries 500,000 people 35 miles from the blast within 0.0001 microseconds. Several people have crunched the numbers* separately and reached the same conclusion - that Wally would have had to reach a speed of roughly 13 trillion times the speed of light. Whether the creators intended for him to be that fast, of whether they didn't actually think it through, I don't know! OP, I hope that's of some help, or at least interest!


*Disclaimer - not me!

 

[Spider-Aziz]

but I think that his speed has been written all over the place.

That is indeed true, every writer has a different version of how to write their speed.

 

[Dr.]

Looked at “externally,” the speed of light has a specific (and finite) value. Therefore, it’s child’s play to think of a bigger value, a larger number. In this way, the Flash’s max. speed becomes a simple matter of one-upmanship: “Oh, Quicksilver can move at a billion times the speed of light? Well, Flash can move at a trillion times the speed of light.” Rinse and repeat. The contest never ends because numbers don’t end. Infinity-speed plus one is faster than just infinity-speed. And Infinity-speed plus two is even faster. Etc.

But “internally,” — from the POV of the thing moving at the speed of light — travel would be literally instantaneous. It’s for this reason that the speed of light is the fastest possible speed. I.e., it’s conceptually and definitionally incoherent to speak of moving faster than instantaneous.

 

[Babillygunn]

Obviously, he’s pretty fast

 

[Babillygunn]

And the dude came off pretty boss in the process.

 

[Micromind]

Looked at “externally,” the speed of light has a specific (and finite) value. Therefore, it’s child’s play to think of a bigger value, a larger number. In this way, the Flash’s max. speed becomes a simple matter of one-upmanship: “Oh, Quicksilver can move at a billion times the speed of light? Well, Flash can move at a trillion times the speed of light.” Rinse and repeat. The contest never ends because numbers don’t end. Infinity-speed plus one is faster than just infinity-speed. And Infinity-speed plus two is even faster. Etc.

But “internally,” — from the POV of the thing moving at the speed of light — travel would be literally instantaneous. It’s for this reason that the speed of light is the fastest possible speed. I.e., it’s conceptually and definitionally incoherent to speak of moving faster than instantaneous.

One way DC solves this is to make Flash Omnipresent when he is supposed to be moving faster than light. The catch is when you are Omnipresent, you also become intangible, which means Flash has to reduce his speed in order to do anything meaningful in real world.

I suppose it's one way to put a limit to Flash's speed.