10 Amazing Legacy Superheroes Who Proved Fans Wrong

4. Wally West

Wally West Flash
DC Comics

Storylines To Read: The Flash: Born to Run, The Return of Barry Allen

Although the Wally of today's comics is widely considered to be the best Flash out there, there was a time where he wasn't considered all that hot. Mostly known for being the first Kid Flash, Wally was - much like Dick Grayson - always going to be the prime candidate to replace his mentor. When Barry perished in the aftermath of the first Crisis, Wally switched mantles and took up the reigns as the Flash, with DC retconning his abilities so that he could only break the sound barrier and not travel at the speed of light.

Added to that was the now trademark metabolism of the character, where he had to eat large quantities of food in order to ensure he could maintain his power levels. These changes proved successful years later when Wally pipped Barry to a spot on the formidable Justice League animated series, but - at the time - fans were pretty hung up on Barry's death, a theme that repeated itself during the aforementioned death of Bruce Wayne.

Wally totally flipped those opinions on their head by the time the New 52 came around, however. This time the fans actively mourned his editorially-enforced absence, with the character going on to become the most high profile hero to go missing in action in the exceedingly temperamental reboot.

Wally might not be the OG Flash, or even the most famous, but he's a cracking character - one who can give the other speedsters a good run for their money.

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WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.