The Flash Season 3: 5 Ups And 3 Downs From 'Magenta'

Downs...

3. Wally’s Desperation

The Flash Joe Wally West
The CW

We all get it – Wally West is still a young man who is just absolutely desperate to get his own superpowers so that he can help fight the good fight and protect Central City and beyond – but that still didn’t do Wally any favours here.

In Magenta, the writing of Wally West just felt so un-hero-like for the most part, positioning him as a stroppy, brooding, needy teenager who’s throwing his toys out of the pram at the fact that he’s missing out when it comes to superspeed.

In sharp contrast to this, seeing Wally West as Kid Flash in the altered Flashpoint timeline was fantastic, with him bringing so much freshness and energy to the superhero game. If we’re going to see him petulantly storming off at every turn until he gets such powers, though, it really won’t make him feel like any sort of real hero when he finally does get the chance to become a speedster in his own right.

The damage to Wally here isn’t irreparable, just he certainly needs to change his attitude sooner rather than later. And yes, of course this is likely going to lead to him crossing paths with Doctor Alchemy, but that whole plot could be written so much better than it was here.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.