College student Jay Garrick was investigating an experimental form of "heavy water", when an accident released hazardous fumes, knocking him unconscious. After accidentally inhaling the deadly fumes, he awoke in the hospital to discover he could move and react at superhuman speed. The first thing he did with his newfound power was to join the football team to impress his girlfriend Joan Williams. Later he became a superhero and crime fighter, participating in World War II and eventually retiring to be with his lovely wife.
"Faster than the streak of lightning in the sky, swifter than the speed of light itself, fleeter than the rapidity of thought is ...THE FLASH, reincarnation of the winged Mercury!"
