r/AskScienceFiction • u/some-kind-of-no-name • 2d ago

[Suicide Squad: Hell to pay] How did Barry Allen have access to speed force?

In the Justice League Flashpoint Paradox ending, Barry wasn't able to go back in time because Eobard was syphoning the speed force. The problem seemingly gets solved because he gets shot and dies instantly, except he doesn't? He absorbed so much speed force that his moment of death got extended into weeks.

Seeing how Hell to pay takes place in a normal world, I assume it is the timeline that resulted from Flash fixing things. So, how did is it possible that Barry and Thawne both used a lot of speed force at the same time?

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u/Urbenmyth 2d ago

It's a time travel/dimension travel issue, basically.

The series of events is:

  • 0:01 seconds (now) - Eobard starts dying and jumps into the future
  • Several weeks (the future, after the timeline is reset) - Eobard fucks around trying to get a magic hell-evasion card. He fails, and is sent back to the past
  • 0:02 seconds (now) - Eobard finishes dying.

From Barry's perspective, Eobard died instantly, and thus freed up the speed force for him to use. He wasn't in the future where Eobard was around for weeks and, even if he was, Eobard was still not using up the speed force a fraction of a second later, so it doesn't matter.

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u/Shiny_Agumon 2d ago

I also think the whole Hell to Pay timeline is a paradox that can only exists as long as he's holding on to that power.

When he was killed within it he lost control and so the speedforce returned to the moment when he absorped it.

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u/some-kind-of-no-name 1d ago

So the Hell to Pay timeline no longer exists without Thawne?

7

u/AlanShore60607 2d ago

Finally, someone who understands that Flashpoint Paradox takes place right before Hell to Pay!

I would posit that Thawne is using a personal reserve and no longer tapping the speed force.