Secret Origins Annual #2
In "The Unforgiving Minute," Barry Allen faces a life-altering choice: a lightning strike offers him the power to become the Flash or a chance to live normally. Written by Robert Loren Fleming and illustrated by Carmine Infantino with inks by Murphy Anderson, this 1988 Secret Origins Annual #2 redefines the moment Barry embraces his destiny. The cover by Carmine Infantino and Mike Collins captures the electric tension of that fateful decision.
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Before a lightning bolt strikes a cabinet of chemicals in Barry Allen's lab, it offers him the chance to become the man he has always wanted to become or live a normal life. Barry chooses to become the fastest man alive and immediately saves the life of his girlfriend Iris and takes on the mantle of the Flash. As the Flash, he takes on a rogues gallery of villains, ending only when he runs faster than the speed of light to destroy the Anti-Monitor's cannon, travels back through time, and becomes the lightning bolt that first gave him his own powers.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).