On This Day (December 8-9): Flash Meets Mopee

It’s been a portion since I’ve contributed to this series, huh? Well, you’re successful for a existent dainty today, due to the fact that this is the day of the time the Flash, Fastest Man Alive, met Mopee.

A bully fig of you person astir apt ne'er heard of Mopee before. That’s because, similar Bruno, we’re not expected to speech astir him: he’s not precise well-liked by the fandom, to accidental the least. But I’m a rebel, truthful I’m doing this anyway.

It each happens successful Flash #167, which starts connected the nighttime of December 8, 1966. Flash is taking down immoderate jewel smugglers erstwhile helium abruptly catches connected fire, necessitating a speedy douse successful a adjacent river.

Normally, erstwhile Flash uses his speed, helium is protected by a peculiar aura that keeps him (and his clothes) from burning up. Now, however, thing has taken his aura distant — oregon rather, someone. That idiosyncratic is Mopee, “initiate tenth people of the heavenly help-mates.” No, we ne'er get much of an mentation than that.

And wherefore should Mopee privation to rob Flash of his aura, you ask? According to him, he’s the 1 who gave Barry his powers, truthful helium tin bash immoderate helium wants. The imp giveth and the imp taketh away, successful different words.

Stop poking holes successful Barry’s root story, man, it’s rude.

As Mopee tells it, his superiors tasked him with granting a worthy quality super-speed for…some reason. Mopee chose Barry and caused the lightning bolt to deed the chemicals that spilled each implicit him and gave him his speed. But due to the fact that of a insignificant technicality, it turns retired Barry’s velocity was fixed to him successful an “illegal” manner, truthful Mopee present has to instrumentality those powers back. Even successful heaven, 1 can’t flight bureaucracy.

Fortunately, determination is an incredibly convoluted loophole that would let Barry to support his powers: if he, arsenic the Flash, tin gain capable wealth wrong 24 hours to bargain the chemicals that deed him, Mopee tin recreate the lawsuit that gave him his powers, and helium tin enactment speedy forever. Per Barry’s near-instantaneous intelligence calculations, helium indispensable gain $94.36, oregon $851.27 successful 2022 dollars. (Thanks, CPI Inflation Calculator!)

So Barry puts an advertisement successful the greeting paper, which is however we cognize the day of this small escapade.

Out of each the occupation offers, Mopee selects 1 from a integrative shaper who is down connected delivering packages. It conscionable truthful happens that the jewel smugglers from earlier hid their diamonds successful 1 of these packages, a information which allows Flash to yet seizure them portion earning his $94.36 for the velocity chemicals.

But adjacent aft permanently regaining his speed, determination is 1 question left: if Barry’s mishap was nary accident, past however did his sidekick Wally West, who got his powers successful an identical accident, summation his powers?

This question of however Barry and Wally “really” got their velocity cropped up again and again. After Crisis connected Infinite Earths rewrote reality, it was revealed that Barry, successful trying to prevention the multiverse, became the lightning bolt that primitively gave him powers, frankincense erasing Mopee’s contribution. In different story, it was implied that the lightning onslaught (which was, again, Barry himself successful magic lightning form) made Barry much than human, and that helium subconsciously willed a akin mishap to hap to Wally.

Confused yet?

Look, is the Flash’s root silly and improbable? Of course. He’s a superhero. They’re each a small silly, whether we similar to admit it oregon not. Why not conscionable permission it that mode alternatively of trying to unit logic wherever it doesn’t belong? It’s not similar Clarence Oddbody’s little endearing relative added immoderate dignity to the proceedings.

As for Mopee, for a agelong time, his lone different quality was a amazingly comic cameo successful Ambush Bug #3, successful which helium claims to beryllium the driving unit down each of DC’s heroes, and besides Marvel’s portion he’s astatine it. (He “released a spider successful the radioactivity grounds astatine the university” and “arranged for Xavier to get an acquisition improvement grant,” among different things.) But successful mocking himself, Mopee lone highlights the pointlessness of some his ain beingness and each different Flashy retcon: to bask a superhero story, you request to suspend your disbelief conscionable capable to bargain the thought of a bat flying into a model astatine an opportune moment, oregon a convenient assortment of chemicals giving a antheral super-speed. We’ve each done it, and we’ll proceed to bash it, and we don’t request a small dude successful a robe to facilitate the process.

Maybe that’s wherefore Mopee’s lone different appearance, a cameo successful Flash #771, recreated his debut with a overmuch much sinister edge.

When Nerds Attack

Honestly, that’s fair. If immoderate rando popped up conscionable to acceptable maine connected fire, I’d beryllium inclined to deliberation severely of him, too.

Previously On This Day

June 14: Flash Discovers the Multiverse
November 8: The Suicide Squad Goes to Pieces