THE FLASH Casts Jordan Fisher as Impulse

 
DC Comics' most impulsive speedster is heading to the small screen.

Variety is reporting that The CW series The Flash has cast Jordan Fisher as Bart Allen, better known to DC Comics fans as the superhero Impulse.  According to the article, Fisher will debut as Impulse in the series’ 150th episode, which is also the 17th episode of The Flash Season 7.

The character is described as "the future son of Barry aka the Flash (Grant Gustin) and Iris (Candice Patton) and is said to be 'the fastest teenager on the planet'.  However, due to his penchant for 'wildly impulsive behavior', Barry and Iris will have their hands full trying to teach him patience — which will be a necessity if they want to succeed, not only as a family unit, but also in stopping the biggest threat to the Flash yet."

Fisher, 26, is an actor, singer, dancer, and musician who has previously appeared on the TV series Teen Wolf, Bones, The Secret Life of an American Teenager and Liv and Maddie.  He also voiced the character Sea Hawk on the animated series She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and was the winner of Dancing with the Stars Season 25.

Created in 1994 by Mark Waid and Mike Weiringo, Impulse first appeared in The Flash (vol.2) #92 as Bart Allen, the grandson of Barry Allen, the second Flash, and son of Don Allen (one of the Tornado Twins) and Meloni Thawne (a descendant of Eobard Thawne).  Born with full super-speed and suffering from a hyper-accelerated metabolism, Bart Allen was aging at a faster rate than that of any other human being, causing him to appear to be the age of twelve when he was chronologically only two years old.  To prevent him from developing mental health problems, he was raised in a virtual reality machine which created a simulated world that kept pace with his own scale of time.  When it became clear that this method was not helping, his grandmother, Iris Allen, took him back in time to the present where the third Flash, Wally West, tricked Bart into a race around the world.  By forcing Bart into an extreme burst of speed, Wally managed to shock his hyper metabolism back to normal.

Because Bart had spent the majority of his childhood in a simulated world, he had no concept of danger and was prone to leaping before he looked.  The youth proved to be more trouble than Wally could handle, and he was given over to retired superhero speedster Max Mercury, who moved Bart to Manchester, Alabama.  As the teenaged superhero Impulse, Bart joined the Titans early in his career before going on to become one of the founding members of the superhero team Young Justice, alongside Robin (Tim Drake) and Superboy (Conner Kent).

Shortly after Bart joined the Teen Titans, he was shot in the knee by Deathstroke (who at the time was possessed by Jericho) and received a prosthetic replacement.  While recovering, Bart read every single book in the San Francisco Public Library and reinvented himself as the second Kid Flash.  Once healed, the artificial knee did not affect his ability to run at speeds approaching that of light, but reminding him that he needs to think first rather than to act impulsively.

Recently, in the era known as DC Rebirth, Bart returned to the main DC universe after Wally West and Barry Allen broke the Speed Force Barrier. Once again wearing the Impulse costume, he emerged from the Speed Force and raced through a city street triumphantly declaring that he was back.  Shortly afterwards, he reunited with his former Young Justice and Teen Titans teammates Robin and Wonder Girl (Cassandra Sandsmark).  Bart was the main driving force behind the revival of the Young Justice team, and after being transported to Gemworld and reunited with Superboy, the team officially re-formed.

Fisher will be the second actor to portray Impulse in live-action, after Kyle Gallner on the WB/CW series Smallville.  The character has also appeared on the animated series Young Justice and Young Justice: Outsiders, voiced by Jason Marsden.

The Flash airs Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. EST on The CW.