Captain Flash (sometimes shortened to Capt. Flash) is a Superhero from The Interregnum, created by Martin Smith and published by Sterling in Captain Flash #1-4.
Keith Spencer is a science teacher in Atom City, where many nuclear tests are conducted. One day, a test goes horribly wrong and Keith has to shield his students from a radioactive blast. Preparing for his seemingly-inevitable demise, Spencer soon discovers that he has no ill effects. In fact, he has gotten superpowers. Spencer decides to use his abilities for good, becoming Captain Flash!
The character was revived in Femforce. Tropes for that version go there.
This comic contains examples of:
- The Adjectival Man: Recurring antagonist the Mirror Man, a mysterious dimension-hopping monster who eat people.
- Advertised Extra: A group of dinosaurs randomly show up in "The Beasts From 1,000,000 BC" to attack our heroes. Despite being the title characters, they only show up for a quick action scene before being killed.
- Alien Abduction: Captain Flash and Ricky are kidnapped by stereotypical '50's Human Aliens, complete with a Flying Saucer, in "The Invaders."
- Arch-Enemy: The Mirror Man, a monstrous dimensional traveler who serves as our hero's most hated foe, and the only one he desires to kill.
- Artistic Licence Medicine: In "The Black Knight," the titular antagonist's megalomaniacal ambitions of world domination are described as a phobia, which is an irrational fear as opposed to an irrational ambition.
- Attack Animal: The titular antagonists of "Sharkmen" keep several marine animals half-starved to be used as weapons at will.
- Badass Normal: Ricky, Captain Flash's sidekick, manages to keep up with his partner despite lacking atomic abilities.
- Beast Man: The antagonists of "Sharkmen" disguise themselves as shark people.
- Captain Superhero
- Criminal Mind Games: The titular villain of "The Iron Mask" challenges the scientists of Atom City to solve his riddles and find a hydrogen bomb he planted before it destroys the city.
- Cyber Cyclops: Captain Flash battles one in "The Iron Mask," though unlike traditional examples of this trope, it was built to resemble the cyclops of myth.
- Disney Villain Death:
- The Iron Mask is thrown out a multi-story window at the end of his titular story.
- In "The Black Knight," Dr. Konrad Krueger, the titular medieval-themed robber, is thrown off his helicopter down a dam. However, he survives and returns in the final issue.
- Dragon-in-Chief: While an unnamed crime boss may be the Big Bad of "The Fight of the Century," the story explicitly notes that his super-strong henchman Muscles is the only reason his gang has a chance against Captain Flash.
- Gaslighting: The baddies of "Man or Myth?" try to gaslight the whole city into thinking Captain Flash doesn't exist.
- Glamour Failure: The Imagons, antagonists of "The Invaders," are aliens who can shape shift into human form perfectly except for their palms, which are green.
- Henshin Hero: Keith Spencer becomes Captain Flash by clapping his hands, which gives him his powers and red-and-blue costume.
- Hotline: The FBI regularly requests the help of Captain Flash via public radio broadcast.
- Idiosyncrazy: Dr. Konrad Krueger, the Black Knight is a megalomaniac who can only bring himself to commit crimes using a medieval theme due to his particular mental illnesses. This leads to his downfall when Captain Flash challenges him to Trial by Combat, which his chivalry code makes him unable to refuse. He gets better in his second appearance, abandoning his medieval theme for a robot army and an underground city.
- Karma Houdini: The Mirror Man is never punished for all his murdering of scientists.
- Latex Perfection: Handsome Harry Sullivan, Big Bad of "The Actor," uses a special chemical to reform his face to resemble anybody else's to the smallest detail. Despite this being a tool with many practical uses, Sullivan uses it to rob banks.
- Mighty Whitey: "The Beasts From 1,000,000 BC" has Captain Flash saving an African tribe from usurpation while battling dinosaurs freed from being frozen and curing a rare disease exclusive to the area.
- Mirror Monster: The Mirror Man, a recurring antagonist, is a creature summoned from a Another Dimension by a science experiment. He's a tentacled creature who can pass through mirrors and eats silicon, his favourite source being genius scientists.
- No Antagonist: "The Beginning" has no villain, with the focus being placed on how Keith Spencer discovered his powers.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Mirago, Big Bad of "The Invaders," is an alien king who is invading Earth for his people to flee their dying world, but explicitly states that he's mostly doing it for his own power as opposed to his people.
- Predecessor Villain: The Big Bad of "The Actor" got his Latex Perfection chemical from a scientist who had used it for crime prior to the story.
- Protagonist Title
- Something Only They Would Say: In "The Invaders," our heroes work around aliens shapeshifting to look like Captain Flash by communicating in baseball trivia, as the sport doesn't exist on the baddies' planet.
- Starter Villain: The Iron Mask, a megalomaniac who played Criminal Mind Games with the scientists of Atom City under the threat of a hydrogen bomb destroying the city and is knocked out a several-story video at the end of the issue. He's an interesting case, as he's the villain of the second story, but he still qualifies as the first one has No Antagonist.
- Stock Superhero Day Jobs: Scientist
- Super-Strength: Muscles, main antagonist of "The Fight of the Century," is a criminal so strong he can lift full safes without issue. He's tasked by the Atom City underworld to beat Captain Flash to death.
- The Usurper: Di-Ku, main antagonist of "The Beasts From 1,000,000 BC," is the medicine man of a small African village who schemes to kill the chief and take his place.
- Whole-Plot Reference: "The Iron Mask" is this to The Odyssey, as the titular villain's booby traps and robotic goons are all direct parallels to challenges Odysseus faced.
