Does The Flash's suit have its own powers?

Question

Does the Bronze Age Flash's suit have any intrinsic powers? Specifically, is it embued with its own power, thereby granting any wearer super ability?

Answer 1

Only one "Flash" derived his powers artificially, needing his costume to use his powers. In general, no Flash's costume provided them with any superhuman abilities. Their powers were intrinsic to the person as a result of a change in the person by connecting them to the Speed Force, the source of a speedster's powers.

Jay Garrick: called the Golden Age Flash, Garrick was the first character dubbed the Flash and gained his powers from a "hard water" accident.

• His powers were completely personal and his costume's only concession to a super-power was his winged hat.

• He could fling it at superspeed to disarm opponents, break gun barrels, or knock larger opponents down. He was also seen using it to catch bullets inside of it when he had to deal with a group of people using machine guns.

Barry Allen: The Silver Age Flash, or the Flash of Earth-One used to keep his costume compressed inside of a ring with a secret compartment.

• When the button was pushed and the costume was exposed to air, it would expand and Barry would then put it on before engaging in crime-fighting.

• Barry's costume did have a radio for scanning police frequencies in the winged earpieces and would later include a communication device for working with the Justice League.

• Other than looking very cool (for the Silver Age) it had no other powers (besides appearing to rarely get dirty, damaged or affected by his use of super-speed, a side-effect of his speed-aura, no particular property of the costume.)

Kid Flash: Wally West, nephew to Barry Allen and sidekick to the Flash, Kid Flash's costume was stored the same way Barry's was and had a similar communication device in the earpiece.

Post-Crisis Flash: Wally West would inherit the mantle of the Flash after Barry death during the Crisis.

• Wally's powers were diminished for years but eventually they began to grow in strength allowing him to utilize the Speed Force (the source of DC Universe's speedsters) in ways Barry never had.

• One of those ways was to create a costume from the energy of the Speed Force. This costume had no particular powers other than covering Wally's nakedness with his signature and slightly different looking costume.

Professor Zoom/The Reverse Flash: Eobard Thawne, an enemy of the Silver Age Flash from the 25th century, he gained the powers of the Flash artificially.

• He found the costume of the Silver Age Flash and discovered trace energies of the Speed Force clung to the costume. By amplifying those energies artificially he could replicate the powers of the Flash as long as he wore it.

• His amplification of the costume inverted the colors making the red turn yellow and the yellow red, hence the moniker, the Reverse Flash. In theory, the process empowered the suit, so anyone who was wearing it could learn to use the power and become the Reverse Flash. Later versions of the character had different origins which did not create an empowered suit.

• The empowered suit version of the Reverse Flash appears to be the version of the character being used in the CW's televised version of The Flash.