Mongoose blood? Heavy water, sure, but mongoose blood?

Flash (Jay Garrick) - Whizzer (Bob Frank)

Here be the second post that finds Golden Age characters with similar abilities paired with one another, which hopefully compensates for a lack of same in pairings of silver-, bronze- and beyond- characters…

So here we have the very first speedster, the template for every character conceived similarly since. Including the second cited here, whose origin is universally mocked as the most poorly-aged provenance of the Golden Age: he gained his super-speed due to a transfusion of mongoose blood.

Commonalities:
The original speedsters of their respective diasporas.

Differences:
None to speak of, other than one is a key character in the history of superhero fiction, and the other is regarded fondly for the reason cited above.

Alternate histories:

FL: A young man named Jay Garrick is gravely injured in 1940; he receives a blood transfusion that activates a meta-human gene which grants him the ability to move and react at superhuman speeds. Taking the codename the Flash, Frank combats crime and the Third Reich throughout the 1940s and joins the Justice Society. He marries another extra-normal operative, but their union is doomed when the two are exposed to radiation. Years after the woman dies, the Flash reappears and briefly works with the Justice League before he dies himself.

WH: A young college student named Bob Frank inhales experimental “heavy water” fumes, which activate a mutant gene granting him the ability to move and react at superhuman speeds. He takes the codename the Whizzer and combats criminals and the Third Reich and co-founds the Liberty Legion. The Whizzer retires for several decades, but in recent years has returned alongside other Legionnaires: due to his retarded aging, he is active mentoring novice superhuman operatives.

Mucho fast guy and super cold guy

Flash/Kid Flash - Iceman

After years of being written as an interchangeably gee whizzish-sidekick common to DC, Wally West was written by Marv Wolfman as a very frustrated fellow. Once the identity of the qualifier-free Flash was bequeathed to him, it seems he was written as a devil-may-care dude, which squares with both his characterization in Bruce Timm’s Justice League shows and Grant Morrison’s JLA. Other than those two, I’m not sure how he’s been portrayed in the past twenty years.

And Iceman? Always dug Bobby, the everyman of the X-Franchise.

Commonalities:
Both are every-guys, essentially. And the abilities described below can sometimes be put to similar ends: West’s wind vortices = Drake’s ice blasts.

Differences:
Wally’s the inheritor of the “Speed-Force,” and runs real fast: as such, he worships the memory of his deceased uncle Barry Allen. Whereas Bobby is the numero uno cold guy.

Alternate histories:

FL: Wally West discovers his ability to function at superhuman speeds during adolescence; as Kid Flash, he becomes a charter member of the Teen Titans shortly afterwards, and becomes close to the Elongated Kid. When the original team disbands, West goes to college and intends to lead a conventional life, but he eventually joins a version of the Outsiders with former Titans Arsenal and Elongated Man. As the Flash, he has since rejoined the Titans, and is coming to terms with his vastly increasing speed.

IM: As a preadolescent, Bobby Drake’s abilities to manipulate ice are activated by a freak accident; as Iceman, he is mentored by Mr. Fantastic and joins other young mutants combating injustice in the X-Men. When his abilities wane, he attempts to lead a more conventional life, but his resurgent powers see to a return to adventuring. Drake becomes the first X-man to join the Avengers and in addition becomes a husband and father.

Speedster + Stretcho = Super Cheat

Flash (Barry Allen) - Mr. Fantastic

And yet…hasn’t Reed Richards already been assigned to Steve “the Freshmaker” Dayton? He has indeed. But this will one of the very few times that a character from one diaspora does double duty with characters from the other.

Barry Allen is the character that ushered in the Silver Age at DC. He also is the premiere speedster in all comic-dom. So in the latter regard, shouldn’t he be paired with Pietro Maximoff, i.e. Quicksilver?

Well, no. Allen and Maximoff are the fastest ones that be in their respective universes, but they share nothing else. Maximoff is an arrogant mutant from Central Europe, whereas Allen was written as a textbook decent, reliable midwesterner.

I tried pairing Spider-Man and Henry Pym with ol’ Barry. But finally, I decided that the key Silver Age DC character should be assigned to one of the four that did the same for Marvel. That Allen has been the one of very few characters to stay dead in either universe, and that Dayton is relatively marginal, makes this rather egregious cheat easier to manage. So below, the 50s-60s Flash mythos is translated into Richards-ese…

Commonalities:
Both Allen and Richards are supremely intelligent, if absent-minded, and highly moral fellows, and are thus respected by their colleagues.

Differences:
Allen runs faster than anyone else; Richard stretches his body in numerous and versatile ways.

Alternate history:

MF: Scientist Reed Richards is struck by cosmic rays: his body then becomes incredibly elastic. He becomes a crime-fighter, culls a "rogues gallery" of super-villains and helps found the Avengers. He later marries Susan Storm and takes on her brother Johnny, also altered by cosmic rays, as a partner. After Susan’s seeming murder, he becomes more and more unhinged and finally sacrifices his life to save the universe.