Flash and Substance - Recap

Mirror Master, Captain Cold, and the Trickster are meeting at a tavern in Central City and trying to figure out how to improve their image as second-rate super villains. Captain Boomerang arrives and boasts about how he managed to get his sentence reduced and he's considered reformed. Mirror Master points out that he hasn't done any better against the Flash than the rest of them. He notes that Central City is opening a Flash Museum in their nemesis' honor and it's time to make it his last day.



In his secret identity of Wally West, forensics expert, the Flash solves another case and then takes his half day of vacation. He ducks into a closet and teleports up to the Watchtower where Batman and Orion are monitoring missions. He finally convinces Batman to come to the opening with him. Orion decides to go along.

In Central City, the Flash runs through the streets and greets everyone by name: clearly he's known and loved by all. As he goes past an indoor skating rink, he hears a young girl crying out for his mommy. He goes inside to investigate and reaches for the girl... only to find she's a hologram. The building seals itself off and the disco ball in the rink's ceiling goes off. The jukeboxes activate and music plays and a hologram of the Mirror Master appears. The disco ball fires laser beams and one nails the Flash. He gets back up and manages to superspeed ahead of them, then lures the attack ball into blasting some jukeboxes. The Flash grabs a CD and throws it, severing the ball's support cable and cutting off the laser barrage.



Later, the Flash receives the key to the city from a grateful mayor and an applauding crowd. He gives a brief speech and starts chatting with the crowd, but a barrage of boomerang fly down the street. He throws them away and they come back, so he forms a tornado and causes them to detonate harmlessly in the sky. A giant boomerang swoops down, clamps onto him, and launches into the sky. A TV screen pops out and Captain Boomerang explains that he's heading for a mountain. The Flash manages to pull out some control cables and the boomerang crashes to earth where Batman and Orion are waiting. Batman reveals that he's determined Mirror Master, Trickster, and Captain Cold are also involved. He insists on protecting the Flash. As they go to the Flash's apartment, the villains watch from overhead. Mirror Master and the Captains decide they're better off rejecting the Trickster's next solo plan and just jumping the hero at the museum. They leave, as a disappointed Trickster suggest he can downgrade his plan.



Flash, Orion, and Batman arrive at the Flash's apartment and the speedster gets a new expandable costume from his ring. Batman suggests he take the villains more seriously but the Flash is unconcerned, noting they all hang out at the same bar. The heroes decide to go there and the bad guys quickly leave. Only Trickster is there and the he turns to attack the villains. His acid "snot gun" doesn't work very well, and he insists that he won't rat out his comrades. Orion prepares to break some bones but the Flash convinces the New God to let him handle it. The Flash sits down for a face-to-face chat and notes that the Trickster is off of his meds and wearing his suits. He promises to see the Trickster in the hospital in return for the other villains' plan to ambush him at the museum.



That night at the museum, Linda Park is doing a newscast and expressing her admiration for the Flash... inadvertently on camera. Batman has removed all the mirrored surface from the museum, and he and Orion stand watch outside. Orion, a warrior god, doesn't understand why anyone would take the Flash seriously. Linda catches up to the Flash and then checks her makeup in the compact... and the Mirror Master emerges through the mirror with the other two villains behind him. They confront the Flash and the Flash deflects their attacks with a mannequin of himself. Batman and Orion spots the crowds running out of the museum and go in. Meanwhile, the Flash briefly takes down Captain Boomerang and Captain Cold uses an ice barrage to deflect Orion. Batman stays one step ahead of Mirror Master's lasers until he can deflect them with a mirror. The Flash goes after Mirror Master, who surrounds himself with holograms. The Flash eliminates them at superspeed until he finds the real one. He knocks her back toward Linda, who runs away and falls into a mirror. The Flash goes in after her and finds himself in a dimension of millions of mirror portals... and no indication of which one they came through. He picks her up and starts checking the mirrors one at a time.



Mirror Master is ready to leave but Captain Cold and Captain Boomerang team up against Orion. They turn to find Batman waiting for him. Mirror Master emerges from a mirror to garrote the Caped Crusader, who throws him off but is tagged by Captain Cold. Surrounded, Batman fires a flare through the mirror that the Flash passed through. In the mirror dimension, Linda spots the flare and they go through the mirror in time for the Flash to knock out Captain Boomerang and use one of his exploding boomerangs to free Orion. The New God uses a water hose to cause the Cold Gun to backfire, and Batman destroys the mirror that Mirror Master is using to escape, leaving the villain in a hundred glass pieces.



Later, the villains are taken away and the Flash assures everyone that there's nothing to worry about. Orion notes that Flash only plays the fool, and the Flash assures him that as long as nobody got hurt and the bad guys were defeated, it's a good day.

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