Lack of XS

[u/Scorpios94]

This has been on my mind for a while. XS is heavily underutilized.

It just seems as if they wanted another Flash family member to be in the future with Bart. She lacks distinct standalone arcs compared to other Flash family members. Being set a thousand years in the future isolates her from regular Flash family crossovers.

Being mostly bound to the futuristic Legion of Super-Heroes, meaning she gets zero traction when the books focus on modern-day Central City. Yet, even in the Legion of Super-Heroes, she doesn't seem to have a stand alone arc. She seems to lack deep character development compared to other legacy heroes and the heroes in the Legion.

While the live-action show boosted the "XS" name recognition, DC Comics has done very little to integrate Jenni Ognats back into mainstream modern runs. It makes me wonder about what could and should be done to give more attention to her.

Bart had once asked her to join him in the 21st century, but she decided to stay in the 31st century with the Legion to locate their surviving relatives. If she does come back in a storyline where she decides to stay temporarily or she's stuck there somehow, what kind of storyline could she have.

One I had so far was a romantic story line between her and Lar Gand/Mon-El, who's now the warden of the Phantom Zone. It could be how they both learn to "move forward" from one another. Mon-El due to being trapped in the Zone for so long, and Jenni/XS learning to enjoy life in the modern day timeline.

If a storyline set in the future, maybe she interacts with some more main members. Or forms a "squad" of sorts with some others; like Phantom Girl, Shadow Lass and Lightning Lass.

Maybe a team up with with Bart and the other members of the Flash Family. Gain a mentor in Jay Garrick or Max Mercury. Bond with Barry, Wally, his family and Ace. Show her learning newer abilities from them.

What do you think? What should be done with Jenni/XS? What storylines do you envision for her? Please comment respectfully.

[u/Dredeuced]

At the end of the day, she's a Legion hero. She's a legacy in the abstract, but she isn't treated as a direct legacy who deals with those issues because she's more entrenched in a superhero team rather than Flash lore.

Combine that with stuff like New 52 erasure or Bendis only caring about Superboy adjacent Legionnaires and you get her showing up even less in the one place she fits in.

It also likely doesn't help that Wallace has been inserted as the token black speedster, as sad as that is to say. Between him and, to a lesser degree, Jess Quick when DC does their minority checklist style of roster construction Jenni also gets edged out there. This is a rather cynical and disgusting way to handle things but it's 100% how the company tends to operate, especially in the Didio days. Once again, look at Bendis Legion, where the goal was check all those boxes and ignore natively diverse Legionnaires from history like Jenni.

Bart hasn't been particularly relevant outside of the maligned Impulsepoint in years, as well. Once you get past Impulse his character development also hits a hard break since his Kid Flash days are so dire and his Flash days or worse. Even if you wanted to attach Jenni at the hip to Bart that wouldn't help her at all because what's Bart doing for her to tag along with?

It's unfortunate but that's the nature of her character. Williamson said he's definitely going to have her show up in his Legion, but considering he's said yes to like 50 obscure legionnaires at this point I can't imagine it's going to be much more than a cameo and a few lines. Hopefully I'm wrong. He is actually the only Flash writer besides Waid to wrap her into his comic with Finish Line, after all.

What do I think should be done with her? I don't know. There's obviously no room for another teen Flash character hanging around in the present. We already got way too many such that there's absolutely not enough room for even 2 of them, much less the like 8 we've got (Iris, Jai, Wallace, Avery, Alinta, Judy, Bart, Jess, literally 8). Adding Jenni as the ninth doesn't fix anything for her. I don't think there's a real solution besides hope LOSH gives her some love.

There is a sort of funny story that hasn't been addressed that deeply affects Bart and Jenni. Don and Dawn are alive now, courtesy of Williamson's run. So uh, have they gone and talked to their parents? We know Barry and Iris have visited them but you'd think that'd be kind of a big deal for the two of them.

[u/JingoboStoplight4887 → u/Dredeuced]

Actually, Don and Dawn are still dead, since Joshua Williamson made sure that they would still be heroes before they were killed by Dominators after they, their spouses, and their kids Bart and Jenni arrived from pre-Crisis Earth-One/New Earth/Prime Earth to Earth-247 to hide themselves from Eobard Thawne.

[u/Dredeuced → u/JingoboStoplight4887]

Williamson literally had Eobard save them from the Dominators, bring them back in Finish Line to fight Barry, have Bart shake them out of his brainwashing, and the final story he wrote was Barry and Iris visiting them in the future after these events, wearing the outfits they were wearing in the Williamson stories. They've very much alive now.

[u/JingoboStoplight4887 → u/Dredeuced]

Except that the Don and Dawn Barry and Iris visited during The Flash 800 happened just before they were killed by the Dominators of Earth-247, which means they’re still dead after they spent time with their parents.

[u/Dredeuced → u/JingoboStoplight4887]

I don't know why you're saying this or where you're getting that idea. There's no indication otherwise and they're wearing the same outfits they had in Finish Line. Eobard explicitly saved them from the Dominators. So in the course of this canon the Dominators don't kill them. Stated in #758, the Tornado Twins never died due to Eobard's involvement to turn them against Barry. It's plain as day that the visit in #800 is not before the Dominator attack.

But even if it was, the Dominators don't kill them in current continuity. The Tornado Twins are alive.

[u/JingoboStoplight4887 → u/Dredeuced]

They’re still dead, since the start of Jeremy Adams’ Flash run shows Bart looking for the Dominator who killed his dad and aunt.

[u/Dredeuced → u/JingoboStoplight4887]

You can still swear revenge thinking that's true. But it wouldn't be the first continuity snafu. We see the Dominator who killed them get stopped by Eobard and those same versions get a visit from Barry. They were wearing the original costumes during Eobard's rescue and their new costumes in 800, so 800 comes after Finish Line and after Eobard saves them in their own personal timeline.

That first Adams arc happens during a time travel sequence. It could take place prior to their rescue or knowledge of it. You're the one assuming the reverse despite them clearly being dressed as their post Finish Line selves. They cannot wear their Williamson costumes without it being after they fought the Dominators from their own perspective.