Hi, I'm curious about something, I haven't read Marvel comics (aside from one issue here and there) in over ten years but I think I remember Flash learning about Pete's ID at some point when I was wondering if he and Johnny ever interacted and then I imagined them starting a club of people who had at some point a crush on Peter and accepted that even if they moved on they'd always be a bit in love with him (Johnny hasn't moved on but he thinks he has). At some point MJ kinda took over. They meet every week and they complain/gush about Peter but it ends up just being a general life support group Peter would beneficiate from but obviously he's the subject so he can't.
Anyway I was wondering if Flash did really know about the Pete/Spidey ID now or off it was a fever dream, and if he and Johnny ever met?
Flash has found out that Peter is Spider-Man twice. (I am legitimately unsure if he currently knows. He SHOULD but Spider-Man comics are, with a few exceptions, currently not good. So. I started to fact check this statement but then got too mad about the fact that Peter learns that Flash is alive again post-ASM #800 off page.) The first time was post-Civil War, which is, granted, when everyone found out Peter was Spider-Man, because he announced his identity live on television. It went badly.
This is a weird period for Flash and Peter in general. They've been friends for decades and decades (in publishing years) at this point. They've (briefly) lived together. Flash was Peter's best man at his wedding. They're CLOSE. With Harry dead at this point, Flash is absolutely Peter's best male civilian friend. And then, and this is a pretty abridged version, Norman abducts Flash, waterboards him with whiskey, puts him in an Osborn Industries truck, and has him crash it into Midtown High, where Peter was currently teaching.
(Peter Parker v2 #46) Flash was in a coma for a while after that and left with significant brain damage.
(Spectacular Spider-Man v2 #6)
When he recovered it was offscreen, because with Flash there's always like a 50/50 chance something important happens completely offscreen yes I'm mad about Peter learning he wasn't dead just not being on page AT ALL all over again, and he just showed up in the story again totally recovered and fine. Except for one thing.
He has amnesia but only about the fact that he and Peter are friends. I'm not joking. He literally remembers everything else EXCEPT that he and Peter are friends. He also temporarily reverts back to a High School Uber Jock personality. Comics are bad and I hate them.
(Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #6) He then gets hired as a gym teacher at Midtown High. Which is like, okay, from a readership perspective, I know Flash is genuinely great with kids and at his best when he's being some kind of athletic coach. From the perspective of a hypothetical school administrator, I don't know why we'd hire the guy who drove a truck into our science classroom. But then I guess this is the universe where a prestigious New York university just cannot stop hiring cannibals, so there's that.
So this is when Flash learns Peter is Spider-Man the first time: while he still thinks he hates this nerd. It's fine. Flash struggles for a little bit with the fact that Peter is Spider-Man, but eventually he accepts it and now he's Peter #1 defender.
(Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #15)
Also I think his memories come back at some point. Also off page. Don't even worry about it. Around this point Peter's life really starts going to hell, because obviously revealing that he was Spider-Man on television had terrible consequences especially once the anti-SHRA side of Civil War lost and he became a fugitive. He was crashing at Flash's place at this point, and you can see that when Back in Black gets rolling, he's actually wearing Flash's clothes.
(ASM #539) The detail work here is really good -- note the cuffed pants. Before he lost his legs, Flash was 6'2" to Peter's either 6' even or 5'10", depending on what canon information you're going with, so he was a little taller than him.
Anyway, then Brand New Day happened and everyone, with the exception of MJ, forgot that Peter was Spider-Man, including Flash. Interestingly, Johnny and Felicia knew that they USED to know who Spider-Man was, but they appear to be the exceptions here. Everyone else just had that information totally wiped from their memories.
Flash wouldn't find out Peter was Spider-Man again until shortly before his death in Amazing Spider-Man #800.
Then he died and came back and I'm ASSUMING he still knows because there's no reason for him NOT to know. But comics are dumb and I could be wrong about this; I'd have to reread his appearances since he was resurrected first.
Flash and Johnny do know each other, but they're not what I would call especially close. They're friendly enough, though, especially in current canon. Johnny went to one of Flash's Spider-Man fan club meetings back in ASM #17.
And they had a cute team-up in Guardians of Infinity.
I miss Flash being Venom sooooooooo much. But yes he and Johnny should absolutely get together and talk about how infuriating it is to be in love with Peter Parker. Terrible fate. In the FlashKaine variant of this Johnny is going to lose it because HE never got to sleep with Peter's mean clone.
Anyway this exchange from the time Peter and Flash rescued Betty from a cult always makes me laugh.
