all for the game backlog post: neil josten as impulse

orignally posted on tumblr here on Nov 25th, 2025

in a aftg/dc comics crossover i think neil josten would be impulse

theres a lot of parallels when you sit down and look for them but the major one is the obvious one: neil is a runner

anyway here are my favorite bart allens:

now picture that but neil

additional thoughts from my notes app (added Apr 4th, 2026):

bart allen neil josten rant

speedster from the 30th century, body aging/accelerating too fast and would kill him so they raised him using virtual reality to keep his brain up to date with his body, but his grandmother stole him away and sent him to the 20th century using time travel to get him to someone who could stop the accelerated aging and save his life. he ends up physically and mentally a teenager when this happens despite being chronologically like four. stays with a guy posing as his uncle (but is not actually related) because he cant stay with family because most of them are dead or in the wrong century, and those that arent have their own reasons not to take him in. his grandfather on his dads side is the flash, and on his moms side hes a descendant of reverse flash (one of the flashs longest-running enemies). he joins superhero teams like young justice (as the hero impulse) and teen titans (as the hero kid flash), and at one point was aged up and became the next flash (this was undone when he was killed and later brought back to life). hes also been a black flash (the grim reaper for speedsters), and a white flash (embodiment of the speed force to the point of being unstable). hes got a ton of skills because his speed allows him to learn at a rapid rate, and unlike other speedsters, he has photographic memory so he retains it all once hes learned it. he takes a while to adjust to living outside of VR, especially in the 20th century after being raised in the 30th century where they speak an entirely different language on top of the differences from the fact its literally a 1000 year difference. hes heavily autistic coded and very impulsive. he can be kinda blunt at first but once he warms up to people hes very goofy. currently displaced from the time stream and its up in the air whats gonna happen to him and where hes gonna live because hes disconnected from his home timeline and cant go back

anyway here is my pitch for why neil would be bart in a dc comics crossover:

neil is a runner - speedster material already
related to a bad guy (nathan for neil, reverse flash for bart)
taken from his home to save his life (mary taking neil on the run, barts grandmother iris taking him and sending him back in time)
taken in by an adult who acts as a mentor (wymack for neil, for bart its max the guy posing as his uncle)
has a team that means the world to him (foxes for neil, yj and tt for bart)
not the best with social cues (neil CAN be charming and blend in like when he was able to convince truckers to allow him to hitchhike but once hes comfortable like he is with the foxes he chooses not to for example when he turned down marissa)
impulsive - neil doesnt seem to stop and think before unleashing his attitude problem a lot of the time
blunt - fairly self explanatory
disconnected from the time stream - like being on the run
neil in aftg canon doesnt have photographic memory (thats andrews department) but i think as a speedster hed still retain a decent amount of stuff even without it
also bart is often drawn with auburn hair (it fluctuates a lot though cos comics artists are inconsistent). he doesnt have blue eyes but he does have distinct eyes (because theyre gold), which seems to be important for neil because being distinct means its easy to be recognized
also also i forgot to mention that while bart was raised in VR, they were planning to raise him to be a villain working for the corrupt government, which is another major factor in why iris sent him to the past. just like how neil was supposed to be a raven