Tina McGee

Tina McGee is a fictional character appearing in The Flash comic book series published by DC Comics. She first appeared in Flash (vol. 2) #3. Tina McGee is a nutritionist and researcher for STAR Labs.

Fictional character biography

She originally received a grant from Harvard to study Wally West's metabolism.^[1] Her husband Jerry did his own speed experiments and turned into the homicidal "Speed Demon". This resulted in a coma. Tina and Flash grew into a romantic relationship; she moves in with him. Various stresses, including Wally's nagging mother, break apart their bond.

Tina McGee talks with Wally West in Flash (vol. 2) #4. Artist: Jackson Guice

The Flash loses his speed due to alien influence. Tina leads a research project, based at the Pacific Institute into restoring it. This causes Wally's speed to drastically increase, leaving a trail of destruction across the country.^[2] Tina teams up with her now recovered ex and Flash's older detective friend Mason. While the trio quest to find the addled Wally, Tina and Jerry get back together.^[3]

Later, Tina and Jerry unwittingly unleash the robotic intelligence Kilg%re among their own university colleagues. At this point, the entity is non-violent; despite taking over many of the people at the facility, all it wanted was to deeply experience life.^[4]

Jerry and Tina become employees at Central City's STAR Labs.^[5] They assist Flash multiple times, such as taking care of his injured ally, Cyborg.^[6]

Tina later becomes head of the facility. She heads a project to discover what had happened to the speedster-empowering 'Speed Force' with Bart Allen, who was seemingly the only surviving speedster at the time.^[7]

Other versions

In a possible future timeline observed by the time traveler Waverider, a super-powered crime lord threatens Tina McGee's life to force her husband Jerry to make anti-Flash weaponry in an attempt to draw a retired Wally West out of the Witness Protection Program. In this alternate future, Tina is still working at S.T.A.R. Labs; her colleague, Chunk, is murdered to force her cooperation.^[8]

In other media

• Tina McGee was the lead female character in the 1990 television series The Flash, in which she was portrayed by Amanda Pays. In the show, Tina helps Barry Allen (John Wesley Shipp) control his powers and aids him in his crime-fighting as the Flash. Throughout the show, Barry and Tina appear attracted to each other, but always claim to be "just" friends and partners. It is implied that they develop feelings for each other, but they never act upon them, even up to the final episode. In the episode, "Fast Forward," the Flash travels 10 years into the future, where he and Tina argue over their friendship and feelings, and share a kiss before the Flash returns to the present.
• A different version of Tina McGee appears in the 2014 television series The Flash, once again portrayed by Amanda Pays. This version is a member of a rival tech firm to S.T.A.R. Labs, Mercury Labs.^[9] She figures out that Barry Allen (played here by Grant Gustin) is the Flash and informs him of this after he saves her from a collapsing building. She later meets Barry's father, Dr. Henry Allen, (portrayed by John Wesley Shipp), but Henry is killed by Zoom before they can do more than exchange names.

References

1. ↑ Flash (vol. 2) #3–4 (August–September 1987)
2. ↑ Invasion! #1–3 (January–March 1989)
3. ↑ Flash (vol. 2) #24–28 (March–July 1989)
4. ↑ Flash (vol. 2) #36–43 (March–October 1990)
5. ↑ Flash (vol. 2) #50 (May 1991)
6. ↑ Flash (vol. 2) #183–188 (April–September 2002)
7. ↑ The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #1–6 (August 2006 – January 2007)
8. ↑ Flash Annual #4 (1991)
9. ↑ Friedlander, Whitney (September 15, 2014). "CW's 'The Flash' Casts Original Show's Heroine". Variety. Retrieved September 15, 2014.