Bart Allen is heavily aroace coded in this essay I will—
Except this time I actually have the essay. Anyway I binge read YJ98 and Impulse 1995 recently and it’s been a little brain worm I cannot get rid of so here is a compiled list of textual evidence as to why Bart Allen is/should be aroace (DC Pride 2026 come through for me please)
Obviously Bart’s characterisation may not be perfectly consistent across the board since we’ve had four main writers across YJ and Impulse, but I think there’s still a decent amount of evidence (even a little bit in Dezago’s run on Impulse despite him shoehorning in that godawful romance plot—but I’m getting ahead of myself)
Right at the beginning of YJ and we’ve got some viable evidence. Both Robin and Impulse are mentioned as not being flirts the way Superboy is, but it’s only Bart that they think wouldn’t be interested in dating. And the term oblivious specifically is interesting because I feel like a lotttt of aroace people are like that. Not all of us, obviously, but a decent amount, myself included. Both in media and irl I often only catch on to the fact that two people like like each other just before it’s revealed to everyone.
This panel is honestly such good evidence for Bart being ace. Superboy is very blatantly alluding to wanting to feel up the robot on the poster by polishing it, meanwhile Impulse is out here like “it looks shiny already why would I want to polish it ?” which is sooo ace coded to me. Like bro clearly does not care about physical attraction.
This one is a little less strong evidence wise, but the idea that Cissie loves Bart romantically is so insane to him that he cannot comprehend it. And Cissie knows that! She recognises that a romantic love between them is so far fetched it would snap Bart out of it.
More oblivious Bart. Bart does nottt care about the girls at all and does not realise what Kon means until he explicitly states it
More oblivious Bart yet again. You’ve got this sultry, conventionally attractive woman trying to flirt with Bart and he’s just oblivious and uninterested. It’s so clearly implied in these panels and I think by the end of this story she basically outright says that’s what she was doing to make her husband jealous…clearly she did not plan for someone as aroace as Bart
Now we have a Bart that cannot comprehend why Kon is more interested in watching a cheerleading competition with his celebrity crush than hang out with him (spoiler: Kon is allosexual and it turns out celebrity crushes actually mean a lot to allo ppl)
This panel isn’t really evidence as to why he’s aroace, but it is evidence as to why Bart should not be with Carol. Like this is issue #20 and Preston and the rest of the guys are badgering Carol about whether she likes Bart romantically so she tries kissing him and they both burst out laughing because the idea of them being romantic and kissing etc is just that absurd, which the kiss only served to confirm. Like regardless of whether or not Bart is aroace, he’s definitely not into Carol
Ah yes the Valentine’s issue. More oblivious Bart. Ayana has made it so ridiculously clear that she’s got a crush on Bart and Bart is so oblivious to her interest, so oblivious to romance that he doesn’t see it, even though literally everyone else can. Even upon having this pointed out Bart still can’t believe it.
Carol also seems jealous of Cissie. Personally I think it should just be her being jealous of their friendship since Carol and Bart are best friends but I suspect that was not Dezago’s intention since he proceeds to write a romance plot later with Bart and Carol (do we not remember issue 20 where Mark Waid very clearly writes Bart and Carol not liking each other romantically???)
Can’t remember if this issue came before or after Valentine’s but once again Bart is oblivious to the romance and only catches on at the very last second. She’s so blatant about wanting her seven minutes in heaven, so to speak, and Bart is just like ???
Oh boy, here we go again, except now Preston and Rolly are badgering Bart about whether he likes Carol instead of badgering her. This part is honestly less about why Bart is aroace and more about why the romance plot with Carol was ridiculous.
Up to this point we get numerous pieces of evidence that Bart isn’t into romance and even more blatant evidence he doesn’t like Carol romantically (and vice versa!!) but apparently being told that Carol’s always had a bit of a crush on Bart and that maybe he likes her without realising is enough to erase all that
“Yeah, right. I don’t have those kindsa feelings for Carol, she’s just my friend.” Only to be swiftly overridden by the powers of allonormativity/amatonormativity :’((
Oh the dark tomorrow arc, other than the romance plot that literally had me crashing out, I really liked this. But I really hated the romance. We already explored whether Bart and Carol liked each other back in issue 20 but now all of a sudden that means nothing and actually Carol liked him he just wasn’t emotionally old enough???
“Howcum we never did that before?”
YOU DID!!! And you both thought it absurd. And the idea that he’s emotionally a child?? Physically he’s on par with all his classmates, which really should include his brain. You could argue that he has a lack of experience, maybe, but his brain should be the same as any other person of the age he seems.
Also allo people often have a hard time separating romantic and sexual attraction but romantic attraction often develops before sexual attraction does anyway, so Bart not having crushes is more a reflection of who he is than him being “too young”. I just really dislike that this particular explanation was used. It would’ve even been better if it was the cliché friends-to-lovers “I fell in love slowly” trope, maybe even more of a demiromantic Bart? Which would’ve been better storywise than infantalizing him
Also white lightning not being “able to put the whammy” on Bart is like some of the best evidence for Bart being aro because he’s literally resisting her powers because he doesn’t like people like that (and yet this was written by the same author that gave him a romance plot—can you tell i have many gripes with said plot…plus i think this was after the romance plot started)
Honestly this panel with Wally and Max is a great example of how the writer (and the characters) infantilize Bart. A lot of times in real life people infantilise aroace people and act like we’re “innocent little babies” just for not being interested in romance and Wally clearly sees Bart like that too.
I think this is also a good point to bring up that Bart is neurodivergent coded as well and I can definitely see that. I can see so clearly this kid probably has ADHD and I’ve seen a lot of people say he’s probably autistic as well, which I’ll gladly believe even if I can’t recognise all the traits myself.
This is where is gets a bit complicated, honestly. Just like how aroace people are often infantilised, neurodivergent people are too. I’ve seen people argue that it’s hurtful to headcanon neurodivergent and/or disabled characters as aro/ace because that in and of itself is infantilizing, but I really don’t like that line of thinking.
Are some people being infantalizing when they hc neurodivergent characters as aro/ace? Yeah, sometimes, but that doesn’t change the fact that neurodivergent and disabled aro/ace people exist. Hell, I’m ADHD and also aroace (plus I do have some traits that overlap pretty strongly with autism though not sure if i actually am or is it’s just ADHD overlap but I digress). Besides, I’m pretty sure autistic people are more likely to be aro than the general population, anyway
Obviously if someone is headcanoning Bart as aro/ace in because of his neurodivergent traits that’s not great, but you definitely also can’t blanket statement say it’s bad representation to headcanon neurodivergent/neurodivergent coded characters as aro or ace
Also there are so many other ostensibly neurodivergent DC characters but apparently saying this particular one should be aroace is a problem?? Sure, buddy. Cause that totally makes sense (full sarcasm intended)
Anyway, thank you for coming to my TED talk
And if you’ve made it this far I leave you with a bonus panel of Bart as Jughead—the aroace icon ever :)))
ID: A digital drawing of Bart Allen in his old Impulse costume. He is maskless and holding a mug of hot chocolate. There is a blanket patterned like the aroace flag wrapped around his shoulders. End ID.
Look his romance with Carol near the end of his solo was the most aroace thing I’ve ever seen okay- mom said it’s MY turn with the self indulgent headcanons
