Background

Flash was the Big Man On Campus at Midtown High, and he delighted in leading the torment of bookworm Peter Parker with the likes of Seymour O'Reilly, Sally Avril, Jason Ionello, Tiny McKeever, Carl King and Arnie Gunderson. Flash was a football jock with confidence to spare, and plenty of friends with which to share his life. Chief among them was his number one girl, Liz Allan. Eventually, Liz began to see that there was more to Parker than met the eye, and she began to develop an interest in Peter. This irritated Flash, and fueled his hatred of Puny Parker, the Science Geek. Ironically, he idolized Spider-Man. He formed the Spider-Man Fan Club and ran afoul of villains from Doctor Doom (by impersonating Spider-Man) to the Living Brain to car thieves (by impersonating Spider-Man, after Spidey ran from the Green Goblin and the Sandman).

But that was High School. When Flash and Peter found themselves at the same college, they did some rapid growing up, and soon became good friends. Flash, Harry Osborn, Peter and Gwen Stacy formed a tight-knit group, although they soon made room for Mary Jane Watson. Sadly, these Halycon days were to be short-lived for Flash, and he was drafted into the army. Flash cut a dashing figure in his uniform, but eventually his training was completed, and he was shipped off to the army.

Flash did return to the U.S. in the middle of his tour of duty, bringing back some serious trouble, in the shape of an enmity he had developed with a band of mystic monks from a secret Eastern temple. The monks mistakenly believed Flash was responsible for their temple being shelled and their priest being killed, and they hunted Flash back to New York to exact their vengeance. Fortunately Spidey was there to sort things out. The priest hadn't died, he had survived the shelling by using some kind of mystical energy that saved him, but also put him to sleep. Doctor Strange helped the priest out of his magic coma.

Flash eventually returned to the U.S. for good. A brief misunderstanding between he and Peter led to a chilling in Peter's romance with Gwen Stacy. He was a single man for a while, until he eventually hooked up with Sha Shan, who was actually the daughter of "The Holy One" (the leader of the temple which Flash had previously encountered). Sha Shan had her own problems, having been forced by her father to marry Achmed Korba (Brother Power) in order to moderate his evil ambitions. Eventually, Spider-Man helped defeat Korba, and Sha Shan was free to hook up with Flash, as she always wanted to.

For whatever reason, however, things didn't really work out with Sha Shan, and she quietly vanished from the scene. Flash got a job as a part-time PE teacher, a big step down from his days as a college football star. Flash was at a loose end, and when Peter's friend Betty Brant started running into problems with her own marriage to Ned Leeds, Flash and Betty started having an affair.

Flash then managed to get into trouble with Hobgoblin (Roderick Kingsley), when he made a rash comment on live TV - claiming that "The Hobgoblin is a Creep and a Coward". As a result, Flash was framed as the Hobgoblin as punishment, and spent some time on the run, until he was finally cleared. Flash had one last encounter with the Hobgoblin, one that would keep him on the sidelines and never realize his dream of being a pro football star. Immediately after Jason Macendale became the Hobgoblin, he was involved in a battle with Spider-Man, in which Spidey seemed to be on the losing side. Catching a pumpkin bomb meant for the dazed webslinger, Flash threw it back at Macendale. Hobgoblin had his body armor and Peter was protected by his spider strength but Flash had nothing. He suffered a near fatal injury from the explosion. Spider-Man performed CPR and saved his life, but Flash's injury destroyed his sports career.

Ned was killed, Betty went kind of nuts and Flash's life was going nowhere. Then Flash met Felicia Hardy (The Black Cat) some time after Peter and MJ got married. Felicia reckoned that going out with Flash would serve to make Peter jealous but she never planned on actually falling in love with him. Instead, Felicia fell so hard that she actually proposed to him. Flash turned her down, unable to actually believe that he could ever be part of her high-flying lifestyle.

Flash went way downhill after that, becoming an alcoholic - just like his drunken tyrant father, Harrison Thompson. Flash tried to get back together with Betty Brant, but she wasn't prepared to prop him up. Norman Osborn then stepped in, and made Flash his personal assistant at the Daily Bugle, which he had forced out of the hands of J. Jonah Jameson. Of course, Norman just wanted to taunt Spider-Man. Eventually tiring of Flash, Norman arranged for him to be framed in a drunk-driving accident, which left Thompson in a coma.

Flash eventually regained consciousness - of a sort. While his face was untouched, his mind and body were a wreck. Liz Osborn, who was now the widow of Harry Osborn, arranged for a full-time nurse, and for Flash to live in an apartment very close to Peter and many of Flash's friends. Flash was in a wheelchair, and never spoke.

Flash somehow came out of his coma and has gone back to teaching gym at Midtown High. He was back to his original obnoxious self and had forgotten that he and Peter were ever friends. He doubted that Peter was really Spider-Man after Pete revealed to the world his double identity, as part of the Superhuman Registration Act. Trying to prove it, Flash threw a medicine ball at Parker, expecting the clumsy guy to get knocked on his butt. Instead, Peter kicked the ball right back at him, hitting him in the head. Flash woke up in the nurses office and met Miss Arrow, the school nurse.

Flash flirted with her, but she didn't show a real interest in him until he was kissed by Betty Brant. That proved to be very bad for him, as Arrow was Spider- Man's Other, his polar opposite. She realized that Flash had a great deal of tantric energy (unused life force) after being in the coma and she decided to make him the host of her children: potentially thousands of spiders that she would force down his throat until they hatched, eating him alive. Naturally, he wasn't crazy about this idea.

Flash had always idolized Spider-Man for his heroism and self sacrificing nature. He tried to live up to Spidey's example by re-enlisting with the Army and joining his brothers in uniform in Iraq. He served honorably, earning the Medal of Honor. This came at a heavy price, as he went back to get help for a wounded soldier during a fight. Flash was badly wounded in the legs by gunfire, but returned to his fallen comrade's side instead of going for medical help. He saved his friends life, but the lack of quick medical care cost him his legs.

Flash has recovered well since returning to New York. He has Sha Shan as a physical therapy specialist and has renewed his relationship with Betty. At least for a while. After Mac Gargan was separated from the Venom symbiote, it was bonded to Flash and he became a special agent for the U.S. government. Betty dumped him after he arrived six hours late to a Veterans Affairs benefit and she assumed he had been drinking again. She had learned to know a lie when she heard it, and she didnt buy his excuse that he was late because he was filling thank you letters at the V.A. office.

Flash could only be safely bonded to Venom for 48 consecutive hours before the bond would become permanent. The government also installed a "kill switch" should Flash lose control of the symbiote. Good plan, except the alien found a way to deactivate the kill switch. Flash has managed to control the alien without the kill switch, even when in the presence of it old host, Eddie Brock, currently Anti-Venom. After the Jackal and the Queen began changing New Yorkers into human spiders, Agent Venom was tasked with impersonating one of their guards (Captain America, also changed into a human spider) and infiltrating their hideout. After hearing word that Anti-Venom was curing citizens of their mutations, the Queen ordered the disguised Thompson to go kill him.

Brock was performing his "miracles" at a church, and quickly sniffed out the "demon" in their midst. While Thompson wanted to bring Brock in to the authorities to see how his curative powers might be used to end the infestation, Eddie was less than willing to join forces with the symbiote. A battle raged and Thompson was eventually able to bring Anti-Venom to Reed Richards for study, but only after the symbiote attempted to rejoin with Eddie.