Ralph Dibny

Ralph Dibny
Biological Information
Status	Alive
General Information
Occupation	Member of Team Flash (in secret) Private investigator Police detective (formerly)
Actor	Hartley Sawyer

"I smell a mystery."

—Ralph Dibny^[src]

Ralph Dibny was presumed to be one of the fourteen people who lost his life during the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator's explosion. However, Dibny reappeared, gaining his powers due to Barry Allen's return from the Speed Force. Barry Allen has suggested the alias Plastic Man for him to use, but Ralph decided that it's the dumbest nickname he's ever heard.

Biography

Pre-Flashpoint

After the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator exploded, Ralph was said to have been killed according to Eobard Thawne through unspecified means.

Post-Flashpoint

Due to Barry's meddling with the timeline from Flashpoint, Ralph's timeline changed and as a result he is now alive.

Barry reveals to Iris that five years ago Ralph was the lead detective during the murder investigation of Judy Gimlin, one of Barry's first cases as a Junior CSI. She was stabbed to death and her husband Reagan was the prime suspect. Dibny planted evidence (a knife with Reagan's fingerprints) to "frame" a suspect for murder, and as a result, Barry testified against him, resulting in Dibny being kicked off the police force.

Dibny went on to become a private investigator specializing in infidelity cases. After catching the mayor in an affair, Dibny attempted to blackmail the politician in exchange for the photos. It is revealed that Dibny was not a "dirty cop," as Barry and Joe believed, but that he was convinced of the suspect's guilt and was attempting to stop the man from getting away with murder.

He gained his powers from the dark matter exposure resulting from Barry's return from the Speed Force, as he was one of the twelve passengers aboard the bus that dark matter washed over upon the speedster's return. Ralph did not exhibit his powers immediately after that, but did around the time when Barry and Joe paid him a visit; two thugs later came to Ralph's office. They hung him by his legs off the top of a establishment to intimidate him, inadvertently causing Ralph's powers of elasticity to manifest and allowing him to descend safely from that height. He was later brought into S.T.A.R. Labs where Team Flash there did preliminary tests to his new attributes, all of which greatly disturbed Ralph who just wishes to return to normal but could not as he was still new to his meta-human abilities, preventing him from deliberately returning his outstretched extremities back to their default state. A serum administered by Caitlin soon gave Ralph a measure of control, but was told that the concoction did not reversed his new condition but rather only made it more manageable, which Ralph quickly realizes when he successfully lost weight upon visualizing it. Ralph was shot by the mayor, only to find that his powers made him bulletproof. When The Flash came to save him, Breacher appeared to attack him as he thought Ralph was one of the invaders that ravaged Earth-19 so Flash stopped him as well. While the mayor escaped with Joe on a helicopter, Barry revealed himself to Ralph and implored him to use his powers for good, so Ralph stretched to reach the chopper to allow Barry to run up and save Joe. In the end, the two reconcile after Dibny recants his blackmail of the mayor and returns the photos he took. Barry offers Dibny a place on Team Flash, which Dibny considers. When Barry out of interest asked him about his motive for investigating Bellows, Dibny revealed that a client requested him to investigate the mayor over the phone going by the last name DeVoe.

Personality

Ralph was initially motivated by self interest and would stop to morally questionable methods in the pursuit of money. Although he did have a strong sense of justice and was willing to go as far as to plant evidence to frame a murder suspect whom he believed to be guilty.

He was quite rude to his nemesis Barry and was difficult to work with, but ultimately Barry is able to coax him into an act of selflessness and convince him into being a hero.

Powers and abilities

Powers

• Meta-human physiology: After Ralph was struck by the dark matter energy after the Flash was released from the Speed Force, this altered his DNA and cells, enabling him to access his newfound powers.
  • Elasticity: Ralph can stretch and contort his limbs and body to superhuman lengths and sizes. After taking a chemical stabilizer given by Caitlin, he was able to retain a degree of "muscle memory" and revert to his default form.
  • Invulnerability: As a side effect of his elasticity, Ralph is also rendered him highly durable. He was took no harm from a bullet to the head, and a punch to the face only inconvenienced him.
  • Superhuman strength: Ralph has also demonstrated super strength as a result of his elasticity, possibly attributed to the now substantial bonding if his cells at the molecular level, heightening his musculature. He was able to grab onto and stop a helicopter mid-flight with his extended arm, which he gave him some strain.

Abilities

• Expert detective: Ralph runs his own private investigation business and is very experienced in detective work. At one point he was Barry's senior for this field.

Appearances

The Flash

Season 1

• "Power Outage" (mentioned)

Season 4

• "Elongated Journey Into Night"

Behind the scenes

• In DC Comics, Ralph Dibny was a good friend of Barry Allen and a detective who became the Elongated Man.
• Towards the end of "Elongated Journey into Night," Barry suggests that Dibny be called Plastic Man, a reference to another DC comics character with similar powers.
• It is as yet unrevealed whether Dibny's survival, like Al Rothstein's, is an error on the show or a mistake made by "Wells".
• EPs Andrew Kreisberg and Todd Helbing confirmed that Ralph is indeed alive due to Flashpoint (source: http://ew.com/tv/2017/10/31/flash-ralph-dibny-reference-season-1/)