By now, we should all know that being the partner of a superhero is basically a full-time job in and of itself, between the constant worrying and near endless proximity to cosmic threats, but some have it a little bit trickier than others. Namely, those brave souls who find themselves connected to the Flash Family. Not to pit anyone against each other here, of course, but there's just something about the Speed Force that really likes to throw a wrench into normal people's lives. And today, we're going to take a look at one such character—a woman who has gone through some bizarre, terrifying and altogether wacky stuff in the name of the man she loves.

That's right, we're talking about Linda Park and her strange and sensational life.

First, a little background: Linda was introduced all the way back in 1989, almost thirty years after the introduction of Wally West in 1960. For some perspective on that gap, Lois Lane was introduced in the same issue as Superman and Iris West was introduced in the same issue as Barry Allen. This gap between Wally and Linda meant that Linda was entering Wally's life at a time when his Flash career was already up and running (get it?) and the public was already familiar with just what the Scarlet Speedster was all about.

And Linda? She wasn't that impressed. While working as a news reporter, she was sent to cover a handful of Flash-related incidents and, honestly, thought he was kind of a jerk. This didn't last long, however. Eventually, they kicked off a casual relationship that turned serious when Wally was forced to reconcile his feelings for an ex that made him realize just how important Linda was to him.

The two dated for a while, had some adventures together, and eventually decided to settle down and get married, trying to have the nearest approximation to a normal life they could manage. And it worked for a bit! While there's really no such thing as "normal" for someone like the Flash, they managed to keep things relatively easygoing—at least until Iris became pregnant with twins.

As you might imagine, pregnancy is challenging enough for normal people, but pregnancy via a person connected to a cosmic power like the Speed Force is a whole other ball game. Not to mention the fact that Linda never even got the opportunity to go through the process normally—perennial Flash rival Zoom interfered, using the Speed Force to first cause Linda to lose her pregnancy and then later, restore it.

With that much meddling, you will not be shocked to learn that the resulting babies, Jai and Irey, wound up having Speed Force connections of their own—but that's a story for another time. For now, we've got to focus on their mom, because naturally Linda didn't leave this event completely unscathed either. After a few more catastrophes, a few cosmic crises, and a major continuity reboot, it was eventually revealed that Linda herself had become something of a Speed Force conduit, which played a major role in the return of Wally West after the events of Flashpoint left him trapped within the Speed Force and everyone's lives and memories altered.

With her position as a Speed Force conduit, Linda was granted all sorts of fancy powers and abilities, similar to her husband's—or, well, sort of. It turned out that some of those abilities may have come from another, different pregnancy that was tapping her into the Speed Force even more.

Now, while all of this was going on, we can't lose sight of the fact that Linda remained active in her civilian job as a reporter and writer. She even managed to create her very own romance novel where she fictionalized a version of her relationship and divorce prior to her marriage to Wally. If that's not impressive, we don't know what is. And that's to say nothing about the other, alternate continuity versions of Linda where she's frequently portrayed as a full-blown superhero herself. She's the Flash of Earth-8 and the Lightspeed of Earth 32. She's even been the Doctor Light of an alternate Earth within the Arrowverse universe.

Talk about a woman who wears many hats, some of them a little more bizarre than others. But through it all, Linda has remained one thing: A critical part of the DC Universe and the Flash Family, whether she's reporting the news, writing her stories, or tapping into the Speed Force herself.
 

Mason Downey writes about comics, movies and superhero history for DC.com. Look for more of his work on GameSpot, IGN and Polygon and follow him on Twitter at @rustypolished.