Editing Flash Thompson (section)

===College and adulthood===

After Flash Thompson entered Empire State University, his relationship with Peter Parker became progressively less hostile.<ref name="mnyc">{{Cite book|last = Sanderson|first = Peter|title = The Marvel Comics Guide to New York City|publisher = [[Pocket Books]]|year = 2007|location = New York City|pages = 30–33|isbn = 978-1-4165-3141-8}}</ref> While the two still traded the occasional insult, Flash had grown to respect Peter's intelligence and was surprised by his popularity with women, particularly [[Gwen Stacy]] and [[Mary Jane Watson]]. Both Flash and Peter were friends with the wealthy [[Harry Osborn]]. Harry's presence served to defuse the tension between the former rivals.

While in university, Flash joined the [[United States Army]] and serves in the [[Vietnam War]] (although this was later [[retcon]]ned to unspecified overseas conflict due to Marvel's [[floating timeline]]). Unlike many students of the time, Flash was never conscripted—instead, he volunteers for service of his own free will. Although Flash was absent from the strip for months at a time, his frequent stateside visits kept him familiar with the readers. He returned from the war a decorated hero. Flash's tour of duty profoundly changed him from a reckless and immature youth to a tormented and conflicted man. Finding no comfort in his military decorations, Flash turned to alcohol for years.

While in Vietnam, Flash's unit bombed an ancient temple whose acolytes had earlier sheltered Flash when he was wounded. Flash tried and failed to stop them. When he returned to America, he dropped his antagonism toward Peter. Peter, in turn, began to respect Flash's newfound maturity and the two became close. However, Flash soon finds himself tailed by mysterious assassins, former acolytes of the temple who thought that Flash had betrayed them. Spider-Man held off the assassins long enough for Flash to explain his side of the story. [[Sha Shan]], the leader of the assassins, forgave Flash and even dated him for a while, but left him when she found out he was cheating on her. When Sha Shan was attacked by the [[Hobgoblin (comics)|Hobgoblin]], Flash made the mistake of insulting the villain on television. Hobgoblin took revenge by abducting Flash and framing him as Hobgoblin's true identity. Spider-Man was aghast that his old friend was a villain, but Flash was legally exonerated when Hobgoblin's [[Roderick Kingsley|true identity]] was revealed. It was around this period that Flash Thompson would serve as best man at the wedding of Parker and Mary Jane.

After a bout of severe depression, Flash went drunk-driving and was badly injured in a car crash. Soon afterward [[Norman Osborn]] offered him a job at Oscorp as his personal aide to annoy Peter. Not knowing the reasons behind this, Flash became loyal to Norman for giving him a second chance and turning his life around. During this time, Flash met the hero Prodigy, not realizing he was also Spider-Man in disguise. Later, as part of a plan of driving Spider-Man to murderous violence by attacking his family and friends, Osborn kidnapped Flash (under the pretense of picking him up from an [[Alcoholics Anonymous]] meeting), force-feeds him [[whiskey]] and has him crash a truck into Midtown High School, where Peter works. Flash survived, thanks to his excellent physical condition, but he suffered severe brain damage that left him in a coma. Liz, although widowed and raising her son Normie all on her own, became Flash's caretaker, and hired a full-time nurse to care for him. [[Aunt May|May Parker]] had come up with the idea to have Flash moved into Peter's apartment building so he could be among friends in the hopes it would aid in his recovery. Peter, blaming himself for what happened to Flash, was eager to help and started spending his free time with him, lending emotional support and companionship. Although Flash remained in a largely unresponsive state after coming out of the coma, Peter's constant companionship led to his condition slowly improving over time.<ref>''The Spectacular Spider-Man'' vol. 2 #1–5</ref>

Flash awakens from his coma during "[[Spider-Man: The Other|The Other]]" story arc. Flash takes a job as the [[physical education]] teacher at Midtown High School, where Peter teaches science. However, Flash suffers from severe memory gaps and again treats Peter like a nerd and picks on him, as he did in their high school days. Flash also flirts with [[Miss Arrow]], unaware that she is a villain there to attack Peter. When Peter unmasks himself as Spider-Man, Flash dismisses it as a trick.<ref>''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #533</ref> But after witnessing Peter fighting with [[Mysterio|Daniel Berkhart]] and [[Mysterio|Francis Klum]], Flash's memories come back to him and he re-establishes his friendship with Peter. Flash briefly appeared at the beginning of the "[[Brand New Day (comics)|Brand New Day]]" story arc, attending a welcome home party for Harry. Flash and the rest of the world's population no longer remembers that Peter is Spider-Man, due to the [[Spider-Man: One More Day|machinations]] of the demon [[Mephisto (comics)|Mephisto]].<ref>''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #545 (Nov. 2007)</ref>