Barry Allen’s arch nemesis is undoubtedly Eobard Thawne, or by his rather less interesting supervillain name, the Reverse-Flash. The Reverse-Flash name comes from him being the polar opposite of Barry Allen’s Flash. Aside from being a villain, the costume of the Reverse-Flash is the opposite in color, with most of it being yellow and the lighting bolt symbol and wingtips being red. When it comes to looking at physical differences between heroes and villains, no enemies show a better dark reflection of each other than the Flash and Reverse-Flash. So what makes this Flash villain his ultimate villain? Well, aside from the fact that his appearance is a dark reflection of his, the man called Eobard Thawne is one of the most psychopathic villains in DC Comics. What I find intriguing about the relationship between Barry Allen and Eobard Thawne is their beginnings. Just think about where Barry Allen began before he even became the Flash. When he was a boy, his mother was murdered and his father was wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for it. This led to Barry’s decision to pursuing a career in forensic science. As a forensic chemist working in a crime lab, Barry Allen dedicated his life to solving crimes and hopefully, find the evidence to prove his father’s innocence.
For most of his career, he was unsuccessful. However, he eventually learned who the real killer of his mother was: his greatest enemy, Eobard Thawne. If you’re wondering what kind of name that is, it’s because he’s not from our time. In fact, he’s actually from the future. To put it more accurately, he’s from the 25th century. That’s a long way off, enough time for everyone in the future to be fully aware who the Flash was. As a scientist who idolized the Flash, Eobard Thawne used a Cosmic Treadmill to recreated the electrochemical reaction that gave Barry Allen his powers. With Thawne now having speed force powers, he was determined to travel back in time and meet his idol. His arrival marked a period in time after the Flash’s death. When Thawne made his way to a Flash Museum and discovered that he was destined to become Barry Allen’s arch enemy and die at his hands, he snapped. In that moment, the Flash found his greatest enemy and subsequent stories revealed how deep the enmity went.
The Flash: Rebirth storyline had Eobard Thawne reveal to Barry that he was responsible for the death of his mother and father’s imprisonment. Ouch, talk about a heated rivalry. Just let that sink in and compare it to other superhero/villain rivalries. Did the Joker murder Bruce Wayne’s parents? Did the Green Goblin kill Uncle Ben? And did Lex Luthor destroy Krypton? That would be a no to all of those questions. When it comes to the Flash and the Reverse-Flash, his arch enemy has a direct connection to his origins. He basically created him. That has got to mark one of the greatest superhero/villain rivalries ever. So if you don’t read the comics, you probably know all of this from watching the CW Flash show. Their rivalry is so strong that it carries across the whole show to the latest season. I mean, the guy was killed in the finale of the first season and variants of him still pop up to plague Barry. This is truly a diabolical villain and I’ve been waiting to see the live-action version of him for years. With the upcoming Flash movie in the DC Cinematic Universe, I am very anxious to see him debut. The CW version on the Flash is cool enough, but I believe the DCEU version can be even more villainous.
Speaking of which, did anyone else check out that little Flash teaser from DC Fandome? I’m not going to lie, I expected a bit more, but the money shot was obviously Michael Keaton’s Batman. Sure, it was just the back of his head, but that alone got me going. What really raised an eyebrow for me was spotting not one, but two Barry Allens. One of the last shots of the teaser was seeing a shot of Barry Allen from Justice League in the center, with Sasha Calle‘s Supergirl to his right and another Barry Allen to his left. That was very weird, but not entirely unexpected. This movie will be exploring Flashpoint, so we can expect some variants of main characters. After watching that teaser, I’m wondering if that other Barry Allen is secretly Eobard Thawne. In the comics, Eobard Thawne was so obsessed with Barry Allen, he actually put himself through cosmetic surgery to make himself look like him. We’ve seen a version of this in the CW Flash show when he used future technology to morph his face so he could look like Harrison Wells. He’s no stranger to being a master of disguise and it’s possible the DCEU version can use a similar trick.
Now I know I’m making a rather wild theory here. The thing is, the history of Eobard Thawne with Barry Allen is crazy. That’s putting it lightly. In fact, the whole history of the Flash is summed up by wacky, over-the-top science and pure comic book madness. If you watch the CW show, you’ll know what that means. You can do your best to analyze what Cicso is talking about, but at the end of the day, it’s all comic book science. It doesn’t always have to make sense because it’s cool. Well, for the case of the Flash, it’s nothing but crazy science. It’s highly plausible that the second Barry Allen in the teaser could very well be Eobard Thawne. Did he go through cosmetic surgery like the comic version? If he did, I suspect he would use this disguise to get close to the main Barry Allen under the facade of being his ally. This would allow him to build trust with him and buy him the time he needs to make his move. If you know the character, that is a total Eobard Thawne move. Like I said, this is just a theory, but I do believe it’s a highly plausible theory. If you haven’t checked out the Flash teaser, then I suggest you give it a watch.
What are your thoughts, DC fans? I’m very anxious to see more footage for the Flash movie and I really hope to see Eobard Thawne as the main villain. Then again, it could be just an evil variant of Barry Allen, which would be kind of disappointing. I’m still pulling for Barry Allen’s arch enemy to be the main antagonist in the movie and I hope he is.Barry Allen
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