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Quote1 You and I are trapped in a loop. Death and rebirth. And every time the universe is rebuilt there is one constant. You and me. Quote2
Eobard Thawne src

Professor Eobard "Zoom" Thawne, otherwise known as the Reverse-Flash, was a curator of the Flash Museum from the 25th Century who was obsessed with Barry Allen, the Flash. Having turned himself into a speedster, Thawne desired to follow in his hero's footsteps, until he discovered that his destiny was to become the reverse. Giving into fate, Thawne made it his life's work to ruin Barry's until he learned to appreciate him.[1][2][3] Trapped in an endless cycle of death and rebirth, Thawne's hatred kept growing,[4][5] his personal timeline forever interwined with that of the man who is both his nemesis and his idol.[6]

Early Life

Origin

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The Future Flash

From the 25th Century, Eobard Thawne was an only child when his parents were killed in an accident. In his loneliness, he became obsessed with the Flash, Barry Allen, a heroic speedster from the 21st Century. Eobard would dedicate his life to studying the Flash and researching his power source, the Speed Force. During his adulthood, Thawne miraculously received a time capsule containing the Flash's costume, from which he harnessed residual traces of the Speed Force to give himself access to its powers. Dissatisfied, Thawne sought to also become a hero like the Flash. However, due to the lack of opportunities for heroics in the future, Thawne instead created his own by endangering and then "saving" people to make himself look a hero.[2]

Thawne was awestruck when Barry arrived in his time and taught him new ways to use his powers, with the two also bonding over their shared belief that "every second is a gift". Unfortunately for Eobard, Barry became aware of the truth behind his "heroics", and would turn him in to the authorities after defeating the rogue speedster. Desperate to prove himself to his hero, Thawne vowed to better himself. In prison, he underwent electroshock therapy and shared his knowledge with other inmates. He convinced the authorities that society would be better if he was educating others as a professor instead of being behind bars, and worked hard from being a tour guide at the Flash Museum to becoming its curator,[2] considering the museum his own.[7]

Wanting to show Barry his rehabilitation and to be accepted again by his "best friend",[8] Thawne traveled back in time to the 21st Century. Deeming it arrogant to think he was ready to become the Flash, he changed his costume to yellow, because it was the color that all the hero's partners wore. However, after witnessing Barry give Wally West a watch with the same advice he gave Eobard years ago inscribed, an enraged Thawne realized that he wasn't as special to Barry as he thought. Running back to the 25th Century, to the Flash Museum, it was there that Thawne realized his destiny, including his multiple future deaths. Creating his own Negative Speed Force and switching his emblem, Thawne became the Reverse-Flash.[2][3] Believing that tormenting Barry is the only time that Barry will spend with him,[9] Thawne made it his life's mission to ensure that the Flash lived in pain like he did, until his idol learned to treat him specially and see him as his "real" friend.[2]

Paradox

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Reverse-Flash vs Paradox

When Paradox attempted to take over the 25th Century, Thawne and the Renegades fought him. While Paradox beat the Renegades, Thawne defeated him with the aid of his lightning rod weapon, which he used to ground Paradox and deplete him of his paradox energy. He then rescued the civilians trapped in the wreckage, repaired the Flash Museum and worked with the Renegades and the Time Institute to create a special prison for Paradox in Iron Heights. For once in his life, people saw Thawne as a worthy successor to the Flash.[10][7] Commander Cold called Thawne defeating Paradox his one good deed.[11]

Early Villainous Career

Changing the Timeline

Professor Zoom Prime Earth 007

Reverse-Flash about to kill Flash's mother

Nevertheless, Thawne was unable to let go of his vendetta, and sought to destroy Barry's life by changing the past and the future.[3] Sometime after defeating Paradox, Thawne went back in time and murdered Barry's mother Nora.[4][9][12][4] Barry's father Henry was falsely accused and sentenced for the crime, leaving the future Flash without his parents.[1] To create more speedster foes for the Flash Family, Thawne gave The Clown the gun with which he killed Hunter Zolomon's father-in-law, leading to Zolomon eventually becoming Zoom. Thawne then killed Jorge Heart, the brother of Barry's future friend August Heart, who would as a result go on to become Godspeed.[13][3] Thawne also saved Barry and Iris West's children, the Tornado Twins Don Allen and Dawn Allen, from the Dominators,[14] and then used the Negative Speed Force to turn them against their father.[15] He trained the pair and later had them fight their father and lay waste to Central City.[16]

Tormenting the Flash

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Flash kills Reverse-Flash

Thawne tried to disrupt Barry and Iris' wedding day by posing as Barry, though his deceit was discovered. Following Barry's apparent death during a multiversal crisis, Thawne tried to pose as him again, to trick his successor Wally.[17] Thawne would later kill Iris.[18]

One of Thawne's battles with the Flash landed the pair in the distant past.[9] At some point, Thawne lost his powers, but was able to regain them.[2]

Eventually, Thawne became a member of the Secret Society.[19]

One night, when Barry was off work, Thawne showed up to torment him once more. Feeling out of options, Barry ended the confrontation by snapping Thawne's neck, killing his foe. Thawne would nevertheless return, with his hatred for Barry having only grown.[20][1][7][5][6]

Flashpoint

After Flash went back in time and saved his mother, he created an alternate timeline called the "Flashpoint", in which the world was at war and on the brink of destruction.[1][2] Before Flash reset the timeline, Thawne was killed by that timeline's Batman, Thomas Wayne.[21][22][23]

After the Flashpoint timeline was restored, Thawne was resurrected and called out Thomas at the scene of Harvey Dent's death.[24] He later briefly appeared at Wayne Manor and rambled to Oswald Cobblepot about how he needs Thomas, someone is coming for him "again" and mentioned hypertime, before disappearing. Thawne is later found dead at Iris West's home, killed by the Clockwork Killer.[25]

New Timeline

Following the Flashpoint, Thawne continued to plague Barry.[2] As a result of the timeline change, both speedsters had forgotten part of their shared history and certain events had been undone, such as Barry and Iris' marriage. [18][2][9]

Whispers through Time

Haunting the Flashes

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Reverse-Flash in the Negative Speed Force

To further torment the Flash Family, Thawne used his Negative Speed Force hypnotic abilities to negatively influence them at their weakest moments by jumping in and out of the timeline, usually going unnoticed.[3] As part of this, he traveled back to 1940 and taunted the original Flash, Jay Garrick, who was able to hear but not see him.[26] Without a trace, Thawne also influenced Barry to keep his and Batman's investigation into a mysterious button secret and to abandon Wallace and Iris after the latter killed Thawne's future self. Thawne also taunted Barry by telling him that his future is to run alone forever; though Barry was able to see Thawne in this case, he assumed it was simply a vision.[27] Thawne additionally used his powers to convince Bart Allen to not seek out the Flash Family upon his return from the Speed Force and to make Wallace West join Damian Wayne's new, rutheless Teen Titans.[3]

Flash War

Thawne's future self's death at Iris' hands sowed the seed for a rift between Barry and Wally, and was exploited by Zolomon.[11] Furious over Thawne's several deaths,[28] Zolomon sent the Renegades to arrest Iris for his murder,[29] as part of a plan to engineer conflict between the Flashes, which ended with Wally going to Sanctuary.[30][31] Unknown to them all, Thawne himself had also manipulated Barry and Wally into conflict via his hypnotic abilities.[3]

Heroes in Crisis

After the Speed Force caused an explosion at Sanctuary in order to purge Savitar from it,[32] which killed the various residents in the process, Thawne hypnotised Wally (who mistakenly believed he had caused the massacre) into framing Harley Quinn and Booster Gold.[3] This led to a series of events that culminated in Wally giving himself up and being imprisoned.[33]

Cycle of Death and Rebirth

Doomed to Repeat It

Years after he murdered Nora, Thawne replicated the act by killing his own ancestor Heather Macy in front of her son,[5] who claimed a "monster" did it. After Macy's husband confessed to the crime, Thawne briefly stopped by the murder scene, before speeding away.[20]

Eventually, Thawne died again after being caught in a wave of dark matter, in spite of Wally's efforts to save him.[4]

The Button

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Reverse-Flash attacking Batman

Thawne returned when a mysterious bolt of lightning struck an alternate version of him that was imprisoned in Iron Heights and overwrote him, also giving him memories of events from before and during Flashpoint.[21] Fleeing Iron Heights, Thawne made his way to the Batcave, where he began beating and taunting Batman, explaining that he now remembered Flashpoint and his death at the hands of that timeline's Batman, Thomas Wayne. After beating Bruce to a pulp and shredding Thomas' letter, Thawne went to examine the mysterious button that Batman had been investigating and, interacting with the residual power, was teleported into the timestream, where he apparently discovered the button's true owner.[22]

Just as the Flashpoint timeline was about to be erased, Thawne brought Thomas to the main timeline. Having taken revenge on his killer by stranding him in the very world he despised, where his son is him, Thawne resumed his time-travels.[23] Shortly afterwards, he encountered the Flash and Batman, pursuing him on the Cosmic Treadmill.[34]

Thawne outran the two and eventually made his way to where the button's radiation had led him. He demands the button's true owner to reveal himself, and when he does, Thawne becomes frightened for his life. Thawne then starts to become disintegrated by this being,[35] and is teleported back into the batcave, burning in blue flames and claiming that he had seen "God." The Reverse-Flash then collapsed, dead.[22]

Thawne's corpse was later moved to the S.T.A.R. Labs morgue. However, the Negative Speed Force resurrected and regenerated him.[8] Thawne then returned to his home in the future, only to find it radically different in light of his regained memories. Desiring to uncover the changes made to history, he then went back to the past.[2]

The Society

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Reverse-Flash in the Secret Society

Once he was back in the past, Thawne attended to his duties as a committee member of the Secret Society. After Deathstroke failed to appear before them, to be tried for "renouncing" evil and Deadline losing his hand, Thawne was sent to abduct him.[36][37]

Deathstroke seemingly escaped confinement and killed every member of The Society, including Thawne. However, this was revealed to simply be part of a a hallucinogenic test by Hector Hammond. After Riddler deemed Deathstroke to still be evil, The Society had a philosophical debate. Thawne aruged that murder not maximising good is irrelevant to those that only want a good outcome for themselves, and then denied being evil, instead declaring himself "efficient". Shortly afterwards, Doctor Ikon broke in and escaped with Deathstroke, and Chairman Vandal Savage adjourned the inquiry.[37]

Running Scared

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Reverse-Flash bests Flash

Thawne was waiting at Iris' house when she arrived with her younger nephew, Wallace, following Multiplex's attack at Barry's birthday party.[8] Thawne interrogated the clueless pair over the alterations to the timeline, mentioning events that had been erased by the Flashpoint. Wallace attempted to fight him off, but was savagely beaten while Thawne told him he was not Kid Flash or even the real Wally West. Upon realizing that Iris wasn't aware of Barry's secret identity in the current timeline, he kidnapped and took her to the 25th Century,[18] where he trapped her at the Flash Museum to lure Barry. After revealing his motives and taunting Barry over how he hurts everyone in his life, Thawne proceeded to savagely beat the Flash and unmasked him in front of Iris.[2]

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Reverse-Flash dies again

He then showed Barry and Iris what had become of their children Dawn and Don, and blamed their descent into rogues on Barry for neglecting them in favor of being the Flash. After manipulating Flash over the pain and lies that followed him, he tricked him by making him run right into the Negative Speed Force alongside him, seemingly trapping his nemesis. He promptly returned back to the Flash Museum, where he immediately broke his 'promise' to leave Iris alone. However, before Thawne could do anything, a 'negative' Flash returned and attacked Thawne, who was amazed over how 'beautiful' his foe had become.[16]

They fought across the timeline, during which Thawne urged Barry to ditch the Flash Family and instead become his friend and partner - a proposition that Barry instantly rejected. Returning to the future, their battle culminated in Barry taking the Negative Speed Force from his foe, resulting in Thawne losing his powers again. An undeterred Thawne taunted Flash over how he has ruined his life in more ways than Barry is aware, and vowed to regain his powers once more and keep returning. In response, Iris disintegrated him with a ray gun from a nearby exhibit, killing him.[9]

End of the Road

The Flash Age

To learn how to defeat a freed Paradox, Barry realized he needed Thawne's help. But with Thawne dead after Iris killed him, Barry traveled back to the night of Nora's murder to find a younger version of him.[12] Following a brief fight, Thawne proposed a truce for stopping Paradox to a reluctant Barry.[4] After Barry and Thawne retrieved the latter's lightning rod from the 25th Century Flash Museum, they traveled back to when Paradox was still the scientist Chris. However, Thawne attempted to kill Chris, so Barry tried to send Thawne back to Nora's death, only for Thawne to reveal that he was aware of his other self's death. But their fight was interrupted by Paradox, who arrived with a captured Godspeed. Paradox proceeded to kill his past self, amassing a large amount of paradox energy. Thawne then attempted to defeat Paradox using his lightning rod once again, only for Paradox to subdue him, snap his rod in half and erase the timeline.[7]

Professor Zoom Prime Earth 010

Reverse-Flash kills Godspeed

Thawne, Barry and August then found themselves in Paradox's realm. Thawne again insisted that they kill Paradox to restore the timeline, but after being challenged by Barry, Thawne traveled back in time and saved Chris from being turned into Paradox, erasing both Paradox and his realm. After the three speedsters returned to the restored timeline, August sought to learn from Thawne who killed his brother. Thawne then snapped August's neck as he revealed it was him. He remarked that no one would remember Godspeed in the future and quickly beat an enraged Barry senseless before leaving, vowing to get his own "Reverse-Flash Family".[13]

Parallax

Sometime afterwards, Thawne gained his older self's memories.[3] He later encountered Parallax, who empowered him with a Yellow Power Ring to destroy the Central Power Battery of Oa. In response to this disruption, the Speed Force retrieved Wallace to stop Thawne, who was determined to finish the job that he had previously started and wipe Wallace from existence.[38]

Finish Line

Thawne gathered Dawn and Don along with Grodd, the Turtle, and Rogues from previous times to team up against the Flash as the Legion of Zoom.[39] He also made a deal with Bart's evil clone, Thaddeus.[15] Upon ambushing and beating Barry, Thawne possessed his body.[5] He then challenged Bart to a race, nearly killed Trickster and insulted Bart, who saw through the ruse and exposed Thawne to Iris, Wallace, and Avery.[17] After Jay arrived, Thawne beat him and ran off to Nora's grave, where he ordered the Legion to dig up her corpse so that he can use the temporal energy within to erase Barry's mind from his body. However, Trickster betrayed their location to the Flash Family, leading to an enraged Thawne sending him back to his time. Bart then freed Don and Dawn from Thawne's brainwashing and Barry is able to regain control of his body while also freeing Max Mercury and Jesse Quick from the Speed Force.[15]

Legion of Zoom (Prime Earth) 0001

The Legion of Zoom

In response, Thawne pulled even more of Barry's enemies from different times and wreaked havoc across Central City. With Max bringing more of the Flash's allies from over the years to help even the odds, Barry and Thawne fought once again. Thawne then revealed to Barry that he used his hypnotic abilities to negatively influence the Flashes multiple times so that they and their allies never had a future. Their fight was interrupted by a sudden blast of energy from Wally which managed to spook Thawne into running.[3] Flash ran after and the two fought within the Speed Force, where Barry did the unexpected: he forgave Thawne, believing it was time to let go of his hatred of him. Enraged, Thawne blindly ran into Barry's trap of phasing through him, thus resetting his timeline to a harmless museum curator of the Flash Museum in the 25th Century and erasing the Reverse-Flash from existence.[6]

Alternate Timelines

New 52: Zoom

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The Acolytes of Zoom

After Flashpoint, another version of Thawne came to be.[2] In the year 2463, a child Eobard Thawne was left traumatized after he witnessed his father murder his mother. As an adult, he became connected to the Speed Force after being struck by a bolt of lightning and attempted to take over the Gem Cities. However, people fought against him in the name of the 21st Century superhero, The Flash. Thawne found it unfair that despite their similar powers, Flash got a happy family life and was treated like a god centuries later. In retaliation, he forcefully took over the cities and burnt down the Flash Museum.[40]

Using Rip Hunter's lost journals, Thawne eventually created his own Cosmic Treadmill and crafted a plan to tarnish the Flash's history and legacy.[40] He started off by murdering Barry's mother Nora and forcing his father Henry to take the blame by threatening Barry's life. Thawne then proceeded to gather "acolytes" with distinct Speed Force-derived abilities throughout time by putting them in near death situations, "saving" them and lying to them about Flash being a threat.[41][42] In the present day, Thawne kidnapped Henry after framing him for another murder[43][44] and framed Flash for planting a bomb in CCPD headquarters.[45][46] Thawne then forced Henry to make a power-theft glove to use on Flash, but his acolytes turn against him after discovering the truth.[46][47] Flash is able to defeat Thawne and have him imprisoned at Iron Heights,[40] where Thawne is still present when Godspeed attempted to kill him.[48] Thawne is later overwritten by his original self when he is struck by a mysterious bolt of lightning.[21]

Powers

  • Negative Speed Force Conduit: Thawne created his own negative version of the Flash's Speed Force, with its own unique energy signature. He can tap into the energy as normal speedsters do with the positive Speed Force, which he is also able to connect with.[1][38] The Negative Speed Force grants Thawne the power to move at incredible speeds, among many other abilities.[1]
    • Superhuman Speed: Thawne is capable of moving at vast superhuman speeds, fast enough to match Barry Allen.[34] After having been beaten by the Flash in his early years, a more experienced Thawne (who had regained his lost memories) is shown to be faster than a younger version of Barry,[2] who admitted as such.[8] A younger Thawne is also shown to be able to subdue a more experienced Barry after catching him off-guard.[13] However, due to his obsessive desperation to be like Barry, Thawne can never let himself be faster than the person he wants to be.[49] When fighting the Flash, Thawne raced around the Earth dozens of times and across space and time at incalculable speeds.[9] His immense speed allows him to generate superhuman force, allowing him to deal devastating blows to opponents.[22]
    • Superhuman Reflexes: Thawne possesses reflexes far greater than a normal human being. This allows him to easily react to danger and events, and perceive the world in slow motion.[22]
    • Superhuman Stamina: Thawne's body can handle the stress of moving at superhuman speeds for long periods of time without getting tired or weak.[22]
    • Superhuman Agility: Thawne's agility, balance, and bodily coordination are enhanced to superhuman levels. This allows him to easily maneuver while moving at superhuman speed.[22]
    • Superhuman Strength: Thawne can use his speed to amplify his natural strength. In a fight with Batman, Thawne was able to easily toss Bruce around with great force, and deliver deadly blows with his fists.[22] He has been shown capable of effortlessly lifting and dragging the Flash around at super-speed, using only hand.[2] He was also able to easily break Kid Flash's bones and tendons by applying pressure with his foot.[18]
    • Negative Speed Force Aura: The Negative Speed Force manifests a protective aura around Thawne's entire body that shields him from the negative effects of moving at super-speed, such as air friction and kinetic impacts.
      • Superhuman Durability: Thawne can resist tremendous kinetic impact forces with ease. He has been able to withstand hits from the Flash while moving at intense speeds, endure a point blank blast of lightning to the face,[4] and even withstand being pushed through time and pummeled into the ground of a prehistoric Earth.[9]
    • Dimensional Travel: Thawne can use his speed to travel in and out of the timestream, allowing him to travel to other planes of reality and traverse dimensions at will.[1] He is also able to instantly travel in and out of the Negative Speed Force,[16] and can also enter the positive Speed Force.[6][38]
    • Electrokinesis: Thawne is able to generate and manipulate the electrical energy that he draws from the Negative Speed Force. This lightning emanates off of him as red electrical arcs from all around his body, and from his eyes as streaks, especially when he moves at super speed.[22]
      • Electro-Blast: Thawne can project powerful arcs and blasts of his Negative Speed Force lightning.[3]
      • Electromagnetism: Thawne's electrokinetic abilities allow him to disrupt and control the electromagnetic spectrum to some extent. He mainly uses this power to control his suit's armor. When he releases his suit from his ring, the pieces of it are conducted by his lightning to form the suit around him.[2] Thawne's lightning has also been shown to interfere with, and fry electronics.[1]
      • Life Absorption: By creating an electrical field around a person and focusing it, Thawne can use his negative energy to "steal years" from other's lifelines, adding to his power. This process rapidly ages the victim to death. [8][9]
    • Enhanced Senses: The Negative Speed Force grants Thawne enhanced senses that allow him to perceive the world at a rate attuned his reaction speed, as well as grants him extra temporal senses.
      • Cosmic Awareness: Thawne was able to "feel" the presence of Doctor Manhattan, "like a wave of static electricity", and was aware of his alterations to time and reality, despite no one else having knowledge of this at the time.[1]
    • Molecular Acceleration: Thawne can vibrate his own molecular structure at varying degrees for a number of purposes, by adjusting to different frequencies. Through contact, he can even use his vibrations to send someone back to their home dimension.[15]
      • Hypnosis: Thawne can speak at a hypnotic frequency that can push and pull others to do things they would never do, by subconsciously creating doubt in their minds. He has used this ability to manipulate the Flashes on multiple instances. Thawne can do this at a vibrational frequency that makes him imperceptible to other speedsters, leaving no trace that he was ever there.[3] He could even use this to completely brainwash people, as he did to Dawn and Don Allen.[15]
      • Intangibility: By vibrating his molecules on an atomic level, and by doing so at just the right frequency, Thawne can allow himself to become intangible, allowing people or objects to pass right through him.[22]
      • Phasing: By vibrating his molecules at just the right frequency, Thawne can allow himself to become momentarily intangible, and phase through objects.[22]
      • Possession: By vibrating at the right frequency, Thawne can possess the bodies of others. He was able to merge himself with Barry Allen, sending Barry's essence into the Speed Force, leaving Thawne with complete control over his body.[14]
    • Regeneration: Thawne can regenerate from injury much faster than any normal human, and is able to regrow entire body parts and organs.[8]
      • Resurrection: Even after being disintegrated by Doctor Manhattan, Thawne's ability to regenerate allowed him to be resurrected.[8][2]
    • Retrocognition: After being revived as a result of his alternate self being hit by Doctor Manhattan's lightning, Thawne gained memories of events that had been erased following the Flashpoint, including his death at the hands of Thomas Wayne.[21][35][18][2][16][9] He also experiences every single one of his deaths, including those from prior timelines and versions of reality, at the same time.[4] A younger version of Thawne, who was pulled out of the timeline by the Flash,[39][5] was also able to gain his deceased older self's memories,[3] including the memories that had been restored by the lightning.[4]
    • Shock Wave Projection: Thawne possess the ability to create very powerful sonic booms and shock waves with just the clap of his hands,[22] or a snap of his fingers.[35]
    • Time Travel: Thawne can use his speed to freely travel throughout time, and does not need assistance from the Cosmic Treadmill.[1] He is master of time travel and time manipulation.[13]
      • Cheating Death: Thawne's ability to travel through time, when combined with his knowledge of all versions of his personal history, allows him to change his fate. This is shown by how a version of Thawne who was removed from the timeline by the Flash was able to avoid the events that led to the deaths of a future version of himself,[4][39][5] through his awareness of those events.[7]
      • Reality Alteration: Thawne's ability to travel throughout the timestream allows him to manipulate events at will to satisfy his own needs.[1] By taking his time within the moment and jumping back into the timestream before time restarts, Thawne can change history without shattering the timeline (and thus, without causing any side-effects, such as a Flashpoint).[13]

Abilities

  • Deception: Thawne organized each of his acolytes' origin stories, forcing them to trust him as he "saved" them at just the right time; a ploy he kept up for centuries.[41] He was also able to manipulate Barry into trusting him multiple times, only to subsequently betray him.[16][13]
  • Genius Level Intellect/Science: Thawne's brilliant mind and broad science acumen enabled him to harness residual energy traces off Flash's old costume and create a "negative" version of the Speed Force in order to fuel his own powers.[1]
  • Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced): Thawne's mastery over his speed has allowed him to become a dangerous and experienced fighter. Utilizing his powers, Thawne created an effective fighting style to combat all types of opponents.[47][40] He has even faced highly experienced fighters like Batman and won.[22] Due to him remembering everything about his past lives involving Earth-One, New Earth, Flashpoint, and Prime Earth. He's an expert and deadly combatant against anyone he faces in battle.[21][35][2][16][9] Thawne has lived and trained for centuries, allowing him to become not only a master of his powers, but become a dangerous and experienced opponent in the process.[50][51][52][53]
  • Historiography: Thawne is very knowledgeable on world history and culture, spanning all the way back to Magali's ancient times.[41] In addition to being an expert on the history of the Flash,[18][2] Thawne has also memorized every version of his own entire history, past and future, including all the changes and deaths.[4][7]
  • Intimidation: Thawne's intimidating presence can be attributed to his immense power and sociopathic mentality.
  • Leadership: Thawne led a team of his own "acolytes", dedicated to taking down the "demon" Flash.[41]
  • Mechanical Engineering: After discovering Rip Hunter's lost journals, Thawne was capable of building a Cosmic Treadmill, similar to the Flash's original one.[40]
  • Multilingualism: Thawne speaks English, Nahuatl, Spanish, and Zulu.[41]
  • Pedagogy: As a professor, Thawne shared his vast knowledge regarding the Flash and the Speed Force with others.[2] As the leader of his acolytes, Thawne was concerned with teaching them how to best use their metahuman abilities, as well as other knowledge they would need to combat the Flash.[41]
  • Tactical Analysis: Thawne had been teaching tactics to his acolytes for centuries, preparing them for the battle against the Flash.[47]
  • Temporal Mechanics: Thawne holds expertise in the study and theory of time, being aware of and able to identify the "strange" nature of alterations to the timeline. His unmatched understanding of this concept make Thawne a master of both time travel and time manipulation,[10][7] allowing him to alter the timeline in the way he wants without consequences, something that other speedsters cannot do.[13] He also possesses great knowledge and understanding of the Speed Force and Negative Speed Force.

Other Characteristics

Equipment

  • Costume: Thawne's costume is a near-exact duplicate of Barry's, but with the colors and emblem reversed (red and yellow are swapped, white is black). Also, unlike Barry's, his mask does not usually cover his chin. The New 52 costume was black and yellow, with a diamond red and black emblem.
  • Costume Ring: Thawne possesses a ring, similar to (or the same as) the one owned by Flash, which he uses to store his costume in.
  • Lightning Rod (Formerly): Thawne used to own a lightning rod that could channel the Speed Force into a destructive force.[7]
  • Power-Theft Glove (Formerly): Thawne briefly held a glove, created by Henry Allen, to steal the powers of others connected to the Speed Force.

Weapons


  • Reverse-Flash was created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, first appearing in The Flash #139. However, in the Prime Earth continuity, Reverse-Flash first appeared as part of the New 52 DC Universe in The Flash (Volume 4) #40 by Robert Venditti, Van Jensen, and Brett Booth.
  • In the New 52, Thawne was an amalgam of both New Earth Zooms. Like the previous Eobard Thawne, he comes from the 25th Century, and like Hunter Zolomon, he was haunted by the trauma of his father killing his mother. His powers were also based on both his New Earth self's Speed Force connection and Zolomon's chronokinesis.
  • With DC Rebirth, Thawne is restored to his original status quo. His powers are once again superspeed derived from his Negative Speed Force[1] and his origin is revised to be closer to his Pre-Flashpoint one, albeit with some differences and a changed motive:
    • Rather than being a former fan of the Flash whose idolism of Barry turned into hatred after Barry defeated him and turned him in for engineering threats to people,[54][55] Thawne remains an obsessive fan who sought to rehabilitate himself after that[2] and only became the Reverse-Flash after later coming to believe that only by tormenting Barry will he spend time with him.[9]
    • Instead of already being the Flash Museum professor when he first managed to tap into the Speed Force,[54] he became a professor and the Flash Museum curator as part of his rehabilitation.[2]
    • Rather than his parents dying when he was an adult (due to his future self),[54] they died when he was a child.[2]
    • Instead of wanting to kill Barry,[55] Thawne seeks to ruin Barry's life until he starts to treat him specially and see him as his true friend.[2][9]
  • Thawne's electrokinesis allows him to glow his eyes red, with his sclera turned black.
  • Thawne had grey hair in the New 52 (similar to when New Earth Thawne was reintroduced), while DC Rebirth changes the color to red (the character's original hair colour).
  • In spite of the character's Rebirth revision, Thawne's New 52 history is shown to have still existed in-continuity, to some extent, and hasn't been entirely retconned.[48][2] This discrepancy has yet to be explained, though his New 52 self's history with Barry Allen is shown to chronologically take place after his Rebirth self's first meeting and battles with Barry (including Flashpoint).[2]
  • Thawne has died and been resurrected numerous times:

Related

Footnotes

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 The Flash (Volume 5) #21
  2. 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 2.23 2.24 2.25 2.26 2.27 2.28 The Flash (Volume 5) #25
  3. 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 The Flash #761
  4. 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 The Flash #753
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 The Flash #757
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 The Flash #762
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 The Flash #754
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 The Flash (Volume 5) #23
  9. 9.00 9.01 9.02 9.03 9.04 9.05 9.06 9.07 9.08 9.09 9.10 9.11 The Flash (Volume 5) #27
  10. 10.0 10.1 The Flash (Volume 5) #88
  11. 11.0 11.1 The Flash Annual (Volume 5) #1
  12. 12.0 12.1 The Flash #752
  13. 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 The Flash #755
  14. 14.0 14.1 The Flash #758
  15. 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 The Flash #760
  16. 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 16.5 The Flash (Volume 5) #26
  17. 17.0 17.1 The Flash #759
  18. 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 18.5 The Flash (Volume 5) #24
  19. Batman/Superman (Volume 2) #10
  20. 20.0 20.1 20.2 The Flash: Rebirth (Volume 2) #1
  21. 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 21.5 21.6 The Flash (Volume 5) #19
  22. 22.00 22.01 22.02 22.03 22.04 22.05 22.06 22.07 22.08 22.09 22.10 22.11 22.12 22.13 22.14 Batman (Volume 3) #21
  23. 23.0 23.1 23.2 Batman (Volume 3) #84
  24. 24.0 24.1 Flashpoint Beyond #0
  25. 25.0 25.1 Flashpoint Beyond #3
  26. The Flash #750
  27. The Flash (Volume 5) #9
  28. The Flash (Volume 5) #46
  29. The Flash (Volume 5) #47
  30. The Flash (Volume 5) #48
  31. The Flash (Volume 5) #51
  32. The Flash 2021 Annual #1
  33. Heroes in Crisis #
  34. 34.0 34.1 Batman (Volume 3) #22
  35. 35.0 35.1 35.2 35.3 35.4 35.5 35.6 The Flash (Volume 5) #22
  36. Deathstroke (Volume 4) #24
  37. 37.0 37.1 Deathstroke (Volume 4) #25
  38. 38.0 38.1 38.2 Superboy: The Man of Tomorrow #2
  39. 39.0 39.1 39.2 39.3 The Flash #756
  40. 40.0 40.1 40.2 40.3 40.4 40.5 40.6 40.7 40.8 The Flash (Volume 4) #47
  41. 41.0 41.1 41.2 41.3 41.4 41.5 41.6 41.7 The Flash Annual (Volume 4) #4
  42. The Flash (Volume 4) #40
  43. The Flash (Volume 4) #42
  44. The Flash (Volume 4) #43
  45. 45.0 45.1 45.2 The Flash (Volume 4) #44
  46. 46.0 46.1 46.2 The Flash (Volume 4) #45
  47. 47.0 47.1 47.2 47.3 The Flash (Volume 4) #46
  48. 48.0 48.1 The Flash (Volume 5) #7
  49. DC Nation (Volume 2) #2
  50. The Flash Annual (Volume 4) #4
  51. The Flash (Volume 4) #45
  52. The Flash (Volume 4) #46
  53. The Flash (Volume 4) #47
  54. 54.0 54.1 54.2 The Flash (Volume 3) #8
  55. 55.0 55.1 Flashpoint: Reverse Flash #1


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