History Characters / TheFlashTheReverseFlashes

** Inverted then played straight in the ''Rebirth'' comics. The "Running Scared" storyline concluded with Iris vaporising Eobard with a future gun, which was then followed by the return of a repowered Hunter Zolomon in the events leading up to "Flash War". Then, after Hunter's HeelFaceTurn and HeroicSacrifice and a spell without any Reverse-Flash, "The Flash Age" storyline brought Eobard back once more as part of a very uneasy EnemyMine with Barry and Godspeed against Paradox.
* RedBaron: Admittedly part and parcel of being known as a Reverse-Flash - but even then Eobard, Hunter and Thad are well-known known and feared as Professor Zoom, Zoom and Inertia outside of the Reverse-Flash moniker.

* CloningBlues: His status as a clone adds to his hate of Bart.

* EvilCounterpart: Hence the name "''Reverse''-Flash".

* AbusiveParents: His father was physically and emotionally abusive in his youth, due to blaming Daniel for the death of his mother when birthing him. Eventually, the old man killed his pet insects out of sheer sadism, leading Daniel to [[StartOfDarkness snap and push him down the stairs...]]

* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Dies in ''New Suicide Squad'']].

* PredecessorVillain: Clariss was the first villain to be presented as an evil version of the Flash -- and one with a personal rivalry with Flash himself to boot. While Eobard Thawne and Hunter Zolomon are far better known and fleshed out, Clariss set the stage for them and many of the other villains on this page. When he returns from the Speed Force, Jay even refers to him as "a kind of Reverse-Flash."

* OneSteveLimit: While being BackFromTheDead is alarmingly common for any Reverse-Flash, there's never more than one active (or even alive) at any one time:
** For decades, the only Reverse-Flash was Eobard Thawne, who would occasionally pop into stories set after his death due to TimeTravel. This lasted until the late 1990s when Geoff Johns aimed to give Wally West a Thawne-like villain without resurrecting him and created Hunter Zolomon as Zoom. After a few years of Zolomon as Zoom, Thawne would return in ''The Flash: Rebirth'' (also written by Johns) - which was immediately preceded by Zoom being depowered in ''Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge'' (as well as Zolomon's self-appointed successor Kid Zoom being blasted to death by the Rogues in the same story).

** For decades, the only Reverse-Flash was Eobard Thawne, who would occasionally pop into stories set after his death due to TimeTravel. This lasted until the late 2000s when Geoff Johns aimed to give Wally West a Thawne-like villain and created Hunter Zolomon as Zoom. After a few years of Zolomon as Zoom, Thawne would return in ''The Flash: Rebirth'' (also written by Johns) - which was immediately preceded by Zoom being depowered in ''Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge'' (as well as Zolomon's self-appointed successor Kid Zoom being blasted to death by the Rogues in the same story).

** The ComicBook/New52 began with Daniel West as Reverse-Flash, but then Professor Zoom's early return (due to the popularity of the 2014 TV show's take on the character) led to Daniel being moved to the ''New Suicide Squad'' comic -- eventually pulling a HeroicSacrifice that [[spoiler:has (seemingly) killed him for good]]. After some reality-warping shenanigans from Dr. Manhattan, this eventually the original pre-''Flashpoint'' version of Thawne free to reclaim the Reverse-Flash mantle.

** Eobard Thawne's return in ''The Flash: Rebirth'' was immediately preceded by his successor Zoom (Hunter Zolomon) being depowered in ''Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge'' (as well as Zolomon's self-appointed successor Kid Zoom being blasted to death by the Rogues).
** The ComicBook/New52 began with Daniel West as Reverse-Flash, but then Professor Zoom's return led to Daniel being moved to the ''New Suicide Squad'' comic -- eventually pulling a HeroicSacrifice that [[spoiler:has (seemingly) killed him for good]] and, after some reality-warping shenanigans from Dr. Manhattan, eventually leaving the original pre-''Flashpoint'' version of Thawne as the only Reverse-Flash.
** Inverted then played straight in the ''Rebirth'' comics. The "Running Scared" storyline concluded with Iris vaporising Eobard with a future gun, which was then followed by the return of a repowered Hunter Zolomon in the events leading up to "Flash War". Then, after Hunter's HeelFaceTurn and HeroicSacrifice and a spell without any Reverse-Flash, "The Flash Age" storyline brought Eobard back one more as part of a very uneasy EnemyMine against Paradox.

Daniel West is the brother of Iris West. When Daniel was born, complications resulted in the death of his mother. Daniel's father never stopped blaming Daniel and would regularly abuse the boy, who grew up resentful, but still loved his sister Iris. After his father killed his pet insects, Daniel pushed his father down the stairs, rendering him paraplegic. Daniel ran away from home, leaving his sister behind to grow to resent him for what he had done and his abandonment of her, though he still loved her. Daniel would fall in with a bad crowd and end up in prison for five years after being caught committing an armed robbery on his eighteenth birthday.

When Daniel crashed into a monorail carrying a Speed Force battery, he gained Speed Force powers. He began murdering others gifted with the Speed Force in order to strengthen his own power, so that he could go back in time and supposedly fix his life by murdering his father instead of crippling him. However, he was stopped by Barry Allen and imprisoned, though made no secret of his desire to try again.

* [[AbsurdlyYouthfulMother Absurdly Youthful Father]]/AgeLift: Originally, he's at most 24 when he becomes Reverse-Flash, as he's explicitly said to have been caught by the Flash two days after his eighteenth birthday and was sentenced to 5 years in prison (and the Flash would've debuted 5 years ago at the start of the New 52 as per DC's "Five Year Timeline" rule), and the current stories took at best a year to play out. However, Wallace West debuted as a teenager back when Daniel was just his uncle, meaning Daniel would have had to have fathered Wallace ''when he was 11 years old''. In the ''Rebirth'' era, at the start of which their real relationship was "revealed", Wallace is established to be 16, making this even more unbelievable. Eventually, a flashback was shown that depicted him as a teenager or young adult during the birth of ''Wally'' West, meaning Daniel got an Age Lift to make his relationship with Wallace more believable.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: He's sincere about his love for his sister, Iris. He attacks everyone who entered the Speed Force, except her, and is devastated when she [[TakingTheBullet Takes the Bullet]] for Flash and gets wounded. More complex with Wallace -- all indications are he genuinely tried with his son and wanted him to make more of himself than Daniel ever did, but wasn't above lying to Wallace regarding his remorse over his crimes.

* [[AbsurdlyYouthfulMother Absurdly Youthful Father]]/AgeLift: Originally, he's about 24 when he becomes Reverse-Flash, as he's explicitly said to have been caught by the Flash on his eighteenth birthday, and the current stories took at best a year to play out, and Barry debuted about five years ago per the New 52's "five year" timeline. Age Lift may have been in effect in order to make him the father of Wallace West, who is at least 16 in the ''Rebirth'' era, at the start of which their relationship was revealed. Eventually, a flashback is shown that depicts him as a teenager or adult during the birth of ''Wally'' West, which does mean he got an Age Lift to make his relationship with Wallace more believable.

* UniquenessDecay: Unfortunately the concept got hit by this big time in the modern age due to the introduction of other evil speedsters - many of whom are also detailed on this page.

The ArchEnemy of Barry Allen for nearly 60 years, Eobard Thawne's loathing of the second Flash has extended from the Silver Age through to the ''Rebirth'' era, being responsible for numerous tragedies for the Flash family.

Daniel West is the brother of Iris West, Barry Allen's most prominent love interest. When Daniel was born, complications resulted in the death of his mother. Daniel's father never stopped blaming Daniel and would regularly abuse the boy, who grew up resentful, but still loved his sister Iris. After his father killed his pet insects, Daniel pushed his father down the stairs, rendering him paraplegic. Daniel ran away from home, leaving his sister behind to grow to resent him for what he had done and his abandonment of her, though he still loved her. Daniel would fall in with a bad crowd and end up in prison for five years.

When Daniel crashed into a monorail carrying a Speed Force battery, he gained Speed Force powers. He began murdering others gifted with the Speed Force in order to strengthen his own power, so that he could go back in time and supposedly fix his life by murdering his father instead of crippling him. However, he was stopped by Barry and imprisoned, though made no secret of his desire to try again.

He is also the CoolUncle of Wallace West, later retconned into being his father.

The ArchEnemy of Barry Allen for nearly 60 years, Eobard Thawne's loathing of the second Flash has extended from the Silver Age through to the ''Rebirth'' era, being responsible for numerous tragedies for the Flash family. Sadistic, brutal and consumed by envy of Barry, Thawne is probably the most influential and enduring of the evil speedsters.

** Taken UpToEleven when the Injustice Society freed him from the Speed Force -- blaming Jay for what happened to him, he tried to kill Jay's wife Joan. Latterly, he attempted to prolong Joan's dying from cancer as much as possible to make Jay suffer.

* VillainousLegacy: He's only present in ''The Flash'' for one major story arc ("Reverse") before moving to ''New Suicide Squad'' and [[spoiler:dying there]], but the memory of what he did and his relationship[ with Wallace continues to be a plot point in the ''Rebirth'' era, leading Wallace to search for the truth of what happened to him and why his father lied to him, eventually contributing to the rift between Flash and Kid Flash.

'''Supporting Characters'''\\
[[Characters/TheFlashTheFlashFamily The Flash Family]] | [[Characters/TheFlashSupportingCharacters Supporting Characters]] | [[Characters/TheFlashOtherSpeedsters Other Speedsters]]\\
'''Enemies'''\\
[[Characters/TheFlashEvilSpeedsters Evil Speedsters]] | '''The Reverse-Flashes''' ([[Characters/TheFlashEobardThawne Eobard Thawne]] | [[Characters/TheFlashHunterZolomon Hunter Zolomon]]) | [[Characters/TheFlashTheRogues The Rogues]] | [[Characters/TheFlashOtherVillains Other Villains]]-]]]]]

* {{Archenemy}}: To Bart Allen.

--->'''Thaddeus:''' He screamed like a little bitch...

* HatedByAll: Suffers from this after he tricks the Rogues into killing Bart Allen. Wally West comes to consider Thad as an irredeemable monster, and the Rogues hate him for sticking them with a murder charge. Even Zoom hates him, having [[VillainRespect respected Bart]] for doing his best to become a better hero.
** [[spoiler:Averted in ''Flash'' #760, where [[AllLovingHero Barry Allen]] sympathetically describes him as a "kid in pain".]]
* HateSink: While he was portrayed fairly sympathetically in ''Mercury Falling'', Thad is afterwards written as a smug, arrogant, condescending sociopath who has no problem ''killing babies''. [[EvenEvilHasStandards Even Zoom and the Rogues are disgusted by him.]] To drive it home, the Rogues usually have strict rules against killing someone as young as Thad. [[KilledOffForReal For him, they made an exception.]]

* MeaningfulName: Roughly translates to "praise" or "desired" in Old Aramaic; sadly enough, that was all he ever wanted.

* ScrewThisImOutOfHere: [[spoiler:After ineffectually harassing Barry for a few minutes, he takes off back into the Speed Force.]]
* SlasherSmile: In a way the complete opposite of Bart in this area. While Bart grins are full of warmth and good natured mischief, his are wild, deranged and actually sometimes borderline NightmareFuel

---> '''Wally West:''' He's just an irredeemable sociopath with Bart's face.

* TookALevelInJerkass: Goes from a tragic villain to an amoral monster.

* {{Tykebomb}}: Was created as the Thawne counter to Bart.

* BigBadWannabe: His limited time as Reverse-Flash and subsequent VillainDecay give this impression -- all the more since he proceeded towards a HeelRealization fairly rapidly in ''New Suicide Squad'', rendering both the Bad and Wannabe parts moot. He was replaced by Professor Zoom as Barry's ArchEnemy after just one arc, and the post-''Crisis'' Thawne treated Daniel's memory with nothing but [[PretenderDiss irritation]] once he returned, to the point of completely disowning him from the Reverse-Flash name.[[note]]It's worth noting that in contrast to Daniel, Eobard gleefully accepted Hunter as his successor, probably due to Hunter honoring Eobard's legacy instead of taking the name all for himself.[[/note]]Since [[spoiler: his death]] he's been reduced to little better than a cautionary tale for Kid Flash not to misuse his powers.

* BusCrash: He was [[PutOnABus sent to]] ''New Suicide Squad'' as part of a reconstituted team, [[spoiler: and then died there in an explosion [[DyingToBeReplaced to cement Thawne as Barry's main speedster nemesis once more]].]]

* DemotedToExtra: Was initially introduced as the EvilCounterpart of Barry Allen in the ''New 52'' until Eobard Thawne's return hit him [[DroppedABridgeOnHim pretty]] [[DyingToBeReplaced hard]]. Since ''Rebirth'' he's only appeared in flashbacks and dream sequences before [[spoiler: being confirmed as dead by Captain Boomerang, leaving Eobard as the main Reverse-Flash again]].

* DyingToBeReplaced: Died in ''New Suicide Squad'' to make way for Eobard Thawne.
** Fully invoking this trope, the issue [[spoiler: where his death is confirmed by [[UnreliableNarrator Captain Boomerang]]]] also features a ''major'' return for Eobard Thawne, literally replacing one Reverse-Flash with the other. Lampshaded by Thawne himself later on.
---> ''' Iris West:''' Daniel was a monster when he was Reverse-Flash...
---> ''' [[WhamShot The Reverse-Flash (Eobard Thawne)]]:''' Actually, and I hate to quibble, but...there is only '''one''' Reverse-Flash.

* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: Dies in ''New Suicide Squad''.]]

* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: His motivation is to go back in time and prevent the event that estranged Iris from him and ruined his life. See FreudianExcuse above for details.

* SuccessfulSiblingSyndrome: Iris carving out a successful path for herself fueled Daniel's bitterness about how his life turned out and contributed to his StartOfDarkness.

* UnknownRival: To the returned pre-''Flashpoint'' Eobard Thawne, who expressed [[PretenderDiss a distinct contempt]] for the idea of there being another Reverse-Flash in Barry's life. It's also true in a meta sense, as of the two Reverse-Flashes associated with Barry (Eobard and Daniel) Thawne is by far the one with the greatest impact on and significance to Barry's life, compared to Daniel's relatively brief tenure.

* VillainousLegacy: He's only present in ''The Flash'' for one major story arc ("Reverse") before moving to ''New Suicide Squad'' and [[spoiler: dying there]], but the memory of what he did and his relationship[ with Wallace continues to be a plot point in the ''Rebirth'' era, leading Wallace to search for the truth of what happened to him and why his father lied to him, eventually contributing to the rift between Flash and Kid Flash.

-->''"For fifty years I've been trapped in the Speed Force -- then Sorrow freed me, asking only one thing in return. Your head. "''

->'''A.K.A.:''' Doctor Edward Clariss
->'''First appearance:''' ''Flash Comics'' #104 (February 1949)
->'''Hair color:''' Black

The ArchEnemy of Barry Allen for nearly 60 years, Eobard Thawne's loathing of the second Flash has extended from the Silver Age through to the ''Rebirth'' era, being responsible for numerous tragedies for the Flash family. Sadistic, brutal and consumed by envy of Barry, Thawne is probably the most influential and enduring of the evil speedsters. For a complete list of tropes regarding him, please see [[Characters/TheFlashEobardThawne his own page]].

Formerly a friend and ally to Wally West, Hunter Zolomon would be twisted and driven to desperation by a series of personal tragedies, eventually trying to use the Cosmic Treadmill to travel back in time to fix his life. The fallout from this gave him incredible powers but warped his sanity and worldview, leading him to take up the Reverse-Flash costume and become Wally's ArchEnemy Zoom. For a complete list of tropes regarding him, please see [[Characters/TheFlashHunterZolomon his own page]].

-->''He will never have what Impulse has; will never know their approval, their pride...their love.''

->'''A.K.A.:''' Thaddeus Thawne II
->'''First appearance:''' ''Impulse'' #50 (July 1999)
->'''Hair color:''' Blond
->'''Eye color:''' Yellow

-->''The last time I was happy, I was eight years old.''

->'''A.K.A.:''' Daniel West
->'''First appearance:''' ''The Flash'' Vol. 4 #0 (September 2012)
->'''Hair color:''' Brown
->'''Eye color:''' Green

-->[[Characters/TheFlash Back to the main The Flash characters index]]