History Characters / ArrowverseTheLegionOfDoom

[[redirect:Characters/ArrowverseTimeMasters]]

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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lod.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Why don't we work together to change our destinies?"'']]

The [[BigBadDuumvirate Big Bad Trio]] that cause the Legends no end of trouble in Season Two, made up some of the most dangerous villains that vexed their friends [[Series/TheFlash2014 Flash]] and [[Series/{{Arrow}} Green Arrow]]: Eobard Thawne - the Reverse-Flash, Damien Darhk - leader of the HIVE, and Malcolm Merlyn - the Dark Archer.
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[[foldercontrol]]

!The Legion of Doom

[[folder: In General]]
* ArchEnemy: Each of them is this to either Barry or Oliver. Darhk is also one to Sara ever since he killed Laurel.
* BigBadDuumvirate: A four man ensemble with Thawne being the one in charge.
* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: To Vandal Savage. Vandal Savage was an immortal who could only be killed by Hawkgirl who played the LongGame in the shadows to conquer the Earth with the the aide of the Time Masters. In contrast the Legion of Doom who are well known villains. Vandal Savage had a legion of followers, the Legion has only themselves and whatever hired help they pick up in what era they're visiting.
* ClothesMakeTheSuperman: Thawne can use his speed to travel through time, while the others need a time sphere to do it.
* DebutQueue: Thawne and Darhk appear in the Season Two Premiere with the other members joining them in subsequent episodes.
* EvilCounterpart: Much like the Legends, they're a team of powered individuals with time travel capabilities that originally came from ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' and ''Series/TheFlash2014''. This is somewhat of an unusual example given that typically in the ''Franchise/{{Arrowverse}}'' the hero's EvilCounterpart appears as the ''first'' season's BigBad, whereas here they're the BigBad for season 2.
* EvilPlan: [[spoiler: They want to find the SpearOfDestiny which will give them the power to rewrite reality itself.]]
* FourIsDeath: A doom of four members.
%%* FourPhilosophyEnsemble
%%* FourTemperamentEnsemble
* LegionOfDoom: They're made up from various Big Bads from ''Arrow'' and ''The Flash''.
* MythologyGag: Merlyn was a very minor member in the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' incarnation of the Legion, used only as background character.
* NoodleIncident: It's never explained how the villains meet, it all happens offscreen.
* RoguesGalleryTransplant: Originally respective {{Big Bad}}s of ''Arrow'' and ''Flash''.
* SharpDressedMan: Both Malcolm and Darhk favor really fancy suits while Thawne prefers to dress in a casual leather jacket.
* ScrewDestiny: They join up to turn their failures into victories.
* {{Transplant}}: All of them were major villains who faced off against the Flash or Green Arrow before they decided to team up and make life hell for the Legends.
* VillainTeamUp: An interesting variation in that instead of facing off their respective nemeses, Green Arrow and the Flash, they're fighting those heroes' friends and allies - the Legends instead.
* VillainousFriendship: They all get along quite well - especially Thawne and Darhk. Though Thawne can be annoyed by some of Malcolm's snarkier comments.
* WalkingSpoiler: Thawne, Darhk, and Merlyn being members has been well advertised in press releases and promotional photographs, while [[spoiler: Captain Cold's involvement has been very hush hush.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Eobard Thawne / The Reverse-Flash]]
!! Professor Eobard Thawne / The Reverse-Flash
[[quoteright:339:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/reverseflash.jpg]][[caption-width-right:339:[[labelnote:Click here to see his unmasked true form.]][[quoteright:340:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vlcsnap_2016_11_12_20h18m00s452.jpg]][[/labelnote]]]][[caption-width-right:339:[[labelnote:Click here to see him as "Harrison Wells".]][[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/eobardthawne_theflash.jpg]][[/labelnote]]]]

->'''Known Aliases:''' The Reverse-Flash, The Man in Yellow, "The Man in the Ball of Lightning", "Harrison Wells"
->'''Played By:''' Creator/MattLetscher; Creator/TomCavanagh (as "Harrison Wells"); Victor Garber (as "Martin Stein")
->'''Appearances:''' ''Series/{{The Flash|2014}}'' | ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow''

The Fastest Maniac Alive.

A mysterious man wearing a yellow version of the Flash's suit and apparently having the same super speed abilities. He's also been dubbed "the Man in a Ball of Lightning" and "the Man in the Yellow Suit". A man from the future; he idolized Barry Allen to the point of obsession, wanting to be the Flash. Successfully recreating the means in which Barry got his powers, he developed the ability to travel through time, finding out the truth: His destiny was not to be the Flash, but his greatest enemy. This caused Thawne to GoMadFromTheRevelation, deciding if he was to be the Flash's enemy, he would be the greatest enemy he ever had. Eventually, he discovered Barry's real identity, traveling back to the year 2000 to murder him as a child. Barry got away, so Thawne murdered Nora Allen instead, framing her husband Henry for it. Unfortunately for him, in doing so, he caused a chain of events that stripped him of his powers and trapped him in the past. Murdering the founder of STAR Labs and assuming his identity, he built the Particle Accelerator that gave Barry his powers decades before it's supposed to be and supposedly lost the use of his legs in the explosion when it malfunctioned.

After Barry got his powers, he and Joe reopened Nora's case, hoping to bring her killer to justice and free Henry. But unknown to Barry, he's still in Central City and keeping a close eye on Barry's loved ones, specifically as a scientist searching for metahumans who helps Barry understand his powers. Training Barry to get faster and use his powers, The Flash had no idea that the monster who killed his mother was hidden in plain sight...
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* AbusiveParents: After Thawne's death, Grodd recalls that "Father never ask; Father take", implying that, for all his kindness to Grodd, Thawne was still far from the kindliest of father figures.
* AchillesHeel: Ray Palmer's [[PowerNullifier nanite-laced arrows]]. They only temporarily remove his powers, but it's enough for The Arrow to subdue him. [[TheJuggernaut Nothing else can stop this guy.]]
* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: In the comics, Eobard never particularly cared about getting back to his original timeline, as he'd much rather just screw over the Flash and his life and loved ones. Here, he's marooned in an age he considers "barbaric" and ''desperately'' wants to get home.
* AdaptationalHeroism: It's a minor, but nonetheless notable case.
** The Thawne from the comics is incapable of feeling ''any'' kind of affection towards anybody but himself. Here, he genuinely grows fond of Team Flash (especially Cisco), despite still having no qualms about killing them.
** In the original Flashpoint, Thawne is happy to let the whole world go to hell if it means Barry is suffering. [[spoiler: Here however he encourages him to fix it, albeit because he wants to kill his mother and get home, but he does leave Barry alive after partially getting them back to the proper timeline. Therefore, while he is somewhat more heroic, it's entirely because he doesn't want Barry's screwup to have a negative impact on ''him''.]]
* AdaptationNameChange: In the comics, the name of S.T.A.R. Labs' founder is either Robert Meersman (Silver Age) or Garrison Slate (New Earth). [[SubvertedTrope Again]], his actual counterpart is Eobard Thawne, not the founder of S.T.A.R. Labs.
* {{Adorkable}}: He has his moments. They're usually a result of hanging out with Cisco and making movie references together, but he's also got a tendency to geek out over interesting scientific puzzles and has some priceless facial expressions that he pulls in reaction to the team and their shenanigans.
* AlmostDeadGuy: In the first season finale of ''The Flash'', after Eddie shoots himself, putting an end to the Thawne lineage, Eobard lasts long enough before having never existed to ask Barry what he'll do without Thawne around to motivate him.
* AmbiguouslyEvil: Gives off this vibe (to the viewers while most characters don't suspect anything) until his true identity is revealed and it stops being ambiguous. The pilot alone shows he is faking being paraplegic and has hidden knowledge and technology from the future which he uses to monitor the Flash. In the second episode he straight up kills a guy to keep the Flash safe. In later episodes he manipulates certain metahumans into meeting their ends, for his own purposes.
* AmbiguouslyHuman: Gives off this vibe. He certainly ''looks'' like a man, but he's also constantly vibrating in an unstable manner, has glowing red eyes, claims to have goals beyond the understanding of normal humans, and in general gives off a feeling of [[UncannyValley unnaturalness]]. Likely an InvokedTrope on his part to terrify people.
** He's also ambiguously ''metahuman''. While he claims to Eiling to be a metahuman at the end of "Fallout", this seems highly unlikely once we learn more of his origins, especially since the universe's definition of "metahuman" is "one who received powers from the particle accelerator explosion" whether in the original timeline by the real Wells, or six years earlier in the altered one by the impostor. We later find out that he managed to recreate the particle accelerator explosion that gave The Flash his powers.
* AmplifierArtifact: He uses tachyons to artificially increase his speed, which gives him an edge over Barry.
* AndStarring: Tom Cavanagh is given this citation in the ''The Flash''[='=]s OBB. Matt Letscher is promoted to this citation in the Guest Stars lineup starting the second season.
* AndYourLittleDogToo: Promises this to Barry, after the latter stops him from returning to the future.
* AntagonisticOffspring: Or descendant anyway. To Eddie.
* ApologeticAttacker: One of the last things he tends to say to people he kills is "forgive me". Whether or not he really means it is up to interpretation.
* ArchEnemy: He claims that he and Barry have already been at this for a long time, and given his actions so far, not to mention his EvilCounterpart nature, he does seem meant to be this for the poor guy.
--> '''Thawne''': We're enemies, opposites, reverses of each other.
* ArtifactAlias: Even after his true identity of Eobard Thawne is revealed, everyone still keep calling him "Harrison Wells". They start to catch on to this after they have dealings with the Harrison Wells of Earth-2 (who, for obvious reasons, takes issue with hearing his name used to refer to Thawne).
* AscendedExtra: In the comics, the founder of S.T.A.R. Labs was never a big character and isn't integral to any StoryArc. Here, he's vital to the plot. Revealed to be subverted, as his actual counterpart is not the founder of S.T.A.R. Labs but Eobard Thawne, therefore a vital character.
* AscendedFanboy: In a backstory lifted right off the pages of ''The Return of Barry Allen'', Thawne was the Flash's biggest fan in the future and replicated the accident to gain super speed himself. Of course, things took a turn for the worse when he traveled to the past and [[StableTimeLoop discovered the identity of the Flash's archenemy]]...
* AssholeVictim: Being the BigBad and all, he's this by default when he dies.
* AstonishinglyAppropriateAppearance: Not really the case for Tom Cavanagh, but Matt Letscher looks EXACTLY like Eobard Thawne from the comics, [[https://40.media.tumblr.com/4f33c4f9b602a8904d938b6c872c2e5d/tumblr_inline_nm47jytwvN1smr4cz_540.jpg just look!]]
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: The only metahuman member of The LegionOfDoom and the one in-charge.
* BackFromTheDead: Though he was on the receiving end of a RetGone thanks to Eddie, the Flash's meddling in time brought a earlier incarnation of him to the main timeline.
* BadassBoast: He delivers one without even raising his voice, giving a chilling tone to his words.
-->'''Thawne:''' Threaten me again, and I will end you. And I am not talking about your career.
** Also, when facing down the Flash, Firestorm, and The Arrow, he makes it very clear what he thinks of them.
-->'''Flash''': I don't care how fast you are; you can't fight all three of us at the same time!
-->'''Thawne''': *thoroughly amused* ''Oh, I can't?''
* BadassBookworm: His scientific and engineering genius is unrivaled. In addition to building S.T.A.R. Labs and the particle accelerator, he has often provided the key scientific aptitude which has allowed Barry to defeat most of his foes.
* BadassLongcoat: He's wearing one when he [[KillAndReplace killed and replaced]] the real Harrison Wells.
* TheBadGuyWins: In [[Recap/TheFlash2014S1E9TheManInTheYellowSuit "The Man in the Yellow Suit"]], the Reverse-Flash manages to steal the Tachyon Device and brutally beat up Barry before he leaves.
* BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork: It's almost as if he personally chose to be AmbiguouslyEvil as a way to protect Barry by killing anyone who could be a true threat.
* BeardOfEvil: In Season Three, he's shown with one as a result of being imprisoned by the Flash.
* BecauseDestinySaysSo: During his first fight with Barry, he taunts the poor guy with lines like this, claiming that Barry is destined to lose and that Nora was destined to die by his hand. It's unknown if he actually believes this or if he was just using the idea to KickTheDog.
** The reason he becomes the Reverse Flash in the first place is because he went back in time and [[StableTimeLoop learned he was the Reverse Flash]], prompting him to say ThenLetMeBeEvil.
* BecomingTheMask: Eobard Thawne killed Harrison Wells by using a device to transfer Wells' DNA and genetic material to him, in order to assume his identity and build the Particle Accelerator roughly 7 years ahead of schedule. But during that time he developed ''some'' affection towards Caitlin and Cisco; it's unclear if it's Thawne or some remnant of Wells coming out. It's also worth noting that he didn't start apologizing to people he kills until after he did his KillAndReplace on Wells, suggesting that some bit of Wells still exists or their two personalities acclimated, with Thawne's personality still being the more dominant. He admits that not only he actually enjoyed helping with Barry's heroics, he also grew to like him as well despite being bitter enemies with him in another timeline.
* BeenThereShapedHistory: posing as Harrison Wells, Eobard has ingrained himself in various parts of what should be "history" for him: he had dealings with Eiling and Simon Stagg, knew Oliver Queen's father, founded STAR Labs, and became the cause for the rise of most superhumans in the series.
* BenevolentBoss: He was a stern but fair boss to his employees at S.T.A.R. Labs (he saw nothing wrong with Cisco wearing T-shirts to work)... as long as they didn't threaten his plans to make Barry the Flash - and therefore return to his own time. When Ratheway tried warn people that the Particle Accelerator might malfunction Thawne sent him packing.
* BerserkButton: If "The Reverse-Flash Returns" is any indication, being called out on why he hates The Flash is a sore spot.
* BigBad: Of ''The Flash'' Season One. He killed Barry's mother, which kick-started the events of the entire series, and is the true villain behind everything in the first season. He killed the real Harrison Wells and took his place to build the Particle Accelerator and cause the explosion because the only thing that can help him to return to the future is Barry's speed.
* BigBadDuumvirate: In ''Legends of Tomorrow'' Season Two he forms the LegionOfDoom with Malcolm Merlyn and Damien Darhk.
* BigBadFriend: He's Barry's mentor and MissionControl, and he's been doing a magnificent job keeping this under wraps.
* BigFancyHouse: He owns a luxurious pad, much to Team Flash's surprise.
* BloodKnight: Played with. While a man of science, and patient and methodical enough to put a plan into motion that will take over a decade to come to fruition, he nevertheless loves a good fight. He's delighted when Barry brings Arrow and Firestorm to their showdown, and his grin is absolutely ''demonic'' when Arrow steals his speed powers and they start fighting hand-to-hand.
-->'''Flash''': I don't care how fast you are. You can't fight all three of us at the same time.
-->'''Thawne''': Oh, I can't? Trust me. This is going to be ''fun.''
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Implied. He says he loves Cisco like a son but he'll kill without a second thought if he became a threat to his plans.
** It's more like he thinks that being from the future gives him an OmniscientMoralityLicense.
* BodyHorror: His [[KillAndReplace identity theft against Wells involved taking his DNA and grafting it onto his own, leaving the real Wells a husk.]]
* BreakoutCharacter: While everyone's performance are generally well-received, it is universally acknowledged that it was Cavanagh's performance as this character that really drove most of the first season of ''The Flash''.
* BrightIsNotGood: Wears a bright yellow suit and [[BigBad is generally an unpleasant person]].
* BrokenPedestal: It's revealed that ''Barry'' is this to him. Or rather, [[PostHistoricalTrauma Barry's history]].
* BrokenMasquerade:
** After he kills Mason Bridge, Barry finally realizes he's evil. Then he ousts his cover when he coaches Barry how to phase through solid objects which tips Barry off that he's the Reverse-Flash since only a speedster could have such intimate knowledge like that.
** The masquerade is pretty much shattered completely after "Who is Harrison Wells?" Not only do Cisco and Joe find the real Dr. Wells' body, Caitlin, Barry and Cisco find Thawne's secret room in S.T.A.R Labs, housing both the Reverse-Flash suit and the newspaper article from the future.
** It's shattered in "The Trap" so thoroughly that he doesn't even bother to hide it anymore and abandons it completely.
* BroughtDownToBadass: Even after Oliver hits Thawne with an arrow that nullifies his speed for a short time, he still manages to hold his own against Oliver until his speed returns, despite this Oliver having recently been trained by the League of Assassins.
* CastAsAMask: He spends most of the first season of ''The Flash'' impersonating the real Harrison Wells with Tom Cavanagh taking up the role; his real form (played by Matt Letscher) only appears twice in the first season.
** Averted in Season Two of ''The Flash'' when a younger Eobard Thawne travels to this time from the future, however this version of him had not yet traveled back in time to kill Nora Allen, protecting him from the RetGone he suffered at the end of Season 1.
* CelebrityParadox: Cisco mentions ''Series/{{Friends}}'' in Season 1 of ''The Flash''. Matt Letscher was a RecurringCharacter on its SpinOff, ''Series/{{Joey}}''.
* CharacterDevelopment: As his bond and affection for Team Flash grows he becomes less ruthless. Despite this, he doesn't care about them enough to let them stop him. He won't hesitate to kill anyone who could possibly ruin his plans -- and that includes anyone who could expose his secret identity like a certain reporter, or Cisco as shown in another timeline.
* CharacterDeath: He finally gets what's coming to him in the Season One of ''The Flash'' finale, when Eddie kills himself to prevent Eobard from ever being born. [[spoiler: Subverted as of Season Three.]]
* CharacterTic:
** When prodding Barry about his past, or giving him pointers about his speed, he has a habit of taking off his glasses. WordOfGod says Tom Cavangh improvised this.
** He also tends to hint that he's from the future, and he's the Reverse-Flash in ways that only the audience can pick up.
** He spends a lot of time holding random objects (a flask, pens, other stuff he briefly picks up) and fidgeting with them, especially when he's thinking or engaged in conversation.
* TheChessmaster: Barry compares him to one, accusing him of using people as pawns.
** Later episodes show him playing chess. Hartley even compares the battle between him and Thawne's crew as a chess game.
* ChestInsignia: He wears a backwards version of Barry's, with a black circle instead of white or red and a dark red lightning bolt instead of a gold one.
* ClarkKenting: Averted big-time; he vibrates his face and vocal chords just like Barry, and the blazing red eyes don't hurt, either.
* ComicBookMoviesDontUseCodenames: Zig-zagged. While he embraces the moniker of the Reverse-Flash, not once is he ever called Professor Zoom. The closest thing was when he was referred as "Professor" by Gideon during Season 2 of ''The Flash''.
* TheCorrupter: He convinces Plastique to kill General Eiling, since he'll never stop hunting her or others like her to use them as weapons.
* CompositeCharacter:
** After impersonating Harrison Wells, he becomes a combo of the Eobard Thawne and Hunter Zolomon Reverse-Flashes. He has Zolomon's wheelchair-gimmick (though Zolomon really was crippled), plus he is introduced as a friend who the Flash works with, and he is clearly faster than him. Like Eobard Thawne, he has the knowledge of the future, scientific-ability and may very well come from the future. Both had obsessions with the Flash; Thawne was a fanboy obsessed with making Barry go faster, while Zolomon was obsessed with "making The Flash a better hero." These traits of Zolomon are absent when it comes to the incarnation of the character played by Creator/Matt Letscher.
** Deliberately invoked with his impersonation of the S.T.A.R. Labs founder.
* CrazyPrepared: Justified since he's a time traveler. He was well aware that Team Flash would begin to suspect him a being the BigBad, so he has been monitoring them all since day one. When he finds out that they made a trap for him, he outsmarted them and escaped.
* CreateYourOwnVillain: Inverted and enforced. He gets stuck in the past when he and the Flash go back in time to Barry's childhood. However, it's implied that his powers are dependent on the Flash's, and only the Flash's speed is capable of TimeTravel. So in order for him to get home, he tracks down the man responsible for giving the Flash his powers, [[KillAndReplace kills and replaces him]], creates the device that will give the Flash said powers much sooner, and finally, trains him personally until he's fast enough to get him home. Once it's done, he'll presumably [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness just kill him]].
* CurbStompBattle: Both of his first two fights with the Flash go very heavily in his own favor and leave Barry badly shaken. The next episode, the opener had Barry say "I'm not longer the fastest man alive anymore, he is..."
* DarkIsEvil: He wears an [[EvilWearsBlack all-black outfit]] in his everyday life and is usually seen lurking from the shadows. As "Wells", the frames of his specs are also black. Even his yellow suit has black highlights and leggings.
* DeadAllAlong: The real Harrison Wells has been dead for 15 years. Thawne killed him, stole his DNA and took his place.
* DeaderThanDead: His ancestor Eddie kills himself, removing Eobard from all existence. However, even in spite of this the Reverse-Flash returned in Season 2 of ''The Flash'', when a younger version of Thawne (portrayed by Matt Lettscher) arrives from travelling back in time.
* DeadpanSnarker: He occasionally throws in a snide remark. "Spoken like a true philanthropist. Or is it humanitarian? Oh, I'm sorry. I can never remember which one you're ''pretending'' to be, [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Simon]]." He can be sarcastic even about himself, as in:
--> '''Barry:''' "Dr. Wells, I doubt restraint is how you got to be the man you are today."\\
'''Thawne:''' "In a wheelchair and a pariah? Lack of restraint is what made me these things."
* DeadPersonImpersonation: Right down to a genetic level of the real, long-deceased (by his hands) Harrison Wells.
* DefiantToTheEnd: Mocks Barry before he completely disintegrates.
* DidntSeeThatComing: Much to his chagrin, he actually developed affection towards Cisco and Caitlin as well as Barry... to an extent.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: He wanted to go back to the future so he essentially rewrote the timeline by making Barry the Flash roughly seven years earlier. It doesn't occur to him that by doing so the future he left, may not be the same if he ever gets back there. He doesn't really care. His plan was for Barry to save his mom which would've restored the timeline.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Through no fault of Barry's, Thawne learned that he was supposedly destined to be the Flash's worst enemy. Thawne's response was to hound Barry throughout history, repeatedly try to kill him, going so far as to travel back in time to try to kill Barry as a child and murder his mother when he fails to kill Barry.
* DissonantSerenity: Notice how eerily calm he is during Barry's first test run; while Cisco and Caitlin are astonished, Thawne is simply cool and collected.
* DoesNotLikeGuns: Played with. He insists that STAR Labs not make weapons and refuses to work with General Eiling, with Grodd also growing to dislike them because "father hate gun". It turns out, however, that he has a sort of GodzillaThreshold in this respect- he has a modern semi-auto handgun that he, somewhat reluctantly, keeps in his hidey-hole. He was planning on using it to kill Firestorm, before Ronnie goes blows up in nuclear reaction. Until he decides to PetTheDog and use the tachyon device to whip up a quantum fissure instead.
** While he may not like guns, he gives every indication that he knows how to use them. Note that when he does take out his gun he always handles it carefully, checks to make sure it's loaded and has a round in the chamber, keeps it pointed in a safe direction, and keeps his finger off the trigger until he's ready to fire.
* DrivenByEnvy: Thawne's biblical vendetta against the Flash boils down to him not being able to become a beloved hero like him.
* DrunkOnTheDarkSide: When he's out of the suit he's calm and collected, but as soon as he put it he becomes a completely different person.
* DueToTheDead: He's able to recall the name of everyone who died because of the Particle Accelerator explosion.
* DyingAsYourself: His face reverts to its original composition before he disintegrates.
* EasilyForgiven: Although they call him out on it, the rest of Team Flash are pretty quick to forgive him for using Girder as bait against Blackout and for letting the Particle Accelerator go online despite knowing it might fail. Subverted when they realize he's the Reverse-Flash and they stop being so forgiving.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Subverted. He does genuinely care about Cisco (and presumably the rest of Team Flash) but he's still willing to kill them if it supports his goals. Played straight as there are people in the future he cares about which is why he's so desperate to get back.
* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** He appears to be genuinely interested in making sure that The Flash stops whatever "crisis" happens in 2024. He '''freaks out''' when Barry's powers go away in "Power Outage" and his records of the future change to show that the crisis is still going on and there's no mention of The Flash anywhere. Clearly, whatever this is something so bad that even he doesn't want it to happen. Given the reveal that Thawne wants to use Barry's speed to return home it may mean he was worried about being stuck in the past forever.
** Whatever his plans may be, he considers saving Central City from an impending nuclear explosion more important.
** He's ''disgusted'' with the things General Eiling has done -- especially his treatment of Grodd.
* EvilAllAlong: After his identity is revealed. Prior to that, he's disguising himself as Harrison Wells, a WellIntentionedExtremist.
* EvilCounterpart: To the Flash. Having identical powers of SuperSpeed. But while Barry uses his power to help others and save lives, the Reverse-Flash uses his powers to terrorize people and kill them.
-->'''Thawne:''' ...Your powers are almost exactly like those of the Flash!\\
'''Reverse-Flash (also Thawne):''' Oh, I'm not like the Flash at all. Some would say I'm the ''reverse''.
* EvilIsHammy: After he reveals his true identity to Team Flash, he becomes distinctly more animated. He smiles more, makes wide gestures with his arms, and becomes more emotive in what he's saying, although he still retains his tendency to use SpockSpeak.
* EvilIsPetty:
** When the Flash stopped him from assassinating ten year-old Barry, Thawne murdered Nora Allen out of raw spite.
** Why does he hate Barry so much? Because he can't be a hero like Barry. In Thawne's mind, this is an offense worth swearing eternal hatred for the Flash and trying over and over to kill him.
* EvilMentor
* EvilSoundsDeep: He vibrates his vocal cords in order to distort his true voice, just like Barry. Unlike Barry, however, he sounds like a demon straight out of Hell when speaking.
* EvilerThanThou: Leaves [[BigBadWannabe Wade Eiling to a vengeful Grodd once he's no longer useful]].
* EvilVersusOblivion: When Firestorm is at risk of going nuclear, he converts his tachyon prototype into a quantum splicer to separate Ronnie and Martin Stein. When Gideon warns him changing the tachyon protoype would setback his schedule, he says "there won't be a schedule if Central City goes up in a mushroom cloud."
* EvilWearsBlack: In his civilian identity, he wears an all black outfit ([[LimitedWardrobe all the time]]).
* EvilPlan: He wants to get back to his own time, but his powers just aren't fast or stable enough, so he plans to use Barry's speed instead.
* ExactWords: In the pilot, Barry recounts the night his mother died to Thawne, and says that he thinks the person who killed his mom was another speedster. Thawne assures Barry that he is, unequivocally, "one of a kind." Barry ''is'' one of a kind...for now. And besides, isn't ''everyone'' one of a kind?
* FailedASpotCheck: When the Pied Piper breaks all of the glass in his house, he makes the mistake of saying he was in the middle of it, and there's not a scratch on him. Joe and Eddie then launch their own private investigation into him.
* FalseFriend: To Barry. While Thawne is genuinely fond of Cisco and Caitlin (although he wouldn't hesitate to kill them if they found out his secret) he wants to ''kill'' Barry. Becoming his mentor was just so he could train Barry to become fast enough that he could achieve time travel (something Thawne is incapable of doing) and take Thawne back to the future, then he can kill Barry.
* FantasticRacism: Because he is from the future, he considers all people from his distant past to be already dead, meaning that their lives have no value to him -- even if he has affection for them.
* FauxAffablyEvil: He can be a pretty kind and chummy guy, who at first seems to be willing to give his life for his staff and Barry. Its all but an act. Best seen in "Out of Time" as Thawne is shown to be deep down, one sadistic, self-righteous person who is willing to kill someone even he's genuinely fond of to uphold his secrets of being the Reverse Flash. This becomes his default mode once his secret is out.
* FishOutOfTemporalWater: He's from the future, and got trapped in our time after failing to kill Barry as a child.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: His favorite film is ''Film/BackToTheFuture''. Three hard guesses on what his main goal is.
* ForScience: He claims his protectiveness for Barry and devotion to his cause are due to the unlimited potential for scientific advancement, especially in the field of medicine, that would come from studying him and his condition. However, when pressed he admits that it's more due to the guilt he feels over the destruction his failures wrought, and that he aids Barry to make up for what he's done. These are all lies: he's trying to get Barry's powers to the limit in order to steal them for himself.
* FourEyesZeroSoul: As "Wells", a classic bespectacled villain, except that the glasses are shown to be fake, much like his "disability"--whenever he's by himself (or later in the season when his secret is out in the open), he no longer wears them.
* FreudianExcuse: Averted, see AscendedFanboy and EvilIsPetty. Barry is reasonably upset Thawne ruined his life for such shallow reasons.
* FriendToAllLivingThings: The evil sociopath he was, he did have a soft spot towards animals especially Grodd.
* GeniusCripple: DoubleSubverted. He's a brilliant scientist who wears glasses in a wheelchair. And then it's revealed that he's not really crippled and doesn't need his glasses. And ''then'' he later reveals that his SuperSpeed is damaged and only comes out in spurts, so in a way, he's a cripple in a different philosophical way.
* GigglingVillain: Not so much with Tom Cavanagh's version, who has a pretty normal chuckle on the few occasions that he laughs, but Matt Letscher's Eobard has a truly spectacular high-pitched wheezy giggling laugh when he's genuinely amused.
* GivenNameReveal: '''The''' Eobard Thawne.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom: Those eyes are ''scary''. And the're not just part of the costume either.
* GoMadFromTheRevelation: As an AscendedFanboy he went back in time and discovered that the name of the Flash's most hated enemy, the Reverse-Flash, was Eobard Thawne. He snapped and decided that if he was fated to be the a villain, he'd be the best damn villain there ever was.
* GodzillaThreshold:
** He generally hates guns, considering them barbaric weapons, but he does own one and seriously contemplate using it when it appears Firestorm might be going nuclear.
** He hates The Flash with a passion, and the only reason he's in the past in the first place is because he tried to kill The Flash as a young child. Unfortunately for him, The Flash is his only way home, so he has no choice but to put his passionate hatred aside in order to do so.
* GoodColorsEvilColors: His suit is literally an inverse of the Flash costume, and he leaves a trail of red lightning rather than gold when he super-speeds.
* GoodFeelsGood: Averted, Eobard admits that much to his surprise that he found he actually liked helping Barry be a hero, but it didn't stop him from being a villain.
* GracefulLoser: He made a certain arrangement in the event that he died before fulfilling his plan to return home: a recorded confession of the murder of Nora Allen, which was sufficient to free Henry Allen from prison. However, that didn't stop him from some EvilGloating due to the fact he still killed Nora.
* GrandfatherParadox: Takes good care of not hurting Eddie, given that he's his great-great-great-grandfather. Of course, this is what ends up defeating him when Eddie [[HeroicSacrifice kills himself in order to]] [[TakingYouWithMe stop]] [[RetGone him]].
* GreaterScopeVillain: He's this for the Arrowverse as a whole. His time traveling escapades changes not only the events of the Flash, but by extension Arrow due to both being set in the same world. Who knows how different the Flash's parent show could have been if Eobard hadn't decided to visit the Allen home that one fateful night.
* GreenEyedMonster: Not only is he jealous of people who are smarter than him (a very short list consisting of pretty much just Martin Stein, and even that may be ObfuscatingStupidity to hide his knowledge of time travel), but he's also jealous of Barry's speed because he can't time travel and return home while Barry's speed is unlimited.
* HatesBeingTouched: When Cisco rests his arm on Thawne's shoulder when they're taking the team photo, he initially looks uncomfortable about it. He has a similar reaction when Felicity taps him on the shoulder, briefly frowning at the point of contact. This makes the few occasion where he chooses to put his hand on someone's arm (while telling Cisco to never make something like the Cold Gun ever again, and when promising Caitlin that he will help her save Ronnie) quite significant.
* HellIsThatNoise: Several times he's sounded off a ''bloodcurdling'' howl when present.
* HeroKiller: [[spoiler: He murders Hourman]].
* HiddenInPlainSight: Ever since [[Recap/ArrowS2E8TheScientist his first appearance]] Barry has been completely determined to find the man who killed his mom, and it turns out that since the first episode said man has been working alongside Barry the whole time, as the head of S.T.A.R. Labs.
* HiddenVillain: Nobody knows who he is or what he's truly up to, and he wants it to stay that way. When he somehow finds out that Joe is reinvestigating Nora's murder and is actively looking for him, he wrecks his living room like he did the night of Nora's murder, steals the case file and puts a '''knife''' through a picture of Iris as a warning to drop the case. When he finally shows up in the flesh, he keeps not just his face but his whole ''body'' blurred and disguises his voice to prevent anyone from deducing his true identity.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard:
** He is initially the one who suggests adapting the Pipeline for use as as metahuman prison. In the season finale, he himself becomes a prisoner of it.
** In addition to his particle accelerator explosion originally "giving birth" to Firestorm, he later invents a quantum splicer that allows Ronnie and Martin to merge back into the superhero. Firestorm later helps to defeat Thawne in the three-on-one battle.
* HumanoidAbomination: His powers, though similar to Barry's, seem to have a number of freakish differences. His voice distortion makes him sound like a monster, he can make his eyes glow bright red, and even when he can't use his super-speed he can still vibrate his hand in a manner to kill people though touch alone, and tends to vibrate his ''whole body'' this way by just sheer instinct. In short, he looks human, but his powers make him some kind of monstrous being with a nightmarish version of Barry's abilities. And that's without getting into the nightmarish way he looks when he killed Barry's mom.
* HumbleHero: He will often speak self-deprecatingly about his failures (particularly with regards to the particle accelerator explosion), as a way to warn others ''not'' to follow his example. Of course, he's certainly not a hero, and [[{{Pride}} he's anything]] [[InsufferableGenius but humble]].
* {{Hypocrite}}: Gives Barry stern warnings about the dangers of messing with the timeline. This is ironic considering Thawne has probably altered the timeline more than any other character seen in the series so far, and for petty reasons at that; his being a member of the Legion of Doom in ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' is proof of that. His hypocrisy doesn't escape Barry either.
-->'''Barry (after Thawne complains about him changing the timeline):''' Wow. ''Wow.'' You know, you've got some nerve, I'll give you that.
** HypocriteHasAPoint: Nevertheless, he is accurate in saying that Barry is far less knowledgeable in time travel than himself, and may cause irreparable damage to the timeline...the Time Wraiths are just one consequence of changing history, and Thawne is careful enough to not get their attention.
* IconicSequelCharacter: While he's been in ''Series/TheFlash2014'' since the very beginning, he's not introduced to the Franchise/{{Arrowverse}} until its third year.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: His justification for using Tony as a distraction to Farooq. Later used again when confronted by Barry at the end of "Rogue Air".
* IJustWantToBeYou: He grew up idolizing Barry, to the point where he found a way to duplicate his powers. Then he travelled back in time to meet his hero...and discovered they were apparently predestined to be mortal enemies.
* ImpostorForgotOneDetail: Thawne didn't know of Wells' friendship with Dr. [=McGee=] and indirectly caused her to suspect that he was not the same friend he was before the accident. She tells this to Barry, who needed more information on him for his secret investigation.
* InsaneTrollLogic: His grudge against Barry is basically this. He went back in time and discovered that he was destined to become a supervillain...and [[IrrationalHatred somehow comes to the conclusion that it's Barry's fault and thus Barry is worthy of his eternal hatred]].
* InsufferableGenius: Hartley warned him there was a chance the Particle Accelerator could blow up, but he chose to ignore it. Of course he already knew that.
* {{Irony}}: He ends up being a mentor to Barry, although he's just doing it until Barry gets fast enough to achieve time travel.
** In "Rogue Time" he gets pissed at Barry after he uses his knowledge gained from time traveling to undo the events of the previous episode, however doing so allowed Thawne to keep his identity secret and prevented him from murdering Cisco.
* ItsAllAboutMe: He claims to want to study Barry's powers to help people, but the argument could be made that he is doing it all solely for himself, something Barry is quick to call him out on. He wants to use Barry's speed to return to the future.
** Even after his secret is out, he never forgets to remind the team--whose trust he betrayed--of how much ''he'' has done for them.
** The whole reason that Thawne hates the Flash in the first place is because he found out that, rather than becoming a hero, he was destined to be Barry's enemy. Thawne took it as a personal affront from Barry, worthy of Thawne's undying, homicidal hatred.
* ItsPersonal: We get some insight into his motivation during a monologue to Eddie at the beginning of "Rogue Air."
--> "I want you to take a moment and think about all the things that define your life. All the people you love. Your job. Your co-workers. Your home. And now imagine if one day in a ''flash'' all of that vanished. Do you simply accept your new life, continue on or would you do whatever it takes to get back what was taken from you? Because I can assure you, I will get everything that was taken from me!"
* JokerImmunity: It's revealed in Season 2 that despite being {{RetGone}}d in the Season 1 finale, him killing Nora Allen has become a part of a StableTimeLoop thanks to TimeyWimeyBall. [[spoiler: Thanks to Barry creating and then undoing the Flashpoint timeline, Thawne escaped the RetGone.]]
* KarmicDeath: For someone who loves screwing up the timeline and [[{{Hypocrite}} telling Barry not to do the same, he gets "killed" when the timeline is altered so he never existed. Speaking of which, that is exactly what he was planning to do to Future!Barry in the first place.]] Unfortunately, this was changed to...
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Because of the events of the first episode of the third season, Thawne successfully managed to evade the above events, not only killing Nora Allen but leaving Barry in a worse timeline than before, as well as giving him the JokerImmunity needed for him to become a member of the Legion of Doom in Series/LegendsOfTomorrow.]]
* KickTheDog: He murdered Wells and his wife just to [[KillAndReplace take his identity.]]
* KickTheSonOfABitch: Leaving Eiling at the mercy of Grodd.
* KidFromTheFuture: He is Eddie Thawne's future relative.
* KillAndReplace: Eobard Thawne killed Harrison Wells and his wife 15 years ago to take his place and expedite his plans for the Particle Accelerator.
* KillTheCutie: And then he had to go and kill Cisco (in a previous timeline).
* KnifeNut: He murdered Nora Allen with a knife to her heart, and puts one through a picture of Iris as a threat to Joe to drop the case.
* KnightOfCerebus: ''The Flash'' is generally a show with a light tone. However, things get darker when the Reverse-Flash shows up.
* KnightTemplar: It appears (as of the fourth episode), that he is absolutely determined to keep Barry Allen safe, and has no qualms about how he does so.
* KnowWhenToFoldEm: After already getting what he came to steal, he has no problem staying to [[CurbStompBattle kick the Flash's ass]], but as soon as Firestorm [[BigDamnHeroes shows up]], he [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere bails out at full speed]].
* LackOfEmpathy: Openly admits that he doesn't care for others after Barry accuses him of this. Iris's mentor even calls him "a sociopath." As far as he's concerned, everyone around him is already centuries dead. The fact that he's living amongst them doesn't seem to change this. That said he is capable of feeling empathy and affection towards others...it just doesn't stop him from doing morally grey things.
** By the start of Season 2, it seems his LackOfEmpathy is mainly due to being a time-traveler thinking he has an OmniscientMoralityLicense because everyone is already dead in the timeline he's from; he treats Barry, a fellow time-traveler, differently. He did seem to have genuine affection for the new Barry in spite of their feud, leaving behind a taped confession of his murder of Barry's mom, but he brushes aside the revelation that he killed Cisco in an alternate time line since he's sure he had "a good reason for it."
* LaserGuidedKarma: After he killed Nora, he lost his connection to Speed Force.
* LaughablyEvil:
** He's a villain, but he also gets some pretty funny lines. A good example from "All-Star Team Up":
-->'''Tina [=McGee=]:''' "Have you finally found my tachyon device or are you here to steal another one?"\\
'''Thawne:''' (''{{beat}}'') "Do you ''have'' another one?"
** Averted when he's in costume, when he's the show's KnightOfCerebus.
* {{Leitmotif}}: In addition to a tune that sounds like a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9ti5cNqcPs minor, more ominous version of the Flash's own theme]], he is often accompanied by a sound similar to that of helicopter blades and reminiscent of the vibration element of his powers.
* LightIsNotGood: As is tradition with the character, he wears a yellow suit ([[MovieSuperheroesWearBlack though with more black on it than the comic book version]]) and is the Flash's archenemy.
* LightningBruiser: {{Pun}}s aside, he is faster and notably ''a lot'' stronger than Barry. Barry himself even mentions this after his first fight with him.
-->'''Barry:''' I'm not the fastest man alive anymore, he is!
* LikeASonToMe: Considers Cisco this, and even tells him so, right before [[TeleFrag telefragging him]]. Also, as per his own admittance, he feels something of this in regards to Barry, comparing it to the same kind of fatherly pride that Joe and Henry feel, which is even more twisted considering Eobard's deep and utter hatred of Barry's future self.
* LimitedWardrobe: As "Wells", he wears a black sweatshirt, pants and sneakers every single episode.
* LoadBearingBoss: When Eddie kills himself to prevent Eobard from ever being born, the resulting time paradox opens a wormhole that threatens to engulf Central City and possibly the whole universe.
* LongGame: After Thawne lost his connection to the Speed Force upon murdering Nora, he then pulled a KillAndReplace on the real Dr. Wells, all so he could build the Particle Accelerator five years ahead of schedule and have it intentionally fail so it would give Barry his super speed (it's unknown if it would've failed in the original timeline), and then mentor him to point where Barry would become fast enough to achieve time travel.
* LoveIsAWeakness:
** Initially believes that Barry's attachment to people hold him back but then realizes, it's the opposite.
** He does have affection for the STAR Labs Team, but he'll put aside if any of them may become a threat to his plans.
* LukeYouAreMyFather: In "The Trap" he tells Eddie Thawne that he is a relative from the distant future. He calls the latter his "insurance", probably implying direct ancestry.
* MadeOfIron: In the fight against the Flash, Arrow and Firestorm, he takes a flame blast directly in the back that sends him plunging several stories into a car. He still manages to get back up (and that's after he had taken a nanite arrow and some thumping from the Arrow).
* MadScientist: Implied, as Gideon addresses him as "Professor" Thawne.
** Most evident before he steals Wells' identity. He speaks to others in a very clinical, detached way, heavily using scientific terms. And he views other things with a deep curiosity, as if they are things to to be studied. As for the mad thing, well, he is prone to using violence early.
* ManipulativeBastard: As Barry points out, Thawne has no problem with controlling people and very carefully phrases everything to get the responses he desires from others. It's an indicator of just how good he is at it that, even when Barry knows that he's being manipulative, he's still able to push all the right buttons and get Barry to do what he wants anyway.
** Incidentally, Barry also [[Film/{{Patton}} read his book]] -- twice.
* MeaningfulName: Aside from being his EvilCounterpart, his costume is an inverse of Barry's Flash costume.
** The name really ''is'' meaningful. Herbert George Wells is famous worldwide for writing ''Literature/TheTimeMachine'' and [[Literature/TheInvisibleMan a novel about an invisible scientist who decided to become a serial killer]]. However, there's a little-known SF short story called "The New Accelerator," which talked about a man who made a serum that gave him SuperSpeed while stopping time...
** Played with in "Tricksters," which reveals there was a real "H. Wells" and it just so happened that his name was taken by [[Literature/TheTimeMachine a time traveler]].
* MessyHair: His hair, which he apparently kept reasonably neat before the accident, gets progressively longer and more rumpled as season one continues, and remains decidedly untidy once his true identity is revealed.
* MoralityPet: Varies considerably depending on the situation. On the one hand, he does legitimately care about his S.T.A.R. Labs crew, [[LikeASonToMe especially Cisco]], and their influence has encouraged him to act virtuously for the sake of others where he would otherwise be more ruthless and calculating. On the ''other'' hand, while he's willing to delay on their behalf to an extent, he ultimately doesn't care about them enough to let them ''seriously'' jeopardize his plans, and once Cisco discovers who he really is he murders him in cold blood.
* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: When he's known as "Dr. Wells" at any rate. And he's pretty shifty from the get-go.
* MovieSuperheroesWearBlack: Downplayed; his costume is predominantly yellow, but there is more black in his suit than in the comics.
* MurderIsTheBestSolution: His solution to any problem is always to kill. It backfires when he kills the wrong person—the reporter Mason Bridge who'd been doing a story about how Thawne killed Simon Stagg. By doing so Thawne inadvertently clued Barry in to his true nature. Then again, considering [[CrazyPrepared how far he plans ahead]], even this might have been at least partially on purpose.
* MysteriousPast: During a monolouge when Barry was in his coma he reveals that he wants a "reckoning" for something the Flash did but we have no idea what it is. His motives are later revealed to be quite [[EvilIsPetty petty]]: he wanted to be a hero like the Flash, but, after travelling back in time, learned that he was destined to be the Flash's Archenemy. Thawne blamed Barry and swore his undying hatred for the Flash.
* NecessarilyEvil: What he claims about himself.
-->'''Thawne:''' "You see me as the villain. But Barry, if you were to look back... look back carefully, at everything I've done, every wheel I've set in motion, you would realize [[IDidWhatIHadToDo I have only done what I had to do. Nothing more, nothing less.]]"
* NeckSnap: [[spoiler: His introduction on Legends of Tomorrow, taking out an entire submarine crew.]]
* NerdGlasses: As "Wells". They suit him very well, but there's no denying the fact that glasses with thick black plastic frames are a classic indicator of nerdiness. And as a genius scientist with a fondness for sci-fi movies, he definitely counts as a nerd.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain:
** Murdered Mason Bridge in order to keep his identity and motives secret... [[RevealingCoverUp which only succeeded in making Barry suspicious of him]] and eventually lead to the entirety of Team Flash to discover the truth.
** He later tells Eddie of the relationship between the two, which gives Eddie the knowledge [[HeroicSuicide of how to defeat him]]. Of course, [[EvilCannotComprehendGood Eobard Thawne probably did not anticipate that.]]
* NightmareFuel: InUniverse, he's this for Barry. With good reason, as he killed Barry's mom. To add to this, he's an unrepentant murderer who can move at the speed of sound. As Barry pointed out, he could kill everyone in the police station in seconds. He also knows who Barry is and who his loved ones are.
* NoodleIncident:
** The future Flash did ''something'' that caused Thawne to hate him so intensely that he decided do go back in time and kill him as a child, thus kicking off the show's plot. What was it? Being DrivenByEnvy.
** How he got his powers. He merely states he replicated the lab accident that gave Barry his speed, but it doesn't explain the red eyes.
* NothingPersonal: Says this when he murders Simon Stagg to protect Barry, and even asks Stagg to forgive him. Takes this a step further with Cisco, saying that he was [[LikeASonToMe like a son to him and again asking his victim to forgive him]].
* NotQuiteDead: He re-appears in the mid-Season 2 premiere after apparently being {{Ret Gone}}d in the Season 1 finale. Turns out it is the same Eobard Thawne, but earlier in ''his'' timeline. From his point of view, he hasn't killed Barry's mother or gotten trapped in the past yet. Even when Team Flash successfully captures him, they are forced to let him go to avoid creating a TemporalParadox that would kill Cisco.
* NotSoAboveItAll: A world famous scientist who eats at the Big Belly Burger at the local mall, and engages in a friendly chess game to test Barry's mind and having great fun at it. He's also a ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}'' fan and quotes ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture''.
* NotSoStoic: Keeps a cool demeanor even when ranting but a few select phrases have a lot more emotional emphasis on them foreshadowing his true motives.
* ObfuscatingDisability:
** The end of the pilot shows that he lied about not being able to walk; even his glasses appear to be unnecessary.
** Interestingly enough, Thawne himself never gives a clear in-universe explanation of why he decided to feign disability. Besides being a CharacterTic to let the viewer know when he's no longer in "kindly professor" mode, it makes him seem less threatening and gives him somewhere to stash his power-boosting battery.
* ObviouslyEvil: Between his [[GlowingEyesOfDoom glowing]] [[RedEyesTakeWarning red eyes]] and his demonic [[EvilSoundsDeep voice]], there's no doubt about where this guy lies on the moral spectrum.
* ObiWanMoment: He has a bizarre villainous version with his FamousLastWords.
* OhCrap:
** When he realizes that Barry has discovered time travel too.
** He first had this reaction before he killed Harrison Wells--namely, when his Speed Force was depleted after his original trip back in time and attempt to kill young!Barry backfired thanks to future!Barry's intervention.
** He has one when Barry loses his powers thanks to Blackout, he becomes infuriated and repeatedly tells Gideon to scan the future for traces of the Flash only to be told there weren't any.
** He has two of these in the season finale firstly when Barry returns from the wormhole and destroys the time sphere he was going to use to return home and a second after Eddie [[HeroicSuicide kills himself so that Thawne gets]] [[RetGone erased from existence]].
** He also seems to display a very minor case of this when he's getting ready to depart through the wormhole, and the helmet of the alternate self of next season's BigBad comes spinning out of the wormhole and lands at their feet. He says that's his cue to leave, and immediately gets into his time machine and prepares to depart. This would seem to imply that he knows who that helmet belongs to, what that person is capable of, that person might be coming through next, ''and he doesn't want to be there when that happens.''
** Time Wraiths scare the hell of him. When they first appear, it's plain that he is very close to losing it and it's taking everything he's got to keep it together.
* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: In terms of knowledge, he's at least nearly as good as Caitlin and Cisco in their particular fields. He even tells Caitlin the optimal brainwave frequency for inducing a lucid dream. When Eddie tries to get at Thawne by saying that's he not that smart, Eobard calmly counters by saying that he's a genius by the standards of his time period let alone people in our time.
* OneManArmy: He's responsible for the creation of all of the events of the series, including the vast majority of the villains. He's also personally killed dozens of people as The Reverse-Flash, and his actions in the season finale seem to threaten ''the destruction of the entire universe''.
* OneSteveLimit: In the comics, he's also known as Professor Zoom, but he's never referred to as such the show; presumably this was done to avoid confusion when Zoom (another evil counterpart to Barry) was introduced in Season Two.
* OutsideContextProblem: He's from the far future so poor Barry hasn't got a clue why the Reverse-Flash hates him so much.
* PainfulTransformation: He and Wells are screaming the whole time as Thawne downloads his genetic code.
* PaletteSwap: Just like in the comics, he wears a yellow suit with red highlights, while the Flash wears a red suit with yellow highlights.
* PetTheDog:
** For all his faults, he does seem to be genuinely fond of Caitlin, Cisco, and Barry. But that won't stop him from killing any of them if they stumble on to his secret
** In "The Nuclear Man" he willingly delays his own timetable in order to save Ronnie's life.
** He genuinely does seem to be fond of Grodd and orders Eiling not to torture him further in flashbacks. Grodd comes to refer to him as "father."
** Left a video confessing to Nora Allen's murder, thereby exonerating Henry and releasing him from jail.
* PlotArmor: The younger Eobard Thawne (who hasn't yet killed Barry's mom or gotten TrappedInThePast) that appears in Season 2 pretty much has this canonically. He can't be killed or permanently imprisoned since that happening before he plays out his history would result in a TemporalParadox. Even when Team Flash catches him, they realize they have to let him go back to the future.
* PoisonousFriend: He's willing to kill Simon Stagg to keep Barry safe. UpToEleven, in fact, as he's been violently preserving the Flash's future from when he was just a little kid.
* PowerIncontinence: His powers have been in a constant state of flux ever since he killed Nora Allen. The reason he stole the Tachyon Device was to stabilize them, and even then he knew it would only be a temporary fix.
* PragmaticVillainy: Virtually every PetTheDog moment from him could be construed this way. He needs The Flash to get fast enough to power his time machine back to his own time, and to do this, he needs to gain the trust of everyone around him, in any way possible. He also needs The Flash to, you know, not die ([[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness at least not until he can go home again]]).
** Also shows shades of this in [[Recap/TheFlash2014S2E17FlashBack "Flash Back"]]. He has no real desire to help future Barry get any faster (and his first inclination is just to kill him), but Future Barry has a [[ClockRoaches Time Wraith]] chasing him and the longer Barry stays in the past, the greater the chance that it'll decide to come after Thawne. So he relents and [[BegoneBribe gives Barry what he wants just so that he'll leave]] (and take the Time Wraith with him).
* PurelyAestheticGlasses: He doesn't actually need the glasses he wears, as seen when his true identity is revealed and he ditches them permanently. However, the original Wells was known for being bespectacled, and the glasses helped to sell the disguise since SmartPeopleWearGlasses.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: They even [[GlowingEyesOfDoom glow]] just to show how dangerous he is. And they're not part of the costume!
* RedOniBlueOni: The Blue to Barry's Red. Or maybe we should say yellow.
* RetGone: How he is ultimately defeated.
* TheReveal: He's actually Eobard Thawne. After his SuperSpeed ran out, he killed and assumed the identity of Dr. Wells so he could build the Particle Accelerator seven years ahead of schedule.
** "The Nuclear Man" confirmed there were two speedsters at Nora's murder. Additionally, they found blood spatter from both of them and thanks to DNA typing: One was an adult Barry. The other was unidentified, but since Cisco specifically checked against known samples, it was initially believed to not be Thawne's, but...
** "Out of Time" is a real WhamEpisode. His true identity is revealed (he describes Eddie as a distant relative). Thawne really was at Barry's house that night, except that he wasn't there to kill Nora, he was there to kill ''Barry''. Reverse-Flash beating himself up? A speed mirage to keep his cover.
** "Tricksters" becomes this through its flashbacks, as it reveals the reason Cisco's blood typing results didn't pick him up: because he didn't kill Wells until ''after'' his attack on the Allens. Furthermore, Wells was a genuine NiceGuy and brilliant scientist whom Thawne murdered for his genetic code so he could make his plans go quicker.
* RightUnderTheirNoses: After Team Flash finds out who he really is, he hides out underneath the Accelerator, where he also keeps Eddie.
* SavedByCanon: Although he was {{Retgone}}'d out of existence at the end of Season 1, a younger version of himself (that hasn't yet tried to go back in time and kill Barry) appears later on. Since it's canon that he'll eventually kill Nora and get TrappedInThePast, any encounter that Thawne has with Flash prior to having done that (from his perspective) has to end with him escaping. Becomes an EnforcedTrope when Team Flash manage to capture him and realize they have no choice but to let him go to avoid a TimeParadox.
* SayingTooMuch: In "Tricksters" he gets far too explicit in his instructions while training Barry to phase through solid objects. Barry realises that the only way Thawne could know how to use super speed in such detail is if he possessed it himself.
* SignatureMove: He really loves to use his "vibrating hand to the chest" move.
* SlasherSmile: When he stops bothering with his FauxAffablyEvil demeanor, he adopts one of these, most notably when he kills Cisco (in an alternate timeline) and prepares to fight the Flash, the Arrow, and Firestorm.
* TheSociopath: He's very manipulative, stoic, and not very empathetic. It's unclear if the affection he shows towards Caitlin, Barry, and Cisco is genuine or not.
* SoLastSeason: By the end of the second season of ''The Flash'', Barry's speed has increased to the point where he can outpace Zoom (who was specifically said to be faster than Thawne). [[spoiler: When Barry returns to the night of his mother's murder, he easily overcomes Thawne. Thawne seems to have acknowledged this, as after the timeline is ([[CloseEnoughTimeline mostly]]) restored, he chooses to depart rather than continue their fight.]]
* StableTimeLoop: He's from the future, or has gained information from the future, where the Flash disappears. So he makes sure Barry gets his powers after engineering his entire life so that he would be in a position to get them in the first place.
* SecretKeeper: As one of the Flash's inner circle.
* SignatureMove: He sure does seem to love his "vibrating hand" move and takes any opportunity to use it.
* SinisterSurveillance: He has cameras ''everywhere'' in Central City so he can always be one step ahead of Team Flash.
* SlasherSmile: When Cisco revisits the previous timeline in his dream, he sees Thawne murdering him with a crazed smile on his face.
* SmartPeopleKnowLatin: He and [[InsufferableGenius Hartley Rathaway]] exchange Latin proverbs.
* SmartPeopleWearGlasses: As "Wells", the only one in STAR Labs with a pair, though they're all scientists or engineers.
* SmugSuper: When he's not in disguise, Thawne is shamelessly smug when dealing with the Flash. More often than not, he can back up this attitude. He leans closer to SmugSnake in "The Reverse-Flash Returns", where the younger Thawne is beaten by Barry, yet still maintains his confident attitude.
* SpockSpeak: As "Wells", he has a tendency to use quite technical language and speaks in a clipped and precise way without undue emotion. After Team Flash learns his true identity, he becomes a lot more emotive, but never quite loses his slightly unusual speech pattern, which is probably a hold-over from him being from the future.
* StalkerWithoutACrush: He's obsessed with Barry, and has been since before they even met.
* SuddenlyShouting:
** Often. He basically has two volumes; soft-spoken and shouting, and switches between them rapidly and without warning.
** One notable occasion is when Flash ruins his attempt to return to his original time. He ''snaps''
* SuperSpeed: Naturally, since he's an EvilCounterpart to the Flash.
* SupportingLeader: He is the founder of S.T.A.R. Labs and the group's mentor. However, he mostly serves as MissionControl with Barry serving as TheHero of both the show and TheTeam.
* TeleFrag: His preferred form of execution.
* TemptingFate: One of the last things he says is "I always win, Flash!" [[HeroicSuicide Eddie]] [[RetGone proves him wrong]], though [[spoiler: sadly, future events would prove him right all along]].
* ThanatosGambit: His confession to Nora's murder had him saying he was giving Barry what he wanted because he knew he'd never be happy. It worked, the words stayed in Barry's head all season as the events of Season Two broke him so bad, that he went back in time to save Nora - which meant that Eobard was also saved.
* ThenLetMeBeEvil: He cites this as his motive for becoming the Reverse Flash. In his time he was essentially an AscendedFanboy that managed to give himself the Flash's powers and the ability to time travel. After going back in time he discovered that he was destined to become the Flash's greatest enemy. So he decides that [[BecauseDestinySaysSo if it's his destiny to become a villain]], then he'll be the ''greatest'' of them.
* TallDarkAndSnarky: You wouldn't notice it due to the wheelchair, but as "Wells" he stands 6 feet tall. His snarkiness is unparalleled. When he's outed, he becomes more [[EvilIsHammy hammier]] but still quite snarky.
* TeamDad: In addition to being the stern and authoritative leader of the team, he talks to Cisco about his problems with his family, helps Caitlin to deal with the loss of her fiance, and guides Barry through the emotional ups and downs of being the Flash. Cisco in particular is [[LikeASonToMe like a son to him]], and he tells him as much when talking him out of quitting the team after he was forced to tell Captain Cold Barry's secret identity.
* TheTeamNormal: Inverted when he creates the Legion of Doom, he's the team super since all the rest are just mortal men (albeit Darhk is immortal thanks to the Lazarus Pit but he can still be killed by mortal methods).
* ThisWasHisTrueForm: The "Harrison Wells" disguise disintegrates moments before he dies.
* TimeTravel: He's capable of time travel and EXTREMELY irresponsible with it. This makes him more than just an enemy of the Flash, he's also become a major threat to the Legends of Tomorrow team.
* TookALevelInKindness: As much as he can. Being trapped in the past for more than a decade forced him to form relationships and mellow out from his more detached MadScientist nature.
** Also, while still pretty murderous, he's a least a bit more [[ApologeticAttacker apologetic]] [[NothingPersonal about]] killing people after being TrappedInThePast for 15 years, as the younger Thawne shown later on isn't even slightly hesitant about killing people for trivial reasons.
* TokenEvilTeammate: For Team Flash, Thawne tends to be the one who performs, or is in support of performing, the most morally dubious actions in order to stop the super villain of the week (such as murdering Simon Stagg in order to protect Barry's secret or telling Team Flash to kill Ronnie to prevent a nuclear meltdown) which [[WhatTheHellHero he gets called out on a lot]]. Oh yeah, he's also the Reverse-Flash.
* TokenNonHuman: The only metahuman member of The LegionOfDoom.
* ToxicFriendInfluence: Sometimes he'll encourage Barry to "prioritize" and focus on enhancing his speed instead of heroics, something which Joe is highly suspicious of.
* TragicVillain: Wanted to be hero...but history said he had to be a villain.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: He really likes Big Belly Burger. Turns out there are no more cows in the future.
* {{Transplant}}: From BigBad of ''Series/TheFlash2014'' Season 1 to part of the [[BigBadDuumvirate Big Bad Quartet]] of ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' Season 2.
* TrappedInThePast: He's willing to do anything to get home.
* TheUnfettered: He will do anything to keep Barry safe, ''anything''. He'll also do anything to keep his identity as the Reverse-Flash a secret including producing a speed mirage solely to almost beat himself to death.
* VibroWeapon: He can vibrate his arm through people in order to kill them. He offs Cisco in a [[TimeTravel previous timeline and Mason Bridge in the current one this way.]]
* VillainousBreakdown: He undergoes at least two of these as shown in the first season. The first, was when he time traveled in an attempt to murder Barry as a child, only for Barry's future self to follow him and stop him. In retaliation, he murders Nora instead, hoping the trauma would be enough to change history so the Flash would never exist. Only then to discover he was trapped in the past, leading him to mess with the timeline even more in a desperate attempt to get home. The second, is when Barry accomplishes time travel in the present, but does not save his mother and risk altering the timeline even further, deciding to stop Thawne escaping justice by returning to his own time. With his chance deprived of him, Eobard decides to just kill Barry and everyone else right then and there.
* VillainousFriendship: With Damian Darhk of all people.
* VillainousLegacy: Although he is killed in the season 1 finale, the actions he committed prior to his death are still felt in season 2, particularly as more metahumans created as a result of the particle accelerator explosion begin to emerge (and old ones like Weather Wizard and Grodd return), with an especially tragic/horrific example being Griffin Grey from "Back To Normal". Additionally, his final words to Barry that "he'll never truly be happy" resonate with him throughout the season.
* VillainousRescue: Has saved Barry's life on multiple occasions, or almost attempted to at the risk of blowing his secret, despite being his greatest enemy.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Killed and replaced a genuinely good man and sped up the time scale on a project which turned said good man into a scientific celebrity. Subverted when he intentionally had the project fail epically in order to create the Flash, as this turned the man into something of a pariah—albeit one who still held enough credibility to be able to call city-wide press conferences.
* WalkingSpoiler: As the season progresses the more that is revealed about himself the harder it becomes to talk about him without spoiling some pretty big plot twists.
* WalkingTechbane: A subtler tendency of the Reverse-Flash's presence is for lights and electrical appliances to short out. The lights go out in the Allens' house right before his attempted murder of Barry-as-a-child, the lights go out in the Wests' house just before he steals Joe's evidence, the lights in the military base flicker right before he nabs General Eiling, Mason Bridge's lamp flickers right before Reverse-Flash pops in...
* WasItAllALie: Played with. He does have some genuine affection towards Caitlin and Cisco but he wouldn't hesitate to kill any one of them if they became a threat to his plans. But with Barry it's '''all''' a lie; as far as he's concerned he's just a means to an end so he can return back to the future, not to mention the person he ultimately wants to kill in the end.
** Subverted to an extent turns out while Thawne ''hates'' the Future!Flash he actually has some affection to the Barry he helped mentor into the Flash.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: He sees himself this way, though it's unclear if he actually ''is'' one. He is trying to harness Barry's speed so he can go home to his time. However, Word of God has stated that Thawne "is not an "evil man," and that he even has reason to see "himself as a hero." We later learn he shows disdain for Barry's time travel abilities in part because he's concerned how the time line could change if Barry insists from deviating from established events. [[spoiler: As the first episode of Season 3 of ''The Flash'' revealed, he was right to be concerned]].
** Conidering his own actions in the past, though, this comes off as ''very'' [[{{Hypocrite}} hypocritical]].
* WeUsedToBeFriends: It is later revealed that Wells and Dr. [=McGee=] used to be very close. Sadly, [[NoodleIncident something bad]] happened and it strained their relationship. Of course, all Thawne cares about is to make The Flash faster so he can go home. And to do that, he needs Harrison Wells' identity and work, so screw everything else about the poor man's life.
* WhatTheHellHero: In Season Three he briefly calls out Barry for allowing Wally to take the dangerous role of the Flash in his stead.
* WickedCultured: In "The Sound and the Fury", he walks into his gorgeous and gorgeously appointed home, turns on some opera, pours himself a glass of wine.
* WildCard: On the one hand, he's done incredibly dodgy things all in the name of protecting Barry, even though he's the Reverse-Flash. On the other hand, he seems to be genuinely fond of Barry, Cisco, and Caitlin and he's able to remember ''every name'' of all the people who died because of the Particle Accelerator and when Barry temporarily loses his powers and there are no future records of the Flash, he seriously '''freaks out'''. He's also willing to drop his wheelchair masquerade to save Barry (during a training exercise with drones it looked as Barry was about to be hit). At this point it's hard to say, what his goals are. We later learn his speed powers are in flux, and he's trying to stabilize them. He's also in some sort of alliance with Grodd. We then learn he wants to go back to the future and that Barry's speed is the key to returning.
* WorfHadTheFlu: He can use his super speed if he needs to, but it's currently in a state of flux. He's using the tachyon device stolen from Mercury Labs to fix it.
* WouldHitAGirl: Fatally stabs Nora Allen. He also threatened Joe that he will kill Iris if he keeps on nosing around Nora's murder.
* WouldHurtAChild: Why was he at the Allen house that night? He was there to kill eight-year-old Barry; Nora evidently just got in the way.
* WriteBackToTheFuture: An inversion, where Gideon sends Thawne a newsfeed ''from'' the future. A feed that got changed, so far, at least once.
* YouCouldHaveUsedYourPowersForGood: He's actually quite adept at using his genius to help Barry with his heroics - such as when he's coaching Barry on how to create a vacuum to save people from a fire. Hell, the man himself admits [[GoodFeelsGood he actually enjoyed helping Barry with his heroics]].
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: It is heavily implied that once Barry gets him back to his timeline, he'll kill him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Damien Darhk]]
!! Damien Darhk
-> '''Played by:''' Creator/NealMcDonough
->'''Appearances:''' ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow''
[[quoteright:262:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4_66.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:262: ''"Everyone has a hobby. Some men collect stamps. I collect relics."'']]

A terrorist and ex-member of the League of Assassins who in the future will nearly conquer Star City with his HIVE organization and face off against Team Arrow in 2015. He briefly teamed up with Thawne during WWII before deciding to make it full time in the 1980's after Sara told him how his Genesis plan was doomed to fail.

--> See Characters/ArrowverseTheHIVE page for tropes relating to his future self.
----
* TheAgeless: Thanks to the Lazarus Pit, he still looks the same as he does in ThePresentDay.
* AgeLift: Comics Darhk is a young man comparable in age to several of the older Teen Titans members. In the series, he's played by 49 year old Neal [=McDonough=]--and that's without getting into the fact that this Darhk is a peer of Ra's al Ghul.
* AlliterativeName: '''D'''amien '''D'''arhk.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: To Ra's Al-Ghul. Ra's is always hunting him, yet he's able to slip away at the last minute.
* AndStarring: Is credited with "Special Guest Star" citation, though he gets his PromotionToOpeningTitles in Season 2.
* ArchEnemy: To Sara since he killed her sister in the future.
* AscendedExtra: Just a ContinuityCameo in Season One, but he becomes central to the story arc of Season Two of "Legends".
* BadassInANiceSuit: He dresses very stylish for each era he visits.
* BadassNormal: Unlike his future self he's not reliant on his magic totem, so he fights with his hands and is very effective.
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: ''Legends'' Season 2 features Sara wanting to kill him for killing Laurel. However, since this version of Darhk is from TheForties, it's justified that he gives this reaction.
* ChekhovsGunman: Makes an {{Early Bird|Cameo}} ContinuityCameo in ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow''[='=]s first season before becoming part of its [[BigBadDuumvirate Big Bad Quartet]] in the second.
* CelebrityParadox:
** Thea alludes to ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' in the second annual {{Crossover}} with ''Series/TheFlash2014'', which WordOfGod would later confirm. This means that the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' exists in the Franchise/{{Arrowverse}}. His actor plays Dum-Dum Dugan, who is heavily associated with the ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'' films series.
** An episode of ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' mentions the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' franchise. His actor was on ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact''.
* CompositeCharacter:
** He's named after a minor Teen Titans villain, but his motives are similar to that of Ra's Al-Ghul; his belief that Star City is beyond saving and must be allowed to die is not unlike Ra's attitude towards Gotham in ''Batman Begins''. Fittingly, he was a member of the League of Assassins himself, and so likely took on their ideology.
** He seems to be an amalgamation of his comic namesake and Dr. Ebeneezer Darkk, who is the only other person other than Ra's Al-Ghul to lead The League of Assassins. Both Darrk and Ra's also had a fallout.
* CripplingOverspecialization: His future self's concentration on becoming an EvilSorcerer has led him to neglect his hand-to-hand combat skills to the point that Oliver can defeat him. This is especially shown in the Season 2 premiere of ''Legends'', which takes place chronologically before he obtained his magic totem, where he fights far better in close combat.
* DragonWithAnAgenda: If he allows himself to become subservient it's for his own reasons.
* DoomedByCanon: His future self dies in the "Arrow" Season 4 finale. He wants to prevent it by joining the Legion of Doom.
* FedoraOfAsskicking: He wears this in the 30's and 40's, since he dressed like a gangster during that time.
* ForTheEvulz: The reason why he helped the Nazis build an atomic bomb in WWII.
* HaveWeMetYet: He hasn't killed Laurel yet so he's flummoxed why Sara wants him dead.
* IconicSequelCharacter: His future self does not appear in the Franchise/{{Arrowverse}} until its fourth year.
* IcyBlueEyes: His cold blue eyes are quite terrifying.
* LongGame: Every criminal act he does is to further the completion of his Genesis Plan.
* NoodleIncident: We don't know how he met Thawne but they are well acquainted with each other.
* NotSoStoic: Sara's BreakingSpeech about how his Genesis plan will fail and he'll die visibly unnerves him, and is what motivates him to join the Legion.
* PromotionToOpeningTitles: In ''Legends'' Season 2.
* Really700YearsOld: Thanks to stolen Lazarus Pit water.
* TheRival: To Ra's. He was just as capable as his fellow heir was and wanted to become the leader of the League, but was considered too prideful and later became a bitter rival to his former friend.
* RoguesGalleryTransplant: He and his organization are generally antagonists towards the ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' in the source material. Also InUniverse, technically, thanks to being {{Transplant}}ed from ''Arrow'' to ''Legends''.
* SavedByCanon: The Legends can't kill him, otherwise it would screw with history.
* ScrewDestiny: His main motivation for teaming up with Thawne is to stop the future failure of his Genesis plan.
* SeenItAll: Since he's immortal nothing really phases him, not even a time traveling criminal from the future.
* StartMyOwn: He created H.I.V.E. after he failed to become the next Ra's Al-Ghul. This version is on the beginning stages of it.
* {{Transplant}}: A variant in that his past self is a main villain for ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow''' Season Two since his future self was killed off in Season Four of ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', where he served as the season's BigBad.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: In TheEighties he's working as an adviser in the Reagan White House.
* VillainousFriendship: With Thawne, although Darhk made him "earn" it first.
* VisionaryVillain: He dreams of a new world order.
* WhiteHairBlackHeart: Extremely fair blond hair, but he's as nasty as you'd expect with a name like "Damien Darhk".
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Malcolm Merlyn / The Dark Archer]]
-> see the Characters/ArrowverseStarCityCriminals page.
[[/folder]]

!!Malcolm Merlyn
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/malcolm_merlyn_arrow_183.jpg]]
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dark_archer_arrow_6321.jpg]]
->'''Known Aliases''': The Dark Archer, Al Sa-Her (الساحر, Arabic for The Magician), Ra's al-Ghul (رئيس الغول Arabic for "Head of the Demon")
->'''Played By:''' Creator/JohnBarrowman
->'''Appearances:''' ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' | ''Series/{{The Flash|2014}}'' | ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow''

->''[[TheShangriLa "I found myself in a place called Nanda Parbat.]] [[Comicbook/{{RasAlGhul}} I met a man there.]] [[StartOfDarkness He helped me make sense of things. He helped me to find a purpose for my life. To make this city a better place for everyone."]]''

Father of Tommy, CEO of Merlyn Global Group, former member of the League of Assassins, and leader of Tempest, a group of wealthy and powerful Starling City citizens plotting to "save" the city by destroying the Glades.

After Moria Queen tells the world he's a criminal, he goes underground after the (partial) success of the Undertaking and manages to manipulate events to put himself in charge of the League of Assassins and form an uneasy alliance with Team Arrow. However his sins come back to haunt him as he loses control thanks to Nyssa Al-Ghul and Oliver, and joins HIVE out of spite. However when HIVE wants to destroy the world with no survivors he goes back to Team Arrow to help save the world.

Following the events of Arrow Season Four, he joins the Legion of Doom having burned his bridges in Star City.
----
* AbsurdlyYouthfulFather: He's played by 45-year-old John Barrowman, while Tommy is 27-28. He probably wasn't intended to be 16-17 when he fathered his son, though it's not outside the realms of possibility; it's more likely though that he's older than the actor portraying him.
* AbusiveParents: To Tommy and to Thea. His abusive tendencies have gotten to a point where it can be hard to watch how cruel he is to his children.
* ActionDad: He's Tommy's father. It's revealed in "State v. Queen" that he's Thea's dad as well.
* AdaptationNameChange: From Arthur King (a.k.a. Merlyn) to Malcolm Merlyn (a.k.a. Dark Archer).
** [[spoiler:Subverted; the Dark Archer comic mini-series penned by Barrowman himself has revealed Arthur King to be his birth name]].
* AdaptationalAttractiveness: In the comics, Merlyn is depicted as either a middle-aged man with receding hairline or one with a "ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}-like" WildHair, DependingOnTheArtist. Here, he's still middle-aged but is portrayed as a TallDarkAndHandsome man with a good amount of head hair that is always properly groomed. Also, it's [[MrFanservice John Barrowman]].
* AdaptationalHeroism: His comic book counterpart was a ProfessionalKiller and PunchClockVillain with no particular ambition beside being paid for his kills. This version has a more sympathetic motivation making him closer to a TragicVillain, and even becomes a SixthRanger and TokenEvilTeammate to Team Arrow in Season Three, but there's also his AdaptationalVillainy below...
* AdaptationalIntelligence: In the comics, he's mainly just a ProfessionalKiller. Here, he's a [[TheChessMaster Chess Master]] bordering on MagnificentBastard.
* AdaptationalVillainy: His plan in Season One still involves a gratuitous mass-murder his comic book counterpart never would have done.
* AffablyEvil: Out of all the villains, he is usually the most friendly and charming to Oliver. His motivations are quite understandable, and he does evil things in a thoroughly misguided effort to save the city. He veers toward FauxAffablyEvil in "Sacrifice" after his VillainousBreakdown, but in Season Two, he seems to be back to the former.
* AgeLift: Commonly depicted as a BadassGrandpa or at least [[YoungerThanTheyLook an older looking middle-aged man]] ([[VagueAge It's hard to tell]]) in most works. Here, he's portrayed by [[Creator/JohnBarrowman an actor]] in his mid-forties who is OlderThanTheyLook.
* AintTooProudToBeg: When Ra's '''finally''' gets a hold of him, he begs for life. Ra's merely tells him to face his death with honor.
* AlliterativeName: '''M'''alcolm '''M'''erlyn. For AddedAlliterativeAppeal, his [=LoA=] CodeName is "The '''M'''agician".
* AlmostDeadGuy: His wife. She tried to call him, he let it go to voicemail. Twice. She left a message as she lay dying.
* AlphabeticalThemeNaming: He and his late wife '''R'''ebecca were good friends of '''R'''obert and '''M'''oira Queen.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: To Oliver in Season 1. During both their fights, he comes away victorious. In their first fight, it's only overconfidence on his part that lets Oliver get away. In the second, he mostly succeeds in his plan to level the Glades and fakes his own death. Given that he has ''twenty'' years of League of Assassin training to Oliver's six years (five in hell, one in Starling), their every fight is a Curb Stomp. This has stopped as of Season 3, either already at the start (as he manipulated Oliver to go fight Ra's, something he didn't dare), or at the latest at the end of Season 3, where Ollie actually defeated Ra's.
** In season 4, it's made clear that Oliver is now the superior combatant of the two. Malcolm also ends up being manipulated by Oliver into losing his title of 'The Demon's Head'.
* AnArmAndALeg: Oliver cuts off his left hand in Season 4's "Sins of the Father" to extract the Demon's Ring, to give to Nyssa in exchange for a potion that can save Thea's life.
* AndStarring: After he gets PromotedToOpeningTitles in Season Three. Even then, he gets this citation during his guest appearances in the first two seasons.
* ArchEnemy: To Oliver, and later to Nyssa. With Oliver, it's so personal that during their duel in season four, Malcolm makes it clear that the only way their war will end is when one of them is dead.
* ArcherArchetype: Unlike other members of the League, the bow is the only weapon we see him using, apart from when he's training Thea.
* ArchnemesisDad: Played with. He has an adversarial relationship with Tommy, but they do resolve some differences and it looks like they may end up working together. But when Tommy finds out what Malcolm has planned, he's horrified and ends up heading to the Glades to help out.
** Played with for quite some time in his relationship with Thea. Thanks to his refusal to give up leadership of the League for her and handing Oliver's son William over to Damien Darhk, she appears to have rejected him and he to have gone full-blown villain. They do face off in combat, but he won't kill her.
** In a way, you could say he's this to Oliver. Oliver grew up with Tommy as his best friend and had Malcolm as a constant presence in his life until the island -- Malcolm was an honorary uncle or even a second father to him. And as detailed in LikeASonToMe below, Malcolm himself held fatherly affection for Oliver thanks to their similarities, and it's implied that these feelings stem from the time ''before'' Oliver was stranded on Lian Yu. Him being the biological father of Oliver's sister is just icing on the cake. Of course, any sort of affection they had for each other died a long time ago, and they're now the most bitter of enemies.
* ArrowCatch: Fully capable of this. When he does it the second time, it blows up in his face, literally.
* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: Thanks to his ability to play as his own dragon.
* AwesomeMcCoolName: Malcolm Merlyn is a very awesome name.
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: "My Name Is Oliver Queen" results in him having one, named as the new Ra's al-Ghul.
* BadassDecay: InUniverse due to becoming complacent in his training.
** Not only does Oliver thoroughly beat his ass in Season 4 but he's also morphed into a DirtyCoward, a far cry from his "Dark Archer" persona in Season One.
** Sara is also able to beat him in a fight in the Waverider and he's only able to weasel out of death because the Legion was holding Stein hostage.
* BadassInANiceSuit: Well, he is badass and wears nice suits.
* BadassNormal: He is the Franchise/{{Arrowverse}}'s very first BigBad.
* TheBadGuyWins:
** Thanks to very carefully hiding the existence of two {{Earthquake Machine}}s, he managed a half-victory with [[KillThePoor the Undertaking]], since Oliver and his allies were only able to stop one of them from going off.
** While he admits to Nyssa that he never intended to become the next Ra's Al-Ghul, his ascension to the position means that he gets exactly what he wanted since the start of Season Three: to be off the League's hit list.
* BigBad: Of Season One's present day, and the most consistent one in the whole series.
* BigBadDuumvirate:
** In the fourth season, he takes it quite poorly when Oliver cuts off his hand and takes rulership of the League of Assassins from him, so he joins H.I.V.E., albeit he quickly gets DemotedToDragon.
** In "Legends" Season Two he becomes a member of the Legion.
* BigBadEnsemble: With Ra's Al-Ghul in Season Three's present day. Ra's completely takes the role from him in the episode "Nanda Parbat".
* BigBadWannabe: Starting with Season 3. Although he is still a ManipulativeBastard who goes out of his way to be as despicable as he can be, he craps his pants at the mere mention of Ra's Al Ghul and has to be rescued from him. And in Season 4, he gets quickly DemotedToDragon by Damien Darhk.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: According to Barrowman, Merlyn genuinely sees himself as a misunderstood hero. It explains a lot of his erratic moral behavior. He even tries to rationalize kidnapping Oliver's son William as an act of fatherly love.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: He's able to go from charming injured guy to sociopathic murderer in the same conversation.
* BondVillainStupidity:
** During the Season One finale, he lets Oliver live despite having him completely at his mercy before leaving him alone with no other guards in the room. The first half is justified due to his personal connection to Oliver and a desire not to upset Moira, but the second is just plain ''dumb''. Most likely justified because he had beaten Oliver twice, and because he had a second earthquake machine ready to go. In fact, given how everything turned out, his actions only backfired in a minor sense.
** In Season Four, he keeps Nyssa alive even though he knows she wants to kill him for orchestrating Sara's death, but he keeps her around because he believes she keeps him on his toes. He regrets it when she destroys the Lazarus Pit.
* TheChessmaster: One of the biggest on the show. The Undertaking succeeded because he believed in redundancy and kept the second earthquake device a secret. But Season Three really showed off how good he can be: he orchestrated Sara's murder, having Thea kill Sara to force Oliver to take the fall for her and duel Ra's al Ghul. He planned it so if either Oliver or Ra's killed the other, he would always [[XanatosGambit come out on top.]]
* CelebrityParadox: Ray Palmer is apparently a fan of ''Series/DoctorWho'', a show which his actor has appeared in.
* ComplexityAddiction: In Season Three his gambit to get himself off Ra's hit list by brainwashing Thea to kill Sara so Oliver will face Ra's for him should have failed by all logic and yet it worked.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Considering he wants to KillThePoor, he definitely qualifies.
* TheCorrupter: Implied. Since Roy was using Malcolm's bow and arrows, it seems that the latter planted these items to convince Thea to leave with him.
* CrazyPrepared: Proves it via WhamLine:
-->'''Malcolm:''' "If I've learned anything as a successful businessman, it's... ''redundancy''." ''[cue second EarthquakeMachine going off, destroying half the Glades]''
* CreateYourOwnVillain: Inversion. By sabotaging the ''Queen's Gambit'', Malcolm facilitated the events that made Oliver into what he is today, and subsequently turned him into his greatest enemy. Oliver made this pointedly clear when they finally confronted one another in the season one finale.
* CrusadingWidower: Albeit an evil version, he's willing to try and save Starling City in his own way: by destroying the Glades. By Season Two, however, he seems to have abandoned the idea after it had cost him so much and decided to train his daughter in the wake of her mother's death.
* CurbStompBattle:
** His first fight with Oliver goes almost entirely in his favour. The latter only gets away after stabbing him with a flechette and running away.
** He massacres a SWAT team that try to arrest him.
** In "Uprising", he utterly batters Danny Brickwell, who beforehand had bested almost every character that fought him. Though it should be noted Brick was previously battered up by Wildcat and shot by Roy.
** Ends up on the receiving end of one by none other than Oliver Queen himself during Season 4. He does not take it, and the loss of the League of Assassins, well.
** Receives on from Sara in "Legends" although he puts up more of an effort this time. He's able to weasel out of it thanks to the Legion holding Martin Stein hostage.
* DarkIsEvil: In his Dark Archer persona, he wears all black and fires black arrows.
* TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget: Before joining the League of Assassins, Malcolm was a decent man and loving father. These days, he's a cold-blooded schemer willing to kill anyone he needs to, any love he has for his children is exceptionally twisted, and he has all the morality of a pit viper.
* DebtDetester: Subverted. Even though Oliver saved his life via CruelMercy in Season 4, Malcolm is determined for petty vengeance and strikes up an alliance with Hive... until Darhk goes off the deep end and Malcolm paddles back to Team Arrow to save his own skin.
* DecompositeCharacter: In the New 52 comics, Tommy is the Dark Archer.
* DemotedToDragon: Goes from the BigBad of Season 1 to Damien Darhk's attack dog in Season 4.
* DirtyCoward: First only in regards to Ra's Al Ghul. Because he is scared shitless of fighting Ra's Al Ghul himself, he forces Oliver to do it by brainwashing ''his own daughter'' into killing Sara and thus forcing Ollie's hand to protect her. In Season 4 after getting his ass kicked by Oliver and losing a hand, he runs to Damien Darhk and gives up the existence and location of Ollie's son for petty retribution. When he holds Thea captive, he acts all smug and taunting as long as he is in control, when he loses it he tries to run. And in the finale, when everything around him comes crashing down, he has yet ''another'' change of alignment and helps out Team Arrow out of self-preservation.
* TheDragon:
** ''To himself.'' The other members of the Undertaking don't know that he's the Dark Archer, so he threatens them with a visit from "our associate" if he needs to coerce them.
** He was also this to Ra's Al-Ghul as his "Horseman".
** He's seemingly become one for Darhk after joining H.I.V.E.
** Sara considers him one for the Legion, though Malcolm insists it's an equal partnership.
* DrunkOnTheDarkSide: He enjoys the power that comes with being Ra's Al-Ghul, immensely, and when Team Arrow arranges it so he loses the title of the Demon's Head he ''loses'' it completely and becomes even worse than he was in Season One.
* EasilyForgiven: Zig-zagged in Season Three. While Thea is willing to forgive Malcolm for his past crimes, Team Arrow is not (except for Oliver and Roy but ''only'' for Thea's sake). However, when it turns out Malcolm is behind Sara's death, Oliver keeps him safe ''only'' so the League won't come after Thea. Thea, however, is '''furious''' and pretty much disowns him. Eventually, Ra's stabs Thea in one final gambit to get Oliver to join the League -- even Oliver can't tolerate Malcolm any more after that.
* EnemyMine: Oliver is willing to work with him in order to defeat the League and Merlyn accepts in order to free the two of them from the League's sights. However, they are united for the sake of Thea and the two can barely tolerate each other otherwise.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes:
** Despite his completely {{Jerkass}} actions towards his son (calling Tommy a loser, cutting him off entirely from his trust, tricking him to dinner just so he could sign off on closing his wife's beloved free clinic), it is shown he does indeed love his son. When Malcolm realizes the Triad is trying to assassinate him, his first and only concern is to get Tommy out of danger. Of course, that's partly because he knows he himself isn't in any danger thanks to his League training.
** His love of his wife and despair from her death is what ultimately pushed him over the edge into the villain he is today.
** Also his daughter Thea. He comes back to protect her from the Mirakuru army in "Streets of Fire" despite the League's ContractOnTheHitman. This is partially due to the fact that she is all he has left. Seems to be horribly subverted come "The Climb", where it turns out he was just using her as a pawn, but afterwards even though he put her in great danger he keeps showing that his love for her is genuine.
* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** He helps somewhat against the Mirakuru army in Season Two's three-part finale because while he did want the Glades destroyed as vengeance, he didn't want the ''entire city'' destroyed, especially not for a one-on-one vendetta.
** He's also ''vehemently'' against using the Lazarus Pit to bring back loved ones since they usually ComeBackWrong.
** He's also against H.I.V.E.'s Genesis plan, but rather than work to stop it, he becomes Darhk's [[TheDragon Dragon]] so Thea will be spared (and himself of course). But when Darhk wants to destroy the whole world and not rebuild it, Malcolm goes back to Team Arrow.
** Even after siding with Damien Darhk, Merlyn doesn't reveal Oliver's identity (probably because doing so would endanger Thea). This doesn't stop Darhk from working it out on his own.
* EvilCounterpart: To Oliver as the Dark Archer and perhaps to Walter as a businessman.
* EvilMentor: Takes in Thea at the end of the Season 2 finale, and we see his mentorship of her early in Season 3. By the middle of the season, Oliver asked to be taught by him in order to fight Ra's Al-Ghul and the League of Assassins.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Uses a voice changer when in his Dark Archer persona, at least before he and Oliver learn of each other's true identities.
* ExactWords: He says ''he'' didn't kill Sara. In the literal sense, he didn't. He had a BrainwashedAndCrazy Thea kill her on his orders.
* FaceDeathWithDignity:
** Averted in Season 3, where he's brought before Ra's Al-Ghul and is begging for his life, and Ra's tells him to accept his death with honor.
** Played straight in Season 4, where after Oliver disarms him after their duel, Malcolm merely tells Ollie to GetItOverWith. Oliver opts for CruelMercy and cuts off his hand instead.
* FaceHeelTurn: While he was never a good guy to start with, Merlyn abandons any pretense of being Oliver's ally after losing his hand and the League of Assassins, throwing his lot in with Darhk and re-establishing himself as Oliver's ArchEnemy.
* FakingTheDead: In Season Two. He returns in "State v. Queen", much to Moira's shock.
* FamilyThemeNaming: His children, '''Th'''omas (Tommy) and '''Th'''ea.
* FeelsNoPain: Due to his training with the League of Assassins, this comes as a requirement. Subverted in that he does ''feel'' pain, he just ignores it. He shows this ability to Thea during their five months of training.
* {{Flanderization}}: He was never good to begin with, but in Season One he could at least present himself as a WellIntentionedExtremist and understandably wanting vengeance for Rebecca's death. In Seasons Three and Four however he has no justification and his evil plans are just a combination of him being selfish and petty and just being evil for evil's sake.
* FreudianExcuse: His wife's death is his StartOfDarkness. Subverted in that all of his actions post Season One can't remotely be justified by this in the least.
* FriendToAllChildren: Flashbacks show he would perform magic tricks for children as a way to connect to them. This trait does ''not'' carry over in the present day however.
* FriendlyEnemy: To Team Arrow, until he loses control of the League and Oliver cuts off his hand. Then he's back to being their ArchEnemy.
* AGodAmI: He believes the evil he does is necessary for the "bigger picture".
* GoneHorriblyWrong: From the League's perspective. He used all of his training to plot the destruction of an entire neighborhood.
* HandicappedBadass: In the second half of Season 4, Oliver cuts off his hand. Despite this, he's able to break into Samantha's house and kidnap William without any fuss. Later Hive provides him with a prosthetic hand so he can wield a bow and sword like nothing changed.
* HateSink: As the series going on his horrible actions vastly out weigh his sympathetic backstory: in Season 3 he brainwashed Thea to kill Sara, which set off a chain of events that nearly got her killed, and in Season 4 he resurrects Vandal Savage and refuses to forfeit his title of Ra's Al-Ghul in exchange for a cure for Thea's bloodlust. When he loses control of the League, he tells Darhk about Ollie's secret son in Central City, cementing his status as selfish bastard who will always care only for himself and nobody else.
* HazyFeelTurn: In Season 3. He doesn't seem to bear any ill will towards Team Arrow and even saves their lives a few times, but he has no qualms whatsoever about manipulating them. It doesn't stick and in "Sins of the Fathers" he betrays them since their goals no longer align with his. But then he goes back to them in the Season 4 finale, since even he doesn't want the whole world destroyed.
* HesBack: Much to Moira's shock at the end of "State v. Queen". Looks like he recovered from his VillainousBreakdown as well as that arrow to the chest.
* HeelFaceDoorSlam: In Season Four after losing control of the League, Merlyn ends his status as Team Arrow's TokenEvilTeammate and strikes up an alliance with Darhk out of pure spite, but he goes back to Team Arrow in the finale, though.
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: He's going from being an AffablyEvil TragicMonster who may have a shot at redemption to a CardCarryingVillain who tries to figure how he can manipulate each situation to benefit himself at a drop of a hat. It doesn't help that, after his main arc in Season One, he suffers immense MotiveDecay.
* HeroKiller: Brainwashed Thea to kill Sara in Season 3 and later is indirectly responsible for Laurel's death.
* HiddenAgenda: We don't know Malcolm's reasons for joining the LegionOfDoom. Although his conversation with Sara implies he wants to bring his loved one back to life.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Rants at Oliver in season 4 about how Nyssa would be unworthy of being Ra's Al-Ghul due to acting on her emotions. This coming from the man whose hatred for the Glades lead him to kill the poor. Then after being spared proceeds to reveal Oliver's son to Darhk out of spite.
* ILetGwenStacyDie: Rebecca called him on his phone at least twice the night of her murder. He was busy working so he just let the phone ring the first time. She called a second time and this annoyed him so much that he shut down the phone. Past midnight, the police call to tell him she had been shot. [[AlmostDeadGuy She left him a message as she was dying.]]
* IgnoredEpiphany: Any lesson he learned in Season Three is gone by Season Four. Case in point: his "solution" to help Thea with her bloodlust? Tricking her into killing some of his men so it'll be satisfied for a few weeks.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Though apparently non-fatally.
* IrrationalHatred: Merlyn wants to destroy the Glades, killing innocent people, as revenge for his wife's death, never mind that most of them had nothing to do with it.
* ItIsBeyondSaving: Part of the reason he wants to KillThePoor, though it's mostly because his wife's death cemented this in his mind.
* ItsAllAboutMe: For all his WellIntentionedExtremist rhetoric and claims to love his children, Merlyn's goals never veer away from what ''he'' wants. Destroying the Glades is about personal revenge for his wife's death, reaching out to Thea is about mitigating his guilt over Tommy's death, opposing Ra's al Ghul is all about saving his own skin, and his war with Nyssa in Season Four is about keeping the power he wields as Ra's al Ghul, to the point that he's willing to let Thea die rather than step down.
* ItsPersonal: The grudge between him and Oliver is incredibly personal -- Malcolm is, indirectly or not, responsible for the deaths of at least three important people in Oliver's life, and that's not even going into his manipulation of Thea.
* {{Jerkass}}: Towards his son and later Thea when she breaks off all ties with him after she finds out he was the one who helped Darhk kidnap William.
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk:
** Aww, he takes in Thea when it seems like she's got nowhere else to go! He brainwashes her into killing Sara and therefore sets up a XanatosGambit to guarantee he gets off scot-free from death by Ra's al Ghul!
** He willingly agrees to meet up with Nyssa on the terms he gives up leadership of the League, in exchange for an antidote for Thea's condition. Nope, he brought his own army and intends to kill Nyssa and take the antidote by force.
* JokerImmunity: He's been through so many tight spots, but he is the one villain who never seems to die and keeps coming back.
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: He started out wanting to clean up the Glades. Then he decided to destroy the neighbourhood and everyone in it.
* KarmaHoudini:
** He has yet to pay for any of his crimes, with the possible exception of his defeat in the first season finale. He even has Oliver defending him now. It gets taken further when his only major consequence for his involvement in the events of Season Three, which primarily involved him staining his daughter's hands with Sara's blood, is being given an AwesomeMomentOfCrowning as the replacement for Nyssa (Sara's lover)'s father, the prior Ra's al-Ghul. On the flip side, he did receive a brutal torture at the hands of the League, he can never reclaim his old life in Starling City, and his villainous actions left him estranged from his children Thea and Tommy.
*** Until Season 4 rolled around at least. Thea has now let Malcolm back into her life with open arms despite everything he put her through.
** Finally subverted in Season Four; in "Sins of the Fathers", he is curb-stomped in a duel with Oliver, has his hand cut off; loses the League of Assassins to Nyssa, who permanently disbands the group, leaving a now crippled Merlyn with nothing. Then when he acts out in petty revenge by kidnapping William to help Darhk blackmail Oliver, it costs him any and all last remains of his daughter's love.
** ... only to be DoubleSubverted in the finale ''again''. This seems to be his real superpower.
* KickTheSonOfABitch:
** In "Uprising", it turns out that he murdered a random street thug who he thought had killed his wife. The guy was actually innocent of that, but still had it coming.
** He later gives a vicious beatdown to Danny Brickwell, but given that man's prior actions, it's downright cathartic.
* KillThePoor: He wants to kill everyone in the Glades partly out of revenge for the murder of his wife and partly out of frustration at his organization's previous attempts at improving the area.
* KneelBeforeZod: Or, in this case, kneel before Ra's al Ghul.
* LateArrivalSpoiler: The reveal of his identity was the SeventhEpisodeTwist of the first season.
* TheLeader: He is a natural born leader. Aside from heading his own company, he also lead and created a NebulousEvilOrganization. When Oliver is absent to infiltrate the League of Assassins, he immediately takes charge and becomes the de-facto leader of Team Arrow whether they like it or not. At the end of Season Three, he becomes the new Ra's Al-Ghul.
* {{Leitmotif}}: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnj1wqcOvEk "The Dark Archer/It is I Who Failed This City."]]
* LikeASonToMe: Admits that there was a time that he thought of Oliver as another son -- after all, he had more in common with him than he did with his own flesh and blood son. Of course, whatever fatherly affection he had for Ollie is long past -- these days, there is no one they despise more than each other.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: He admits that if Rebecca were alive, things would have been different. Her death causes him to join the League of Assassins and later plot the death of everyone in the Glades. He finally gets closure when he gets the chance to beat up and humiliate her actual murderer, Brick.
* LoveRedeems: Averted, his "love" for Thea did't get him to change his ways at all.
* MaddenIntoMisanthropy: Formerly a philanthropist and well-meaning dad, the murder of his wife made him go unhinged and try to murder an entire section of the city.
* TheMagnificent: His League of Assassins codename is "The Magician," matching his sobriquet from the comics, as well a qualifying for a punny nickname and NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast; if a group of ninja assassins feel you're slippery enough to be called "The Magician", that's saying something!
* ManipulativeBastard: Malcolm really is ''the Magician''; he successfully turned [[TheHero Oliver]] and [[TheDreaded Ra's Al Ghul]] against each other. Never mind that both men knew he was still alive and a suspect in Sara's death. Never mind that Oliver knows him as a monster who killed his father and his best friend/Malcolm's own son as well as stranding Oliver on an island for five years.
* MeaningfulName: At first, his League codename, "The Magician", seems like a reference to his last name, Merlyn. We later learn that Nyssa gave it to him because he performed a magic trick in front of her when she was a child.
* MisplacedRetribution: Quite obviously, destroying the Glades and everyone in it is a case of this. It turns out that when he murdered a random street thug in revenge, the guilty party was actually Danny Brickwell.
* MoralMyopia: In Merlyn's own mind, he is a heroic WellIntentionedExtremist. As such, he sees Nyssa as being in the wrong for trying to depose him as leader of the League of Assassins.
* MotiveDecay: He originally wanted to avenge his dead wife, and save Starling in a very twisted way. After that all went to hell, his main goal became surviving and getting off the League's Hit List. When he gets that accomplished, he just settles into his role of Ra's Al-Ghul and acting as a TokenEvilTeamMate to Team Arrow. However once [[spoiler: he loses control of the League due to Oliver's machinations, he strikes up an alliance with Darhk out of pure spite.]]
* MundaneUtility: Malcolm uses the Lazarus Pit, the magical water capable of raising the dead and unnaturally extending one's life, to heal a small cut on his cheek from a sparring match with Nyssa.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: In Season Three, he slowly begins to realize how bad the choices he made were with the revelation he killed the wrong man in vengeance for his wife's death. But it isn't until Ra's stabs Thea that it dawns on him how horrible the consequences of his actions have been.
* NebulousEvilOrganization: Runs one called Tempest.
* NeverMyFault:
** He refuses to accept any responsibility for the deaths of either his wife or his son. In particular, it's pretty clear that his blazing hatred of the Glades is at least partially a matter of projecting his guilt onto an easy target. Even after he finds out who really killed his wife, he still can't accept responsibility for his actions.
** In Season Four's "Sins of the Fathers", he treats Thea's impending death as an unavoidable tragedy, ignoring that it's his own refusal to give up leadership of the League that has seemingly doomed her.
** When confronted with his crimes, he always rationalizes them as acts of fatherly love and he seems to genuinely believe it.
* NobleDemon: He has a strong sense of honor and won't reveal Oliver's secret because it's not his to tell.
* NonindicativeName: Despite his moniker being the Magican he doesn't have magic powers.
* NotMeThisTime: He's a self-admitted killer, but he didn't kill Sara on the principle that she's the lover of the daughter of Ra's Al-Ghul, who's already chasing him as it is. That would make it ''much'' worse and draw attention to the city where his daughter is. Turns out he's lying; he had Thea do it while under a form of MindControl.
* NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist: All of his ramblings about his actions being justified (be it destroying the Glades or brainwashing Thea) fall somewhat flat, because at the end of the day, [[ItsAllAboutMe his own wellbeing will always be his first priority]].
* TheOathBreaker: He was released from the League, but was made to promise that he would still follow their Code. Then he went back to Starling so he could destroy the Glades.
* OffingTheOffspring: While it is ultimately a tragic accident, Tommy's death can be traced to the fact that Malcolm financed the creation of the EarthquakeMachine that led to the CNRI building collapsing onto him and [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice staking him with a rebar]], meaning that if there was anyone to blame for his death, it was Malcolm.
* OutlivingOnesOffspring: Tommy at the end of Season One. Very narrowly averted with Thea near the end of Season Three; she is saved with the Lazarus Pit.
* PapaWolf:
** Despite their stormy relationship, the ''instant'' Tommy is in danger in "Dead to Rights", Malcolm leaps into action to protect his son and doesn't hesitate to kill a mook threatening him. In "Streets of Fire", he pulls off a VillainousRescue to stop a Mirakuru soldier from killing Thea and insists on protecting her from then on, despite her hatred of him.
** Cruelly subverted in "The Climb" when it is revealed that Thea killed Sara under the influence of a plant that can be used for mind control. Malcolm admits to Oliver that he made her do it so that Oliver would have to fight Ra's Al-Ghul to protect Thea, which if he succeeds would erase Malcolm's blood debt to the League and give him back his freedom. Ultimately Thea was just a tool to him, proof that Malcolm Merlyn loves himself more than his own children. That said he cares for Thea enough to have Hive kidnap her and brought to the dome before they tried to nuke the world.
* ParentalNeglect:
** Pretty much ignored his son completely after his wife died.
** Even more so with his daughter Thea, but to be fair, that wasn't his fault. He ''tries'' to help her in his own way, but she dislikes his aid.
* PlotArmor: The ''only'' reason he's still alive, is because Oliver adopted a ThouShallNotKill policy and had no desire to see Thea become a killer like him.
* PromotedToOpeningTitles: In Season Three.
* PutOnABus: In Season Two, he appears at the end of "State v. Queen", then leaves again in the next episode, "The Scientist". However, over fourteen episodes later, he returns in "Streets of Fire", [[BackForTheFinale just in time for the season finale]].
* PyrrhicVillainy: Even though Malcolm has succeeded in his two major goals (he managed to destroy half the Glades and escape the League's justice) they ultimately brought him down. He used to be a wealthy, influential businessman but his plan to destroy the Glades ruined that thanks to Moira outing him. Later he became Ra's Al-Ghul himself after escaping the League's justice, until he lost it as a direct consequence for the way he went about achieving it. Everything he did cost him his respect, his wealth, and his family. Now he's little more than a thug for hire with delusions of grandeur.
* RedemptionRejection: His love of Thea could ''have'' made him a better person, but he's just too selfish to change.
* RelatedInTheAdaptation: In the comics, Merlyn is not Mia Dearden's (Thea's comic counterpart) biological father.
* RichesToRags: Twice. He lost control of his company after Moria outed him in Season One, and again in Season Four, when he loses control of the League to Nyssa.
* SharpDressedMan: Up until his name was revealed, he was known and credited only as "The Well-Dressed Man", making him a walking in-joke to fans of a certain [[Series/{{Torchwood}} sci-fi show]].
* SinkOrSwimMentor: His idea for trying to train Oliver and Thea into "regaining killer instinct" is to send them to Lian Yu before setting Deathstroke free to fight them.
* SmugSmiler: Not once does he ''NOT'' smile. He always has a subtle grin somewhere on his face. [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness Until he doesn't.]]
* TheSociopath: He has no problem manipulating and lying to literally everyone around him. That said, he does love Thea -- he just doesn't express it healthily at all. One suspects that he was ''always'' like this - his wife's death just brought it out of him.
* SoreLoser: He swears revenge against Oliver in "Sins of the Father" after he cut off his hand and cost him leadership of the League of Assassins, and teams up with Darhk to take his petty vengeance.
* StartOfDarkness: His wife Rebecca's death in the Glades broke something in him, and after his affair with Moira, he left only to wind up in Nanda Parbat, where ComicBook/RasAlGhul himself gave him a new sense of purpose...
* StealthHiBye: He's ''really'' good at this, to the point even Damian Darhk is impressed. The only place he can't do this is Nanda Parbat.
-->'''Barry:''' Is that the only way he knows how to get here?
* StillWearingTheOldColors: Still wears his League of Assassins uniform after leaving the organization.
* SuddenlyShouting: In the Season One finale, and quite jarring because it's the first time in the series he's been anything other than confident and poised.
--> '''Tommy:''' So you kill them all--\\
'''Malcolm:''' YES! THEY DESERVE TO DIE! ALL OF THEM! THE WAY SHE DIED!
* TallDarkAndHandsome: He stands six feet tall and doesn't have much gray in his hair.
* TallDarkAndSnarky: He stands six feet tall while his snarkiness stands even taller.
* TaughtByExperience: In "Year's End", he misses a perfect occasion to learn the Hood's true identity by just [[KickTheDog kicking him to make him suffer]], which allows Ollie to knock him out and escape. In "Darkness on the Edge of Town", Malcolm is in the exact same situation, but remembers to knock Ollie out, allowing him to learn his nemesis' true identity.
* ThirdActStupidity: See BondVillainStupidity above for his actions in the season one finale.
* TokenEvilTeammate: Oliver made him Team Arrow's SixthRanger to fight against the League of Assassins in Season Three, much to everybody else's (sans Roy) dismay. He continues to be this in Season Four until he loses control of the League, and throws his lot in with Darhk.
* TookALevelInDumbass: He's a wanted man by the League of Assassins. So what does he do? He drugs and hypnotizes Thea to kill Sara, both a member of the League and the girlfriend of the leader's daughter. This is something even he realizes would be [[ViolationOfCommonSense utterly idiotic for him to be involved in]], to boot. Furthermore, this was all in the belief that Oliver would be able to kill Ra's for him... despite also feeling that he did not have the killer instinct he once did and knowing [[TheDreaded just how dangerous Ra's is]]. The brainwashing eventually comes back to bite him in the butt when Thea sells him out to the League after she finds out what he did.
** Subverted when he ends up becoming the next Ra's Al-Ghul because he killed Sara. Of course, there are several times where he's nearly killed, but he still comes up on top.
* ToughLove: What he says cutting off his son is. What he considers training his daughter, by beating her senseless to get her to understand he was trying to train her not as his daughter, but as a student.
--> '''Malcolm:''' I'd rather you hate me and be alive, than love me and be dead.
* TragicVillain: He lost his wife to a murderous thug, then made one '''very''' bad choice that led to his whole world coming apart. Even Oliver is beginning to feel sorry for him in Season Three -- though he later takes it back. Averted in Season Four, since it's made perfectly clear that he is and always will be a horrible person who will only care about himself.
* TrainingFromHell: He went through it from Ra's Al-Ghul just like everyone who joins the League of Assassins, and puts Thea through the same, though he does go comparatively easy on her at first.
* {{Transplant}}: He's a major character in the first four seasons of ''Series/{{Arrow}}''[='=]s (and its first ever BigBad) before going to ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' Season 2.
* UnderestimatingBadassery: The only reason Oliver is able to achieve a modicum of success in his fights against Merlyn is because of the latter's overconfidence. After delivering a complete Curb Stomp in their first fight, Oliver manages to stab him with a flechette and run away. In the second, he makes an ArrowCatch... on an exploding arrow.
* UngratefulBastard: After being shown far more mercy than he deserved upon being defeated by Oliver, Merlyn bitterly swears revenge and betrays the location of Oliver's son William to Damien Darhk.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: By brainwashing Thea to kill Sara, he sets off a train of events that lead to Oliver joining the League and unleashing a greater threat to Starling than he ever was -- Ra's wants Oliver to use the Alpha/Omega Virus on Starling since it's the final step for the Heir to the Demon to fully embrace being Ra's Al-Ghul.
** He takes on this role again in Season 4, where he collects Vandal Savage's remains so he can resurrect him so [[YouOweMe he can cash in a favor]] from him in the future. But the audience knows it makes him indirectly responsible for [[Series/LegendsOfTomorrow an apocalyptic future.]]
* UsedToBeASweetKid: As flashbacks in ''Uprising'' show, he was a much kinder person and a better father to Tommy before his wife died. Everything went to hell after that.
* VillainousBreakdown:
** In "Sacrifice", after Tommy confronts him about the Undertaking and Moira holds a press conference announcing his involvement to the world. He goes from calm and poised to SuddenlyShouting and throwing the laptop on which he watched the press conference in a rage.
** He has another one in "Restoration" after Nyssa destroys the Lazarus Pit.
** He has another in "Sins of the Father" after he loses control of the League to Nyssa, and loses his hand to boot. He's so pissed he forms an alliance with HIVE out of pure spite.
* VillainDecay: His threat level goes down each season, where he's more of a hinderance to Team Arrow (when he's not working with them) than a pressing concern. Best exemplified in Season Four, where he gets his butt kicked by Oliver (and loses his hand), loses the position of Ra's Al-Ghul to Nyssa, and when he joins H.I.V.E he's treated as just another thug.
* VillainForgotToLevelGrind: Oliver improved dramatically since his defeat at Merlyn's hands in Season One, while Merlyn's skills hadn't grown at all, and he's spent far more time with being a ManipulativeBastard than as KingpinInHisGym. As such, when he and Oliver duel in "Sins of the Fathers", Merlyn is badly beaten and loses his hand.
* VillainsNeverLie: Manages to manipulate Oliver many times through half-truths and outright lies. He claims that he didn't kill Sara Lance, but he drugged Thea with a substance that turned her into a living weapon, murdering Sara by using her as his proxy. He claims that Ra's Al-Ghul disapproved of his daughter's "deviant" relationship with Sara, but Ra's only had reservations about it because he could tell that Sara wouldn't want to devote her life to the League. He blackmails Oliver into confronting Ra's by threatening to make Thea an even larger target for the League by recording her part in Sara's murder. But when Thea comes clean to Nyssa, who had already had instances of instability where Sara was involved, Nyssa forgives her immediately because Thea's will wasn't her own at the time.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: He was able to maintain the image of an honest businessman and philanthropist... until Moria oughted him with her press conference. And there's no way he'll ever get it back.
* VisionaryVillain:
** Very much so; he views destroying the Glades as necessary to making Starling City a better place for everyone. In "Uprising", he realizes it was all for nothing when he learns his wife's killer is still alive.
** In Season Four he keeps ranting about how nobody else can see "the bigger picture".
* WalkingSpoiler: From about Episode Seven of Season One onwards, plus a good chunk of Seasons Two and Three.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: A flashback in "The Undertaking" reveals him as one, complete with FreudianExcuse, and a little dash of AGodAmI for seasoning. However subsequent seasons show him to be a petty bastard interested only in himself and not even pretending to be benign.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: Claims this with Moira and Robert.
* WickedCultured: Extremely knowledgeable on a variety of topics, always well-dressed, charming and eloquent, he used to be a successful businessman and the epitome of Starling City's elite in Season One.
* WildCard: General rule of thumb is that he'll be working ''against'' Team Arrow... until shit hits the fan, then he works with them.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: He became this way after his wife was shot and killed in the middle of the street. Subverted as the series goes on and shows that his most cruel and ruthless actions outweigh the tragedy and pain he suffered.
* WouldHitAGirl: Willing to elbow and punch his own daughter in the face to train her. It wasn't out of malice or hatred, but still, his ''daughter''.
* WouldHurtAChild: Even ignoring the children who no doubt lived in the Glades, a vengeful Merlyn tells Damien Darhk about Oliver's son.
* YouAreInCommandNow: Becomes the new Ra's Al-Ghul at the end of Season Three.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: When he starts tying up loose ends, he ''really'' starts tying up loose ends.

->''[[TheShangriLa "I found myself in a place called Nanda Parbat.]] [[Comicbook/{{RasAlGhul}} I met a man there.]] [[StartOfDarkness He helped me make sense of things. He helped me to find a purpose for my life. To make this city a better place for everyone. Especially for you."]]''

* FighterMageThief: Merlyn is an archer and a martial artist, Damien makes use of magic, and Thawne is a schemer who uses his SuperSpeed for hit-and-run-attacks.

* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: To Vandal Savage. Vandal Savage was an immortal who could only been killed by Hawkgirl who played the LongGame in the shadows to conquer the Earth with the the aide of the Time Masters. In contrast the Legion of Doom are well known villains. Vandal Savage had a legion of followers, the Legion has only themselves an whatever hired help they pick up in what era their visiting.

* RoguesGalleryTransplant: Originally respective [[BigBad BigBads]] of ''Arrow'' and ''Flash''.

* BerserkButton: If "The Reverse Flash Returns" is any indication, being called out on why he hates The Flash is a sore spot.

* BigBadDuumvirate: In ''Legends of Tomorrow" Season 2 he forms the LegionOfDoom with Malcolm Merlyn and Damien Darhk.

* CastAsAMask: He spends most of the first season of ''The Flash'' impersonating the real Harrison Wells with Tom Cavanagh taking up the role, his real form (played by Matt Letscher) only appears twice in the first season.
** Averted in Season 2 of ''The Flash'' when a younger Eobard Thawne travels to this time from the future, however this version of him had not yet traveled back in time to kill Nora Allen, protecting him from the RetGone he suffered at the end of Season 1.

* CharacterDeath: He finally gets what's coming to him in the Season One of ''The Flash'' finale, when Eddie kills himself to prevent Eobard from ever being born. [[spoiler: Subverted as of Season 3.]]

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: He was able to maintain the image of an honest businessman and philanthropist.....until Moria oughted him with her press conference. And there's no way he'll ever get it back.

* WildCard: General rule of thumb is that he'll be working ''against'' Team Arrow ....until shit hits the fan then he works with them.

* ToughLove: What he says cutting off his son is. What he considers training his daughter, by beating her senseless to get to understand he was trying to train her not as his daughter, but as a student.

* UnderestimatingBadassery: The only reason Oliver is able to achieve a modicum of success in his fights against Merlyn is because of the latter's overconfidence. After delivering a complete Curb Stomp in their first fight, Oliver manages to stab him with a flechette and run away. In the second, he makes an ArrowCatch...on an exploding arrow.

* PyrrhicVillainy: Even though Malcolm has succeeded in his two major goals: he managed to destroy half the Glades and escape the League's justice they ultimately brought him down. He used to be a wealthy, influential businessman but his plan to destroy the Glades ruined that thanks to Moira outing him. Later he became Ra's Al-Ghul himself after escaping the League's justice, until he lost it as a direct consequence for the way he went about achieving it. Everything he did cost him his respect, his wealth, and his family. Now he's little more than a thug for hire with delusions of grandeur.

* OffingTheOffspring: While it is ultimately a tragic accident, Tommy's death can be traced to the fact that Malcolm financed the creation of the EarthquakeMachine that led to the CNRI building collapsing onto him and [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice staking him with a rebar]], meaning that if their was anyone to blame for his death, it was Malcolm.

** When confronted with his crimes, he's always rationalizes them as acts of fatherly love and he seems to genuinely believe it.

** Finally subverted in Season Four; in "Sins of the Fathers", he is curb-stomped in a duel with Oliver, has his hand cut off, loses the League of Assassins to Nyssa, who permanently disbands the group, leaving a now crippled Merlyn with nothing. Then when he acts out in petty revenge by kidnapping William to help Darhk blackmail Oliver, it costs him any and all last remains of his daughter's love.

* {{Jerkass}}: Towards his son and later Thea when she breaks off all ties with him after she finds out he was the one who helped Darhk kidnapped William.

* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: He's going from being an AffablyEvil TragicMonster who may have a shot at redemption to a CardCarryingVillain who tries to figure how he can manipulate each situation to benefit himself at a drop of a hat. It doesn't help, that after his main arc in Season One, he suffers immense MotiveDecay.

* FriendToAllChildren: Flashbacks show he would perform magic tricks for children as a way to connenct to them. This trait does ''not'' carry over in the present day however.

* DirtyCoward: First only in regards to Ra's Al Ghul. Because he is scared shitless of fighting Ra's Al Ghul himself, he forces Oliver to do it by brainwashing ''his own daughter'' into killing Sara and thus forcing Ollie's hand to protect her. In Season 4 after getting his ass kicked by Oliver and losing a hand, he runs to Damien Darhk and gives up the existence and location of Ollie's son for petty retribution. When he hold's Thea captive, he acts all smug and taunting as long as he is in control, when he loses it he tries to run. And in the finale, when everything around him comes crashing down, he has yet ''another'' change of alignment and helps out Team Arrow out of self-preservation.

* EasilyForgiven: Zig-zagged in Season Three. While Thea is willing to forgive Malcolm for his past crimes, Team Arrow is not (except for Oliver and Roy but ''only'' for Thea's sake). However, when it turns out Malcolm is behind Sara's death, Oliver keeps him safe ''only'' so the League won't come after Thea. Thea, however, is '''furious''' and pretty much disowns him. Eventually , Ra's stabs Thea in one final gambit to get Oliver to join the League -- even Oliver can't tolerate Malcolm any more after that.

* CrusadingWidower: Albeit an evil version, he's willing to try and save Starling City in his own way: by destroy the Glades. By Season Two, however, he seems to have abandoned the idea after it had cost him so much and decided to train his daughter in the wake of her mother's death.

** Receives on from Sara in "Legends" although he puts up more of an effort this time. He's able to weasel out of it thanks to the Legion holding Martin Stein hostage it.

* HateSink: As the series going on his horrible actions vastly out weigh his sympathetic backstory: in Season 3 he brainwashed Thea to kill Sara, which set off a chain of events that nearly got her killed, and in Season 4 he resurrects Vandal Savage, refuses to forfeit his title of Ra's Al-Ghul in exchange for a cure for Thea's bloodlust. When he loses control of the League, he tells Darhk about Ollie's secret son in Central City, cementing his status as selfish bastard who will always care only for himself and nobody else.

** In Season Four, he keeps Nyssa alive he though he knows she wants to kill him for orchestrating Sara's death but he keeps her around because he believes she keeps him on his toes. He regrets it when she destroys the Lazarus Pit.

-->'''Malcolm:''' "If I've learned anything as a successful businessman, it's...''redundancy''." ''[cue second EarthquakeMachine going off, destroying half the Glades]''

** ....only to be DoubleSubverted in the finale ''again''. This seems to be his real superpower.

** Sara also is able to beat him in a fight in the Waverider and he's only able to weasel out of death because he the Legion was holding Stein hostage.