The Flash – Evil Speedsters / Characters

The Flash Main Character Index
Title Character
The Flashes (Barry Allen | Wally West)
Supporting Characters
The Flash Family | Other Speedsters
Rogues Gallery
Evil Speedsters | The Reverse-Flashes (Eobard Thawne | Hunter Zolomon) | The Rogues

open/close all folders

Other Evil Speedsters

Johnny Quick

Alter Ego: Johnathan Allen (Forever Evil)

First Appearance: Justice League of America #29 (August, 1964)

Johnny Quick is an evil doppelganger of The Flash from an alternate universe. He is a member of the Crime Syndicate, a team of supervillains paralleling the Justice League.

See their page.

Speed Demon

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mcgee1_3.jpg

Alter Ego: Jerry "Speed" McGee

First Appearance: The Flash Vol 2 #5 (October, 1987)

"I've got no money, thousands of dollars of damages against me, no wife and co-workers who remember me as an eight-foot-tall psychopath who tried to kill them."

Early into Wally West's career as the Flash, Jerry was estranged from his wife Tina, who began having an affair with the speedster. Angry and jealous, Jerry turned his hyper-physiology research onto himself, transforming into a steroid-pumped hulk of a man who could rival Wally's then-top speed of 700 miles an hour. Unfortunately, the self-experimentation caused his internal organs to collapse; fortunately, he recovered.

Ax-Crazy: During his stint as Speed Demon.
Body Horror: Amping himself up with steroids and other implants left him disfigured. It required extensive operation to make him relatively human again.
Brief Accent Imitation: He occasionally puts on a corny faux-French accent to tease his wife.
Clothes Make the Superman: His costume was extremely high-tech, with an electronically metered, computer-controlled device that automatically injected steroids into him.
Crazy Jealous Guy: Went off the deep end after his ex-wife Tina shacked up with Wally West.
Deadly Upgrade: His self-experiments gave him super-speed and super-strength, but at the cost of his organs failing and collapsing.
Face–Heel Turn: When Tina began having an affair with Wally (early into Wally's career as the Flash) while being estranged from her husband, Jerry used his super-speed research to turn himself into a hulking monstrosity, Speed Demon. His steroid research had already made him an abusive Jerkass, however, so turning himself into a monster was more Jumping Off the Slippery Slope.
- Heel–Face Turn: Turned evil, then back to good.
Happily Married: Following his Heel–Face Turn, he and Tina reconciled.
Murder the Hypotenuse: He attempted to off the Flash for making the moves on his estranged wife.
One-Shot Character: His Speed Demon identity didn't actually last that very long, only for a single brief arc.
Professor Guinea Pig: Used himself as a test subject for Steroid B-19.
Psycho Serum: Steroid B-19 gave his Super-Speed, but it also turned him into a psychotic killing machine; driven only by rage, malice, and heart break.
Self-Disposing Villain: When he first attacked the Flash, without any real control over his powers, he ran straight into a power plant, which exploded.
Super Serum: Gained Super-Speed via taking the experimental Steroid B-19.
Super-Speed: Top speed of 700 mph.
Super-Strength: A side-effect of Speed Demon's experiments.
Those Two Guys: Once he and Tina reconciled, they became this.
You Don't Look Like You: In the Johns run he's significantly heavier-set, has curly hair, and a much less prominent brow.
With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: The speed he gained from his experiments caused him going off the rails. He got better later though.

Blue Trinity

Alter Ego: Gregor Gregorovich, Boleshaw Uminski, Christina Alexandrova

First Appearance: The Flash Vol 2 #7 (December, 1987)

The Blue Trinity was a team of Soviet speedsters created to battle the Flash.

Alliterative Name: One of the team is named Gregor Gregorovich.
Psycho Serum: The Super Serum used to give the trio Super-Speed and Super-Strength also rendered them emotionally unstable.
Repetitive Name: One of the team is named Gregor Gregorovich.
Strapped to a Bomb: Vandal Savage strapped bombs to Gregor in an attempt to use him to kill Wally West.
Super Serum: Soviet scientists created a serum which gave the trio Super-Speed and Super-Strength.
Super-Speed
Super-Strength

Savitar

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/imgres_5_1.jpg

Alter Ego: Unknown

First Appearance: The Flash Vol 2 #108 (December, 1995)

After all...you are the one who showed me the face of God.

A Cold War pilot for a third-world nation who was granted powers by the Speed Force while testing an experimental supersonic jet. Driven mad, Savitar became obsessed with the Speed Force and his new-found powers, forming a twisted cult dedicated to studying it and unlocking its full potential. As a result, he's discovered powers that the Flash has yet to learn, such as the ability to lend or steal speed from other objects.

Arch-Enemy: To Max Mercury.
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: He is the unquestioned leader of his cult, as well as the fastest member. In fact, his ninjas only have speed because he grants it to them.
Back from the Dead: As of the 2021 annual for The Flash (Infinite Frontier).
Be Careful What You Wish For: Wanted to join the Speed Force. He did, but the other speedsters make sure it's not a pleasant experience.
Clothing Switch: Subtly; after he returns from the Speed Force he revised his mask to yellow with red trim, like Professor Zoom.
Cult: He led a cult devoted to the Speed Force.
Evil Counterpart: Arguably, to Max Mercury. Both have a quasi-mystical connection to the Speed Force that gives them powers beyond those of the Flashes.
Evil Mentor: In an alternate universe, he was this to Walter West.
Hero Killer: His actions led directly to the deaths of Cassiopeia and Johnny Quick, and the near-deaths of Max Mercury and Wally West. His return during Infinite Frontier also revealed he was the true cause of the explosion that killed most of the heroes at Sanctuary, not Wally's nervous breakdown like originally thought.
Husky Russkie: At six foot four he's easily the largest of the speedsters.
I Have You Now, My Pretty: Attempted this on Jesse Quick; while he was content to have the rest of the Flash Family slaughtered, he took an interest in her and decided to make her his concubine. She refused, understandably, and was very disgusted by the offer.
Mana Drain: He is the first speedster to steal speed from others by using Speed Force. He hunts down other speedsters to gain enough power to unlock the Speed Force's secrets.
No Name Given: His original identity is unknown, and he only answers to Savitar.
Sadly Mythtaken: Savitar, or Savitr's connections with speed are him being described as the god in charge of everything that "moves and stands" in the Rig Veda... and nothing else because the guy's a solar god. Somewhat justified as he's not really the God Savitr, but instead a pilot who named himself after the god due to the superficial similairites.
Time Travel: A battle against Max Mercury shifted him from the Cold War and into the present.
Unexplained Recovery: He is killed at the end of Dead Heat, as the power of the Speed Force proves too much for him to handle and he is ripped apart, with Wally narrating that the other speedsters will make his afterlife an unpleasant one. He is suddenly alive again in The Flash: Rebirth, only to die again shortly afterward because of Thawne's actions. The Flash (Infinite Frontier) sees him come back yet again and he's revealed to be the true cause of the explosion in Heroes in Crisis that killed the heroes in Sanctuary, not Wally.
Villain Forgot to Level Grind: When Savitar debuted, he was far and away the most powerful speedster who'd been introduced at that point and the entire Flash family struggled to defeat him, and suffered losses to do so. However, he died after that story and mostly remained dead for almost 30 years while the Flashes steadily got stronger and stronger. As such, by the time he returns in The Flash (Infinite Frontier), he is only able to pose an indirect threat, and once he's face-to-face with Wally in the finale of the arc he doesn't stand a chance.
Villainous Crush: Develops one for Jesse Quick.
Walking Shirtless Scene: After he tears off his robes during the fight with Wally, he only wears armor on his lower body and arms.

Lady Flash/Lady Savage/Lady Savitar

Lady Flash

Alter Ego: Ivana Christina Borodin Molotova, Christina Alexandrova

First Appearance: The Flash Vol 2 #7 (December, 1987)

A member of the Russian speedster team Blue Trinity, Christina was the only survivor of the team after they were captured by Vandal Savage, and she became his follower, Lady Savage. When he tried to kill her, she was saved by Wally, and became Lady Flash. She resurfaced years later as a devoted follower of Savitar, and his second-in-command.

Abhorrent Admirer: To Wally.
Back from the Dead: She appears in Doomsday Clock #5 alive and back to calling herself Lady Flash as a member of Russia's superteam, The People's Heroes. Interestingly, her Flash costume now has the same color scheme as her Blue Trinity uniform.
Clingy Jealous Girl: For Savitar. She tried to kill Jesse Quick over this, though in her defence, Savitar outright said he wanted Jesse to replace her.
- And before Savitar, she was this for Wally himself. She had a crush on Wally after he saved her from Vandal Savage and made sure Wally's honeymoon with Linda turned into a nightmare.
The Dragon: To Vandal Savage and Savitar.
Dragon Their Feet: Has worked for the USSR, Rudy West, Vandal Savage, and Savitar at various times, attaching herself to a new Big Bad after the last one's defeat.
Distaff Counterpart: Briefly, attempted to be this for Wally West, originally as a puppet for Vandal Savage and later to gain Wally's affections. Then she fell in with Savitar's cult and remade herself as a Distaff Counterpart to him. Functionally though, she acts as a general example for the Reverse-Flash legacy by being the most notable villainous feminine speedster.
Evil Counterpart: To Jesse Quick. She seeks the approval of Savitar like Jesse did with her father. Unlike the Reverse-Flash's, who have an unhealthy fixation on their respect Good Counterpart, Christina couldn't care less about Jesse outside of seeing her as a brief rival for Savitar, but after she turned on Savitar she pretty much forgets about it. It's Jesse who has seething hatred for her, however, as Christina indirectly killed Johnny Quick.
Foil: Interestingly, she serves as one to Wally in many ways.
- Wally inherited the Flash mantle after Barry Allen died, and managed to hold onto his personality and do things with the title that Barry never achieved instead of becoming a carbon copy of Barry. Christina never really had an identity of her own, either sharing the group identity of "Blue Trinity" or being turned into a female knock-off of other characters (Flash, Vandal Savage, Savitar).
- Wally had a strong will and actively did things for himself as a character, while Christina mainly moved from master to master trying to find a purpose.
- Wally did struggle with worrying about doing right by Barry Allen's memory while seeking out to do his own thing, while Christina was a people pleaser more obsessed with currying the favor of whomever she was enthralled with.
Hero Killer: Technically, she caused Johnny Quick's death, as he dove in the way to save Jesse from her and ran himself into the Speed Force.
I Have Many Names: Both in her codenames and personal names. She has adopted a number of monikers; Blue Trinity (shared with the rest of her team), Lady Savage, Lady Flash, and Lady Savitar. Besides that, her legal name is either Ivana Molotova or Christina Alexandrova, and has gone by any combination of those two.
It's Personal: On the receiving end of this from Jesse Quick, who hates her so much she was prepared to kill Christina in cold blood and retire from heroics. Wonder Woman talked her out of it.
Killed Off for Real: By Barry when he was the Black Flash.
More Deadly Than the Male: She's the Fastest Woman Alive, but notably thanks to her teachings from Savitar, it's shown she can drain the speed of others to empower herself further. Right before her death in The Flash: Rebirth, she used this on the entire cult of Savitar and empowered herself to be so fast that neither Barry or Wally could see her, putting her on the same league as Hunter Zolomon (who, having been depowered shortly beforehand, was out of the picture, meaning that Christina was the Fastest Person Alive at the time).
Nominal Hero: As Lady Flash.
Statuesque Stunner: She has at least an inch on Wally, meaning she's over six feet tall.
Villainous Crush: Had a bad one on Wally.

Black Flash

First Appearance: The Flash Vol 2 #138 (June, 1998)

An anthromorphic personification of death created by the Speed Force to capture speedsters at the end of their lives. While not technically evil, his strange views of morality make him a dangerous threat whenever he appears. Word of God says he's just an aspect of Death of the Endless, but it was implied in Final Crisis that he is also an aspect of the Black Racer of the New Gods.

Anthropomorphic Personification: The anthropomorphic personification of Death for speedsters, who takes the form of a zombie-looking guy in a black Flash costume.
Asshole Victim: It killed Psych, who abused his Sage Force powers for petty crime, after he just abandoned the other force hosts it was hunting to save his own skin.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: He's not truly evil, but serves as the Grim Reaper.
The Cameo: He disappeared after his "death", and never appeared in the New 52, with the closest thing being a Black Racer-possessed Barry Allen. However, the 2016 The Flash: Rebirth one-shot features him when Barry is remembering parts of his pre-Flashpoint history.
Color Character: Black Flash.
Composite Character: In the New 52, when Barry Allen is possessed by the Black Racer, he has an appearance similar to Black Flash, but is otherwise still the Black Racer in that he deals death to everyone and not just Speedsters.
Humanoid Abomination: A version of Death with Super-Speed, manifesting as an undead version of the Flash.
The Grim Reaper: He's a special grim reaper specializing in speedsters (like the Flash) who would presumably be too fast to be caught by the normal Death.
Killed Off for Real: Apparently, in The Flash: Rebirth. It got better in the Rebirth continuity...then Zoom apparently killed it again.
Legacy Character: Barry Allen became the new Black Flash after the old one was found "apparently dead" in The Flash: Rebirth. Soon after, the title was taken by Professor Zoom in his Black Lantern form.

Hot Pursuit

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_0665_45.JPG

Alter Ego: Bartholomew Henry "Barry" Allen

First Appearance: The Flash Vol 3 #6 (January, 2011)

A version of Barry Allen from a parallel universe, Hot Pursuit enters the main DCU just prior to Flashpoint in an attempt to stop a multitude of parallel Earths being wiped out by the impending catastrophe.

Badass Biker: Definitely. How many other bikers can say their bike is powered by the Speed Force?
Cool Bike: It's actually called the Cosmic Motorcycle, and can travel at speeds rivalling the Flash. It also can be collapsed into a baton.
Foregone Conclusion: He spends his entire arc trying to stop whoever will be responsible for the Flashpoint event. Given that he's doing so in comics branded The Road to Flashpoint we can assume it doesn't end well.
Killed Off for Real: He's aged to death by the Reverse-Flash when the latter works out Hot Pursuit is another version of his Arch-Enemy Barry Allen that he can kill without screwing up his own powers.
Knight Templar: He's not exactly evil, but he's willing to pursue extreme methods in order to save his parallel Earth and all the others that rely on the main DCU Earth.
Lawman Baton: In a cool twist, it can transform into his bike.
Riddle for the Ages: What universe does (did) he come from? We never learn, even when The Multiversity gives a look at the other Earths of the multiverse.
Sensor Character: A variant. His motorcycle can sense temporal anomalies that signal when his version of the Rogues are time-travelling, so he can move to stop them. It's what alerts him to Flashpoint and its impending rewriting of reality.
Shoot the Shaggy Dog: He spends his sole arc hunting down the person manipulating the Speed Force to cause the oncoming Flashpoint disaster — except he incorrectly assumes it's Bart when it's actually Eobard Thawne. Thawne kills him, and Flashpoint happens anyway.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: He's out to save the multiverse he knows from being wiped out by any means necessary — and if that means killing Bart Allen to do it, then so be it.
Would Hurt a Child: He tries to kill Bart to save reality — though he does claim he's simply trying to send him back to his own time.

Future Flash

Alter Ego: Bartholomew Henry "Barry" Allen

First Appearance: The Flash Vol 4 #30 (June, 2014)

Newsflash: virtue doesn't always win. Sometimes, it just gets people killed. Today, that person is you.

Barry Allen from twenty years in the future. He uses his powers to travel back to the present in order to kill Barry Allen to fix a rupture in the Speed Force that will lead to Wally West being killed. Wears a blue costume that seems to be constantly leaking energy.

Accidental Murder: Well, most of his murders were decidedly non-accidental, but he really didn't mean to kill Future-Wally. He was actually aiming at his past self, and Future-Wally jumped in the way.
Anti-Villain: He started out as idealistic and noble as Present-Barry, but years of being too late to stop horrendous tragedies (including Wally's death) have broken him down to the point where he genuinely believes killing criminals before they commit the crimes he ''knows'' they will is the best way to go about things — and is willing to kill his own past self to Ret-Gone all these events from the timeline.
- Particularly jarring as at points (like delivering a Scare 'Em Straight to a terrified Trickster, time-travelling to be with Captain Cold as he dies or trying to be more involved in Wally's life) we can see the Barry we know is still in there.
Bait-and-Switch: The solicitation for his first appearance heavily implied he was the pre-Flashpoint Wally West. It specifically asked why "the fastest man alive", a line Wally is most famous for, would want Barry Allen dead. His costume, specifically the cowl, also invoked Wally's pre-Flashpoint costume. The creative team also went on to state that Wally was on the cover of the issue. It didn't catch on, however, as people knew it was too obvious, and in the end, NuWally was the guy doing graffiti on the cover.
Cruel and Unusual Death: Gives the future Grodd a particularly nasty one — implants a micro-bomb in Grodd's ear-canal, knowing that for all the gorilla's strength and intelligence, Grodd's gorilla physiology (specifically the size of his hands) will prevent him digging it out. It blows Grodd's head off seconds later.
Fallen Hero: He's Barry, worn down by years of tragedy that he arrived too late to stop. He's not quite evil, but he is a lot more of a Knight Templar about 'fixing' the mistakes of the past. All of his past friends and Barry himself are horrified at the killer he's become.
Heroic Sacrifice: Both causes it and plays it straight in the same story. Present-Barry and Wally from five years in the future die trying to stop him (though it turns out Present-Barry isn't really dead later on). Then, once Present-Barry has returned, Future Flash sacrifices himself to stop William Selkirk, living long enough to regret what he became, and give the present day Barry a clue about his mother's killer.
I Hate Past Me: Tries to kill his past self to fix the Speed Force, and his comments while attempting it mostly revolve around him chewing out his younger self for being naive and failing as a steward of the power. He even admits that he would have gone back further to prevent them from being born if their particular kind of time travel worked that way.
I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Let Wally die and never stopped blaming himself.
Kick The Son Of A Bitch: His Roaring Rampage of Revenge is a long line of these — he kills Grodd, Reverse-Flash and Mirror Master for causing major tragedies in his life. That the latter two technically haven't committed them yet doesn't bother him in the slightest.
Kill and Replace: After he believes he's killed present-day Barry (he hasn't) he does this, replacing Barry in the present-day with an eye to killing all the villains that would go on to cause Central City grief in the future.
Like a Son to Me: He loved future Wally II as his own son. His death at Reverse-Flash's hands is one of the major things that drove his Start of Darkness.
Murder Is the Best Solution: Believes that murdering villains is the best way to fix the mistakes he failed to stop the first time around, and his method of sealing the wound in the Speed Force is to kill a speedster in front of it so the energy their death releases will cauterise it. When he steals the present day Barry's life, he states he intends to kill every murderer that escaped justice — regardless of whether or not they've actually committed their crimes yet.
My Greatest Failure: Letting Wally die.
My God, What Have I Done?: After he accidentally kills Wally from five years in the future.
"Not So Different" Remark: When he tells Future-Iris he can "repair the damage" (including Wally's death) by going back in time, she immediately points out that he sounds remarkably close to Daniel/Reverse-Flash's line of thinking.
Parental Substitute: Tries to be this for present-Wally after his Kill and Replace with present-Barry. We don't see much of it, but he was definitely this for the future version of Wally — one of the reasons his death at Reverse-Flash's hands played such a huge role in Barry's eventual Face–Heel Turn.
Pet the Dog: He notably doesn't kill The Trickster for the bank job that resulted in the death of a family — as he knew from the future that it had been a complete accident on Axel's part, one he'd originally taken his own life over. That he tried a Scare 'Em Straight indicated Barry's morality wasn't completely gone.
Sanity Slippage: Years of being too late to prevent numerous tragedies (including Future-Wally's death and Future-Iris' crippling) have not done good things to his psyche.
Scare 'Em Straight: While he's a big believer in Murder Is the Best Solution, he doesn't always go for it — one of his time-travel escapades sees him thoroughly terrifying the Trickster into not going ahead with a robbery that would have resulted in the accidental deaths of a family, including a one-month old baby girl. As the future Trickster was so broken up by this he'd committed suicide, Future Flash elected to invoke this trope with the past version, giving him a You Are Better Than You Think You Are speech before departing.
Secret Identity: Surprisingly, kept his identity secret from Iris until his forties!
Set Right What Once Went Wrong: His goal, though it's played up as a villainous thing.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He's basically a more evil Walter West, the Dark Flash: a dark version of the protagonist Flash from the future who's suffered a great tragedy that makes him more brutal, and he goes back in time to take his past self's place. Both are also generally portrayed as more skilled than their past counterparts (though Wally was faster than Walter; he just didn't have some of the skills), and have blue lightning. The difference is Walter respected Wally and kept his darker tendencies in check, whereas Future Flash hates his past self and doesn't hold anything back.
Thou Shalt Not Kill: Grodd invokes this when Future Flash confronts him, taunting him that their fights often end with Barry running away because he won't kill him. Unfortunately, this time Future Flash decides to dispense with it entirely. It doesn't end well for Grodd.
Timey-Wimey Ball: His banishing of Barry to the past (though he thinks he's killed him) somehow de-ages him to Barry's current age (about mid-20s), allowing him to pull a Kill and Replace with Past Barry.
Tron Lines: Even more than the New 52 Flash, as his seem to be leaking energy at all times. He apparently upgraded his suit many times in the twenty years since the present.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His use of the "vibrating hand" technique to murder a future campus killer. Patty Spivot picks up on it, having previously seen an autopsy on someone else killed in the same way by Reverse-Flash. Knowing Reverse-Flash is in jail, it leads her to realise another speedster is the killer. And as "Barry" had been acting rather suspiciously lately, it eventually clues her in that he's not all he seems.
Vibro Weapon: A further sign of how far he's fallen — like Reverse-Flash and Professor Zoom he can kill people by vibrating his hand through them, disrupting the organic processes of the body part — like the heart — he phases though.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Is trying to stop all of space and time from being torn apart by a rupture in the Speed Force, and save everybody that the effects of the rupture made him too late to save — especially Wally. He plans to do this by killing his past self and anyone that gets in his way.
What the Hell, Hero?: Catches an epic one from Patty after he claims that not killing Overload is a sign he can become the Flash he used to be once more.
Patty: Let me get this straight — I should be grateful because you didn't murder someone?!
Worthy Opponent: Admires the future Captain Cold enough as this (as well as his going straight and joining the Justice League) that unlike all his other time travel trips, where he stops a particularly bad crime (usually by killing the perpetrator), he specifically travels to the time of Leonard's death so he can be with him as he dies, something he says he missed the first time around.

Godspeed

Alter Ego: August Heart

First Appearance: The Flash: Rebirth Vol 2 #1 (August, 2016)

"Y'know...when I was trying to come up with a code name for myself, I thought of calling myself the new and improved Flash. Because you clearly weren't cutting it. But instead...I realized that with these powers...I am judge, jury and executioner. So I call myself...Godspeed."

A cop of the Central City police, August's brother was killed years ago. The killer was found not guilty, but August never stopped trying to prove that he was. Then one day, an accident grants him super speed and a connection to the Speed Force. The same machine would grant powers to other Central City citizens. Thinking that they were wasting their gifts, August began killing them and stealing their speed, and later dubbed himself Godspeed.

Accidental Murder: If his rant to Barry in issue #7 of the post-Rebirth series is to be believed, he didn't actually mean to kill any of the speedsters he murdered - he simply didn't understand how to use his powers to strip the speed from them safely at that point.
Ambiguously Brown: He has a tanned skin but his full ethnicity hasn't been stated so far.
Anti-Hero: What he claims to be, even though he's clearly a Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist.
Anti-Villain: He's meant to be skirting this trope as an Expy of Hunter Zolomon, even though his Moral Myopia prevents him from being a full example.
- He realizes his wrong ways later on but this time he wants to regain Barry's trust as well thus putting himself on a Redemption Quest.
The Atoner: Incarceration seems to have done him some good - despite Barry's obvious mistrust, he helped him uncover the Rogues' operation in Iron Heights, saving Barry's life in the process and displaying a sincere desire to stay in Iron Heights until Barry forgave him. Later, when Black Hole and its leader Grodd take over the city, Barry frees him - and August displays considerable restraint, cautioning Barry against getting obsessed with regaining his speed and aiding the Flash Family against Negative Flash.
Badass in Distress: He tries to turn on Paradox when he reveals he's been Good All Along, but is swiftly beaten down and used to power the villain's Cosmic Treadmill until Barry and Eobard save him.
A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: He was briefly Barry's partner after an accident granted him Speed Force powers, but soon turned to brutal vigilante justice after Barry refused to contemplate using lethal force on his enemies.
Chest Insignia: In keeping with his seeing himself as a superior version of the Flash, his costume sports a lightning bolt motif reminiscent of Barry's.
Composite Character: He's a combination of two versions of Hunter Zolomon:
- Like the comic book version of Zoom, he is a Friend on the Force to a Flash and his push to villainy is fuelled by Barry's refusal to contemplate killing his enemies (like Professor Zoom). He also has a tragic failure in his past that motivates him and wants to show Flash that there is a better way to handle his enemies.
- And like the TV show version of Zoom, he wears a similar suit (only with reverse colors), uses clones to mislead people on his secret identity and hunts down other speedsters to gain more power and become the greatest speedster.
- He also borrows certain aspects of other New 52 era speedster villains — hunting down other speedsters to steal the speed they gained in a freak accident isn't a million miles away from the Daniel West incarnation of Reverse-Flash, while his firm belief in killing criminals to prevent future atrocities calls to mind the philosophy of Future Flash.
Curb-Stomp Battle: Doles out one of these to Barry once his ability to create a Speed Force copy is revealed.
Death Seeker: Paradox strongly implies he'd intended to die in the Negative Speed Force Storm that was consuming Central City in order to gain redemption.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
- Genuinely loved his brother — his inability to bring his murderer to justice is what fuelled his Start of Darkness.
- Despite all he's done to Barry, he does care about him in his own twisted way.
Everyone Has Standards: Tells Barry he's sorry for Wally's apparent death in Heroes in Crisis, especially since their fight comes right after Barry learns about it.
Paradox: You told him you were sorry for his loss. Why?
August: So you were listening in? I only met Wally West the one time. But I know he meant a lot to Barry...I can't imagine what kind of pain he's in...and then I rush in and twist the knife...didn't sit right with me to say nothing.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He genuinely can't understand why Barry is so opposed to his methods once his true nature is revealed. At one point he tries to kill Thawne and the rest of the Flash villains in Iron Heights in the belief that Barry "deserves" to be happy — oblivious to the fact it's the last thing Barry wants.
Evil Former Friend: He's genuinely friends with Barry, and it shows...but he still hates that the Flash never got his brother's killer arrested. Even after he's revealed as Godspeed, he still refers to Barry as a friend, and attempts to murder the imprisoned Professor Zoom on his behalf.
Evil Is Petty: When Barry confronts him he admits that he was originally going to call himself The New and Improved Flash, seemingly out of sheer spite.
Expy: His motivations, relationship with Barry and ability to completely outspeed him bear a huge resemblance to Hunter Zolomon/Zoom from the pre-New 52 comics. He's got a huge amount in common with the TV show version of Hunter as well — the way he hunts down other speedsters to gain more power, his ability to create copies of himself (TV Hunter through Time Remnants, August straight from the Speed Force) and his costume (albeit a color-flipped one compared to TV Zoom).
Foil: To Barry. Like Barry, the justice system failed him and he never moved past it. However, where Barry would later prove his father's innocence and get him released from jail, August's brother was killed and August could not prove his killer's guilt.
Forced into Evil: Paradox saves his life, then makes Godspeed carry out his mysterious anti-Flash agenda. In their encounter with him in Flash Annual #2, Barry and Meena notice August is scared and reluctant to do what he's being made to do.
Genre Savvy: When he gets powers via being hit by Speed Force lightning, he recalls Barry having something similar happen and immediately works out Barry is the Flash because of it.
Heel–Face Revolving Door: He's Barry's ally, then enemy, then frenemy then forced to be his enemy then actually his enemy again...all the more impressive given this isn't due to changing writers. It's usually due to circumstances and August's choices.
Heel Realization: According to his own words, he's done some self-reflection during his imprisonement in Iron Heights and came to realization of his own wrong doings. He helps Barry out against The Rogues but he still believes he has to earn his redemption himself as well.
Hero of Another Story: After becoming Godspeed, the "Perfect Storm" arc notes he dedicated himself to tracking down Black Hole and even worked out who was leading it - but Barry caught him before he could do anything about it.
Hypocrite: Murders a load of speedsters by creating a speed vortex to steal their speed — but when Barry and Wally (non-fatally) do the same to him he's appalled, unable to believe that Barry would risk putting him a coma, or worse.
Instant Costume Change: When he reveals himself as Godspeed to Barry his costume appears to manifest from the lightning motif on his chest of his original costume, flowing over him organically like Barry's and those of both Wallys — suggesting he's able to summon it from the Speed Force.
Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: He's already hotheaded and a bit of a jerk when we're introduced to his character, but Barry believes he's a good man, and he appears to be on the verge of becoming a superhero in subsequent issues. However when he reveals his true intentions and identity as Godspeed, his lack of remorse or any reaction about accidentally murdering people and his mocking attitude (especially concerning Meena and Barry's doomed relationship) reveals he isn't any better deep down either. Downplayed later on; "A Cold Day in Hell" and "Perfect Storm" arcs are portraying him as a nicer person once he becomes The Atoner. All too aware of his crimes, he genuinely aids a mistrustful Barry against the Rogues and later (once Barry frees him) Black Hole. He even displays shock when Kid Flash speculates whether Barry freed him solely so he could kill Grodd. He's still a bit of an ass though, as his not-exactly-sincere apology to Meena for killing her shows.
Judge, Jury, and Executioner: As the above quote demonstrates, this is what he considers himself to be.
Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Once he gets speedster powers, August turns from Friend on the Force (with a dash of Knight Templar) to Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist waaay too quickly.
- To put things in perspective, Hunter Zolomon took years of stories and multiple personal disasters before he reached his breaking point and became Zoom. August's time from introduction to his reveal as Godspeed? Six issues. In fact, Godspeed shows up in issue #3 of the 2016 series 3 issues before he's revealed as August, indicating he invoked this trope pretty much instantly.
Kick the Dog: When Barry protests Meena's death, August cruelly points out he barely knew her, and that they weren't "some great love affair for the ages."
Kick The Son Of A Bitch: Tellingly, his first victims as Godspeed were speedsters imprisoned in Iron Heights, who had used their newfound powers to go on a crime spree.
Killed Off for Real: He's murdered by the Reverse-Flash at the close of the "Paradox" arc.
Knight Templar: He isn't going to let little things like due process stop him fighting crime.
Light Is Not Good: His costume looks like a holy light version of Zoom from the 2014 Flash TV series, but he's a serial killer who targets speedsters.
The Matchmaker: Does this with Barry and Meena. Though he doesn't genuinely believe in their relationship.
Meaningful Name: Subverted. You'd think August Heart would be one of the good guys, and he's initially painted this way. Instead, he turns out to be a completely unempathetic sociopath once he gets speedster powers.
Moral Myopia: He considers himself to have the moral high ground — after he's already murdered quite a few innocent speedsters. He excuses this, saying those people were just wasting their powers away.
Murder by Mistake: Once he gets his powers he takes the time to kill the man he believes was responsible for his brother's death by dragging him along the ground at Super-Speed. After he's incarcerated Barry does some digging in his CSI role and proves beyond doubt the man was innocent, invoking this trope full-force.
Murder Is the Best Solution: Godspeed's motto. When he's dealing with one of the Black Hole group, he notes to himself that he could just tap the guy at superspeed and knock him unconscious — but that wouldn't keep Central City safe in the future. Cue instantaneous decapitation...
Neck Snap: How Reverse-Flash kills him.
"Not So Different" Remark: When Barry breaks him out in order to aid in regaining his speed, August invokes this, cautioning that Barry sounds like he did when he became obsessed with the Speed Force.
Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: He thinks Flash needs to take more extreme actions against his enemies — at the same time he's powering himself up murdering innocent speedsters because "they didn't deserve to have that power". Way to go August.
Pay Evil unto Evil: A firm believer in this. He would have killed a helpless Eobard Thawne for the murder of Barry's mother if not for the intervention of Kid Flash.
Pretender Diss: Declares himself part of the Flash Family. In Flash Annual #2, Barry informs him he's not, while slamming August through the scenery.
Remember the New Guy?: Despite never appearing in the previous New 52 comics, August is apparently a longtime friend of Barry from police department and he's the last person Barry talks to before he is hit by the infamous lightning.
Replacement Goldfish: Prior to the reveal, Barry considers him one for the original Wally West after the latter grows out of the Kid Flash mantle.
The Resenter: Has a grudge against Flash (and Barry by extension) for not catching his brother's killer. This resentment culminates in Godspeed, where August believes he's a better hero than Flash for not letting villains get away with their crimes. Seemingly subverted in his post-imprisonment appearances, where he seems to have let go of his anger towards Barry.
Secret-Keeper: He's the first person in the Rebirth comics to figure out Barry's secret identity and Barry personally trains him for a while. After he's arrested, becomes a villainous version, still keeping Barry's secret — as well as the identity of Black Hole's leader.
Shoot the Shaggy Dog: How his death comes across. All his early actions are driven by his need to find his brother's killer, and he brutally kills those he thought responsible. He gradually begins to atone, even aiding Barry once more, and looks to be on the road to redemption - then he's murdered by the Reverse-Flash after they stop Paradox together, who not only reveals he killed August's brother, but that in the future he's destined to be forgotten.
- Partially undone later - Barry ends up using the Speed Force to ground Eobard in the current timeline, undoing his Paradox Person status and "resetting" him to the Nice Guy curator of the Flash museum in the 25th century - which has a full section on Godspeed!
The Sociopath: He has no qualms whatsoever about killing criminals — but more than that he shows zero remorse about killing innocent people or murdering the wrong man in the name of revenge. Furthermore August may consider Barry as his friend but he's not above mocking him for the loss of his one time girlfriend, or failing to show any feelings towards anyone who isn't his late brother.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Godspeed's role in Flash's life — the Evil Former Friend who preaches a different philosophy to an unwilling hero — is very suspiciously similar to Hunter Zolomon's role in Wally West's life, to the degree you can say he was created to give Barry a Zoom-like villain without using the original Wally's Arch-Enemy.
Trapped in Villainy: His reappearance in Flash Annual 2 has him working for an unknown villain with a grudge against the Flashes (later revealed as Paradox). Barry and Meena notice there's something seriously off with him, but he's unable or unwilling to tell them what.
Vigilante Execution: Does NOT mess around when dealing with the Black Hole terrorists he believes were connected with his brother's death — he vibrates two of them so that they merge with the wall while still alive and hits another at full force while running at full speed, decapitating him.
Vigilante Man: Once he's revealed as Godspeed, he becomes this full-bore — using methods similar to Barry's to stop criminals, but with lethal force.
What the Hell, Hero?: Gives Barry a toned-down one in #42, speculating Barry broke him out instead of going to either Wally so that the more morally-dubious August would give him a pass on doing whatever it took to get his speed back - then Barry would be safe to blame his actions on Godspeed after it was all over. To both men's surprise, August isn't playing ball.

Fast Track/Negative Flash

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fast_track.png

Alter Ego: Meena Dhawan

First Appearance: The Flash Vol 5 #3 (September, 2016)

"Remember, the speed doesn't define who you are. You define who you are. But having super-speed is awesome."

Meena Dhawan was a scientist working for S.T.A.R. Labs and one of the many people in Central City empowered by a Speed Force storm. Meena worked with the Flash as the superhero, Fast Track, and had even formed a romantic relationship with Barry shortly before being murdered by Godspeed. Meena was resurrected and subsequently recruited by Black Hole, a terrorist organization formed by Gorilla Grodd in his latest attempt to dominate the Speed Force. She later absorbed the powers of a then Negative Speed Force-infected Barry and became the Negative Flash.

Boxed Crook: After the Negative Flash incident. She manages to behave good enough to get a rare show of leniency from Warden Wolfe.
Brainwashed and Crazy: Meena's Face–Heel Turn was the result of Grodd telepathically exacerbating her resentment towards Barry for not being able to save her and her belief that he was hoarding the Speed Force.
Cool Teacher: Was very much this to Wally and Avery before her death. Her return as Negative Flash looked to turn this into a case of Broken Pedestal, but her reunion with them in prison shows they still care for her a lot.
Deadly Upgrade: Meena's powers are augmented by her newfound connection to the Negative Speed Force...which is slowly killing her due to it violently clashing with the positive Speed Force inside her.
The Dragon: As Negative Flash, served as this for Grodd and Black Hole.
My God, What Have I Done?: Meena is horrified by her actions the instant she is freed from Grodd's influence.

Characters / The Flash – Evil Speedsters

Other Evil Speedsters

Johnny Quick

Alter Ego: Johnathan Allen (Forever Evil)

First Appearance: Justice League of America #29 (August, 1964)