- For the scientist whose identity he stole, see Harrison Wells (Earth-1).
- "This ability to travel through time revealed the truth. My fate was to become your greatest enemy. I was never going to be the Flash. So I became the reverse of everything that you were. The more people you saved, the more you were loved... the more I had to take from you."
- —Eobard Thawne to Barry Allen[src]
Professor Eobard Thawne (born c. 2151),[1] also known as the Reverse-Flash, is a meta-human speedster from the twenty-second century, a descendant of the late Eddie Thawne, a time criminal, and the archenemy of Barry Allen/The Flash. Obsessed with the twenty-first century's Flash, Eobard recreated the accident that was behind the Flash's powers, becoming a speedster himself. However, after his very first trip back in time, Eobard learned that he was destined to become the Flash's archenemy and grew to despise the hero, attempting to prove his superiority as the Reverse-Flash, becoming the opposite of his former idol. This included creating his own variation of the Speed Force using negative energy and emotions, which he used to travel through time without the Flash being able to detect him. Since then, the two speedsters battled each other for many years, but neither of them was strong or fast enough to defeat the other.
After learning the Flash's secret identity, Eobard traveled back in time to kill Barry as a child to erase his foe from existence but was thwarted by the Flash of 2024 who brought the younger Barry to safety. The enraged Eobard then killed Nora Allen and framed Henry Allen for the crime instead, being known as the Man in Yellow after the incident. However, Eobard's connection to the Speed Force began fluctuating, trapping him in the early twenty-first century. Realizing Barry was the only way to return to his time, Eobard killed Dr. Harrison Wells in order to assume his identity as the director of S.T.A.R. Labs, and to push through for the creation of a particle accelerator to ensure that Barry would become the Flash. Posing as Wells, Eobard mentored the Flash and became the leader of a team he assembled to stop the meta-human threats, to increase his protégé's speed so that Eobard could use the hero's connection to the Speed Force to return to his own time. After his plan was exposed and subsequently foiled, he was erased from existence after Eddie killed himself to stop him.
One year after Eobard was erased from existence, Barry prevented Eobard from murdering Nora, creating Flashpoint and holding him captive for months. After realizing this mistake, Barry released Eobard, allowing him to kill Nora again. As a result of being pulled out of the timeline, Eobard was spared from his fate and continued to exist as a time remnant, while his original actions remained intact. Due to his own nullified state of existence, he was hunted by the Black Flash, forcing him to seek out the Spear of Destiny in order to restore his natural existence. Unable to find the object and outrun the enforcer at the same time, Eobard formed a supervillain alliance. Eobard and his co-conspirators eventually retrieved the Spear of Destiny, which they used to rewrite reality to their whims. Despite initially succeeding, his plan was foiled by the Legends de-powering the object, and Eobard was vaporized by the Black Flash, being restored to the timeline and his original events as Wells.
Later, Eobard mysteriously resurfaced as an ally of the New Reichsmen of Earth-X. He originally tried to carry out the Fuhrer's request to perform heart surgery on Overgirl. However, when the Reichsmen's defeat eventually became inevitable, he abandoned his allies to their deaths at the hands of the Team Flash, Team Arrow, the Legends and Supergirl.
By 2049, Eobard was incarcerated in the meta-human wing of Iron Heights, where his powers were negated by Cicada's dagger. He began mentoring Nora West-Allen, claiming to be working towards a less villainous legacy, as he was scheduled for execution. However, the real reason he mentored Nora in traveling to the past was to destroy the dagger and free him. After the dagger was destroyed, Eobard was freed, moments before his execution. He briefly fought Nora and Barry before Nora began to be erased from existence. After the two ran away to enter the Negative Speed Force at Eobard's fervent suggestion, Eobard made his escape.
Following the Anti-Monitor Crisis and the creation of the new multiverse, Eobard's spirit joined the other Harrison Wells of the old multiverse in being fused to the brainwaves of Harrison Nash Wells, the last surviving Wells. As Eobard's body was a copy of Earth-1 Harrison Wells, it gave him an easier access to possessing Nash. As his specter was composed of negative particles and emotions, his hatred for everyone became so extreme that he even tried to kill Cisco despite how he thought of him as a son, and he explained how he wanted to brutally kill Barry and Team Flash. However, Nash was freed by Barry, Cisco and Cecile Horton, as Eobard's existence was expelled as negative tachyons.
Biography
Original multiverse
Early life
Eobard's family lineage included Eddie whom he considered a failure.
Eobard was born in 2151 into an affluent bloodline of politicians, scientists, and captains of industry. A distinguished member within his own family, his first name "Eobard" is apparently even more distinguished.[2] In his childhood, he was taught astro-navigation in grade school and grew up at a time when cows were extinct.[1][3] Eobard is also quite knowledgeable of his family's history, knowing of Eddie Thawne despite history having virtually no apparent record of Eddie's existence, considering his ancestor to be a failure within their family.[2] In his adulthood, Eobard became a scientist, eventually joining the academia as a professor and spending years unlocking the Speed Force's secrets.[4][5] At some point, he also designed an anti-speedster rifle.[3][6] He also created or obtained a suit similar to Flash's but with the opposite colors.
The Flash, Eobard's idol turned archenemy.
In his research into the Speed Force, Eobard learned of The Flash, the Central City superhero of the 21st century, and grew to idolize the Flash and eventually became obsessed with and desired to be the Flash himself. After years of researching, Eobard learned how the Flash gained super-speed powers[5] and built a machine[7] to recreate the accident that was originally behind the Flash's powers of super speed, resulting in Eobard becoming a meta-human speedster and gaining super speed and the power of time travel through a Speed Force connection. Using his speed abilities, Eobard somehow learned on how to use his powers to travel through time and traveled back to an unknown point in 21st century and eventually learned that he was instead destined to become the "Reverse-Flash," the Flash's greatest enemy and not the Flash himself.
Wanting to be the Flash's true opposite, Eobard created a negative version of the Speed Force.
Despising the Flash with every fiber of his being, he made it his life's work to prove his superiority as a speedster, indirectly fulfilling his destiny in the process as he descended into insanity. He vowed that for everyone Flash saved Eobard would kill more, everyone who Flash was loved by, Eobard would take from his former idol.[5] At some point, Eobard, in both his obsession to be the Flash's exact opposite and to time travel undetected, created a Negative Speed Force.[8] At some point during his time-travels, he also obtained possession of Gideon, an artificial intelligence program created by the Flash, and began searching various moments throughout history to learn when the Flash was active.[5]
Fighting the Flash
Search for the Scarlet Speedster
Presumably sometime in the 2180s, after learning he was to be the Flash's destined archenemy, Eobard began traveling back in time to find when the Flash was active and after several searches proved fruitless, he eventually traveled back to the year of Flash's origins, starting their war across time.[5]
First encounter
Original timeline
Eobard had his first encounter with the Flash between 2020 and 2024, presumably after learning about Harrison Wells and Tess Morgan's particle accelerator in 2020, as that was how the Flash got his powers in the timeline he hailed from.[9]
It's possible that this specific encounter never happened and Eobard's first encounter with the Flash always occurred in the current timeline mentioned below. After Eddie's death, Eobard's original timeline may have been preserved by the Speed Force and coexisting with the current one, as hinted at by Harry Wells explaining the concept of a "time remnant."[5] Eobard may have been able to travel between both timelines, intentionally or not, until he completed his personal timeline up to the point where he murdered Nora Allen, which for him was the moment he became "trapped" in the current timeline indefinitely.
Current timeline
Eobard asking Gideon what era is he in.
The Reverse-Flash arrived in January 2016, Central City.[4] After Gideon confirmed his whereabouts, he began searching for the Flash. Eobard rigged a truck to drive at high speeds and collide with a building to lure Flash out, and was successful. Pleased to have located the exact time era Flash was active, Eobard planned his return home to properly plan his next attack and broke into one of Mercury Labs' offsite facilities, and prepared equipment designed to act as a time machine to send him back to his own time. However, Eobard was unable to replicate the tachyon power source and sought out Dr. Tina McGee.
Reverse-Flash meeting the Flash for the first time.
Storming Mercury Labs and killing four guards, he confronted Tina but was interrupted by Flash's arrival. However, Reverse-Flash was surprised when Flash addressed him by his real name, revealing Flash already met him at some point in the future and that Flash had seen him die. However, Reverse-Flash simply thanked Flash for telling him of his impending fate and told Flash he now knows what time period Flash was from and that he would soon die instead and knocked Flash out before taking McGee to the offsite facility.
Eobard learning his future from Tina.
When Eobard showed his device, Tina recalled a "man in a yellow suit" tried to steal another tachyon device the previous year. Upon hearing this, Eobard realized that he must have gotten stuck in the past at some point in his future, having been unable to access enough Speed Force energy. Eobard ordered McGee to accelerate the energetic properties within the tachyon device. But when Tina expressed doubts, Eobard vibrated his hand and calmly told Tina to learn or die.
Vibed timeline
After Tina finished the work at 9:52pm, Eobard killed his hostage anyway and used the tachyon device to return to his timeline. Because Cisco vibed this event 3 hours and 52 minutes in advance Flash was given enough time to locate them.
Reverse-Flash's first showdown with the Flash.
Changed timeline
After Tina finished the work at 9:52 pm, Eobard prepared to kill McGee anyway but Flash arrived, subdued him, and destroyed the machine. Unwavered by his nemesis's sabotage to his trip home, Eobard said he would find another way to travel to the future and boasted his superiority to Flash before issuing a challenge to catch him. Both Reverse-Flash and Flash began racing throughout the streets of Central City, but Flash managed to anticipate his path and intercepted him, culminating with Flash catching Reverse-Flash. Flash proceeded to severely beat Reverse-Flash almost to death in a fit of rage for his future actions. Only reluctantly stopping himself from delivering a death blow, Flash instead knocked him out and placed him in the pipeline prison at S.T.A.R. Labs.
Eobard meeting Cisco.
During his imprisonment, Eobard was visited by Cisco Ramon/Vibe, asking how his ring works. Confused yet curious Eobard talked to Cisco, and deduced he must have a history with Cisco in the future, but was confused as to why the engineer wanted to know how his ring worked. However, Cisco told Eobard of being the one that found him because of the young engineer's metahuman powers given by Eobard's future self. Cisco also reveals that Eobard will help build the very prison he's incarcerated in, leaving Eobard puzzled to learn of his future actions and developed an almost instant fascination with Cisco.
Eobard revealing his origins to the Flash.
Eobard was later approached by Flash (unmasked but concealed in the shadows), asking his foe for the source of his hatred. Eobard explained his obsession with his desire to be like his idol himself, so much that he spent years learning how his idol gained these powers and succeeded in replicating them. Then he traveled through time and learned that he was going to become his own idol's greatest enemy, rather than be the Flash himself. He opted to become the reverse of everything Flash was, vowing to kill as many people as Flash saved. As Flash was disgusted to learn what was behind Eobard's motivations, Eobard angrily stated that he'd become better than Flash, became the one thing Flash could never stop and promises that one day he'll learn Flash's real name.
Eobard meeting Harry Wells, inspiring his future actions.
Shortly after, he's approached by an intelligent individual and Eobard realized that his imprisonment has ruptured the timeline. However, Eobard doubted the individual knew how to send him back without Tina's tachyon device but the man had instead developed an alternate method to send him home. Fascinated with his warden, Eobard asked the man's name, but the man refused to identify himself, claiming to be no one of consequence yet Eobard is unconvinced and was instantly fascinated by the individual.
Reverse-Flash before being sent back to his time by the Flash.
Eobard was released from his cell and informed of Team Flash's alternate method of sending him back to the future, to have both him and Flash run at high enough speeds to create a wormhole through which Eobard can return to his own time. Eobard also gloated of winning again, mockingly speaking in the past tense for all his future actions. As they prepared, Eobard vowed they would meet again and Flash agreed but also vowed to stop him every time, and both Flash and Reverse-Flash speed around the particle accelerator's ring. After gaining enough speed, the wormhole was created and Flash hurled Reverse-Flash through the portal and Reverse-Flash successfully returned to his own time.[5]
War in the past
Reverse-Flash and the Flash fought several times in the future.
After his first encounter with the Flash, Eobard would subsequently go on to travel through time again and again to the early 21st century to fight his former idol. The two speedsters would then fight each other in various different times, with neither of them managing to defeat the other,[1] though Eobard was confident that he was always one step ahead of his enemy. Eobard stated they had "been at this a long time"[10] and according to the Flash he described their fights as spanning over the course of centuries, implying that Flash may have also fought Reverse-Flash in his own time as well. Whatever transpired, Eobard would think as though "nothing is forgiven,"[11] and would sometimes ponder of "which one us is right" to hate the other (possibly retribution for future actions Eobard had yet to commit). Though Eobard hated Flash over the course of their war, he seemed to have some respect for his nemesis, acknowledging his former idol as a veteran hero and an intelligent individual who wouldn't use time travel for selfish or foolish reasons, unlike himself.[12]
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Eobard eventually gained knowledge about Harrison's supposed important role.
During his time-travels, he learned about Cisco's "great and honorable" destiny as the superhero Vibe.[1] In addition, Eobard became quite knowledgeable about his nemesis' other major enemies, including Clifford DeVoe/The Thinker, Savitar and David Hersch/Cicada. He considered himself a big fan of DeVoe's "work," and viewed Cicada as the "one who got away."[13][14] Through Gideon, he also learned that Harrison Wells was the reason that several meta-humans, including the Flash, appeared thanks to the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator which was successfully launched in 2020.[9]
Eobard learned about Cisco's destiny as Vibe.
Eobard learned about numerous other 21st century individuals and events, such as history books on the Star City vigilante Oliver Queen/Green Arrow with the hero's recorded death at age 86,[15] information about Felicity Smoak/Overwatch despite history's lack of information on the woman, and at least one of the various women having used the Black Canary vigilante alias.[16]
Eobard became more strategic and only made necessary timeline alterations to achieve his primary goal, avoiding Time Wraiths.
Like most speedsters, Eobard had at least one encounter with a Time Wraith which he came to fear, trying his best to avoid these creatures as no speedster knew how to kill them. Because of the Time Wraiths' dangers, Eobard became more strategic about his timeline alterations, only making necessary alterations to achieve his primary goal, and not recklessly upsetting history and risk being found by these enforcers of the Speed Force.[17] He became familiar with other speedsters, having met or at least being aware about the existence of Jesse Chambers, Libby Lawrence and Danica Williams.[13] Eobard's acknowledgment when seeing a certain helmet could imply that he met or knew of the helmet's original owner, "Jay Garrick" of Earth-2.[1]
The Reverse-Flash confronted Superman in Earth-38.
At some point in Eobard's personal timeline, the Reverse-Flash learned how to use the Negative Speed Force to travel through the multiverse. Doing this, he traveled to Earth-38 for unknown reasons and fought Superman, seeing that the Man of Steel was fast, though the Reverse-Flash was faster, and the details on their confrontation are currently unknown.[16]
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Eobard finally discovered the Flash's identity: Barry Allen.
At some point during his war against his archenemy, Eobard eventually learned the Flash's real name: Barry Allen. He began studying Barry's entire family: Nora Allen, Henry Allen, Iris West-Allen[2][12] and their daughter (who was named Dawn in this timeline). He also somehow learned that Savitar was ironically a version of his nemesis from an alternate future, who had a funny "pizza face."[13] Eobard began to develop a plan to finally defeat Flash, which was to erase his former idol from existence by murdering Barry as a child.[1] But before that happened, Eobard wanted one more match against his enemy.
Original Anti-Monitor Crisis of 2024
A crisis in 2024 reporting a battle between the Flash and Reverse-Flash.
Eobard traveled to the midnight of April 25, 2024, and fought The Flash, Green Arrow, Atom and Hawkgirl in the streets of Central City, causing the most destruction the city had ever seen. The fight also somehow caused the sky to turn a deep crimson color. Their fight caused several trucks to start leaking their contents onto the streets, and caused power outages spread over 20 blocks throughout the city. The speedsters then started battling over two overturned tanker trucks, and the lightning emitted from them caused the oil from one of them to ignite. While sounded by smoke, the two speedsters had a very heated conversation on an unknown matter before speeding off, leaving the Green Arrow, Atom, and Hawkgirl behind. The two then continued their fight up and down an unknown avenue before Flash and him vanished without a trace in an explosion of light.[11] According to Iris West-Allen in 2049, some sources describing the battle claimed that the Reverse-Flash controlled an army of shadow demons and that the Flash was instead or also aided by Batwoman, Elongated Man and Supergirl.[18]
Traveling to 2000
Reverse-Flash battling the Flash in the year 2000 at the Allen residence.
During the explosion of light, Eobard traveled back in time to the night of March 18, 2000,[19] aiming to murder the 11-year-old Barry and erase the Flash from existence as he had planned before, but he was pursued by Barry from 2024, hindering his plans. The two fought inside the Allen house around Nora, each landing solid hits on each other but their skills were fairly equal. When the 11-year-old Barry entered the room, Reverse-Flash moved in for the kill, but Flash intervened and transported the younger Barry to safety 20 blocks away, much to Reverse-Flash's outrage. However, Reverse-Flash quickly theorized another way to achieve his goal: kill Nora and frame Henry for the crime in the hopes that such a tragedy would traumatize Barry enough to derail from his nemesis's destiny, and he'd be free to return to a future without the Flash.[1]
Life as Harrison Wells
Stranded in the past
Reverse-Flash marooned in the past.
The Reverse-Flash grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed Nora in the heart leaving her to die, and fled the scene to return to his own time which he hoped would now be one without the Flash, but he was stopped by a sudden loss of connection to the Speed Force. After Gideon confirmed that his powers fluctuated somewhat due to his latest time jump, Reverse-Flash realized that he was now stranded in the 21st century with no way back to his time, and screamed in frustration.
Eobard soon realized that the reason for his unstable connection to the Speed Force was because his own status as a speedster was dependent upon Barry's. Therefore, if Barry never became Flash in the past, then Eobard never would have become Reverse-Flash in the future. With this revelation, Eobard realized he needed Barry to become a speedster in order to return to his own time. Thus, Eobard traveled to Starling City to stalk Harrison Wells and Tess Morgan, knowing that the couple, in 2020, would create a particle accelerator of their own, thus giving Barry his future powers. Eobard plotted to use Harrison's reputation and his own futuristic knowledge to recreate the particle accelerator himself as quickly as possible.[9] On April 16,[20] a month after killing Nora, Eobard spied on Harrison and Tess while on a date where Harrison proposed the S.T.A.R. Labs concept to Tess downtown in Starling City.
Becoming Wells
Eobard acclimating Harrison's appearance.
Later that night, Eobard rigged the road with a spike strip and caused Harrison's car to crash, killing Tess and injuring Harrison. He dragged Harrison out of the car, and identified himself to Harrison as well as the terrified scientist's supposed role in 2020. Eobard then took out his appearance-stealing device, and attached one end to Harrison and to the other to himself. He acclimated Harrison's DNA which literally made himself an identical duplicate of Wells on a genetic level while the genuine Harrison died in the process.[9] Afterwards, he buried Harrison's body in a grove near the bridge[21] and took his victim's place in the car. When the police found him, he introduced himself as Wells and subsequently took the identity.[9] Eobard told the police the car crashed due to a tire blowout, thereby keeping Harrison's murder a secret. Eobard then moved to Central City to carry out his plan and build S.T.A.R. Labs there instead to ensure Barry gained his powers earlier, giving the cover story that he moved away from Starling City because of too many reminders of Tess.[21][22]
Eobard beginning S.T.A.R. Labs' creation.
As Wells, Eobard subsequently devoted his life to S.T.A.R. Labs' creation and its particle accelerator, using past knowledge but taking precautions to ensure his plan would work, keeping close observation throughout Barry's whole life by setting up cameras all over Central City, and even in the West household, where Barry lived following Nora's death.[11] To avoid the attention of Time Wraiths, Eobard took precautions to avoid unnecessary timeline alterations.[17] Eobard also came to like Big Belly Burger as one the few reasons to stay in the 21st century since cows were extinct in his own time; however, he ultimately despised living in the 21st century, a situation he deemed "barbaric" and compared to "living among the dead."[1]
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Eobard's secret room.
As S.T.A.R. Labs was created, Eobard built a secret room accessible only via hand-print where he kept his belongings, including the Gideon program which was still able to stay informed of future events, including a newspaper article written by Iris on the 2024 (now 2019) crisis. This paper acted as a deadline as to the remaining time Eobard had to harness Barry's speed and Eobard further used it to keep tabs on the timeline, and if any changes occurred, take the necessary steps to get the timeline back on track for his own sake. Eobard also kept the Reverse-Flash suit on a display case,[10] and also stored a second suit away in the room.[23] He also set himself up in a mansion but he never kept any future belongings in his house itself for security reasons.[24] In the Post-Flashpoint timeline, Eobard also built what was later known as the Speed lab.[25]
Eobard developing S.T.A.R. Labs' particle accelerator.
Shortly after, he began the particle accelerator's constructions but made some alterations first to ensure the dark matter released would spread throughout Central City, with the aim of creating a lightning bolt that would strike Barry with the Speed Force connection, though did not care that other people would either become meta-humans themselves or be killed.[24] To ensure Barry's cooperation when the time came, he built the accelerator to act as a time machine of sorts that Barry (when fast enough) could use to go back and prevent Nora's death while Eobard could return to his time in the wormhole left behind as a result of this time venture. To account for the possibility of Barry's increasing speed against him, Eobard planed to exploit Barry's speed only when Barry was fast enough to time travel not one second later, thereby giving him enough opportunity to kill Barry if necessary.[1] To motivate Barry further when the time came, Eobard began working on a way to restore his own Speed Force connection via various tachyon technologies, thus giving him significantly faster speed than as compared to Barry's then-novice abilities. But because of his own unstable connection to the Speed Force, these fixes of tachyon energies would only be temporary and would unexpectedly vanish from time to time, leaving him powerless.[10][24]
Eobard observed Barry's personal life as an unseen influence, initially looking upon his future enemy with nothing but hate but soon growing fond of the youth (as he hated but Flash's future version).[11] Eobard's actions had profound impacts on Barry's life both as the so-called "man in yellow" (an alternate name to the Reverse-Flash before Thawne's true alter ego was revealed) and his Wells impersonation. As the former, he became Barry's greatest fear and driving force to become a C.S.I. with the Central City Police Department, with Barry hoping to one day find some evidence of Henry's innocence and uncover Eobard's identity. As the latter, Barry would grow to idolize "Wells" and was described as being obsessed with him without knowing who he really was (an ironic reverse of events as Eobard had once been obsessed with the Flash without knowing his former idol's identity either), not learning much about him despite reading his 600-page biography.[9][26] Eobard also kept just as close observation of Eddie and took whatever precautions were needed to ensure Eddie would continue their bloodline, thus ensuring his own existence.[2]
Eobard knew Stagg of being greedy and corrupt.
As Wells, Eobard met various CEOs, such as Simon Stagg and Robert Queen. He also knew Stagg wasn't a supposed philanthropist but was a greedy and corrupt man famous for others' scientific achievements.[27] He once met Queen at a charity event with one of the subjects of discussion being Robert's son Oliver.[28] Eobard also thought of Felicity in his search for promising young minds to help with his work as he foresaw Felicity's "great things"[29] and became an acquaintance with a younger version of Tina because of Harrison, though Tina always sensed something was different with "Wells" after Tess's death.[30] At some point after Thomas Snow's faked death, Thomas kept in touch with several scientists, including Eobard, that created a secret video feed from S.T.A.R. Labs to the site that Thomas was hiding in the North Pole.[31]
In 2004, Eobard was approached by General Wade Eiling to work on a military project together to create soldiers with physic abilities, presenting new opportunities financially and scientifically and Eobard agreed. While working at S.T.A.R. Labs, Eobard adopted Grodd, a pet gorilla that he kept at S.T.A.R. Labs who he became close, with Grodd later viewing Eobard as his "father." In 2009, Eobard learned that Eiling had been using Grodd as a test subject and was torturing the gorilla in the process. When Eobard discovered this, he berated Eiling in a furious argument with the general and cancelled the project, but still had "big plans" for Grodd.[32]
Eobard playing a game of chess with Hartley.
Sometime prior to 2011, Eobard hired Dr. Caitlin Snow, Ronnie Raymond and Hartley Rathaway as employees of S.T.A.R. Labs. Eobard also grew especially close to Hartley in the particle accelerator's construction, although Eobard likely hired the three due to his knowledge of their future achievements. Eobard and Hartley often bonded through activities such as games of chess, and Hartley was the only other person who knew how to speak Latin.[24] He also hired Arthur Light, a man who developed a lethal high powered shockwave rifle. However, Eobard fired Arthur for his apparent insanity around 2012.[33]
Eobard firing Hartley.
In 2013, Eobard discovered an earlier version of Cisco Ramon and hired the youth, knowing of Cisco's engineering talents based on his first interaction with Cisco's future self in 2016, and started growing close with him, much to Hartley's dismay (though Eobard assured Hartley that Cisco wouldn't get in the way of their friendship). However, Hartley then realized that the particle accelerator was faulty and could explode, threatening Eobard's plans. Eobard subsequently had Hartley fired and threatened to ruin Hartley's career if anyone was ever told.[24] After Hartley's termination, Eobard grew closer to Cisco and came to view Cisco as a surrogate son.[34]
The particle accelerator's explosion
Eobard celebrating S.T.A.R. Labs' particle accelerator's completion.
On December 11, 2013,[35] Eobard held an event at which he planned to switch on S.T.A.R. Labs' particle accelerator. He began speaking on stage, claiming that the particle accelerator would create a brighter future, bringing advancements in power and medicine, as well as physics as they knew it.[13][36][37] After opening up to questions, Marlize DeVoe asked Eobard if he had indeed planned for every event and outcome after the accelerator's activation. Eobard recognized the DeVoe name and realized that Clifford was also there. He told Clifford of being a big fan of DeVoe's 'work', subtly hinting at the man's future as one of the Flash's greatest enemies, and wished Clifford luck.[14]
Eobard and Cisco trying to do a handshake.
As Eobard was about to turn the accelerator on, he got the sensation that something was amiss; indeed, Thawne's suspicion was rightful as a version of the Flash from 2018 and his daughter had time-traveled to 2013 and had just then entered S.T.A.R. Labs. Eobard left the room and walked towards the time vault, with the future speedsters having just phased inside. Before he could investigate, he was stopped by Cisco and Caitlin. Eobard asked Caitlin to have Ronnie run the accelerator's number's one more time and to bring the bottle of hag out to celebrate. After Caitlin left, Eobard told Cisco of his belief that the youth would go on to do great things, subtly hinting at Cisco's future that he once witnessed. The two then attempted a handshake before heading back to the lab.[13] The particle accelerator was then switched on. As the team celebrated, particles, however, began to behave abnormally, such as liquids floating in the air, followed by a loud bang from the particle accelerator. Eobard sent Ronnie and Cisco down to manually shut the particle accelerator down before anything bad happened.[36]
Eobard, Caitlin, Cisco and Ronnie trying to stabilize the particle accelerator.
After Ronnie had vented the system to assure S.T.A.R. Labs' safety but was seemingly killed in the process, Cisco called Eobard down to the chamber. Eobard made his way down but before doing so, went into the Time Vault to see Barry struck by lightning, pleased to see that his plan worked.[37] The wave of energy from Eobard's resulting explosion also created countless meta-humans and led to at least 16 people dying.[38] In addition to Barry, Eobard also ensured that Grodd was affected by the particle accelerator and the dark matter combined with Eiling's drugs which had been injected years earlier activated and mutated into a hyper-intelligent gorilla and escaped the cage, though Eobard allowed Grodd to roam free in the sewers, continuing to grow in intelligence and size.[2] He also suspected that Cisco was affected by the dark matter (presumably due to having interacted with Cisco's future self who explained his powers), but could never confirm his suspicions as Cisco showed no signs of having powers.[1]
Eobard convincing Joe to transfer Barry to S.T.A.R. Labs.
Following the explosion, Eobard was brought to Central City Hospital just as the comatose Barry was. He was recognized by Dr. Ambres who reported that he had no feeling below his waist. As the doctors examined him, Eobard watched Barry's comatose body being taken in.[13] Eobard began pretending to be paralyzed from the waist down, not just to keep suspicion of his future activities as the Reverse-Flash away from himself, but also rigging his personal wheelchair with a machine to feed him a Speed Force connection via tachyons and make him faster than even Barry and maintain his already ruptured connection.[15]
Eobard considering killing Barry.
After Barry was put into a coma due to the lightning strike caused by the shock-wave, Barry's condition eventually went critical. Eobard convinced Joe West (Barry's foster father) to allow him to move Barry to S.T.A.R. Labs. However, Joe never fully trusted Eobard and knew something wasn't right but was so desperate to see Barry awake that he ignored those feelings. While Barry was at S.T.A.R. Labs, Eobard one day remarked how amusing it was to see how helpless Barry was, and how easy it would've been to just kill his future foe then and there. He also remarked the irony of him going back to kill and now needing to ensure Barry's existence to return to his own time, and though remarking how interesting it's been watching Barry grow up. However, Eobard firmly stated that nothing is forgiven and that one day Barry will die.[11]
Eobard explaining the time language.
At some point, Eobard cracked the multiverse's source code and discovered the time language which allows the user to retain knowledge of previous timelines due to its immunity to timeline changes, recording this presumably for personal usage.[39]
Due to S.T.A.R. Labs' reputation being tarnished following the accelerator failure, Eobard ordered their Starling City branch to be shut down and the supplies moved back to Central City. Eobard sent Caitlin and Cisco to inventory supplies where the two unexpectedly encountered Deathstroke's army.[33]
Working with the Flash
Eobard greeting Barry.
After Barry woke from the coma, Eobard was called down to the lab to talk to Barry. He took Barry around S.T.A.R. Labs, explaining what had actually happened on the night of the particle accelerator explosion and how they'd moved Barry. Before they could run more tests, Barry left. After having realized Barry had the ability to run at superhuman speed, Eobard and the team went to an airfield where they sought to test Barry's speed. Eobard cautioned restraint, although Barry instead ran at full pelt, accidentally running into barrels of water. Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry told Eobard the story of Nora's murder and suspected belief that perhaps there were more powerful humans, perhaps like the man who murdered Nora, oblivious to the fact that he was, in fact, talking to the very man responsible. Keeping this secret safe, Eobard told Barry of being most definitely unique.
Eobard encouraging Barry to fight Clyde.
Following a later run-in with Clyde Mardon's weather manipulation, however, Barry returned, angry that Eobard had seemingly lied. He admitted fault, explaining that the explosion had released various forms of seemingly theoretical energy across the city, including anti-matter, dark energy, and x-elements. Barry mentioned planning to stop Clyde, though Eobard attempted to stop Barry from taking the risk, as Barry was incredibly important in terms of scientific advancement. Despite Eobard's claims that Barry was not a hero, only simply a boy who was struck by lightning, a furious Barry stormed out of S.T.A.R. Labs, determined to subduing Clyde.
Eobard checking the timeline.
Though seemingly for scientific reasons, Eobard's words were clearly an attempt to sway Barry away from his heroic destiny and exploit Barry's powers without worrying about an impending death by other metahumans' hands. Following Barry's departure, Eobard eventually realized the only way to make Barry faster was to allow the youth to fight the other meta-humans, to push himself to his limits. As Barry struggled to unravel a tornado Clyde had made, Eobard intervened over the communication, apologizing, reassuring Barry that he did, in fact, believe, that Barry was a hero and could right Eobard's wrongs. An encouraged Barry, heeding the words of his mentor, then managed to unravel the tornado and stop Clyde. Eobard later went into his secret room and checked up on the future and was relieved to see the future was intact.[36]
Eobard convincing Joe to accept Barry's heroics.
After having acted as a hero, Barry returned to S.T.A.R. Labs, where Eobard again cautioned restraint to Barry, telling his protégé to make sure to know his limits. When Barry later tried to act the hero again and passed out, Barry was taken to S.T.A.R. Labs and despite being scolded, they decided to try some tests. As Barry began running on a modified treadmill, causing the youth to eventually pass out, Eobard identified that it had to do with Barry's glucose levels, due to an extremely fast metabolism processing it too fast. They hooked Barry up to 40 IV bags before the youth finally awoke. As they began discussing a new diet for Barry, Joe entered the room; Eobard was surprised to see Joe. He reassured Joe that they were looking out for what was best for Barry, though Joe disagreed that what they were doing was the way to do it, leading to an argument between Barry and Joe. After Barry returned to S.T.A.R. Labs after been beaten up by another meta-human identified by blood samples as Danton Black, Barry decided against trying to take Danton down despite Eobard's support and was adamant that what they were doing was a mistake.
Eobard murdering Stagg to keep Barry safe.
Following that, Eobard went to talk to Joe. After briefly talking with Stagg, he claimed to Joe that next time Barry suited up, the youth would doubt himself. Eobard headed back to S.T.A.R. Labs, where Caitlin was able to grow a clone of Danton from a replicating cell, so they called Barry in and explained this. The clone promptly awakened, presumably due to the prime Black activating some clones, and Joe hurried in through the doors, shooting the clone and reassuring Barry that only a meta-human could stop meta-humans, realizing Eobard was potentially right. They talked to Barry when he reached Stagg Industries and Eobard noted that he had to find the prime Danton. After gaining the upper hand, Barry attempted to save Black from falling to his death but was told by Black that he wished to die, before forcibly letting go of Barry's hand and killing himself. The team watched a news report of it on the TV afterwards. Barry mentioned that he tried to prevent Danton's death but Eobard reflected that sometimes when people break, they can't be put back together. Following that, Eobard visited Simon with Stagg making claims to exploit the so-called "Streak." Seeing Stagg's greed as an obstacle to his own plans for Barry, Eobard stood up from his wheelchair and fatally stabbed Simon, claiming that the Flash (as his protégé would one day come to be known as) had to be kept safe.[27]
Eobard and Cisco work on building S.T.A.R. Labs' pipeline prison.
After the Darbinyan crime family were gassed to death by a presumed meta-human, the S.T.A.R. Labs team began researching what they could, all of them excited by the potential prospects. Joe noted that they would have to find somewhere to hold them, as Iron Heights was less than ideal, and Cisco suggested the particle accelerator. Cisco and Eobard went down to the particle accelerator's core chamber. Eobard had to go do some modifications while Cisco waited (using the information he acquired from his own imprisonment in 2016). The two later assisted Barry in going after a mist-controlling meta-human inside the Central City Shopping Mall. However, Barry discovered that the man could turn himself into gas, and inhaled some of the toxic gasses, before racing back to S.T.A.R. Labs where the team painfully extracted the poisonous gas. The team was soon able to identify the makeup of the gas: hydrogen cyanide with traces of a sedative. Barry figured that the two would be mixed in a death row execution and they identified the meta-human as Kyle Nimbus (proudly nicknamed The Mist by Cisco). Barry went to protect Nimbus's next target (Joe) and the team supported this. Unable to outrun The Mist, they suggested Barry make The Mist tired, and would have to revert to physical, human form eventually; Barry succeeded and Nimbus is taken back to S.T.A.R. Labs, where Nimbus was locked up in the particle accelerator prison.[37]
Eobard meeting Felicity.
Eobard defeated Barry in a game of chess while Barry also played a game of table tennis with Cisco and a game of Operation with Caitlin. When Felicity visits S.T.A.R. Labs, Eobard greeted Felicity and was more than pleased to meet Felicity, noting he's aware of all the woman's accolades and that he always keeps an eye out for such talent. When Felicity questioned about the possible dangers of what Barry does, Eobard reassured Felicity that everything they do is to ensure Barry's safety and that Barry is in good hands. Eobard was later furious at Cisco for building a cold gun powerful enough to overcome Barry's speed abilities and kill him without any consent by Eobard, though Cisco built it prior to Barry waking from the coma and was stolen by a master thief (Snart). After telling Cisco that weapons don't belong in S.T.A.R. Labs, Eobard ordered Cisco to track down where the cold gun is and to do so immediately. After Felicity left, Eobard noted Felicity was a remarkable young woman. Eobard told Cisco to never do anything as to build such a weapon again, though he was unaware of another weapon that Cisco had built which was also stolen.[29]
Eobard manipulating Bette into killing Eiling.
When the metahuman Bette Sans Souci seemingly begun destroying facilities around the city, Barry revealed that Bette is being pursued by General Eiling to which Eobard revealed his history with Eiling. After Barry met with and convinced Bette not to kill a scientist Bette had a grudge against, Eobard and Caitlin tended to Bette at S.T.A.R. Labs. The team learned that Bette was affected by thermite when the accelerator went off and everything Bette touches explodes, thus why Bette was captured by Eiling and experimented on. However, Eiling personally tracked Bette but Eobard distracted the general long enough for Barry to get Bette out of the facility. When the team later learned that Bette's condition couldn't be reversed, Eobard met with Bette, and manipulated the woman into killing Eiling. Bette is stopped by Barry then killed by Eiling but Bette's body began building up to an explosion, forcing Eobard to coach Barry on running on water to drop Bette's body in the water where it exploded safely. Eobard is later visited at S.T.A.R. Labs by Eiling to propose an alliance again but he refused and threatened the general's life if he is ever blackmailed again.[32]
Eobard working to help Joe's investigation, taking precautions to veer suspicious away from himself.
After Barry failed to stop Tony Woodward, Eobard told Barry they'd find a way to stop Tony, but told Barry to rest and heal for the time being. A day later, Eobard is visited by Joe, asking for help on Nora's murder case (as Joe did not know that Eobard was the murderer). When Joe asked if his particle accelerator was possibly involved, Eobard reminded Joe that the murder occurred 14 years ago long before his accelerator was even thought of. After a few other suggestions from Joe, Eobard told the detective that they were all highly unlikely. After Barry tries to stop Tony alone, Eobard is furious as they had yet to find a way to stop Woodward. Although Barry could just heal, Eobard said Barry can't heal after possibly being killed. Eobard then told Barry could stop Tony if only moving fast enough as any material can be struck at a high enough velocity.
Eobard realizing Joe isn't going to stop investigating Nora's death.
The following day, Eobard had a drink with Joe, where Joe subtly suggested that Eobard was involved as he arrived in Central City shortly after Nora's murder. Eobard, feigning being the genuine Harrison Wells, told Joe to look up Tess Morgan before leaving. Having looked up Tess, Joe visited Eobard at S.T.A.R. Labs and apologized for accusing him of murder. Eobard then told Joe about Wells' past (while still pretending to be the genuine Harrison Wells) and why he moved to Central City as there were too many painful memories to endure. Later that night as Joe was reviewing the evidence of Nora's murder, Reverse-Flash reappeared and encircled Joe to frighten the detective, briefly allowing his suited face to be seen and stealing the evidence shortly afterward. Before leaving, Reverse-Flash left a death threat towards Iris by pinning a photograph of Iris to the wall with a knife, and the words "stop or else" to scare Joe away.[22]
Eobard panicking when Gideon says the future has changed.
In an entry in his personal log, Eobard noted that Barry was driven to use these powers to help people, but stated that this was keeping Barry from realizing full potential. He later told Barry to "kick it up a notch" in the training. When Farooq Gibran attacked a transformer station, Barry confronted Farooq but lost the speed abilities. When Eobard went to check on the future, he learned, to his shock and rage, that the timeline had altered; instead of the crisis in 2024, the future now told of the post office's permanent shutdown and there was no record of the Flash or Barry. While Thawne desperately searched for a solution, Farooq attacked S.T.A.R. Labs seeking vengeance for his friends' deaths caused in the accelerator explosion, and caused a blackout that rendered the lab completely exposed to attack.
Eobard offering Tony's freedom.
To stop Farooq, Eobard theorized that Barry's cells were still altered and if they could redirect dark matter directly into Barry, they could recharge his protégé's cells. As Cisco worked on using the treadmill as a conduit to achieve this, Eobard released Tony, offering freedom in exchange for killing Farooq to buy them enough time to achieve their plan though this came at the cost of Girder's life. Later, he had a brief argument with Barry about sacrificing Tony to stall Farooq, angrily insisting that he had merely done what was necessary, though Barry became disgusted that Eobard would so willingly sacrifice someone's life, unaware of the man's future reputation of doing just that.
Eobard saved from Farooq by Barry.
When Farooq cornered Team Flash, Eobard confronted Gibran, reciting from memory the names of everyone who died in the particle accelerator disaster, and demanding that Farooq leave the others alone, saying that he was the only one who deserved to be punished. Farooq agreed and blasted him out of his wheelchair. He was seemingly helpless to move (though faking in reality), however, Barry finally regained his own speed and allowed Farooq to drain once more but the amount of power overloaded and killed Farooq, while the resulting energy fed back on Flash and charged up his speed further. After Flash defeated Farooq, Eobard made another log entry, stating that he had previously been mistaken and that Barry's desire to help others was the key to developing the Flash's potential, not an obstacle as he had thought. Eobard later took a blood sample from Blackout's corpse, whilst signaling Mist to stay quiet, saying that he was interested in finding out how Blackout had drained Flash's powers.[38]
Eobard talking to Felicity about Oliver's identity.
After Rainbow Raider robbed a bank by forcing everyone inside to go angry and attempt to murder each other, Eobard aided the team in figuring out how the man did. However, they were distracted by the appearance of The Arrow of Starling City who both Eobard and Joe distrusted, due to the vigilante's previous body count and the terrorist attacks committed by Dark Archer and Deathstroke since he became active. Barry, however, defend Arrow saying the vigilante is a hero and insisted the two were wrong but Eobard and Joe told Barry to see that Arrow is out of Central City by tonight. Eobard was already aware of Arrow's true identity (presumably because of his future knowledge). Later when Flash suffered the effects of Rainbow Raider's powers and went crazy and tried to murder Eddie, Eobard insisted Felicity call The Arrow for help, deliberately revealing Oliver's identity to Team Flash. Preparing a device to make Barry regain his own senses by correcting emotions via the colors of the emotional spectrum, Eobard and Joe arrived just as Flash and Arrow fought and used the device to restore Barry's stability. After capturing Roy Bivolo, Oliver addressed Team Flash and Eobard also thanked Oliver for the help. Oliver left, felling that something was off about Eobard.[28]
Reverse-Flash challenging Barry.
As a thank you for their help, Barry gave Eobard, Cisco and Caitlin a Christmas present each, but Eobard declined Barry's offer of eggnog. To motivate Barry further, Eobard planned to attack as Reverse-Flash. A few hours later, Reverse-Flash stormed Mercury Labs looking for a tachyon prototype device, killing the guards yet was unable to reach the device due to the doctor sealing it away and he stormed off. Eobard "helped" Joe and Barry track down Reverse-Flash by building a trap as Joe and Barry secured the bait. Reverse-Flash later spied on Barry as the youth talked to Iris. Barry then noticed him and ran after him, demanding to know why he killed Nora, but Reverse-Flash instead challenged Barry to a fight in a stadium. Reverse-Flash proved to be the better speedster, severely beating Barry down using several coordinated attacks, but told Barry already knew the youth's identity, that they'd fought for a long time. He also told Barry it would be destiny to die at his hands as it was Nora's, leaving the young speedster very confused.
Reverse-Flash slaughtering Eddie's taskforce.
Later S.T.A.R. Labs orchestrated the trap using the tachyon prototype and lured the Reverse-Flash in, aided by Eddie's taskforce. But Eobard rigged a hologram of himself as Reverse-Flash that would answer only to Wells. Once the hologram was active, Eobard, Joe, Eddie and the taskforce went down stairs to "confront" Reverse-Flash. As Eobard addressed his hologram, the force-field appeared to fail as nobody was inside for it to stabilize, Eobard rushed into the force-field so fast, it look like Reverse-Flash pulled him into the field, and trapping himself inside. In the field, Eobard created a lifelike speed mirage of himself then suiting up as Reverse-Flash in the place of his hologram and repeatedly punched his after image, making it appear to everyone else that Reverse-Flash was trying to kill him.[34] After the field disappeared when Joe sabotaged the machine, Reverse-Flash grabs the device to take to his secret room then reappears in the basement, and while still bouncing back and forth to maintain the speed-mirage of Wells. Reverse-Flash kills Eddie's taskforce in seconds without any effort but hesitates when he approaches Eddie, shoving the detective to the side rather than killing (since this would risk his own existence), and attacks Joe.
Reverse-Flash beating the Flash.
Reverse-Flash reminds Joe of being warned but before he can kill Joe, Flash intercepts and drags him outside. However, Reverse-Flash again proved superior to Flash, but he was timely stopped by a pyrokinetic meta-human. Reverse-Flash vowed their fight wasn't over and ran off. Arriving back in time to take the place of his speed mirage, Eobard gets tended to by Caitlin and Cisco who profusely apologizes for the force-field failing. Though he assured Cisco it wasn't anyone's fault, Eobard expressed annoyance towards them for not informing him of Ronnie's survival, but assures Caitlin that they will find Ronnie. As his wounds healed, Eobard later places the tachyon prototype on his Reverse-Flash suit. While watching his device harness its power, he says "Merry Christmas" with his distorted voice.[10]
Eobard, Cisco, and Caitlin continue to train to improve Barry's speed using a drone to fire at. After Cisco called the man in yellow the "Reverse-Flash," Eobard approved of the name unlike Caitlin. After Snart returned, Barry decided to pursue Snart, though Eobard warned Barry that Reverse-Flash is a greater threat. Due to Snart's threat, Eobard and Cisco presented the CCPD with a shield that could withstand Snart's cold gun. During Barry's battle with Snart and Rory, Eobard realized the best way to let Snart's and Rory's guns cross streams is to move slower.[40]
Eobard guided the Flash to detour the Royal Flush Gang. After a suggestion from Cisco, Barry, Cisco, Caitlin and Eobard all took a group picture together. Later that night, Eobard is in his mansion to get off his wheelchair. He received a phone call then gets attacked. After Barry, Cisco and Caitlin arrive, Eobard told them he won't require their help with the case. Barry realized it couldn't have been a teenage prank and Eobard told Barry he knew who it was.
Eobard talking to Hartley.
Original timeline: After Flash stopped Hartley from attacking Rathaway Industries, Hartley told Flash of knowing of Eobard's secret. After Hartley is locked up in the meta-human prison, Eobard asked how Hartley figured out that the Flash worked with them and Eobard is told Hartley figured out through triangulation. Eobard leaves Hartley and taunted him by claiming to know his "deep, dark secret," prompting a level of worry from Eobard. Eobard returned to his team and admitted he knew there was a chance of the particle accelerator explosion, yet choose to proceed because of the reward it could offer. After Hartley escaped the prison, Eobard ran out of his secret room but collapsed to the ground after losing his speed. Hartley approached Eobard and asked him if Hartley was still "his guy."
Eobard experiencing another connection failure with the Speed Force.
Eobard later decided to regain his team's trust by publicly admitting he was aware of the chance of the particle accelerator exploding. He was then asked by Mason Bridge if he had any plans in the future of turning the particle accelerator on. When Hartley attacked the Keystone Cleveland Dam, Flash is quickly stopped with sound waves though Eobard transmitted waves through the cars at the damn, stopping Hartley. Eobard then told he wished to one day regain the trust of the team but Barry told him he already had. Eobard later returned to his Time Vault, reporting to Gideon that his speed comes and goes. Gideon reports being unsure how longer the tachyon device is viable and Eobard told Gideon that it was only meant to be a temporary fix and the real end game was coming.[24]
Due to a timeline change caused when Barry time-traveled from 2016, most of these events have been erased and replaced by the following.
Eobard realizing Barry's description of a Time Wraith.
Current timeline: As Hartley attacked Rathaway Industries but was stopped by the Flash from 2015, the time-traveled 2016 Barry intervened and incapacitated his past self before switching their emblems to avoid confusion. He then proceeded to capture Hartley as his past self did in the original timeline, taking the bittered protégé to S.T.A.R. Labs but causing an interference within the communication devices in the process, confusing Eobard slightly. Hartley was subsequently locked up in the Pipeline prison before Barry remembered that in the original timeline, Hartley escaped captivity by using EMTs within his hearing aids, causing him to ask Cisco to test for explosives within Hartley's hearing aids. To Eobard's shock, Barry was correct, and Hartley was ordered to take out his hearing aids, with Eobard offering to replace those aids with non-destructive ones. Eobard was then approached by Barry to present a new equation to getting faster, surprising Eobard to see that Barry had devised such a complex equation with Barry's knowledge in such a short time. As Barry returned after facing a ghost-like creature (which Cisco dubbed a "Dementor" from the Harry Potter books) that had attacked the C.C.P.D. and seeing the creature whilst running to stop Hartley, Eobard realized the answers to his recent confusion: The youth with them hailed from the future and the so-called "Dementor" was a Time Wraith from the Speed Force who'd followed back. Eobard invited Barry into his quarters to discuss the speed equation. With Barry's back was turned, Eobard stood up and knocked Barry out, claiming that he "figured it out."[17]
Eobard meeting Barry and Nora.
Later while waiting for Barry to wake up, Eobard was visited by another future version of Barry (from 2018, two years older than the one he knocked out) with Nora West-Allen. Eobard mistook Nora's name for Dawn, and mocked his nemesis on the idea of having at least one woman with Nora's name. Barry told Eobard to fix a device for him, but when Eobard questioned what the tool was for, Barry refused. Barry also told Eobard that his plan to get back to his time failed, and when the two got into an argument, Nora told Eobard the tool was for Cicada, and Eobard laughed at the idea of Cicada being stopped. Knowing that Barry's 2016 self would be waking up soon, Eobard reluctantly agreed to help while offering Nora water.
Eobard assisting Barry and Nora.
In the lab, after giving Nora water, Eobard questioned how they would get Cicada's dagger to which Nora answered by showing him a piece of Savitar's suit. Eobard was stunned to see a piece of Savitar's suit and mocked how Barry hated him with a passion, but yet Savitar (a time remnant of Barry from a now-erased future) was a way bigger "jerk" then he ever was. Eobard, however, praised Barry's idea to use a piece Savitar's suit to defeat Cicada, but complimented the "clever girl" after learning it was Nora's idea; Eobard likely connected the dots and rightfully deduced that a future version of himself was helping Nora, as only he would've come up with such a plan other than Barry. After repairing the tool, Eobard bid farewell to the two speedsters and quickly ran to the time vault, preparing to talk to Barry's 2016 version. Knowing Nora was still watching him from the lab, Eobard waved at the camera before Nora left.[13]
Eobard reluctantly agrees to help Barry.
After Barry's 2018 version and Nora went to 2013, he interrogated Barry's 2016 version but the youth played dumb. Eobard sped in front of his nemesis and saw Barry didn't even flinch. Barry then attempted to phase out of the cuffs but failed, further proving the fact that this Barry hailed from the future as Eobard had yet to teach his protégé how to phase. Finally Barry referred to him by real name, thus confirming Eobard's theory. Barry told Eobard of needing him to teach how to get faster. However, Eobard quickly realized that Barry being alive in the future could only mean his own plan failed and tries to kill Barry in a rage. However, Barry quickly claimed that Eobard did win, and that he'll be successful into using Barry's speed to get back to his own time. Unfortunately, a singularity had formed and that's why Barry is in the past, to get faster in order to stop it but needed Eobard's help. As Eobard saw this as an opportunity to kill his nemesis, Barry claimed that there's a letter left for his protégé if something happened, detailing Eobard's plan worked and how to stop him. Eobard reluctantly listened to Barry.
Eobard giving tachyon information to Barry.
At the same time, the Time Wraith found a way to S.T.A.R. Labs and attacked Cisco, Caitlin and Hartley but they were able to fend it off just as both Eobard and Barry arrive via speed. When Cisco and Caitlin leave for solutions, Barry asked Eobard how to kill a Time Wraith but Eobard revealed there is no known way to kill these creatures hence why speedsters try to avoid them. As Barry searched the police department for any clues, Eobard searched S.T.A.R. Labs, but Cisco and Caitlin were unable to replicate the frequency Hartley used to stop the Time Wraith. As they debated how to stop the Time Wraith, Barry of the present day showed up just as Barry of the future returned. To shut up Barry of the future accidentally revealing future knowledge trying to convince the team of being from the future, Eobard played dumb and pretended that he'd just met Barry of the future, and told the team to prepare the particle accelerator, telling Barry of the future to travel through time to outrun the Time Wraith, while they build a sonic weapon to stop the Time Wraith for good when returning with Barry to 2016. Before sending Barry back, Eobard gave Barry a drive with on tachyon enhancement information, and Flash successfully made it back to the future with Eobard's speed increasing information.[17]
After Shawna Baez broke Clay Parker out of Iron Heights, Joe deduced Clay was a meta-human, however, Eobard corrected Joe, stating there was a woman's DNA matched with Clay's. Using the DNA, they learn the DNA belonged to Shawna. After learning Shawna's powers, Eobard told Barry they should focus on learning Shawna's limits. The following day, Eobard learned from Cisco that Hartley was let out of the meta-human prison (by Cisco), much to his disappointment. Eobard later learned Shawna can't teleport in dark space, as she can only teleport to what she can see. When Flash went after Shawna, he reminded Flash that Shawna can't teleport if the woman couldn't see, leading to Flash busting out all the lights in the tunnel.[41]
Eobard staking out with Caitlin.
After Firestorm attacked Quentin Quale, Eobard tells the team letting Ronnie roam free was no longer an option. Eobard deduced the reason why Martin Stein was in control of Ronnie's body is due to simple Darwinism. Eobard and Caitlin decide to have a stakeout outside of Professor Stein's home, assuming Martin would be nearby to watch over Clarissa Stein. While waiting for Stein, Eobard swore to Caitlin his work won't be finished until he brings Stein and Ronnie back to normal. Shortly after, Firestorm came by and the two quickly contacted Barry. While Barry and Firestorm battled, the two followed, though accidentally hit Barry as the latter fell. After learning Martin claimed the two could be separated, Eobard said it was possible, but only theoretically as splitting a human and an atom were different concepts.
Eobard figuring how to separate Ronnie and Martin without killing the two.
Eobard learned that Ronnie's body was rejecting Stein, causing an exothermic reaction and a possible nuclear explosion. Due to the two only have hours before Firestorm's body detonates, Eobard suggested they may have to kill Firestorm. While the team were outraged of the concept, Eobard told them if Ronnie and Martin knew the consequences, they'd likely sacrifice themselves. In his time vault, Eobard pulled a hand gun and Gideon told him it was a crude weapon. Eobard then decided to make a quantum splicer using the tachyon device, though Eobard is told it would delay his timeline. Eobard told Gideon there would be no timeline if Central City gets blown up. Cisco and Eobard built the tachyon device which is given to Barry and Caitlin to take to Firestorm. After the splicer was placed on Firestorm, Eobard tells the two to get away from Firestorm.[26]
Eobard learning Eiling knows Barry's identity.
Eobard greeted Ronnie, thanking Ronnie for sacrificing himself to protect those around and is introduced to Martin. Eobard then did medical work on Martin, checking if the professor still had the ability to harness nuclear energy. Eobard learned Martin's unable to and reported this to the team. When Eiling attacks Ronnie, Eobard pays a visit to the general. Eiling asked Eobard to surrender Firestorm, though Eobard refused the general brought up the Flash's identity. While conversing with Martin, Eobard spiked the professor's drink. With Martin passed out, Eobard contacted Eiling, and Eiling took Martin away. Eobard claimed to the team he was left helpless when Eiling came by to take Martin. When Barry said he would go after Eiling, Eobard reminded Barry what Eiling could do to him.
Eobard revealing his identity to Eiling before letting Grodd have fun.
In search for Martin, the team used Ronnie as the two are still connected and Eobard convinced them both to use the quantum splicer to merge against, but this time accept the balance they successfully became more stable as Firestorm. Fixing another obstacle, Reverse-Flash later abducts Eiling from a military office to Grodd's home in the sewers, and revealed himself to Eiling. Unmasking himself, Eobard told Eiling that he protects metahumans (his own kind) and unleashed Grodd both to silence Eiling, and for vengeance for what the general did to Grodd years before.[42]
Identity revealed
Eobard and Cisco watching Buster Keaton movies together.
Eobard and Cisco pass the time at S.T.A.R. Labs watching old Buster Keaton movies. Cisco was shocked of never seen this before, while Eobard sarcastically remarked "must have been before my time" and approved Cisco's request to make a list of movies to see. However, Eobard also reminded Cisco of Dante Ramon's birthday party but Cisco decided the best thing was to not go at all, remarking how things had been much better since Cisco stopped seeing Dante. Though Eobard is saddened to learn Cisco was still on bad terms with the Ramon family, they were distracted by an alert of a break in at the Central City Morgue, though Eobard gets confused as to why anyone would rob a morgue.
Eobard realizing that Caitlin is a distraction.
Original timeline: When Barry returns, they all find out that Mark Mardon is the killer and on a vendetta to avenge Clyde; Eobard deduced Mark was affected by the particle accelerator the same way Clyde was. Eobard is later told by Barry that his protégé saw himself while running toward the morgue. Eobard says it could've been a speed mirage or an illusion. Eobard then told he would further investigate this after Mark is taken in, though Eobard seemed to be aware that Barry saw a future version of himself. A couple days later, Caitlin took Eobard to Jitters for a coffee. When Caitlin insisted they enjoy their drinks at Jitters, Eobard reluctantly agreed yet noticed Caitlin acting nervous around him. While talking, Eobard realized that Caitlin was trying to keep him distracted and away from S.T.A.R. Labs. Eobard suggested they could adjust the S.T.A.R. Labs satellite to possibly pick up a storm to help catch Mark. When Eobard told Caitlin, they should go to S.T.A.R. Labs to alert Cisco, Caitlin turned around to get their coffee's in to go cups but Eobard (now sure Caitlin was distracting him) takes off, leaving behind his wheelchair and revealing his deception to Caitlin.
To protect his secret, Eobard kills Cisco.
When Cisco had just discovered a hologram was used the night they "trapped" the Reverse-Flash, Eobard reveals his true identity to Cisco. Eobard revealed to Cisco his original intent was to kill the child Barry and not Nora, and revealed that he'd only been training Barry as a means to an end, as Barry's speed was the key to returning to his time. Eobard told Cisco nothing would stop him from returning to his home, though Cisco offered help. Eobard noted Cisco to be smart, but not smart enough to bring him back to his time. Eobard phased his arm through Cisco's chest, killing the protégé who showed him what it was like to have a son, and left the building.[34] Because Barry time traveled by accident for the first time, these events never occurred and instead are replaced by the following.
Eobard suspecting Barry time traveled.
Current timeline: Barry stopped after running, confusing Eobard and Cisco and reminded Barry to get to the morgue but Barry claimed to have been there yesterday, confusing them both. When Barry returned, they're all told that Mark is the killer and on a vendetta to avenge Clyde and Eobard deduced Mark was affected by the particle accelerator the same way Clyde was. However, Barry finished Eobard's sentence and correctly guessed almost every word Cisco and Caitlin were about to say to each other before they did. With this, Eobard realized that Barry had in fact time traveled. After learning Barry had traveled back one day, Eobard stressed the importance of keeping history intact which meant not telling him and tells Barry to repeat the events of the day again without and to not tell anyone or alter anything. Eobard checked in with Gideon but is assured the future remained intact.
Eobard encouraging Cisco to stay.
Barry, however, ignoring Eobard's advice and went and captured Mark anyway before Mardon could commit these crimes. Eobard (angered that Barry had altered time) reminded his protégé that whatever tragedies time had averted would somehow replaced with even worse ones. Eobard had Barry run on the treadmill in an attempt to re-create the conditions that allowed Barry to time travel in the first place, but even his highest speeds couldn't achieve it. After learning that Leonard had returned with Lisa Snart and kidnapped Cisco, Eobard begun trying to track Cisco down but Barry begged Eobard to talk about the previous yesterday and Eobard reluctantly agreed. Barry states that Mark was about to destroy the city and Iris admitted to have feelings for Barry. Eobard reminded Barry the feelings were buried deep in Iris's consciousness and remained unrealized without Mark's actions, Barry's powers could furthermore cause serious havoc upon the world.
Reverse-Flash killing Mason.
Cisco returns to S.T.A.R. Labs tearfully quitting the team in shame, having been released by Leonard after revealing the Flash's secret identity or Dante would've been killed, however, Eobard reminded Cisco that choosing between loved ones is an impossible choice and Cisco regardless is still family and stays. Reverse-Flash later went to Central City Picture News and attacks Mason for writing an article implicating Eobard (Wells) to Stagg's murder and Eiling's disappearance. Learning from Bridge that everything about him was on a drive, Reverse-Flash killed Mason. To cover his tracks, Reverse-Flash then looked at Mason's computer and noted that Mason really was onto something. He fixed the office, moved Bridge's body, and destroyed all the evidence. Later at S.T.A.R. Labs, Eobard consulted Barry's decision to let Snart go. When Barry was about to ask Eobard something, but halted, Eobard asked what his question was. Barry simply told him it was nothing wished him goodnight, to which Eobard returned.[43]
Eobard suspicious of Barry's shift in personality.
When a terrorist known as The Trickster attacked the park by dropping bombs disguised as presents, Eobard assisted the team in searching for a means to locate this new individual identified as Trickster. However, Eobard noticed Barry seemed cranky but Joe assured him that Barry was just having a bad morning. Later when the Trickster made another broadcast, Barry showed further signs of angst towards Eobard but he surmised it must be because of Barry's previous visit with James Jesse in prison brought back memories of Henry's incarceration. When The Trickster uploaded a broadcast informing the public of a bomb in the city and left it's rough location, Flash failed to find it but Eobard realized it was a trick but Flash refused to listen to him much to everyone else's confusion. Eobard's proven right as there was no bomb and it was a diversion so the Trickster, now identified as Axel Walker, could break Jesse out of prison and take Henry hostage.
Eobard coaching the Flash through phasing.
When both Tricksters made their move to poison everyone at a fund raiser held by Mayor Bellows, Iris called Joe on the cellphone to clue in and Eobard begun working on the antidote to the poison. However, Flash had a bomb placed on by Axel which would explode if Flash didn't run faster than 600 miles an hour or try to remove it, so Eobard taught Barry how to phase through a truck which separated Flash from the bomb. After succeeding in foiling The Trickster's plot, Barry brought Henry to S.T.A.R. Labs to meet everyone where Henry thanked all of them for their efforts, especially Eobard. When Eobard remarked how remarkable Henry was and how lucky Barry is, Barry said the same about Eobard. However, Eobard knew that Barry's beginning to suspect who he really was.[9]
Eobard and Felicity working together to catch Brie.
Eobard helped Barry investigate Lindsay Kang's strange death at the hands of numerous honey bees, but where interrupted when Felicity arrived with aspiring superhero Ray Palmer (Felicity's new boyfriend) seeking help on Ray's suit. After the bees took Bill Carlisle as a second victim, one of the bees followed Barry back to S.T.A.R. Labs while Barry, Felicity and Ray were out to dinner with Iris and Eddie leaving only Caitlin, Cisco and Eobard to fend off the bees. When the bee came for him, Eobard almost broke his own cover to evade it but Barry arrived in time to stop it. They shockingly discovered it wasn't a bee at all but a robot and learned the previous victims worked at Mercury Labs and paid a visit to Tina. His "old friend" confirmed the bees were the work of Brie Larvan but the bees went after McGee while Brie herself was sheltered some miles away, so Barry and Ray teamed up to stop Brie and the bees while Eobard and Felicity assisted over communications.[30]
Eobard stopping Hannibal from killing Caitlin and Iris.
After Flash failed to catch up to a thief who could change into any person of any age, Eobard became worried that this meta-human could copy Barry's likeness, then this individual may be able to copy Barry's speed and told his protégé to stay away from the criminal. After confirming the meta's identity as Hannibal Bates, Barry and Eddie went after Bates but failed when Bates (posing as Eddie) goes on a killing spree. Meanwhile, Bates (posing as Barry) infiltrated S.T.A.R. Labs and came close to killing Iris and Caitlin but Eobard figured out Hannibal's deception, as Hannibal's left-handed whereas Barry's right-handed, and used a taser to force Hannibal into unconsciousness. After Joe and Cisco returned from Starling City, Eobard gave his regards to Eddie and talked to Joe about the visit, but Joe questioned why he never went back. Eobard again lied and claimed it was because of Tess but reflected that they had one trait in common of being widowers, regarding Iris's mother who Joe never talked about and Eobard presumed dead as a result, and Eobard offered to have another drink with Joe sometime which Joe agreed to.[21]
Reverse-Flash ambushing Eddie and Iris.
Eobard later returned to his secret room to ask for an update from Gideon but he's assured that everything was fine, unaware that Barry, Cisco and Caitlin were in the room just seconds before. He later helped Cisco and Caitlin work on a device to induce lucid dreaming, which they claimed was for physiologists dealing with people traumatized by meta-human incidents. Eobard later called and informed Barry of a fire in a building nearby but Flash was unable to retrieve all the civilians before the fire burnt out of control, but Eobard told Flash to rotate his own arms at high velocities which extinguished the flames. After Eobard returned from a conference, Caitlin informed him that Cisco finally figured out how the Reverse-Flash "escaped" and Eobard realized his cover was blown. Eobard instead sent Hannibal to pose as Wells and spring the trap the team had set for himself as a means to get a confession to Nora's murder. After Joe killed Bates, Eobard finally dropped his facade and addresses the team via the intercom and admits to using Bates as a distraction in exchange for freedom. As Barry and Caitlin expressed their anger for ruining their lives, Eobard actually claimed to understand their anger, but tried to assure them that his actions have actually improved their lives. Barry then angrily tells Eobard to have a confrontation and he assures his former protégé that they will fight again, very soon.
Eobard revealing to Eddie what their connection is.
To secure leverage, Reverse-Flash ambushed Eddie and Iris, just as Eddie was proposing and knocked out Eddie before moving in on Iris. Before Reverse-Flash could kill Iris, Flash arrived and Reverse-Flash abducted Eddie instead.[11] Reverse-Flash took Eddie to his secondary lair underneath S.T.A.R. Labs.[2] Upon hearing that Eddie's already aware he isn't Wells, Reverse-Flash decides to reveal his true identity and relation to Eddie, answering Eddie's questions as to why Reverse-Flash didn't kill Eddie at Christmas, and referring to Eddie as his "insurance."[11]
Eobard revealing Eddie's apparent lack of a legacy.
To distract Team Flash, Eobard ordered Grodd to distract them using whatever means Grodd saw fit while he constructed a device to re-power the particle accelerator, while keeping Eddie tied to a chair. Eddie continued questioning Eobard's claims but Eobard stood by his pride to be a member of their family. He then revealed that history had virtually no record of Eddie. Eobard considers Eddie to be the one failure in their family (Eddie's descendents and Eobard's ancestors), showing his ancestor the newspaper showing that Iris is destined to marry Barry. Eobard later finished his device and activated the particle accelerator.[2] Before leaving, Eobard tried to justify himself to Eddie by asking to reflect on Eddie's own life and think of all the things that define it and what would to do if having lost everything, if to simply accept this new life or get back everything lost.
Reverse-Flash fighting the Flash atop S.T.A.R. Labs.
After the particle accelerator reactivated, Reverse-Flash escaped the facility with Barry in pursuit but released Shawna as a distraction for the rest of the team. Despite Barry's efforts, his former protégé was unable to keep up and Reverse-Flash escapes. Eobard returned 36 hours later when the particle accelerator was ready for reactivation, but Barry stopped him outside. Eobard commended Barry's failed but brave attempt to transport the meta-human prisoners to safety, having been foiled by Captain Cold earlier after being forced to reluctantly work with Snart, but justified his own actions as necessary and only doing what he needed to. As Barry asked about his plan, Eobard invited his former protégé inside to show but Barry didn't fall for his deception. Eobard questioned Barry's plan to face him again since Barry failed every time before, but suddenly Firestorm and Al Sah-him arrived. Despite being outnumbered, Eobard was unfazed and confident he could fight the three, and he engaged them all at once.
Reverse-Flash defeated by the Flash, Al Sah-him and Firestorm.
Reverse-Flash and Flash fought but Reverse-Flash managed to subdue Flash and sent Firestorm flying miles away, forcing Flash to save Firestorm. Al Sah-him was able to hit him with an arrow laced with nanites (courtesy of Ray) which delivered a high-frequency pulse that disabled Reverse-Flash's speed, keeping him from running for "quite a while" and forcing him to fight Al Sah-him in hand to hand. When his speed recovered, he pinned Al Sah-him to the ground, taunting him about Oliver's apparent original future death at age 86, and prepared for the kill only for Flash to save Al Sah-him. The speedsters then fought all over S.T.A.R. Labs. As both Flash and Reverse-Flash reached the edge of S.T.A.R. Labs' roof, Firestorm intervened and blasted Reverse-Flash off before Al Sah-him finished him off with another arrow of nanites, emitting a high frequency pulse that disabled his speed and kept him from recovering temporarily.[15]
Ceasing to exist
Eobard telling Barry of their future rivalry.
Eobard was placed inside the pipeline. Sometime afterward, Barry visited him to get answers, addressing him by his real name, and asked why Eobard killed Nora. Eobard explained his feud with the Flash, the circumstances and reasoning for his murder of Nora, and that he needed Barry to be a speedster in order to generate enough Speed Force energy to create a wormhole though which he could return home, and in the process Barry could return to the night of Nora's murder thus undo Henry's imprisonment and Eobard's actions. Barry didn't believe him but eventually opened up to Eobard's plan. While enjoying a Big Belly Burger, he explained that his plan required using the particle accelerator, explaining that Barry would have to run at Mach-2 speed through the particle accelerator and collide with a single hydrogen particle. Doing so would send Barry back to any time desired and create a wormhole behind which could be used by Eobard to return to his own time. But what Eobard neglected to tell Team Flash is that doing so would result in a singularity's creation. When he gets chastised, he assured Team Flash they would have enough time for both to achieve their goals, 1 minute and 52 seconds, and once accomplished they would be able to close the portal.
Eobard discovering Cisco's metahuman status.
While building a potential time machine for Eobard, Cisco visited him for advise on materials. Cisco also asked how his Reverse-Flash ring worked (reminiscent of Eobard's first meeting with Cisco in 2016). After he tells Cisco what's required, Eobard gets infuriated and confused that Cisco didn't have as much sympathy, comparing his predicament stuck in a different time to Cisco's own family estrangement. Cisco then revealed to Eobard that he'd killed his surrogate son in an erased timeline. Eobard apologized, not for killing Cisco and justifying that he had a good reason, but to learn that Cisco had indeed become a meta-human as he'd suspected for sometime and informed Cisco that a "great destiny" awaited his son-esque protégé. Barry eventually prepared for the jump and ran at the speed required and Eobard tutored on how to access the time Flash wanted, and successfully time jumped to that night to prevent the Allen family from suffering Eobard's actions.
Prevented from returning to the future, Reverse-Flash attacks the Flash in a rage.
After the portal opened, Eobard admired Cisco's Time Sphere, admitting that its original creator would be impressed. After a strange helmet arrived, Eobard knew this it was time to leave and bid farewell to Cisco and Joe. As he's to take off, Flash returns and destroys Eobard's pod. Enraged, he asked why Flash didn't save Nora and would have had everything Barry wanted, but Flash simply told him of already having it. The Reverse-Flash spitefully charged at Flash and fought his former protégé. As Team Flash worked to close the portal, Reverse-Flash beat Flash into submission and prepared to kill Flash, vowing to kill everyone else his former protégé loved, including Henry. As he declared his victory and dived in for the kill, Eddie shot himself in the heart, causing Reverse-Flash's body to flux uncontrollably as his existence began to fade. As Eddie's heart failed, Eobard started fading out of existence as his face reverted from his Wells likeness back into his original form since Eddie just erased the Thawne family by killing himself before he carried on their bloodline.
Eobard ceasing to exist.
When Eddie dies of the self-inflicted injuries, Eobard's body begun to crack apart. Eobard arrogantly told Barry that he had controlled his nemesis's life for so long, and asked how Barry get along without him, right before his body was incinerated and his existence erased from the timeline, although his actions remained intact to prevent a paradox. The singularity then reopened, engulfing Eddie's body.[1] The singularity also caused Ronnie's death when Firestorm helped Flash to close the singularity and later served as a doorway to Earth-2.[19][44]
Video will
Eobard's video will.
In the event of his demise and his plan to return to his own time were to fail, Eobard made a video confession to Nora's murder for Henry's freedom. Initially, Eobard stood his ground in saying that Barry will never truly be happy, but believed he himself was never really the enemy but the real enemy was in fact Barry himself. Eobard then confesses to Nora's murder, much to his former protégé's shock and delight.[19]
Flashpoint
Reverse-Flash viciously attacked by the Flash.
When Eobard grabbed a kitchen knife and attempted to stab Nora, he was attacked by another version of the Flash from 2016, viciously knocking him down. Refusing to let Reverse-Flash kill Nora, and refusing to let him ruin anyone's life ever again, Flash knocked Reverse-Flash out, radically altering the future and undoing many of Reverse-Flash's future crimes.[45] His nemesis then took Reverse-Flash back to the new version of 2016, took his ring from him, and constructed a speed-dampening cell using carbine material to imprison him in an abandoned factory. Barry made frequent visits to Eobard to give him food. Unfortunately for both speedsters, Barry's intervention created an entirely new reality altogether. Due to Barry's irresponsible actions, a new reality was in place of what they knew, and Eobard was aware Barry's memories would fade in order to adapt to the new timeline. But Eobard kept this to himself simply for amusement, wanting to see how long it would take his nemesis to realize this himself yet was unsure as to why he wasn't losing his own memories. Eobard would remain imprisoned for over three months, eventually getting a bearded look.
Eobard worrying about Barry's reckless actions.
When Barry visited him again to deliver Big Belly Burger, Eobard jokingly asked for the "curly fries" and still promised to destroy Barry's world. However, Barry didn't take Eobard's words seriously and reminded him that Barry now has everything back that both Reverse-Flash and Hunter Zolomon/Zoom stole from Barry, and is thus finally whole (both Nora and Henry are alive in this timeline). Eobard tells Barry that this timeline is nothing more than a "mirage," and its effects will end them both unless Barry lets him correct what's been done. Eobard also remarked how selfish Barry's being after being told there was another individual whose the Flash in this timeline, letting someone else endanger themselves in pursuit of Barry's own happiness. However, Barry simply scoffed at Eobard's words and reminded him that Barry changed time because of what Eobard did, but he stated that Barry will eventually beg him to kill Nora "again."
Eobard laughing at Barry's loss of memories.
When Barry started losing memories, Eobard gets questioned about this. Relieved to see what Barry is experiencing, Eobard explained to Barry that this reality was beginning to overwrite the reality they're familiar with, so that soon Barry won't remember the reality they're familiar with. When Eobard gets asked why he wasn't losing his memories, he replied that he wasn't sure, but he figured out that the more Barry uses speed abilities, the faster Barry loses memories, whereas Eobard hadn't used his speed at all and thus his memories remained intact. However, Barry believed Eobard was trying to manipulate into releasing him from his cell.
Eobard angrily scolding Barry's selfishness.
Eobard then frustratingly remarked that his nemesis from the future that he knew and fought for years was far more intelligent than what Barry turned out to be. Eobard stated that soon Barry would forget being a speedster and neither of them would be able to fix reality, thus this timeline would set permanently like concrete and be unchangeable. Barry was fine with it, but Eobard pleaded for Barry to take him back to 2000 to correct what was done and that Nora's death needed to happen in order to make things right. Barry spitefully told him to go to hell, to which Eobard angrily retorted that his nemesis's arrogance would leave both speedsters stranded in a faulty reality. As Barry left, Eobard angrily yelled at Barry, accusing his nemesis of now being the villain.
Eobard agreeing to help Barry.
When Barry later returned with Iris after finally realizing this timeline is too dangerous for Barry's other friends, Eobard is agreed to be released with Barry's reluctance. Eobard forced Barry to ask to kill Nora and Barry reluctantly did so, expressing hate. Eobard replied with hate in return, but questioned whose anger was truly justified. Eobard was then released and given his ring back. As Barry started to fall unconscious, Eobard expressed his desire to just kill Barry, before saying this time he's got to be the hero, and hauled his nemesis through the Speed Force, coming back to 2000, moments after Flash's and Reverse-Flash's younger selves had fought for the second time. Arriving moments after Flash's earlier self had knocked out his past self, Reverse-Flash's current self taunted Flash's past self, saying that Nora was done for. As a result, the two speedsters' earlier versions dissipated as Reverse-Flash grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed Nora in the chest, correcting the new changes to the timeline, before preparing to bring Barry back to 2016.
Life as a time remnant
Being hunted by the Black Flash
Eobard taunting Barry about their actions causing multiple timeline changes.
Rather than restoring the timeline, however, the Reverse-Flash's actions created another new timeline where most of the events before remained intact but a few events were altered.[12][46] Being pulled from the timeline, Eobard's existence paradoxically remained intact, retaining memories from the previous timeline.[3] Unlike his Pre-Flashpoint self, Eobard retained his speed after killing Nora, though the exact reason for this is unknown.
No longer sporting a beard, Eobard returned Barry to 2016 while claiming that everything was back to the way it was (at least for him). He tauntingly told that Barry's present wouldn't be the same and would have to simply wait and find out. When Barry asked him what he meant, Eobard appeared pleased to have tormented his nemesis yet again and simply said they'd see each other sometime soon, speeding off to a different time and place.[12]
Eobard began being hunted by Black Flash due to his time remnant status.
Shortly after, Eobard found himself pursued by the Black Flash, a black-clad demon-like speedster who now served as the Speed Force's enforcer. Whilst initially mistaking Black Flash for a Time Wraith, Eobard quickly realized the monster after him was far more dangerous than a Time Wraith. As a result, Eobard was forced to keep running through time and space to avoid the monster. Eobard eventually realized that Black Flash was after him because Eddie's suicide was supposed to erase him from existence in 2015, yet he continued to exist due to coming back to 2016 together with Barry. Thus Black Flash was trying to erase Eobard to eliminate the paradoxical threat and restore the ruptured timeline.[47]
Searching for the Spear of Destiny
Eobard began to locate the Spear of Destiny.
Realizing he couldn't run from the Black Flash forever, Eobard set out to locate the Spear of Destiny, a mystical weapon foretold to have the power to re-write reality itself to restore his own existence to the timeline. However, the Spear of Destiny was divided into several pieces and guarded by the Justice Society of America's members from 1956 scattered throughout time. To find this mystical object, Eobard required the Askaran Amulet, a compass detailing the locations of the various pieces and their respective guardians. However, Eobard discovered the Askaran Amulet was divided into two pieces but Eobard discovered one half was in Nazi Germany's possession in 1942 while the other half was in the Soviet Union's possession in 1987. Eobard learned all of this by traveling through time and gathering informations across the 20th century.
Aiding the Nazis
Eobard was unable to prevent Hourman's time travel to 2016 to warn the Legends.
Eobard traveled to 1942 and began secretly aiding high-ranking members of the Nazi party to obtain the Askaran Amulet's first half, providing future information and the means to win World War II in exchange for the device. During this time, he encountered the 1942 version of the JSA as well as the time-traveling Legends. Reverse-Flash succeeded in killing all of the Legends, however, the time-traveling heroes' sacrifices bought Rex Tyler/Hourman enough time to pilot the Waverider through time to 2016 to stop the Legends' arrival to 1942 to prevent Reverse-Flash committing the murders.[48] To stop his plans being exposed to the Legends, Reverse-Flash traveled back further in 1942 to start his plans over, erasing his past actions but also erasing the Legends' deaths.
Realizing he couldn't stop the Legends, find the Askaran Amulet's two pieces, and outrun Black Flash all at once, Eobard is forced to seek out partnerships with various criminals throughout time to have them find the Askaran Amulet's pieces for him, promising to alter past or future events for them, while he kept outrunning Black Flash. Eobard hired his first candidate (Damien) to join Adolf Hitler's plan to build an atomic bomb and destroy New York City, in the hopes the Legends would perish trying to prevent this.[49][50]
Aberration timeline
Eobard's information provided with Damien aided in Hitler's plan to kidnap Albert Einstein and force Einstein to develop an atomic bomb, which would destroy New York City. The aftermath of this would also cause World War II to end October 8, 1947 instead, and would cause the death of an additional 12 million more people. This caused an aberration, resulting in a time quake that alerted the Legends as planned.
Fixed timeline
Eobard saving Damien from the Nazis.
Damien succeeded in constructing the bomb by kidnapping Mileva Maric instead of Einstein, and forcing Maric to build the bomb. However, the Legends were forced to use the Waverider to intercept the bomb, and they were scattered throughout time. As a result, Eobard's plan succeeded as he had drastically altered the Legends' first encounter with Hourman. When a German officer tried to kill Damien after refusing to help build another bomb, Reverse-Flash slayed the U-boat's crew members before he and Damien greeted each other.[49]
Eobard convincing Krieger to help in exchange for a bio-molecular enhancer.
To obtain the Askaran Amulet's first half without interference this time, Eobard personally began working with Baron Krieger and met with in Paris. Krieger told him the Askaran Amulet was in Berlin though Hitler refused to part with it. Eobard presented a sample of his biomolecular enhancer, which could be used to create an army of super-soldiers to oppose the JSA. He also claimed it would let Hitler plant the German flag above the White House within months. Eobard gave Kreiger a small dose for one person to confirm the serum's properties, promising to deliver the means for mass production, but only if he obtained the Askaran Amulet. Reluctant, Kreiger agreed and Hitler arranged for the Askaran Amulet to be transported to Eobard's custody.
Reverse-Flash killing Hourman to prevent future interference.
While Kreiger did obtain the Askaran Amulet, the Baron was intercepted and killed by the combined efforts of the JSA, Legends and the United States Air Force while in route to Eobard and the Askaran Amulet's first half fell into Hourman's possession. Reverse-Flash later attacks Hourman at the JSA's headquarters. Reverse-Flash tells Hourman of their encounters "a number of times" as Hourman in this timeline hadn't met Reverse-Flash yet. He then phased his hand through Hourman's chest. As Hourman bled to death, Reverse-Flash stole the Askaran Amulet and sped off before Amaya Jiwe/Vixen came into the room. Killing Hourman at this point also caused Rex's future self in the original timeline who'd arrived in 2016 to warn the Legends to fade out of existence before revealing Reverse-Flash's plan, only succeeding in warning the group not to travel to 1942.[50]
Legion of Doom
Eobard working with Damien.
Eobard then traveled to 1987 to retrieve the Askaran Amulet's other half and aided Damien as his "old friend" was about to be caught by DEA agents while trading drugs with dealers in exchange for a relic. Eobard offers Damien a partnership to aid him in his plans in exchange for rewriting Damien's own destiny. Damien initially refused, however, Eobard warned that he knew of Damien's plan and its outcome and promised that he could give Damien actual power, rather than symbols of power. Interested, Damien agreed and Eobard had Damien arrange a meeting with the Soviets to obtain the Askaran Amulet's second half. When the Legends confronted Damien at the deal, Reverse-Flash traveled there to stop them from killing Damien and risk losing the Askaran Amulet.
Eobard presenting Damien with a Time Sphere.
Just as Sara Lance/White Canary had taunted Damien about the ultimate outcome of Darhk's plans for H.I.V.E., Eobard sped Damien out of the facility. When Damien realized that Sara had snatched Darhk's relic, Damien demanded Eobard to be taken back, but the speedster reminded Damien the Legends had left the time period and were beyond reach. Damien then reconsidered Eobard's offer and begging to come along to his next destination, insisting Damien needed to change his own destiny. Accepting this answer, Eobard showed his ally a Time Sphere. When Damien gets inside, Eobard sped around it to open a portal into the Speed Force where he traveled to his next destination with Damien.[51]
Eobard and Damien recruiting Malcolm.
Eobard and Damien then traveled to 2016 to recruit the second recruit (Malcolm). Eobard sped himself and Damien into Malcolm's apartment. As Malcolm had descended into alcoholism after losing the League of Assassins and H.I.V.E. following Damien's death. Malcolm gets highly confused to see Damien alive (as having just watched Green Arrow kill Damien on the news) but Eobard elaborated that he's from the future, and Damien was from the past, and they're on a quest to change their respective fates and offered Malcolm the opportunity to do the same in exchange for Malcolm's services. While skeptical at first, Malcolm agreed to Eobard's offer and accompanied the duo through time. Following this, the trio traveled to the former Time Masters' base of operations in the Vanishing Point and began using the ruins as their own base.[47]
Chicago trap
Planning to cause an aberration to lure the Legends out and retrieve the Askaran Amulet, Eobard's team traveled to 1927 and offered their assistance to crime lord Al Capone.
Eobard, Damien and Malcolm approaching Capone.
When the three approached Capone, the crime lord initially refused and tried to have them killed. When Eobard slaughtered Capone's men, Capone listened to their proposal. Eobard would ensure Capone would remain out of police custody and become mayor of Chicago. In exchange, Capone would aid them against the Legends, and the intrigued crime lord agreed. As per their deal and part of the plan, Eobard informed that Capone was destined to be apprehended by Prohibition agent Eliot Ness, and Capone had Ness abducted and plotted to kill the agent. As planned, the Legends arrived and foiled this plan. As the Legends searched one of Capone's clubs for evidence, Eobard abducted Sara and Professor Stein. Eobard had Martin brought to him and used the appearance-stealing cord on Martin, planning to infiltrate the Waverider and find the Askaran Amulet's second half himself.
Having acclimated Stein's likeness, Eobard is "rescued" by the Legends though Eobard had Capone attack them to avoid drawing suspicion. On board the Waverider, Eobard began searching for the Askaran Amulet's second half which he could not find but caught Jefferson Jackson's attention with his actions. When Sara came to speak with him about Martin's daughter as an aberration, Eobard questioned the claims, having no knowledge of Martin's daughter and leaving Sara suspicious. Then Nate Heywood came into the library asking to speak with Sara about Jefferson though Eobard insisted Jax could wait, though Sara immediately noticed him refer to Martin's partner as Jax and not Jefferson as Martin had a tendency to do.
Realizing Nate was aware of his deception and is trying to warn Sara, Eobard attacked the two, dropped his Stein disguise, and sped off. In the hallway, he is subdued by Jax with a speedster weapon but Eobard quickly recovered and attack Jax. Before he could kill Jax, Atom attacked him, but Eobard sped off towards the bridge and sealed himself within. Dropping the ship's cloaking technology, Eobard opened the cargo bay doors and allowed Malcolm and Capone's men on board to kill the Legends as he continued searching for the Askaran Amulet's second half. Finding Mick with a bag of valuables he believed Rory was trying to steal, Eobard believed he'd found the Askaran Amulet but realized too late Mick tricked him, getting blasted from behind. Eobard gets surprised to see Amaya as his attacker and attacked Jiwe. Before he could kill Amaya, Eobard is alerted that Black Flash was close and sped off to avoid this.
Eobard, Malcolm and Damien merge the Askaran Amulet to display a compass to the Spear of Destiny.
However, Malcolm had managed to force Sara to give up the Askaran Amulet's second half in exchange for Martin's location. By the docks, Eobard elaborated the Askaran Amulet was in fact one in two pieces as Malcolm pointed out to Damien, displaying a holographic compass. However, Malcolm initially mistook the Askaran Amulet's holographic compass for a "portable planetarium" much to Eobard's annoyance. Elaborating that the holographic compass is a guide to finding the Spear of Destiny to Malcolm and Damien. Eobard informed them finding the Spear of Destiny would be complicated but the first step is locating the Legends' former leader, Captain Rip Hunter, one of the Spear of Destiny's protectors.[6]
Hunt for the Spear of Destiny
Eobard's syndicate vs the Legends
Locating Rip in 1967, Eobard sent Malcolm and Damien to capture Hunter so they could acquire Rip's piece of the Spear of Destiny while Eobard went on the run from the Black Flash. After managing to outrun and escape, the Reverse-Flash returned as Malcolm and Damien fought the Legends, and swiftly knocked the Legends all to their feet. As Eobard questioned who should die first, Rip revealed himself and pulled a gun on them, only for the so-called weapon to be a film prop which amused Eobard's syndicate, unaware Rip's suffering amnesia. After the Legends retrieved the Spear of Destiny's piece and retreated to the Waverider, Eobard swiftly kidnapped Rip before the Legends could retrieve Hunter. Taking Rip to their facility, Eobard demanded Rip tell him about the Spear of Destiny but Hunter claimed not to know anything, and had Malcolm and Damien torture their hostage to make talk.[52]
Eobard and Damien discussing the Legends' incompetence.
As his patience began to wane, Eobard is informed by Damien and Malcolm that torturing Rip would not work because Rip literally couldn't tell where the Spear of Destiny was as the man's memories had been wiped. Infuriated, Eobard derided the two for losing the medallion and violently accosted Malcolm when his associates pointed out that Eobard's responsible for losing it too. Malcolm reminded Eobard that he needed the two and suggested using hypnosis on Rip, however, Malcolm's methods failed as Rip's memories had been wiped too thoroughly. Eobard exasperatedly remarked on the results of working with a washout (Malcolm) and a dead man (Damien) and sped off. When Eobard later returned, Damien had successfully extracted on of Rip's teeth which had a barcode symbol for a back account in 2025 Zurich, Switzerland which Eobard theorized must contain the rest of the Spear of Destiny. At that moment, Eobard's watch began to sound an alarm, prompting him to order Damien and Malcolm to take the Time Sphere back to 2025 before running off without an explanation.
Eobard's syndicate cornered by the Black Flash.
Having outrun Black Flash, Eobard arrived in 2025 Zurich just in time to find his associates having successfully broken into the bank vault and discovered that Rip's box contained a Mnemonic Archive which held Rip's memories. As he examined the Mnemonic Archive, Malcolm suddenly sealed the vault door, trapping the cabal all inside and declaring a re-negotiation of their deal with Eobard, starting with him revealing why he needed the Spear of Destiny and why he was always running out on the two. While Eobard amusingly threatened to kill Malcolm with a vibrating hand, he is unable to as Malcolm is the only one who knew the vault door code, while Damien chose to simply watch. As his associates started questioning him more, Eobard's watch alerted him to Black Flash's presence. Visibly scared, Eobard begged to be let out or they would all be killed. When pressed about who by his associates, Eobard finally revealed his time remnant status and that Black Flash trying to kill him hence why he keeps vanishing. Satisfied, Malcolm and Damien resolved to help Eobard escape his pursuer.
Eobard confronting the Black Flash.
The trio set up an ambush in the bank with Eobard as bait to draw Black Flash in, though Eobard is able to remain invisible to Black Flash by not using his speed as Black Flash raced throughout the bank searching for him. As the spectral speedster is about to zero in on him, Malcolm and Damien attack Black Flash from both sides, distracting the creature long enough for Eobard to use a speed-punch to send Black Flash hurtling into the back vault, at which point Eobard sealed the dark speedster inside. Know that his enemy would not be contained for long, the trio departed the bank but not before Eobard acknowledged Damien and Malcolm as fully equal partners. After escaping, Eobard used the Mnemonic archive to restore Rip's memories, but reprogrammed Hunter's mind as his syndicate's fourth member, sending his new associate to 1776 to kill George Washington on Christmas Day to cause an aberration to alert the Legends and lure them out.[47]
Eobard and Rip aiding the British army in the American Revolutionary War.
Eobard and Rip then traveled back a few days earlier and Eobard made an alliance with the British army, promising to ensure victory in the American Revolutionary War, in exchange for assistance in retrieving the Spear of Destiny. To aid the British, Eobard also supplied the British with 21st century assault rifles which Rip presented to a platoon of British soldiers entrusted under his own command. Pleased to see Rip's reprogramming is successful, Eobard entrusted Hunter to retrieve the Spear of Destiny's piece from the Legends and eventually succeeded.[53] After this, Rip tells Eobard about the Spear of Destiny's other fragments being in the JSA's possession and each period of where they were. He first sent Rip to Chicago in the year 3000 to retrieve another piece, killing Dr. Mid-Nite in the process. Eobard then sent Rip and Damien to Camelot in the year 503 to retrieve Stargirl's piece, however, Rip gets captured and a piece gets lost to the Legends.[54]
Eobard fighting the Atom on Apollo-13.
Learning that Henry Heywood hid a piece within the Apollo-11 flag pole on the Moon itself, Eobard himself traveled to 1970 and posed as a doctor for NASA to see John Swigert, one of the astronauts meant to go on Apollo-13's mission to the moon.[55] Eobard takes Swigert's appearance and place on Apollo-13, venturing into space. Since Eobard repaired the oxygen tank that was meant to explode, he caused an aberration that alerted the Legends. While Apollo-13 is in space, Eobard knocked the other astronauts out and dropped his Swigert disguise and made the preparations for landing. However, he discovered Atom has sneaked aboard and they fought, though Eobard is unable to use speed in zero gravity, but Atom managed to beat him and tied him up.
Eobard working with Ray, noting their similarities as scientists whose pursuit of greatness has led them to who they've become.
After the Atom got the Spear of Destiny's fragment, Ray had to use the LEM to get back to the Waverider but it was damaged to which Eobard pointed out that he could help Ray repair the LEM and offered a temporary truce, which Ray grudgingly accepted. As they moved to repair the ship, Eobard told Ray that it was nice to work with a fellow scientist again reflecting on times with Cisco and Caitlin. He also informed Palmer that it was easy for Ray to see him as a monster but he had seen history's greatest monsters and he wasn't one of them. Ray scolded him for this claim as he'd killed Nora twice, killed Hourman and brainwashed Rip into killing Dr. Mid-Nite. However, Eobard said that they were more alike than Ray would admit as they were both scientists that chased after the impossible and that Ray didn't have to be ashamed of reaching for higher feats. They managed to take off and re-connect with the Waverider and Eobard was quickly thrown in the brig. When the Waverider had to enter the atmosphere, Ray went to Eobard to find out the correct angle to enter without burning up. Eobard gives the angle instantly and told Ray to trust him as he wanted to live just as the Legends did.
Eobard confronted by Ray.
When the Waverider managed to enter the atmosphere safely, Eobard phased himself out of the cell easily to look for the Spear of Destiny's pieces but was quickly met with Ray equipped with a speedster weapon ready. Eobard laughed at the irony as he was the one who invented the weapon in the first place. Ray knew that Eobard would try and escape and was aware he was a time remnant because of Eddie's sacrifice, and that something was after him to try and correct the aberration. Eobard confirmed Palmer's suspicions as his watch alerted him that Black Flash was close, and Ray told him he'd have no time to search the ship. Eobard smirked and said that they would meet again before he sped off.[3]
Eobard's syndicate using the Spear of Destiny to re-write reality.
After failing to retrieve the Spear of Destiny's last fragments, Eobard sent Malcolm and Damien to get the Calebros Manuscript in order to activate the Spear of Destiny to rewrite reality. While he was making a plan to try and track the Legends, he discovered that the Legends had infiltrated the Vanishing Point and stolen their two fragments and fled before Eobard could stop anything. When Damien returned and learned of what happened, Eobard gets scolded for his recklessness, but Eobard realized that now that the Legends had all the Spear of Destiny's fragments, they no longer had to hunt for the holy object piece by piece. However, Damien insisted that in order to succeed, they would need to up their strategy besides just the three of them. Eobard then traveled back to 2014 and located Snart before Leonard had joined the Legends and turned from criminal ways, revealing the man's future death being all they needed to have Snart agreed to help them in getting the Spear of Destiny. After Leonard successfully manipulated Mick into betraying the Legends and steal the Spear of Destiny from them during World War I, Eobard sped into the war-zone and transported Leonard, Darhk and Mick to the Vanishing Point. After Malcolm return with the Celebros Manuscript, the five criminals held onto the Spear of Destiny as Malcolm read the incantation and they began to use the holy object's power to re-write reality to their whims.[56]
Rewritten reality
Eobard as S.T.A.R. Labs' founder and official CEO.
In his syndicate's rewritten reality, Eobard remains in 2017 but is now S.T.A.R. Labs' official C.E.O. (under his true identity this time) with world-wide recognition for using his futuristic brilliance to solve many worldwide problems. He is also a close friend of the President of the United States. However, Eobard did not remove (or perhaps could not remove) the Black Flash from this new reality. Regardless, Eobard built a dampening cell in S.T.A.R. Labs that he kept Black Flash imprisoned in, leaving the demonic speedster unable to escape, running around the inside of the cell in murderous rage, with Eobard commenting that he wants to somehow bend the monster to his will, to no avail. As per his agreement, Eobard also altered his syndicate members' fates based on their own desires.
Eobard restored Malcolm's family members and previous status.
Eobard revived Malcolm's wife and son, made Malcolm's daughter a loving part of the Merlyn family, gave Nyssa al Ghul a "miserable life in Ohio," made Malcolm C.E.O. of Merlyn Global Group once more, and even restored Malcolm's original right hand. Eobard made Damien into the Mayor of Star City and restored Damien's magic who then killed many opposing heroes and vigilantes (including the Flash). Finally, Eobard improved Leonard's and Mick's lives, remaining criminals yet being allowed by the police to carry out thefts without interference though the two carried out Eobard's assassinations when called for.
He also changed the Legends' fates as retribution for interference in his plans. He kept Rip stuck inside the Waverider which was powerless and shrunken down and put on display on his desk, driving Rip insane with nothing else to do but bake cakes. He made Jax and Martin employees at S.T.A.R. Labs and made Jax a much crueler individual whose often abusive towards Martin being not permitted to leave S.T.A.R. Labs until projects were completed and sometimes remained there for months. He also made Ray a janitor at S.T.A.R. Labs, reduced Nate to being a conspiracy theorist that no one believed while living with his mother, and turned Sara and Amaya into Damien's personal assassins. To ensure nobody could reset the new reality, Eobard destroyed the manuscript and had Martin work on developing a fusion reactor equivalent to the sun's power, intending to incinerate the Spear of Destiny entirely.
Eobard urging Malcolm to enjoy this reality.
As he considered his partnership with Malcolm and Damien over, Eobard ignored any calls from his two subordinates. Malcolm eventually confronted Eobard in person as there were still some things Malcolm wanted changed, but Eobard insisted that the Spear of Destiny was best kept in his possession as he was the only one who knew how to use the holy object. They were interrupted by Jax informing him the reactor's taking longer than anticipated but Eobard, calmly made subtle threats to motivate. Eobard broke into a hard laugh as Malcolm scolded him for keeping the Legends around as "pets" when the group should be erased altogether, though Eobard considered this poetic justice. Eobard then told Malcolm to leave and enjoy this new life as Malcolm frustratingly left. Fearing Malcolm may be a problem, he asked Leonard and Mick to keep an eye on Malcolm. Before they could go on further, Nate arrived past security, having no knowledge of Eobard, and told him reality was't right. Realizing Nate's starting to catch on to their actions, he ordered Leonard and Mick to take Nate away to be killed.
Eobard confronting the Legends.
Eobard later checked up when Martin completed the reactor but Eobard insist Martin remain behind until the reactor reached full power. When later alerted by Martin via silent alarm of intruders, the Reverse-Flash sped into the lab to find Martin confronted by the Legends with successfully restored memories. Reverse-Flash annoying mused at this revelation before unmasking and holding the Spear of Destiny over the reactor, ready to throw the holy object in. Eobard annoyingly remarked that Malcolm was right before also being confronted by his own syndicate members demanding the Spear of Destiny. Eobard tried to tell the Legends and his own allies that he was trying to destroy the Spear of Destiny for their sake but Leonard's cold gun abruptly shot him, rendering him unconscious.
Eobard destroying the Spear of Destiny.
Eobard awoke as the Legends and his syndicate fought over the Spear of Destiny which he tried to re-obtain, only for Nate to use the holy object on him by sending Eobard flying across the room and knocking him out again. Eobard awoke again after Leonard just killed Amaya as Amaya attempted to use the Spear of Destiny which he took back, tossing the object into the reactor for destruction. While the Legends and his syndicate both expressed desire to kill him, Eobard's unwavered by their words as they're hopelessly outmatched against his speed without weapons or powers. However, Eobard did not wish to see the Legends dead, not out of sentiment, but rather to watch suffer and remain trapped in this new reality where everything the Legends have ever accomplished no longer matters. He also allowed his former co-conspirators to live despite their mutiny, but promised to kill them if they tried to oppose him again. Telling all of his opponents to remember this mercy of his, he ordered them to leave his laboratories' premises.[57]
Eobard informing his syndicate about the Legends from the future.
Caught by the Black Flash
Eobard confronting the Legends with an army of time remnants of himself.
Shortly after, the Legends managed to restore Rip and the Waverider to size and traveled back to 1916 to stop Eobard's syndicate from obtaining the Spear of Destiny in the first place by altering the events, thus erasing the Legends' present day selves from existence, however, Eobard anticipated all of this. Eobard traveled back to 1916 and as Atom re-discovered the blood of Christ to which he stole and crushed. Remarking that his syndicate was right about disposing of his enemies, Eobard phased his hand through Atom's chest, and removed Ray's heart and amusingly watched as Ray's older version dies. Eobard later found Merlyn searching for the manuscript and brought Malcolm back to 1916 and met with Leonard and Damien. Explaining he was from the future where they had retrieved the Spear of Destiny and altered reality, Eobard told his syndicate of the Legends' plan. Instead of deceiving Mick as planned, he ordered his co-conspirators to attack the Waverider and take the Spear of Destiny by force. As the trio did this, Eobard went to get back up and created dozens of time remnants.
Eobard is caught and killed by the Black Flash.
Returning after the Legends defeated his syndicate (who still succeeded in killing the older versions of Jax, Nate and Mick), the Reverse-Flash arrived with time remnants and encircled the Legends, killing Rip's older self in the process. After the Legends refused to hand over the Spear of Destiny, Reverse-Flash's time remnants attacked the Legends, and Eobard stole the Spear of Destiny from Sara's younger version when attempting to rewrite reality. Taunting Sara over the apparent failure, Eobard promised to erase the Legends from existence but the Spear of Destiny wouldn't power up, and Eobard realized that Sara already used the Spear of Destiny to erase its own powers rendering the holy object useless.
Eobard disintegrates.
Enraged, Eobard intended to use the neutralized object to physically kill Sara instead only to be confronted by the Black Flash due to the fact that his syndicate's alternate reality never existed because the Spear of Destiny was neutralized, as well as Eobard having carelessly left his warning device behind. As Eobard panicked, he attempted to flee only for Black Flash to swiftly catch up and stabbed a hand into Eobard's chest. After doing so, Eobard helplessly screamed while being vaporized along with the Spear of Destiny. After that, Reverse-Flash's time remnants were erased from existence.[58]
Return
Traveling to Earth-X
Reverse-Flash as a general of SS.
Likely using the Negative Speed Force, Eobard was able to preserve himself,[59] returning to life once again. He decided to put on his Wells likeness, most likely to cause Barry the most pain.[60] He also retained his memories of his original self.[16] He traveled to Earth-X and encountered the New Reich, meeting der Führer/Dark Arrow (Oliver's Earth-X counterpart), along with the Schutzstaffel generals Overgirl and Prometheus. Eobard joined the elite SS forces, modifying his Reverse-Flash suit to add a complex mask and the SS double lightning runic symbol, being one of the high-ranked SS generals by leading the research regarding invasions of other universes and being the designer of the Wellenreiter.[60]
Earth-1's Invasion
In late 2017, after the Führer captured dimensional transporter technology from rebels led by a vigilante, the New Reich made plans to invade and take over Earth-1. While the Führer's agenda was related to Overgirl's overwhelming sun radiation poisoning resulting in an incurable health condition, Eobard wished to use the New Reich to conquer Earth-1 and remake the world by his rules (just as he tried before with the Spear of Destiny). The Reverse-Flash later reunited with the other SS generals (sans Prometheus) on Earth-X. When Dark Arrow and Overgirl returned to Earth-X without Prometheus after attacking Barry's and Iris's wedding, Eobard called out the couple's strike as foolish, as they hadn't been fully prepared yet. The Führer told Eobard that they saw an opportunity and seized it, to which Eobard scolded as the opportunity found had cost Prometheus being captured. Overgirl quickly stepped in and broke the fighting between the two, telling them to save it for their enemies.[61]
Eobard taunting the Flash.
After Prometheus's suicide, the three New Reich Generals ventured back to Earth-1, managing to steal a device needed to give the Wellenreiter a "doomsday device" capability similar to a neutron bomb. Confronted by Kara Danvers/Supergirl, Green Arrow and the Flash, the SS Generals revealed their identities, with Eobard especially reveling in still having his Wells likeness "for old times sake" and in how he was still alive despite all of his prior deaths, taunting Flash with this. After a brief fight with the superheroes, the SS Generals escaped with the device, allowing Eobard to work closer on the Wellenreiter. As he worked, he was once again approached by Overgirl, and he asked to make sure that the Führer remembers the mission of conquering Earth-1, instead of only focusing on Overgirl's survival. Eobard brought up meeting Hitler and seeing how everything fell apart by 1945, to which Overgirl replied that their leader is ten times the man that Hitler's doppelgänger was, and wouldn't allow passions to cloud a sense of duty. Eobard would later assist the Schutzstaffel troops in capturing the Earth-1 superheroes and Supergirl.[60]
Eobard reminiscing about his old facade.
Eobard was put in charge of managing Overgirl's heart transplant operation at S.T.A.R. Labs, intending to weaken Kara with a simulated red sun, cut out Kara's heart and transplant to Overgirl's body. Reveling at his old workplace by taking a drive in his wheelchair once again, Eobard mentioned how he hated this life for fifteen years and wished to escape. Toying with Kara, he gets ready to begin his operation, but the electricity was cut off by Felicity and Iris, stopping the Nazi's plans even as the Wellenreiter entered Earth-1. Capturing Felicity, Eobard threatened to kill Felicity if the code needed to remove the computer virus isn't revealed, which the hacker eventually did after Kara pleaded not to throw their lives away. Nevertheless, the pause allowed the Legends to reach S.T.A.R. Labs in time, with the Atom shrinking to microscopic level, forcing Eobard's scalpel away from Kara, before enlarging himself and blasting the SS Generals away, Eobard included.[16]
Reverse-Flash fighting the Flash once again.
Informing the Führer that Overgirl could no longer be held safe in S.T.A.R. Labs, Eobard was ordered by the two to rejoin the New Reich forces on the Wellenreiter, despite his protests. During the chaos of escaping, Eobard encounters the Earth-2 version of Wells. Eobard intended to vibrate his hand through Wells's chest, but Wells's body was filled with nanorobots that would reject contact with any speedster, causing Eobard to flee. Reverse-Flash would assist these forces during the assault on Central City, primarily tasked with fighting Flash. During their long fight, Eobard was overwhelmed by his opponent trying to perform Reverse-Flash's own vibrating hand trick on him. Eobard screamed at Flash, urging his nemesis to finish him; whether out of genuine desire to fall at Flash's hand or as part of some reverse-psychology scheme. One way or another, Flash refused to kill Eobard, telling him to just get away from the battlefield. Eobard agreed, taunting Flash by wondering what face he'd wear the next time he'd meet his nemesis. Grinning smugly, Reverse-Flash raced away, abandoning his Earth-X allies to their fate.[62]
Imprisonment in Iron Heights
Eobard imprisoned in Iron Heights.
At some point after this,[63] Eobard traveled to 2034 for unknown reasons, and somehow ended up as a prisoner at Iron Heights' meta-human wing.[64] He implied that it was the CCPD that was responsible for his imprisonment. He was forced to wear a jumpsuit containing Cicada's Lightning dagger that would negate his powers as well as the power dampeners in his cell.[65] Despite keeping Wells's face and voice, Eobard's hair partially reverted to its natural color due to the dagger negating his powers to retain his Wells likeness.[59]
His guard Trevor Shinick would come in from time to time to inflict painful shock to Eobard, saying it was "time to repent." Eobard would spend the next fifteen years imprisoned in Iron Heights until he was scheduled for execution in 2049, and a clock counting down to his execution was installed.[13][64][65]
Eobard knew that Cicada is the one villain the Flash wasn't able to stop, which is why the dagger was never destroyed, thus he wanted to use that information to his advantage. Eobard remembered the encounter he had with Barry in 2015, when Nora pointed out they're trying to defeat Cicada, which gave him the idea to earn Nora's trust and use as a tool to manipulate the timeline. So he patiently bided his time until when Nora approached him.
Eobard talking to Nora for the "first time."
In 2049, with days to go before his execution, Eobard is visited by Nora. Now that his plan is finally able to come into motion, he convinced Nora that he was not a threat by listing off the ways his cell was speedster-proof with a backup in case of failure. He was bemused when all the CSI wanted to know about was about a robbery from a chemical lab. Eobard rebuffed Nora's questions about how to stop a speedster, but quickly deduced that Nora was a speedster by physical clues. As Nora begged him to help, Nora got led out of the cell while Trevor came in. Eobard knelt, and Trevor delivered a painful shock complete with red lightning, as Nora watched this with horror.
Eobard sees Nora asking his help.
After August Heart/Godspeed had killed Nora's best friend, Eobard is begged by Nora on how to defeat a speedster, while Eobard did not want to. Nora pleaded and eventually Eobard gave in. He guided Nora via comms from his cell to the stabilizing agent that Godspeed needed to keep Velocity-9 in August's system, and listened as Nora ran from the Velocity-9 enhanced speedster. Knowing Nora could not outrun Godspeed, Eobard gave Nora the same speech he gave Barry on how to phase. Unlike Barry, Nora could not try to phase, so Eobard suggested that Nora hit Godspeed with electromagnetic pulses from the Central City Citizen's satellite dishes. Eobard's plan worked, and Godspeed was arrested.
Eobard teaching Nora on how to defeat Godspeed.
Nora visited again as Eobard enjoyed Big Belly Burger, claiming that Nora could learn a lot from him. Eobard quietly admitted that he could not teach her due to his time running out, as he noted the clock in his cell, which read a little over an hour left. Nora realized that the clock was actually a countdown to his execution, and the Big Belly Burger was Eobard's last meal. Eobard asked what Nora knew of the Flash, and guided the young speedster to the Time Vault inside the Flash Museum, where Nora discovered from Gideon that Barry was Flash and uncovered Barry's final video message to Nora that was recorded during the Crisis of 2024.[64]
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Eobard ordered Nora to destroy the Thinker's satellite to change Cicada's identity and fate.
While keeping the truth about tormenting and harassing Nora's various family members, Eobard mentored Nora on time travel.[66] He urged Nora to travel back in time to the Enlightenment and assist Barry in destroying one of the Thinker's satellites, and thus Orlin Dwyer is now an easier-to-stop version of Cicada.[67] They kept in contact while Nora was in the past through a journal, with Nora sending information to Eobard's cell through Gideon's limited time travel capabilities in regards to information, using the "time text" to remain consistent through timeline changes.[13]
Eobard talking to Nora.
After returning from a joint mission with Barry and seeing Savitar, Zoom and an earlier version of Eobard (as Wells), Nora sent the latest journal entry to Eobard's cell. As Eobard read Nora's entry, the young speedster had arrived in person to confront him about his past actions. He exited Nora's entry and agreed they needed to talk.[13] He commented on how Nora had been gone for a long time. Nora was infuriated with how heartless he was by killing Nora's namesake. Although Eobard expressed remorse for his actions, he also told Nora that his actions indirectly served the greater good, changing not only Barry's destiny, but Nora's as well. He also offered to help Nora in order to pay for his crimes and repair his tarnished legacy, but Nora simply stated that he only cared about himself and bid him farewell before running off. Nora later reappeared again, telling Eobard of wanting to believe there is a good side within Eobard and wants his help. Eobard agreed to help Nora, after which he looks at the countdown, reminding them both that he has little time left.[66]
Eobard telling Nora to manipulate Sherloque.
Nora later returns to inform Eobard that a detective version of Wells suspected Nora to be working with someone. Eobard assured Nora that Wells had yet to discern the mystery partner's identity, otherwise Barry would travel to 2049 and threaten to phase his hand through Eobard's heart. Nora was more scared of being hated by Barry if the truth came out, so Eobard suggested to distract Wells by helping the detective fall in love.[68] After resetting the timeline 52 times to stop Dwyer from killing Team Flash's members, Nora visited Eobard to ask if he was certain that they weren't making things worse. Eobard angrily insisted that he was the only speedster who knew best. Calming himself, he encouraged Nora to stick to their plan, promising they would see Dwyer defeated, Cicada's dagger destroyed and (apparently) save Barry.[69]
Eobard saying to Nora to tell Barry.
When Nora visited once again to inform Eobard that the Meta-human cure is finished and ready to use on Dwyer, in turn, he informed Nora of that newspaper article depicting the last public confrontation between the Flash and Cicada is slowly changing, hinting that something or someone is going to set into motion a new timeline.[70] Eobard's fears were soon proven true as Nora returned to inform him that though Team Flash successfully cured Dwyer, another equivalent of Cicada showed up and took both Dwyer and the dagger. Eobard stated he already knew as evidenced by the unchanged article. He sadly admitted that there was nothing he could do to help and strongly advised Nora to tell the truth to Barry.[39]
Eobard talking to Barry.
After Nora's secret acquittance with Eobard is revealed to Team Flash, Barry visited Eobard, viciously demanding to know why Eobard tried to 'steal' Nora. Eobard smirked at Barry's emotional outburst, claiming that it was why he had Nora keep that secret from Barry. He told Barry that all Nora truly wanted was to see Barry, and he carried it out as a "final request for a condemned man." Eobard gets bitterly told by Barry that he was finally going to get what he deserved and sped away, as the clock counting down to Eobard's execution ticked down to ten minutes.[64]
Eobard explaining Nora's lack of connection to the Negative Speed Force.
Since Barry left Nora in 2049, Nora met up with Eobard and asked him how he managed to go back in the past without any speedster feeling any disturbance in the Speed Force to which he replied that he created the Negative Speed Force but with various negative effects. After Nora first tried to run into the Negative Speed Force but failed to enter the portal, Nora returned and tried to figure out with Eobard what went wrong when suddenly Iris appears and asked Nora to step away from Eobard to which he replied that Nora should listen to Iris. Nora got mad for Barry not being present and believing in abandonment before running off the scene, much to Eobard's and Iris's shock. Eobard then told Iris that Nora's back in 2019, and offered advice: Nora needs both parents united instead of fighting. Iris angrily told Eobard to leave Nora alone, but Eobard simply noted that he likes Iris's anger. At that moment, Ralph Dibny entered the cell and informed Iris that Trevor (who was knocked out and impersonated to let Iris meet Nora) has been found knocked out and that the two need to leave. Ralph quickly contemplated Eobard's jumpsuit before following Iris.[8]
Eobard in his execution.
After the timer ran out, Trevor taunted him, contemplating the fifteen years Eobard spent imprisoned, and asked him how it felt to know he would finally become extinct. Eobard, unflinchingly, replied that time would tell. Trevor noted missing Eobard, particularly the "rehabilitation sessions." After the last "repent," Trevor commented on the irony of the situation; the very same thing behind Eobard's powers was going to kill him. After more guards entered with a special chamber, designed to keep Eobard in touch during the execution. Eobard got placed inside the chamber as Trevor took his chest plate away, revealing Cicada's dagger inside.[65]
Escape
Eobard finally getting his powers back
As the execution was about to start, Eobard was given a necklace with the Reverse-Flash ring attached. Trevor explained obtaining the object from the Flash Museum, believing that the object should get buried along with him, and asked him to consider it as a "parting gift." Right before Trevor pulled a lever to start the execution, Eobard noticed Cicada's dagger beginning to disappear, and realized that his plan worked and Team Flash succeeded in destroying the dagger in 2019. Trevor pulled the lever, and lethal lightning strikes began rushing to Eobard. But due to the dagger finally being destroyed, Eobard connected to the Negative Speed Force once again after fifteen years, thus getting his powers back. Just as the lightning was about to strike and kill him, Eobard entered Flashtime and began vibrating his body at super speed, making the lightning pass right through him and destroy the chamber. As his powers regenerated his Wells likeness, he noted how he got his powers "just in time."
Eobard getting his revenge on Trevor
As Eobard broke free, all the guards in the room pointed their guns at him but he remained unfazed, simply declaring that they would die. In a split second, Eobard raced around the room and killed every guard save for Trevor who watched on in horror. As a desperate Trevor told Eobard that he would be able to help him, the speedster merely said that it was "time to repent" (exactly what Trevor used to tell him before torturing him) before using his lightning to torture Trevor similar to how he had been tormented while imprisoned. Eobard then told him to consider what he was about to do as a "parting gift" (like what Trevor said moments ago) before phasing his arm through Trevor's chest, killing his sadistic tormentor instantly.
Eobard attempting to put on the Reverse-Flash suit
Eobard then removed the necklace, put on his ring, and began to extract his suit. However, as he was about to suit up once again, time suddenly started to reverse, right to the moment he got out of the chamber before killing the guards. As Eobard was in the middle of his sentence, he heard the Flash and XS saving the guards and Trevor before their deaths, altering the timeline. Realizing that time had been reversed, Eobard turned around and greeted the two heroes while also being impressed that XS figured out how to reverse time, once again complimenting the "clever girl."
XS claimed that Team Flash fully figured out his plan, but Eobard wanted to hear what exactly they figured out. As Flash revealed the plan in detail, Eobard confirmed it all, but also gleefully stated how the two of them helped him come up with the plan when they traveled to 2015 and Nora accidentally revealed that their future adversary was Cicada, the "one who got away." Eobard then arrogantly declared that he always won due to being the only speedster who's able to manipulate the timeline to fulfill his desires. Furious at Eobard's actions, XS said that they didn't have to have a dagger to stop him. Unfazed by the threat, Eobard accepted the challenge, wanting to see how much Barry taught her about being a speedster. He then put on his suit and sped off as Flash and XS pursued him relentlessly.
Reverse-Flash vs. the Flash and XS
During the chase, the Reverse-Flash created a speed mirage of himself, and made it go to a different direction than him in order to separate Flash and XS from each other (by making each of the two speedsters chase after a different version of himself), which also allowed him to manipulate where his enemies run. Using that to his advantage, Reverse-Flash made it so that the two versions of himself will run towards each other on the side of a building, but at the end dodge each other. During the dodge, each version of the Reverse-Flash hit a different speedster (one version hit the Flash, and the other hit XS), which caused them to lose momentum, and due to it happening while running on a side of a building, the two fell to the ground.
Reverse-Flash getting hit by a Time Sphere
Reverse-Flash then connected the two versions into one, and pointed out that Barry is not a good teacher like him. Due to the crisis in 2024, Reverse-Flash tells XS that Barry will always vanish, before declaring that that is his nemesis's legacy. He began running towards the two, but suddenly a Time Sphere came and hit him, which made him fall to the ground. Reverse-Flash turned around, and noticed Team Flash standing in front of him, getting ready to take him down.
Reverse-Flash talking to Team Flash's members
However, Reverse-Flash was still unfazed. He felt nostalgic over the team he created years ago being together again, and then preceded to talk about each member. He first noticed Elongated Man who he welcomed as the "new guy" but pointed out he is supposed to be dead (because of the particle accelerator explosion in 2014 but survived due to timeline changes). Elongated Man simply said that it's something they both have in common, which made Reverse-Flash chuckle and declare that Ralph will soon die anyway. He then mentioned how it's always a pleasure to see Iris, before greeting Killer Frost (Caitlin's alter ego) whose eyes turn white in anger, as he simply smiled. At last, he talked to Vibe, mentioning how happy he is to see after so long. Reverse-Flash also sarcastically apologized for phasing his arm through back in an erased timeline from 2015, but pointed out it led to his son-esque protégé's discovery of powers to be extraordinary, to which Vibe said not needing powers to be extraordinary.
Reverse-Flash fighting Team Flash
Reverse-Flash simply smiled, before rushing towards the team, about to kill them all. But Vibe quickly opened a portal which Reverse-Flash accidentally ran into. Vibe opened it back behind then, and as Reverse-Flash got out of it, Killer Frost attacked him with a cold blast, which stopped him from running. As he tried to fight the blast, Iris shot him from the side right into another portal Vibe created. Vibe then opened the portal in the air, making Reverse-Flash fall right into Elongated Man's large hand which punched the speedster far into the air. Vibe then opened another portal, to which Flash and XS ran into. Reverse-Flash fell on the ground, and when he got up, he got punched by the two speedsters who gathered enough speed inside the portal in order to perform a super-sonic punch.
Eobard almost getting killed by XS
After the hard beating he got, XS grabbed Eobard by the neck, removed his mask and told him that his legacy is the one which is gonna disappear and not Flash's. XS reconnected to the Negative Speed Force and was about to phase a hand through Eobard's heart and kill him, as Barry and Iris shouted trying to stop but suddenly Nora's hands began to shutter, as Eobard mentioned how close it was.
Eobard tormenting Flash
As Nora wasn't understanding what's happening, Eobard explained that there's a new timeline, created when the team destroyed Cicada's dagger, trying to take over which makes Nora slowly disappear from existence. He quickly apologized for being responsible for Nora's erasure from existence but said that he had to make sure he gets his freedom. Angry about Eobard for only caring about himself and the fact Nora is fading because of him, Flash rushed to him, holding Eobard by the neck. Eobard then explained that Flash can still save Nora by getting Nora to the Negative Speed Force, which is the only place in the multiverse that is immune to timeline changes.
Eobard before running away
Noticing that Flash hesitates, Eobard tried to convince this at all cost and mentioned that the two will lose Nora forever if Flash doesn't decide. Noticing how surprised Barry is, Eobard explained that he has grown fond of Nora too and that he truly considers Nora like a daughter-esque individual, which made Flash angrier. Knowing that Barry would let him go in order to save Nora, Eobard says that he'll see his nemesis in their next crisis. As expected, Barry and Nora ran away, and Eobard smiled as Iris looked at him, with Eobard then proceeding to flee the scene.[59]
Interregnum
The timeline changing as a result of the dagger's destruction
It's unknown what Eobard was doing or where he was in the time between his escape from Iron Heights and the Crisis, but presumably, he was at a point in time prior to the Crisis, as time travel beyond the Crisis date was impossible once the new timeline was set.[71] It's also likely it was during this time Eobard somehow learned Nora was never saved by Barry and was erased from existence.[72] A possible way he learned Nora wasn't saved was in fact the Negative Speed Force, if it works like its positive opposite, he never sensed her running in it and deduced she was erased.
Crisis Changes
Eobard had promised to meet his nemesis in "their" next crisis, though it is unclear which crisis he was referring to as it is could have been the Anti-Monitor Crisis or one that had yet to happen in the current timeline. While Eobard was still present in the version of the crisis that happened in his personal timeline set in 2024 before he and the Flash's fight in the Allen residence, the timeline changes caused the date to be moved from 2024 to 2019, as well as Eobard's younger self instead fighting against the Flash, [[[Green Arrow]]], White Canary, Supergirl, Batwoman, and numerous other "legendary heroes" before disappearing with The Flash,[59] though it's unknown if present-day Eobard's memories changed to reflect this or not. However, this too was altered, and in the current timeline, Eobard was completely absent from the crisis and played no part in it,[73] though presumably he still remembers it from his perspective.
Fate in Crisis
Antimatter destroying Earth-1
On December 10th, 2019, when an antimatter wave hit Earth-1 and the multiverse was destroyed,[73] Eobard's body was also destroyed, reducing his existence to nothing more than negative tachyons but his spirit and consciousness were preserved.[72]
New multiverse
Altered history
Eobard's actions in the 21st century seem to remain mostly the same, in killing Nora Allen in the year 2000 and masquerading as Harrison Wells to create a particle accelerator to return to his own time.[74] This, along with the fact that he is still known to have created his own negative version of the Speed Force, would imply the rest of his 22nd century origins remain the same as well. However, it's unclear if his ancestor Eddie Thawne still committed suicide in 2015 and erased him from existence for a brief period. It's also assumed that Eobard also still participated in the Nazi invasion of Earth-Prime in 2017 as he did on Earth-1, though instead of Nazis from another earth it's said to have been time-traveling Nazis.[74] Additionally, the fact that Nora's journal exists on Earth-Prime and includes his information about the Negative Speed Force means the events of 2049 still happened.[7][72] However, some events were changed as a result of Crisis:
- Eobard never appeared in the current version of the Crisis, meaning his battle with the Flash before running to 2000 and killing Nora Allen happened differently.
- Barry learned to throw lightning a year earlier, implying Eobard (rather than "Jay Garrick") taught him to do it.[75]
- Girder and Everyman are still alive, meaning events involving them happened differently.[74][7]
- Hartley Rathaway was never reformed and the bridge battle still happened, meaning the events of Barry traveling from 2016 and changing the timeline happened differently or not at all.[75]
Spectral state
After the rebirth of the multiverse and the creation of Earth-Prime, because of his Wells DNA and appearance, Eobard as negative tachyons was assimilated into the last surviving Wells doppelgänger, Harrison Nash Wells, which he saw as an opportunity to regain a physical body.[72] Due to his preservation within the Negative Speed Force, Eobard most likely retains his pre-Crisis memories thanks to the Negative Speed Force granting immunity to changes to the timeline.[59]
Possessing Nash Wells
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Eobard in Nash's body
After Eobard took over Nash's body, by possessing his mind, he attempted to murder Cisco, but found he no longer had access to his speedster powers. After a fight with Cisco and getting incapacitated by Cecile Horton, Eobard was locked up in the pipeline. When Barry interrogated Eobard, the evil speedster revealed his goal was once again to kill Barry and all of his loved ones. He also taunted Barry over the Speed Force dying and the fact he still had the Negative Speed Force to power him.[76]
Becoming formless
Eobard tempting Barry.
After spending hours at the pipeline, Eobard began to impersonate Nash. He tricked Team Flash into activating Nash's gauntlet, causing it to generate a pulse of energy that somehow allowed Eobard to escape. He tried to use a Time Sphere to travel through time, but was interrupted by Barry. Eobard tempted Barry to use his powers to kill him, knowing that this would consume most of Barry's remaining speed. Barry was willing to kill Eobard, but was interrupted by Cisco using a tranquilizer to contain Eobard.
Eobard as negative tachyons.
In an attempt to possess Nash's body indefinitively, Eobard trapped his host in a memory of Maya dying. However, Nash ultimately overcame Eobard's will with the help of both Cisco and Barry after Cecile put the two in Nash's mind. Eobard was then expelled from Nash's body, having to survive in the form of nothing more than negative tachyons.[72]
Legacy
- "I've controlled your life for so long, Barry. How will you get along without me?"
- —Eobard to Barry Allen[src]
In the event of his death, Eobard arranged for Barry to inherit S.T.A.R. Labs. Eobard's actions continued to affect Barry, feeling guilty for Eddie's and Ronnie's deaths, but also blaming Eobard for causing them. Six months later, Barry received Eobard's video will message.[19] Eobard's actions left Barry tormented and believed maybe he was right in never truly being happy as Eobard did know the Flash's future self, however, Joe thought this was just Eobard trying to have the last word.[77] While Barry did still hate Eobard for everything he did, Barry eventually chose to forgive him, not wanting to hate him anymore.[78] Eobard's future actions also dictated his younger self's actions when he arrived in 2016 for the first time, and learned many important facts about his future he'd later exploit.[5] Barry later did realize (despite all he did) that Eobard truly was a father figure to the team.[79]
Eobard's deception made Barry initially skeptical to trust Hunter. While Team Flash trusted Hunter, Barry didn't, believing Hunter too also sought to exploit Barry's speed for Hunter's personal gain just like Eobard, despite Hunter's claims of wanting to help them against the evil speedster Zoom. Iris convinced Barry that not everyone is like Eobard and to not be distrusting people because of that experience, and would subsequently trust the Flash of Earth-2.[44] Unfortunately, Team Flash would later discover that Hunter actually was Zoom all along and there to exploit the Flash's powers for his own use, thus Barry blamed himself believing Hunter's facade and should have known better after Eobard's impersonation.[17] Hunter also learned of Eobard's actions, murdering Henry in the same place Eobard murdered Nora to enrage Barry.[80]
Eobard's various actions completely destroyed the reputation of Wells to the public. Since his deception was known only to Team Flash and several of their allies, this made it hard for multiverse doppelgängers of Wells to be in Earth-1. However, Team Flash continually ignored the fact that Eobard was merely an impostor, a fact that Caitlin seemed to remember while the doppelgängers get forced to continually be reminded of. Team Flash were initially skeptical to trust Harry Wells of Earth-2, believing Harry too was evil like Eobard. Barry is ironically more open minded to trusting Harry than the rest, especially Cisco and Joe, despite Harry's face being a reminder of Eobard's betrayal.[81] As Grodd continued to grow in intelligence and size, Harry used the second Reverse-Flash suit to impersonate Eobard in order to save Caitlin from Grodd.[23] Eventually, Team Flash realized that Harry is inconsiderate and blunt but not evil like Eobard was.[79] Harry often found himself targeted by other people who weren't aware of Eobard's deception. Eobard's façade indirectly led to Patty Spivot's shooting of Harry with Hunter's timely intervention with the use of the Velocity serums saving Harry's life.[82] Harry later gets kidnapped by Griffin Grey mistaking Harry for Eobard trying to force to develop a cure for the meta-human condition.[83] While Team Flash gets more open minded about welcoming H.R. Wells of Earth-19, Eobard's actions initially made Cisco distrustful of H.R.[84] Although highly irritated that Team Flash neglected to be informed of Eobard's façade beforehand, H.R. uses a facial transmogrification device to be disguised as Randolf Morgan to remedy Eobard's problem.[85]
Eobard's teachings would be remembered by those who affected by him. When Wally West received speedster powers because of Barry's (and Eobard's) timeline changes, Barry drew inspirations from past mentors to train Wally, including Eobard.[86] Grodd remembered what his "father" taught about being patient and used it to take control of Gorilla City on Earth-2 and invade Central City on Earth-1.[87][88]
DeVoe viewed Eobard as one of the many "children" that the Flash had faced as inferior compared, thus; the Thinker's own power of limitless thought superior to Reverse-Flash.[14][89]
When Barry was infected by Ramsey Rosso, Eobard appeared as a hallucination in Barry's consciousness to taunt about Nora's ability to tap into the Negative Speed Force and said that everyone Barry ever loved is dead. Later, when Barry used Eobard's signature vibrating hand attack on the Speed Force when it was taking the form of his mother, he briefly paused when he realized the similarities between what he was doing and how Eobard killed his mother.[90]
Reverse-Flash's suit on display in the Flash Museum.
Sometime before 2032, the Reverse-Flash suit (equipped with his tachyon device) gets displayed within the Hall of Villains in the Flash Museum along with other memorabilia from past villains that Team Flash had fought and defeated.[67] However, Eobard's role in Nora Allen's death is never mentioned in the historical records due to the museum presumably not knowing the Flash's identity.[13]
According to Abra Kadabra's future, Reverse-Flash is regarded as one of the Flash's greatest enemies alongside Zoom and the Thinker. However, none were as bad as Savitar.[91]
After the death of the Speed Force, Barry decided to use information Eobard had taught Nora to built a new Artificial Speed Force by creating a machine similar to the one Eobard made to give himself powers.[7][72]
Personality
- "That is why you killed my mother? That's why you ruined my life? Because you couldn't be me!?"
- "I BECAME BETTER THAN YOU! I am the one thing you cannot stop, Flash!"
- —Barry Allen and Eobard[src]
In his younger years, Eobard challenged the Flash in vain.
In Eobard's younger years, he was petty, somewhat short tempered and unstable, when Barry Allen found out Eobard's hatred was because he couldn't be just like the Flash, Barry expressed disgust, causing Eobard to snap, yelling that he's "become better than" the Flash, arrogantly stating that he is the one person his nemesis can't stop. Learning that he caused such pain and sorrow later in the Flash's life made Eobard giddy and proud of his life choices as the Flash's nemesis.[5]
Although polite, Eobard is also proven to be quite arrogant, self-righteous, overconfident, somewhat cruel and sadistic, these traits were evident during his first encounter with the Flash with Eobard believing the Flash couldn't keep up with him, despite his superior speed, Eobard gets outsmarted, beaten unconscious and imprisoned, upon meeting Cisco Ramon for the first time, Eobard is impressed by Cisco's powers, even curious, maintaining politeness for the most part. But he still smirked with sarcasm when Cisco taunted him of his imprisonment. Eobard is shown to take great joy in mocking his enemies for their own actions' fallout, demonstrated when Harry Wells came to free him to be sent back to his own time so as to repair the timeline damage.[5] Eobard is also seen to justify his murders by stating that those whom he had killed (such as Tess Morgan) had already been dead for centuries from his perspective, not caring about his victims or seeing how his acts were harming the timeline.[9]
In Eobard's younger years, he had a scientific obsession with the Flash to the point where he reversed engineered the reaction behind his idol's powers to give himself the ability to access the Speed Force, this obsession led Eobard to study the Speed Force and experiment it's potential after gaining his powers. This eventually led him to develop technologies that not only help enhance his powers but also against other speedsters who oppose him which led him. Through his experiments, he was eventually able to discover his ability to time travel and began abusing this ability to the point where he was mostly unaffected by the changes he made in the past.
Another notable trait is Eobard's deep and insatiable hatred for the Flash. Eobard admitted that he used to be a huge fan of the Flash, going as far as to find out how his hero came to be and how to become like the man, even succeeding in gaining super-speed himself. But realizing that he was fated to be his idol's greatest enemy caused him to go insane with hatred and rage, to the point where he was determined to erase the Flash from existence by going as far as to kill Barry as a child and killing Nora Allen when he failed to do that, partly out of rage but partly out of his strong desire to ward his former idol off from being the Flash.[5][9]
It's possible that Eobard's usage of his appearance-stealing cord on the innocent Harrison Wells would affect his personality along with his genetics as Eobard would later recall with apparent regret how he once felt rage every time he looked upon the Flash.[1][9]
- "I know that rage. I used to feel that rage every time I looked upon you. And now, somehow, I know what Joe and Henry feel when they look on you with pride. With love."
- —Eobard to Barry Allen[src]
Despite all his evil plans, Eobard ended up becoming a father figure to Team Flash.
Under Eobard's "Dr. Wells" façade, he is a scientific genius responsible for numerous achievements in different fields of science. Wells had a large sense of respect from the scientific community, and was the very genius behind S.T.A.R. Labs' particle accelerator's existence that orchestrated the accident behind Barry Allen's powers.[1] Distancing his "old contacts" (such as Tina McGee) and focusing on the particle accelerator's creation made them suspect that he's not the same man, but there was nothing definite to support this assumption.[21] Ultimately, he seemed to appear somewhat tortured, a combination of "losing" Tess Morgan,[21][22] and the number of people killed because of the particle accelerator.[24][38]
Eobard is a character of dual-identities towards Team Flash and himself as he openly appears caring and compassionate, guiding Barry's journey as the Flash, but had been proven to be willing to kill to ensure Barry's safety,[27] and willing to sacrifice the meta-human prisoners to ensure this protection,[38] Eobard is also willing to sacrifice other people with the particle accelerator's activation after being warned of a possible malfunction at Central City's risk, all to ensure Barry would be struck by the lightning bolt to turn into the Flash.[1][24]
Eobard is proven to be a very secretive man, as neither Cisco Ramon nor Caitlin Snow had ever visited his house,[24] and had either killed or manipulated individuals to their deaths,[11][32][38] however, he did seem to care about Team Flash's life, as he seemed nearly gave up his own life, he was willing to confront Farooq Gibran in a bid to divert him from attacking Barry, Cisco and Caitlin,[38] and protected Grodd from being tortured by Wade Eiling's inhumane experiments,[32] despite at first being tempted to kill Firestorm, Eobard decided to help separate him into two individuals again, this can be either from the fact that killing Ronnie Raymond would cost Eobard the trust and respect of Barry, Cisco and Caitlin or the fact he genuinely had a change of heart. However, he had no initial problem giving up Martin Stein to Eiling and used this as an opportunity to re-fuse Firestorm.[26][42] Though he is able to fool those who know him to an extent, he is not flawless in his deceptions as Tina could detect that he became a "different person" ever since Tess's death.[10][30]
Eobard can be seen as a man of sophistication as a man of the finer things in life, such as his own private collection of scotch, showing an interest in classical orchestra and was able to fluently speak in Latin, a trait he shared with Hartley Rathaway.[17][24]
Due to Eobard hiding behind his Wells identity, he adapted and evolved every situation to better suit his agenda under his disguise and being Wells himself for 15 years, Eobard has become even more skilled at plotting and manipulating since his time-traveling years, coming close to believing his own lies, he presents himself as a kind, humbled benefactor, even that is extensive to what situation better suits his multi-layered personality and he is more than capable of acting ruthlessly pragmatic to one which requires such behavior, even sometimes in front of his teammates. He rarely killed directly but preferred to silently bend others and systematically destroy any threats to his designs or life using his vast intelligence.
Despite the genetic makeup and physical appearance of Wells, Eobard remained somewhat sadistic and unstable, as seen by his numerous threats towards Joe West where Iris West would be in danger or Barry with the rest of Barry's loved ones whenever his plans started to fail, attempting to kill seemingly on a whim.[1][10][17][22] He also continued to take great joy in mocking his enemies for their vain attempts to stop him and not understanding his plans, demonstrated with Hannibal Bates's impersonation and his reactivation of the particle accelerator.[1][2][11][15] He expressed a bit of remorse for some of these murders (as seen with Simon Stagg), though he is seen to justify his murders by stating that those whom he had killed had already been dead for centuries from his perspective (as seen by his killing of Cisco). Ultimately, there wasn't enough to dissuade him from returning to his own time by any means necessary, as Eobard killed Cisco due to finding out his secret despite viewing Cisco as a son.[34][43] However, Eobard ended up taking on some of his identity theft's personality traits, particularly his murder victim's love for Tess,[21][27][92] Surprisingly, Eobard had an evidently calm attitude toward his situation. After discovering the only way to return to his timeline was to create a man who he once felt pure loathing, he found the situation almost laughably ironic, claiming this is fate's way to spite him one last time as the only reason he traveled through time was with the sole purpose of killing the youth that became his protégé.[1][11]
Eobard seemed exasperated upon learning Barry had accidentally time-traveled and was stopping certain events from happening, telling Barry to let everything happen the same way because the changes could be cataclysmic.[43] Eobard expressed great fear of Time Wraiths, explaining how he was careful to avoid them when changing the timeline.[17] However, seeing as another version of Eobard would later go on to cause several changes to history when being chased by the Black Flash, it can be inferred that he does not inherently care if the timeline is altered and only disapproves of it when it could endanger his life or affect his plans.
When Eobard's real personality was revealed to Team Flash, he stated that everything he has done has made his own team's lives better, despite the fact that he had been selfishly using Barry to get back to his own time, and both Cisco and Caitlin were pariahs from the particle accelerator incident. This proves that even after 15 years hiding behind a different identity, he remains a self-righteous sociopath who tries to justify his immoral actions.[11][15] Another example is when Eobard found out that he killed Cisco in an erased timeline but didn't care nor felt sorry because he was certain he had a good reason for doing so. Despite this, he still appeared to consider Team Flash his friends and allies, or at least he spoke to them in a casual tone as if they were. In his final moments he called out for Cisco to help him as he was being erased from existence, despite knowing Cisco hated him at that point.[1]
Eobard seems to have contempt towards Eddie Thawne, after revealing their relation to Eddie, Eobard made it clear that Eddie wasn't killed because it would risk his own existence,[10][11] Eobard viewed Eddie with condescension as history had virtually no record of Eddie, unlike the distinguished politicians, scientists and captains of industry that are Eddie's descendants and Eobard's ancestors.[2] Ironically, Eddie's suicide means that Eobard was defeated by someone he viewed as inferior.[1] Thus, Eobard's self-importance could be considered his fatal flaw, as he told Eddie of their relation just so he could insult him and and compare him to himself.[11][2]
Eobard can be very laid-back about what happens to him, although this usually happened when he believed that his plan will not be affected, even when confronted with the combined forces of the Flash, Oliver Queen and Firestorm, Eobard displayed absolutely no signs of fear or concern and instead smirked, remarking "this would be fun."[15] He also displays this apparent confront almost the entire time being thrown into the Pipeline anyway while displaying his plans to S.T.A.R. Labs to help him return to his own time.[1]
While Eobard originally hated the Flash, he came to see Barry as little more than a means to an end but he grew to care for his protégé to look after as a student, and (in some ways) even as a son, Eobard believed that he could understand and empathize with the paternal love that Joe and Henry Allen had for Barry, initially disgusting his former protégé,[1] though Barry later admitted Eobard may have been genuine.[citation needed] In spite of this, Eobard's pent-up rage and hatred for the Flash seemingly resurfaced when Barry reneged on their deal to go back in time to save Nora and Eobard returning to his own time in the future. This was evident when Eobard violently pummeled Barry just before vowing to kill not only the Flash but Barry's friends and Henry too had Eddie's suicide not erased the lives of Eddie's descendants that were also supposed to be Eobard's ancestors. Although seemingly calmed down shortly before fading from existence, he still used his last seconds to mock Barry about how his nemesis would get on and survive without him there to control.[1]
In Eobard's will, he thought that Barry would never truly be happy, implying that his disdain for Barry may have never went away completely, yet he also acknowledged that the two of them were never truly enemies, and as a favor, he confessed to Nora's murder which freed Henry from prison and allowed Barry to inherit S.T.A.R Labs officially. This final, posthumuous act proves that Eobard does have honor in him in spite of all his villainous traits and displays that he on a certain level (genuinely) cared about Barry's well-being.[19]
Suffice it to say, Eobard had an extremely complex psychological makeup, with an adaptable and malleable nature, he ranged from being a self-focused and egotistical sociopath of the highest order, to a truly compassionate and honorable man in his later years, albeit with a very twisted sense of honor. Overall, he was a very morally gray man, much less the monster that many people tend to see him as, and had proved himself as a very tortured man, cursed to fight his own hero and become the man's enemy. Ultimately, his motivation for all the good and evil he has done throughout 15 years was claimed to be a return to his old life in the 22nd century, to leave the "barbaric" 21st century and come back to the people he cared about. In moments of desperation when it seemed his plan had failed, he quickly instantly become enraged and would have no problem resorting to straight-up murder.[1][17]
- "You want to reshape the world? Try reshaping history. Try rewriting destiny."
- —Eobard to Damien Darhk[src]
Desperate to survive in the new timeline, Eobard did not care about the damage his actions would cause.
After being pulled out of the year 2000 and thrown into an altered version of 2016, Eobard has displayed contempt and ridicule toward Barry Allen. Hypocritically, he referred to Barry as "the villain" and chastised Barry for changing time despite Barry's actions being an attempt to fix the wrongs of Eobard's timeline alterations in the first place. It's possible that Eobard never inherently cared whether the timeline was altered or not and was just saying whatever he could to convince Barry to release him before he lost his memories or was erased from existence.[12]
Unwilling to let anything stand in his way, Eobard would cause multiple historical aberrations for the Legends to clean up on his quest to find the Spear of Destiny. Eobard displayed a willingness to work with various terrorists/criminals, such as Damien Darhk, Malcolm Merlyn and Leonard Snart.[6][51][56] He had fallen so low on morals that he had zero compunctions about allying with, and later double-crossing or even slaying the Nazis in 1942 with his own hands, furthermore, it was Eobard who assisted with Damien Darhk's and Adolf Hitler's plans to nuke New York City in the first place for no discernible reason other than the possibility of gaining a part of the Askaran Amulet.[51] He was also ready to provide Nazi Germany with his meta-human biomolecular enhancer that could allow the Nazis to win the war, all just to get a part of the Askaran Amulet from Baron Krieger. Seeing as he had previously clashed with Rex Tyler in multiple variations of the timeline, Eobard did not care for the timeline damage that killing Rex preemptively would cause.[50] On the other hand, Eobard modified his appearance-stealing cord to allow his identity theft victims (such as Martin Stein and John Swigert) to stay alive, although his reasoning for this is unknown.[3][6] It's possible that, like the previous version of himself, Eobard justified his actions by the fact that his victims had been "dead for centuries" from his point of view.
Armed with the knowledge of possible futures, Eobard would display great pride and cockiness, creating an aura of the all-knowing mastermind around himself to both his enemies and his allies, goading Damien Darhk for more than forty years before finally revealing the possibility to change Damien's unlucky fate,[51] acting condescending towards Malcolm, yet amused at how a "pretty face" knows of the Askaran Amulet's lore,[6] and thinking of Legends as being beneath his intelligence, often calling them "idiots" and other similar names.[3][47][56][57][58] He would also display himself eager to tell others of his knowledge of history and myths, detailing how the Askaran Amulet would help his allies find the Spear of Destiny.[6] Eobard's downfall came from him making decisions based on pride and arrogance, such as choosing to keep the Legends in existence in the rewritten reality and ultimately not wearing his watch that would have alerted him of the Black Flash's presence.[57][58]
Eobard would often toy with his enemies, and his more twisted and demented demeanor was the most direct against Barry. He laughed insanely upon realizing that he had somehow avoided Flashpoint's dangers in his heroic counterpart's crude prison cell, and ultimately, he took great pleasure in tormenting Barry when he was released for the timeline to be "restored" (despite the previous timeline also being a product of Eobard's machinations).[12] Eobard would also taunt the Legends, displaying the group how easy it would be to slaughter them all at his full power, as he directly threatened to kill Jefferson Jackson and Amaya Jiwe,[6] but then showed mercy to the Legends and his own rebelling co-conspirators in their new reality to serve as a means of punishing their defiance by forcing them to be trapped and powerless, while telling his mutineers to "remember this mercy,"[57] and later killing the Legends' alternate timeline versions.[58]
Despite Eobard's arrogant and overconfident traits, as a remorseless murderer and sociopath, he also displayed a more contemplative, philosophical side with a certain degree of humanity. As he was met with another declaration of hate from Barry, Eobard replied that he too hates the Flash yet sometimes he wonders just which speedster is in the right, possibly implying some hidden reasons to hate his nemesis that are much more grievous than those claimed by his younger-self.[12] Eobard would also claim to have fond memories of his alternate-self's work alongside Caitlin Snow and Cisco Ramon, and did not see himself as an absolute monster in comparison with the monsters he has witnessed throughout centuries that he's seen through time travel, commenting on this to Ray Palmer.[3] Eobard is also not without fear, as he viewed Hunter Zolomon (Black Flash) as a beast worse than even the Time Wraiths.[47] He was proven to be in true terror, describing Black Flash as "one of history's worst monsters." With the knowledge of his ancestor's suicide and his own mortality, Eobard now no longer wanted to best the Flash, but to simply to continue living.[3]
In the rewritten reality, Eobard successfully stopped global warming, the melting of ice caps and the extinction of the polar bears, and became the most powerful man in this reality, greatly enjoying all of this while leading Central City at S.T.A.R. Labs without having to pretend to be Wells.[57] However, the rewritten reality had all of the various heroes (including the Flash) killed off, and the Black Flash remained intact, although imprisoned by Eobard.[58] Unlike the previous version of himself whose one goal was to get back to his time, Eobard seemed content in this reality that resembled the 21st century.
- "I watched you die."
- "Or did you? It's time travel, Barry. So very confusing. I always seem to be saying that to you, don't I?"
- —Barry Allen and Eobard[src]
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In his thirst for power, Eobard stooped low enough to join the Nazis of Earth-X.
Somehow mysteriously reappearing, Eobard joined Earth-X's New Reich as one of the most focused Nazi generals. Much like his original form, Eobard proved himself to be vocally contemptuous of others, and he never passed up an opportunity to insult both enemies and allies. He mocked Barry Allen by wearing his Harrison Wells likeness once again just "for old time's sake," and appeared to have a deeper and more focused hatred of the Flash than before.[60]
Although Eobard embraced Nazi despotism and tyranny, he has no true loyalty to either the Führer or the other Schutzstaffel generals, yet he demanded Earth-1's conquest to be the New Reich's priority, openly mocking the love and affection between the Führer and Overgirl, and also thought that Tommy Merlyn was pathetic.[60][61] Reminiscing at S.T.A.R. Labs, Eobard remembered hating every minute of the 15 years he was trapped in the 21st century[16] despite having previously stated how he grew to love working with Team Flash.[11] After his confrontation against Barry ended with the Flash's victory, Eobard even dared his nemesis to finally kill him. When Barry declined, Eobard mocked Barry for being "above killing," and wondered what face would he wear in their next meeting, taunting his nemesis.[62]
- "The only person he ever helps is himself."
- —Nora West-Allen[src]
Eobard as an inmate of Iron Heights Prison.
After his imprisonment in Iron Heights, Eobard has seemingly reflected on his evil life and felt remorse over his deeds, claiming to be working towards a less villainous legacy. Eobard seemed to be committed in helping his archenemy's daughter Nora West-Allen to stop Cicada and prevent Barry's disappearance in the Crisis. Eobard expressed guilt, shame, and remorse when Nora furiously confronted him over heartlessly murdering Nora's namesake and tormenting Barry, even if he still believed that his actions helped save her. Eobard even seemed genuinely hurt when Nora stated that he only cared about himself. Despite this, Eobard bore no grudge for Nora's condemnation and quickly agreed to help her when she, much to his pleasure, decided to give him a chance.[66][69]
When faced by Barry, Eobard showed no resentment towards his longtime foe, merely trying to put Barry in his place for suggesting he was trying to take away Nora for him by reasoning that he simply granted Nora's wish to see her father again, although he did so mockingly. This suggests that his hatred for Barry has faded, or at least mellowed.
However, Eobard's true endgame in mentoring and sending Nora to the past was to destroy Cicada's dagger that was dampening his powers so he could escape his execution. Nevertheless, Eobard had grown genuinely fond of Nora, considering her to be the daughter he had never had; he appeared to be almost proud of Nora's growth as a speedster and was immediately genuinely concerned when she started to fade out of existence; Eobard quickly offered to help by getting Barry to take Nora into the Negative Speed Force, even going as far as to plead with Barry to save her, apologizing for having indirectly caused Nora to do it. This was also indicated by how Eobard appeared reluctant to have Nora tap into the Negative Speed Force despite it being necessary for his freedom since he was worried it would corrupt her like him. However, while Eobard's ultimate plan was to have Nora establish a Negative Speed Force connection to further his goal to escape, he also wanted give Nora the option to preserve her existence after his plan succeeded.[59]
- "I don't need my powers to kill you."
- —Eobard to Cisco Ramon[src]
Eobard possessing Harrison Nash Wells.
Now residing in Harrison Nash Wells' mind and eventually taking control of his body, Eobard's personality is shown to be even darker and more hateful towards Barry and everyone associated with him, seeing he reveled in attempting to murder Cisco (despite previously seeing him as a son) and later promised to kill Barry and every loved one. Cecile Horton told Cisco that Eobard was full of hate, having detected those feelings via empathic power.[76]
In order to take over Nash's body for good, Eobard trapped Nash in his most painful memory and drew out his negative emotions, which Eobard appeared to take great joy in. He also taunted Barry multiple times over Nora West-Allen's death, scolding and even yelling at him for not making the most of his time with her whereas Eobard taught her everything he knew. While this implies Eobard feels sorrow over Nora's death, Barry noted he was primarily saying this her to gain power over Barry by bringing him emotional pain.[72]Powers and abilities
Powers
- Possession: After Eobard's death in the Crisis, he was reduced to a form of negative tachyons, as his physical form was no longer preserved. As negative tachyons, he has the power to possess humans. However, he could not take over the body and connect to the Negative Speed Force until the host was fully overwhelmed by him.[72]
- Retrocognition: Due to his preservation within the Negative Speed Force, it is assumed that Eobard retains his pre-Crisis memories, which is likely due to the fact that the Negative Speed Force is immune to changes to the timeline.[59]
Former powers
Reverse-Flash using his superhuman speed.
- Negative Speed Force connection/Meta-human physiology: Replicating the circumstances behind the Flash's powers, Eobard gained access to the Speed Force. Sometime, later he created his own negative version of the Speed Force and became connected to it as well; thus, his physiology has been greatly augmented to beyond peak human performance, letting him handle extreme physical exertion and performance. His connection to both the Speed Force and Negative Speed Force grant him the ability to not only sense the Flash and other speedsters connected to the Speed Force but he can remain undetected such as why the Flash could never anticipate his nemesis' arrival and time manipulations. As a speedster, Eobard is extremely powerful; making him one of the most powerful beings in the entire multiverse. However after his death in Crisis, he turned into negative tachyons and could only tap into the Negative Speed Force if he had a willing host body.[72]
- Accelerated healing factor: The Speed Force in someone's blood gives it regenerative properties. Eobard's body heals much faster and more efficiently than normal humans. His wounds from being attacked were completely gone without a trace afterwards, which he covered up by isolating himself to avoid speculation of any kind. After being viciously pummeled by the Flash of 2016 twice, he is able to recover as if he had never been hurt. Due to his accelerating healing factor, Eobard ages much slower than normal humans. Despite having spent nearly 30 years in the past, his appearance and performance remains the same as ever (albeit the alterations from stealing Harrison Wells' form may have contributed to it).
- Bodily vibration: Eobard has the ability to vibrate any part of his body at different frequencies on command, with varying effects. When done, this is seen as a haze that normal people can't perceive clearly. It can also garble his voice into a deep growl to disguise. By vibrating rapidly, Eobard was able to reverse his modified appearance-stealing cord's effects, which the device could also do for him with a push of a button.
- Intangibility: Eobard can seamlessly phase his arm through a person, killing them instantly without outwardly damaging them. By vibrating the cells in his body, Eobard can pass through people or objects unharmed. As Cisco Ramon remembered his own death at Eobard's hands, Cisco described Eobard as having crushed the heart with his fist, performing this same technique on Mason Bridge in 2015 and Rex Tyler in 1942. This ability appears to have damaging effects on electrical equipment, as it shorted out Mason's computer.
- Electrokinesis: Eobard can produce powerful red electricity from his body. The intensity of his lighting is so great that the moment he arrived at the stadium for Barry's first fight with him, the electrical lights and video screens around it started glitching and flashing. Eobard is also capable of making his eyes glow bright red, which most likely is another effect of his electrokinesis. From a stationary position, Eobard can generate a continuous stream of lighting to launch at a target.
- Superhuman durability: Eobard's durability is well-above that of human, able to endure attacks and exertions much quicker than normal and survive impacts that would be fatal or at least permanently disabling to normal humans. In 2015, he was able to both withstand and quickly recover from pyrokinetic blasts from Firestorm on multiple occasions, being shot with multiple of arrows, and being pummeled by the Flash's enhanced strength and momentum. During his fight with the Flash, Firestorm and the Arrow, he also hardly fazed after falling from a building to land from several stories up unfazed by moving at super speed at the same time. After being smacked by the Kryptonian Supergirl, Eobard was able to stand up without struggle seconds later. He is also able to withstand the brutal, frequently occurring punishments he receives in his Iron Heights cell.
- Superhuman mental process: Eobard's powers also make his system and thought processing able to take in and retain information just as fast and efficiently. Even while using his raw speed, he can clearly think, react to events, and perform actions long before normal humans can perceive them.
- Accelerated perception: Eobard's speed also extends to his senses and mental capacities. He can take in information and process it at much faster rates than a normal human, as well as see and hear clearly when moving at super-speed. This ability allows Eobard to see the world as if it is in slow motion, which, combined with his physical speed, lets him perform thoughts and actions long before a normal human around him could even perceive them. When Barry was running at Mach 2, Eobard was able to follow these movements with ease, and does this again when Barry travels to the past under his guidance.
- Superhuman speed: Eobard is able to move at levels of speed well above Mach 2.2, easily outpacing Barry's limit during 2014-2015. Using this speed, he can easily move on vertical structures and ceilings. Barry said that he is so fast that he could kill everyone in the police precinct in seconds, describing him as "somebody that even I can't keep up with". His tremendous speed was later revealed to be greatly influenced by tachyon particles in his body. As revealed by Caitlin Snow, this allows Eobard to with each stride his feet spend less time on the ground, thus; propelling him forward much faster, similar to Hunter Zolomon with the Velocity serums.[17] Later, after somehow returning from erasure, his speed also somehow increased considerably, able to keep up with the Flash of 2017 who was described as the fastest speedster ever. However, Eobard also stated that his speed was equal to the Flash of 2024's speed,[1] so it's also possible that he simply realized that Barry had reached that potential and ran using his speed to the fullest. Eobard has stated that he is even much faster than Superman.[16]
- Aerokinesis: Using his speed, Eobard can generate air flow as vacuums on various levels. He can create fierce waves and vacuums of air by shaking a body part very fast. His speed vacuum is very powerful, as he was able to blow Firestorm blocks away by rotating just one hand in 2015.
- Interdimensional travel: Eobard can apparently use his speed to break down barriers between parallel universes, enabling him to travel to them. Doing this, he was able to travel to Earth-X, where he was able to use his knowledge of different universes to earn der Führer Oliver's trust. Eobard is also apparently able to distinguish which universe a person originates from, as he quickly determined that Supergirl was from Earth-38.[citation needed]
- Speed mirage: By using his speed to bounce back and forth so quickly, Eobard can create after-images with his speed, making it appear like he's in two places at once, no matter how far they are apart. This image is so realistic, human mind can't perceive the difference. Eobard can also create mirror speed projections while retaining his peak speed, as demonstrated when he took on both Barry and Nora. For experts of this ability these mirages temporarily make a speedster in two places at once as seen when Eobard first beat himself up to steal the tachyon device and when fighting Nora and Barry before rejoining into one person again.
- Superhuman agility: Eobard possesses inhuman bodily coordination, balance, equilibrium and dexterity. He is able to change direction immediately, thus allows him to make sharp turns on city streets without sliding or losing his balance.
- Superhuman momentum: Eobard can generate an inhuman amount of physical force from any part of his body, especially while using super speed. This allowed him to exert inhuman physical strength with almost absolute ease, commonly to restrain opponent at super speed and pinning them down with little effort, as well as to kill his opponents through high-speed collision. By channeling this force to his strikes, even the Flash was quickly pummeled and rendered unable to fight back despite healing powers. When he faced the Black Flash in 2025, Eobard punched with enough force to send the creature flying through several rooms before slamming against the far wall. He could also punch clean through people, as he did do impale Bridge on his arm in 2015 and even to punch through his chest-piece of the A.T.O.M. Exosuit to tear out Ray's heart in 1916. Alternately, when Eobard removed Ray's heart, he may've phased his hand through Dr. Palmer's chest, much like he did when he crushed Cisco's heart in an erased timeline.
- Superhuman reflexes: Eobard's increased speed also augments his reaction time, allowing him to react to danger and events far faster than a normal human.
- Time travel: Using the Negative Speed Force, speedsters such as Reverse-Flash are able to conduct chronokinesis or temporal manipulation, which allows him to travel throughout time. Unlike users of the Speed Force, Eobard's ability to travel through and manipulate time is more refined compared to other speedsters as he is easily able to drastically alter history and completely erase people from existence (other speedsters cannot change the past without dramatic consequences). This ability has also allowed Eobard to continue existing despite being erased from existence in the current timeline. However, when using the Speed Force Eobard does have side effects such as watching for Time Wraiths and has his Speed Force time remnants able to be erased by the Black Flash.
- Time remnant construct: By shifting momentarily back in time, Eobard is able to "create" a time remnant. As each one is as real as the other, it allows Eobard to overwhelm his enemies with multiple copies of himself.
- Retrocognition: When existing as a time remnant, the Negative Speed Force provided Eobard with memories of his former life (and possibly alternate timelines) masquerading as Wells, as seen when his time remnant-self reminisced about working with Cisco and Caitlin.[3] When Barry visited a version of Eobard as Wells, Eobard was quite familiar with Savitar even though Savitar was presumably not part of the original timeline.[13]
- Superhuman stamina: Eobard's body can handle the stresses of superhuman racing without noticeable distress. His body's enhanced stamina allows him to function much longer than a normal human without getting tired or weak. Therefore, he is also adapted to the extreme amounts of force exerted on him while he is moving at super speed, as well as the extreme temperatures and lessened amount of breathable air.
- Superhuman strength: Due to the tremendous amounts of Speed Force energy in his body, Eobard displays a degree of superhuman strength, exerting inhuman amounts of force without using his speed. He was also seen punching Mason which made Bridge go all the way up to the roof and as the man came falling down he once again punched his victim, making Mason go all the way across the room. From a stationary position, he was able to throw the Flash several yards away with one arm. As means of intimidation or restraining, he has repeatedly been shown able to easily hold down, or even pick up, a full-grown adult with a single hand, usually by their necks. He was also was able to effortlessly break a man's neck. Eobard's method of intimidation/restraining has been done on Rex in 1947 and Malcom Merlyn in the Vanishing Point, and method of breaking a man's neck has been done on Mercury Labs' various staff and the CCPD in 2014-2016, and government agents while protecting Damien Darhk in 1987.
Abilities
- "Thawne always has a backup plan."
- —Caitlin Snow[src]
- Genius-level intellect/Great business acumen/Master tactician/Leader: Eobard is considered a genius even in the more advanced era of the late 22nd century, potentially making him more intelligent than all individuals of the early 21st century (besides Clifford DeVoe) he has displayed in-depth knowledge and understanding of time-traveling like the Time Masters. With this, he was able to effectively evade any encounters with a Time Wraith and confidently travel back over 150 years to change the past with no fear of affecting his own future, as well as to give the Legends trouble balancing the timeline. Eobard is a great tactician, businessman, and leader, having personally founded S.T.A.R. Labs and ran it very successfully for 14 years and was able to effectively lead Team Flash and swiftly come up with plans to help Barry Allen defeat the meta-humans while simultaneously carrying out multiple deeds to fulfill his own agenda and preventing them from figuring out that he is Reverse-Flash for nearly a year. In addition, his mastery of contingency plans was also shown by how he had set in place the necessary tools to force everyone to go back into the pipeline, therefore forcing Team Flash to still help him return to his time even after he had been defeated by Barry, Oliver and Firestorm. After rewriting reality with the Spear of Destiny, Eobard once again proved able to efficiently run S.T.A.R. Labs, becoming a prominent figure in the world of business. Eobard is proven to have great intelligence about the Speed Force and it's usage. He has many times helped and guided Barry to use it better. He knew it has powers to create vacuums, move seamlessly pass through any solid target and was able to direct Barry on how-to use the Speed Force to time travel. Eobard also has knowledge relating to mystical artifacts. He knew that the Askaran Amulet was a Judeo-Christian artifact which acted like a compass for the Spear of Destiny as well as knew the object's divine capabilities. He even related some knowledge of the Fasces Axe which Damien Darhk was purchasing. He also revealed he knows about time remnants, when he went up against the Legends. His knowledge and understanding about the Speed Force seems to be among the greatest (if not the greatest) among the speedsters due to him being from the future. Eobard is among the most intelligent individuals in the multiverse and the most intelligent individual on Earth-1.
- Medical knowledge: Although never explicitly stated to excel in the medical field, Eobard was still a good enough of a medic to perform complex surgeries, as he was put in charge of transplanting Supergirl's healthy heart into Overgirl.
- Computer specialist/Skilled computer hacker: Eobard is a skilled computer hacker, being able to hack into the radio signals of multiple cars in order to destroy Hartley Rathaway's weapons.
- Master scientist: Eobard is a vastly knowledgeable, resourceful and ingenious scientist, specializing in various fields of science, having been a genius professor, especially a physicist, from the advanced 22nd century, and when stuck in the 21st century as Harrison Wells, while running S.T.A.R Labs, he was able to effectively act as one of the greatest scientific professors of that time and make great advancement to multiple scientific fields. He has a superb knowledge of meta-human biochemistry and molecular structure, creating a biomolecular enhancer. When given the formula of Velocity-9, Eobard was able to quickly identify a way to disable the artificial speed. This may all be because he's from the 22nd century. His greatest feat of science was his successful replication of the Flash's accident to replicate his former idol/future archenemies' powers for him self and he even created his own method of being a speedster and time travel by creating/tapping into the Negative Speed Force, a force leeching power from the Speed Force and fueled by negative emotions and negative tachyons, in order to be a speedster yet be undetectable by the Flash, as well as a means to be protected from his existence being erased from his ancestor's death.
- Master of deception/Manipulator: Eobard is highly accomplished at deceiving people, as he was able to work closely with Team Flash for months as Harrison Wells without them knowing who he really is and even deceive those close to the real Harrison Wells, all but Tina McGee. He is also an excellent manipulator, as he managed to effortlessly manipulate Tony Woodward and Hannibal Bates respectively into helping him. He even manipulated Nora West-Allen into trusting him, telling her to help punch Devoe's satellite in order to manipulate the timeline and create a Cicada that Team Flash could defeat in order do destroy Cicada's dagger which was dampening his powers in the future, thus freeing him.
- Master engineer: Eobard is highly proficient in the art of engineering due to his consummate knowledge of futuristic technology from 22nd century, as he successfully created and modified the particle accelerator with only the resources of the 21nd century, recreated the tachyon device into a Quantum Splicer with Cisco's help and was able to create the ring that contains his suit, the Time Vault, anti-speedster guns, and the appearance-stealing cord, which he managed to modify to be nonlethal to the person whose appearance is being mimicked, allowing him to keep Martin Stein alive. Eobard while serving as a SS General on Earth-X even designed and constructed the Wellenreiter mostly on his own.
- Multilingual: Eobard is capable of fluently speaking English and Latin. He can also read and write in the time language.
- Expert hand-to-hand combatant: Though suffering a beating at the hands of the Flash from 2016 in his first encounter, Eobard eventually became a seasoned expert of hand-to-hand combat, being able to fight on par with the Flash of 2024 and easily defeated the younger Flash from 2014-2015 in multiple fights, along with later on winning 2 fights with the 2017 Flash, whos speed equaled his now, before being defeated in their final fight. Whereas the novice Flash from 2014-2015 relied primarily on speed to overwhelm slower opponents with random striking, the older Eobard proved to be a very methodical combatant, using his speed to seamlessly and quickly strike at precise spots to systemically wear down his opponent. Even without his speed, Eobard's fighting skills on their own right proved formidable, capable of trouncing Ray Palmer in his A.T.O.M. Exosuit when they were in a no gravity area, which effectively stripped him of his speed, with solely superior fighting skills, quickly turning the tides after Ray briefly overwhelmed him to swiftly beat and kick him away, with Ray only overpowering him using his suit's blasts and even managed to roughly hold his own against the extremely skilled Oliver Queen, who had already been trained by Ra's al Ghul at this point long enough to regain his speed, able to dodge and block quite a few of Oliver's blows before eventually being overpowered. When in Nash's body and not having his powers, Eobard was still able to outfight Cisco, easily knocking him down and restraining him and breaking out of his grip after being hit and tackling him to a table and ultimately subduing him after easily blocking his attack upon being kicked away.
- Skilled knife-fighter: When fighting Ray, Eobard was able to use a knife to slash him twice before getting disarmed.
- Expert stick-fighter: When fighting Oliver, Eobard was able to wield a metal pole against the bow-wielding vigilante, hold his own for a time and even land a hit on him though he clearly caught Oliver off guard.
- Intimidation: As the Reverse-Flash, Eobard possesses an intimidating presence that would force people to give up information or stop an investigation on him.[22]
Weaknesses
- Anti-speedster weapons: The Legends have an arsenal of anti-speedster guns, invented by Eobard himself, which would allow the user to momentarily slow Eobard down. However, Eobard showed himself resistant to the weapons, restoring his powers after mere moments.
- Positive tachyons: Since the Negative Speed Force is the opposite of the regular Speed Force, positive tachyons are theorized to weaken Eobard's powers as he produces negative tachyons. However, negative tachyons can also leech off positive tachyons to draw power. This suggests that too much positive tachyons can actually offset negative tachyons.
- Cold temperatures: Much like other speedsters, Eobard seems to be weakened or at least momentarily stunned when exposed to an extremely cold environment. This was proven when Leonard Snart's Cold gun knocks Eobard unconscious for a short period of time.
- Irregular gravity: Eobard is unable to access his speed while in space or on the moon. While Ray suggests this is because of the lack of gravity, Eobard is still unable to phase or vibrate himself while tied up on the moon, which does possess a gravitational force. However, this may simply be because of the differing gravitational forces of Earth and the moon, meaning that Eobard would be able to phase in that particular level of gravity. Also, he needed to manually restore his normal appearance with the appearance-stealing cord instead of vibrating on his own power. He can however still access his speed and phasing abilities to their fullest effect when Earth-level gravity is artificially replicated (e.g. on the Waverider).[3]
- Nanites: When Eobard was shot with a nanite arrow, he lost his powers for a short amount of time even though Oliver said it'd take away his speed for "quite awhile," and he could somewhat vibrate, allowing him to phase the nanites out of his body, instantly restoring his powers.
- Time alterations: While willing to make huge leaps through time and likewise meddle with events, Eobard still has a great respect and fear of time manipulation done recklessly. This is from fear of both undoing his own future and the existence of the Time Wraiths who act as guardians to the Speed Force's energy. Even more while existing as a time remnant as his past self was erased from existence, Eobard was forced to constantly run, even through the timeline itself, to avoid getting killed by the relentlessly hunting of the Black Flash, of which Eobard was utterly terrified of facing. After his return from some unknown place, Eobard seems to have solved his problem with the Black Flash. He claimed to discover that "the timeline is malleable" and was able to predict the timeline with ease.
- Lack of host body: As negative tachyons, Eobard does not have a stable form and has to possess an person to remain stable as well as the connection to the Negative Speed Force. In addition, when he possesses someone, he has to make them fully give in to their negative emotions (such as Nash Wells's despair and guilt over losing Maya) in order to completely take over their body. Until he's fully taken over his host, he cannot access the Negative Speed Force.[72]
Former weaknesses
- Cicada's dagger: Cicida's dagger has the power to disable and negate the superhuman abilities of meta-humans who gained powers due to exposure to dark matter, including Eobard. In 2049 it is used to dampen Eobard's powers while he's in prison on death row.[65] However, since Team Flash destroyed the dagger in 2019, this caused it to vanish in 2049, thereby allowing Thawne to regain access to his powers.[59]
- Negative Speed Force connection flux: According to Gideon, Eobard lost his connection to the Speed Force due to overusing his powers. This occurred when Eobard severely damaged his connection to the Speed Force from having traveled back in time to kill Barry's mom. However, a more likely explanation is that Eobard altered the timeline to the point there was no source of inspiration for his powers. This case was shown when Barry's temporary amnesia wiped Savitar's (a future version of Barry) memory causing Wally (as his reason to be a speedster was due to Savitar) to lose his connection to the Speed Force, so it is implied the same held true for Eobard. Even when Eobard's ancestor Eddie committed suicide to wipe Eobard out of existence, the Negative Speed Force continued to exist despite Eobard being the creator, so this implies the Negative Speed Force truly is immune to timeline changes as Thawne said. While later regaining his super speed and most of its related powers due to setting the timeline back on course through the Particle Accelerator explosion leading to Barry becoming the Flash, he still lacked a stable connection to the Speed Force, rendering him unable to travel through time and stranded in the distant past. At the same time, his recovered speed was unstable, randomly working, and also appeared to affect his ability to walk. To compensate somewhat, Eobard relied on the tachyon prototype to stabilize his powers for a longer duration. However, the version that had existed after the Flashpoint timeline never experienced these damaging events (likely to being a time aberration), thus is able to use his powers to their fullest with ease. Later, the original version who wore Harrison Wells's appearance somehow (likely due to feeding on the negative emotions of others) managed stabilize his connection.
Equipment
- Gideon: Eobard uses Gideon, an advanced artificial intelligence created by Barry Allen, to aid him during his travels through time and when monitoring the timeline.
- Reverse-Flash ring: Eobard owns a ring with a Reverse-Flash lightning-bolt symbol on it that can open secret rooms within S.T.A.R. Labs. He uses it to open up a wall that contains a mannequin which he uses to store his Reverse-Flash suit. Eobard is able to hold his entire costume in his ring, and shoot it out of the top, allowing him to change into it at super speed and always have it ready for wear.[15]
- Reverse-Flash suit: Eobard wears a protective suit while acting as the Reverse-Flash, to hide his identity from his victims. It is similar to the Flash's future suit, but only reversing the colors (red to yellow, white to black).
- Earpieces: On his suit's cowl, there are two lightning-bolt shaped earpieces, also similar to those on Barry Allen's Flash suit.
- Retractable half-face mask: Eobard, as of re-appearing on Earth-X, wears a mask that only covers the large mouth hole on his Reverse-Flash suit, leaving the glowing-red eyes exposed.
- Reverse-Flash suit: Eobard wears a protective suit while acting as the Reverse-Flash, to hide his identity from his victims. It is similar to the Flash's future suit, but only reversing the colors (red to yellow, white to black).
- Various future technologies: Eobard has several devices and gadgets from his time at his disposal. Some have been displayed and their functions have been shown, though there are those that are still unknown.
- Appearance-stealing cord: This device has two cords that are connected to two organisms, corroding one while transferring that one's genetics (especially phenotypes) to the other, allowing the survivor to physically resemble the other in every way. Eobard used this to physically become Harrison Wells but also gained his victim's memories and love for Tess Morgan.[92] After Flashpoint, Eobard modified this device (or an identical one) to be used without killing the person he uses it on, only causing the victim pain, and allowing him to revert to his normal appearance when he wishes so he is not trapped with any one appearance. Eobard used the modified device on Martin Stein and others during his quest for the Spear of Destiny. Eobard implies having used this to get Harrison Wells's appearance once again upon his return to Earth-One.
- Biomolecular enhancer: Eobard gave this to the Nazis in 1942 as a bargaining chip in a trade with Adolf Hitler. It was used to mutate Baron Krieger into der Übermensch.[50] Ray Palmer modified Eobard's enhancer into a drug to cure Nate Heywood's hemophilia. As a result, Nate also received meta-human powers of identical to Tony Woodward's.[93]
- Watch: Eobard has a futuristic watch which can indicate whenever Black Flash is near.[47]
Former equipment
- Tachyon device: After his connection to the Speed Force began fluctuating, he stole this device from Mercury Labs, using it with the intentions to get faster and stabilize his fluctuating Speed Force connection for longer durations. But once the effects of this device could no longer help him, he converted it into a Quantum splicer for Firestorm.
- Wheelchair: After the particle accelerator exploded, Eobard pretended he became paralyzed in his legs to hide his identity from the team. In addition, a device was stored on the underside of the wheelchair that was charging his super speed which Cisco Ramon eventually discovers. After his identity was revealed to Team Flash, Eobard abandoned this wheelchair which is currently in S.T.A.R. Labs, although he temporarily used it again in S.T.A.R. Labs, possibly for sentimental reasons after re-appearing on Earth-X.
- Spear of Destiny: Eobard previously owned the Spear of Destiny, an ancient Biblical relic which was tainted by the blood of Jesus Christ, thus gaining tremendous reality warping divinely supernatural power. Sara Lance used the object's power to depower itself, thus rendering the holy item useless.
Appearances
Arrow
Season 2
Season 3
Season 5
Season 6Season 7
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The Flash
DC's Legends of Tomorrow
Season 1Season 2
Season 3
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Supergirl
Season 3
Comics
The Flash: Season Zero
Novels
- The Flash: Johnny Quick (mentioned)
- The Flash: The Tornado Twins (mentioned)
- The Flash: Green Arrow's Perfect Shot (mentioned)
The Chronicles of Cisco
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Gallery
Concept artwork
Promotional images
The Flash
Season 1
Crisis on Earth-X
Merchandise
Trivia
- As noted by Cisco Ramon, Eobard shares a similar fondness for movies. He appears to be a fan of the Back to the Future film trilogy,[42] the film Ghostbusters[40] and implies he's seen It's a Wonderful Life.[12] However, he also claims to have never seen any Buster Keaton movies even in his time.[34]
- While Eobard is responsible for numerous individuals becoming meta-human criminals, he is also indirectly responsible for numerous individuals becoming meta-human vigilantes outside of Barry. These include Cisco Ramon/Vibe, Firestorm and Dinah Drake/Black Canary.
- While the real Harrison Wells wore translucent-framed glasses, Eobard wore dark-framed glasses when impersonating him.
- In a deleted scene from "The Trap", Eobard appears in a flashback in which he tells Caitlin he doesn't want people to judge her based on the fact that she stayed at S.T.A.R. Labs after the particle accelerator explosion.[94]
- Eobard seems to have a liking for food from Big Belly Burger, as cows are extinct in his era.[1] As Wells, his love for Big Belly Burger with is mirrored by "his" doppelgängers Harry Wells and H.R. Wells. He is also shown to have a liking for "curly fries," as revealed when Barry held him captive in the Flashpoint timeline.
- Eobard has stated that he was a match for Barry Allen's speed in 2024.[1]
- Tom Cavanagh has stated that in season 1 Eobard never lied to Barry, because it wasn't necessary, as "it would be amazing if he'd been able to marshal all this time with this person and treat him respectfully, or as respectfully as he could."[95]
- Even after Eobard is revealed to be an impostor, Team Flash still has a habit of referring to him as Wells (sometimes "Evil Wells" or "the Other Wells") even after several encounters with alternate (genuine) versions of Wells, a tendency that annoyed Harry but not H.R.
- In "Grodd Lives", Grodd reveals that Eobard despises guns.
- Vandal Savage conquered the world in 2166, which would make Eobard fifteen years old at the time of Vandal's success in subjugating the world, assuming he did rise to power in Eobard's timeline.
- Ironically enough, it is revealed that Eobard Thawne is the one that invented the anti-speedster rifles kept on the Waverider, and he went on to become a speedster himself. Although he maybe created this rifles to use against future Flash.[3]
- On The Chronicles of Cisco Post 56 "#WhoIsSavitar?", Eobard's time remnant appears as one of the suspects of being Savitar. How Cisco knows is not explained, but it's presumed Cisco saw him when Cisco vibed the Flashpoint timeline or a still existing alternate timeline as seen in "Untouchable".
- Eobard has a deep understanding of every Harrison Wells doppelgänger that helped out Team Flash, to the point that he knows what their weaknesses are. This allowed him to help Nora distract Sherloque by having him meet another doppelgänger of his ex-wives.[68]
- Since he is from the future, it's most likely he knows every hero that at least operated in the 21st century including their respective doppelgängers.
Behind the scenes
Comics and other media
- In DC Comics, Eobard Thawne is Barry Allen's greatest enemy, operating under the alias "Professor Zoom," also known by the title of "the Reverse-Flash." After the Flash: Rebirth storyline on New Earth and a later one in Prime Earth, Eobard was depicted as the man who killed Nora Allen. He is from the 25th century in the DC comic origins unlike his origin on the show from the 22nd century, a change that makes little sense for various reasons.
- Unlike his comic version, Eobard Thawne is never referred to as "Zoom" or "Professor Zoom," but only as of the "Reverse-Flash." In the comics, Eobard Thawne is the second Reverse-Flash, (official alias "Professor Zoom," commonly referred to as "Zoom") and the first encountered by Barry Allen and Wally West. His role as the Flash's nemesis is continued by Hunter Zolomon (also known as both the new "Reverse-Flash" and the second "Zoom") after Barry dies and Wally is the Flash. In the show, this continuity between the two characters is removed. However, the fact that Zoom succeeds Eobard as the next main antagonist of The Flash could be a reference to this connection. Also, Zolomon used a wheelchair after being Zoom from an explosion in the comics, while Eobard is the one who adopts a wheelchair after the accelerator explosion on the show.
- As a member of the SS forces from Earth-X, Eobard wore a suit that resembled the Pre-New 52 Nazi Flash, the Flash's Earth-X counterpart and a member of the Gerechtkeitliga, or Earth-X 's Justice League.
- Eobard is a direct descendant of Nora Allen in the Post-Crisis DC comics continuity via her illegitimate son, Malcolm Thawne/Cobalt Blue. It is unknown if this fact remains true in the Arrowverse in regards to Eddie Thawne.
- As "Dark Flash," Eobard's Earth-X name was based off the DC Character with the same name, Walter West.
- Eobard Thawne, posing as Harrison Wells, appears to be an amalgamation of several comic book characters.
- In the DC Comics, Garrison Slate is the founder and CEO of Star Labs. He backs superhero teams such as Power Company and The Conglomerate.
- Also a senior member of Star Labs, a villain only known as "Dr. Wells," appeared in the tie-in DC comic book of the 1990s The Flash TV series titled The Flash TV Special (January, 1991). Interestingly enough, the character was also a wheelchair-bound villain who when wearing a yellow, red, and black suit, had the ability to be in two places at once, similar to how Eobard Thawne (disguised as Harrison Wells) was introduced on the show. He was crippled by an accident at Star Labs as Eobard as Wells pretended to be, and like him, he had modified his wheelchair to give him power.
- Even before that, a villainous character known as Dr. Wells, sporting similar looks, appeared in the 1973-1985 animated series Super Friends episode "Elevator to Nowhere." Like the CW version, Dr. Wells was associated with time travel, likely due to their shared namesake H.G. Wells, and he forced Wonder Woman and the Atom to participate in his time machine experimentation.
- In the mobile game version of Injustice: Gods Among Us, the 2.6 update introduced the "Reverse Flash" card based on Tom Cavanagh's portrayal. His second special attack is named "Out of Time," and its description is likely a reference to the fight in "Rogue Air" as it has the unusual ability to deal damage to the entire enemy team at once. His passive is "Cellular Regeneration," which allows him to recover from the damage and most effects of a special attack three times per match, referring to Reverse Flash's ability to heal rapidly. Injustice 2 (both console and mobile) includes Reverse-Flash as a playable character, but neither are based on this particular adaptation.
Arrowverse continuity
- Eobard is one of the most long-running villains in the Arrowverse, as he served as the main antagonist on The Flash season 1, a recurring villain in season 2 and season 6, an antagonist in season 3's "Flashpoint", the main antagonist of DC's Legends of Tomorrow season 2, one of the main antagonists in the Crisis on Earth-X crossover event, as well as being the overarching villain of The Flash season 5. The following is Eobard's perspective of events.
- "Potential Energy" (briefly)
- "The Reverse-Flash Returns"
- "Pilot" - "The Sound and the Fury"
- "Flash Back" (simultaneously to "The Sound and the Fury")
- "What's Past is Prologue" (simultaneously to "The Sound and the Fury" and "Flash Back")
- "Crazy for You" - "Fast Enough"
- "Flashpoint"
- Season 2 of DC's Legends of Tomorrow (as a time remnant)
- Crisis on Earth-X (presumably)
- Season 5 (2049) of The Flash[63]
- "Death of the Speed Force" - "The Exorcism of Nash Wells"
- Eobard also appeared in his video will in "The Man Who Saved Central City" and flashbacks in "Therefore I Am".
- Eobard has many similarities to Malcolm Merlyn.
- Both were the first villains of their respectful shows, both being portrayed as the "dark" version of the main hero.
- Both are responsible for the main character's parent's death and are the reason main hero become who he is, Thawne created the particle accelerator, Merlyn is responsible for Oliver's shipwreck.
- Both were father figures of the main hero before revealed as villains and have trained the main hero.
- Both has a relative with the same last name, Tommy Merlyn and Eddie Thawne, who is a prominent character in the first season of the show and who is both a friend and romantic rival to the main hero, and who dies at the end of the first season as a result of the villain's plan in some way, with Tommy's death resulting from the Undertaking and Eddie killing himself to stop Eobard after his plan failed.
- Both have appeared numerous times after their alleged death in the first-season finale.
- Both also are the reason for the first five of the "big bads" of the show.
- Where as Merlyn's actions lead to Oliver becoming The Hood, thus Adrian Chase becoming Prometheus, Slade becoming Deathstroke, Ra's al Ghul coming to Star City, Damien Darhk getting out of prison, Thawne's actions lead to Zoom coming to Earth-1, therefore Barry becoming Savitar in one timeline, The Thinker getting his powers and through his actions, Cicada getting his.
- However, unlike Merlyn, Thawne was also responsible for the creation of the big bad of the second half of the sixth season of his show as the particle accelerator explosion trapped Eva McCulloch in the mirrorverse who then became the big bad of the "Post-Crisis" arc of Season 6.
- Where as Merlyn's actions lead to Oliver becoming The Hood, thus Adrian Chase becoming Prometheus, Slade becoming Deathstroke, Ra's al Ghul coming to Star City, Damien Darhk getting out of prison, Thawne's actions lead to Zoom coming to Earth-1, therefore Barry becoming Savitar in one timeline, The Thinker getting his powers and through his actions, Cicada getting his.
- When Oliver-as-Flash and Barry-as-Green-Arrow are both exposed to fear gas, they see each other as Eobard and Merlyn respectively.[96]
- Eobard and Lex Luthor also share very similar characteristics as they are both uniquely brilliant scientists in their own right and are both obsessed in destroying their arch-enemies; Superman and The Flash.
- Eobard is the first main Flash villain to be killed by another main villain from The Flash.
- Eobard has appeared in almost all series related to the Arrowverse (The Flash, Arrow, DC's Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl) at least once. This makes Eobard the most recurring antagonist throughout the Arrowverse.
- Eobard is also the only living season-long antagonist left in both The Flash and the first four seasons of DC's Legends of Tomorrow.
- In The Flash, Killer Frost killed Hunter Zolomon at the end of Season 3, while Savitar was erased from existence shortly after. Marlize DeVoe and Ralph Dibny eliminated DeVoe's consciousnesses, and Grace Gibbons killed her uncle before the version of her that became Cicada was erased from existence.
- In DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Vandal Savage was killed by the Legends in multiple time periods when he was weakened by a Thanagarian meteorite, Mallus was killed by the Legends using the Totems of Zambesi, and Neron was killed by John Constantine.
- Eobard is the only main antagonist who physically appeared in every single season of his show, The Flash. Malcolm Merlyn was close to achieve that, however his appearance on Arrow season 6 was in fact a reused scene from an earlier episode of the show, which served as a flashback in the episode.
- Eobard, Wally West, and Mar Novu are the only characters to have been series regulars on two different Arrowverse series.
- Eobard is also the only character to have been the main antagonist for two different seasons (The Flash Season 1 and DC's Legends of Tomorrow Season 2). However, he was predominantly portrayed in his "Wells" disguise on The Flash while he's almost entirely in his true form on DC's Legends of Tomorrow.
- Although not the main antagonist, Thawne is revealed to be the mastermind and orchestrated the events of Season 5 and can be considered the "Bigger Bad" of the season.
- Eobard has been vaporized twice, both while attempting to kill another major Arrowverse protagonist. First, he was paradoxically erased from existence by Eddie's suicide while trying to kill Barry and second by Black Flash while trying to kill Sara Lance.
- Ironically, Eobard's time remnant was killed the same way he killed Cisco Ramon and Tina McGee (in erased timelines), Mason Bridge, and Rex Tyler, as well as the manner in which he threatened to kill many others, including Oliver Queen, Barry Allen (on two separate occasions), Amaya Jiwe, Malcolm Merlyn, Oliver, Felicity Smoak, and Harry Wells; by having the Black Flash phase a hand into Eobard's chest, stopping his heart.
- Eobard is one of the only major characters in the Arrowverse to have no known romantic relationships.
References
| Other versions of Eobard Thawne | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| To see other versions of this character, click the Earth name below for that Earth's counterpart of Harrison Wells. | ||||
| New multiverse | ||||
| Earth: Prime | ||||
| Original multiverse | ||||
| Earth: 1 • 2 • 12 • 13 • 17 • 19 • 22 • 24 • 25 • 47 • 221 • TUD1 • TUD2 • TUD12 • TUD23 • Netherverse • Eobard Thawne | ||||
| Transmultiversal multiverse | ||||
| Earth: 27A | ||||