- "Don't you know who I am? I have always been the hero. You're the villain, Flash. You're the one who reversed my entire life and dragged me into hell. And that's why you die tonight, by my hand!"
- — Eobard Thawne to Barry Allen
Professor Eobard Thawne (born c. 2524-2394), also known as the Reverse-Flash, is a former meta-human speedster from the 26th century, a descendant of the late Eddie Thawne, a time criminal, and the archenemy of Barry Allen/The Flash. Obsessed with the 24th 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 2397 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 Thawne 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 Earth-1 heroes and Supergirl.
By 2449, 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, Thawne 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.
Months later, to aid Barry in stopping August Heart, Barry had the Speed Force reconstitute Eobard to help against Heart. After defeating Heart and seeing that Barry's speed was too great for him, Eobard retreated to fight another day.
Eobard later created and became the host of the Negative Still Force, which allowed him to travel in time wherever he pleased and alter/manipulate time to his desires. This kickstarted Armageddon as part for his masterplan to defeat his archnemesis once-and-for all. He started by manipulating time to cause the death of Joe West and erasing Barry's memories of the event. Eobard then started manipulating time to drive Barry insane, such as framing him for being Joseph Carver's mole, which got Barry suspended from the CC SCIS.
Eobard's mechinations caused his nemesis to supposedly go rogue and cause the destruction of the Earth in 2394, by Armageddon, which led to Despero to travel back in time to 2394 in an attempt to stop Barry. After escaping Despero, Barry traveled to 2394 to try to stop himself from destroying the Earth and much to his horror, he found out that Eobard used the Negative Still Force to become a successful businessman and get engaged to Iris West-Allen. However, with Damien Darhk's help, Barry ultimately prevented the alternate timeline that Eobard created from ever happening.
After the timeline was changed back to normal, Eobard was being erased from existenced by the timeline itself, even his connection to the Negative Speed Force was not able to prevent this from happening. As a result, Eobard asked Team Flash to help save his life. Although they were initially reluctant to do so, but Barry ultimately saved Eobard's life by severing the latter's connection to the Negative Speed Force. Eobard was then sent to an A.R.G.U.S. prison.
The time displaced version of Eobard was made into the protector of a fixed point in time, having been brought back to life and stripped of his powers by the Time Wraiths after his death by the Black Flash. Placed in 1914 to ensure the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and, thus, the resulting world war, Eobard came to agree that the timeline could not and should not be changed. However, Eobard agreed to help the Legends attract the Waverider by changing the circumstances of Ferdinand's death. When the Legends' plan went awry, Eobard was killed by Sara Lance's robot clone and was ultimately replaced as the protector of the fixed point by Nate Heywood's robot clone. This version was later resurrected a second time by the Time Wraiths to give him a chance for redemption as he never gave up his post as the protector of the fixed point and eventually meet Meena Dhawan, helping her and falling in love with her. However, after the Negative Still Force killed the bad Eobard, the good Eobard was unwillingly sacrificed as part of a resurrection plan that the Negative Forces developed to bring the bad version back.
After ripping through his good self and regaining his powers, Thawne vowed to destroy Barry for good this time; also taunting him about Iris was used for his rebirth. Traveling back to the Negative Speed Force, he absorbed the powers of the Negative Forces. However, Thawne would eventually be destroyed by his nemesis in battle, with his entire body being disintegrated by his own negative energies.
Sometime later, Eobard's ancestor Eddie was resurrected, and with a connection to the Negative Speed Force. Eobard was later taken out from his timeline and joined forces with Eddie, Hunter Zolomon, Savitar, and August Heart joined forces to kill Barry and his team while Thawne attempted to kill Chester P. Runk, but he was defeated by Allegra Garcia and permanently died and was returned to his proper place in the timeline by Eddie.
Traveling to Earth-X
The Reverse-Flash as a general of SS
Likely using the Negative Speed Force, Eobard was able to preserve himself, returning to life once again. He retained the memories of his "Wells" years, though it's unknown if he also retained the memories of his time remnant. 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, Dark Red Arrow (Typhuss's Earth-X counterpart) 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. At some point before invading Earth-1, he decided to put on his Wells likeness, most likely to cause Barry the most pain.
Earth-1's Invasion
In late 2390, 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.
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, Red 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.
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.
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.
Legacy
As Harrison Wells
- "I've controlled your life for so long, Barry. How will you get along without me?"
- — Eobard to Barry Allen
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. 6 months later, Barry received Eobard's video will message. 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. While Barry did still hate Eobard for everything he did, Barry eventually chose to forgive him, not wanting to hate him anymore. Eobard's future actions also dictated his younger self's actions when he arrived in 2389 for the first time, and learned many important facts about his future he'd later exploit. Barry later did realize (despite all he did) that Eobard truly was a father figure to the team.
Eobard's deception made Barry initally skeptical 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 Two. 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 façade and should have known better after Eobard's impersonation.
Eobard's various actions completely destroyed his reputation as Wells to the public. Since his deception was known only to Team Flash and several of their allies, this made it hard for multiverse doppelgangers of Wells to be in Earth One. However, Team Flash continually ignored the fact that Eobard was merely an impostor, a fact that Caitlin seemed to remember while the doppelgangers gets forced to continually reminded of. Team Flash were initially skeptical to trust Harry Wells of Earth Two, 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. 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. Eventually, Team Flash realized that Harry is inconsiderate and blunt but not evil like Eobard was. Harry often found himself targeted by other people who weren't aware of Eobard's deception. Eobard's façade indirectly led Patty Spivot's shooting of Harry with Hunter's timely intervention with the use of the Velocity serums saving Harry's life. Harry later gets kidnapped by Griffin Grey mistaking Harry for Eobard trying to force to develop a cure for the meta-human condition. While Team Flash gets more open minded about welcoming H.R. Wells of Earth Nineteen, Eobard's actions initially made Cisco distrustful of H.R.. 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 someone else to remedy Eobard's problem.
As Reverse-Flash
Hunter also learned of Eobard's actions, killing Henry in the same place Eobard killed Nora to have Barry enraged. According to Abra Kadabra's timeline, the Reverse-Flash is regarded as one of the Flash's greatest enemies alongside Zoom and DeVoe. However, none were as bad as Savitar. Also, though Eobard's squadron of time-travelling villains that messed with the timeline, fought the Legends, and included Darhk may have been the first of its kind, it would not be the last, as Mallus made another one soon after the Legion of Doom's defeat.
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
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 he's the one person his nemesis can't stop. Learning that he caused such pain and sorrow to the Flash later in his life made Eobard giddy and proud of his life choices as the Flash's nemesis.
Alhough polite, Eobard is also shown to be rather 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 also 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. Eobard also tends to justify his murders by stating that all those whom he had killed had already been dead for centuries from his perspective (such as Nora and Tess Morgan), not caring about his victims or seeing how his acts are harming the timeline.
In Eobard's younger years, he had a scientific obsession with the Flash to the point where he reversed engineered the reaction which 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 its potential after gaining his powers. This eventually led him to develope 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.
It's possible that his 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.
- "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
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. 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. Ultimately, he seemed to appear somewhat tortured, a combination of "losing" Tess Morgan, and the number of people killed because of the particle accelerator.
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 shown to be willing to kill to ensure Barry's safety, and willing to sacrifice the meta-human prisoners to ensure this protection. 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.
Eobard is shown to be a very secretive man, as not neither Cisco Ramon nor Caitlin Snow had ever visited his house, and had either killed or manipulated individuals to their deaths. 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 from attacking Barry, Cisco and Caitlin, and protected Grodd from being tortured by Wade Eiling's inhumane experiments. Despite at first being tempted to kill Firestorm, Eobard decided to help separate 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. 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.
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.
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-travelling 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. 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. 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. However, Eobard ended up taking on some of his identity theft's personality traits, particularly his murder victim's love for Tess. 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.
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. Eobard expressed great fear of Time Wraiths, explaining how he was careful to avoid them when changing the timeline. 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. 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.
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, 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. Ironically, Eddie's suicide means that Eobard was defeated by someone he viewed as inferior. 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.
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". 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.
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, though Barry later admitted Eobard may have been genuine. 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.
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.
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 fifteen years was claimed to be a return to his old life in the 26th century, to leave the "barbaric" 24th 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.
- "You want to reshape the world? Try reshaping history. Try rewriting destiny."
- — Eobard to Damien Darhk
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 2371 and thrown into an altered version of 2389, 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.
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. 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. 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. 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. 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, acting condescending towards Malcolm, yet amused at how a "pretty face" knows of the Askaran Amulet's lore, and thinking of Legends as being beneath his intelligence, often calling them "idiots" and other similar names. 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. 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.
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). 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, 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," and later killing the Legends' alternate timeline versions.
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. 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. Eobard is also not without fear, as he viewed Hunter Zolomon (Black Flash) as a beast worse than even the Time Wraiths. 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.
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. 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. 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 24th 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
.png){kind=link}
In his thirst for power, the Reverse-Flash 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.
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. Reminiscing at S.T.A.R. Labs, Eobard remembered hating every minute of the 15 years he was trapped in the 24th century despite having previously stated how he grew to love working with Team Flash. 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.
- "The only person he ever helps is himself."
- — Nora West-Allen
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.
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.
- "I don't need my powers to kill you."
- — Eobard to Cisco Ramon
.png){kind=link}
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.
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.Powers and abilities
Powers
- 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.
Reverse-Flash using his superhuman speed
- Speed Force-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. As the Speed Force made his whole once again, his connection to his Negative Speed Force remains intact and he doesn't need a host anymore.
- 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 2389 twice, he is able to recover as if he had never been hurt.
- Enhanced longevity: 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). While Thawne was stuck in Iron Heights Prison in the future, his hair started to turn gray over a period of 15 years as a result of him aging naturally. However, when Cicada's dagger was destroyed in the past and Thawne regained his powers, his hair turned back to its original black color.
- 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 2388 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. He can also generate various constructs to be held used in battle like swords.
- 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 2388, 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 2380-2388. 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 SCIS 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. Later, after somehow returning from erasure, his speed also somehow increased considerably, able to keep up with the Flash of 2390 who was described as the fastest speedster ever. However, Eobard also stated that his speed was equal to the Flash of 2397's speed, 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.
- 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 2388.
- 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.
- 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, that a 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 2398, 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 2388 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. It also protected him from any alterations to the timeline and secures his existence when he shouldn't exist by becoming a Time Remnant himself. As a Time Remnant he was also able to create his own Time Remnants, but they a merely extensions of himself and under his direct control, as evident when Black Flash erased Eobard from existence, all his time remnants phased out of existence shortly after him.
- 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. 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.
- 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 Malcolm Merlyn in the Vanishing Point, and method of breaking a man's neck has been done on Mercury Labs' various staff and the CC SCIS in 2380-2389, and government agents while protecting Damien Darhk in 1987.
- 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 2389 twice, he is able to recover as if he had never been hurt.
Former 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. However, since the Speed Force gave him back his body, he doesn't need to find a host again.
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).
- 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.
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 2449 it is used to dampen Eobard's powers while he's in prison on death row. However, since Team Flash sent the dagger to the mirrorverse in 2392, this caused it to vanish in 2049, thereby allowing Thawne to regain access to his powers.
- Speed Force connection flux: According to Gideon, Eobard severely damaged his connection to the Speed Force from having traveled back in time and killed 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.
- 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. However, since the Speed Force gave him back his body, he doesn't need to find a host again.
Abilities
- "Thawne always has a backup plan."
- — Caitlin Snow
- Genius-level intellect/Great business acumen/Master tactician/Manipulator/Leader: Eobard is considered a genius even in the more advanced era of the late 26th century, potentially making him more intelligent than all individuals of the early 24th 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. 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 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 26th century, and when stuck in the 24th 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.
- "Newsflash, Raymond: I don't need super-speed to kick your ass."
- — Eobard Thawne to the Atom
- Expert hand-to-hand combatant: Though suffering a beating at the hands of the Flash from 2389 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 2397 and easily defeated the younger Flash from 2380-2388 in multiple fights, along with later on winning 2 fights with the 2390 Flash, whos speed equaled his now, before being defeated in their final fight. Whereas the novice Flash from 2380-2388 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.
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).
- 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.
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 2449 it is used to dampen Eobard's powers while he's in prison on death row. However, since Team Flash destroyed the dagger in 2392, this caused it to vanish in 2049, thereby allowing Thawne to regain access to his powers.
- 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.
- Reverse-Flash suit: Eobard wears a protective suit while acting as the Reverse-Flash, to hide his identity from his victims And withstand extreme force. 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.The suit has wireless communication capabilities through its built in earpieces, though it is unclear what Eobard uses them for, as he is not shown to have any other allies other than Gideon and Grodd. It's possible in his current Post-Flashpoint iteration that he uses it to communicate with his teammates Malcolm Merlyn and Damien Darhk, although Eobard prefers to wear a black leather jacket instead of his suit, and as such tends to use Bluetooth earpieces to communicate with them.
- Holographic interface: The suit has a computer-like connection to Gideon, giving the user portable access to the A.I. It has a holographic projection of Gideon in the center of the suit's palm.
- 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.
- 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. 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. 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.
- Watch: Eobard has a futuristic watch which can indicate whenever Black Flash is near.
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.