Heroes are outlined by the villains they face, and few crime-fighters have extra tenacious enemies than the The Flash. The Reverse-Flash is a vicious, obsessive enemy, and a risk prior to now, current and future. Eobard desires to harm Barry it doesn’t matter what, it doesn’t matter how severe or how petty – Eobard even went again in time as soon as simply to push Barry down the steps. His fixed meddling in Barry Allen’s life has created some horrifying penalties, and Eobard Thawne has made it clear there’s nothing in need of demise that might cease him – and even then, he’s liable to return.
Listed here are the ten worst issues the Reverse-Flash has ever executed to his nemesis Barry Allen, exhibiting the depths of his depravity, the extremes of his obsession, and the overwhelming potential of his powers. The truth that Flash remains to be combating the nice battle after going through these challenges is the last word image of his heroism.
Eobard Thawne is completely obsessed with Barry Allen. Eobard began out as a fan of Barry who needed nothing greater than to be his sidekick or a hero just like the Flash. Eobard finally achieved these desires in Return of Barry Allen by Mark Waid, Greg LaRocque, Roy Richardson, Tim Harkins, and Matt Hollingsworth. This story noticed Barry Allen seemingly return from the lifeless after the occasions of Disaster on Infinite Earths. Sadly, it was too good to be true, and it wasn’t Barry Allen, however Reverse-Flash posing as him. Eobard took this chance to fully wreck Barry’s status because the Flash earlier than being discovered.
Comics prior to now have been a bit extra light-hearted and straight to the purpose. As a substitute of Eobard Thawne touring via time to restructure Barry’s life or focusing on his family members, Eobard was content material with simply killing Barry with a great old school bomb, as seen in The Flash #283 by Cary Bates, Don Heck, F. Chiaramonte, Ben Oda, and Gene D’Angelo. After being tricked into going to the longer term, Barry tries to return to the current, just for the cosmic treadmill, the machine Barry makes use of to time journey, to all of a sudden explode. It seems that Eobard had boobytrapped the cosmic treadmill with a bomb, understanding Barry would wish to make use of it to return to the current. Whereas Barry survived this by separating and bringing his atoms again collectively, it nonetheless stands out as one of many clearest examples of Eobard simply making an attempt to homicide Barry outright.
Tales from the Darkish Multiverse: Flashpoint by Bryan Hitch, Andrew Currie, Scott Hanna, Alex Sinclair, Jeremiah Skipper, and Rob Leigh requested “What if Reverse-Flash entered Flashpoint sooner?” Within the unique storyline, Eobard solely confirmed up on the finish to mock Barry for by chance destroying the world to avoid wasting his mom. However on this storyline, as a substitute of exhibiting up in direction of the tip of the plot, Eobard is by chance pulled in in the beginning and kills Barry Allen. As a substitute of abandoning this doomed timeline, Eobard decides to mess around with it, taking Barry’s most painful and private mistake, and turning it right into a residing hell for a whole actuality.
Undoubtedly, Iris West is Barry Allen’s real love. The 2 have been related for many years at this level, and imply greater than something to 1 one other, which is strictly what makes Iris the right goal for Reverse-Flash. In The Flash: Rebirth #6 by Geoff Johns, Ethan Van Sciver, Rob Leigh, and Brian Miller, Eobard tries to kill Iris West however is prevented by Barry and his mates. Regardless of this, the assault made it clear to Barry that no-one he loves will ever be protected from Thawne.
Barry had a little bit of a bizarre life rising up, because of the demise of his mom and the incarceration of his father, Barry didn’t have a lot assist or many mates. However one one who was constantly his pal and was a shiny spot in his life was Doug. Doug was a boy who actually received together with Barry, they usually shared comparable pursuits, the most important of which was comedian books. However resulting from Reverse-Flash’s absurd hatred of Barry, Eobard went again in time and vibrated Doug out of existence, solely so Barry would spend his childhood with out mates. This petty act was seen in Reverse-Flash: My Revenge by Scott Kolins, Joel Gomez, Brian Buccellato, and Sal Cipriano.
Few issues are extra terrifying for the Flash than a Reverse-Flash/Professor Zoom team-up, however that’s what occurred in Geoff Johns, Howard Porter, John Livesay, James Sinclair and Pat Brosseau’s The Flash #224. In a horrific act of torture, the 2 villains kidnapped Barry’s former sidekick and beloved protégé Wally West into the previous, forcing him to witness his spouse Linda’s miscarriage time and again. Wally was stranded in horrifying torment, unable to flee resulting from his lesser mastery of time journey, and virtually misplaced himself within the course of. Finally, this journey really labored out within the heroes’ favor – the tampering with time prevented Linda’s miscarriage, and Barry was capable of rescue Wally – however it additionally made it clear that Eobard Thawne is nicely conscious how a lot Barry loves the previous Child Flash, and can harm him by attacking the following era of hero.