Reverse-Flash

Edward Clariss
The Rival, the first Reverse-Flash, by Carlo Barberi and Terry Austin.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Flash Comics #104 (February 1949)
Created by	John Broome Joe Kubert
In-story information
Team affiliations	Injustice Society
Notable aliases	Rival
Abilities	Flash

Edward Clariss (also known as the Rival[1] and the Rival Flash) first appeared in Flash Comics #104 (February 1949), and was created by John Broome and Joe Kubert.[2]

Edward Clariss first appeared in Jay Garrick's final appearance in Flash Comics #104 (February 1949), and was created by John Broome and Joe Kubert as an evil counterpart of Jay Garrick during the Golden Age of Comic Books. He would be revived by Geoff Johns and David Goyer in a story called "Injustice Be Done" from the Justice Society of America comic books through the Modern Age of Comic Books.[3]

Although not called the Reverse-Flash, Dr. Edward Clariss was a professor at the university attended by the Golden Age Flash, and had recreated the formula which was behind Jay Garrick's speed. He hears Joan Williams (Garrick's girlfriend) talking about how the Flash's own speed was given to another student, which helped him develop the formula. Bitter at the scientific community's rejection of his claims, Clariss becomes a criminal. A darker version of the Flash with a mask over his head, he gives the formula to other criminals. The Rival's version of the formula is temporary, and he is captured and jailed (later stories have indicated a possible link between the Clariss formula and the Velocity 9 created by Vandal Savage, but thus far no such link has been conclusively proven).[3]

JSA #16 (November 2000) contains a flashback to a battle between the Rival and the Flash several months after the former's first appearance. Now that he has inexplicably regained super-speed, Clariss reaches light speed during the fight and vanishes into the Speed Force. After the Justice Society of America's reformation 50 years later, Johnny Sorrow retrieves Clariss from the Speed Force and invites him to join the Injustice Society. Driven insane in the Speed Force, the Rival races across the country on a killing spree. The Flash realizes that the Rival's path across the country spells out Clariss's name and the final murder victim will be Joan; Jay absorbs the Rival's speed before he can kill Joan.[3]

The Rival returns in Impulse #88 (September 2002), posing as Joan's doctor. Now pure speed energy, he possesses fellow Golden Age speedster Max Mercury. After battling Jay and Impulse, Max time-travels to an unknown destination. In The Flash: Rebirth #4, Max escapes from the Speed Force and is rejuvenated by Wally West's energy; this allows him to return to Earth in a new body. Another Golden Age Reverse-Flash is a robot whose only appearance was in one panel of The Flash #134 (February 1998), where he is defeated by Garrick.[4]

Professor Eobard Thawne first appeared in The Flash #139 (September 1963). The archenemy of Barry Allen, he is the first to take on the name Professor Zoom, and oftentimes the Reverse-Flash.[5]

Hunter Zolomon (also known as Zoom) first appeared in The Flash: Secret Files & Origins #3 (November 2001). The archenemy of Wally West, he is the second supervillain to be called the Reverse-Flash. Unlike all other Reverse-Flashes, he did not gain his super-speed from the Speed Force; due to an accident with the Cosmic Treadmill, Zolomon was essentially 'derailed' from the timeline, allowing him to control the rate at which he moved in time that can make him faster than any speedster.

Thaddeus Thawne (a.k.a. Inertia and later Kid Zoom) first appeared in Impulse #51 (August 1999), and was created by Todd DeZago and Mike Wieringo. Another character not called the Reverse-Flash, he is a clone of Bart Allen. Inertia first fought Impulse. When Bart aged five years after Infinite Crisis and became the Flash, Inertia fought his genetic template again. Inertia was responsible for Allen's death; Wally West returned, taking revenge by paralyzing Inertia and installing him in the Flash Museum. In Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge, he was used by Libra and Zoom to try to get the Rogues to join the Secret Society. Inertia stole Zoom's powers, called himself Kid Zoom and was killed by the Rogues, who blamed him for making them kill Bart.

Asked who created Inertia, Ethan van Sciver wrote that he could only accept five percent of the credit; the remaining credit belonged to Mike Wieringo (20 percent), Grant Morrison (25 percent) and Todd DeZago (50 percent). According to van Sciver, Inertia's appearance is an inverted depiction of Impulse.[6]

Inertia initially appeared in Impulse #50: "First Fool's" (July 1999), followed by #51: "It's All Relative" (August 1999). His greatest character development was in #53: "Threats" (October 1999). Inertia was not featured again until Impulse #62 and #66: "Mercury Falling" (July, November 2000), and again for another five years.

He then began making regular appearances, primarily due to Bart being the Flash. Inertia appeared in The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #5: "Lightning in a Bottle, Part 5" (December 2006). In addition to his Flash appearances, he appeared in Teen Titans (vol. 3) as part of Titans East, an enemy team, beginning in Teen Titans (vol. 3) #43 (January 2007). The storyline concluded with (vol. 3) #46 (April 2007). Gathering the Rogues, he attempted to drain Bart's powers for himself; the plan backfired when Wally returned and Inertia's equipment drained the Speed Force, making the Rogues accidentally beat Bart to death. As Inertia tried to escape, he was captured by Wally who steals his speed, leaving him immobile.

Inertia is primarily a speedster, remaining disconnected from the Speed Force after Infinite Crisis and injecting himself with Velocity 9. Although Velocity 9 has been unstable, Deathstroke's new variety seems to have no negative side effects. Inertia briefly shares his powers before his death with Zoom, who lends him his speed to pressure him into becoming a new Kid Flash. As the maddened Kid Zoom, he masters human time streams and reverts Zoom to the powerless Hunter Zolomon before he is killed by the Rogues.

Inertia was later resurrected due to Doctor Manhattan's modifications on the timeline, but is currently trapped in the Speed Force. Inertia tries to stop Barry Allen, Max Mercury, and Jesse Quick from escaping the Speed Force, revealing that Eobard Thawne promised to release him and let him take over Bart Allen's body once the former succeeded in his plans. After Barry tries to appeal and talk sense into him, Inertia stops his attacks and runs off. [7]

Daniel "Danny" West first appeared in The Flash #0 (November 2012). The younger brother of Iris West, the biological father of Wallace West and the uncle of Wally West.

Two versions of the Reverse-Flash appear in series set in the Arrowverse, first appearing in The Flash.

• Eobard Thawne appears as the main antagonist during the first season of The Flash, portrayed by Tom Cavanagh (as Dr. Harrison Wells) and Matt Letscher. Thawne is a speedster from the future in which he develops a hatred for the superhero The Flash. Thawne discovers the Flash’s identity of Barry Allen prompting Thawne to go back in time and kill a younger Barry. However, despite his efforts, Thawne accidentally kills his mother Nora and becomes stranded in the past after attempting to go back home. Thawne researches Dr. Harrison Wells and decides to disguise himself as Dr. Wells and activates his planned particle accelerator which explodes and turns Allen into the superhero “The Flash”. He decides to mentor Allen as Dr. Wells until Barry and his friends find out Wells’ true identity of Thawne. Thawne’s ancestor Eddie sacrifices himself which seemingly kills Thawne and erases his existence. In the second season, Thawne returns from a point before he killed Nora to steal tachyons to return home but his plans are foiled by Team Flash. Barry travels back in time to get help from Thawne, while disguised as Wells, to help enhance his speed. In the third season, Barry travels back in time again, only to prevent Thawne from killing his mother hence creating an alternate timeline coined “Flashpoint”, by Thawne. After realising the side effects of Flashpoint, Barry allows Thawne to kill his mother and reset the timeline only to find minor differences. In the second season of Legends of Tomorrow, Thawne is being pursued by the Speed Force’s enforcer Black Flash for surviving Flashpoint. After hearing about the reality rewriting artefact known as the Spear of Destiny, Thawne forms the Legion of Doom consisting of Damien Darhk, Malcolm Merlyn and a time displaced Leonard Snart to his cause. However, he is stopped by the Legends when their member Sara Lance uses the Spear to unleash Black Flash to kill Thawne. In the fourth season of The Flash, Thawne works alongside the leaders of Earth-X in invading Earth-1 during the season’s crossover Crisis on Earth-X. However, just as Barry kills Thawne, he allows him to flee after taunting Barry that he isn’t a killer. In the fifth season, Thawne is shown to be imprisoned at Iron Heights in the year 2049 for his several crimes with his powers negated from a dagger weilded by the 21st century metahuman serial killer Cicada. He later begins mentoring Barry’s daughter Nora after she had gained superspeed in a confrontation with rival speedster Godspeed. Nora requests help from Thawne in defeating Godspeed, which Thawne agrees to. He then later manipulates Nora in working with her father Barry, who he reveals is the Flash, in the past. After doing so, her actions lead into the creation of Cicada. Thawne tricks Nora into helping Team Flash and destroying the dagger, which the team successfully does so, thus setting Thawne free. Thawne briefly fights Barry and Nora before Nora is erased from existence due to her reckless actions while Thawne flees. Following the events of the Anti-Monitor crisis, Thawne has resided in the body of Harrison “Nash” Wells until he is taken out of by Team Flash. Thawne now is a being of particles until he finds a vessel.
• Hunter Zolomon appears as the main antagonist of the second season of The Flash, portrayed by Teddy Sears. Zolomon comes from Earth-2 in which as a child, his father - a self acclaimed war hero - forced him to witness his mother’s murder. After his father was arrested, Zolomon became an orphan and an aspiring serial killer, who was eventually arrested. One night, the particle accelerator explosion occurred on that Earth and gave Zolomon the ability of superspeed whilst undergoing electroshock therapy. By adopting the moniker “Zoom”, Hunter discovered the existence of the multiverse and became obsessed with speed leading him to create various “Velocity” serums and travel throughout the multiverse, killing numerous speedsters to steal their speed. While travelling, Hunter came across Earth-3 where he confronted Jay Garrick, the Flash of that Earth and stole his identity. As Jay, he infiltrates Earth-1 and researches their Flash, eventually discovering his identity and finding out more about his allies. With his newfound knowledge, Hunter invites himself to the team and slowly begins to earn their trust so that he could help him gain more speed. However, after Team Flash’s encounter with the speedster Trajectory, they discover her lightning turned blue before she vanished, which is also the same colour lightning Zoom had. With this discovering, the team deduce Jay is in fact Zoom and his real name is Hunter Zolomon. Barry challenges Zoom to a battle to save the multiverse. Ultimately, Barry wins by creating a time remnant of himself to destroy Zoom’s multiverse destroying machine. As a result of Zolomon’s reckless actions, Time Wraiths take Zolomon away into the Speed Force. Later, Zolomon becomes the Speed Force’s enforcer Black Flash whose victims become Thawne, for surviving Flashpoint and Savitar. Eventually, Black Flash is killed by Killer Frost - Savitar’s assistant.
• In addition to Reverse-Flash, Todd Lasance portrays Edward Clariss/The Rival in season 3 of The Flash. He first appears in an alternate reality until given alternate memories by Alchemy. Clariss later regains his speed in the reset timeline in which he wants to get revenge on The Flash but is defeated by the latter and put in Iron Heights prison where he is ultimately killed by Savitar.[8][9]

• Zoom (Hunter Zolomon) is alluded to in Justice League Unlimited, by an android replica of the Flash created by Brainiac (voiced by Michael Rosenbaum) that resembles Zoom.
• Professor Zoom the Reverse-Flash (Eobard Thawne) appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by John Wesley Shipp.[10]

• Professor Zoom the Reverse-Flash (Eobard Thawne) appears as the main antagonist in Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox and Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay, voiced by C. Thomas Howell.[11]
• The Eobard Thawne version of the Reverse-Flash appears as the main antagonist in Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: The Flash, voiced by Dwight Schultz.

The subsequent characters to use the Reverse-Flash moniker appear in various video games.

• Zoom (Hunter Zolomon) appears in the Game Boy Advance game Justice League Heroes: The Flash as the fourth-level boss.
• Professor Zoom the Reverse-Flash (Eobard Thawne) appears as a mini-boss in DC Universe Online in the Gorilla Grodd duos and as a world boss roaming Central City in the "Lightning Strikes" DLC.
• The Eobard Thawne version of the Reverse-Flash appears a playable character in Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham
• The Eobard Thawne version of the Reverse-Flash appears as a DLC skin in Injustice 2.
• The Eobard Thawne version of the Reverse-Flash appears as a playable character in Lego DC Super-Villains, and The Flash version of Zoom appears in the DC TV Super-Villains DLC pack.