It’s been about six months and
eighteen episodes (at the time of me writing this) since the premiere of The Flash and a lot of stuff has
changed. The biggest surprises center on the Reverse-Flash and his identity.
Now, I initially thought about just updating Reverse-Flash’s villain profile,
but given the spoiler-y nature of the info made me decide to just make a separate
post. That being said, spoilers, so no complaining. On with the show.
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| Creepy SOB, isn't he? |
My initial assumption that
Detective Eddie Thawne would somehow be the Reverse-Flash couldn’t be more
wrong. Turns out that he’s just a good cop. Shocking, I know. We don’t really
see the Man in Yellow in the present for the first several episodes of the show.
Which is weird, given that he’s supposed to be the central antagonist for the
series. The Reverse-Flash makes his first major appearance is in the ninth
episode “The Man in the Yellow Suit.” In it, he attacks Mercury Labs, killing
several guards in an attempt to get his hands on an experimental machine.
Barry, seeing Reverse-Flash’s red streak, races after him. The battle across
the city, with Reverse-Flash proving to be the more powerful speedster.
Realizing that Reverse-Flash is
after a specific machine, a device designed to create Tachyon’s (a type of
faster than light particle), Barry, the STAR Labs team, and the GCPD set up a
trap for the Man in Yellow. They trap Reverse-Flash in a force-field bubble. He
gives a creepy speech about how his evil plans are beyond them, and how he’s
the quiet the reverse of the Flash. The field imprisoning him suddenly shuts
down, the Reverse-Flash stole the Tachyon Device, and then beats the heck out of
Wells. He takes down the entire CCPD SWAT team there, except Eddie Thawne who
is just pushed over. Barry rushes in and the two have another battle. Barry
would have died, if Firestorm hadn’t stepped in to save him. At the episode’s
end we see Harrison Wells enter his secret lab, releases the Reverse-Flash suit
from a special ring, and fixes the Tachyon Device onto the costume. The episode
ends with Wells doing the “vibrate his vocal cords” thing Barry and the
Reverse-Flash can do, saying “Merry Christmas.” Barry’s friend, idol, and
mentor, Dr. Harrison Wells is the Reverse-Flash.
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| Love the design. |
And honestly this isn’t crazy
surprising. They’ve had Wells doing several shocking things while Barry and his
team’s backs are turned, like walking around, plotting in a secret lab, and stabbing
people. He clearly wasn’t what he seemed from the get go, but him being the
Reverse-Flash was a bit of surprise for me. Episode 11, “The Sound and the
Fury,” reveals that he is using the Tachyon Device to recharge his powers, for
some reason. We finally see Wells in the suit clearly in the episode “Fallout,”
where he reveals himself to the villainous General Eiling before the General is
killed by Gorilla Grodd. We get a bit more background in the episode “Out of
Time.” In it, while Barry is dealing with the evil Weather Wizard, Cisco Ramon
checks out the containment field that they’d used on Reverse-Flash. Cisco finds
out that the Reverse-Flash in the containment field was just a prerecorded
hologram. Moment later, Wells walks in and explains. He used his speed powers
to create an afterimage so he could be in two places at once. He tells Cisco that
he’s Eobard Thawne, (a “distant relative” of Eddie’s) a man from the future. He
came back in time to kill the young Barry but murdered his mother instead and
somehow got stranded in the past. The reason he’s been helping Barry is to push
Barry’s speed to the limit, hopefully using Barry’s powers to get him back to
the Future. He then murders Cisco by vibrating his hand through Cisco’s chest.
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| First time seeing Scott Cavanagh as Reverse-Flash. Kind of Awesome. |
At the end of the episode Barry
jumps back in time, inadvertently saving Cisco. While Barry deals with Captain
Cold and his Rogues, Reverse-Flash murders a local reported that was
researching him. This was actually a bad move on his part, since the reporter’s
disappearance makes Barry begin to suspect that Wells is the Reverse-Flash. RF’s
background is finally revealed in “Tricksters.” We re-watch the night of Nora
Allen’s death, this time from the perspective of the speedsters. We see a
pretty awesome CGI fight between the Flash and Reverse-Flash. Barry saves his
younger self, and assumedly returns to the future. Reverse Flash tries to do
the same, but instead slows down, stumbles and falls. He consults his computer
guide, Gideon, who reveals that somehow his powers have shorted out. He’s stuck
in the past, and is understandably miffed. Could you imagine being stuck 500
years in the past? Imagine being stuck in 1515. I don’t know about you but I’d
miss TV, the internet, phones, cars, electricity, clothes that don’t itch,
indoor plumbing, vaccines, and toothpaste. To name a few things. That and I’d
probably be burned at the stake or otherwise killed in some horrible fashion
for being a witch if anyone saw me land in the past. Not fun.
Reverse-Flash pulls off his mask,
revealing… not Harrison Wells. Huh. We then cut to Dr. Wells and his wife on
the beach. There we see Wells early concept for STAR Labs, while Eobard watches
creepily at a distance. When the Wells’ drive home, they run over a spike strip
that Eobard had set in the road. Dr. Wells’ wife Tess is killed in the crash.
Eobard pulls Wells from the wreckage and gives a creepy speech about Wells’
future. Apparently he was going to complete STAR Labs with Tess in 2020, but
that’s too slow for Eobard. He sticks Wells with some sort of future device.
The machine kills Wells, mummifying him as well, at the same time it changes
Eobard’s face into Wells. So there you have it, Harrison Wells has been dead
for about fifteen years, and Eobard has essentially been wearing his face as a
mask since. Creepy. As of the episode “All Star Team Up,” Barry has informed
Detective Eddie Thawne, Cisco and Caitlin Snow of his and Joe West’s suspicions
about Wells. Caitlin is at first dismissive of the idea, until Cisco reveals he’s
been having visions of the previous timeline, which included Wells’ vibrating
his hand through Cisco’s chest.
It’s been a heck of a ride thus
far. I’m curious to see where this goes. While my theories have been pretty off
thus far, my newest one is that Thawne is planning on using Gorilla Grodd to
take control of Barry’s mind and force him to run to the future, returning Thawne
to the 2500s. Simple, but effective. I guess we just have to wait and see. Next
time, what we should do when a Superhero’s contract expires.
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/File:Reverse_Flash_003.jpg
http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/theflash/images/0/04/Professor_Zoom_Tom_Cavanagh.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20150314000820
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/flash-return-17-march-harrison-wells-reverse-flash-secret-will-be-out-episode-15-video-1488591
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