Eobard Thawne (Arrowverse)

Born in the year 2151, Professor Eobard Thawne idolized a superhero speedster known as the Flash.[1] He managed to replicate the accident that gave the Flash his powers and inadvertently tapped into a "negative" version of the Speed Force.[2][3][4][5] Thawne grew bitter and jealous when the Flash, having traveled through time, saved a crowd that he had intended to rescue.[6][7] He learned that he was destined to become the Flash's greatest enemy and became obsessed with ruining his life as the Reverse-Flash.[2][8]

At some point, Thawne traveled to the year 2016 and learned what time period the Flash hailed from.[2] Since then, they battled each other for many years, neither of them was strong or fast enough to defeat the other.[1] Thawne eventually learns of the Flash's secret identity – Barry Allen – and travels back in time to the year 2000 to kill him as a child. He then encounters a version of Barry from the year 2023, who warns him of the potential consequences of his actions, but Thawne refuses to listen and continues his attempt to kill Barry's younger self.[7] When his plan fails due to the 2023 Barry's interference, Thawne kills Barry's mother Nora and frames his father Henry instead, hoping that losing his parents will cause the Flash to cease to exist. In doing so, Thawne inadvertently severs his own connection to the Negative Speed Force and strands himself in the 21st century.[9] Realising that Nora's death was a fixed point that the 2023 Barry had already lived through, an enraged Thawne vows to dedicate his life to finding a way to kill Barry.[7]

Thawne murders and assumes the identity and genetic appearance of Dr. Harrison Wells to found S.T.A.R. Labs in Central City, and spends the next fourteen years building a particle accelerator to create the Flash ahead of schedule.[10][1] "Wells", along with Caitlin Snow and Cisco Ramon, mentors Barry in defeating metahuman criminals caused by the particle accelerator explosion. Thawne pushes Barry into getting faster with the goal of using Barry's pure connection to the Speed Force to return to his own time period.[11][12] To that end, Thawne also taunts and bests Barry as a tachyon-enhanced speedster–initially referred to as the "Man in Yellow" before he is dubbed the Reverse-Flash by Cisco.[13][14]

After Thawne's secret is discovered, Barry captures him with the help of Oliver Queen, Ronnie Raymond and Martin Stein.[15] Thawne offers Barry a chance to travel back in time to save his family in exchange for a time machine to return to the future once the Speed Force wormhole is open, but Barry ultimately refuses and destroys Thawne's machine. Before Thawne can kill Barry, his ancestor, police detective Eddie Thawne, shoots himself which seemingly erases Thawne from existence, but not before reverting him to his original likeness.[1] A flash drive containing Thawne's will as Wells both bequeaths S.T.A.R. Labs to Barry and includes a video-recorded confession which allows for Henry's exoneration.[16]

Thawne survives his erasure following Eddie's sacrifice due to his connection to the Negative Speed Force, which renders him immune to timeline changes.[17][18] As the Dark Flash, he allies with Dark Arrow and Overgirl of the Nazi-dominated Earth-X to invade Earth-1.[19] During the final battle, Barry defeats Thawne but spares his life, allowing him to speed off while his allies are killed.[20][21]

In 2034, Thawne is captured and imprisoned in Iron Heights Penitentiary,[22] where he is routinely tortured by a corrupt prison guard[22] while a dagger that had belonged to the metahuman serial killer Cicada[18] dampens his super-speed. In 2049, Nora West-Allen seeks Thawne's help in solving a police case and controlling her own newly discovered super-speed.[22] Thawne becomes Nora's mentor and claims that he seeks to create a more noble legacy for himself before he is executed for his crimes,[23][8][22] but he actually plans to destroy Cicada's dagger and escape Iron Heights, so he sends Nora to travel back in time and help Barry defeat Cicada. Thawne's plan succeeds as the dagger is transported to the Mirrorverse, freeing him moments before his execution. He briefly fights Barry, Nora, and Team Flash before Nora begins fading from existence because of the changes in the timeline. After Barry witnesses Nora's temporal erasure, Thawne makes his escape.[18]

Following the multiversal Crisis, Thawne turns into a being of negative tachyons and is fused with Harrison Nash Wells, who has become a 'repository' for the consciousness of every version of Wells, which includes Thawne because of his time spent in Wells' form. Thawne takes control of Nash's body, but he is captured and imprisoned in S.T.A.R. Labs.[24] Before Thawne can regain his connection to the Negative Speed Force, Team Flash expels him from Nash's body, leaving him without a physical form.[25]

Barry and Iris West-Allen later has the Speed Force reconstitute Thawne's corporeal form in exchange for his aid in subduing Godspeed. After Thawne incapacitates Godspeed, he double-crosses Barry and attempts to kill him, but is easily defeated. Seeing that Barry is now faster than he is, Thawne vows vengeance and speeds off.[26]

To seize control of Barry's life, Thawne uses the Negative Still Force to alter the timeline and create a "Reverse-Flashpoint" reality in which he is the Flash and Barry is the Reverse-Flash. After Barry reconnects to the Speed Force to avert the impending "Armageddon" and restores the timeline, Thawne begins fading from existence.[27] To save Thawne's life, Barry severs his connection to the Negative Speed Force and has him remanded into A.R.G.U.S. custody.[6]

Incarcerated in a supermax prison on Lian Yu, Thawne is approached by the Negative Still Force, which seeks to restore him as the Negative Speed Force's avatar. To that end, Thawne is aged to death and Iris is sacrificed so that he can be "resurrected" in his redeemed time remnant's body, allowing him to be the Reverse-Flash once again.[28]

However, the Negative Speed Force via Eddie moves Thawne, along with Zoom, Savitar and Godspeed to a showdown against Team Flash. Thawne attacks Chester P. Runk at S.T.A.R. Labs but is prevented from killing by Allegra Garcia, and his place in time is undone when Eddie seizes his power.[29]

Thawne goes into the Negative Speed Force and absorbs the powers of the other Negative Forces, which transforms him into their avatar, the Negative Flash. Barry absorbs the powers of the Positive Forces to become Thawne's equal, and the two speedsters engage in a battle that threatens to bring about Armageddon. Realizing that neither of them can win, Barry surrenders and tricks Thawne into unleashing the full power of the Negative Forces, only to redirect the negative energy back into him, destroying Thawne for good.[5]

After losing his father to Zoom, Barry travels back in time to save his mother from Thawne, creating an alternate "Flashpoint" timeline in which Thawne is imprisoned. Barry realizes his mistake and releases Thawne, allowing him to kill his victim to restore the timeline.[30]

Once he escapes the Flashpoint timeline,[30] Thawne enters a nullified state of existence as a time remnant,[31] causing him to be hunted by the Black Flash, the Speed Force's demonic enforcer.[32] Seeking to cement his existence, Thawne forms a legion of villains to locate the fabled Spear of Destiny.[31][33] Thawne and his allies initially are successful in using the Spear of Destiny to rewrite reality to their whims,[34] but the Legends travel back in time to de-power the holy object, causing Thawne to be vaporized by the Black Flash.[35]

The Speed Force later brings Thawne's time remnant back to life, removes his powers and assigns him to defend the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, a fixed point, from time travelers. When the Legends visit the fixed point, Thawne decides to aid the group but is killed by Sara Lance's android doppelgänger, after which Nate Heywood's android doppelgänger is tricked into taking his place as the fixed point's defender.[36][37]

As a reward for his sacrifice in protecting the timeline, Thawne's time remnant is offered an opportunity for redemption when the Speed Force resurrects him without his memories. Feeling inexplicably compelled to be a speedster, he works with Dr. Meena Dhawan, CEO of Fast Track Labs, to create an artificial Speed Force device. Thawne falls in love with Meena and gives up his dream when he uses the device to save Meena's life, inadvertently connecting his partner to the Negative Speed Force. Thawne works with Barry to free Meena from its corruption, but is ultimately sacrificed by the Negative Forces so that the timeline's original version of himself can be revived in his body.[4][28]

Cavanagh has stated many times that he enjoys playing Eobard Thawne as the character is interesting, complex, and challenging.[56][57][58] When speaking with the Television Academy about playing the character, Cavanagh said: 'The Reverse-Flash has what I like to a call timeless way of speaking. He doesn't use colloquialisms from 2016, he's a little more formal, and he takes joy in destroying people. He has a larger perspective because he comes from 100-plus years in the future and has seen it all. It's easy to play a character like that. He's the arch in arch-villain.'[59] He also sat down with Rolling Stone to discuss his supervillain voice in which he said: "If you're doing it right, you can be charismatic, you can win people over, and you can have so much fun. You build a cage and then you just rattle that cage more than the leading guy can a lot."[60] Kreisberg insisted that Thawne was not evil because his fatherly affection for Cisco was genuine, and "he has a reason for doing what he's doing and he has an agenda and he thinks of himself as the hero ... bad people are capable of incredible amounts of kindness and generosity".[40]

When asked by the Television Academy about wearing the Reverse-Flash suit, Cavanagh replied with "That's a lot of what acting is. Often times, you're tapping into the things you did as a youth. You pretended. A lot of us pretended to be Batman, to be our favorite super-hero. A lot of times, you pretended to have the power of imagination at your side. And the first time you put it on, the cameras are rolling, and off you go at superspeed. I've gotten to do some great, great thrilling stunts in the suit. It is a dream come true. I understand that it's a job, and I'm getting paid, but the second that a director yells, "Action", all that disappears, and you're a guy in a supersuit. It's extremely thrilling. I've said before that I wish that anyone who is a legitimate comic book fan could have this opportunity. It really feels like a privilege."[59] Cavanagh also said "I benefited from all the trial and error that went into that. ... I think they did a marvelous job with the suit, I'm always very flattered and honored to put it on," when speaking with Access Hollywood.[61]

Tom Cavanagh's portrayal of Eobard Thawne has received critical praise since the first season. Erik Kain from Forbes stated that Cavanagh "is uncanny, a perfect fit for the ominous yet likable villain. All his lines and statements connect with audiences precisely because of how well Cavanagh pulls off the role, and how well that role is written."[66] Collider chose Tom Cavanagh as the Best TV Actor of the Week on May 18, 2015.[67] Rotten Tomatoes ranked Cavanagh's Reverse-Flash as the Scariest Character on Comic Book Television as of November 2019.[68] Chancellor Agard from Entertainment Weekly wrote "No matter how many ups and downs The Flash has had over its run, it has never faltered when it comes to its characterization of Thawne."[69]

The Flash's Eobard Thawne was ranked number 35 on Rolling Stone's list of the 40 Greatest TV Villains of All Time.[70] He also topped Entertainment Weekly's list of 20 "best" villains on superhero TV in 2015,[71] and was included on Collider's list of Best TV Villains of 2015.[72] Cavanagh received an IGN Awards nomination for Best TV Villain for his portrayal of the character in The Flash.[73] He was also nominated for Choice TV Villain at the 2015 Teen Choice Awards.[74] Screen Rant's Jason Berman ranked Cavanagh fifth on his 2016 list 20 Best Actors in the Arrowverse.[75] The entertainment website Collider chose Tom Cavanagh as the Best TV Actor of the Week on May 18, 2015.[67]