Who is the Reverse-Flash?
Since the first episode of The Flash, fans have been teased with the question of “who is the man in the yellow suit?” Comic book fans know him as the Reverse-Flash, a character who has plagued DC Comics speedsters for decades. While there are plenty of reasons to believe that The Flash is taking a rather direct approach to the identity of the Reverse-Flash, it might not quite be as simple as we expect, if only because that would be too easy.
And, as you're about to find out, absolutely nothing is easy when it comes to the Reverse-Flash.
Trying to untangle the intricacies of Reverse-Flash history would really be a pointlessly confusing task. But it looks like The Flash is taking elements from two distinct incarnations of the Reverse-Flash and either combining them into this “man in the yellow suit” we’ve already seen in action, and/or spreading them out across multiple characters.
The original "man in the yellow suit" was Eobard Thawne, who became Professor Zoom, the Reverse-Flash. Thawne was a man from the future who got himself some super speed and a snazzy suit (don't ask how, just go with it) and became obsessed with Barry Allen and came back in time to bedevil him. To virtually nobody's surprise, Harrison Wells has now been revealed as Eobard Thawne, and he certainly has a bit of a Barry Allen obsession.
The Professor Zoom/Eobard Thawne of the comics became so obsessed with Barry that he had plastic surgery to resemble him more. Obviously, the show took a different route. But there's a neat parallel here, anyway. The television Eobard Thawne didn't come here from the future and create the fictional identity of Harrison Wells. No, Harrison Wells was a real scientist, and Eobard simply...absorbed him. Or something. Either way, while it isn't plastic surgery, it does kind of mirror the comic Thawne's visual transformation.
Keep in mind that Flash executive producer Geoff Johns added a major component to Flash and Reverse-Flash mythology when he wrote The Flash: Rebirth, a comic series that first revealed Barry's troubled past. Who killed Nora Allen in that comic? That would be Eobard Thawne. But before he took on the "Joe Chill" role in Flash's history (where are my Batman fans?), the character's greatest achievement was the murder of Iris West, something which makes the final moment of "The Flash is Born" all the more chilling.
Shortly before Barry and Iris were to be married, Zoom murdered Iris with a super speed blow to the brain, and years later he intended to do it again when Barry was getting ready to marry Fiona Webb. While trying to stop Zoom, Barry accidentally killed him. This kicked off what is arguably the greatest storyline in Flash’s history, “The Trial of The Flash,” a two-year long exploration of Flash's manslaughter trial.
"The Trial of the Flash" felt wildly out of place, especially in a DC Comic, upon its publication in the early ‘80s, but in hindsight it was actually kind of ahead of its time. I'm willing to wax endlessly about how excellent it is and why it really deserves a more prestigious place in the role call of mid-80s superhero comics that helped move the genre forward, but I've got my hands full trying to explain this whole "man in the yellow suit" thing. I promise to get to it in a future article, though.
Now, none of this clears up the Eddie Thawne issue, but I'm trying to get to that. For now, Harrison Wells/Eobard Thawne has referred to Eddie as "a distant relative" and we're forced to leave it at that. But it opens up a whole range of confusing possibilities.
Y'see there's also another Reverse-Flash, inspired by the deeds of Professor Zoom. This one was a cop...but not Eddie Thawne. Confused yet? Good. It means you're human and you haven't read too many comic books like I have.
