The Flash: The 10 Worst Things Eobard Thawne Has Done

When looking at Barry Allen’s worst enemies on The CW version of The Flash, it begins and ends with Eobard Thawne — the Reverse Flash. There have been some great villains on The Flash throughout its run, but all have fallen short of Flash’s greatest villain — the man who hurt our hero more than any other villain in history.

A villain from the future, Thawne traveled back in time to defeat his sworn enemy in Barry Allen, and ended up doing a lot more than that on the TV show. Add in the alternate Earths, a lot of actions that resulted in awful consequences and a crossover to Legends of Tomorrow, and Thawne remained an enemy for the ages. Here is a look at the 10 worst things Eobard Thawne has done.

10 he KILLED NORA ALLEN

It all starts with the moment that started Barry Allen’s eventual race to become a superhero to begin with. When he was a child, his mother was murdered in front of his eyes, before he was whisked away and left far from the horrors that took place in his home that night.

While the police had one idea on who killed Nora Allen, the truth is that it was Eobard Thawne who committed the crime. The young man grew up without either of his parents, and didn’t realize until later that his future self sent his younger self to safety before Thawne took his mother’s life.

9 he FRAMED HENRY ALLEN FOR MURDER

Eobard Thawne not only killed Barry Allen’s mother, but his actions left Henry Allen standing at the murder scene with no explanation (other than the yellow blur that killed his wife). As a result, Henry Allen was tried and convicted of his wife’s murder — a crime he never committed.

This was the double shot Thawne hit Barry Allen with, when the future Flash was just a young boy. He killed his mom and caused his dad to end up in jail for many years for a crime he never committed. This act caused an innocent man to sit in jail for years and left Barry on the outside looking in.

8 he KILLED DR. HARRISON WELLS

Eobard Thawne had karma come back to hit him when he killed Nora, because he was unable to return to his own time. Now stuck in the timeframe where he committed his worst act, Thawne decided to follow through with another plan, since he knew only Barry could help him return. He sought out a brilliant scientist named Dr. Harrison Wells and killed him.

Eobard Thawne then assumed the identity of Dr. Harrison Wells and took control of S.T.A.R. Labs. He pushed for the construction of the particle accelerator, which was needed to fulfill his ultimate plan of creating the Flash.

7 he MANIPULATED S.T.A.R. EMPLOYEES

With Eobard Thawne portraying Dr. Harrison Wells, he was able to build the team at S.T.A.R. Labs. Not only did they work under him to create the particle accelerator, but they remained loyal to him after the accident when it exploded.

Thawne hired Cisco Ramon as a youngster to come work at S.T.A.R. Labs and mentored him, knowing that Cisco would one day become Vibe. He was almost like a father figure to Cisco, which made his betrayal sting worse. He also developed a very loyal companion in Caitlin, and was responsible for the accident that almost killed her fiance.

6 he CAUSED the PARTICLE ACCELERATOR EXPLOSION

Eobard Thawne then built the particle accelerator, knowing there was a chance that the entire thing could explode when activated. He even fired a scientist named Hartley Rathaway (the future Pied Piper) when the young man tried to warn him about the possibility.

These fears were realized when they turned it on: after a short celebration as everyone believed it was a success, it exploded. The incident created the Flash but and gave superpowers to countless people in the vicinity of the explosion, resulting in a city of super villains that terrorized the world.

5 he MANIPULATED the FLASH

After the particle accelerator explosion, Eobard Thawne set out to complete the next part of his plan. He was taken to the hospital and told Joe West that he could help save Barry Allen’s life — as Barry was in a coma after being struck by lightning. He saved Barry’s life even though he wanted to kill him.

The only way Eobard could get back to his future timeline was to save Barry’s life, teach him to be the Flash, make him as fast as possible and then steal his powers to return. As a result, he spent a lot of time mentoring and teaching Barry how to use his powers in a way that mirrored his original manipulation of Cisco and Caitlin — using people who trusted him for his own evil purposes.

4 he JOINED THE SS FORCES

In one of the best episodes of The Flash, the team beat Eobard Thawne — the Reverse Flash — and gained a modicum of revenge for his betrayal of their trust and friendship. However, while it looked like Eobard was wiped out of existence in this timeline, he was not finished as a villain in the Arrowverse.

Thawne returned in Legends of Tomorrow and retained his memories, despite his deaths in the first season of The Flash and later at the hands of the Black Flash. He ended up on Earth-X, met the evil Dark Arrow and joined the Nazi-styled SS forces, becoming a general in that organization and helping to lead an invasion of Earth-1.

3 he REWROTE REALITY FOR the LEGION OF DOOM

With everything that he did with the SS forces, Eobard Thawne went one better (that is to say, worse) when he helped create the Legion of Doom. He went back in time to get Damien Darhk, went on ahead to get Malcolm Merlyn, and finished it off by recruiting Leonard Snart and Mick Rory. They sought out the Spear of Destiny and then rewrote reality.

Eobard Thawne and his friends succeeded and made themselves the rulers of the world. It wasn’t the Flash who dealt with this time crime but the Legends of Tomorrow, who went back in time and wiped out the Spear of Destiny from existence to revert things to normal.

2 he MANIPULATED NORA WEST-ALLEN

Eobard Thawne has been responsible for some cruel manipulations, gaining trust from people who care about him and then betraying them when they realize he was using them as just a pawn in his plans. In the future, he did the same thing to Nora West-Allen, the daughter of Barry Allen and Iris West-Allen.

Eobard was imprisoned in 2049, and Nora traveled back in time to become a member of Team Flash. Nora was estranged from her mother for keeping her speed powers a secret and allowed Eobard to mentor her. It was later revealed he was only doing it to get her to destroy Cicada’s dagger, which would free him.

1 he was RESPONSIBLE FOR FLASHPOINT

When it comes to Eobard Thawne’s actions, his numerous crimes against Barry Allen resulted in one of his greatest wrongdoings. He killed Nora Allen and framed Henry Allen, leaving Barry Allen to grow up without his parents. He caused the explosion which gave Barry his powers and then manipulated him, proving that he can’t trust everyone.

His actions eventually led to Barry Allen’s worst mistake — Flashpoint. Barry raced back in time and saved his mother from her death at the hands of Eobard Thawne. By so doing, he created a new timeline, but realized that he had to go back and let his mother die again — watching her die a second time at the hands of Reverse Flash.

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