The relationship between the The Reverse-Flash and The Flash might not be as iconic as the never-ending rivalry between Batman and The Joker. Yet there is a reason that as the spotlight continues to grow on the Fastest Man Alive, his most powerful nemesis also grows in esteem. There have been multiple characters who have held onto the title of The Reverse-Flash or a facsimile of it. Hunter Zolomon, Daniel West and Edward Clariss have all been The Flash’s dark double at one time or another, yet there’s really only one true Reverse-Flash and his name is Eobard Thawne.

Since his first appearance in The Flash #139, Eobard Thawne has been making life worse for the Scarlet Speedster(s). Thawne is widely considered one of the most sadistic and dangerous villains in the DC Universe but he’s a not a complete monster. Although much of the The Reverse-Flash’s long history has seen him being the worst, there’s also been some charitable moments from the supervillain. The Reverse-Flash will never be viewed as hero -- it just isn’t in his nature. Yet throughout his multiple appearances, which have even begun to stretch in the realm of live-action, there’s a lot more nuance to Eobard than some fans might realize.

17 VILLAINOUS: INFECTED BARRY WITH THE NEGATIVE SPEED FORCE

The Reverse-Flash and The Flash have tangled together plenty of times in the comics. Usually though when a conflict is finished, there’s no lingering effects …except the emotional scars on Barry’s psyche. This wasn't the case after the two’s first real showdown post-DC Rebirth. As a part of his latest scheme for revenge against The Flash, Eobard Thawne infected Barry with the Negative Speed Force. This might not sound too terrible, however, as Barry quickly learned there were a lot of downsides to having a little piece of Thawne stick with him. The Negative Speed Force turned every sprint from Barry into a path of destruction. Any time Barry used his powers, no matter his intention, the Negative Speed Force ripped apart anything (and anyone) in its path -- the more Barry tried to save people, the more unintentional harm he caused.

This wasn’t the only problem, as the Negative Speed Force also severely impacted Barry’s healing factor.

Barry could no longer heal like a speedster, making his every wound as The Flash stick around for much longer. The Negative Speed Force also impacted Barry’s mood, making him prone to terrifying rage. Fortunately, Barry’s infection didn’t last too terribly long. Barry’s ex, Meena Dhawan, eventually betrayed Barry and took the Negative Speed Force for herself, becoming The Negative Flash. Yet the act remains of Thawne’s most insidious and destructive attacks on Barry -- it took away the one thing that made The Flash, The Flash his sense of heroism.

16 HEROIC: CREATED THE FLASH (AND OTHER METAHUMANS)

The CW’s The Flash started the series with The Reverse-Flash as the first major villain. Even though he was erased from the timeline at the end of season 1, The Reverse-Flash still become one of the biggest baddies of the Arrowverse. Thanks to time travel. there’s no limit when and where Eobard Thawne will show up next, even if it’s a lieutenant on alternate Earth run by Nazis. All that being said, The Flash still presented a rather nuanced portrayal of Thawne. Since his first appearance on The Flash, Eobard Thawne has had some downright heroic moments in the Arrowverse and one of the biggest is also one of the first: Thawne is responsible for a whole wave of metahumans, including The Flash.

There were selfish reasons for Thawne’s intentional explosion of STAR Labs' particle accelerator, as it was all apart of his grand plan to return to his time. The particle accelerator also created a fair deal of supervillains. However, the explosion may have done more good than harm actually -- it’s thanks to Thawne that The Flash, Firestorm, Vibe, and Black Canary all exist. The good that any one of those heroes has done pretty much outweighs any harm the explosion might’ve caused. The Arrowverse’s modern wave of superheroes is all due to Thawne.

15 VILLAINOUS: BROKE THE MIND OF THE WOMAN HE “LOVED”

A lot of Eobard Thawne’s personality can be defined in comparison and opposition to The Flash. Thawne takes the "reverse" part of his moniker to heart -- he tries to be the mirror image of Barry in every way. Occasionally though Thawne’s life does intersect with Barry’s in eerily similar ways. Like Barry, Thawne once fell in love with a reporter who shared her name with a flower. Unlike Barry, the reporter’s name was Rose (not Iris) and even more unlike Barry, their love story took a very disturbing turn.

It’s more accurate to say that Thawne wasn’t in love with Rose, rather he was obsessed with her.

Upon seeing Rose for the first time, Thawne fell madly in love with her, but she barely noticed him. When Rose began a relationship with someone else, Thawne killed the suitor. Yet still being a woman with her own free will, Rose wasn’t romantically interested in Thawne. Frustrated and crazier than a bag of cats, Thawne used his powers to break Rose’s mind. Thawne traveled back in time to when Rose was just a young child. Using super speed, Thawne shook Rose so much that her brains became a literal mush and she was forced to spend the rest of her life, mute and addled, in a mental institution.

14 HEROIC: TRIED TO BECOME BARRY ALLEN

Depending on the writer, the motivations and origins of The Reverse-Flash have changed. The Flash series has implied that Barry did something horrible to The Reverse-Flash in the future and that’s what inspired their ageless and era-less rivalry. Other times The Reverse-Flash’s hatred for The Flash has been as simple as him being a straight-up crazy person. However, The Reverse-Flash’s oldest and most persistent motivations have boiled down to him being a fanboy with a very twisted sense of right and wrong. In the future, The Reverse-Flash became obsessed with The Flash and his (past) tales of heroism -- Eobard Thawne wanted to become him. Yet because he was just the teensy bit deranged, this love eventually turned to hate and after trying to be The Flash is own time, Eobard turned to crime.

After the “death” of Barry Allen in "Crisis on Infinite Earths", Eobard got a second chance to become The Flash. Thawne traveled back in time and convinced the new Flash, Wally West, and everyone else that he was really Barry Allen. For awhile, Eobard took the job as The Flash as naturally as the real Barry. He was helping people and being a genuine hero. However, quickly things turned sour, and Thawne's true colors came out as Wally became rightly convinced that this man wasn’t the real Barry. Thawne revealed himself and was a little too violent in the process. At the start though, The Reverse-Flash really had the best, if slightly twisted, of intentions.

13 VILLAINOUS: TORMENTED A YOUNG BARRY ALLEN

No matter what sparked it, The Reverse-Flash is usually powered by one singular focus: He hates Barry Allen and wants to destroy Barry's life at whatever possible cost. Having access to time travel, The Reverse-Flash can make Barry’s life hell long before the two ever really met. This means that when Barry was just a young boy, Eobard Thawne was circulating in the background silently torturing Barry. As detailed in Geoff Johns’ The Flash: Rebirth, when Barry was just a kid, Eobard was his own personal bogeyman. Using his super speed, The Reverse-Flash stalked the young Barry without anyone being the wiser. The Reverse-Flash pushed Barry down the stairs, breaking his arm. Thawne opened the door of Barry's house and killed his dog.

Lastly, Thawne found Barry’s childhood friend and erased him from his existence.

This latter bit was all apart of Thawne’s experiments to see how much he could change to the timeline, without erasing himself in the process. In other words, the existence of the innocent child wasn’t even important to Thawne -- he was just a piece of a very callous and murderous experiment. The Reverse-Flash has killed and maimed several people but his secret haunting of a young Barry Allen (and his close friends) is a whole other level of monstrous.

12 HEROIC: CARED FOR GORILLA GRODD

On The Flash, Eobard Thawne didn’t just create a whole wave of metahumans, he is also responsible for one of the most wonderfully weird villains to come out of DC Comics, Gorilla Grodd. According to Grodd himself, Thawne is his “father", but the specifics of how Thawne created Grodd don’t put him in the best light. Thawne, as Harrison Wells, took an innocent Gorilla and experimented on him until he became a highly intelligent telepath. Thawne’s Grodd experiments are enough to make the most even-keeled PETA representative rage, as everything he did to Grodd was against his will.

However, it’s not as if Thawne was completely and totally awful to Grodd. The Reverse-Flash might’ve used Grodd to create his own hairy bodyguard, but that doesn't mean that he was always mistreating him. At the same time as he was grooming the gorilla to become his heavy, Thawne did care for Grodd and besides the nasty experiments, Thawne treated Grodd with respect and  with kindness. If you really think about it, Thawne and Grodd’s partnership was no different than the one that Barry has with his other sidekicks. The only difference is that it just happened that these two were on the other side of the law.

11 VILLAINOUS: TOOK OUT CISCO RAMON

Sadly, for everyone involved, Rose isn’t the first time that Thawne has used his powers on someone he supposedly cared for and loved. During The Flash season 1, viewers learned that “Harrison Wells” was The Reverse-Flash well in advance of the characters. Although it wouldn’t take till the end of the season for all the pieces to fall in place, fans knew that there was something up with Wells. In the episode, “Out of Time,” one character finally picked up on the secret: Cisco Ramon. He put his extraordinarily intelligent brain to work and started to realize there was something up with his mentor and father figure, Harrison Wells.

Cisco discovered that Wells had been lying to them and that he was really The Reverse-Flash from the distant future.

Unfortunately for Cisco, Thawne figured out that Cisco knew his secret. In order to keep his identity under wraps, Thawne vibrated his hand and thrust it through Cisco’s chest, an act that instantly kills Cisco. Thankfully, this murder didn’t stick because moments after Thawne killed Cisco, Barry time traveled for the first time ever. Cisco’s death, as well as all the events of the previous 24 hours were undone. Yet viewers (and eventually Cisco) had to live with the knowledge that although Thawne viewed Cisco as a son, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill him.

10 VILLAINOUS: LASHES OUT AT HIS TEACHER AND FAMILY

The “benefit” of being a sociopath with access to time travel is no period or person's life is off-limits for mayhem. Thawne’s most infamous deeds in the timeline might be the ones he’s done to mess with Barry Allen. However, Thawne has messed just as much with his own life, as his backstory is littered with him changing it, killing and erasing people from existence so he would became The Reverse-Flash. Since time travel is involved, it’s confusing but the basic gist is that the future Thawne eliminated anyone who tried to stop his past self from reaching his dark destiny.

Eobard Thawne originally had a brother, Robern. Yet caring for Robern took up so much of Eobard’s time and the young Eobard resented his brother so much, that The Reverse-Flash prevented Robern from ever being born. Later, Thawne’s professor got close to discovering the Speed Force before Thawne. In order to prevent that, The Reverse-Flash killed the professor. Lastly, and maybe worst of all, Eobard’s parents got concerned about how much time their son was spending researching the Speed Force. They tried to stop him… but the future Reverse-Flash killed them to prevent their intervention. No matter who you are, the worst thing you could be to The Reverse-Flash is in his way.

9 VILLAINOUS: BEAT DOWN WALLY AND TOOK IRIS

Before DC Comics rebooted its universe in DC Rebirth, The Reverse-Flash was around and responsible for most of the misery in Barry Allen’s life. However, DC Rebirth had The Reverse-Flash return to the forefront of Barry Allen’s life and had him commit one of his most violent and shocking acts ever. In the story arc “Running Scared” which was written by Joshua Williamson and drawn by Carmine Di Giandomenico, The Reverse-Flash returned to wreak havoc on Barry’s life.

He immediately struck at the people closest to Barry, his beloved girlfriend Iris West and her young nephew Wally West.

Wally (who was actually the second Wally West Barry knew), who is Kid Flash, tried to protect his aunt and for his trouble got nothing but broken bones. The Reverse-Flash barely broke a sweat taking out the young Wally. He specifically broke Wally's bones, in his arms and legs, in a way that would make them very hard to heal. The Reverse-Flash left Wally crippled and broken on the ground, not beating the life out of him but getting very, very close. Then once that was done, Thawne took a (rightfully horrified) Iris and used her as bait to lead Barry into a trap.

8 HEROIC: RESTORED THE TIMELINE

Thawne is hardly the only speedster who has messed with time. It seems that one of the prerequisites to accessing the Speed Force to be tempted with time travel and mess with the timeline. Every Flash, Reverse or not, has considering changing time or have just outright done it. One of the most infamous examples is "Flashpoint", which The Flash adapted in season 3. After Zoom killed Barry Allen’s father in The Flash season 2, Barry went back in time to prevent the deaths of his mother and father. Barry stopped The Reverse-Flash from killing Nora Allen and imprisoned him and a new timeline was created and Barry was happy -- for a time.

While Barry was living in the world of "Flashpoint", he was receiving constant advice (and/or berating) from The Reverse-Flash about how he had doomed time by messing with things so severely. Eventually The Reverse-Flash’s very serious and honest warnings sunk in and Barry reversed his decision. The only the catch is he relied on The Reverse-Flash to do it. Barry released Thawne from his prison and sent to change things back, killing Barry’s mother. It’s hard to call The Reverse-Flash's killing of Nora Allen “heroic”, but after "Flashpoint" it really was the right thing to do. The Reverse-Flash fixed the colossal mistake and the disaster that Barry had made.

7 VILLAINOUS: TRIED TO RUIN BARRY'S SECOND MARRIAGE

It turns out the deadliest position to hold in the DC Universe is to be a woman close to Barry Allen. At least that’s what The Reverse-Flash appears to believe. After killing Iris West, but before murdering Nora Allen, The Reverse-Flash went after another lady in Barry’s life. After mourning the death of Iris, Barry fell in love with and got engaged to another woman named Fiona Webb. Fiona was a woman in the witness protection program whose real name was Beverly Lewis and she had a hard life before meeting Barry, but after meeting Barry things got much worse. Fiona and Barry’s wedding was interrupted by The Reverse-Flash who arrived and tried to kill Fiona.

Barry, not ready to lose another wife, stopped Thawne and put an end to The Reverse-Flash permanently (at the time). 

The act of nearly being murdered and watching a man die at her own wedding, completely fractured the mind of Fiona -- she was left at the altar by Barry and went completely insane. It could be argued that Fiona was already teetering on the edge of mental break down but the actions of The Reverse-Flash definitely took over the edge. Thawne’s death at Barry’s hands didn’t end the character’s appearances, mostly because time travel was still a thing. Furthermore, Fiona, her relationship to Barry and Thawne's death seems to be lost to the passage of time. Yet this attack was what finally convinced Barry enough was enough and that Thawne needed to go.

6 HEROIC: TOLD IRIS BARRY WAS THE FLASH

Most of the "Running Scared" arc has The Reverse-Flash at his most terrible and terrifying -- everything Thawne does is straight out a horrible film. Yet in between all the kidnappings, The Reverse-Flash manages to do something Barry should’ve done a lot time ago: He ends up being the one who tells Iris that The Flash and Barry Allen are one in the same.

The New 52 erased Barry and Iris’ marriage and turned them into just friends. Yet by the time of DC Rebirth, Iris and Barry had been close friends for years and were very seriously dating. Everyone close to Iris knew that Barry was The Flash, except Iris and there was absolutely no reason for Barry to not tell Iris the truth. True, Thawne told Iris the truth to drive a wedge between Barry and herself, but Thawne had some pretty solid and logical reasoning for doing the deed. Most of Thawne’s anti-Flash rhetoric is the ramblings of the mad man. Yet by telling Iris the secret, Thawne argued that Barry wasn’t being a hero by lying. Barry was doing Iris more harm than good by lying to her. He might be legitimate crazy person but even Thawne knows you don’t lie to the people you love.

5 VILLAINOUS:  FRAMED BARRY'S FATHER

When most people think of the worst thing The Reverse-Flash ever did, this is the big one. The murder of Nora Allen and the framing of Henry Allen have become a huge part of Barry Allen’s backstory as The Flash. The injustice of Henry’s imprisonment and Nora’s death is what inspired Barry to become a hero. The murder of Nora opened The Flash TV show and has been hinted at in the DCEU, yet all of this a pretty new element to The Flash’s story. It wasn’t until Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver’s The Flash: Rebirth that Thawne killing Nora was a part of Barry’s history. Before Barry was just a forensic scientist who became a hero after lab accident -- there was no tragic backstory and that’s the true villainy of The Reverse-Flash’s actions.

The death of Nora Allen isn’t a typical comic book retcon in that it was always the case and it was only recently revealed to the reader.

The Reverse-Flash rewrote time itself when he killed Nora, she wasn’t “supposed” to die and the death of Nora created a new and alternate timeline. This is the case in the comics as well as the TV show. The Reverse-Flash openly admitted in both stories that everyone’s living in an alternate universe because of his actions.

4 HEROIC: CONFESSED ABOUT NORA ALLEN

In the comics, The Reverse-Flash has never shown any regret about killing Nora Allen -- he did it gladly and he would certainly do it again. This isn’t quite the case in the TV show and Eobard Thawne doesn’t have quite a redemption arc in The Flash season 1 but he gets close. Close enough that he records a video message confessing to the murder of Nora Allen, which frees Henry Allen from his wrongful imprisonment.

At the beginning of The Flash season 2, the team finds this taped confession. It was recorded and meant to be released in the event of Thawne’s death. Thawne did it as a “gift” to Barry to prove that they were never truly enemies and to give him what he always wanted, but Thawne isn’t completely altruistic. The Reverse Flash tells Barry he’ll never be happy even with his father out of prison (which, given the subsequent seasons of The Flash, seems to be true). Yet the fact that Thawne did it at all, is a huge step in the right moral direction. Granted, he should’ve never killed Nora to begin with but at least he had the decency to help free an innocent man from prison.

3 VILLAINOUS:  WHAT HE DID TO IRIS WEST

The death of Nora Allen is one of The Reverse-Flash’s biggest (and most recent) murders. Yet it’s far from the only time that Eobard Thawne has killed a woman close to Barry. Before Nora, one of the most shocking murders committed by The Reverse-Flash was his massacre of Barry’s wife, Iris West-Allen. Occurring right in the middle of the Silver Age of comics, The Flash #275 sees Iris and Barry attend a superhero masquerade party. Barry, in a total lack of creativity, attends the party as The Flash and Iris, meanwhile, dresses up like Batgirl.

The story isn’t particularly that well told and its ending is done for pure shock value but it is, nevertheless, shocking.

At the end of the party, Iris is found dead and the murderer is (eventually) revealed to be none other than The Reverse-Flash. The death of Iris is one of the more infamous examples of fridging. The story is all about Barry’s pain and who killed Iris and very little about the victim herself and Iris’ death even occurs off-panel and the reader doesn’t even see it until several issues later. Regardless of the quality of the story, killing Iris is one of The Reverse-Flash’s most dastardly deeds. Especially since, much like the murder of Nora, he tries to frame another man for the crime.

2 HEROIC: MENTORED BARRY ALLEN

On The Flash, Harrison Wells/Eobard Thawne is the reason that Barry has his powers. However, Thawne has contributed much more to Barry’s hero journey than just giving him the means to become a speedster. The Reverse-Flash helped “raise” Barry and turned him from an energetic kid with a good heart into a real deal hero. Thawne putting himself on Team Flash was all a part of a master plan. Thawne didn't guide Barry out the goodness of his heart -- there was always an ulterior motive. Thawne wanted Barry to be the fastest Flash possible because it would allow him to go back to his own time.

Whatever his intentions, that doesn’t stop the advice that Thawne gave Barry being genuinely meaningful and helpful. Thawne’s words of wisdom often were far more useful than those coming from either of Barry’s father figures, Joe West or Henry Allen. Not all of Thawne’s advice had to do with his master plan either, as Thawne also weighed in on Barry’s life outside of being The Flash. Some of that guidance was offered freely and ended up being a huge benefit to Barry’s personal life. The Flash’s Barry might hate Thawne (with very good reason) but he wouldn’t be half the hero he is without Thawne’s guidance.

1 VILLAINOUS: RIPPED UP A LETTER FROM BATMAN’S DAD

There’s plenty of jokes to be made about Batman being a little too hung up on the death of his parents. Bruce Wayne hasn't, in any sense, dealt with his grief in a healthy way. However, Batman’s inability to let go resulted in one of the most emotional moments to come out of "Flashpoint" or any other big DC Comics events. In "Flashpoint", Barry Allen messes with time and creates a whole new universe. In this new timeline, Bruce Wayne died from a mugging gone wrong and his father, Thomas Wayne, became Batman, so Barry works with this Batman to restore time. When Barry sets things right he returns to his time and delivers a letter Thomas wrote to his son, Bruce.

This letter stayed displayed in the Batcave, until the mini-event," The Button".

The two-parter saw The Reverse Flash enter the Batcave, beat Bruce within an inch of his life and then, just for the sadistic pleasure, ripped Thomas' note into a million pieces. There was no reason to destroy the letter, other than just enjoying in making Batman's pain. Batman being Batman probably made several hundred copies of the note, yet the original was destroyed. All just because The Reverse-Flash felt like twisting the knife particularly hard at that moment in time.