Geeking Out About Television #5: Arrowverse Rewrite | The Reverse Flash's Alternate Origin

Context From The Author Before Reading

Just so the reader knows, this was an excerpt from an episode review that I did for The Flash (Season 8 Ep. 5 to be exact). Just as a quick refresher this was the episode that was acting as a sort of conclusion to the Armageddon/Reverse Flashpoint story with Thawne pressuring Barry to save him. This was also the episode where Thawne, after 7-8 seasons, finally went into detail about why he became the villainous thorn in the Flash's side for years. Keeping in mind that the Reverse Flash was my favorite villain on the show early on and the anchor point that I held onto whenever the show began to gradually sink in quality, this episode was a big deal for me. This wasn't just "a villain on the show", this was "thee villain for the entire series" finally disclosing why exactly he's the antagonistic figure that's been. 

Since Season 1, I’ve been begging for the series to dive into Eobard’s origin for hating the Flash which they’ve always merely touched the surface via intentionally vague remarks. The way that I’ve always thought about it given said vague interactions was that Thawne, who was a big fan of the Flash, traveled through time and discovered that he was his biggest hero’s arch nemesis which psychologically broke him. I liked this idea because it showed a superhero’s biggest admirer being shattered by a revelation that he discovered through some cosmic slap to the face. To have this be the foundation resulting in his hatred is pretty intriguing and different from any other villain that we've seen.

In this episode however, they reveal something else entirely different which is that Thawne, during his time period, was apparently going to show the public his newly created speedster powers (replicating the Flash). Only before he could present himself, Barry shows up out of nowhere on some unspecified mission and saves the crowd from some unspecified danger unintentionally stealing Thawne’s spotlight. I wasn't a fan of this concept whatsoever as it made Thawne seem even more of petty sociopath than he already was which ripped away any sense of intrigue that was built around the character all these years. 

Was this poor excuse of a backstory the original idea acting as the foundation for the show's greatest rivalry the whole time? Is this really what we've been building up to for 8 seasons? Looking back at past conversations between Barry and Thawne in the earlier seasons, it certainly doesn’t seem like it. If this is something that the show runner of Season 8 came up with, then this is a prime example of the wrong person being in the wrong seat of creative authority. Either way, my immediate disappointment with this origin story is what lead to me coming up with my own on the spot and slipping it into the episode review. This article is meant to specifically highlight that initially thrown together concept.

An Alternate Version of The Reverse Flash's Origins

Here’s one idea that I’ve always had with the Reverse Flash's backstory. Thawne during his time period was a brilliant, albeit slightly obsessive, scientist and admirer of the Flash wanting to become his own version of the iconic superhero. After obtaining the power to travel through time, he became psychologically broken after history revealed his eventual villainous turn against the very same hero that he idolized. It’s as simple and effective as that. All you have to do is dive into some flashbacks (flash forwards?) of Matt Letscher’s Eobard replicating the speedforce with the intentions of becoming a speedster superhero and perhaps even teaming up with the Flash if time travel allows it. You can have him run back in time to eagerly meet his hero only to witness a version of him battling the Flash in what appears to be a brutally intense confrontation.

You can have Thawne then decide to leave to explore different points in history further discovering what he feared...a concrete confirmation of what he had witnessed being this extensive rivalry between the two. Thawne can fight through stages of denial eventually coming to a place of acceptance that, at some point, he would end up becoming his greatest hero’s greatest villain. This moment of acceptance is the establishing point that leads to him having an immense psychological breakdown. Eobard doesn’t know if, somehow some way, his tampering with time is what accidentally caused this conflict or if this was fate all along. Thawne felt like the universe was punishing him for wanting to follow his hero's legacy, and after realizing that he isn't smart enough to scientifically solve this fixed point in history, he nearly loses his mind out of sheer anguish. 

So, what does he do? He decides to meet with the Flash at a certain point in time in an attempt to ask him for support since he doesn't know who else to run to. Only instead of helping him, this version of the Flash immediately distrusts Thawne's intentions believing it to be some trap and attacks him. This leads to Thawne feeling isolated and paranoid paving the way to his villainous turn after being beaten by the Flash and barely escaping. And.....done. The end. Simple. You have an intriguing mystery and question of what came first while still understanding a villain’s motivation. You could've had an entire episode dedicated to this story switching between Thawne and Barry's conversation about his origins with the flashbacks. Fans would get to see both Tom and Matt delivering arguably their best performances due to the compelling material at hand and we would've brought this villain to its peak of narrative intrigue.

Also, this idea would've perfectly tied into the character interactions from previous seasons where Thawne was always being vague about their rivalry. There was also that line from the Flashpoint episode where Thawne told Barry that he wasn't sure between the two who was right or wrong. That ambiguity of the Reverse Flash's villainy I think is one of the most interesting things about the character which I believe my alternate backstory successfully captures, retains, and yet simultaneously expands upon.

Editor's Final Note: So, there you have it guys. My initially thrown together rewrite of the The Flash's biggest villain, the Reverse Flash. I do hope you guys enjoyed reading the article despite whatever errors may have made its presence known (I've always openly admitted to have terrible grammar for instance). Now yes, my rewrite for Thawne's story may not be necessarily flawless as it does leave the door open to the obvious question "What actually caused Flash and Reverse Flash to fight in the first place?". However, I do feel that I was able to give one of the show's most celebrated antagonists a much more compelling and satisfyingly engaging backstory versus what we got in Season 8.

On a side note, if you'd like to see what I thought of the Flash series and other shows with individual episode discussions, check out my Facebook Page here. It's my central hub of content outside of the Saleem's Expedition blog.