The Flash: A Speedster Hero Just Made a Villainous Declaration - CBR - Comic Book Resources

WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Flash #761, by Joshua Williamson, Howard Porter, Hi-Fi and Steve Wands, on sale now.

Of all the superhero/super villain feuds throughout the DC Universe, few are more murderously personal than the one between Barry Allen and Eobard Thawne, otherwise known as the Flash and Reverse-Flash. Initially growing up as the Flash's greatest fan in the distant future, the mentally unstable Eobard grew incredibly jealous when he felt spurned by his idol during a time-displaced team-up. This shared antagonism had Eobard target and murder people close to Barry throughout his entire life, including his mother Nora while framing his father Henry for the crime. And, as the Flash Family battles Eobard's Legion of Zoom, Barry makes a fateful decision that puts him morally at odds with most of his teammates on the Justice League by declaring he will murder Eobard himself.

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For Barry, this decision has been steadily building throughout the DC Rebirth era, even apart from Eobard murdering Nora and manipulating Barry to causing the Flashpoint alternate reality. Clashing with Eobard frequently, Barry learned that Eobard had widened his vendetta to orchestrate tragedies in other speedsters' lives around him. It was Eobard that caused the tragedies that transformed Hunter Zolomon into the villainous Zoom and had secretly murdered August Heart's brother to cause him to become the lethal antihero Godspeed before killing him in front of Barry, who was his longtime friend and colleague.

While August's murder had informed Barry's decision to put an end to the threat of Reverse-Flash once and for all, Eobard continued to twist the knife and taunt Barry further. In addition to orchestrating the tragedies in his, Hunter and August's lives, Eobard revealed that he had also targeted Barry's first protege and best friend Wally West. It was Eobard who had secretly goaded Wally into having an epic falling out with Barry during "Flash War" and had set up Wally to accidentally kill his fellow patients at the superhero rehabilitation facility of Sanctuary and attempt to cover up his involvement during the crossover event Heroes in Crisis. As Eobard races off to discover how time has changed without his knowledge, including Wally gaining the omnipotent powers of Doctor Manhattan, Barry chases after him swearing he will kill him this time.

While the declaration is certainly a shocking one coming from the Flash, it isn't unprecedented between the two. Before Crisis on Infinite Earths, Eobard had managed to murder Barry's wife Iris after she rejected his own romantic overtures. After mourning her death, Barry found love again with a young woman named Fiona Webb and prepared to marry her before Eobard resurfaced and threatened her. Still haunted by Iris' death, Barry murdered Eobard by snapping his neck and was found guilty of a jury of his peers before escaping to the far-future where he reunited with a reborn Iris.

As John Fox recounts to his own protege in the 853rd century, Barry Allen's longstanding feud with Eobard Thawne will come to a definitive end with this high-speed confrontation, with Fox hinting that it will result in great tragedy for the Scarlet Speedster.

Eobard has forced Barry to cross the line before and kill him but, as Eobard's numerous appearances in DC Rebirth have shown, death has never proven to be the end for the time-traveling villain. How Barry will put a decisive stop to the Reverse-Flash and prevent another resurrection is sure to cost the superhero dearly.

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Sam Stone is a 10th level pop culture guru living just outside of Washington, DC who knows an unreasonable amount about The Beatles. You can read his work in the pages of Image+, follow him on Twitter @samstoneshow, and listen to his podcast Geek Out Show on iTunes and Google Play.