Arrowverse Brings Back The Flash's Forgotten Time Protectors After Crisis - Screen Rant

Warning! SPOILERS for Legends of Tomorrow season 7.

Legends of Tomorrow has brought back the Time Wraiths, who were first introduced to the Arrowverse in The Flash as the guardians of the Speed Force. Despite a strong first appearance during The Flash season 2, the Time Wraiths have been used sparingly ever since. This led many Arrowverse fans to wonder if the Time Wraiths were still around, given the ethereal upheaval brought about by Crisis on Infinite Earths and the subsequent death of the Speed Force.

The DC Comics multiverse is full of many beings and organizations who are tasked with maintaining cosmic order. Many of these characters, such as the Monitor and the Time Masters, have been adapted into the Arrowverse. The Arrowverse has also given rise to its own additions to the multiversal canon. This includes the Time Wraiths, who are unique to the Arrowverse, but seem to have been inspired by the Black Flash of the comics, who is a manifestation of Death that hunts down speedsters when it is their destined time to die. This is completely different from the Black Flash of the Arrowverse, who, like the Time Wraiths, acted as an enforcer of the Speed Force's laws.

The Time Wraiths have drawn criticism for being inconsistent in how and when they're conveniently manifested, only seeming to show up in early seasons to act as an obstacle to Barry Allen when the plot required one. The reference to the Time Wraiths in Legends of Tomorrow season 7 explains their absence somewhat, by suggesting that the Time Wraiths are more focused on protecting the timeline than punishing rogue speedsters. It is also implied that the Time Wraiths are now taking it upon themselves to monitor all time travelers and not just those bonded to the Speed Force.

The Time Wraiths Before Crisis On Infinite Earths

The Time Wraiths were first shown in The Flash season 2, episode 17, "Flash Back," when Barry Allen traveled back in time to seek advice on how to increase his speed from the Reverse-Flash, Eobard Thawne, during the time that he was still posing as Dr. Harrison Wells. Shortly after his arrival in the past, Barry began being pursued by a ghostly figure that seemed to track him no matter how far or fast he ran. Thawne identified this creature as a Time Wraith and explained that they were the enforcers of the Speed Force, manifesting whenever a speedster traveled in time carelessly and risked causing a paradox. The Time Wraiths were one of the few things Thawne respected, as he noted that no speedster had found a way to defeat them and that evading them was your only hope of surviving an encounter.

While Barry didn't get everything he'd hoped for, his trip to the past did play a part in how he ultimately defeated the villainous speedster Zoom. Using the knowledge of Time Wraiths he had gained from Thawne, Barry also borrowed one of Zoom's favorite speed tricks and created a time remnant of himself during his final battle with Zoom in The Flash season 2 finale. This attracted the attention of the Time Wraiths, but instead of attacking Barry they went after Zoom, who had done far more damage to the multiverse after having found some way to prevent the Time Wraiths from tracking him.

The Time Wraiths appeared sporadically after The Flash season 2, manifesting only when Barry was actively working against the interests of the Speed Force. Barry encountered another Time Wraith as he attempted to free Wally West from a cosmic prison in The Flash season 3, episode 16, "Into The Speed Force." Later, Barry and Nora-West Allen had to evade a Time Wraith while collecting various artifacts from Barry's past in The Flash season 5, episode 8, "What's Past Is Prologue." Despite this, the Time Wraiths do not seem to be mindless slaves to the Speed Force and have a clear ability to prioritize threats, as when they ignored Barry to go after Zoom on two separate occasions.

How Is The Black Flash Tied To The Time Wraiths?

It should be noted that the Time Wraiths are not directly connected to the Black Flash, despite having had a hand in its creation after dragging Zoom into the Speed Force. Precisely what punishment Zoom suffered is unknown, but it shattered what remained of his mind and decayed his body. Left a mindless thrall of the Speed Force, the Black Flash was put to work hunting down those speedsters who defied the laws of the Speed Force, like Eobard Thawne and Savitar, who had otherwise somehow evaded the Time Wraiths. The Black Flash was apparently destroyed by Killer Frost in The Flash season 3 finale, "Finish Line," but the Time Wraiths were shown to still be an active force up until the death of the Speed Force in The Flash season 6.

The Time Wraiths After Crisis On Infinite Earths

Eobard Thawne in LOT 7x10 Legends of Tomorrow

The Time Wraiths were recently confirmed to exist following Crisis on Infinite Earths and the Speed Force's rebirth in The Flash season 7. This was established in Legends of Tomorrow season 7, episode 10, "The Fixed Point," as the Legends attempted to intentionally create a paradox by preventing the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the start of World War I. This was part of a larger scheme to set a trap for the Evil Gideon AI and her team of robot Legends that had been chasing the team through time. Unfortunately, the Legends efforts' to break the fixed point in time were continually thwarted by some unseen force, which the Legends eventually determined was not Time itself, as some believed, but someone who had the power to stop time.

After constructing a device that made Captain Sara Lance immune to outside chronal influences, the Legends discovered that their unseen tormentor had a familiar face. The same time remnant version of Eobard Thawne (played by Matt Letscher) who had been created by the Flashpoint event and led the Legion of Doom, was revealed to be reformed and acting as the guardian of June 28, 1914. Thawne explained to Sara that he was one of many criminal speedsters who had been taken in by the Time Wraiths and, after a period of reeducation, put to work policing the timeline by standing watch over key events that were a frequent target for alteration by well-meaning time-travelers and speedsters.

The tale Thawne told to the Legends of Tomorrow suggests that the Time Wraiths have adopted a kinder, gentler approach to policing the Speed Force following the Speed Force's rebirth in The Flash season 7. This makes some degree of sense, given that the Speed Force itself had become more personable, taking the form of Barry Allen's mother, Nora Allen, and becoming friendly enough to Barry and his family that his future children addressed her as "Speed Force Nana" and "Big Nora." Thawne's new role also establishes that the Time Wraiths have taken on the role of protecting the entire Arrowverse timeline and not just hounding rogue speedsters.

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Matt Morrison (1785 Articles Published)

Matt Morrison has been writing about comics since before the word "blogging" was coined. He got his start writing for the legendary DC Comics digital fanzine Fanzing, before receiving his own column, The Mount. Since then he has gone on to write for over a dozen websites, including 411 Mania, Comics Nexus and The Cult of Nobody. He holds both an MS in Information Science from the University of North Texas and a BFA from the University of Texas at Arlington. Known as a font of comic book history trivia, he has delivered lectures on the history of American Comic Books, Japanese Manga, Doctor Who, and Cosplay at over a dozen conventions and served as an Expert In-Residence for a course on Graphic Novels for Librarians at the University of North Texas. In addition to his work for Screen Rant, Matt is currently the Editor In Chief of Kabooooom.com and writes reviews for No Flying, No Tights – a graphic literature and anime review site aimed at teachers and librarians. He also maintains a personal blog – My Geeky Geeky Ways – which hosts his extensive episode guide for the television series making up The Arrowverse as well as his comedic Let’s Play videos. What little spare time he has is devoted towards acting, role-playing, movie-riffing and sarcasm. You can follow his adventures on Twitter, @GeekyGeekyWays.