The yellow cat's out of the bag, people. Tom Cavanagh admitted that his character on The Flash , Harrison Wells, is Reverse-Flash at the series' Television Critics Association panel — but which Reverse-Flash is Wells? What a tongue twister this show is getting to be. “He’s the man in the yellow suit. Yes, I am Reverse Flash." That's what Cavanaugh said to reporters earlier this month. I was ready to up and quit theorizing right there. However, on second thought, this doesn't give away all that much.
Keen fans of DC Comics know that the title of Reverse-Flash has applied to several characters over the years. There's Professor Zoom, a scientist from the future, though Professor Zoom's given name in the comics is Eobard Thawne, not Harrison Wells. There's Professor Edward Clarriss, who also goes by "Rival." Another candidate is Daniel West, who is Iris' brother in the comics. That doesn't seem likely either, since Wells has barely interacted with the Wests and hasn't even suggested having any connection to them. So which could he be?
Cavanagh went on to add this, which neither narrows or widens my search:
"There is just one Reverse Flash.... When we get into that moment and really start parsing through details of what that moment is, it’s going to be very gratifying to the audience. It’s got deeper levels. There’s so much more to it."
If there's only one Reverse-Flash on the show, I think he has to be Professor Zoom. He is the "main" Reverse-Flash in DC canon. He killed Nora Allen. He is Barry's nemesis. It's gotta be Professor Zoom, right?
At the same panel, executive producer Andrew Kreisberg pointed out the significance of Detective Eddie Thawne's name and said that his connection to Reverse-Flash should not be discounted. He also revealed that we'll see some flashbacks to the night Barry's mother was murdered by Reverse-Flash.
"We’re going to see what happened that night from the Reverse Flash’s point of view...I didn’t say it was from Wells’ point of view, I said it was from the Reverse Flash’s point of view."
OK, so there's one Reverse-Flash, but Reverse-Flash and Harrison Wells may or not be mutually exclusive, and also don't count out Eddie? I didn't think it was possible to be more confused about a television character in my life. Does this have something to do with time travel? Perhaps there's a sort of lore at play on The Flash and there can only be one Reverse-Flash at a time, though several have existed over the years. You know, like how there are only two Sith Lords at a time in Star Wars. Or like how another Slayer is awoken when the current one dies on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Or, if you want to stay current, the living Doppleganger situation on The Vampire Diaries, another CW series. There may just be one Reverse-Flash at a time, but when we're thinking fourth-dimensionally, that becomes kind of moot.
This makes me think of Hunter Zoloman, an ex-police profiler who took over from Professor Zoom to become Reverse-Flash for Wally West. His whole thing was to make Wally a better Flash through tragedy which seems... unnecessary. What an odd motive. Anyway, I'm going to set aside that name as a possibility for Eddie Thawne. That sounds a lot like his background and I bet it's significant. What if Eddie is Hunter and Harrison is Eobard? Did The Flash reverse the Reverse-Flash characters? My head hurts.
Isn't it great when spoilers just raise more questions? Happy theorizing!
Images: Cate Cameron/The CW; Giphy (2)
