10 Supervillain Replacements That Outshone The Originals

Believe it or not, there was an early version of the Reverse Flash character in the form of Edward Clariss in the 1940s. Known as The Rival or Rival Flash, he served as the evil counterpart of Jay Garrick's Flash and had recreated the formula that gave Garrick his trademark superspeed.

Years later, when this Flash character was revamped into the Silver Age with the introduction of Barry Allen, a new version of the Rival would be introduced. This time around, Eobard Thawne is a scientist from the 25th century who becomes obsessed with ruining the Scarlet Speedster's life upon finding out that he is destined to be the hero's greatest arch-nemesis.

He would then adopt the name Reverse Flash and becomes motivated to travel through time to destroy Allen's life.

The villain has proven to be a formidable foe for The Flash for years - from killing Iris West and even being responsible for the death of Barry's mother, Nora Allen. He has been featured in different DC adaptations and is considered one of the fastest speedsters in the DC Universe.