SPOILER ALERT! Well, kind-of SPOILER ALERT for anybody who couldn’t yet figure out the fairly obvious clues thrown at the audience in The Flash‘s explosive mid-season finale “The Man In Yellow”. CW’s hit DC Comics series ended its first batch of episodes last year by having the identity of Barry Allen aka The Flash’s blurry nemesis possibly revealed when the always shady Dr Harrison Wells was shown to be in possession of the yellow suit worn by the “Reverse Flash” that killed Barry’s mother and threatened Det. West.
But since Wells was previously shown to be in the room at the same time as the Reverse Flash, and one other character is a very likely suspect (more on that later), some fans were still not entirely convinced that Wells was the man in yellow. Well, get ready to be convinced, because during a “Heroes and Villains” panel held at TCA yesterday (via EW), actor Tom Cavanagh, who plays wells in the hit show, cleared the air quite unequivocally:
“[Wells is] the man in the yellow suit. Yes, I am Reverse Flash.”
Well, that leaves no room for doubt. If you’re left scratching your head at how the Wells and the Reverse Flash could be in the same room together though, well… Ok, so I won’t spoil that one for you, but if you’re a comic book fan and know how the Reverse Flash’s powers work, you would know that it would be quite easy for him to pull off. One of the reasons why I don’t want to give anything away is because it also ties into how/why Reverse Flash killed Barry’s mom nearly two decades earlier. That’s something that we will definitely see in the upcoming episodes, but in a special way, as executive producer Andrew Kreisberg explained:
“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.”
The plot thickens! Speaking of which, I mentioned earlier that there was another candidate for the identity of Reverse Flash, and it’s somebody that won’t be obvious to non-comic book readers: Det. Edward Thawne (played by Rick Cosnett). In the comics, the Reverse Flash’s real name is Eobard Thawne. That’s far too close to be a co-inky-dink, and that’s because it’s not, as Kreisberg continued:
“His name is not an accident. Eddie’s connection to the Reverse Flash lore is going to pay off big time in the back half of the year.”
So could there be two Reverse Flashes? After all, there have been different people in the Flash comic book mythology to hold that title. Well, that would be a definitive no, according to Cavanagh:
“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.”
And we will start getting into those deeper levels when The Flash returns from it’s mid-season break with it’s 10th episode, “Revenge of the Rogues”. That episode hits US screens next week on the 20th January, while locally it will air on the 27th January.
Last Updated: January 13, 2015
Unavengedavo
January 13, 2015 at 14:37
“But since Wells was previously shown to be in the room at the same time as the Reverse Flash”
Correct me if I’m wrong, but can’t he technically move fast enough to actually be in the same room with himself? O_o
Mark Treloar
January 13, 2015 at 17:32
No.
Wayne Bossenger
January 13, 2015 at 15:02
Things we know for certain (if we believe what we’ve been told): there’s only one Reverse Flash, he is Wells, somehow Eddie Thawn is connected…
Spoiler theory ahead… but… what if…
Like seriously spoilers
Something I’ve thought about since just about the start of the series is what if Thawn is a distant relative to a time travelling Reverse Flash (RF)?
Explains why in one of the last episodes RF didn’t kill Eddie when he could have easily (when he killed the guards and stole tech), but then the same person in 2 places at once is an issue, except it’s not. RF can move so fast it appears he’s in 2 places at once. I’m sure a Flash will learn that too. And killing/interfering with grandparents is a bad idea for time travellers.
Also explains why as soon as Det. West asks him his real name info Wells got cagey. He’s only existed for a few years or something IIRC. RF can travel time as we know from the future “newspaper” and death of mom flash. Who’s to say he didn’t decide to live and create the Flash so that in the future he gets his powers from the Flash or needs him for something.
That last point in the conversation is interesting. We will see what happened that night from RF point of view and not Wells. Could it be that Barry and Wells fight but for some reason swap suits. Wells goes back in time to kill Barrys mom and Barry tries to save them but can only save himself (yellow lightning saves barry while both red and yellow lightnings were around mom flash IIRC) cos reasons: life time parodoxes or death threats etc
Whatever the case, looking forward to when it resumes again
Blood Emperor Trevor
January 13, 2015 at 15:15
If I remember correctly didn’t Eddie even ask why RF didn’t kill him.
Mark Treloar
January 13, 2015 at 17:41
“Who’s to say he didn’t decide to live and create the Flash so that in the future he gets his powers from the Flash or needs him for something” Problem is the Flash would have had to exist in the first place for him to get his powers. He cant create the Flash, its what irritates me about the series. It’s setup as though he was responsible even though it would mean a massive ripple created by him being there at all.
Wayne Bossenger
January 13, 2015 at 18:09
well, Wells didn’t create Flash, just allowed the circumstances to exist so that the Flash could be born. Just like all the other metahumans we see on the show, they were all made by circumstance. They were in a plane that was in a cloud, or in a fire tunnel etc, all coupled with the starlabs LHC or w/e its called. Who’s to say initially there was some other event that helped create the Flash, or if Barry managed to do it to himself years later. We dont know how Wells becomes Reverse Flash so we can only speculate… there must be some reason for Wells to start the process of Barry becoming the flash earlier, and its possibly linked to that future news story
Mark Treloar
January 13, 2015 at 18:15
The assumption though is that Wells is from the future and stayed to ensure The Flash became who he is. Wells creating the event which leads to him being created would change the future, his future if the event occurred in a different way. Stories with time travel always end up being implausible.
Wayne Bossenger
January 13, 2015 at 18:47
I don’t think that’s a fair assumption… I’d say Wells wanted events to unfold a certain way because there’s a future he wants to change. Doesn’t mean its because he wants Flash to become Flash, I’d say its a means to an end, and the sooner it happens or the way in which it happens is important enough for him to see it through to a certain time. Remember, it was very important to him that Barry not die in one episode, so their fates are, for the moment, linked.
There are different interpretations of time travel but yes, I agree if Wells changes the past it will alter the future = his present… could be like Back to the Future style, and he’d no longer exist in this present as is, but that doesn’t mean what he’s changed changes back. There seems to be a reason for his travel back in time and whatever that event is, he wants to fix or change it
Kervyn Cloete
January 14, 2015 at 07:31
If they follow closely to the comic book origin for RF, then all I can say is that you guys are so close to getting it right. So close!
Blood Emperor Trevor
January 13, 2015 at 15:13
Will two Reverse Flashes make a Flash?
RinceThis
January 13, 2015 at 15:23
You shut up.
Blood Emperor Trevor
January 13, 2015 at 15:27
IT’S A VALID QUESTION!
RinceThis
January 13, 2015 at 15:23
So excited!
James Francis
January 14, 2015 at 12:31
I figure its some kind of time travel thing, considering the good doctor appears to be from the future. Until we saw the doctor’s suit, I actually thought it was a future version of Flash who had gone bad and gone back into time to do something or another.
If only he can stop the main actor from sounding so whiny…