Who will become the Reverse Flash?

Eddie Thawne

      

A lot of people called this one when the character was announced. It makes sense in a way, the Thawne name, generally, goes hand-in-hand with the Flash's arch-nemesis. Here are a few problems with this theory:

1. He genuinely seemed confused when he first saw a meta-human.

2. He seems to be a good guy that has no idea regarding the Flash's identity

3. I actually think it is a lot more likely that he will be Cobalt Blue, which is an idea Rick Cosnett has entertained, along with him being Barry's twin.

Harrison Wells

      

This is one that is painful to write for me. I subscribed to the "Wells Theory" for quite some time, and my own theory is a play on that, but I have to give my doubts for this theory along with all the others.

1. Everything he has done has been to make Barry who he is in the future.

2. His backstory has been backed up by Joe West, and that somewhat rules out him being from the 25th century. However he does have knowledge of the future.

3. I actually think he is trying to save everyone. The article that he keeps seeing, which I think is the only thing from the future that he can see, refers to the Flash going missing in a crisis. This is, most likely, talking about Crisis On Infinite Earths where Barry sacrifices himself to save everyone in every cross-dimensional universe. Wells wants this to happen, so, in a way, he is creating the Flash to save everyone.

Barry From The Future/Different Dimension

      

This is the start of the theories that I could never really get behind, but that others have posted about. The next three just never really made a whole lot of sense to me, but I will be including them because of the amount of people I have heard use these theories.

1. Why would Barry want to kill his mother? It just doesn't make sense why a Barry from any time or dimension would do that.

2. There are a lot of things they can do with alternate Earths, and I don't think this will be one of them.

3. I feel like it would really just be done for shock value, which I don't think they would do. The group behind Arrow and The Flash tend to build things like this up instead of just springing random things on us.

Henry Allen

      

One of the more surprising theories that I have heard recently regarding the death of Nora Allen is, none other than, Mr. Allen himself! This would bring the show in a very dark direction, while also giving, veteran speedster, John Wesley Shipp a familiar set of powers.

1. The tone of The Flash is noticeably lighter than Arrow, and this would ruin the contrast the two shows have. It would take the show in too dark of a direction for what they have set up to this point.

2. How did he even get his powers to go back in time to kill his wife? Earlier, they could have said that what Barry saw was just something he used to mask the traumatic experience of watching his father kill his mother, but now (Spoiler Alert) Joe West was visited by the man in the yellow suit as well, ruling out that theory.

3. Why would he kill his wife? There is no reason for him to do it in the first place, and he knew he'd be the number one suspect! The man has spent most of his son's life in prison, and, at this point, he isn't getting out anytime soon. He must have known this would happen, so why would he even do it?

Iris West

      

This is, by far, my least favorite theory of all. I hadn't heard it until I was skimming through the comments section on a Facebook post. It was a post for an article about who could possibly be Reverse Flash. After reading the article, I went to the comments and saw a blurb about how crazy it would be if Iris was the Flash's main nemesis, and it had numerous responses; most of which praising the idea.

1. Once again, this would be for pure shock value, which is not really a good reason to do anything on a show where they may have to live with the consequences over multiple seasons.

2. This just really doesn't make any sense for her character. Although her, slight, obsession could be drawn as a comparison with Zoom, she shows no other traits of being a villain. Plus, do you really think they would turn Barry's main love interest, over almost his entire comic book career, into Reverse Flash?

3. All of the yellow lightning scenes have shown a white male as being the one in the suit, which is pretty much the exact opposite description of Candice Patton. There were also pictures taken of a fight scene between Reverse Flash and the Flash, and the stuntman in the suit was neither a woman, nor black. Doesn't really need much more of an explanation than that.

MY THEORY

      

As I said before, my theory is based upon the Harrison Wells theory, but goes in a bit of a different direction. I do still believe that Harrison Wells is Reverse Flash, but not the Harrison Wells that we are seeing.

As of right now, Harrison Wells seems to be set on keeping the future as it is. Although he has done some questionable things, they have all been to protect Barry, and to ensure that he sacrifices himself during the "Crisis". Because of the particle accelerator meltdown, he is even one of the two driving forces in the creation of the Flash. As previously stated, I don't believe he is from the future, like Eobard Thawne, but he definitely has knowledge of the future. This is the Harrison Wells that we know, but what if there was one that we didn't?

Episode 9 is entitled "The Man In The Yellow Suit", and it will be the first appearance of Reverse Flash on the tv show, and it has been confirmed that he will vibrate his face and vocal chords so that no one will know his identity. My theory starts with the fact that Harrison is, by far, the smartest person on the show. It is reasonable to believe that Wells could be the first to deduce the identity of the speedster by either using software to undo the alterations to his voice, or by some other means. What if he realized that it was him, or even just thought that it was him?

What if Harrison Wells, from the same era of the newspaper article that he frequently reads, is Reverse Flash? Judging by the things he has done in order to make Barry into the Flash that he is supposed to be, he would be forced to become Barry's nemesis at some point in time. He will know that Reverse Flash killed Barry's mom, and that is the other driving force in Barry becoming a hero. The particle accelerator may have given him his powers, but his mother's death gave him the drive and the willpower to be the hero that he is. Harrison would likely go mad knowing all the terrible things that he has to do in order to make Barry into the Flash that he needs to be, but he would have to do them to ensure all of the infinite Earths are saved.

      

This would end up incorporating the origins of many iterations of Reverse Flash. Eobard Thawne was Barry Allen's biggest fan and a genius who recreated the events that gave the Flash his powers, went back in time to meet Barry Allen, and realized that he was destined to become his greatest nemesis, driving him insane. Hunter Zoloman was in a wheelchair, had a past with Grodd, which Wells was just recently revealed to have had, and his wife left him, which is substituted by Wells' wife dying. That mixed in with Zoloman trying to make the Flash into a better hero all form together to make Harrison Wells. (Spoiler) Wells even, recently, took blood from Blackout to find out how he stole Barry's powers, if that isn't foreshadowing, then I don't know what is.

I know that it can seem a bit far fetched, but we all know that there is something sinister going on with Wells, but it also wouldn't make sense for him to just become Zoom right away. This theory gives him a reason to become Reverse Flash. He cares about Barry, maybe even enough to do something terrible in order for him to become the Scarlet Speedster he is meant to be. This character has been building up for a long time, and this would be the perfect arc for him. He would be solely responsible for the creation of the Flash. He could be a supervillain that is actually the one responsible for saving everyone. I believe that a reluctant supervillain would be very interesting to see, and I also believe that Harrison Wells will be the one to show it to us.

UPDATE

I took the audio file for the trailer for episode 9 and fixed the pitch on Reverse Flash's voice. I think you'll like what you hear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UArqG_F2Yo4