Reverse Flash's powers and abilities
e every time he looked upon the Flash.[6][1]
Powers and abilities
Powers
The Reverse-Flash killing two guards
The Reverse-Flash using his superhuman speed.
Speed Force connection/Meta-human physiology: Replicating the circumstances behind the Flash's powers, Eobard gained access to the Speed Force, albeit his connection is actually the opposite in nature compared to Barry Allen's. Thus, his physiology has been greatly augmented to beyond peak human performance, letting him handle extreme physical exertion and performance. As a speedster, Eobard is extremely powerful; with only the Flash being capable of matching him.
Accelerated healing factor: The Speed Force in someone's blood gives it regenerative properties. Eobard's body heals much faster and more efficiently than a normal human. His wounds from being attacked were completely gone without a trace afterwards, which he covered up by isolating himself to avoid speculation of any kind. After being viciously pummeled by the Flash of 2016 twice, he is able to recover as if he had never been hurt.
Superhuman perception: Eobard's speed also extends to his senses and mental capacities. He can take in information and process it at much faster rates than a normal human, as well as see and hear clearly when moving at super-speed. This ability allows Eobard to see the world as if it is in slow motion, which, combined with his physical speed, lets him perform thoughts and actions long before a normal human around him could even perceive them. When Barry was running at Mach 2, Eobard was able to follow these movements with ease, and does this again when Barry travels to the past under his guidance.
Bodily vibration/Intangibility: Eobard has the ability to vibrate any part of his body at different frequencies on command, with varying effects. When done, this is seen as a haze that normal people can't perceive clearly. It can also garble his voice into a deep growl to disguise. He can also seamlessly phase his arm through a person, killing them instantly without outwardly damaging them. By vibrating the cells in his body, Eobard can pass through people or objects unharmed. As Cisco Ramon remembered his own death at Eobard's hands, Cisco described Eobard as having crushed the heart with his fist, performing this same technique on Mason Bridge in 2015 and Rex Tyler in 1942. This ability appears to have damaging effects on electrical equipment, as it shorted out Mason's computer. By vibrating rapidly, Eobard was able to reverse his modified appearance-stealing cord's effects, which the device could also do for him with a push of a button.
Electrokinesis: As a speedster, Eobard can produce powerful red electricity from his body. The intensity of his lighting is so great that the moment he arrived at the stadium for Barry's first fight with him, the electrical lights and video screens around it started glitching and flashing. Eobard is also capable of making his eyes glow bright red, which most likely is another effect of his electrokinesis. Eobard is also presumably able to generate lightning, but he's never used it either because he's never had the need for it or he simply doesn't know how to throw lightning.
Superhuman strength: Due to the tremendous amounts of Speed Force energy in his body, Eobard displays a degree of superhuman strength, exerting inhuman amounts of force without using his speed. He was also seen punching Mason which made Bridge go all the way up to the roof and as the man came falling down he once again punched his victim, making Mason go all the way across the room. From a stationary position, he was able to throw The Flash several yards away with one arm. As means of intimidation or restraining, he has repeatedly been shown able to easily hold down, or even pick up, a full-grown adult with a single hand, usually by their necks. He was also was able to effortlessly break a man's neck. Eobard's method of intimidation/restraining has been done on Rex in 1947 and Malcom Merlyn in the Vanishing Point, and method of breaking a man's neck has been done on Mercury Labs' various staff and the CCPD in 2014-2016, and government agents while protecting Damien Darhk in 1987.
Superhuman agility: Eobard possesses inhuman bodily coordination, balance, equilibrium and dexterity. He is able to change direction immediately, thus allows him to make sharp turns on city streets without sliding or losing his balance.
Superhuman durability: Eobard's durability is well-above that of human, able to endure attacks and exertions much quicker than normal and survive impacts that would be fatal or at least permanently disabling to normal humans. In 2015, he was able to both withstand and quickly recover from pyrokinetic blasts from Firestorm on multiple occasions, being shot with multiple of arrows, and being pummeled by the Flash's enhanced strength and momentum. During his fight with the Flash, Firestorm and the Arrow, he also hardly fazed after falling from a building to land from several stories up unfazed by moving at super speed at the same time. After being smacked by the Kryptonian Supergirl, Eobard was able to stand up without struggle seconds later.
Superhuman speed: Eobard is able to move at levels of speed well above Mach 2.2, easily outpacing Barry's limit during 2014-2015. Using this speed, he can easily move on vertical structures and ceilings. Barry said that he's so fast that he could kill everyone in the police precinct in seconds, describing him as "somebody that even I can't keep up with." His tremendous speed was later revealed to be greatly influenced by tachyon particles in his body. As revealed by Caitlin Snow, this allows Eobard to with each stride his feet spend less time on the ground, thus propelling him forward much faster, similar to Hunter Zolomon with the Velocity serums. Later, after somehow returning from erasure, his speed also somehow increased considerably, able to keep up with the Flash of 2017 who was described as the fastest speedster ever. However, Eobard also stated that his speed was equal to the Flash of 2024's speed, so it's also possible that he simply realized that Barry had reached that potential and ran using his speed to the fullest. He stated he is faster than Superman.
Aerokinesis: Using his speed, Eobard can generate air flow as vacuums on various levels. He can create fierce waves and vacuums of air by shaking a body part very fast. His speed vacuum is very powerful, as he was able to blow Firestorm blocks away by rotating just one hand in 2015.
Intedimensional travel: Eobard can apparently use his speed to break down barriers between parallel universes, enabling him to travel to them. Doing this, he was able to travel to Earth-X, where he was able to use his knowledge of different universes to earn der Führer Oliver's trust. Eobard is also apparently able to distinguish which universe a person originates from, as he quickly determined that Supergirl was from Earth-Thirty-Eight.
Speed mirages: By using his speed to bounce back and forth so quickly, Eobard can create after-images with his speed, making it appear like he's in two places at once. This image is so realistic, human mind can't perceive the difference.
Superhuman momentum: Eobard can generate an inhuman amount of physical force from any part of his body, especially while using super speed. This allowed him to exert inhuman physical strength with almost absolute ease, commonly to restrain opponent at super speed and pinning them down with little effort, as well as to kill his opponents through high-speed collision. By channeling this force to his strikes, even The Flash was quickly pummeled and rendered unable to fight back despite healing powers. When he faced the Black Flash in 2025, Eobard punched with enough force to send the creature flying through several rooms before slamming against the far wall. He could also punch clean through people, as he did do impale Bridge on his arm in 2015 and even to punch through his chest-piece of the A.T.O.M. Exosuit to tear out Ray's heart in 1916. Alternately, when Eobard removed Ray's heart, he may've phased his hand through Dr. Palmer's chest, much like he did when he crushed Cisco's heart in an erased timeline.
Time travel:[3] Using the Speed Force, speedsters such as the Reverse-Flash are able to conduct chronokinesis, or temporal manipulation, which allows him to travel throughout time. Unlike users of the Speed Force, Eobard's ability to travel through and manipulate time is more refined compared to other speedsters as he is easily able to drastically alter history and completely erase people from existence (other speedsters cannot change the past without dramatic consequences). This ability has also allowed Eobard to continue existing despite being erasef from existance on two seperate occasions. Martin Stein theorized that the only reason Eobard was still able to exist within the timeline is because the Speed Force protected him throughout multiple points in history where he has traveled.
Time remnant construct: By shifting momentarily back in time, Eobard is able to "create" a time remnant. As each one is as real as the other, it allows Eobard to overwhelm his enemies with multiple copies of himself.
Retrocognition: When existing as a time remnant, it would appear that the Speed Force provides Eobard with memories of his former life masquerading as Wells, as shown when his time remnant-self reminisced about working with Cisco and Caitlin.
Superhuman reflexes: Eobard's increased speed also augments his reaction time, allowing him to react to danger and events far faster than a normal human.
Superhuman stamina: Eobard's body can handle the stresses of superhuman racing without noticeable distress. His body's enhanced stamina allows him to function much longer than a normal human without getting tired or weak. Therefore, he is also adapted to the extreme amounts of force exerted on him while he is moving at super speed, as well as the extreme temperatures and lessened amount of breathable air.
Abilities
Expert combatant: Though suffering a beating at the hands of the Flash from 2016 in his first encounter, Eobard eventually became an expert hand-to-hand combatant, fighting on par with the Flash of the future. Whereas the novice Flash from 2014-2015 relied primarily on speed to overwhelm slower opponents with random striking, the older Eobard was shown to be a very methodical fighter, striking at precise spots to systemically wear down his opponent. He easily defeated the younger Flash from 2014-2015 in multiple fights. Even when his speed was temporarily deprived, he was shown to be able to temporarily hold his own against experienced fighters like Oliver Queen and Ray Palmer.
Genius-level intellect/Great business acumen/Master tactician/Leader: Eobard was considered a genius even in the more advanced era of the late 22nd century, potentially making him more intelligent than all individuals of the early 21st century (besides Clifford DeVoe). He has shown in-depth knowledge and understanding of time-traveling like the Time Masters. With this, he was able to effectively evade any encounters with a Time Wraith and confidently travel back over 150 years to change the past with no fear of affecting his own future, as well as to give the Legends trouble balancing the timeline. Eobard is a great tactician, as evidenced by him coming up with plans to help Barry Allen defeat the meta-humans. He managed to for nearly a year to prevent Team Flash from figuring out that he is the Reverse-Flash. Eobard is also a great business man, as evidenced by the crucial role he played in Team Flash and creating the particle accelerator and ran S.T.A.R. Labs successfully for 14 years, until the particle accelerator explosion incident caused the company to shut down. Eobard was later able to run S.T.A.R. Labs again after rewriting reality with the Spear of Destiny, having become a prominent figure in the world of business. He is also skilled with contingency plans. Despite losing to the Flash, the Arrow, and Firestorm, he set in place the necessary tools to force everyone to go back into the pipeline of S.T.A.R. Labs. Eobard is shown to have great intelligence about the Speed Force and its usage. He has many times helped and guided Barry to use it better. He knew it has powers to create vacuums, move seamlessly pass through any solid target and was able to direct Barry on how-to use the Speed Force to time travel. He also used it fluently in combat, much better than Barry initially was able to due to a greater experience. He also revealed he knows about time remnants, when he went up against the Legends. His knowledge and understanding about the Speed Force seems to be among the greatest (if not the greatest) among the speedsters due to him being from the future.
Computer specialist: Eobard's shown to be a skilled computer hacker, being able to hack into the radio signals of multiple cars in order to destroy Hartley Rathaway's weapons.
Expert scientist: Eobard has vast knowledge and proficiency in various fields of science, most prominently shown from his successful replication of the Flash's accident to replicate his former idol/future archenemies' powers for him self. He has a superb knowledge of meta-human biochemistry and molecular structure, creating a biomolecular enhancer. Eobard has also shown to a noticeable talent for engineering, being able to recreate the tachyon device into a Quantum splicer for Firestorm with Cisco, creating a ring which compresses and stores his suit, using futuristic technology to reactivate and modify the particle accelerator as well as creating his own Time Vault. Eobard also managed to modify the appearance-stealing cord to be nonlethal to the person whose appearance is being mimicked, however, it still caused the victim a great deal of pain, as this happened with Martin Stein.
Master deceiver/Manipulator: Eobard is strong at deceiving people, able to work closely with Team Flash for months as Harrison Wells without them knowing who he really is. He is also a capable manipulator, as he managed to manipulate Tony Woodward and Hannibal Bates into helping him.
Master engineer: Eobard has shown to be very proficient in the art of engineering, as he created the Quantum Splicer with Cisco, the ring that contains his suit, the Time Vault, and the appearance-stealing cord. Eobard while serving as a SS General Earth-X even designed and constructed the Wellenreiter mostly on his own.
Occult knowledge: Eobard also has knowledge relating to mystical artifacts. He knew that the Askaran Amulet was a Judeo-Christian artifact which acted like a compass for the Spear of Destiny as well as knew the object's divine capabilities. He even related some knowledge of the Fasces Axe which Damien Darhk was purchasing.
Skilled medic: Eobard is a skilled medic, as he was put in charge of transplanting Supergirl's healthy heart into Overgirl.
Intimidation: As the Reverse-Flash, Eobard possesses an intimidating presence that would force people to give up information or stop an investigation on him.
Weaknesses
Anti-speedster weapons: The Legends have an arsenal of anti-speedster guns, invented by Eobard himself, which would allow the user to momentarily slow Eobard down. However, Eobard showed himself resistant to the weapons, restoring his powers after mere moments.
Cold temperatures: Much like other speedsters, Eobard seems to be weakened or at least momentarily stunned when exposed to an extremely cold environment. This was proven when Leonard Snart's Cold Gun knocks Eobard unconscious for a short period of time.
Irregular gravity: Eobard is unable to access his speed while in space or on the moon. While Ray suggests this is because of the lack of gravity, Eobard is still unable to phase or vibrate himself while tied up on the moon, which does possess a gravitational force. However, this may simply be because of the differing gravitational forces of Earth and the moon, meaning that Eobard would be able to phase in that particular level of gravity. Also, he needed to manually restore his normal appearance with the appearance-stealing cord instead of vibrating on his own power. He can however still access his speed and phasing abilities to its fullest abilities when Earth-level gravity is artificially replicated (e.g. on the Waverider).
Reliance on his speed: Eobard relies on his speed to beat his enemies. As such, he is vulnerable to opponents such as Oliver Queen when his powers are disabled.
Nanites: When he was shot with a nanite arrow, Eobard lost his powers for a short amount of time even though Oliver said it'd take away his speed for "quite awhile", and he could somewhat vibrate, allowing him to phase the nanites out of his body, instantly restoring his powers.
Residual tachyon energy: As he has time travelled so much, when Eobard is accessing the Speed Force, nearby liquids float in the air, giving a hint that he is present. This is caused by tachyons he is exposed to when working with them, helping him run faster. It can also be caused if Eobard has recently moved through time, as tachyons usually have this effect when around time traveling speedsters who have used this power or where temporal distortions have been, causing massive change in time and having marked the area to have tachyons.
Time alterations: While willing to make huge leaps through time and likewise meddle with events, Eobard still has a great respect and fear of time manipulation done recklessly. This is from fear of both undoing his own future and the existence of the Time Wraiths who act as guardians to the Speed Force's energy. Even more while existing as a time remnant as his past self was erased from existence, Eobard was forced to constantly run, even through the timeline itself, to avoid getting killed by the relentlessly hunting of the Black Flash, of which Eobard was utterly terrified of facing. Eobard appears to have resolved this problem, having lived on Earth-X for a while, a place "no sane person would visit." Also Black Flash was frozen to death by Killer Frost. It is also possible the Speed Force has little to no influence on Earth-X due to it being outside the 52 universes of the multiverse so it couldn't send Black Flash there.
Former weaknesses
Speed Force connection flux: While originally having access to the Speed Force similar to Barry Allen, Eobard severely damaged his connection to the Speed Force from having traveled back in time to kill Barry as a child, due to altering the youth's future destiny as the Flash and damaging Eobard's own past. While later regaining his super speed and most of its related powers, he still lacked a stable connection to the Speed Force, rendering him unable to travel through time and stranded in the distant past. At the same time, his recovered speed was unstable, randomly working, and also appeared to effect his ability to walk. To compensate somewhat, Eobard relied on the tachyon prototype to stabilize his powers for longer durations. However, the version that had existed after Flashpoint never experienced these damaging events, thus is able to use his powers to their fullest with ease. Later, the original Eobard Thawne who wore Harrison Wells's appearance somehow managed stabilize his connection.
