30 greatest Arrowverse villains, ranked

17. Pied Piper

Hartley Rathaway was the former protegé of Harrison Wells who developed sound manipulating gauntlets to do battle with the Flash. He fell out with Wells when he tried to stop the particle accelerator being activated after realizing it was at risk of exploding.

Because Wells was secretly Eobard Thawne and needed the accelerator to explode so he could create the Flash, he promptly fired his protegé. Rathaway was affected by the particle accelerator and gained superhuman hearing. However, it also caused him great pain. His scientific acumen allowed him to create a device that dampened the pain and he set about his revenge.

He created sonic gauntlets that allowed him to weaponize sound. The Flash may have been fast, but he was still human and hurt when Rathaway first attacked. Even when he was captured, he proved himself to be very manipulative, convincing Cisco to release him in exchange for the location of Ronnie Raymond.

Thanks to Barry’s meddling with the timeline (dammit, Barry… again!), Rathaway was able to gain some redemption. After Barry had traveled back in time to learn from Doctor Wells, he was followed by a Time Wraith. Rathaway was involved in helping the team defeat it and made amends in the altered timeline.