The Flash has encountered many big bads over the years, but which of The CW series’ main villains stand out as its best?
There is no bigger hero in the Arrowverse than The Flash. For almost a full decade, Barry Allen has been speeding through the streets of Central City, saving those in need and stopping anyone who dared to harm the people in it. He’s been a guiding light and a guardian angel, as those around him can know that The Flash is always there to protect them.
Barry and his team have taken on all challengers. From Crises on Infinite Earths to evil speedsters, there are no threats that Team Flash won’t stand up to and stop with their gifts. And that has been clear to see throughout the course of The Flash‘s nine-season run on The CW.
As the show comes to an end, we continue to celebrate its legacy by taking a look back at some of its most prominent villains. Of course, Barry has defeated countless threats during his time as a hero, but there have been a select few who became thorns in the side of Central City’s heroes.
With that in mind, let’s rank all of the show’s Big Bads from worst to best.
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12. The Forces
The Forces storyline was easily the most baffling arc in The Flash‘s nine-season run. Fans were excited to see the show introduce the Sage, Strength, and Still Forces to join the Speed Force, but it all became just so convoluted that it was hard to understand any of it (much less take it seriously).
What made things so much worse was that the Speed Force, which looks like Barry Allen’s mother Nora Allen, had always referred to Barry as her “beautiful boy”. Here, she began referring to Barry and Iris as her “mom and dad” alongside the rest of the Forces.
Each of the avatars were unnecessarily antagonistic, infuriating and – Nora aside – just not that interesting, so to see the show go round and round in circles with them, introduce the Negative Forces to add to the confusion, and just channel so much effort into this storyline was just an all-around frustrating experience for fans.
The graphic novel approach that the last few seasons have taken may have butchered the Forces’ development, but the silver lining is that it meant this storyline ended sooner. And the show was all the better for it.
Well, until it missed the boat on another great villain…
11. Godspeed
To be a Flash fan in the show’s early days and speculate about whether it would adapt relatively recent speedster Godspeed was an exhilarating experience. We all wondered if Eddie could come back as the silver speedster, or if the character was too new to be incorporated into the show. And then when the beginnings of his presence was felt in season 6, we were so excited about the potential of him appearing as a main villain.
Unfortunately, The Flash really dropped the ball with its adaptation of Godspeed. He looked amazing, with the villain’s suit being one of the most comic-accurate in the entire Arrowverse, but the portrayal of the character was a letdown. Granted, his first appearance was in a standalone episode set in the future and major trial for Nora to overcome (which she did), so that was fine.
However, when the show decided to bring him into the present, he completely fell apart. A poor portrayal of the August Heart character that just wanted to be a “god of speed”, he often came off as unnecessarily dramatic, very one-dimensional, and robotic. And speaking of robotic, don’t even get us started on his “kill the adversary” clones that essentially stood still in a speedster fight, or the fact that he was defeated in a measly four episode-arc.
Fans waited years for Godspeed on The Flash. He was not worth the wait.
10. Cicada / Cicada II
The Flash was really onto something when it introduced Cicada. A reluctant and murderous metahuman intent on killing all metas regardless of whether they are heroes or villains? That’s an amazing concept. Throw in the motivation that Orlin Dwyer had for doing what he did and the awesome look, and they really should have been onto a winner. But for some reason, it just didn’t work.
The shortcomings of the original Cicada as a villain can mostly be attributed to the excessive episode count. The show waited too long to reveal his identity and motivations, rendering him rather dull and one-dimensional throughout most of the season. And when he did show up, he’d often lose and continuously be allowed to retreat.
The second Cicada fared a little better. Dwyer’s niece Grace, who travelled back in time to complete his mission, was appalled when she learned he had decided to work with Team Flash to save her in the present and responded by killing him. She then became the primary villain for the remainder of the season.
Cicada II was campier and more over-the-top than her uncle but that at least made her more interesting. It also helped that she didn’t stick around too long, so she never suffered the overexposure that he did either.
9. The Red Death
Like Godspeed, The Red Death was another villain that we all wanted to see adapted on The Flash. An evil version of Batman driven insane by years of crime and loss who ultimately steals The Flash’s speed, merging themselves together to become a vengeance-driven speedster that slays his enemies? Sign us up!
After nine years and multiple references, The Red Death finally came to life in the show’s ninth and final season. But there was a twist! Instead of having an evil Batman, the show brought in an evil version of Batwoman, as Ryan Wilder sought to become a murderous speedster in her quest to stop her enemies in Gotham. And, you know, it was a pretty darn great idea, because it allowed fans to enjoy seeing Batwoman‘s Javicia Leslie one more time before the Arrowverse came to a close.
It was also pretty great in general… for three darn episodes. Leslie was committed to the role and gave it her everything to bring the campy, rage-driven Red Death to life, but the show’s tired old “graphic novel” approach meant that she never got anywhere near enough time to be built up as a credible threat. The storyline ended almost as soon as it started and we were all just left wondering what the point of it all was.
8. The Negative Speed Force / Cobalt Blue
On paper, it makes sense that The Flash‘s final main villain be the Negative Speed Force. It powered the Scarlet Speedster’s archenemy all the way back in season 1 and has been a recurring thorn in his side over the years, so it was finally time to address that. The fact that the malevolent force also resurrected Eddie Thawne to be its avatar and had him evolve into Cobalt Blue was the icing on the cake.
As someone who remembers the fan theories that Eddie would return as Cobalt Blue one day, seeing Rick Cosnett back as the former detective (who was manipulated into believing that Barry stole his life) did just that made for an incredibly fulfilling moment. As did seeing Team Flash square off against the returning threats like Reverse-Flash, Zoom, Savitar, and Godspeed. Unfortunately, it was all once again let down by the repetitive “graphic novel” approach because it just didn’t have enough time to breathe.
Barry’s battle against the Negative Speed Forces had all the makings of a thrilling season-long grand finale. Instead, it was rushed into four episodes (two of which wasted our time) and then shoehorned into the series finale with very little time for real emotional movement. And that, unfortunately, makes Cobalt Blue and the Negative Speed Force a wasted opportunity.
7. Mirror Monarch
After Crisis On Infinite Earths, The Flash brought in a new villain to serve as the big bad of the second half of the season (Bloodwork was the villain of part 1). That villain was Eva McCulloch, a.k.a. Mirror Monarch.
The show played the long game with this one, introducing Joseph Carver, assassins Black Hole, and eventually Eva McCulloch – Carver’s long-thought-to-be-dead wife who was trapped in the Mirror Dimension. As it turns out, though, the Eva that ultimately descends into madness and becomes Mirror Monarch is in fact a mirror duplicate and the real Eva actually did die the night that the Particle Accelerator exploded.
Eva was one of the more nuanced villains on The Flash as we did root for her to get revenge on the husband we thought killed her. That made the twist that he actually loved his wife (and was killed for nothing) all the more compelling. However, parts of the overall storyline held this one back from achieving the levels of greatness it could have. As Mirror Monarch and her mirror duplicates’ plans were a little convoluted and the ending of the storyline was really quite disappointing.
Nevertheless, Eva was a compelling villain brought to life incredibly well by Efrat Dor.
6. Deathstorm
Deathstorm was a bit of a surprising one. He reared his burning head during the eighth season of the show, which already had an abundance of its own storylines going on at the time, but when he showed up, we paid attention to him – and him alone.
An evil reflection of Firestorm that was born when Ronnie Raymond died in the singularity at the end of season 1 / start of season 2, it came after Caitlin in the hopes of making her its bride. Frost had other plans, stepping up to save her sister and take on the beast as Hell Frost, ultimately dying after defeating him.
Like too many of the villains in the show’s back half, Deathstorm didn’t get enough time to stand out, but the thing that makes this big bad successful is that there were already years of foundations to work with. You rooted for Caitlin and Ronnie to reunite, you understood where she was coming from, and you understood why Frost had to protect her sister.
A rare glimpse of brilliance in The Flash‘s final few seasons, Deathstorm’s debut had real stakes and years of storytelling to work with. It was great seeing Robbie Amell back as Ronnie, while Deathstorm’s fiery form was absolutely terrifying.
5. The Thinker
When Neil Sandilands appeared on screen during The Flash‘s fourth season, he commanded your attention. That made Clifford DeVoe, the show’s first non-speedster Big Bad, a force-to-be-reckoned with whenever he made his presence felt. And make his presence felt is exactly what he did.
The Thinker’s plan was to enlighten the people of Central City and the world, making them see things his way. Why? Because like every mad scientist, he concluded that he was the person smart enough to advance the human race. He also foresaw The Flash being a huge threat to that plan and concocted a plan that would see him taken out of the equation (when he framed him for his death).
DeVoe was a sensational villain let down by season 4’s extensive episode count, convoluted plot, and perhaps the fact that he was just too powerful (so watching him decimate Team Flash for about 20 episodes was rough). He spent a lot of time off-screen, too, as that unnecessarily complex plan meant that he had to wait for a group of new metahumans to develop their abilities before he could kill them. That said, he’s still one of the best characterized villains and Sandilands’ powerhouse performance made him stand out every single time.
4. Bloodwork
After a few dud seasons, The Flash staged one of the best comebacks in recent TV memory with the first half of its sixth season. A lot of that had to do with the standard of Arrowverse programming all upping the ante in preparation for Crisis On Infinite Earths, but The Flash also owes a portion of its return to form to something it had been missing for some time: A strong villain.
Ramsey Rosso was portrayed as a sweet soul at first. A friend of Caitlin Snow working to find a cure for the condition that killed his mother (which had been passed on to him), he decided he was willing to do whatever it took to outwit his own mortality. That included becoming a metahuman capable of infecting others with his blood and turning them into Blood Brothers – or, well, zombies who followed his orders.
Bloodwork’s desire to live left him believing that he could help others defeat death by spreading his “gift” to everyone in the world. It was a logical solution to death in his twisted mind and that made him pretty terrifying.
Ramsey didn’t outstay his welcome because he was defeated before the Crisis but he did leave us wanting more. Sendhil Ramamurthy’s amazing performance is largely responsible for this, because he made it easy to empathize with Ramsey, while also being able to frighten all of us with that evil grin.
A truly outstanding villain.
3. Savitar
Who is the one person capable of defeating The Flash at every turn, knowing all of his movements before he makes them, and figuring out where to hurt him the most? Well, The Flash, of course. Or, in this case, the Future Flash.
Throughout the majority of season 3, fans wondered who the man behind Savitar could be. The self-proclaimed God of Speed was making life incredibly difficult for Barry Allen and Team Flash, and planned to cap off that nightmarish year by killing Iris West. So finding out who he was under that armor was a timely matter. And as Barry said when he figured it out, it was always about time with him.
The show’s unique portrayal of Savitar merged the comic book character with the Future Flash storylines, and even though some on-the-nose teasing ended up resulting in some fans catching onto the twist too soon, it was an exceptional twist. Sure, some of the time travel logic didn’t exactly add up, but Grant Gustin’s captivating performance as the twisted version of Barry was absolutely thrilling to watch – as was the giant silver armor whenever it sped through Central City.
Savitar wasn’t perfect, but he was a sight to behold and a force-to-be-reckoned with.
2. Zoom
There were a lot of questions after The Flash‘s incredible first season, namely: “How are they going to follow that?!” It’s a question that could be applied to all areas of the second season, including its villain. Thawne was so good that it was impossible to imagine anyone coming close to him. And then along came Zoom.
There has never been a villain more frightening in the Arrowverse than Zoom. It’s a word I have used to describe him so often now that it just doesn’t feel like it could do him justice anymore. From the dark, zombified mask to the goosebump-inducing echoed growl he spoke with, it would be totally justified if you watched the season from behind a cushion (or the whole sofa, let’s be honest).
Teddy Sears’ introduction as “Jay Garrick”, followed by the reveal that he was actually Zoom himself was a thing of beauty. As Hunter Zolomon, the man beneath the mask who was obsessed with becoming the fastest man alive and stealing The Flash’s speed, Sears was remarkably convincing, making it clear that Zoom didn’t need a mask to be terrifying.
Never has The Flash been more physically decimated in the way that he was when he went up against Zoom. Yes, the story borrowed from season 1, but it was a nod that paid off because it gave us one of the show’s best antagonists. And for that, we’re thankful (but still very, very scared of him!).
1. Reverse-Flash
You weren’t expecting to find anyone else here at the top spot, were you? Eobard Thawne is, without question, The Flash’s greatest adversary and the CW series has done an immensely strong job at portraying that over the course of its nine seasons.
His presence in the first season is obviously the best example of that. From Harrison Wells to the Man in the Yellow and every manipulation in between, the Reverse-Flash would stop at nothing to dissect his archenemy, killing his mother, helping him become a hero so that he could help him return to his time, all while trying to figure out a way to kill him.
He’s evil. He’s always been evil and he was even willing to be an ally to his enemies, playing chess with their lives, so that he could achieve his goals. Tom Cavanagh was phenomenal in portraying all of this, while Matt Letscher also did a wonderful job at portraying how obsessed the maniacal speedster could be.
Thawne is an architect, a master manipulator, and the best damn villain that both The Flash and the Arrowverse have ever seen. Some would say he’s the Reverse, but I would say he’s the best!
Which of The Flash‘s main villains were your favorites? Do you think the final season made the right choices?