List of Flash enemies

The Golden Age

The Golden Age Flash enemies were all villains of the first Flash, Jay Garrick, later portrayed as living on Earth-Two after the introduction of the Silver Age Flash.

Thorn

Rose and Thorn are the two personalities of a Golden Age character in DC Comics. Thorn (Rose Canton) is a woman with a split personality whose villainous personality has the ability to control plants. Initially, she and her hired thugs opposed The Flash. After being (apparently) cured of her Thorn persona, Rose married Alan Scott and had two children, Jennie-Lynn Hayden and Todd James Rice with him. After a resurgence of her madness, she committed suicide.

Years later, a second "Rose and Thorn" appeared, Rhosyn Forrest. (Before the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Rose Canton came from Earth-2 and Rose Forrest from Earth-1; see Multiverse (DC Comics)).

Introduced in the Silver Age

The Silver Age Flash enemies all lived on Earth-One and started out as enemies of the second Flash, Barry Allen, as well as the third Flash, Wally West, and the fourth, Bart Allen, after the death of Barry Allen. The Silver Age is when some enemies started to use the name Rogues. Originally, the Rogues were just a few of the Flash's enemies teaming together, but since then they have formed a lasting team, and usually a Rogue will not commit a crime by himself. The original eight Rogues were Captain Cold, Mirror Master, Heat Wave, Weather Wizard, the Trickster, Pied Piper, the Top, and Captain Boomerang. The current incarnation of the Rogues includes Captain Cold, Weather Wizard, Heat Wave, the second Mirror Master, and the new Trickster.

Albert Desmond / Alvin Desmond

Albert Desmond, created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, first appeared in Showcase #13 (April 1958) as Mister Element. His second, and more frequently used identity of Doctor Alchemy first appeared in Showcase #14 (June 1958).

Within the context of the stories, Albert Desmond is a chemist who suffers from a multiple personality disorder with one law-abiding personality and another criminally inclined one. Under his darker personality he applies his knowledge of chemistry to create the identity of Mister Element, creating elemental weapons such as bulletproof silicon to shield his cars, and discovered a new element, Elemento, a magnetic light, with which he sent the Flash into space. After being sent to jail as a result of his first encounter with the Flash, he learns of the Philosopher's Stone from his cellmate. He escapes, finds the Stone, and uses its power to transmute one element to another to restart his criminal career as Doctor Alchemy.

Over time he switches between the two identities, showing a preference for "Doctor Alchemy". Eventually his good personality resurfaces and he quits crime and hides the Stone. Shortly after a new Doctor Alchemy appears and is revealed to be his identical twin brother Alvin Desmond, with whom he shares a psychic link. This plot point was retconed in later stories to "Alvin" being a construct of the Stone created by Albert's criminal personality. When Albert confronts and defeats "Alvin" he resumes the role of Doctor Alchemy.

While he has alternated between incarceration and freedom, equipment for both of his costumed identities has been used by others. Curtis Engstrom used the Philosopher's Stone as The Alchemist and Alexander Petrov resurrected Mister Element.

As Mister Element, Albert Desmond uses a weapon that can affect the structure of elements. As Doctor Alchemy, he possesses the Philosopher's Stone, which once belonged to Merlin. The Stone allows him to transmute any element into any other element. He can control the Stone from a distance with telekinesis.

Baron Katana

created by Frank Robbins and Ross Andru, first appeared in The Flash vol. 1 #180 (June, 1968)

Baron Katana controlled a group of samurai robots, with which he attacked The Flash.

Mister Originality

Created by Cary Bates, Bob Rozakis and Irv Novick, first appeared in The Flash vol. 1 #238 (December, 1975)

Mister Originality was a thief with disguise and teleportation powers.

Introduced in the Modern Age

In addition to the Silver Age Rogues, there have been many other Flash villains created in the past few years. The special issue Flash: Iron Heights was the first appearance of many of them. Some of the "new breed", as the old Rogues call them, made a team called the New Rogues, led by Blacksmith. They tried to take away the allies of the Flash so he would fight them alone, but the Flash beat them anyway. These villains are not part of the current Rogues, which are still the Silver Age villains. Also, new versions of Mirror Master, the Trickster, and Captain Boomerang were introduced and became part of the Rogues.

Alexander Petrov

The character, created by Geoff Johns and Alberto Dose, first appeared in The Flash vol. 2, #202 (November 2003).

Within the context of the stories, Alexander Petrov is a criminologist working for the Keystone City Police Department. In order to advance his career he uses one of weapons Albert Desmond used as Mister Element to freeze the lab supervisor solid. Petrov is promoted to replace the dead supervisor and discovers he likes the thrill of killing. He continues to eliminate members of the department he sees as "threats" to his position, using the weapon and ice-based effects. He uses the effects and his position as head of the crime lab to shift suspicion to Captain Cold. His plan comes undone when profiler Ashley Zolomon enters his office as he is putting on his mask. The Flash is able to stop him from killing her, but Captain Cold interrupts them before the Flash can take him into custody. Cold kills Petrov for breaking the Rogues' code of "ethics" - framing another Rogue for your own crimes.

Blacksmith

The character, created by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver, first appeared in Flash: Iron Heights (2001).

Within the context of the stories, Amunet Black operates an underground black market known as the Network in Central City and Keystone City. Early in her career she is briefly married to Goldface. When they divorce, she steals some of the elixir that gives him his powers. She has it modified before drinking it and gains the ability to reshape metal and merge it with flesh.

Using the Network as a power base, she assembles a new team of Rogues to take control of the two cities. As her plan unfolds, she is able to isolate the two cities and almost defeats the Flash. Her victory unravels due to dissension among her Rogues and Goldface leading the populace of the cities against her. Her defeat results in the Network being closed down and her incarceration in Iron Heights.

Brother Grimm

The character, created by Geoff Johns and Angel Unzueta, first appeared in The Flash vol. 2, #166 (November 2000).

Within the context of the stories, Brother Grimm is the son of Brother Nightingale, the king in the alternate dimension of Eastwind. When Nightingale plans an invasion of Earth, Grimm sends a warning to the Flash. When the Flash along with Kid Flash and Jay Garrick stop the invasion, Nightingale is deposed and Grimm offered the crown. He takes the advice of Kid Flash to "follow his own path" and lets his brother Angar take the crown. Grimm, regretting taking the advice, is forced to take the crown and kill Angar when it becomes apparent he is no better than their father. The regret becomes rage when he learns that Wally, contrary to his own advice, has taken up the mantle of the Flash.

To punish the Flash, Grimm enlists Mirror Master and Captain Cold to trap him in a mirror world while he removed Keystone City to Eastwind and the citizens placed under his control. He makes the mistake of double-crossing the Rogues who work with the Flash to escape the mirror world, rescue the citizens of Keystone, and defeat Grimm.

He later returned with a new identity of a classmate of Linda's in medical school, attempting to 'steal' her from the Flash and claim the Flash's 'kingdom' once again. To this end, he trapped Linda at the top of a giant beanstalk that would spread to consume Central City, but Wally was able to reach the top with the aid of Hawkman, who noted that he had once fought one of Grimm's ancestors who used a similar trick in one of his past lives, Hawkman destroying the beanstalk while Wally defeated Grimm.

Brother Grimm is a skilled sorcerer and warrior, able to create glamours that change his appearance and transport others between dimensions. He can also sense the use of extra dimensional forces such as the Speed Force.

Cicada

The character, created by Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins, first appeared in The Flash vol. 2, #171 (April 2001).

Within the context of the stories, sometime in the early 20th century, David Hersch murders his wife during a thunderstorm. Regretting this, he attempts to take his own life but is struck by lightning and has a vision: He has been chosen to live forever, and he will bring his wife back as well.

Calling himself Cicada and keeping himself alive by transferring the life force of others to himself, Hersch accumulates followers and plans for the day when he will be able to resurrect his wife. To achieve his vision he faces a moral dilemma, he needs to sacrifice others to fuel the resurrection. While his followers would volunteer, he does not know if it would be enough. He finds an answer in the people who have been saved by the Flash. He sees the Flash as "a brother blessed by the lightning" and those who would have died without the Flash's interference as lives he can take with a clear conscience.

Acting on this, he has his followers go into Keystone City and kill those the Flash has saved with daggers that collect life energy. He also has Magenta bring the Flash to him to witness the resurrection. He briefly succeeds only to have his wife reveal his crime. The Flash is able to break free and in the ensuing fight Cicada drains the life of his followers and slashes Detective Morillo with his dagger before being captured.

Cicada has the ability to steal the life-force of other living beings and use it to prolong his own life and regenerate physical damage. He carries a hilted blade capable of absorbing the life force of its victims in order to resurrect the dead (Contact with this knife granted Morillo a healing factor that even allowed him to return from death, but it is unclear if this ability has any limits or how the knife did this for him rather than anyone else).

Cobalt Blue

The character, created by Mark Waid and Brian Augustyn, first appeared in Speed Force #1 (November 1997).

Within the context of the stories, Malcolm Thawne is the twin brother of Barry Allen (aka the Flash) and an ancestor of Eobard Thawne (aka Professor Zoom). At the time of the twins' birth, the doctor delivering them had already accidentally killed the child of Charlene Thawne during delivery. To cover his mistake, the doctor gave one of the twins to the Thawnes as their own and told the Allens that their second son had been stillborn.

Raised by the Thawnes as a con artist, Malcolm learns of his brother by accident as an adult. He learns the full story by confronting his "parents" and the doctor who delivered him, killing the latter in a rage. His grandmother, seeing true potential in his passion, teaches him the family secret of controlling the "blue flame". Eventually he crafts a blue gem to contain the flame. The creation is fueled by his rage and jealousy of his twin "stealing his life" and can siphon off the Flash's superspeed.

His first confrontation with the Flash and Kid Flash results in the flame absorbing him. Emerging years later, he shifts his focus onto his brother's "legacy" since Barry Allen had died to stop the Anti-Monitor while he was in the flame. His plan spans from the present to near the end of the 30th century, targeting the Flashes of various eras in between. His plan is undone by Wally West who skirts the edge of the speed force while carrying the shards of the blue gem. The power pouring into the gem overloads and destroys it.

Curt Engstrom (Alchemist)

The character, created by Mark Waid and Greg LaRocque, first appeared in Flash vol 2, #71 (December 1992). The name "Alchemist" had previously been used for a Golden Age character in a Justice Society story.

Within the context of the stories, Curt Engstrom is a scientist working at S.T.A.R. Labs as a part of a team studying Doctor Alchemy's Philosopher's Stone. He steals the stone but is captured and jailed before he can figure out how to use it. Escaping, he creates the identity of the Alchemist and uses the stone in an attempt to get revenge on the lawyer who betrayed him. He is instead recaptured by the Flash.

Double Down

The character, created by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver, first appeared in Flash: Iron Heights (2001). In an interview with Wizard Magazine, Johns mentioned that Double Down was the one Rogue he would have loved to devote more time to and describing the character as "...the one that got away."

Within the context of the stories, Jeremy Tell is a con artist and compulsive gambler. After losing all his money in a game, he murders the gambler who walked away from the table with the most money. A cursed deck of cards owned by the man he murdered attacks him and bonds to his skin. He finds that he can mentally detach and direct the cards for various effects. Taking the name Double Down, he joins Keystone City's supervillain community.

The "cards" of the cursed deck have replaced Double Down's skin. He is able to mentally control them, detaching them from his body and directing their movement. He can use a card's razor edges to cut through objects, or to encase an opponent with his cards.

In other media

Double Down was portrayed by J.R. Bourne in the third episode of Arrow season four. In this series, he gained his powers when he was having his tattoos applied at the same time as the particle accelerator exploded in Central City. He does not appear to control his cards, but he can nevertheless aim them with great precision; Oliver's best efforts to deflect his cards still resulted in him being struck in the arm with one card.

Folded Man

The character, created by Mark Waid and Brian Augustyn, first appeared in The Flash vol.2, #153 (October 1999).

Within the context of the stories, the Folded Man is Edwin Gauss, a physics student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology looking to definitively resolve Albert Einstein's Unified field theory. He invents a device that allows interdimensional travel using proprietary software stolen from Norman Bridges. He incorporates this into a suit that allows its wearer to move across at least four dimensions.

When Bridges tries to take the technology, Gauss uses the suit to create the identity of the Folded Man to strike back at Bridges. The Flash is caught in the middle and winds up taking Gauss into custody.

The Folded Man wears a suit that allows him to manipulate his personal dimensions. He can flatten to a two-dimensional form which allows him to slice through objects more cleanly than the sharpest razor. By shifting into four dimensions, he can leave our plane and pop back anywhere he likes.

Girder

The character, created by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver, first appeared in Flash: Iron Heights (2001).

Within the context of the stories, Tony Woodward causes a riot at the steel plant where he works when he assaults a female co-worker. He is thrown into a vat of molten steel which includes scraps from S.T.A.R. Labs experiments. These scraps convert his body into living iron and imbue him with superhuman strength and a high resistance to harm, though he does rust. Taking the name Girder, he is eventually sent to Iron Heights Penitentiary for a conviction on robbery charges. He is among the criminals that Blacksmith recruits as the new Rogues.

In other media

Girder shares the origin and powers with Pig-Iron of the Zoo Crew, a comic series Geoff Johns has previously cited as inspiration for another character of his creation, Stargirl.

Magenta

An early concept design for Magenta by George Pérez appeared in DC Sampler #2, with the character's initial name being Polara and her color scheme consisting of red and blue rather than magenta and white. Frankie Kane was a one time girlfriend of Wally West, who gained magnetic powers which killed her family. Not knowing her purpose in life, she became a villain and first joined the Cicada cult and the New Rogues before reforming. Magenta can generate and control magnetic fields, which she can use to move, lift, and manipulate ferrous metals. She can focus her powers into blasts of concussive magnetic force that can shatter steel, or fire electromagnetic pulses to disrupt electronic systems. She can concentrate her magnetic powers into a protective shield that repels metals and most physical assaults. By surrounding herself with an aura of magnetism that has an equal polarity to the Earth's own geomagnetic field, she can cause the Earth to repel her upward, and thereby fly by magnetic levitation.

Television

Magenta made her live action debut in the third season of The Flash portrayed by Joey King. This version is a teenaged, orphan girl who has disassociative identity disorder. She had metahuman powers in the alternate timeline Flashpoint before the Flash restored it. Her powers are given back by Doctor Alchemy, and she develops a darker personality named Magenta. She attempts to get revenge on her abusive foster father and ends up putting him in the hospital. When Magenta emerges again, she attempts to kill her foster father by destroying the hospital he was held in, but stops and reverts to Frankie with the combined efforts of Flash and Jesse Quick. Frankie's father is prosecuted by the district attorney while Frankie is accepted into a kinder foster family.

Manfred Mota

Manfred Mota is a nuclear engineer, and the father of Valerie Perez. He was introduced in the Flash 50th Anniversary Special as having faced multiple incarnations of the Flash, each time using a new moniker, but similar powers.

On his first appearance as the Atom Smasher, he uses his knowledge as a nuclear engineer, to create a suit giving him an atomic-power punch. Mota is defeated by Jay Garrick. In prison, Mota plots revenge and when the new Flash, Barry Allen, appears, Mota believes him to be Jay. Released from prison, Mota holds Central City hostage as Professor Fallout, secretly hiding a neutron bomb in a sculpture of an atom. He is quickly defeated by Barry and returned to prison.

During his second stint in prison, Mota begins to obsess over revenge, the Flash and safe nuclear power. Creating the identity of Fusionn, Mota steals equipment from a nuclear power plant and crafts a suit that allows him to shoot blasts of energy. Mota manages to unmask the third Flash, Wally West, in the fight, only to realize that he is not fighting Jay, and that West's identity is publicly known. Enraged, Mota attempts to melt the entire city, but West throws a piece of iron—waste from the nuclear fusion reaction of Mota's suit—through one of Mota's cooling tanks, melting the suit into radioactive rock. One Year Later after Infinite Crisis, Mota's daughter, Valerie, has begun a romance with the fourth Flash, Bart Allen. Mota somehow has been transformed into an energy being, and has been stalking his daughter. He kidnaps her with the help of Allen's clone Thaddeus Thawne (Inertia). Mota plans to use his daughter's DNA to reconstruct his own body, but is doublecrossed by his partner. Manfred later appears to Valerie again, claiming that he still loves her, but is captured by Bart Allen.

The future Flash, John Fox, faces Mota when he returns as a monster made of living Plutonium in 2645. Fox manages to send Mota into the future where he decays into lead.

Murmur (Dr. Michael Amar)

Dr. Michael Amar, a once respected surgeon, succumbed to madness and started a killing spree to stop the voices inside his head. This spree went through Central and Keystone City and caught the eye of police officers Fred Chyre and Joe Jackam. They later tracked Amar down with the help from Central City forensic scientist, Barry Allen. Part of Amar's psychosis is the inability to stop himself from blurting out his crimes. Because of these outbursts, he is quickly convicted and sentenced to death.

It is soon discovered that Amar's blood is so abnormal that lethal injection can not kill him. While incarcerated in Iron Heights prison, Amar cuts out his own tongue and sews his mouth shut so he will no longer be able to incriminate himself. Wearing a thin mask of his own design, Amar becomes known as Murmur.

While in prison, Murmur creates a virus that kills the guards and prisoners and escapes during the riots it causes. He then joins Blacksmith, who helps him with creating the virus, and her rogues. Afterwards, Murmur strikes out on his own.

Murmur is one of the villains being controlled by the Top during the Rogue War story arc.

In Infinite Crisis #1, Murmur is seen working in Gotham City with the Riddler, the Body Doubles and the Fisherman in a murderous attack on Gotham police officers. He is seen in issue #7 as part one member of the Secret Society of Supervillains, participating in an attack on Metropolis. A superhero army stops the Society. Murmur has also teamed up with another Batman villain - Hush - in the Man-Bat miniseries, which takes place before the Infinite Crisis event.

One year after the events of Infinite Crisis, Murmur has made only one full appearance in the DC Universe. In writer Gail Simone's Secret Six, he is one of the villains sent to retrieve the Get Out of Hell Free card from the team. The only other mention of the villain post-One Year Later is a framed front page newspaper of the Central City Citizen detailing Murmur's arrest and incarceration by police. It is seen on a wall of the Allen household in The Flash: Rebirth #1.

Murmur has no super human powers of a combative nature. All he has is a mutated physiology making him immune to bloodbourne disease or toxins.

Murmur appears in Arrow played by Adryan Glynn McMorran.

Savitar

Savitar first appeared in Flash (vol. 2) #108 (December 1995), and was created by Mark Waid and Oscar Jimenez.

A Cold War pilot for a third-world nation, the man who would become known as Savitar was to test a supersonic fighter jet. As he reached top speed, his plane was struck by what appeared to be lightning, and he went down in hostile territory. Discovering he could defeat the enemy by moving at super-speed, he became obsessed with speed, naming himself after Savitr the Hindu "god of motion", and dedicating his life to unlocking its secrets. As Savitar studied, he discovered new powers that no other living speedster has mastered. He can protect himself in a null-inertia force field, give speed and kinetic energy to objects or people, even those in a rest state, he could also heal his own injuries almost instantly.

Savitar’s obsession gained followers, and he became the leader of a cult. In search of more knowledge, he sought out the only super-speed hero operating at the time: Johnny Quick. This encounter became a battle, the tide of which was turned with the arrival of Max Mercury, who led Savitar toward the Speed Force, but caused him to bounce off.

Savitar reappeared decades later to find that his cult had grown in his absence, awaiting his return. He recruited former Red Trinity member Lady Flash (Christina Alexandrova), and discovered a way to use her speed to divert all energy from the Speed Force to his own army of ninjas. He then sought to eliminate the competition: Flash (Wally West), Impulse, Golden Age Flash (Jay Garrick), Johnny Quick, Jesse Quick, XS, and especially Max Mercury.

Fortunately, Wally’s direct line to the Speed Force prevented Savitar from stealing his speed, and a coalition of just about every speedster (except for Red Trinity), foiled his plans. Hell-bent on at least destroying Flash’s world in retribution, he led the Flash on a worldwide race of destruction, until Flash chose to give Savitar what he wanted: union with the Speed Force. His earlier encounter had shown him that the others who had arrived before would deal with Savitar as they saw fit.

In The Flash Rebirth mini-series, Savitar is able to escape from the Speed Force. He is run down by the recently returned to life Barry Allen; however, when Barry touches him, Savitar disintegrates, leaving only a pile of bones. It is revealed that Reverse-Flash altered the Speed Force and Barry to make the Flash shift in reverse, and cursed to kill every Speed Force user with a single touch, though it seemed to be undone by the defeat of Reverse-Flash during the conflict between the two speedsters. Thus far, Savitar, Lady Flash (Lady Savitar at the time) and Johnny Quick have been killed by this effect.

Savitar appears as a villain for season 3 of The CW network television series The Flash.

Tar Pit

The younger brother of a local drug lord Jack Monteleone, Joey Monteleone was arrested for armed robbery. While serving time, he discovered he had the metahuman ability to inhabit inanimate objects. With this ability, he got his kicks by transferring his mind from object (for example, a fire hydrant which he used to spray the Flash in vol. 73) to object until he couldn't move his mind from a vat of asphalt. Now he remains in that hot tar pit while his real body remains unconscious and is being abused by his padded-cellmate in Iron Heights.

In his new form, Tar Pit first caused havok at a Keystone City ice hockey game, trying to steal the Stanley Cup for himself. He was stopped by Flash and Captain Cold, although Cold himself stole the trophy. He has appeared sporadically with the other rogues ever since.

In Infinite Crisis, "Joey" became a member of the Secret Society of Super Villains.

He has been seen among the new Injustice League and is one of the villains featured in Salvation Run.

In Blackest Night crossover, Tar Pit is shown with Owen Mercer, visiting his father's grave, accompanying Owen in his search for the Black Lantern version of his father on the grounds that he will be of no interest to the Black Lantern Corps as his tar-based form has no heart for them to take.

Tar Pit's body is made of molten asphalt and burns on touch. He is able to trap people in the substance of his body and can hurl flaming chunks of tar at his enemies. Due to his body being made of tar, Tar Pit is practically invulnerable.

Before becoming Tar Pit, Joey was able to project his consciousness into inanimate objects and animate them.

In the alternate timeline of the Flashpoint event, Tar Pit was imprisoned in Iron Heights. Tar Pit is confronted by Mirror Master, who assembles the Rogues. Tar Pit then escaped from Iron Heights and pursued revenge against Citizen Cold for stealing his family's money. Citizen Cold killed Tar Pit revealing that his brother, Jack Monteleone was dealing drugs of their family fortune.

Marco Grazzini portrays Joey Monteleone/Tar Pit in the 12th episode of season 2 of The Flash, "Fast Lane". In this episode, Joey is a small-time crook who is thrown into a construction site's tar pit by his cohorts right before the particle accelerator explosion. Now with the metahuman ability to become living, burning tar, he sets out to take revenge on those who tried to kill him.

Recurring aliases of more than one enemy

Other enemies

In chronological order (with issue and date of first appearance):

Villains from comics in other media

A number of villains from the comic books have made an appearance, or appearances, in other media featuring the Flash.