DC’s Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Flashpoint just unleashed the most dangerous Justice League ever, thanks to Reverse Flash’s evil plans.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Tales From The Dark Multiverse: Flashpoint #1 by Bryan Hitch, Andrew Currie, Scott Hanna, Alex Sinclair, Jeremiah Skipper & Rob Leigh, on sale now
In the DC Universe, Flashpoint has been one of the most iconic events in modern history, with Barry Allen trying to save his mom, rewriting time and reality in the process. It created a new world, however, with the Atlanteans and Amazonian races going to war before uniting and fracturing again in a society that crumbled because of a lack of superheroes. Barry paid the ultimate price for his selfish deeds but eventually, he reset the timeline, losing his mom again.
Now, in Tales from the Dark Multiverse, DC’s dark Flashpoint isn’t tied to him as the Flash. After Barry dies, Eobard Thawne, Reverse-Flash, takes his place as its most important hero, and DC’s most dangerous version of the Justice League is unleashed, thanks to his machinations.
In this dark world, Eobard kills Barry just when he was about to conduct the lightning experiment that gave him his powers. This meant the Flash was never born, and Eobard becomes the Flash of this world, rethreading history to his will. It ticks off Thomas Wayne, though, because he’s the only one who knows what Eobard is doing, and Eobard enjoys this audience of one. Thawne is feeding off of Thomas’ pain, since the Wayne patriarch wanted Eobard to bring his family back from Crime Alley. Reverse Flash opted not to, however, and instead going on to rule America by making the president his puppet.
Reverse-Flash then wages war on the Atlanteans in France, who’ve been encroaching on America, and threatens Wonder Woman’s forces in London. This world is his and his alone, but his selfish nature has riled up Thomas to the point he breaks the Superman out from under Metropolis. Eobard killed all other heroes off so the Man of Steel and Cyborg are the only hope left, but their war takes a unique turn later on when they corner Eobard.
Superman and Cyborg want him alive, but Thomas is playing his own game, killing off Superman as he wants to threaten Eobard’s life. In exchange for not killing the speedster, he wants his family back. However, Eboard was saved by Superman from a bullet, which sparked the dim light of nobility and compassion within him. Still, this all happens too late, as Wonder Woman leads an Amazon invasion, backed up by Atlanteans and Barda’s Apokoliptian army in a New God alliance. Knowing they’ll decimate America, Thomas frees Eobard to run once more and take back the world by manipulating the Speed Force again. Given this second chance, Reverse-Flash opts not to waste it. He uses the bullet that Superman saved him from to kill Joe Chill and leave the Waynes healthy, resetting and giving birth the world’s heroic age.