Last night’s episode of The Flash gave us another potentially revealing scene with Harrison Wells. We theorize about the Speed Force in The Flash.
At the end of The Flash season 1, episode 11, “The Sound and the Fury,” we see Harrison Wells with the stolen tachyon device on his chest. With the aid of his A.I., Wells attempts to absorb the Speed Force with limited success. He states he’s not stabilizing and his speed is coming and going.
This is new information, telling us that Wells’ speed is not inherent in him the way Barry’s is. Wells also states that the tachyon device was only meant to be a temporary fix — that his real endgame is imminent. So, what should we take from this scene?
In the DC Comics, the Speed Force is an energy field that grants all speedsters their power. Those with access to the Speed Force can use a large number of speed-related abilities, including superhuman speed and endurance, increased perceptions, accelerated healing, decelerated aging, supercharged brain activity, and phasing. It’s also been said that when speedsters die, they become one with the Speed Force.
According to Flash executive producer Andrew Kreisberg, the Speed Force is an “amorphous thing” that serves as “a catch-all phrase that speaks to a grander universe and a grander power and ultimately grander abilities. If you know the comics and you know what having access to the Speed Force gives you the abilities to do.”
Keeping in mind the greater possibilities the Speed Force opens the show up to, also worth noting is the existence in the comics of the Negative Speed Force. The Negative Speed Force eats away at the regular Speed Force and, curiously, can consume any speedster connected to it by touch. Professor Zoom — one of the Reverse Flashes of the comics — generates this force, which manifests as red electricity.
Wells, we’ll point out here, generates red electricity when he runs.
And the color of the tachyon device when Wells tries to absorb the Speed Force? Yellow, like Barry’s electricity — which likely indicates Barry’s powers come from the true Speed Force.
Which comics writer created the Negative Speed Force? Geoff Johns, writer and producer on Arrow and The Flash, of course.
So what hints does this possibly give us about Harrison Wells’ endgame? Well, in the comics, Professor Zoom infects Barry with the Negative Speed Force, hoping it would consume Barry’s loved ones and other speedsters who rely on it. There are currently no other speedsters that we know of in The Flash, but a threat to Barry’s loved ones would not be surprising.
However, we should remember that there is more than one Reverse Flash in the comics (and there is no Reverse Flash named Harrison Wells). Another Reverse Flash is Hunter Zolomon, aka Zoom. Though Zolomon also appears to be a speedster, his speed is not a result of a connection to the Speed Force; Zolomon actually manipulates time to mimic speedster powers and is therefore not connected to the Speed Force.
If Wells is trying to absorb the Speed Force, it may indicate that he is based on the Zolomon model of the Reverse Flash. In the comics, Zolomon was a former friend of the Flash who sought to make the Flash a better hero by being his greatest enemy. “The Sound and the Fury” did seem to go out of its way to showcase Wells’ concern for the people in his life.
Notably, Hunter Zolomon was also created by Geoff Johns.
The cast of The Flash keep reiterating that there are numerous twists and turns still to come as for the Reverse Flash and Harrison Wells, and we’re definitely along for the ride.
The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET on The CW.