Golden Age Flash Enemies
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.
In chronological order (with issue and date of first appearance):
| Villain | First appearance | Description |
|---|---|---|
| The Shade | Flash Comics #33 (September 1942) | A villain who makes use of a special cane that enables him to cast complete darkness at will. Redformed in the 1990s Starman Series |
| Dmane | A criminal from the 70th century who is accidentally sent to 1946 by a time travel experiment. The Flash is finally able to send him back just before his execution. | |
| Ragdoll | Flash Comics #36 (December 1942) | Peter Merkel was born "triple-jointed" which enabled him to flex farther than any other human being. He hid in a Rag Doll and robbed stores. Has recently died but has had several children a few of whom are also Ragdolls, including a daughter who is also a villain, a son that's a member of the Secret Six, and another yet revealed son mentioned by his brother. Dies in JSA Classified #7 |
| The Eel | Comic Cavalcade #3 (Summer 1943) | “Eel” Madden was a criminal who had a grease gun which made it almost impossible for anyone to catch him. |
| Thinker | All-Flash #12 (Fall 1943) | Clifford Devoe, a former DA, was a villain who used a specially designed "thinking cap" as an aid in conjuring up and performing various crimes, and a founding member of the Injustice Society of the World, in which position he captured the Flash. He later became friends with the Flash before dying from cancer; however, his Thinking Cap technology has become a computer program that made itself into a villain that battled Wally West and the rest of the JSA. Dies in Flash Vol. 2 #134 |
| Turtle | All-Flash #21 (January/February 1946) | A villain who used slowness related weapons against the Flash, was inactive for a long time, then reappeared and now has the power to take away speed from people. Dies in Wonde Woman Vol. 2 #214 |
| The Changeling | Flash Comics #84 | Nothing is known of the life of Erik Razar before he became a small-time gangster in Keystone City. In the early 1940s, Razar ran a small mob that was taken over by a larger operation run by gangster Topper Hull. Hull framed Razar and had sent him to prison. For years Razar fumed and swore revenge. In the summer of 1947, Razar had hatched a plan to escape by sabotaging the prison power generator. His plan had an unforeseen side-effect however, charging Razar with enormous amounts of electricity. Unhurt, Razar slowly changed into a gorilla and made his way across the prison yard where he was sighted by guards. When they opened fire, Razar changed into a giant tortoise, bouncing the bullets off its thick shell. When the bullets ceased, Razar became a rhinoceros and battered down the gate. Fleeing into the woods, Razar became a bird and set out in pursuit of Hull.
Perched on Hull's window sill, Razar learned that Hull had planned a bank job by intercepting an armored car delivery. Razar decided to torture Hull by thwarting his crimes and intercepted the car first. By this point, the police had consulted with scientist Jay Garrick who was among those who witnessed Razar, as a large bull elephant, intercept and dismantle the armor car. Quickly changing to the Flash, Garrick engaged the shape-shifting criminal but was quickly dispatched into a large water reservoir. Razar, now named The Changeling by the local papers, decided to foil Hull's hijack of a sunken ship recovery operation and then kill him. The Flash also became aware of Hull's plans by eavesdropping in his invisible super-speeding from and determined to intercept them both. Razar dove into the water as Hull's boat left the pier and transformed himself into a large shark. The Flash dived in behind the Changeling but the criminal irritated a large clam which seized the Flash's leg and threatened to drown him. After extricating himself, he came upon the Changeling-shark threatening the divers in the recovery operation and assaulted him. Deciding that he would need to kill the villain to stop him, the Flash battered the shark's gills until it could not breath and then knocked it unconscious as the Changeling tried to change forms. As the unconscious and unmoving shark drifted to the bottom, the Flash left to capture Hull. (Flash Comics #84) Whether the Changeling survived or not as never been determined. |
| Rose and Thorn | Flash Comics #89 (November 1947) | Rose Canton had a multiple personality disorder, the Thorn, who was a villain, and who used thorn-themed weapons. She married Alan Scott, the first Green Lantern, and later committed suicide. Dies in Infinity Inc. Annual #1 |
| The Fiddler | All Flash Comics #32 (January 1948) | Isaac Bowin was a villain who used a violin to perform crimes, usually by using the violin to hypnotize people or cause vibrations which could shatter objects after learning skills from a Fakir he was in prison with, before murdering him. He first tried to frame his brother, but was defeated and pretened to commit suicide. Later he resurfaced. Recently, he joined the Secret Six, but when he failed a mission, he was killed by Deadshot on the orders of their leader, Mockingbird. After his death, a woman found his violin and is now using it, calling herself Virtuoso. Dies in Villains United #1 |
| Star Sapphire | All-Flash #32 (January 1948) | A queen of the 7th Dimension, she tried to take over the Earth twice but failed. She is now trapped in the Gem. |
| The Rival | Flash Comics #104 (February 1949) | Dr. Edward Clariss, a professor at the university attended by the Golden Age Flash, Jay Garrick, believed he had recreated the formula that gave Garrick his speed, which he called "Velocity 9." However, this formula was only temporary, and he was defeated despite trying to use different fumes to take away the Flash's speed. Later he escaped from jail but went into the Speed Force itself. He is now pure energy from the Speed Force. He joined Johnny Sorrow's Injustice Society and committed numerous murders which spelt out his name, but he was defeated by the Flash before he could murder Joan. Last Appeared in Impluse #88 |
Read more about this topic: List Of Flash Enemies
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