Eobard Thawne, who has gone by the codenames "Professor Zoom" and "Reverse-Flash", is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain in the DC Universe. Thawne is the Archenemy of the superhero Barry Allen, the second hero to be called the Flash. He is also the second of the Reverse-Flashes, as well as a maternal forefather of Bart Allen (the second Kid Flash and fourth Flash). He first appeared in The Flash (vol. 1) #139 (September 1963).
Created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, Thawne first appeared in The Flash (vol. 1) #139 in 1963, and remained one of Barry Allen's most formidable adversaries in comics over the next quarter century. In Flash #324, the character was apparently killed by the Flash in an effort to save his fiancée, and spare her the death that Thawne gave to Flash's first wife, Iris. Largely unseen over the next 25 years except in sporadic appearances, Thawne was resurrected by writer Geoff Johns in 2009's The Flash: Rebirth, and reimagined as a major villain in the DC Universe with his reintroduction. Johns compares this to his similar treatment of Green Lantern villain Sinestro in an early outline of the Rebirth series. In 2009, Professor Zoom was ranked as IGN's 31st greatest comic book villain of all time.
Read more about Professor Zoom: Fictional Character Biography, Powers and Abilities
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