The Flash Teases Return of Fan-Favorite Villain in “The Speed of Thought”

Last week’s Season 7 premiere of The Flash delivered a heavy blow to Team Flash when Nash Wells, along with the multiverse of versions of Harrison Wells within him, sacrificed themselves to power the artificial Speed Force that restored Barry’s powers. With Barry having his speed back, The Team headed into this week’s episode “The Speed of Thought” well-equipped to take on not only the challenge of rescuing Iris, Kamilla, and Singh from the Mirrorverse but to take on any villain that might threaten Central City and it seems like one of those villains may end up being a familiar one for not only the team but for fans as well.

Warning: Spoilers for this week’s episode of The Flash, “The Speed of Thought”, below.

While the episode centered on Barry’s newly-developed speed thinking power that, while it allowed him to figure out how to open a portal to the Mirrorverse but at the same time stripped him of his humanity and emotions, the very last moments of the episode shifted away from the present and offered fans a flashback all the way to Season 1. In the flashback, Eobard Thawne (Matt Letscher) kills the real “Earth-1” Dr. Harrison Wells and assumes his identity and image, burying Wells’ body in a shallow grave. Fans of the series know what happens from there, with Thawne-Wells setting up the particle accelerator accident that turned Barry into the Flash in the first place and becoming a major antagonist in the process. But Tuesday’s episode offered an update of sorts with particles of energy reforming into what appeared to be Dr. Harrison Wells just on top of that grave.

There are all sorts of questions that this development prompts, but the big one is who that man is — a real Wells or Thawne returned? Theoretically, both are possible. After all, Season 6’s “The Exorcism of Nash Wells” didn’t see the destruction of Thawne but just his existence being expelled as negative tachyons from Nash’s body. This week’s episode also saw Barry seemingly destroy the artificial Speed Force that the Wellses powered so it isn’t unthinkable that the destruction sent some of that energy racing back to the remains of a Harrison Wells.

However, even though there are many possibilities at play here, series showrunner Eric Wallace has teased the return of a major villain from the first three seasons of the series and series star Grant Gustin has previously teased a major Thawne cliffhanger in Season 6 had COVID-19 interrupted plans.

“I would not rule out another big villain from the first three seasons — one of my all-time favorites — to appear in Graphic Novel No. 3,” Wallace told TVLine earlier this year.

“There was going to be a big Thawne cliffhanger at the end of what this season would have been, but that’s not going to be the cliffhanger we get,” Gustin previously explained. “[Episode] 619, “Success Is Assured,” is going to end up being our finale, so we’re going to have a different cliffhanger than originally planned. But the cliffhanger at the end of 619 does serve as a pretty good finale.”

The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.

What do you think about that shocking Wells reveal? Let us know in the comments.