The world is a stressful, sometimes lonely place - and more so at a moment when “It wasn’t supposed to be this way” has become a not-uncommon mantra. But wait - you might also be you and you and you. The message is clear from the get-go: We have choices. Adding Eobard Thawne to the Flash movie would've just been retreading the same ground that the Fastest Man Alive has continually run upon for over a decade at this point.Those are the first words you hear at the beginning of this month’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” an otherworldly meditation on multiple realities and how our lives might unfold. It doesn't help that both the comics and the TV show continued bringing him back to life after the most definitive of deaths, turning his return into more of a trite joke than an exciting development. Thawne himself is incredibly one-note, and while such a classically evil villain isn't a problem, it becomes boring when he's apparently the dark specter behind all the ills in Barry's life. To put it bluntly, Reverse Flash has become incredibly overused, and it's a symptom of the property focusing so much on the rather dull Barry Allen. This has given the Scarlet Speedster an upgrade in the villain department, but it's now become more of a detriment than a supplement.

Be it the current comic books or The CW's recently concluded Flash TV series, Eobard Thawne has gone from a notable but largely forgotten member of The Flash's old-school rogues' gallery to one of DC's most ubiquitous villains.

Professor zoom the flash cw