Andy Muschietti Confirms Reverse-Flash murders Barry Allen's mom in The Flash; Exploring the details and differences from the comics

One of the biggest questions fans had before the release of The Flash was, "Where is Reverse-Flash?" Arguably the Scarlet Speedster's biggest villain, his exclusion from the film left many fans confused, and it certainly was baffling that the yellow-suited speedster was nowhere to be found in the film; however, director Andy Muschietti just might have confirmed his existence.

Turns out, the Reverse-Flash does actually exist in the live-action DC universe and is responsible for Barry Allen's biggest tragedy—his mom's death. So, with his existence being confirmed by the film's director, let's take a look into exactly what role he plays in Nora Allen's death and how the execution of it in the film differed from the Flashpoint comics.

---

Reverse-Flash murders the Flash's mom in the Flashpoint comic too

Reverse-Flash is pretty essential to Barry Allen's story. Not only is he his nemesis, but he is also the cause of all the pain Barry has gone through in his life. For those who don't know, Reverse-Flash goes by the name of Eobard Thawne and is a speedster from the future who was obsessed with Barry Allen and was able to recreate the experiment that made him a speedster. However, he possesses a more corrupted version of the Speedforce.

In the Flashpoint comics, it's revealed that to ruin Barry Allen's life, Reverse-Flash travels back in time and actually ends up murdering his mom, which pretty much kickstarts one of the comic book's biggest rivalries. So, in an effort to change the future, Flash ends up traveling back to the past to save his mom and stop Eobard, only to realize that he has negatively affected the future.

Returning to his timeline, Barry realizes that Atlantis and Themyscira are at war with each other and that Bruce Wayne isn't Batman anymore; rather, his father, Thomas Wayne, became the Dark Knight following his son's death. However, none of it goes down like this in The Flash film, as we never see Reverse-Flash kill Barry's mom.

Rather, the identity of the killer in the film remains unknown as Barry isn't allowed to physically interact with someone and rather saves his mom by keeping an extra can of tomatoes in her bag and making sure she isn't home alone at the time of the murder. This did leave many fans to wonder if Reverse-Flash was the original killer of his mom or not, and according to director Andy Muschietti, he is; however, Eobard just isn't shown in the film.

Talking on The Playlist's podcast, Muschietti shared:

"Well, Reverse-Flash is the elephant in the room, right?"

He added, saying:

"It feels like you can’t make another movie without addressing the one that, in all accounts, is the murderer of Barry’s mom. So, it feels like the big villain."

Not showing Reverse-Flash is a pretty significant change from the Flashpoint comics, considering he is the main villain of the entire story. However, in the film, he is substituted for the Dark Flash, who is a corrupted future version of Barry who got obsessed with changing the timeline. While he has nothing to do with the death of Barry's mother, he does serve a huge purpose in the plot as well.

Here is hoping that if The Flash does ever get a sequel, then we get to see Eobard Thawne show up. The film is currently playing in theaters.