Josh Williamson's run on The Flash has pushed Barry Allen to new limits and introduced new threats for the Scarlet Speedster. The latest is Paradox, a cosmically empowered villain who seeks to punish the Flash for his past mistakes.
In an interview on the official DC website, Williamson spoke about the origin of Paradox and how it drew from Allen's death in the original Crisis on Infinite Earths comic. Williamson said that he created Paradox to be a cosmic villain on the level of the Anti-Monitor.
"One of Barry's biggest stories ever is Crisis on Infinite Earths. And in that story, he goes up against the Anti-Monitor and he dies. But the Anti-Monitor isn't really considered one of Barry's enemies," Williamson said. "He became kind of a Justice League villain, or a villain for the DC Universe as a whole. Sometimes he's a Green Lantern villain, like in 'Sinestro Corps War.'"
"And I started thinking that something I felt was missing from Barry's rogues gallery was some kind of cosmic villain like that. Then I started looking into the idea of Barry and the mistakes he had made and piecing together a villain that represented that. Someone who represented those mistakes and represented the cosmic side of things," Williamson continued.
The current arc of The Flash, "The Flash Age," sees Paradox attempting to force Barry Allen to give up being the Flash or watch his life be destroyed. The Flash #753 will see Allen go back in time to seek the help of his greatest enemy: Eobard Thawne, aka Reverse-Flash.