The Flash is one of the most powerful comic book superheroes, accessing the Speed Force to run at superhuman speeds and even travel through time. Naturally, a roster of imposing, powerful villains were created to challenge the Scarlet Speedster in various ways. Jay Garrick was the Golden Age Flash, but DC Comics streamlined their superhero roster in the late 1950s, introducing new versions of popular heroes like Green Lantern and Flash.
Barry Allen served as the Silver Age Flash for 29 years until his death in the Crisis on Infinite Earths comic event. Afterwards, Wally West took over the Flash mantle. With each new hero under the red mask, comic writers and artists crafted new villains to oppose them. Captain Cold fought Flash's heat with absolute zero temperatures, Mirror Master trapped the speedster in illusions, and characters like Reverse Flash and Zoom gave Flashs a taste of their own medicine.
Updated on October 2, 2022 by Cole Kennedy: While various TV shows and movies, both live-action and animated, have adapted some of the Flash's most popular villains, their comic book counterparts still give the Scarlet Speedster trouble in the pages of DC Comics. With each new reboot or retcon, the Flash seemingly gains new powers and new levels of speed. Unfortunately, Barry and Wally's greatest comic book villains like Gorilla Grodd or Eobard Thawne raise their own powers to challenge them.
15 The Trickster
AKA James Jesse
The Trickster is actually more dangerous than he may appear. With deadly tricks up his sleeves and a number of gadgets and gizmos that he's invented, he's managed to trap the Scarlet Speedster on many occasions. The Trickster takes mundane items, like rubber chickens and candy, and outfits them with explosives or other dangerous additions.
It's a surprise that this powerless individual can actually take down a metahuman, but he is chaotic and clever enough to use his abilities to fight off such a powerful hero. The Trickster isn't conventionally strong like other Flash villains. Instead, he uses the element of surprise to throw the Flash off balance.
14 Heatwave
AKA Mick Rory
Captain Cold is clearly the leader of this duo, however, Heatwave and his obsession with fire are perhaps just as dangerous. He doesn't have the wits to back it up, but he's an incredibly deadly villain. Heatwave committed countless crimes of arson and thieving and has a grudge against both Barry and Wally.
The original version of Heatwave used a gun that shot streaks of fire, the reverse of Cold's gun. In the New 52, the Rogues gained powers based on their weaponry. Heatwave's body was permanently burned, but he gained the ability to generate fire without the use of technology.
13 Captain Boomerang
AKA Digger Harkness
Captain Boomerang is only as strong as his strongest weapon and lucky for him, he has some serious firepower in those iconic Australian pieces of technology. He's perhaps comparable to heroes like Hawkeye and the Green Arrow, rarely missing his mark.
Because of his skills with technology and boomerangs, he is actually one of the most memorable villains in the Flash's rogues gallery. A man with a boomerang doesn't reach that level of fame without possessing some remarkable abilities. Boomerang even earned Amanda Waller's attention, joining the Suicide Squad on many occasions.
12 Killer Frost
AKA Caitlin Snow
Killer Frost's nature is in her name. She is a cold-hearted murderer and wouldn't hesitate to kill Wally West or Barry Allen. While she's shown signs of heroism in both the comics and The Flash TV series, Caitlin's deadly past is reputable. Despite her common appearances as a villain, Frost helped fight the Crime Syndicate during the Forever Evil comic event, and even joined the Justice League of America after DC Rebirth.
The infamous villain has a vast array of powers, some of which can give other villains on this list a run for their money. Ice is always a killer, whether it's due to her daggers or perhaps the creation of frost bite.
11 Reverse Flash
AKA Daniel West
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Daniel West debuted in The Flash Vol. 4 #0 by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato. Like all DC characters, the Flash received a slight makeover during the New 52. The original Wally West didn't exist, replaced by Wallace West.
Wallace's father, Daniel West, was imbued with Speed Force energy. Unlike most other evil speedsters, Daniel didn't simply run fast. Instead, he reversed time to give the appearance of moving quickly. Daniel never quite gained the level of popularity that Thawne or even Zoom achieved. He reappeared several times and even joined the Suicide Squad. The New 52 is often panned for its unnecessary alterations to DC’s canon, but Daniel's Reverse Flash was a nice addition.
10 The Thinker
AKA Clifford DeVoe
The Thinker is perhaps one of the smartest villains in DC Comics, living up to his name. Barry and Wally can think at superhuman speeds, but they still have limits. The Thinker surpasses the limits of the standard human brain and possesses vast sums of knowledge. Most Flash villains use their fists or weaponry whereas Thinker relies solely on his own mind.
Many characters like Clifford DeVoe, Cliff Carmichael, and Des Connor have used the Thinker name, and all possessed various forms of telepathy, telekinesis, or technopathy. Thanks to their intelligence, various Thinkers have joined groups like Suicide Squad and the Secret Society of Super Villains.
9 Abra Kadabra
AKA Citizen Abra
Abra Kadabra is a minor villain in DC Comics that gained a little more popularity when the character joined CW's The Flash. Kadabra deceives his opponents. He claims to possess magical powers, but he actually uses technology from the 64th century to mimic sorcery. Real magic or not, Kadabra is one of the Flash's most powerful villains.
Kadabra later struck a deal with a demon named Neron to become an actual sorcerer. In the New 52, his most significant accomplishment was trapping Wally West in the Speed Force. He later returned once more to battle Wally and the Titans during DC's Rebirth era.
8 Cicada
AKA David Hersch
Cicada is an interesting character on The Flash on The CW. There were multiple versions of him, including Orlin Dwyer, a man who had the power to nullify most metahuman's powers and set out to exterminate all metahumans. His niece is a time-traveler who takes on the same task.
In DC Comics, Cicada was a Flash villain who first showed up in 2001 as a cult leader who gained the ability to absorb the life force from people after lightning struck him. He was a Wally West villain and was almost immortal since he acquired a century of life every time he killed a person. Cicada is about due for a comic book reappearance.
7 Savitar
Making his first appearance in 1995, Savitar was a pilot whose plane was struck by lightning, giving him superspeed. He named himself after the Hindu god of motion and built a legion of followers who considered him a god.
The Flash on The CW changed everything about Savitar and made him even more powerful. However, comic book Savitar possessed some superhuman abilities that made him one of Wally's greatest villains. Along with superspeed, Savitar can gift his powers of velocity to others, creating a following of evil speedsters to do his bidding.
6 Captain Cold
AKA Leonard Snart
At first glance, Captain Cold is not an imposing villain. Leonard Snart is just a man with a high-tech weapon, but he uses that weapon to great effect against the Fastest Man Alive. The Flash runs at incredible speeds, generating friction and heat. Naturally, Captain Cold lives up to his name and uses a cold gun to slow the Flash down.
After the Forever Evil event, Cold joined Lex Luthor's band of villains to fight the Crime Syndicate of Earth 3. Afterwards, he became a member of the Justice League of America. But before all that, Cold established the Rogues, a team of the Flash's greatest villains. Snart is cunning and follows a code of honor, making him one of Flash's deadliest, and most intriguing, foes.
5 Zoom
AKA Hunter Zolomon
While Eobard Thawne used the name Professor Zoom many times in comic books, Hunter Zolomon officially donned the villainous moniker of Zoom. Zolomon took on the costume and colors of the Reverse Flash and became one of Wally West's most powerful villains.
Zolomon was a Keystone City police officer and metahuman profiler who was paralyzed by Gorilla Grodd and gained powers from the Speed Force following an accident with the Cosmic Treadmill. Following in Thawne's footsteps, Zolomon became Wally's greatest enemy to ironically make Wally a better hero. Zoom and Wally engaged in several epic battles during Geoff Johns's original Flash run that culminated in a tag-team battle involving Barry, Wally, Thawne, and Zolomon.
4 Gorilla Grodd
Gorilla Grodd is a Flash rogue from Africa's Gorilla City. The original Grodd, who debuted in The Flash #106 by John Broome, Carmine Infantino, and Joe Giella in 1959, was a telepath who could control other animals and humans. In the New 52, all inhabitants of Gorilla City had accelerated mental attributes due to the Speed Force, but Grodd was still the superior member of their species.
Grodd is an amazing Flash villain who doesn't rely on speed or technology to defeat his foe, but rather his intellect and superior strength. Grodd is such an imposing figure and a villain who has thankfully received spotlight in many animated shows and The Flash TV series.
3 Mirror Master
AKA Samuel Scudder
While Mirror Master never seemed like much more than a B-grade supervillain in Flash's rogues' gallery, his powers are nothing to scoff at. Many criminals have worn the Mirror Master mask, but they were all powerful in their own ways. One Mirror Master even trapped Flash and Captain Cold in a mirror dimension in The Flash #164 by Geoff Johns, Angel Unzueta, Doug Hazlewood and Tom McCraw, forcing the two enemies to work together to escape.
The Mirror Gun gives Mirror Master the ability to travel to an alternate dimension by entering and exiting any reflective surface. On top of being a significant pain in Flash's side, Mirror Master has also fought Animal Man.
2 Godspeed
AKA August Heart
Godspeed debuted in The Flash: Rebirth Vol. 2 #1 in 2016 by Joshua Williamson, Carmine Di Giandomenico, and Ivan Plascencia. August Heart knew Barry was The Flash. When lightning struck August during a Speed Force storm, he gained access to the Speed Force and became Flash's partner, helping stop speedsters who used their powers for evil.
However, August also worked as a ruthless vigilante known as Godspeed in secret to seek revenge for his brother's death. Godspeed killed speedsters and gained their speed when they died. It took the combined efforts of Barry, Wally, and the new Kid Flash to stop him.
1 Reverse Flash
AKA Eobard Thawne
Eobard Thawne was Flash's biggest fan in the future and wanted to become a hero just like him. He used remnants of the Speed Force and gave himself powers. He then created dangers so he could save the day and become a hero.
When Barry Allen traveled to the future, the two met and bonded. However, when Flash learned that Eobard hurt people to look like a hero, he turned him in. Reverse Flash is not only Flash's most powerful foe, matching Barry's speed, even surpassing it on occasion, he holds a deep, personal vendetta against Barry and frequently uses time travel to meddle in the Flash's life.