Their lightning does not follow the laws of physics in regards to energy output and does not act like normal electricity, causing objects to explode upon contact.Ī Speed Force user exposed to the Negative Speed Force experiences great pain and may be rendered unable to use certain powers for a time. The lightning of a Negative Speedster tends to be tinted red, black or purple. Presumably this is because attempting to alter time is an inherently destructive act. Perhaps most impressively, Negative Speedsters have an easier time using their powers to travel in time and do not require an external device like the Cosmic Treadmill or a focus to act as their lightning rod. These include the ability to negate the powers of Speed Force users, the power to drain the Negative Speed Force from other Negative Speedsters to boost their own power, the ability to age or deage themselves and the power to erase a person's memories. Negative Speedsters have access to powers that regular Speed Force users do not. Naturally this energy does not hurt the Negative Speedster. Their auras build up energy over time, however, and will eventually explode in order to release pent-up energy. The aura of a Negative Speedster protects them against more than friction and high-velocity wind-burn. A Negative Speedster, for instance, must take care not to disintegrate what they phase through, as they generally make matter explosive when they pass through it. However, most of these powers have a destructive flip-side to them. Much as Barry created the Speed Force in the comics and refuels it with every step he takes, so too did Eobard Thawne create the Negative Speed Force and empower it with his motions.Ī Negative Speedster has most of the same powers that a regular Speed Force user has, including super-speed, accelerated healing, enhanced perception and mental processing, lighting generation, phasing and time/dimensional travel. Following the New 52 revamp, it acted more as a dark mirror of The Speed Force, similar to the Dark Side and Light Side of The Force in Star Wars. Originally, the Negative Speed Force consumed any speedster it came into contact with and ate away at the Speed Force like a cancer. First introduced in The Flash: Rebirth, the Negative Speed Force is, as the names suggests, an equal, opposite and darker power that counters The Speed Force. With this episode, Eobard Thawne confirms that rather than tapping into the standard Speed Force, he draws upon the Negative Speed Force. The episode title may be a tribute to the supervillain group Mud Pack, which was made up of all four villains at the time who used the name Clayface. One wishes we got more scenes like this and less of him plastering himself to the inside of the Timesphere. While he's mostly stuck being comic relief, Sawyer has nailed Ralph when it comes time to get serious, such as his telling off Sherloque and his confronting Iris in this episode. Harltley Sawyer delivers a powerful performance here. (Really, though, it did make more sense for Cisco to do that and for her to develop the cure.) Meanwhile, Caitlin must join forces with her estranged mother when her father, still dominated by his Icicle persona, returns to enact the next stage of his demented plan.Ĭaitlin says she knows nothing about electrical engineering, yet she designed and constructed the delivery system for the metahuman cure earlier in Season 5. With Barry having stranded Nora in the future without consulting her, Iris takes matters into her own hands to retrieve her daughter using Eobard Thawne's time machine. For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.