Two Of The Flash's Greatest Villains Have Just Become One

Contains spoilers for "The Flash" #797

Few heroes in the DC Universe have such an iconic rogues' gallery as the Flash. Between Captain Cold, Mirror Master, Gorilla Grodd, Reverse-Flash, Zoom, Doctor Alchemy, the Trickster, and so many more foes, there's never been a shortage of great bad guys for the Scarlet Speedster to tango with. Of course, it's part of why the hero's comics have been so consistently good — since he always has someone worthy to battle. In the current "Flash" series from DC Comics, however, two of Barry Allen's villains have been combined into one in the form of Reverse-Grodd.

In "The Flash" #797, Irey and Jai West, the children of Wally West and Linda Park, find themselves transported to a different timeline. Instead of the usual villains they face on their Earth, the evil speedster Knives Maroney has brought together a collection of amalgamated wrongdoers from across the Multiverse. While readers might recognize evil variants of the Animal Man, Mister Terrific, and Heat Wave, the most intriguing new villain is Reverse-Grodd, who combines Gorilla Grodd and Reverse-Flash into a hulking new threat to the children of the current main Flash, Wally.

The story in "The Flash" #797 is that of an accidental Multiversal field trip. While Wallace West is looking after Irey, Jai, and Maxine (the Animal Man's daughter), the children are transported to another dimension by Knives. The villain shares that he's been traveling to different worlds to find them after their previous encounter in "The Flash" #785 and has located the Eternity Mind, allowing him to pull things and people from different timelines.

Knives unveils the young hero's enemies from the past, present, and future: Heat Wave Jr., Foul Play (an evil variant of Mister Terrific), Mineral Man (the Animal Man's villainous doppelganger), Doctor Nightmare, and Reverse-Grodd — the latter of whom is a version of Gorilla Grodd seemingly with Reverse's Flash's speed powers. Seeing Grodd in the yellow and red costume is both hilarious and intimidating — he's one of the cooler, more unusual combination villains to spawn from the Multiverse.

All with their own individual motivations for taking out Irey, Jai, and Maxine, the evil team is unleashed onto the youngsters. While the six villains initially appear too powerful for even Team Flash to handle, they get a surprise assist from other heroes in the Multiverse. Younger versions of Damian Wayne and Jon Kent, the Super Sons from an alternate timeline, jump into action and help the time-displaced heroes swiftly take down Knives' collection of rogues. The heroes continue their chase of the foes, finding Knives once again and fighting him to prevent the Eternity Mind from doing further damage.

While Reverse-Grodd helps subdue Wallace after he arrives in the timeline to look for Irey, Jai, and Maxine, the young heroes come out on top in the final fight against Knives and his dark forces. First, they use the Eternity Mind to summon several animals, including rhinos, elephants, and chickens, to disrupt the supervillain squad. Then, with the group befuddled, the heroes hit them hard, with Jon helping knock down Reverse-Grodd, Damian delivering a swift kick to Foul Play, and Maxine taking out the dark version of her dad, Mineral Man. Finally, Wallace punches Knives, allowing Damian to grab the magical artifact and send the villains to jail in their own timeline.

Ultimately, Reverse-Grodd is more of a fun idea than an actual problem — readers don't really see what he's capable of. However, his debut in the issue opens the possibility that he will appear again one day in the "Flash" comics and show off his maximum power level. If he genuinely has the speed and dark history of Reverse-Flash, plus the psychic powers and massive frame and strength of Gorilla Grodd, Reverse-Grodd will be a significant problem for Team Flash one day, even if he was soundly defeated in the most recent DC Comics story. He has incredible potential power. Readers can see Reverse-Grodd make his debut against the young heroes in "The Flash" #797 by Jeremy Adams, Serg Acuña, and Tom Derenick from DC Comics, in comic book stores now.