Negative Speed Force

"*Breathe. You're reaching out and nobody's there. The loneliness is pain. Pain racing through your mind. Crushing you, wrecking you, shattering your soul into a million little pieces. And suddenly, you are no longer you. You're part of something different now. Part of a negative force.*"

—Eobard Thawne to Nora West-Morningstar and Kallie Snow-Allen
The **Negative Speed Force** is an extra-dimensional energy source that was tapped into by Eobard Thawne when he attempted to become a speedster. Speedsters with a connection to the Speed Force can gain a connection to the Negative Speed Force by exercising their fear, hate, and anguish to such an extent that it corrupts them from the inside.

Gaining a connection to the Negative Speed Force will turn a speedster's natural yellow lightning red. Team Flash has also found that users of the Negative Speed Force harness negative tachyons, but instead of slowing the speedster down, the negative tachyons allow a speedster to siphon positive tachyons from the Speed Force like a parasite in order to accelerate their own movement. As a result, unlike normal Speed Force users, Negative Speed Force users produce a huge amount of tachyons that can be easily tracked.

## Overview

The Negative Speed Force is comprised of negative tachyon particles that are infused with dark matter, allowing speedsters access to their main ability super speed as well as their derived abilities such as time travel.[1][2] If speedsters are connected with the Negative Speed Force for an extended period of time, it begins corrupting them, filling them with anger and hate.[3]

## History

### Original multiverse

After Eobard Thawne discovered that his destiny was to become the exact opposite of the Flash, he attempted to prove his superiority as the Reverse-Flash. At some point, Thawne created his own variation of the Speed Force using negative tachyon particles that were infused with dark matter, naming it the "Negative Speed Force". With the Negative Speed Force, Thawne was able to time travel without the Flash knowing his presence in the timeline.

In 2049, when Nora Allen wanted to go back in time without her father feeling her presence, Thawne taught her how to use the Negative Speed Force.[1]

Thawne later revealed to Barry and Nora that the connection Nora established to the Negative Speed Force was a part of his plan, as a means of preserving her existence after Cicada's dagger was destroyed, as that caused her timeline to be erased. Knowing that the Negative Speed Force had begun to make her more like Thawne and that wasn't who she wanted to be, Nora ultimately decided to accept her fate instead of continuing to use it.[3]

### New multiverse

When Eobard Thawne built a biometric lightning oscillation chamber in an attempt to become a speedster, he believed he accidently tapped into the Negative Speed Force.[4] However, the other negative forces later revealed to Thawne that the Negative Speed Force always existed and chose him as its avatar because it fed off his hatred for Barry Allen.[5]

After the Anti-Monitor Crisis, while inside Harrison Nash Wells' mind, Thawne connected with the Negative Speed Force and attempted to escape the "exorcism" that Cisco Ramon and Cecile Horton were performing to rid Nash of Thawne. Cisco was quick enough to place power-dampening cuffs on Nash's wrists, but Thawne promised that they would not hold him when he gained total control of Nash, which he ultimately didn't.[6]

Around a year later, Barry and Iris West-Allen had the Speed Force connect to the Negative Speed Force in order to reconstitute Eobard Thawne's physical form so he could help Barry defeat Godspeed.[7]

Sometime after Godspeed was defeated, Thawne began changing the timeline. When Barry went to the future to see who really caused Armageddon, he discovered that he somehow had a connection to the Negative Speed Force instead of the Speed Force. With the help of Damien Darhk and Iris, Barry was able to reconnect to the Speed Force and restore the timeline.[8]

Since Damien's time stone was used to restore the timeline[8], all possible time variables were eliminated, causing Thawne to fade in and out from existence. Team Flash ultimately decided to sever Thawne's connection to the Negative Speed Force in order to save his life.[9]

From 2021 to 2022, when another version of Eobard Thawne and Meena Dhawan built a biometric lightning oscillation chamber to give one of themselves speedster powers, they accidently tapped into the Negative Speed Force. Thawne put Meena in the chamber in order to save her life and when she eventually became corrupted by the Negative Speed Force, Thawne managed to break the Negative Speed Force's hold on Meena.[4]

After both versions of Thawne ultimately died, Barry and Iris discussed how one day the Negative Speed Force will choose a new avatar and that they will be ready when that day comes.[5]

## Physical manifestations

### Lightning coloration

* **Red:** Red lightning is typically the result of a speedster having a connection to the Negative Speed Force, which Eobard Thawne created at some point after recreating the accident that gave the Flash his powers. Red lightning is seen in Thawne himself as well as Edward Clariss. In addition, speedsters such as Hunter Zolomon who are taken by Time Wraiths into the Speed Force also have their lightning turned red.
* **Red and purple:** After Nora West-Allen managed to run into the Negative Speed Force to return to the present day, the yellow part of her lightning turned red while retaining the purple part of her lightning.
* **Red and blue**: After Eobard James "EJ" Thawne the counterpart of Sam Allen connects to the Negative Speed Force and his lights shows part of his lightning red and retaining the blue part of his lightning.
* **Black:** After Meena Dhawan accidentally tapped into the Negative Speed Force to give herself temporary speedster powers, she emitted black lightning with a white aura.

### Eye transformation

When harnessing the Negative Speed Force, a speedster's eyes and the skin around the eyes can glow red.

## Powers and abilities

### Powers

#### Speedster powers

*The only powers listed below are the ones that differ between the Negative Speed Force and the Speed Force. For all of the powers that a speedster can have, see Speedster powers.*
The Negative Speed Force, like the Speed Force, enhances all movement, momentum, and force exerting capabilities of its user, down to a microscopic level, as well as giving the user conscious control over it. This enhances overall acceleration, agility, reflexes, coordination, balance, and reaction time to inhuman levels. In addition, the body becomes conditioned beyond human potential, allowing them to handle extreme physical exertion and performance, which is also enhanced.

* **Reconnection:** If a Negative Speed Force user should happen to lose their connection to the Negative Speed Force, they can regain their connection by feeding on the negative emotions of others.[6]
* **Time travel:** Users of the Negative Speed Force can travel through time like users of the Speed Force. However, since they use the Negative Speed Force to time travel, users of the Negative Speed Force cannot be detected by users of the Speed Force.
	+ **Temporal bunker:** Since it exists outside of the timeline, a speedster can prevent themselves from being erased from existence by running into and staying inside the Negative Speed Force. However, if they do so, their connection to the Negative Speed Force becomes the sole tether of their existence unless their timeline is restored.[3]
* **Speed Force negation:** Users of the Negative Speed Force can temporarily cancel out another speedster's speed by hitting them with negative lightning.[4]
* **Power summation:** A Negative Speed Force user can summon power directly from the Negative Speed Force through cumulonimbus clouds.[4]

### Weaknesses

#### Speedster weaknesses

*The only weaknesses listed below are the ones that differ between the Negative Speed Force and the Speed Force. For all of the weaknesses that a speedster can have, see Speedster weaknesses.*
Like with the Speed Force, speedsters may show one or more weaknesses despite their connection to the Negative Speed Force. Whether this hints towards inherent limitations of the Negative Speed Force itself or just to limitations of its users' control over their connection to it, is not known for certain, but the latter seems more likely.

* **Gravity:** While deprived of gravity, a speedster's lack of weight prevents them from accessing their speed.[10]
* **Tachyon production:** Users of the Negative Speed Force produce huge traces of negative tachyons while running, which can easily be tracked.[2]

#### Negative Speed Force weaknesses

*The only weaknesses listed below are the ones that differ between the Negative Speed Force and the Speed Force. For all of the weaknesses that a speed force can have, see Speed Force weaknesses.*
Like the Speed Force, even though the Negative Speed Force is a powerful, interdimensional force, it still has some weaknesses.

* **Inability to reform matter:** The Negative Speed Force is unable to reform matter. Until the Speed Force reconstituted Eobard Thawne's physical form, he existed within the Negative Speed Force as negative tachyons following the Anti-Monitor Crisis.[7]
* **Time stone:** The time stone's ability to eliminate all time variables and restore a single permanent timeline is able to overpower the Negative Speed Force's ability to preserve a speedster's existence. Thawne was forced seek Team Flash's help when he began fading in and out from existence as a result of the stone's use despite his connection to the Negative Speed Force.[9]

## Known users

* Barry Allen/Reverse-Flash (briefly; while he was in the Reverse-Flashpoint timeline; on Earth-Prime)
* Meena Dhawan/Fast Track (temporarily; on Earth-Prime)
* Eobard Thawne/Reverse-Flash (deceased)
* Harrison Nash Wells (briefly; while he was possessed by Eobard Thawne; deceased)
* Nora West-Allen/XS (formerly)
* Barry Morningstar/Reverse-Flash (briefly; while he was in the Reverse-Flashpoint timeline; on Earth-Prime 2)
* Chase Morningstar/Reverse-Flash (briefly; stopped being the **Reverse-Flash** on Earth-TUD24 and is now the Vigilante **Velocity**)
* Sam Allen/Reverse-Bolt/Reverse-Flash (briefly; in the Reverse-Flashpoint timeline and in the original timeline; on Earth-Prime 2)
* Eobard Thawne/Reverse-Flash
* Nash Wells (briefly; while he was possessed by Eobard Thawne; deceased)
* Nora West-Morningstar/XS (formerly)
* Kallie Snow-Allen/Velocity (formerly)