10 Facts about DC’s Negative Speed Force

The Negative Speed Force is the realm that gives the Reverse Flash, the Flash’s mortal enemy, his powers. We know so much about the Speed Force thanks to it being extensively explored in the comics, shows, and movies.

Generated by Eobard Thawne

Like Barry Allen is the one that keeps the Speed Force running with the energy he generates every time he takes a stroll, the Negative Speed Force is powered by the Reverse Flash. It is the energy left in his trail that keeps the extra-dimensional realm churning and kicking. Eobard Thawne calls the Negative Speed Force “A Sea of Red Light”, and when asked about his connection to this mysterious realm, he claims – “I am its engine!”

Powerful Enough to Survive Flashpoint

When Barry Allen traveled back in time to change the entire time line, it led to Flashpoint – a twisted world where there was no Bruce Wayne, no Superman, and a world in the brink of extinction thanks to a war between Aquaman’s Atlantis and Wonder Woman’s Themyscira. Flashpoint changed literally everything in the DC Universe. But the one thing it could not change was the Reverse Flash. Eobard Thawne still roamed the Earth, now without a Flash to stop him, creating rampart havoc wherever he went. It shows that the Negative Speed Force and its wielders can survive even being pushed to an alternate reality.

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Has the Power to make its User Immortal

A powerful and often less explored ability of the Negative Speed Force is the power of its users to control their own aging process. Eobard Thawne has shown that he could use his connection to the Negative Speed Force to alter his own age at will. He can even use this ability to alter the age of other people that aren’t connected to the realm. The exact details of the technique are still not known but it practically can make the Reverse Flash immortal by giving him endless longevity.

Is Speed Force Cancer

The Negative Speed Force is basically a parasite realm that siphons energy from the Speed Force to sustain itself. In the process, it slowly corrupts and poisons the Speed Force. If Barry Allen stops running and puts an end to the supply of energy to the Speed Force, the Negative Speed Force will engulf and corrupt the entire Speed Force. The Negative Speed Force can corrupt not only its user but also the non-speedster who is exposed to it. While the Speed Force resembles the warm feeling of love and hope, the Negative Speed Force gives its user a sensation of hatred and rage. The angrier and spiteful you get, the stronger your connection to it becomes. In the end, you become evil.

Negates Flash’s Powers

The Speed Force has the power to not just grant the Reverse Flash access to superhuman levels of speed but also allow him to negate the powers of his arch-enemy the Flash. The Negative Speed Force can cancel the powers of Speed Force users. If a normal speedster is exposed to the dark energies of the Negative Speed Force, his or her connection to the Speed Force can be temporarily severed. The effect can become permanent if the speedsters are exposed to the dark energies of the extra-dimensional realm long enough. It is how the Reverse Flash stays a step ahead of the Flash almost all the time in the comic books. His powers are literally negating the powers of the Flash.

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Causes Great Pain to Speed Force User if Exposed

The Speed Force and the Negative Speed Force are the polar opposites of each other. They cannot stay together within a single vessel. If they do, the outcome would be disastrous for the host. When Meena Dhawan was exposed to the Negative Speed Force and was bathed in its energies, she gained a connection to both the speedster realms. The result was her body started to give up on her and Meena started experiencing excruciating pain. Meena was sure that if she does not sever her connection with the Negative Speed Force, it would almost certainly lead to her death because she too was confident that she cannot bear the pain for long.

The Color of the Lightning

Users of the Negative Speed Force generate a trail of lightning that has a much more sinister color than the ones generated by members of the Flash Family. The color of the lightning is Red or Black, depending on the experience and proficiency of the user. Reverse Flash gained access to the Dark Lightning, the most potent form of lightning that could be used by a Negative Speed Force after the Flashpoint story arc. The lightning is also far stronger than the normal ones generated by Speed Force users. It is much more destructive and has a tendency to make things and objects explode upon contact with it.

Users are Granted an Incinerating Aura Shield

When travelling at such blazing speeds, the enemy of the Flash is not a super villain but wind itself. It is the atmosphere that burns up most high velocity meteors when they enter the Earth by the help of massive air friction. The Flash and the Reverse Flash travel at exceedingly superhuman speeds that lay far beyond the velocity of light. They need some next level protection to stop themselves from burning up due to air friction. The Reverse Flash, just like the Flash, generates an aura of Negative Speed Force while running. This aura is more devastating than a Speed Force Aura. It can’t just deflect bullets but also literally incinerate them upon impact. The Reverse Flash has used this attribute to burn his enemies to death by literally ramming into them.

Easier Time Travel

While the Flash and the rest of his Speedster Folks require objects like the Cosmic Treadmill to travel back and forth in time accurately, the Reverse Flash does not need auxiliary support of any kind to do so. The Flash can travel into the past and the future even without the treadmill but he loses control over his time jump’s accuracy. If you are a user of the Negative Speed Force, you can just run back and forth in time as you wish, without worrying about such trivial aspects. You also do not need to run faster than the speed of light to time travel unlike users of the Speed Force.

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Memory Manipulation

The power to manipulate the memories of others is not something that is exactly related to speedsters. But it is an additional bonus the Negative Speed Force grants to its users. To be exact, the user gets the power to absorb other’s memories. The one whose memories get absorbed do not remember the information anymore while the Negative Speed Force user thus gains vital information that only he or she possesses. It is certainly a useful ability to have when you are trying to erase all traces of a crime.