Ok, I have seen the opinion that Thad’s characterization after the Impulse (1994) comics is bad, wrong, doesn’t make sense, or is inconsistent with his character in Impulse. I am here to tell you that his character after Impulse does make sense and is consistent with his character that we see in Impulse. (Except for Rogues' Revenge. I will fight that one a bit.)
Because what connects his character in Impulse (1994) to his character in Flash: The Fastest Man Alive, Teen Titans (2003), All-Flash, and Final Crisis: Rogues Revenge is Thad’s hatred for Bart and the evolution of that hatred. His hatred for Bart starts out as a familial obligation via the Allen-Thawne feud that we see in Impulse #53, and then in Impulse #66 is shown to develop into something more personal while he is impersonating Bart and living his life.
People say that Thad’s character post Impulse is inconsistent because of these pages and where his character is left at this point:
Impulse #66
But, I’d argue it’s not inconsistent with his future appearance because Thad despite what he's learned is still shown here to be a teenager full of anger and hatred. Yes, he does learn that his family has been using him, that he’s a tool for vengeance, that he has never experienced his family’s love or pride for him, and that his entire life up until this point has empty and dedicated to other’s hatred. But understanding this is not the same as actively changing. Thad had the potential to change for the good of his own life, just as he had the potential to accept Max’s offer to live and train to be a hero with him as well as to actually experience familial love and friendship, but he did not accept that offer nor did he change (in terms of his behavior or attitude) because of his hatred for Bart:
Impulse #66
(Note here in these pages, that Thad specifically states that he doesn't want this happy life if Bart is a part of it.)
Thad denies himself the opportunity of the lifetime, one chance that could completely change his life for the better, because his hatred for Bart gets the better of him and it does not change in Impulse or even his latter appearances (Final Crisis: Rogues Revenge might be an exception because he states he doesn't want Bart's life then).
So what we are left with at the end of Impulse before Thad runs off into the Speed Force is Thad being a teenager full of hatred in contrast to Bart, who is a teenager full of love. More specifically he is left with a more “personal” hatred.
Yes, it’s implied that this anger is aimed towards his family, the Thawne family, (and it may even be directed towards Bart and Max too as he says “I hate you all”) but that doesn’t mean the anger and hatred he’s shown towards Bart has suddenly gone away either. By the end of Impulse #66, his last appearance in the series, we don’t see Thad having significantly learned or changed with regard to his character, attitude, behaviors, or his feelings towards Bart. He recognizes he’s been used, but instead, what we are left with at the end of his appearance in Impulse is a character with even more hatred and anger than he began with in Impulse.
So Thad’s character is just as actively primed for the hatred that he shows Bart in Flash: The Fastest Man Alive and Teen Titans as it is for the potential to change. However, canonically and inevitably his character continues with this path and characterization of hatred towards Bart. Which we see in his next significant appearance in Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #7:
This hatred for Bart is compounded with the events that lead to Bart being the only speedster left with a connection to the Speed Force, which is why Thad is without his speed and using Velocity 9. Thad wants his speed back, but also his hatred for Bart is personal as he states that,
“Shooting up like a back-alley junkie, playing Mota’s tech support geek. This is what Bart Allen’s driven me to,” and thinks that, “Hoarding Speed Force…Growing up overnight…[Bart] thinks he’s better than me, that he has no equal. Big mistake.”
All of this is personal to Thad just as it was during Impulse. Just as Thad is comparing himself to Bart in this panel from Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #7, he compares himself and shows his anxieties toward Bart and being Bart’s clone in Impulse #53:
"To think...I was apprehensive about our meeting. Worried about what you might be capable of..."
Impulse #53
As well as displays his desire to be better than Bart, which is also seen in Impulse #53:
“I’m smarter than you! Stronger than you—Better than you in every way!”
Through the events of F:FMA and Teen Titans Thad’s hatred towards Bart is personal, consistent in wanting Bart dead just as he did during Impulse, but it also has grown to an obsessive level because he puts being better than Bart and wanting to kill him before everything else as he betrays multiple people (Mota, Sungirl, and the Rogues) in order to prove himself. So this is an evolution of the hatred he’s shown in Impulse. He still wants to kill Bart just as he did in Impulse, but he will do so by any means possible, even if it’s at a potential detriment to himself via the people he’s betrayed, his use of Velocity 9, which has a history of being a lethal drug (though not in this case), killing Bart, a beloved hero which creates a clear fallout/chaotic set of consequences, or even if it means his own death (as seen through how he and Bart fight with such a desperation to kill each other and how the Black Flash (Death) lingers around their fight).
Within F:FMA this hatred Thad has shown culminates in Thad successfully killing Bart, and though we do not see his reaction to Bart's death in F:FMA, we do see him comment upon it in All-Flash, with joy:
In All-Flash, there is still a consistency to his character that can be traced back to Impulse, but also F: FMA and Teen Titans (2003). We see his hatred for Bart in how he talks about him to Wally, as seen above, but we also see a continuation of the self destructive behavior, behavior that is a detriment to himself and his life that he shows in F: FMA and Teen Titans (2003) through how he interacts with Wally after the older speedster has already caught him and is draining him of his speed:
All-Flash
He lies to Wally about how Bart dies.
All Flash
Tries to convince him that Bart losing his speed and that Bart’s death was Wally’s fault!
Thad is jabbing and jabbing at Wally while the threat of violence and death from Wally is looming all around him. Though Wally doesn't kill him, the older speedster instead does steals his speed from him, turning him into a living statue that is put on display in the Flash Museum (which almost burns down with him in it in Flash Vol. 2 #241), and forced to stare at Bart’s image. This is stated to be a fate worse than death.
"I can't cross that line. I can't kill him. So I do something worse." - Wally West
All-Flash
Now as for Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge, Thad’s character is not great, but if you think of the circumstances surrounding his character during this comic it makes more sense. It’s still not great, but it can make sense. Thad prior to the beginning of Rogue’s Revenge has been a living statue that’s been up on public display in The Flash Museum, which almost burned down with him in it. What Wally has done to him—stealing his speed, putting him up on public display, and forcing him to unblinkingly stare at Bart's image— is torture or at the least cruel and unusual punishment by a hero, plain and simple. Wally even specifically describes at the end of All-Flash that this punishment is “worse” than death. No one would come out of that kind of situation in their right mind, so it’s unsurprising that when Thad is released from his stasis he is vengeful and (still) murderous (that's been a consistent trait since Impulse), but this time he’s going after Wally’s kids, two people who are also very important to Wally.
They really turn up the dial on Thad being indiscriminately murderous in this comic and while I don’t like it, it’s not exactly out of character or unreasonable for his character at this point. He's shown that he has no qualms about murder and has endangered civilian's before (Impulse #52-53). For the rest of this comic he acts under the alias of Kid Zoom, but it’s not because he wants to. Hunter Zolomon forces him to be Kid Zoom under the threat of taking his speed away from him and/or killing him:
Zoom threatens to take his speed away again.
Final Crisis: Rogues Revenge #1
Thad is forced into the role of Kid Zoom.
*Note: Zoom saying that Thad wanted to be Bart/have his life is inaccurate with regard to his motivations shown in F:FMA.
Final Crisis: Rogues Revenge #2
Zoom is also forcing Thad into the role of Kid Zoom for his own reasons: #1. Being his usual reasoning of "making heroes better" and #2 because this is a part of Libra’s plan:
However, as for killing Josh Mardon, that has less to do with Thad’s character than it does with moving parts of the Final Crisis event forward. Thad’s character at this point I would say is inaccurate as he's portrayed as a petulant, impatient, edgy teenager by the time Rogues Revenge #3 comes around, but it also sort of understandable considering that he wants nothing to do with being Kid Zoom, listening to Hunter or being a part of making heroes better through Hunter’s unique methods as an antagonist, or Libra’s plan. He’s been forced onto this ride, gives no damns, and just wants to make everything worse for everyone else because it has nothing to do with him and doesn’t satisfy his wants or goals, which is honestly the most in character part for Thad in this comic:
Thad at this point just wants to cause heroes pain like they’ve caused him pain which is very in-character for him and what he experienced in All-Flash. It's all a bit personal to him.
It's not good characterization for him, but overall Thad in Final Crisis: Rogues Revenge is honestly more of a cog to make certain events happen than a character at this point because he is just a small part of a much larger event, Final Crisis, so I don’t blame people ignoring this comic. It’s not my favorite either. Very, very far from it actually. But mercifully he is killed off in Rogues Revenge, and that essentially gives us an ending point to his whole arc of obsessive hatred towards Bart, which is that a hatred that deep only leads to destruction.
Ultimately Thad's actions, character, and motivation are consistent to Impulse with regard to his appearances in Flash: FMA, Teen Titans (2003), and All-Flash. He’s not pure evil, he's not a villain for no reason, and nothing about him has really changed. He’s a teenager full of hatred that began due to his upbringing and that then later developed into a personal grudge against Bart because of his own hang ups. His hatred just continues to twist him more and more and that’s it and it culminates in his own death. It’s honestly more apt to think of him not as villain, but as a teenager who was unable let go of his grudge.
I’m not saying these comics are good, that they were good to the characterization of other characters (Bart in TT and F:FMA, Thad in Rogues Revenge) or that you have to like them, but in how Thad is portrayed, they are consistent with his character from what is shown in the Impulse comics. Thad absolutely could have learned from his interaction with Max, but that's not the direction his character went. It may not be your preference for how his character development went, but both directions are valid and plausible.
I also personally think that these appearances do add to Thad’s character and allow you to explore his character in multiple different directions, such as through themes of hatred, self destruction that we see in All-Flash, his inevitable mutual destruction with how both he and Bart die in the end, and just how being a clone affects his personal hatred for Bart and why that makes it so personal, just to name a few.
So while they are not great or good comics as a whole, they do hold value and add to Thad's character.
Because I'm trying to finish up Thad's comprehensive bio on my blog this thought came to mind:
I think the most bananas wild thing (and one of the most interesting things) Thad ever tried do in comics was try to make Wally think Bart's death was his fault.
Specifically, by saying that it was his fault that Bart lost his speed and that's why he died. He tries to make him think that it was Wally's return that triggered Bart to lose his speed during the crucial moment when he was fighting for his life against Thad and the Flash Rogues. In actuality, it was all Thad's fault that Bart lost his speed and Thad knows that even while telling all this to Wally.
But even after killing Bart, even after Wally finds out Bart is dead and is actively grieving and mourning his cousin's death, Thad still tries to dig the knife a deeper into Wally, and tries to pin Bart's death on him instead!
Comic: All-Flash
Like that is such a wild and ballsy move on Thad's part when he knows he's completely helpless in Wally's literal grip. Like Wally is using him as a battering ram (as seen here where he runs Thad's body through a train), he has as stolen Thad's speed from him, and is literally threatening to kill him in this moment. But STILL Thad calls Bart, a 'bitch' to his face!!! (Specifically he tells him he "screamed like a little bitch" but the implication is there.)
Thad does this all because he has absolutely nothing to lose now. Sure there's his life, but he was willing to risk dying when he fought Bart, and is clearly willing to do it again with how he keeps taunting and hurting Wally, when he is so willing and ready to kill him.
Thad is just so fucking messy and vindictive in this comic that it is amazing and so fascinating!
Actually in retrospect, all of All-Flash is wild when you look at Thad closely in the single-issue comic. It's wild yet so good and so interesting.
I think the idea that Thad’s characterization is wrong post-Impulse comics is over exaggerated. There’s a difference between a character’s background being disregarded/a character seeming ooc, and disliking the direction a character’s arc/story went.
The crux of Thad’s character post-Impulse is his hatred toward Bart. It’s obsessive, it’s twisted in the sense that it’s misdirected, but it is still very plausible for his character. You may dislike it, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a viable/plausible direction for his character.
I'm still on my post-Impulse, post-everything (New Earth), thoughts about Thad, so bear with me for a moment.
But there is just so much potential with Thad after his death. Dying is literally the best excuse you can give a character to reinvent themselves and it's untapped potential with Thad.
Reinvention also fits so well with his character's sort of inherent theme of identity! Also reinvention doesn't have to have a positive or end-all-be-all outcome for him. He doesn't have to stick with it because right alongside identity is topic/theme of self-discovery.
Genuinely, he can go in any direction. It makes him such and interesting character to play with!
I think one thing people don't take into account with Thad, especially when it comes to his post-Impulse appearances, is anger.
Specifically, how it is such a strong motivator and how it is not always rational. How he still goes after Bart in his post-Impulse comic appearances makes sense when you look at it from the perspective of anger and how Thad is such a prideful individual.
His actions can easily be chalked up to displaced anger towards Bart because 1.) He can't exactly go after President Thawne because he views him as a father/his creator (I assume standing up to him would be incredibly difficult because he views him in such a way but also Pres. Thawne's also proven himself to be manipulative and controlling) and 2.) because Bart had a part in essentially ruining his life or at least the perception of life being good. Bart played a part in shattering the truths of Thad's life. Thad thought his life was fine, that he was going to make his family proud of him, that he had a part in it, that he was family to the Thawnes, but instead he learned that he was being used, manipulated, and that he was unloved.
If you, a prideful individual had your perception of reality shattered by someone would you take a helping hand from the person who shattered your reality? I think not. So instead he goes after Bart. He's someone that Thad can actually hurt. Someone he can take his emotions out on. It's misguided and maybe not rational to the readers who understand his situation better than he does, but Thad is a misguided character.
I think his anger towards Bart is what prominently drives him post-Impulse actions and that it should be taken into account more.
Thad, staring at his hands each time he remembers he was made in a lab (canon) and also came back to life (blog canon): I have more in common with Frankenstein's monster than I care to admit.
Alright here's my thoughts on a way Thad could have essentially a 'redemption arc' Post-FMA and post death. (Actually in retrospect Post-Rogues Revenge to be specific. I just lump that with FMA. Though I don't accept what happened with Josh Mardon).
This post started as a response/add-on to @radioactive-earthshine's post here, so a bit of its phrasing is in conversation with that post. Though i have done some editing since my first draft of this post.
Please excuse my rambling as I love thinking of Thad from a perspective of post-FMA and post-death and having come back to life for a second chance.
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Notes:
General Note (before or after you read this post): I guess my big caveat with this idea is that at least some people have to be willing to give Thad a BIG chance and let him try to prove himself in order for it to really work. People gotta be cool with
*1 - Why post Thad's death? - I see Thad's death as a catalyst for him to change or be open to some change because death is such a huge consequence of his actions, but also because 1. Since he's a speedster he's not dead in the traditional way thanks to the Speed Force essentially housing speedsters. And 2. It also gives hm time away from other people and the influence of the Thawnes in order for him to think. He can look at his life and reexamine his own thoughts, feelings, decisions, and essentially his entire life and for once reflect on his own without having to confront someone else, prove himself, or defend his choices in that moment. He can just reflect. Though that won't fix everything. Instead, it is an impetus for Thad to change.
(Also just from a comic/visual medium perspective I think it would be cool to delve more into the speedsters who are 'stuck' in the Speed Force. But that's a conversation for another day.)
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By looking at Thad’s actions post Mercury Falling as being due solely to him and his feelings and desires such as a sense of bitterness, a desire to prove himself, and as a way validate his own existence such as through killing Bart, I can see Thad (preferably post his death)*1 realizing that his previous actions were never going to lead to his own validation. Thad killing Bart while it might have felt good in the moment, ultimately meant nothing and was a bittersweet endeavor because after that moment he loses all purpose and drive with his victory over Bart. He realizes that he was just falling to his own bitterness and the teachings of violence and hatred from the only life he knew.
With the realization that his past actions weren't right, that they didn't truly bring him happiness or validation, he can progress from where he was before. He would no longer be reliant on his hatred toward Bart to propel his life, but instead he would live for himself and live his own life for the first time. He would be free.
Now, just this concept where Thad no longer shackled to his hatred toward Bart in itself could lead to so many different scenarios and paths for Thad as he builds a life for himself (and I could go into that), but specifically in relation to a 'redemption arc' it would lead more specifically toward the tribulations that come with self-discovery and building a life for himself now that he is alive again. Now, I say this specifically with a social perspective in mind with regard to this bit. Because Thad post death would be trying to build a life for himself while people/heroes/most of the Flash Family consider him a villain and still hold his past actions, like killing Bart, against him. It's gonna be hard for him to go through this 'redemption arc' and there are gonna be consequences for Thad's past through how people treat him, but despite that he's still going to try. It's a scenario of self-betterment, but also I think unconsciously he's also trying to make up for what he's done by being a better person than he was.
Setting-wise this arc would be set in the Twin Cities are. Either Keystone City or Central City, so he can't help, but run into members of the Flash Family. But these potential/chance meetings with other Flash Members allows him to make connections; good, bad, and just neutral depending on who it is in the Flash Family he meets and if they're familiar with him.
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Regarding the topic of redemption when applied to Thad/how he would personally handle the process of redemption/changing:
I think redemption for Thad would be half him fighting his own 'inertia,' his resistance to change. Part of Thad would still be so ingrained in the idea that he is "bad," a villain, and a Thawne (even though he's abandoned the family in every way except name) because that is what he has known for so long and because that is what people are telling him definitively when they see that he's alive again. Thad believes these sorts of things about himself and is also unwilling to let go of his past because it is all he has ever know, so he is fighting the fact that he actually is changing as a person.
And this would be further reflected in his actions. He would be consciously putting distance between himself and the Flash family, he would be punishing himself for his previous actions, and SAYING that he has not changed despite how actions would show that he has. Thad's stubborn, but I also think that he would be scared of change as well, and at this part of his life would very much be his own namesake, Inertia.
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Briefly regarding what his actions would look like at this time as he finds himself and his own life:
I say in this scenario he would overall straddle a sort of anti-hero line though his actions skew toward more heroic, though not to the same degree as heroes. It's not out of a desire to do right for others, but it would be selective in a way and drawing from what he cares about. Like, sure, if he's in the area he will save someone who is in danger, but more specifically I think he would be real conscious of how younger metas are treated, so no one ends up being used like he was in his youth, that they can have a childhood he didn't have, so he would speak up in those kinds of scenarios.
Regarding labels: Thad still would probably still stubbornly label himself a villain because of his unwillingness to consciously/overtly change himself as I previously mentioned, but also because of the perspective directed toward him by heroes. Though people can call him whatever they like, but he's still going to do what he think is best.
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Forgiveness
I agree that forgiveness would be very difficult, but I also think that it would be possible for him to interact with the Flash Family albeit selectively. I think that people like Max and Barry would be the most willing to give Thad a chance and willing to understand that he was used, manipulated, and essentially a child soldier, but also willing to give him a chance and see that he is not the same person he was before if they ran into him again.
Max and Barry are my top contenders for giving Thad a chance because respectively Max understands Thad to a degree. He's experienced who he was a child and the thought he gave to being a hero and potential he had. I don't think he would try to force Thad to become a hero again, but would meet him with some understanding though it might need to be earned somewhat after knowing about Bart's death. I think Max would have to see a bit of a change in Thad for him to fully try to connect with Thad again. It would take a bit of work.
As for Barry, I think he would in general be more open to giving Thad a chance simply if Thad expressed it. I think, in part, it is due to how disconnect Barry sort is from a lot of major events that have happened to his family and in particular Bart. He would be taking Thad more at a face value because he doesn't know Thad or his past. He probably wouldn't know how Thad kidnapped Iris in his youth, and he might not know that Thad is the one who killed Bart (that would probably depend on what he's been informed of by the rest of the family).
Overall, this scenario regardless of who would be willing to give Thad a chance would mostly cause some discord internally for the Flash Family, as they all would have different perspectives of Thad, but also probably regarding perspectives of 'redemption,' whether people can change, and specifically whether Thad can change or if he even deserves a chance.
Ultimately, though what this all would culminate to is either Thad very very VERY slowly becoming sort of a part of the Flash-family or sorta absorbed within the Flash-family circle in the sense that some of the members are willing to give him a chance. (I think there's a touch of hilarity and awkwardness just at the thought of someone like Barry inviting Thad to a holiday dinner. I also think it's also a good way exploring family and the complexities of family and family dynamics when you add someone like Thad to the mix. Kinda like a relative you're not fond of or the black sheep of the family who has history. There's just so many themes that open up when you add Thad to the mix.) It's very much a black sheep scenario. Or that his 'redemption' allows for him to slowly make up for his past. People can feel however they want to feel toward him, they can distrust him still or think it's an act, but the fact he's make strides for himself and as a person slowly becomes undeniable in this scenario as time goes on.
I also think both "outcomes" would allow him to have future appearances and interact with members of the Flash Family as he goes through the process of trying to prove himself/make up for his past.
And that is basically how I would write Thad in a 'redemption' arc. It's not a traditional redemption, but instead it's more focused upon consequences, actively working toward being a better person that you were before, and focused more upon the development than the outcome.
If you have any questions feel free to ask and I'll try my best to answer.
//I think the insistence to not read any of Thad's appearances past the Impu/se comics or that his appearances post Impu/se are out of character for him has poisoned the well regarding fandom's understanding of his character. Popular fandom interpretations also don't help.
I think with regard to Thad there is an inundation in fandom of the character people want Thad to be and not the character that Thad actually is. And I'm personally frustrated with it.
