document_title: State (polity)

question_text: from which latin word is the term state originated

text: State (polity)

text: Etymology[edit]

text: Look up state, estate, or status in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

text: The word state and its cognates in some other European languages (stato in Italian, estado in Spanish and Portuguese, état in French, Staat in German) ultimately derive from the Latin word status, meaning "condition, circumstances".[6]

text: The English noun state in the generic sense "condition, circumstances" predates the political sense. It is introduced to Middle English c. 1200 both from Old French and directly from Latin.

text: With the revival of the Roman law in 14th-century Europe, the term came to refer to the legal standing of persons (such as the various "estates of the realm" – noble, common, and clerical), and in particular the special status of the king. The highest estates, generally those with the most wealth and social rank, were those that held power.[7] The word also had associations with Roman ideas (dating back to Cicero) about the "status rei publicae", the "condition of public matters". In time, the word lost its reference to particular social groups and became associated with the legal order of the entire society and the apparatus of its enforcement.[8]

text: The early 16th-century works of Machiavelli (especially The Prince) played a central role in popularizing the use of the word "state" in something similar to its modern sense.[9] The contrasting of church and state still dates to the 16th century. The North American colonies were called "states" as early as the 1630s. The expression L'Etat, c'est moi ("I am the State") attributed to Louis XIV of France is probably apocryphal, recorded in the late 18th century.[10]

text: Definition issues[edit]

text: There is no academic consensus on the most appropriate definition of the state.[11] The term "state" refers to a set of different, but interrelated and often overlapping, theories about a certain range of political phenomena.[12] The act of defining the term can be seen as part of an ideological conflict, because different definitions lead to different theories of state function, and as a result validate different political strategies.[13] According to Jeffrey and Painter, "if we define the 'essence' of the state in one place or era, we are liable to find that in another time or space something which is also understood to be a state has different 'essential' characteristics".[14]

text: The most commonly used definition is Max Weber's,[15][16][17][18][19] which describes the state as a compulsory political organization with a centralized government that maintains a monopoly of the legitimate use of force within a certain territory.[1][2] General categories of state institutions include administrative bureaucracies, legal systems, and military or religious organizations.[20]

text: Another commonly accepted definition of the state is the one given at the Montevideo Convention on Rights and Duties of States in 1933. It defined state as a space that possess the following : A permanent population, a defined territory and a government that is capable of maintaining effective control over the corresponding territory and of conducting International relations with other states.[21]

text: According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a state is "a. an organized political community under one government; a commonwealth; a nation. b. such a community forming part of a federal republic, esp the United States of America".[4]

text: Confounding the definition problem is that "state" and "government" are often used as synonyms in common conversation and even some academic discourse. According to this definition schema, the states are nonphysical persons of international law, governments are organizations of people.[22] The relationship between a government and its state is one of representation and authorized agency.[23]

text: Types of states[edit]

text: States may be classified by Political philosophers as sovereign if they are not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. Other states are subject to external sovereignty or hegemony where ultimate sovereignty lies in another state.[4][24] Many states are federated states which participate in a federal union. A federated state is a territorial and constitutional community forming part of a federation.[25] (Compare confederacies or confederations such as Switzerland.) Such states differ from sovereign states in that they have transferred a portion of their sovereign powers to a federal government.[4]

text: One can commonly and sometimes readily (but not necessarily usefully) classify states according to their apparent make-up or focus. The concept of the nation-state, theoretically or ideally co-terminous with a "nation", became very popular by the 20th century in Europe, but occurred rarely elsewhere or at other times. In contrast, some states have sought to make a virtue of their multi-ethnic or multi-national character (Hapsburg Austria-Hungary, for example, or the Soviet Union), and have emphasised unifying characteristics such as autocracy, monarchical legitimacy, or ideology. Imperial states have sometimes promoted notions of racial superiority.[26] Other states may bring ideas of commonality and inclusiveness to the fore: note the res publica of ancient Rome and the Rzeczpospolita of Poland-Lithuania which finds echoes in the modern-day republic. The concept of temple states centred on religious shrines occurs in some discussions of the ancient world.[27] Relatively small city-states, once a relatively common and often successful form of polity in the days before folk[vague] worried about failed states,[28] have become rarer and comparatively less prominent in modern times,[29] although a number of them survive as federated states, like the present day German city-states, or as otherwise autonomous entities with limited sovereignty, like Hong Kong, Gibraltar and Ceuta. To some extent, urban secession, the creation of a new city-state (sovereign or federated), continues to be discussed in the early 21st century in cities such as London.

text: The state and government[edit]

text: A state can be distinguished from a government. The government is the particular group of people, the administrative bureaucracy that controls the state apparatus at a given time.[30][31][32] That is, governments are the means through which state power is employed. States are served by a continuous succession of different governments.[32] States are immaterial and nonphysical social objects, whereas governments are groups of people with certain coercive powers.[33]

text: Each successive government is composed of a specialized and privileged body of individuals, who monopolize political decision-making, and are separated by status and organization from the population as a whole. Their function is to enforce existing laws, legislate new ones, and arbitrate conflicts. In some societies, this group is a self-perpetuating or hereditary class. In other societies, such as democracies, the political roles remain, but there is frequent turnover of the people actually filling the positions.[34]

text: States and nation-states[edit]

text: States can also be distinguished from the concept of a "nation", where "nation" refers to a cultural-political community of people. A nation-state refers to a situation where a single ethnicity is associated with a specific state.

text: The state and civil society[edit]

text: In the classical thought, the state was identified with both political society and civil society as a form of political community, while the modern thought distinguished the nation state as a political society from civil society as a form of economic society.[35] Thus in the modern thought the state is contrasted with civil society.[36][37][38]

text: The man versus the state[edit]

text: Antonio Gramsci believed that civil society is the primary locus of political activity because it is where all forms of "identity formation, ideological struggle, the activities of intellectuals, and the construction of hegemony take place." and that civil society was the nexus connecting the economic and political sphere. Arising out of the collective actions of civil society is what Gramsci calls "political society", which Gramsci differentiates from the notion of the state as a polity. He stated that politics was not a "one-way process of political management" but, rather, that the activities of civil organizations conditioned the activities of political parties and state institutions, and were conditioned by them in turn.[39][40] Louis Althusser argued that civil organizations such as church, schools, and the family are part of an "ideological state apparatus" which complements the "repressive state apparatus" (such as police and military) in reproducing social relations.[41][42][43]

text: Jürgen Habermas spoke of a public sphere that was distinct from both the economic and political sphere.[44]

text: Given the role that many social groups have in the development of public policy, and the extensive connections between state bureaucracies and other institutions, it has become increasingly difficult to identify the boundaries of the state. Privatization, nationalization, and the creation of new regulatory bodies also change the boundaries of the state in relation to society. Often the nature of quasi-autonomous organizations is unclear, generating debate among political scientists on whether they are part of the state or civil society. Some political scientists thus prefer to speak of policy networks and decentralized governance in modern societies rather than of state bureaucracies and direct state control over policy.[45]

text: Theories of state function[edit]

text: Most political theories of the state can roughly be classified into two categories. The first are known as "liberal" or "conservative" theories, which treat capitalism as a given, and then concentrate on the function of states in capitalist society. These theories tend to see the state as a neutral entity separated from society and the economy. Marxist theories on the other hand, see politics as intimately tied in with economic relations, and emphasize the relation between economic power and political power. They see the state as a partisan instrument that primarily serves the interests of the upper class.[32]

text: Anarchist[edit]

text: Anarchism is a political philosophy which considers the state immoral, unnecessary, and harmful and instead promotes a stateless society, or anarchy.

text: Anarchists believe that the state is inherently an instrument of domination and repression, no matter who is in control of it. Anarchists note that the state possesses the monopoly on the legal use of violence. Unlike Marxists, anarchists believe that revolutionary seizure of state power should not be a political goal. They believe instead that the state apparatus should be completely dismantled, and an alternative set of social relations created, which are not based on state power at all.[46][47]

text: Various Christian anarchists, such as Jacques Ellul, have identified the State and political power as the Beast in the Book of Revelation.[48][49]

text: Marxist perspective[edit]

text: Marx and Engels were clear in that the communist goal was a classless society in which the state would have "withered away".[50] Their views are scattered throughout the Marx/Engels Collected Works and address past or the then extant state forms from an analytical or tactical viewpoint, not future social forms, speculation about which is generally anathema to groups considering themselves Marxist but who, not having conquered the existing state power(s) are not in the situation of supplying the institutional form of an actual society. To the extent that it makes sense, there is no single "Marxist theory of state", but rather many different "Marxist" theories that have been developed by adherents of Marxism.[51][52][53]

text: Marx's early writings portrayed the state as "parasitic", built upon the superstructure of the economy, and working against the public interest. He also wrote that the state mirrors class relations in society in general, acts as a regulator and repressor of class struggle, and acts as a tool of political power and domination for the ruling class.[54] The Communist Manifesto claimed that the state is nothing more than "a committee for managing the common affairs of the bourgeoisie.[51]

text: For Marxist theorists, the role of the non-socialist state is determined by its function in the global capitalist order. Ralph Miliband argued that the ruling class uses the state as its instrument to dominate society by virtue of the interpersonal ties between state officials and economic elites. For Miliband, the state is dominated by an elite that comes from the same background as the capitalist class. State officials therefore share the same interests as owners of capital and are linked to them through a wide array of social, economic, and political ties.[55]

text: Gramsci's theories of state emphasized that the state is only one of the institutions in society that helps maintain the hegemony of the ruling class, and that state power is bolstered by the ideological domination of the institutions of civil society, such as churches, schools, and mass media.[56]

text: Pluralism[edit]

text: Pluralists view society as a collection of individuals and groups, who are competing for political power. They then view the state as a neutral body that simply enacts the will of whichever groups dominate the electoral process.[57] Within the pluralist tradition, Robert Dahl developed the theory of the state as a neutral arena for contending interests or its agencies as simply another set of interest groups. With power competitively arranged in society, state policy is a product of recurrent bargaining. Although pluralism recognizes the existence of inequality, it asserts that all groups have an opportunity to pressure the state. The pluralist approach suggests that the modern democratic state's actions are the result of pressures applied by a variety of organized interests. Dahl called this kind of state a polyarchy.[58]

text: Pluralism has been challenged on the ground that it is not supported by empirical evidence. Citing surveys showing that the large majority of people in high leadership positions are members of the wealthy upper class, critics of pluralism claim that the state serves the interests of the upper class rather than equitably serving the interests of all social groups.[59][60]

text: Contemporary critical perspectives[edit]

text: Jürgen Habermas believed that the base-superstructure framework, used by many Marxist theorists to describe the relation between the state and the economy, was overly simplistic. He felt that the modern state plays a large role in structuring the economy, by regulating economic activity and being a large-scale economic consumer/producer, and through its redistributive welfare state activities. Because of the way these activities structure the economic framework, Habermas felt that the state cannot be looked at as passively responding to economic class interests.[61][62][63]

text: Michel Foucault believed that modern political theory was too state-centric, saying "Maybe, after all, the state is no more than a composite reality and a mythologized abstraction, whose importance is a lot more limited than many of us think." He thought that political theory was focusing too much on abstract institutions, and not enough on the actual practices of government. In Foucault's opinion, the state had no essence. He believed that instead of trying to understand the activities of governments by analyzing the properties of the state (a reified abstraction), political theorists should be examining changes in the practice of government to understand changes in the nature of the state.[64][65][66]Foucault argues that it is technology that has created and made the state so elusive and successful instead of looking at the state as something to be toppled we should look at the state as technological manifestation or system with many heads;Foucault argues instead of something to be overthrown as in the sense of the Marxist and Anarchist understanding of the state.Every single scientific technological advance has come to the service of the state Foucault argues and it is with the emergence of the Mathematical sciences and essentially the formation of Mathematical statistics that you get a understanding of the complex technology of producing how the modern state was so successfully created.The nation(Nation state) wasn't an historical accident insist Foucault but a deliberate production in which the modern state had to now manage coincidentally with the emerging practice of the Police (Cameral science)'allowing' the population to now 'come in' into jus gentium and civitas(Civil society) after deliberately being excluded for several millennia.[67]Democracy wasn't(the newly formed voting franchise)as is always painted by both political revolutionaries and political philosophers as a cry for political freedom or wanting to be accepted by the 'ruling elite',Foucault insists,but was a part of a skilled endeavour of switching over new technology such as;Translatio imperii, Plenitudo potestatis and extra Ecclesiam nulla salus readily available from the past Medieval period, into mass persuasion for the future industrial 'political' population(deception over the population) in which the political population was now asked to insist upon itself “the president must be elected”.Where these political symbol agents,represented by the pope and the president are now democratised.Foucault calls these new forms of technology Biopower[68][69][67] and form part of our political inheritance which he calls Biopolitics.

text: Heavily influenced by Gramsci, Nicos Poulantzas, a Greek neo-Marxist theorist argued that capitalist states do not always act on behalf of the ruling class, and when they do, it is not necessarily the case because state officials consciously strive to do so, but because the 'structural' position of the state is configured in such a way to ensure that the long-term interests of capital are always dominant. Poulantzas' main contribution to the Marxist literature on the state was the concept of 'relative autonomy' of the state. While Poulantzas' work on 'state autonomy' has served to sharpen and specify a great deal of Marxist literature on the state, his own framework came under criticism for its 'structural functionalism'.[citation needed]

text: State autonomy (institutionalism)[edit]

text: State autonomy theorists believe that the state is an entity that is impervious to external social and economic influence, and has interests of its own.[70]

text: "New institutionalist" writings on the state, such as the works of Theda Skocpol, suggest that state actors are to an important degree autonomous. In other words, state personnel have interests of their own, which they can and do pursue independently of (at times in conflict with) actors in society. Since the state controls the means of coercion, and given the dependence of many groups in civil society on the state for achieving any goals they may espouse, state personnel can to some extent impose their own preferences on civil society.[71]

text: Theories of state legitimacy[edit]

text: States generally rely on a claim to some form of political legitimacy in order to maintain domination over their subjects.[7][72][73]

text: Divine right of kings[edit]

text: The rise of the modern day state system was closely related to changes in political thought, especially concerning the changing understanding of legitimate state power and control. Early modern defenders of absolutism(Absolute monarchy), such as Thomas Hobbes and Jean Bodin undermined the doctrine of the divine right of kings by arguing that the power of kings should be justified by reference to the people. Hobbes in particular went further to argue that political power should be justified with reference to the individual(Hobbes wrote in the time of the English Civil war), not just to the people understood collectively. Both Hobbes and Bodin thought they were defending the power of kings, not advocating for democracy, but their arguments about the nature of sovereignty were fiercely resisted by more traditional defenders of the power of kings, such as Sir Robert Filmer in England, who thought that such defenses ultimately opened the way to more democratic claims.[citation needed]

text: Rational-legal authority[edit]

text: Max Weber identified three main sources of political legitimacy in his works. The first, legitimacy based on traditional grounds is derived from a belief that things should be as they have been in the past, and that those who defend these traditions have a legitimate claim to power. The second, legitimacy based on charismatic leadership is devotion to a leader or group that is viewed as exceptionally heroic or virtuous. The third is rational-legal authority, whereby legitimacy is derived from the belief that a certain group has been placed in power in a legal manner, and that their actions are justifiable according to a specific code of written laws. Weber believed that the modern state is characterized primarily by appeals to rational-legal authority.[74][75][76]

text: History[edit]

text: The earliest forms of the state emerged whenever it became possible to centralize power in a durable way. Agriculture and writing are almost everywhere associated with this process: agriculture because it allowed for the emergence of a social class of people who did not have to spend most of their time providing for their own subsistence, and writing (or an equivalent of writing, like Inca quipus) because it made possible the centralization of vital information.[77]

text: The first known states were created in the Fertile Crescent, India, China, Mesoamerica, the Andes, and others, but it is only in relatively modern times that states have almost completely displaced alternative "stateless" forms of political organization of societies all over the planet.[78] Roving bands of hunter-gatherers and even fairly sizable and complex tribal societies based on herding or agriculture have existed without any full-time specialized state organization, and these "stateless" forms of political organization have in fact prevailed for all of the prehistory and much of the history of the human species and civilization.[78]

text: Initially states emerged over territories built by conquest in which one culture, one set of ideals and one set of laws have been imposed by force or threat over diverse nations by a civilian and military bureaucracy.[78] Currently, that is not always the case and there are multinational states, federated states and autonomous areas within states.

text: Since the late 19th century, virtually the entirety of the world's inhabitable land has been parcelled up into areas with more or less definite borders claimed by various states. Earlier, quite large land areas had been either unclaimed or uninhabited, or inhabited by nomadic peoples who were not organised as states. However, even within present-day states there are vast areas of wilderness, like the Amazon rainforest, which are uninhabited or inhabited solely or mostly by indigenous people (and some of them remain uncontacted). Also, there are states which do not hold de facto control over all of their claimed territory or where this control is challenged. Currently the international community comprises around 200 sovereign states, the vast majority of which are represented in the United Nations.[citation needed]

text: Pre-historic stateless societies[edit]

text: For most of human history, people have lived in stateless societies, characterized by a lack of concentrated authority, and the absence of large inequalities in economic and political power.

text: The anthropologist Tim Ingold writes:

text: It is not enough to observe, in a now rather dated anthropological idiom, that hunter gatherers live in 'stateless societies', as though their social lives were somehow lacking or unfinished, waiting to be completed by the evolutionary development of a state apparatus. Rather, the principal of their socialty, as Pierre Clastres has put it, is fundamentally against the state.[79]

text: The Neolithic period[edit]

text: During the Neolithic period, human societies underwent major cultural and economic changes, including the development of agriculture, the formation of sedentary societies and fixed settlements, increasing population densities, and the use of pottery and more complex tools.[80][81]

text: Sedentary agriculture led to the development of property rights, domestication of plants and animals, and larger family sizes. It also provided the basis for the centralized state form[82] by producing a large surplus of food, which created a more complex division of labor by enabling people to specialize in tasks other than food production.[83] Early states were characterized by highly stratified societies, with a privileged and wealthy ruling class that was subordinate to a monarch. The ruling classes began to differentiate themselves through forms of architecture and other cultural practices that were different from those of the subordinate laboring classes.[84]

text: In the past, it was suggested that the centralized state was developed to administer large public works systems (such as irrigation systems) and to regulate complex economies. However, modern archaeological and anthropological evidence does not support this thesis, pointing to the existence of several non-stratified and politically decentralized complex societies.[85]

text: The state in ancient Eurasia[edit]

text: Mesopotamia is generally considered to be the location of the earliest civilization or complex society, meaning that it contained cities, full-time division of labor, social concentration of wealth into capital, unequal distribution of wealth, ruling classes, community ties based on residency rather than kinship, long distance trade, monumental architecture, standardized forms of art and culture, writing, and mathematics and science.[86] It was the world's first literate civilization, and formed the first sets of written laws.[87][88]

text: The state in classical antiquity[edit]

text: Although state-forms existed before the rise of the Ancient Greek empire, the Greeks were the first people known to have explicitly formulated a political philosophy of the state, and to have rationally analyzed political institutions. Prior to this, states were described and justified in terms of religious myths.[89]

text: Several important political innovations of classical antiquity came from the Greek city-states and the Roman Republic. The Greek city-states before the 4th century granted citizenship rights to their free population, and in Athens these rights were combined with a directly democratic form of government that was to have a long afterlife in political thought and history.

text: The feudal state[edit]

text: During Medieval times in Europe, the state was organized on the principle of feudalism, and the relationship between lord and vassal became central to social organization. Feudalism led to the development of greater social hierarchies.[90]

text: The formalization of the struggles over taxation between the monarch and other elements of society (especially the nobility and the cities) gave rise to what is now called the Standestaat, or the state of Estates, characterized by parliaments in which key social groups negotiated with the king about legal and economic matters. These estates of the realm sometimes evolved in the direction of fully-fledged parliaments, but sometimes lost out in their struggles with the monarch, leading to greater centralization of lawmaking and military power in his hands. Beginning in the 15th century, this centralizing process gives rise to the absolutist state.[91]

text: The modern state[edit]

text: Cultural and national homogenization figured prominently in the rise of the modern state system. Since the absolutist period, states have largely been organized on a national basis. The concept of a national state, however, is not synonymous with nation state. Even in the most ethnically homogeneous societies there is not always a complete correspondence between state and nation, hence the active role often taken by the state to promote nationalism through emphasis on shared symbols and national identity.[92]

text: Weak states and late state formation[edit]

text: Some states are often labeled as weak or failed. In David Samuels's words "...a failed state occurs when sovereignty over claimed territory has collapsed or was never effectively at all".[93] Authors like Samuels and Joel S. Migdal have explored the emergence of weak states, how they are different from Western "strong" states and its consequences to the economic development of developing countries.

text: Early state formation

text: To understand the formation of weak states, Samuels compares the formation of European states in the 1600 with the conditions under which more recent states were formed in the twentieth century. In this line of argument, the state allows a population to resolve a collective action problem, in which citizens recognize the authority of the state and this exercise the power of coercion over them. This kind of social organization required a decline in legitimacy of traditional forms of ruling (like religious authorities) and replaced them with an increase in the legitimacy of depersonalized rule; an increase in the central government's sovereignty; and an increase in the organizational complexity of the central government (bureaucracy).

text: The transition to this modern state was possible in Europe around 1600 thanks to the confluence of factors like the technological developments in warfare, which generated strong incentives to tax and consolidate central structures of governance to respond to external threats. This was complemented by the increasing on the production of food (as a result of productivity improvements), which allowed to sustain a larger population and so increased the complexity and centralization of states. Finally, cultural changes challenged the authority of monarchies and paved the way to the emergence of modern states.[94]

text: Late state formation

text: The conditions that enabled the emergence of modern states in Europe were different for other countries that started this process later. As a result, many of these states lack effective capabilities to tax and extract revenue from their citizens, which derives in problems like corruption, tax evasion and low economic growth. Unlike the European case, late state formation occurred in a context of limited international conflict that diminished the incentives to tax and increase military spending. Also, many of these states emerged from colonization in a state of poverty and with institutions designed to extract natural resources, which have made more difficult to form states. European colonization also defined many arbitrary borders that mixed different cultural groups under the same national identities, which has made difficult to build states with legitimacy among all the population, since some states have to compete for it with other forms of political identity.[94]

text: As a complement of this argument, Migdal gives a historical account on how sudden social changes in the Third World during the Industrial Revolution contributed to the formation of weak states. The expansion of international trade that started around 1850, brought profound changes in Africa, Asia and Latin America that were introduced with the objective of assure the availability of raw materials for the European market. These changes consisted in: i) reforms to landownership laws with the objective of integrate more lands to the international economy, ii) increase in the taxation of peasants and little landowners, as well as collecting of these taxes in cash instead of in kind as was usual up to that moment and iii) the introduction of new and less costly modes of transportation, mainly railroads. As a result, the traditional forms of social control became obsolete, deteriorating the existing institutions and opening the way to the creation of new ones, that not necessarily lead these countries to build strong states.[95] This fragmentation of the social order induced a political logic in which these states were captured to some extent by "strongmen", who were capable to take advantage of the above-mentioned changes and that challenge the sovereignty of the state. As a result, these decentralization of social control impedes to consolidate strong states.[96]


document_title: List of NBA teams by single season win percentage

question_text: most wins in a season by nba team

question_tokens: most wins in a season by nba team

root

text: Above .750[edit]

text:
PCT
W
L
H
R
N
Diff[a]
Team
Season
Results
W
L
H
R
Notes
Coach

Regular season
Postseason

.890
73
9
39–2
34–7
0–0
10.8
Golden State Warriors
2015–16
Lost in NBA Finals
15
9
11–3
4–6

List[show]

Most wins in NBA history (73)
Best start in NBA history (24–0)
Best start in NBA history for every number of losses from 1-2 and 4-9: (29–1, .967), (36–2, .947), (48–4, .923), (55–5, .917), (62–6, .912), (68–7, .907), (69–8, .896), (73–9, .890)
Most wins in NBA history (regular season and postseason combined) (88)
Started 36–0 at home, part of an NBA record 54-straight home wins dating back to 2014–15 season
28 game winning streak dating back to 2014–15, second longest in NBA history
Most road wins in NBA history (34)
Best road start in NBA history and third longest road winning streak (14–0)
Undefeated November (16–0)
Best record heading into the All-Star Break in NBA history (48–4, 0.923)
Winning streaks of 24 and 11 games
Second earliest clinch of playoff berth in NBA history (the Warriors beat it by two days in the 2016–17 season)
First team in NBA history to make over 1,000 three-pointers in regular-season
Only team in NBA history not to have lost to same opponent twice in regular season
Only team in NBA history not to lose back-to-back games in regular season
The 10th team in NBA history to win a playoff series coming back from a 1–3 playoff series deficit (won 4–3 against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals)
The 11th team in NBA history to lose a playoff series after taking a 3–1 playoff series lead (lost 3–4 against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals), and the only team to do so in the NBA Finals.
Only team in NBA history to finish with same number of regular season and postseason losses (9)

Kerr, SteveSteve Kerr

.878
72
10
39–2
33–8
0–0
12.2
Chicago Bulls
1995–96
Won NBA Championship
15
3
10–0
5–3

List[show]

Best combined regular and postseason record in NBA history (87–13, .870)[1]
Second most wins in NBA history (72)
Most wins by a championship-winning team
Best 3-loss start in NBA history (41–3, .932)
Second most road wins in NBA history (33)
Started 37–0 at home, part of 44 game home winning streak
Winning streaks of 18 and 13 games
Undefeated January (14–0)
One of five teams in NBA history to have three players selected to the NBA All-Defensive First Team
Final three losses were by a margin of one point
Defeated 64–18 Seattle SuperSonics in NBA Finals

Jackson, PhilPhil Jackson

.841
69
13
36–5
31–7
2–1
12.3
Los Angeles Lakers
1971–72
Won NBA Championship
12
3
6–2
6–1

List[show]

33 game winning streak, longest in NBA history
16 game road winning streak, longest in NBA history[2]
Started 39–3
Undefeated November (14–0) and December (16–0)
Second best road winning percentage
Highest point-differential in NBA regular-season history (+12.3)[3]

Sharman, BillBill Sharman

.841
69
13
39–2
30–11
0–0
10.8
Chicago Bulls
1996–97
Won NBA Championship
15
4
10–1
5–3

List[show]

Started 12–0; started 17–1
Second most home wins in NBA history
Five eight-game winning streaks[4]
Lost three of final four games
Defeated 64–18 Utah Jazz in NBA Finals
First team to win 30 road games in back-to-back seasons

Jackson, PhilPhil Jackson

.840
68
13
28–2
26–8
14–3
9.4
Philadelphia 76ers
1966–67
Won NBA Championship
11
4
6–2
5–2

List[show]

Started 26–2
Best 50-game start in NBA history (46–4, .920)[5][6]

Hannum, AlexAlex Hannum

.829
68
14
33–6
32–8
3–0
8.2
Boston Celtics
1972–73
Lost Eastern Conference Finals
7
6
4–3
3–3

List[show]

Third most road wins in NBA history
Highest winning percentage for a team that did not reach the NBA Finals (.829)

Heinsohn, TomTom Heinsohn

.817
67
15
40–1
27–14
0–0
9.4
Boston Celtics
1985–86
Won NBA Championship
15
3
10–0
5–3

List[show]

Shares best home record in NBA history (with 2015–16 San Antonio Spurs)[2]
Winning streaks of 14 and 13 games

Jones, K. C.K. C. Jones

.817
67
15
36–5
31–10
0–0
10.4
Chicago Bulls
1991–92
Won NBA Championship
15
7
9–3
6–4

Winning streaks of 14 and 13 games[7]

Jackson, PhilPhil Jackson

.817
67
15
36–5
31–10
0–0
8.5
Los Angeles Lakers
1999–00
Won NBA Championship
15
8
11–2
4–6

Winning streaks of 19, 16, and 11 games

Jackson, PhilPhil Jackson

.817
67
15
36–5
31–10
0–0
7.2
Dallas Mavericks
2006–07
Lost Western Conference 1st Round
2
4
2–1
0–3

List[show]

Started 0–4
Only team in NBA history with three winning streaks of at least 12 games (17, 13, 12)[8]
Undefeated February (10–0)[9]
Only team over .800 to be eliminated in the first round

Johnson, AveryAvery Johnson

.817
67
15
39–2
28–13
0–0
10.1
Golden State Warriors
2014–15
Won NBA Championship
16
5
9–2
7–3

List[show]

Winning streaks of 16 and 11 games
Second most home wins in NBA history
Most wins by a rookie head coach
Undefeated in the regular season when allowing under 100 points

Kerr, SteveSteve Kerr

.817
67
15
40–1
27–14
0–0
10.6
San Antonio Spurs
2015–16
Lost Western Conference Semi-Finals
6
4
3–2
3–2

List[show]

Shares best home record in NBA history (with 1985–86 Boston Celtics), with only loss inflicted by the 73–9 Warriors
Best home start in NBA history (39–0), part of a 48-game home winning streak dating back to 2014–15 season
Best season record that was not also league-best record

Popovich, GreggGregg Popovich

.817
67
15
36–5
31–10
0–0
11.6
Golden State Warriors
2016–17
Won NBA Championship
16
1
9–0
7–1

List[show]

Best playoff record in NBA history (16–1, .941)
Longest winning streak in NBA playoff history (15 games)
First team in NBA playoff history to start 15–0
First team in all four major professional sports in America to start 15–0 in the postseason.
Second highest point-differential in NBA playoffs history (+13.5)
NBA record 146 regular-season games without back-to-back losses (dating back to 2014–15 season)
Winning streaks of 14 and 12 games
Second team to win 30 road games in back-to-back seasons (after 1995–96 and 1996–97 Chicago Bulls)
Most wins in NBA history over the course of three regular-seasons (207), Chicago Bulls had 203 between 1995–96 and 1997–98
Earliest clinch of playoff berth in NBA history

Kerr, SteveSteve Kerr

.817
49
11
29–1
20–10
0–0
9.9
Washington Capitols
1946–47
Lost Semi-Finals
2
4
0–3
2–1

List[show]

Winning streaks of 17 and 15 games
Undefeated December (10–0)[10]

Auerbach, RedRed Auerbach

.805
66
16
34–2
28–13
4–1
12.3
Milwaukee Bucks
1970–71
Won NBA Championship
12
2
8–0
4–2

List[show]

Started 17–1
Winning streaks of 20, 16, and 10 games
Lost five of final six games
Highest point-differential in NBA playoffs history (+14.5)[11]

Costello, LarryLarry Costello

.805
66
16
35–6
31–10
0–0
10.3
Boston Celtics
2007–08
Won NBA Championship
16
10
13–1
3–9

List[show]

Best single-season improvement in NBA history (42 wins)[12]
Started 29–3
Won title 22 years after the last one in franchise history (1986)
Played a record 26 games in the postseason

Rivers, DocDoc Rivers

.805
66
16
39–2
27–14
0–0
8.9
Cleveland Cavaliers
2008–09
Lost Eastern Conference Finals
10
4
6–1
4–3

List[show]

13 game winning streak
Second most home wins in NBA history

Brown, MikeMike Brown

.805
66
16
37–4
29–12
0–0
7.9
Miami Heat
2012–13
Won NBA Championship
16
7
10–3
6–4

List[show]

Started 29–14
27-game winning streak (2nd-longest in NBA history in a season)
First team in NBA history to win 17 games in one month
Best second half of season in NBA history (38–3, .927)

Spoelstra, ErikErik Spoelstra

.797
51
13
31–1
15–12
5–0
8.2
Syracuse Nationals
1949–50
Lost NBA Finals
6
5
5–1
1–4

List[show]

Started 16–1
12 game winning streak

Cervi, AlAl Cervi

.793
65
17
35–6
30–11
0–0
7.7
Philadelphia 76ers
1982–83
Won NBA Championship
12
1
7–0
5–1

List[show]

Third highest postseason winning percentage in NBA history (behind the 2016-17 Golden State Warriors and 2000–01 Los Angeles Lakers
14 game winning streak[13]

Cunningham, BillyBilly Cunningham

.793
65
17
37–4
28–13
0–0
9.3
Los Angeles Lakers
1986–87
Won NBA Championship
15
3
10–0
5–3

Riley, PatPat Riley

.793
65
17
36–5
29–12
0–0
7.7
Los Angeles Lakers
2008–09
Won NBA Championship
16
7
10–2
6–5

Jackson, PhilPhil Jackson

.793
65
17
34–7
31–10
0–0
8.5
Houston Rockets
2017–18
Lost Western Conference Finals
11
6
7–3
4–3

Winning streaks of 17, 14, and 11 games
Most three-pointers made in a regular season
Most consecutive three-pointers missed in a playoff game

Mike D'Antoni

.787
59
16
25–2
23–9
11–5
8.3
Boston Celtics
1959–60
Won NBA Championship
8
5
5–2
3–3

List[show]

17 game winning streak
Undefeated December (15–0)[14]

Auerbach, RedRed Auerbach

.780
64
18
38–3
26–15
0–0
7.8
Seattle SuperSonics
1995–96
Lost NBA Finals
13
8
8–3
5–5

List[show]

14 game winning streak
Lost to 72–10 Chicago Bulls in NBA Finals

Karl, GeorgeGeorge Karl

.780
64
18
38–3
26–15
0–0
8.8
Utah Jazz
1996–97
Lost NBA Finals
13
7
10–1
3–6

List[show]

Two 15 game winning streaks[15]
Four game losing streak
Lost to 69–13 Chicago Bulls in NBA Finals

Sloan, JerryJerry Sloan

.780
64
18
37–4
27–14
0–0
6.6
Detroit Pistons
2005–06
Lost Eastern Conference Finals
10
8
8–2
2–6

Saunders, FlipFlip Saunders

.775
62
18
27–3
27–11
8–4
8.4
Boston Celtics
1964–65
Won NBA Championship
8
4
7–0
1–4

16 game winning streak[16]

Auerbach, RedRed Auerbach

.768
63
19
31–5
27–12
5–2
11.2
Milwaukee Bucks
1971–72
Lost Western Conference Finals
6
5
3–3
3-2

Started 17–1

Costello, LarryLarry Costello

.768
63
19
35–6
28–13
0–0
6.4
Boston Celtics
1981–82
Lost Eastern Conference Finals
7
5
4–3
3–2

18 game winning streak[17]

Fitch, BillBill Fitch

.768
63
19
35–6
28–13
0–0
6.6
Boston Celtics
1984–85
Lost NBA Finals
13
8
9–2
4–6

Lost to 62–20 Los Angeles Lakers in NBA Finals

Jones, K. C.K. C. Jones

.768
63
19
37–4
26–15
0–0
5.8
Detroit Pistons
1988–89
Won NBA Championship
15
2
8–1
7–1

Daly, ChuckChuck Daly

.768
63
19
37–4
26–15
0–0
6.8
Los Angeles Lakers
1989–90
Lost Western Conference Semi-Finals
4
5
3–2
1–3

Riley, PatPat Riley

.768
63
19
36–5
27–14
0–0
8.7
Portland Trail Blazers
1990–91
Lost Western Conference Finals
9
7
8–1
1–6

List[show]

Started 19–1
16 game winning streak[18]

Adelman, RickRick Adelman

.768
63
19
37–4
26–15
0–0
9.1
Seattle SuperSonics
1993–94
Lost Western Conference 1st Round
2
3
2–1
0–2

List[show]

Started 16–1
First team to lose to an 8th seed

Karl, GeorgeGeorge Karl

.768
63
19
34–7
29–12
0–0
6.8
San Antonio Spurs
2005–06
Lost Western Conference Semi-Finals
7
6
5–2
2–4

Popovich, GreggGregg Popovich

.758
50
16
26–7
24–9
0–0
8.2
Chicago Bulls
2011–12
Lost Eastern Conference 1st Round
2
4
2–1
0–3

Held tie-breaker over San Antonio Spurs

Thibodeau, TomTom Thibodeau

.758
50
16
28–5
22–11
0–0
7.2
San Antonio Spurs
2011–12
Lost Western Conference Finals
10
4
6–1
4–3

Won last ten games of the regular season and first ten games of the playoffs

Popovich, GreggGregg Popovich

.756
62
20
27–8
25–12
10–0
8.6
Philadelphia 76ers
1967–68
Lost Eastern Division Finals
7
6
4–3
3–3

Hannum, AlexAlex Hannum

.756
62
20
35–6
27–14
0–0
5.9
Boston Celtics
1980–81
Won NBA Championship
12
5
7–2
5–3

Winning streaks of 13 and 12 games

Fitch, BillBill Fitch

.756
62
20
37–4
25–16
0–0
7.9
Philadelphia 76ers
1980–81
Lost Eastern Conference Finals
9
7
6–2
3–5

12 game winning streak and two additional streaks of 10 games

Cunningham, BillyBilly Cunningham

.756
62
20
33–8
29–12
0–0
6.6
Boston Celtics
1983–84
Won NBA Championship
15
8
12–1
3–7

Jones, K. C.K. C. Jones

.756
62
20
36–5
26–15
0–0
7.4
Los Angeles Lakers
1984–85
Won NBA Championship
15
4
8–2
7–2

Defeated 63–19 Boston Celtics in NBA Finals
NBA record 52 regular-season games with 30+ assists

Riley, PatPat Riley

.756
62
20
35–6
27–14
0–0
7.7
Los Angeles Lakers
1985–86
Lost Western Conference Finals
8
6
6–2
2–4

Riley, PatPat Riley

.756
62
20
36–5
26–15
0–0
5.8
Los Angeles Lakers
1987–88
Won NBA Championship
15
9
12–2
3-7

15 game winning streak[19]

Riley, PatPat Riley

.756
62
20
35–6
27–14
0–0
6.7
Phoenix Suns
1992–93
Lost NBA Finals
13
11
7–6
6–5

List[show]

Undefeated December (14–0)
14 game winning streak[20]

Westphal, PaulPaul Westphal

.756
62
20
33–8
29–12
0–0
6.0
San Antonio Spurs
1994–95
Lost Western Conference Finals
9
6
4–4
5–2

List[show]

15 game winning streak[21]
Started 7–9

Hill, BobBob Hill

.756
62
20
37–4
25–16
0–0
7.1
Chicago Bulls
1997–98
Won NBA Championship
15
6
10–2
5–4

List[show]

13 game winning streak
Defeated 62–20 Utah Jazz in NBA Finals

Jackson, PhilPhil Jackson

.756
62
20
36–5
26–15
0–0
6.5
Utah Jazz
1997–98
Lost NBA Finals
13
7
8–3
5–4

Lost to 62–20 Chicago Bulls in NBA Finals

Sloan, JerryJerry Sloan

.756
62
20
31–10
31–10
0–0
7.1
Phoenix Suns
2004–05
Lost Western Conference Finals
9
6
4–4
5–2

Followed a series of going 18–1 with a 6-game losing streak[22]

D'Antoni, MikeMike D'Antoni

.756
62
20
35–6
27–14
0–0
7.5
Boston Celtics
2008–09
Lost Eastern Conference Semifinals
7
7
5–3
2–4

List[show]

2nd best two-loss start in NBA History (27–2, .931)
Lost seven of next nine games afterwards
Winning streaks of 19 and 12 games

Rivers, DocDoc Rivers

.756
62
20
36–5
26–15
0–0
7.3
Chicago Bulls
2010–11
Lost Eastern Conference Finals
9
7
6–3
3–4

Won Central Division by 25 games over 2nd place Indiana Pacers

Thibodeau, TomTom Thibodeau

.756
62
20
32–9
30–11
0–0
7.7
San Antonio Spurs
2013–14
Won NBA Championship
16
7
11–2
5–5

List[show]

19-game winning streak
Undefeated March (16–0)

Popovich, GreggGregg Popovich

tag: table


document_title: Eobard Thawne

question_text: who killed the flash's mom tv show

question_tokens: who killed the flash 's mom tv show

text: Eobard Thawne

text: Publication history[edit]

text: Created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, Eobard Thawne made his debut in The Flash #139 (September 1963).

tag: p

text: Fictional character biography[edit]

text: In Eobard Thawne's first appearance, he found a time capsule in the 25th Century containing Barry Allen's Flash costume, and was able to use a Tachyon device to amplify the suit's speed energy, giving himself speedster abilities as long as he wore it. Reversing the colors of the costume, Thawne adopted the moniker of "Professor Zoom", the "Reverse-Flash", and went on a crime spree. However, the time capsule also contained an atomic bomb, the timer of which was activated upon being opened, thus beginning a countdown sequence to detonation. The Flash, who had travelled forward in time, found the device and brought it to an isolated area before it exploded, and subsequently destroyed Thawne's costume.[3]

text: Blaming the Flash for his defeat, Thawne became obsessed with "replacing" Barry Allen and began travelling back in time to exact his revenge, using his knowledge of history to his advantage. When Barry's wife, Iris West, rejected Thawne's romantic pursuits, the latter apparently killed her by vibrating his hand through her skull. Shortly after Barry had found love again, Thawne returned and threatened to kill Allen's new fiancée, Fiona Webb, on their wedding day. Fearful that history was repeating itself, Allen inadvertently killed Thawne by breaking his neck.[4]

text: Post-Crisis and Zero Hour origin[edit]

text: In a post-Crisis extended origin, the storyline "The Return of Barry Allen" in The Flash #74-79 revealed that Eobard Thawne was once a scientist from the 25th Century who was obsessed with the Flash, even undergoing cosmetic surgery to resemble Barry Allen. After obtaining the Cosmic Treadmill from an antique shop, Thawne gained all of the Flash's powers after replicating the electrochemical accident that created the hero, seeking to use the Treadmill to travel back in time and meet his idol. But due to a malfunction, Thawne arrived at the Flash Museum several years after Barry's death, where he discovered that he was destined to become "Professor Zoom", the "Reverse-Flash", and die at the hands of his idol. As a result, the unstable Thawne convinced himself that he was Barry Allen, and subsequently attacked Central City for "forgetting him". The current Flash, Wally West, ultimately tricked Thawne into returning to the 25th century with no memory of the incident. Despite this, Thawne still managed to bring the remains of his older self's costume with him, cluing him further into his destiny.

text: After the events of Zero Hour: Crisis in Time, it is revealed that Eobard's ancestor, Malcolm Thawne, was Barry Allen's long-lost twin brother, meaning that Barry is Eobard's great uncle.

text: The Flash: Rebirth[edit]

text: In 2009, Eobard Thawne was re-imagined as a major villain in the DC Universe by writer Geoff Johns in The Flash: Rebirth.[5] His resurrection is foreshadowed to occur in a near-future event, after which he would be responsible for Barry Allen's return and transformation into the Black Flash.[6][7] It is later revealed that because Thawne recreated the accident that gave Barry his powers, he was able to lure Barry out of the Speed Force during the Final Crisis and temporarily turn him into the Black Flash.[8]

text: When Thawne reappears, he murders the revived Johnny Quick,[9] before proceeding to trap Barry and the revived Max Mercury inside the negative Speed Force. Thawne then attempts to kill Wally West's children through their connection to the Speed Force in front of Linda Park-West, only to be stopped by Jay Garrick and Bart Allen. Thawne defeats Jay and prepares to kill Bart, but Barry, Max, Wally, Jesse Quick, and Impulse arrive to prevent the villain from doing so.[8][10] In the ensuing fight, Thawne reveals that he is responsible for every tragedy that has occurred in Barry's life, including the death of his mother. Thawne then decides to destroy everything the Flash holds dear by killing Barry's wife, Iris, before they even met.[10]

text: As Barry chases after Thawne, Wally joins him in the time barrier. They reach him, and in doing so they become the lightning bolt that turns Barry into the Flash as they are able to stop Thawne from killing Iris. The Flashes push Thawne back through time, showing his past and future. They return to the present, where the Justice League, the Justice Society, and the Outsiders have built a device originally intended to disconnect Barry from the Speed Force when he was the Black Flash. Barry tosses Thawne in and Jay activates the device, severing his connection to the negative Speed Force. As the Flashes tie him up to stop him from running, back in the past Iris discovers Thawne's weapon and keeps it.[11]

text: In the present, Zoom is imprisoned in the Iron Heights. Hunter Zolomon speaks to him, saying they can help each other be better. In Gorilla City, one of the apes warns that Professor Zoom has done something horrible to their jungles, something even they do not know.[11]

text: Blackest Night[edit]

text: In the 2009–2010 storyline "Blackest Night", Eobard Thawne's broken-necked corpse is reanimated as a member of the Black Lantern Corps. The black power ring downloaded the corpse's memories, resulting in it not knowing of Barry's death and resurrection. Declaring itself the new Black Flash, the Black Lantern Zoom attacks Barry, who manages to elude it for the moment.[12] When Black Lantern Rogues attack Iron Heights, they encounter the living Zoom, their rings strangely malfunctioning, and displaying a strange symbol.[13] When the Black Lantern Zoom approaches his living counterpart, he stops moving, and is then frozen by Captain Cold's "cold grenade".[14] In the final issue of the series, future Black Lantern Zoom is brought back to life by the white light of creation, and manages to escape.[15]

text: In the follow-up "Brightest Day" storyline, the present Professor Zoom is still imprisoned in Iron Heights.[16] When Deadman activates the White Power Battery, the Entity speaks to the twelve heroes and villains resurrected at the climax of the "Blackest Night" and tells each of them of their mission that must be accomplished in order to restore 'life' to the universe and prevent the Blackest Night from ever recurring. Zoom becomes the first to inadvertently fulfill his mission, which occurred in the events of The Flash: Rebirth when he freed Barry Allen from the Speed Force following his resurrection. The Entity proclaims Professor Zoom has completed his task, and his life is restored to him, later revealing that Zoom, having fulfilled his task, is now fully purged of all trace remnants of his Black Lantern ties – both present and future.[17] Professor Zoom is released from Iron Heights by Captain Boomerang, who had hoped to better understand his version of the Entity's message. Zoom does not answer him directly, giving a cryptic response and eventually escaping as Captain Boomerang is confronted by the rest of the Rogues.[18]

text: Post-Infinite Crisis origin[edit]

text: Eobard Thawne uses his powers to completely rewrite his history; he erases his younger brother from existence and kills his parents when they try to interfere with his research.[19] Eobard later falls in love with a reporter who had been hired to interview him, and his future self wipes all of the reporter's romantic interests from existence. After finding out she did not return his affections, Eobard's future self traumatized the reporter when she was a child, causing her to be mute and institutionalized for the rest of her life so that he never met her.[19] He later had his younger self find the time capsule containing Barry Allen's costume to make himself the 25th century Flash. As the altered Eobard Thawne runs past him, he sheds a tear for his past self, saying "It won't last long. You will never find love. You will never be the Flash. Barry Allen destroyed my future. It's time I destroyed his".

text: Flashpoint[edit]

text: In the 2011 Flashpoint storyline, a new timeline is created through the alteration of history.[20] The Reverse-Flash reveals that his body is permanently connected to the Speed Force, enabling him to create the negative version of it, with which he escaped prison. He was unable to alter Barry's transformation into the Flash, however, as that would effectively erase himself from existence. Instead, Thawne decides to ruin Barry's life during the latter's childhood, erasing his best friend from existence to result in greater introversion on Barry's part, and various other torments such as killing his mother.[21] Thawne later reveals that the new timeline was created by Barry himself, who went back in time to stop the Reverse Flash from killing his mother. After Thawne is killed by the Batman of this reality with an Amazonian sword, the Flash travels back in time to stop his younger self from altering history but instead, under the manipulations of Pandora, a third, new timeline is created, in which DC Comics' continuity takes place from 2011 onwards.[22]

text: The New 52[edit]

text: In The New 52 reboot, Eobard Thawne's origin has been rewritten once again. Hailing from the Central City of a 25th-century devoted to the Flash, as a child, Eobard Thawne witnessed his father murder his mother, and subsequently get arrested. One day, he is struck by lightning and gains the ability to control the flow of time around him - making it appear as if he is moving at superhuman speeds. Believing himself to have been "chosen" by the Speed Force to replace the Flash, Eobard dons a costume similar to the hero's and begins to terrorize the Gem Cities as "Zoom", demanding the citizens accept him as "King". However, he is enraged when people rebel against him in the name of the Flash.[23] Jealous and bitter that, despite their similar powers, the Flash is worshiped and loved by the people, Eobard uses Rip Hunter's notes to travel back in time, where he starts recruiting four individuals "touched by the lightning" (Speed Force) across history, after "saving" them from situations he himself put them into, under the false pretense that he requires their help in order to vanquish the "evil menace", Flash.[24]

text: Thawne then makes an acquaintance with Dr. Henry Allen, the Flash's father, funding the research of his research lab, but when he refuses to help him with an unknown cause, Zoom subsequently murders his wife Nora, in order to make the Flash endure what he had to and give them both an "equal start", and forces Henry to take the blame for his deed, with the threat of his son Barry's life. Laying low for many years, Professor Zoom reemerges following the defeat of William Selkirk, recruiting him as an "acolyte" of his. Zoom and his acolytes then cause havoc in the city and put the blame on the Flash, desiring to destroy his legacy.[25] Eobard then kidnaps Henry when he escapes from prison with some inmates in order to divert Thawne's attention away from Barry, and forces him to construct a power-stealing glove. However, when his closest "ally", Magali (who has been keeping Eobard alive for centuries via her powers), discover the truth about him, he uses the glove to steal her abilities of affecting the age of organic and inorganic matter, leading to his true nature being exposed to the rest of his acolytes, who join forces with the Flash to destroy the device.

text: After the failure of his plan to become a "god", Zoom then takes Henry to the Allen house, with Barry in pursuit. Revealing his backstory to Barry, Eobard proceeds to best Barry in combat, and is about to kill him until the Flash realizes how Thawne's powers work, and then proceeds to counter them by moving time forward - finally defeating him. After talking Henry out of killing Thawne, Barry has him arrested and imprisoned at Iron Heights Penitentiary.[23]

text: DC Rebirth[edit]

text: In the DC Rebirth relaunch, Eobard Thawne first appears in Barry Allen's Speed Force vision, where the latter snaps Thawne's neck as he once did Pre-Crisis.[26][27] He is subsequently featured in another vision where he taunts Barry about his future.[28] The serial-killing speedster Godspeed later attempts to kill Eobard and every other inmate at Iron Heights, only to be stopped by the Flash.[29] Thawne is reverted to his pre-New 52 self after a wave of energy strikes him, and he recalls being killed by Thomas Wayne/Batman during Flashpoint.[30] Seeking to teach the Dark Knight's son a lesson, Thawne attacks Bruce Wayne in the Batcave and destroys Thomas' letter as retribution. Thawne brutally beats Bruce and verbally taunts him before picking up the Button, which teleports him away to an unknown location. Thawne is then teleported back to the Batcave, having been bathed in radiation by a mysterious entity. As he collapses, Thawne says "God...I saw...God."[31] In the following issue, Batman and the Flash come across Thawne in possession of the Button shortly before his apparent death, and follow him in an attempt to prevent it.[32] As he follows the traces leading to the entity, Thawne muses that he may go back in time to raise his nemesis as a "family friend" after killing his mother, but he is seemingly killed and teleported back to the Batcave.[33]

text: Eobard's corpse is subsequently taken to S.T.A.R. Labs for further examination, but it is revealed that he was able to survive his near-death experience via his connection to the negative Speed Force, the energy of which grants him accelerated regeneration and healing. He is present at Iris West's house when she arrives with her nephew following Multiplex's attack at Barry's birthday party, shocking and terrifying the pair.[34]

text: Eobard brutally beats Wally II, denouncing him as a fake, and then brings Iris to the future while Barry pursues them. Eobard shows the couple their future, and attempts to imprison Barry in the Negative Speed Force. This backfires as it leads to Barry absorbing the power of the Negative Speed Force and using it to strip Thawne of his speed. Barry declares that their rivalry is done, but Eobard vows that he will get back his powers and keep coming back to torment Barry, before being seemingly killed by Iris. Eobard later returns (possibly resurrected after regaining his re-connection with the Negative Speed Force) as a member of the Secret Society of Super Villains that kidnapped Deathstroke.

text: Powers and abilities[edit]

text: Even prior to gaining his metahuman abilities, Eobard Thawne already possessed genius-level intellect by the standards of the 25th Century. In The Flash: Rebirth, it is discovered that when he duplicated the accident that gave Barry Allen his powers, he created a negative Speed Force by corrupting the positive version of it. The Reverse-Flash is therefore able to travel at superhuman speeds faster than the speed of light, deliver blows of extreme force, run on water, generate vacuums, create after-images ("speed mirages") of himself, and vibrate his molecules to pass through solid objects. Unlike users of the original Speed Force, Thawne has the ability to travel through and manipulate time, being able to drastically alter history and completely erase people from existence (other speedsters cannot change the past without dramatic consequences). Thawne developed numerous new powers in the events leading up to Flashpoint, including the ability to cross over to other dimensions, create shockwaves across time and space at the snap of his fingers, absorb another's memories via physical contact, and alter the age of anyone or anything.[35] Thawne has also displayed low levels of superhuman strength, as well as electrokinetic abilities. The presence of his lightning is able to disrupt and fry nearby electronics, in addition to allowing him to manipulate magnetism.

text: During the New 52 reboot, Thawne gained the ability to slow down time. He retained his pre-New 52 counterpart's age altering abilities.[36] In the DC Rebirth relaunch, however, Thawne regained his connection to the negative Speed Force and therefore all of his original powers.[37]

text: Other versions[edit]

text: Impulse[edit]

text: In an alternate timeline created when Impulse kills an insect in the Devonian Age, most super-villains are government bureaucrats. Professor Zoom is the National Science Advisor to President-for-Life Julian Tremain.

text: In subsequent changes to the timeline, Zoom defected to the rebellion against Tremain led by Gorilla Grodd; turned into a gorilla fighting against an army of flying turtles led by Grodd, now a flying turtle himself; and was a gorilla in a modern society identical to that of ancient Egypt.[38]

text: In other media[edit]

text: Television[edit]

text:
The character is alluded to in the episode "Done With Mirrors" of the 1990 live-action series The Flash, when Barry Allen temporarily takes the pseudonym 'Professor Zoom' while investigating the Mirror Master.
Professor Zoom appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by John Wesley Shipp.[39] In the episode "Requiem for a Scarlet Speedster!", Zoom has conquered the 25th Century and captured the Flash (Barry Allen). Batman, Jay Garrick and Wally West later arrive to free Barry, who then engages Zoom in a fight around the world. The battle ends when the Flash glazes some sand to form a wall of glass to trip Zoom.

tag: ul

text: Arrowverse[edit]

text: Tom Cavanagh and Matt Letscher portray Professor Eobard Thawne/Reverse-Flash in The CW's live-action Arrowverse as Dr. Harrison Wells and in his original likeness, respectively.[41][42]

text:
Eobard Thawne is introduced on The Flash as Barry Allen/The Flash's personal nemesis and Eddie Thawne's descendent. A scientist from the future who duplicated the reaction behind his idol's powers, he became the hero's archenemy known as the 'Reverse-Flash'.[43] Eobard travelled back in time to the year 2000 to kill Barry as a child. When the 2024 Flash intervened, the Reverse-Flash murdered Nora Allen and framed Henry Allen instead, thus erasing his nemesis from existence while unintentionally severing his own connection to the Speed Force, leaving him stranded in the 21st Century. Knowing that Dr. Harrison Wells would be responsible for creating metahumans in 2020, Eobard killed the scientist and assumed his identity. He then founded S.T.A.R. Labs and created a particle accelerator to turn Barry into the Flash and regain his own link to the Speed Force. Faking paralysis, "Dr. Wells" pushes Barry to run faster in hopes of using the protege's pure Speed Force connection to travel back to his time. After Eobard's secret is discovered, he is captured by the Flash, the Arrow, and Firestorm. Eobard then offers Barry a chance to travel back in time to save his protege's family in exchange for a time sphere to return to the future, but Barry ultimately chooses not to do so and returns to destroy Eobard's machine. As the Reverse-Flash prepares to kill the Flash, Eddie kills himself and seemingly erases Eobard from existence. A year later, Barry temporarily creates a new reality and restores a time remnant of Eobard to the timeline in the process.
Letscher plays a time remnant in season two of Legends of Tomorrow.[44] Victor Garber and Sean MacLean briefly play the character disguised as Professor Martin Stein and NASA astronaut John Swigert respectively. Eobard forms his own legion of supervillains (composed of Damien Darhk, Malcolm Merlyn and Captain Cold) to obtain the mystical Spear of Destiny to alter reality, but is ultimately erased from existence by the Black Flash due to his nature as a "time aberration".
Cavanagh reprises his role as another time remnant in the 2017 four-part crossover event "Crisis on Earth-X".[45] Somehow surviving his erasures from existence, Eobard travelled to the parallel universe Earth-X where the Nazi Party won World War II. He formed an alliance with the Nazi versions of Oliver Queen, Kara Zor-El and Tommy Merlyn there in an attempt to conquer Earth-1. When his allies are killed during the final battle, however, Thawne escapes and vows to return.

text: Film[edit]

text:
Professor Zoom appears in Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (2013), voiced by C. Thomas Howell.[46] He hires the Rogues to ambush the Flash (Barry Allen) at the Flash Museum before betraying them by placing explosives on their belts to destroy the museum. However, the Justice League arrive to disarm the bombs and apprehend Zoom. When Barry travels back in time to prevent Nora Allen's murder, all of reality is altered, and Aquaman's Atlantean army is at war with Wonder Woman's Amazonian forces. Zoom enters this reality via the Speed Force and saves Lois Lane from the Amazonians to alert Barry of his presence. While Cyborg's metahuman team tries to put an end to the war, Zoom appears and beats Barry. As the Atlanteans' doomsday device destroys the world, Zoom is shot in the head by Batman. The Flash then taps into the Speed Force once more to stop his past self from altering time, effectively creating a new reality similar to the original.
Professor Zoom will appear in Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay (2018), voiced again by C. Thomas Howell.[47][48]

text: Video games[edit]

text:
Professor Zoom appears in various storylines in DC Universe Online.
Professor Zoom is one of the villains recruited by Brainiac to collect Starites in Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure. He teams up with Doppelgänger to compete against the Flash and Maxwell.
The Reverse-Flash appears as an unlockable playable character in Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, voiced by Liam O'Brien.

text: Injustice[edit]

text:
Eobard Thawne is featured in Injustice: Gods Among Us. His Black Lantern design was a playable alternate skin for the Flash (Barry Allen) as part of a limited exclusive challenge. The 2.6 update for the iOS and Android mobile app introduced a Reverse-Flash card (based on Tom Cavanagh's portrayal and likeness on The Flash TV series) that can be purchased in the Most Wanted Pack.[49]
The Reverse-Flash appears as a playable character in Injustice 2 via premier skins, voiced again by Liam O'Brien.[50][51] After being trapped in a paradox when the Regime kills one of his ancestors, he is left stranded in the 21st Century and joins Gorilla Grodd's "Society". Reverse-Flash attempts to kill the Flash with Captain Cold and Deadshot, before being defeated by Wonder Woman at a bar in Metropolis.

text: Parodies[edit]

text: Eobard Thawne has made multiple appearances on Robot Chicken. Seth Green voices him in "Losin' the Wobble", where he robs a bank while the Flash, Superman and Wonder Woman stand idly by, commenting on how lame they think opposite-themed villains like the Reverse-Flash, Bizarro Superman and Negative Wonder Woman are. Matthew Senreich voices him in the Robot Chicken DC Comics Special 2: Villains in Paradise, where he is seen with the Legion of Doom. He makes a non-speaking cameo while fighting the Flash in the Robot Chicken DC Comics Special III: Magical Friendship. Tom Cavanagh reprises his role as Thawne from the TV series The Flash in the episode "Ants on a Hamburger", where he appears as Dr. Harrison Wells.

text: Merchandise[edit]

text:
A DC Universe Action League mini figure of Professor Zoom was released in a two-pack with the Flash.[52]
A Reverse-Flash collectible statue was included in the Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox Blu-ray combo pack.
A Professor Zoom mini figure was released in DC Direct's Blammoids line.[53]
A Reverse-Flash mini figure was released in Funko Mystery Minis' DC Comics wave.[54]
Funko has released three POP! vinyl figures of Eobard Thawne. The first being based on his appearance in the comic books, the second a Black Lantern exclusive, and the third a The Flash television series version.[55][56][57]
A 2-inch keychain of the Reverse-Flash was released in series 2 of the DC Comics Figural Keychain line.[58]
DC Collectibles has released a 6.75-inch action figure of the Reverse-Flash as part of the Amazon exclusive Blu-ray edition of the complete first season of the TV series The Flash in December 2015.[59]
A GameStop exclusive vinyl collectible of the Reverse-Flash has been released in Dorbz's The Flash wave.[60]