chance. Curious why there was another man with his face, he demanded the truth from his parents. They admitted everything, having been aware of the infant switch from the beginning. Malcolm refused to believe that his parents could be so heartless, and he tracked down the doctor who delivered him. The doctor confirmed the Thawnes' story and, in a rage, Malcolm murdered the doctor. The matriarch of the Thawne family, Malcolm's grandmother, who also possessed the ability to control the "blue flame" (which was revealed to be a mystical ability passed down through the Thawne family) was disgusted at her son's pathetic use of the gift to con people. Malcolm, on the other hand, possessed the passion required to make full use of the ability. His grandmother trained him in the secret of the flame. Fueled by Malcolm's rage and jealousy at his twin for 'stealing his life', Malcolm fashioned a blue gem to contain the flame, which was capable of stealing Barry Allen's superspeed. His first attempt ended in failure, and Malcolm was absorbed into the gem, only to re-emerge years later. By this time, Wally West had assumed the mantle of the Flash. Barry's death during the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" appeared to have cheated Malcolm out of his dreams of revenge on his brother. Instead, Malcolm focused on Allen's descendants traveling through time in a bid to exterminate them, starting with Wally West. Under the identity of Cobalt Blue, Malcolm ignited a family feud that endured for a millennium. The feud came to a head in the late 30th century, where Barry Allen was living with his wife Iris. Wally West arrived to try to protect his uncle. Flashes of all eras between the 20th and 30th centuries arrived soon after, all under the control of Thawne's spirit because they all were carrying a shard of the original Cobalt Blue gem. After defeating all the other Flashes, in the end, Wally West ended the menace of Cobalt Blue by running so fast that he skirted the edge of the Speed Force. Its power poured into the gem, and Thawne's spirit (and the gem itself) overloaded from the excess energy. Despite the fact that there are supposed to be many Cobalt Blues between now and the 30th century, neither Malcolm or Cobalt Blue have appeared since the "Chain Lightning" arc. It is unknown if these timelines even exist