The Flash's second season had been a major hit, with new characters, new villains, new mysteries, and all of the same charm as the freshman season. With that in mind, lets dig into the most intruiging part of this season (besides if we'll see the Justice Society): Zoom.
The most intrugiing thing about Zoom is his unclear comic book counterpart. With season one, fans were atleast certain "The Man in Yellow" was one of two people: Hunter Zolomon or Eobard Thawne, and while there were red herrings such as Harrison Wells and Eddie Thawne, but in the end it was still Eobard Thawne (with the elements of Hunter Zolomon given to both Harrison and Eddie). With Zoom however, we don't have that luxury, so lets dig in and start picking out popular suspects.
EDDIE THAWNE
Let us get the big one out of the way, Eddie. Or, Earth 2 Eddie. Or maybe time displaced Eddie turned evil. Or maybe Eddie wearing a really dumb costume and is actually the twin of Barry Allen that turned evil (Comics!). The evidence for this one comes from the uncanny resemblance of Eddie Thawne and Malcolm Thawne, a villain of the Flash who was revealed to be (shockingly) his twin brother ne never knew about raised by the Thawnes of modern day. Why? it was 1997. With that in mind, there were other refrences to Eddie possibly being Cobalt, such as in the last episode where Eddie is (supposedly) wearing a blue gem necklace, and Harrison Wells suggesting to Cisco to use a Cobalt resenue for the heat shield on the Time-Sphere.
<img class="irc_mi" style="margin-top: 124px;" src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/db3Y-DrkpgA/hqdefault.jpg" width="480" height="360"> oh look, embedding pictures is still glitchy as shit, yay .-.
Unfortunatly, this is where that theory starts to fall apart. It cant be Eddie from Earth One due to the wormhole showing up AFTER he's shot himself, and we see from season 2 episode 2's "Flash of Two Worlds" that Zoom was in the middle of sucking up the Speed Force juices from Jay when it opened. Some have said that the line Zoom speaks in one of the trailers, that "Heroes Die", could be a refernce to Eddie, but that's gasping for straws in terms of connections.
HUNTER ZOLOMON
No.
"But thats not fair!"
Nope, dont care. Its not him.
The whole point of Zolomon is that he's a recurring supporting cast member that was tragically affected by the Flash's world. He lost the ability to walk due to Gorilla Grodd, wanted Flash to grant him the chance to fix it via the cosmic treadmill, and afterwards gained the power to alter time. His story has been told through Hunter and Harrison, from the wheelchair disguise, to the friend shockingly revealed evil, to the partner in the police department, to the man not accepting his fate and wanting to change the future. To repeat those features would cheapen what made Eobard so unique.
Now, I'm aware that Andrew Kreisberg stated that they wanted to honor the original Zoom story but add their own twist, which I will get to in the latter part of this article. I personally read this as him saying they'll use the same core idea of what made Zoom so interesting: someone you know, and when they finally take off the mask, every viewer will have their jaw on the floor.
Anways, next!
COMIC BOOK VILLAINS
http://images-cdn.moviepilot.com/images/c_fill,h_692,w_1600/t_mp_quality/x4mu04bryeeolxnzmikt/who-do-you-think-zoom-is-665214.jpg yep, really working there
Ah, Source Material! Sometimes you help, sometimes you're disregarded with the garbage. In the comics, Reverse Flash has been used as a sort of blanket name, for several speedsters who have personal opposites. Jay Garrick had evil scientist Edward Clarris, who wore a darker version of Jay's Costume and had Blue Lightning. Barry has Eobard and Daniel West, the latter of which had the obsession of stealing speedsters' powers to go faster and was described as a speed demon, loojing like a black and red satanic flash with sharp claws. Wally had Zolomon, the shocking reveal of a villain that could seemingly be everywhere, and Inertia was the arch rival of Bart Allen, a clone that looked almost exactly like him and was known to use the speed enhancing drug known as Velocity 9. All have elements relating to Zoom and this season, and these might be the hints that are vital for figuring out who Zoom is.
EARTH 2 COUNTERPARTS
Ahhh, Theories everywhere. The big gimick for this season is alternate earths where things turned out differently. So, naturally, it makes sense that Zoom would be an Earth 2 version of someone we know, but who?
Henry Allen is one that comes up quite a lot, mostly due to the physique of Zoom, as well as a behind the scenes picture of Zoom without his pure black eyes revealing an eerily familiar set of eyes and a line from "Enter Zoom", in which Zoom uses a fishing joke before he drops Linda off a building, only for the next episode to have a returning Henry Allen (AKA the most selfish father of the year winner) mention he's been camping and fishing, much to Barry's suprise. While these are good points, a feel like this is more of a red herring set by the creators. The set pictures are more likely to be a stunt double's eyes as opposed to John Wesley-Shipp's, and the fishing line could just be a coinidence. However, the possibilities are still there.
https://ohainews.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/john-wesley-shipp-as-zoom.jpg?w=720 yep, carry on
Now, to Barry. There's several theories backing this one up, from Future's End Barry, to Johnny Quick of Earth 3, and the fact that it would be the ultimate enemy. However, there's little evidence to support this theory, although it could still happen due to the sheer lack of mention of Earth Two Barry.
Earth Two Patty is an interesting one, as it actually has comic book backing. During Flashpoint, Patty steals the gear of Hot Pursuit, a speedster from the future later revealed to be Barry Allen (what is it with dark futures for Barry? Jeez). It would make for an interesting twist, certainly unexpected.
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT ZOOM?
Ah, but what do we actually know about Zoom? In all honesty, not much. With no clear inspiration from the comics, we can't even begin to guess as what his backstory or motivations are until they're revealed to us. However, from the 9 episodes we've been given, as well as interviews and behind the scenes, we can finally begin to theorize.
-We know Zoom came from Earth 2 through a series of flashbacks and dialogue from Harry Wells.
-Zoom is demonic and animalistic in goals, with blank eyes and sharp claws.
-Zoom wants to steal power from speedsters across the multiverse to become faster.
-Apparently enjoys fishing jokes.
-Has mentioned that he doesn't want to be the hero, as heroes tend to die.
-Has a black costume with a Reverse-Flash emblem in silver, as well as having blue lightning.
-Faster than Jay from the very beginning.
-Has kidnapped Jesse Wells and is holding her hostage to use Wells to advance the speed of the Flash.
-Has sent several metahumans through breaches from wormholes to kill Barry, such as Atom Smasher, Sand Demon, Dr. Light, and King Shark.
-Can traverse the Multiverse through wormholes with ease.
-Gained his powers around the same time as the particle accelerator of Earth Two went online.
Now, with that in mind, who, WHO, is Zoom?
It's Wally West.
http://images-cdn.moviepilot.com/images/c_fill,h_555,w_800/t_mp_quality/aeijcurrhwvxmuag9sl6/first-look-wally-west-in-the-flash-737562.jpg this better work once I actually upload it jfc
Ahhh, now the fun begins.
In the new 52, readers were introduced to a new Reverse Flash. with a predomintely Black suit, Demonic attitude and look, and habit of stealing other speedsterss powers, he was a true enemy to reckon with, and it was revealed to be none other than Daniel West, brother of Iris and hatred towards his father. With this in mind, let us delve deeper in the New 52 run. Following the very brutal battle in the desert, Barry and Daniel end up actually ripping a hole in the Speed Force from their fighting, leading into the next major story: Out of Time, featuring a murder mystery and the Blue future Barry from a dark alternate timeline coming back to kill himself and make things right, somewhat the reversal of the Flashpoint story in which Barry went back to save someone from dying. Now, what do we have on the show that reflects this?
Well, with Wally West having finally been introduced on the show as Joe's long lost child, we should also remeber the overarching gimmick this season: Multiverse. I'm proposing that Zoom is actually none other than Wally of Earth 2, who was raised by an abusive father alongside Iris West, and grew to hate his father. On the night of the Particle Accelerator activation, he's infused with the speed force and becomes demonic, with a black suit and blue lightning to compliment. He soon begins attacking Central City, stealing Well's daughter and torturing her, as well as destroying the CCPD, where Joe works, killing him and everyone else in the process. Iris eventually learns of this and tries to stop him, but it's too late. He's killed too many people and lost his morality, killing hundreds and bringing destruction wherever he runs. Now, on Earth One, Barry has caused the singularity and has ruptured the bond that holds the Multiverse together.
See any simularities? The Demonic look Daniel has as well as a simular role, stealing the powers of speedsters and causing mahem. Barry and the gang learning Wally from another Earth was Zoom would be world shattering, and depending on how the season concludes, may work out to be a pretty faithful retelling. The shocking reveal, the friendship lost, world's changed, speedsers needing to ban together to fight him, powers stolen and granted at will, an epic to be told.
Now, the actual season finale is in the air as to what could happen, although I suspect something simular to Flash Rebirth, The Return if Barry Allen, and a combination of "Reverse" and "Out of Time". But that doesn't matter. What matters is that there's a fair amount of evidence for an Earth Two Wally.
CONCLUSION
Now, There's the obvious option that I'm wrong and it actually is Henry Allen from Earth 2, or Barry from Earth 2, or Eddie, or Patty, or the Black Flash infecting Barry, or a number of theories. Who knows? maybe they'll make up an entirely new character for the show, maybe it's an homage to a guy called Cobalt Blue who had a blue magical flame gem and was Barry Allen's twin.
Whatever the case, feel free to leave your theories down below and proceed to call me an idiot because my opinions didn't agree with yours. cheers!
-WO