The Flash - 'The Wells Theory'
This is a bit of a read guys, but bear with me here..
Since the debut of the CW’s revamped ‘The Flash’ TV series fans everywhere have been eagerly anticipating the first live-action appearance of our hero’s greatest nemesis: Zoom, the Reverse Flash. And while the show’s mind blowing mid-season finale (episode 9 ‘The Man in the Yellow Suit) was everything we had hoped for and more, it left us with far more questions than answers. But is it possible that we've been given more information than we realize? Actually, yes.
Thought not one hundred percent conclusive, by taking the information that’s been provided to us so far we can we can paint a logical picture of just who ‘Harrison Wells’ really is, and what he’s been up to since the beginning of the show. Now before we continue I would like to point out one more time that the conclusions drawn in this article are not 100% definitive, and could change at any time in the next few episodes. We’re simply going to use the information that the show itself has provided, and take it at face value, to create a logical identity, and motive, for our mysterious villain.
So without further delay, let’s get started!
Just Who is ‘Harrison Wells’?
Who’s Harrison Wells? Well, if we use what the show has given us then Harrison Wells was a (maybe) scientist who died in a car crash with his wife and lab partner, Tess Morgan, a little over fourteen years ago. Wait, what? That sounds crazy right, but bear with me here for a moment.
We know for a fact that the character of Harrison Wells is a character created for the show so there’s no prior comic book history there, but according to the show (episode 6 ‘The Flash is Born’ specifically) Harrison Wells was a scientist living, and working, with his wife and partner Tess Morgan in Maryland until Tess’s tragic death in a car accident. After the accident a distraught Wells moved to Central City where he intended to start his life over and continue work on the particle accelerator project. So, if Harrison Wells was a loving husband and scientist in Maryland fourteen years ago, how did he become a time travelling super villain for a hero that didn’t exist yet? The easy answer is he didn’t.
The theory at work here is the possibility that Zoom travelled back to what would be our present time from the future and engineered the accident that killed Tess and (possibly) Wells. But why would Zoom travel back in time to kill two seemingly random scientists? Working within this theory the reason would be obvious; he wanted Tess Morgan’s particle accelerator research. During his conversation with Joe West, ‘Wells’ stated that it took him fourteen years to build the particle accelerator, but then stated that Tess was so smart that it would’ve taken her only four years.
This would be a rather large, and fairly obvious, problem for Zoom. If Tess Morgan had lived then we can reasonably conclude that the particle accelerator she would have been built and tested roughly ten years ago, and in Maryland, would mean that Barry would never become the Flash. He would have been far too young, and would have been living too far away, to be affected by any explosion, assuming Tess’s particle accelerator malfunctioned in the same manner as Zoom’s. However, if ‘Wells’ was telling the truth, then it’s also reasonable to conclude that Tess’s particle accelerator test would have been successful.
In this context it makes sense that Zoom would need to kill Tess to steal her research, and the death of Tess’s husband Harrison Wells would have supplied Zoom with a new identity to live under in our time. Continuing with this theory it would also be reasonable to assume that Zoom is actually Eobard Thawne since, being a scientist himself, Thawne would (in theory) be capable of deciphering Tess’s work while also passing himself off as the scientist Harrison Wells. It’s also worth noting that ‘Wells’ himself also stated that the purpose of moving to Central City after Tess's death was to go somewhere where “no one knew me” which would be a logical thing to do if he were to assume the real Harrison Wells’ identity. And if this was indeed his intention, then there would be no better city to ‘start over’ in than Central City, the home of a young Barry Allen.
Although this theory is far from conclusive it is logical, and compelling. The individual capable of committing such a crime would have to be cold, calculating and intelligent, all of which fit ‘Wells’ perfectly. Though he hides behind the persona of an emotionally wounded, kind, and supportive mentor (MAJOR kudos to actor Tom Cavanagh here) we’re all aware that ‘Wells’ is a calculating, and manipulative killer (Stagg and to some extent Girder).
Episode by episode we’ve all witnessed ‘Wells’ cold hearted behavior (Stagg, Girder) as well as his manipulative capabilities (guiding Barry’s ‘priorities’, using Barry and Joe to get the tachyon prototype out of Mercury Labs and out in the open), and actor Tom Cavanagh himself confessed that Wells is indeed ‘The Man in the Yellow Suit’ so we now also know ‘Wells’ murdered Nora Allen. And as recently as ‘The Sound and The Fury’ we witnessed in a flashback as ‘Wells’ threatened Rathaway’s career when the latter discovered that the particle accelerator would likely fail its initial test (if Hartley had corrected the defect in the accelerator then Barry obviously would’ve never become the Flash, another ‘Wells’ no-no). This is all behavior that would fit the profile of a sociopath (a description that has been used to describe Thawne before), and from what we’ve seen, ‘Wells’ does.
So, if Zoom is impersonating ‘Harrison Wells’, then who is Zoom? Based on the above theory, and the fact that Zoom/Wells (Zwells, is that a thing? Can that be a thing?) is obviously a time traveler we can rule out the short list of likely suspects; Hunter Zolomon, a future Barry Allen, and Barry’s grandson Bart. Since nothing in Zwells’ history has given us any indication he might be Hunter Zolomon we’ll go ahead and rule him out. And based on the brutality of Zwells’ behavior, the murder of Barry’s mother and its effect on Barry, we’ll go ahead and rule out Barry and Bart too.
That leaves us with Eobard Thawne, and indeed Zwells fits Thawne’s profile. A cold, calculating, scientific mind from the future with an obsession with Barry Allen screams Thawne in fact. But didn’t the show’s creators, producers, and star Grant Gustin tell us that nobody’s correctly guessed Zoom’s big twist?! Well yes, but we’re not talking about the ‘creative twist’ in Zoom’s origin, are we? The theory above simply deals with Zoom’s identity, and with the evidence provided to us that leads us to Professor Eobard Thawne.
What Does Zoom Want!?
So if Zoom is actually Eddie’s descendant, what’s he doing here in our time? What’s Zoom after? The answer to those questions actually lies with Mercury Labs’ tachyon particle prototype.
One of the show’s biggest revelations in the mid-season finale was perhaps its most subtle: the tachyon particle prototype.
Mercury Labs’ prototype was something that Zoom greatly desired, so much so that he broke into Mercury’s facility to steal it. But although Zoom was able to make it past the facility’s initial security systems he was thwarted in the end by a…basic security door? Knowing what we know about Zoom’s speed and powers that shouldn’t have happened, and yet it did.
But couldn’t Zoom have vibrated himself through the door? Or maybe even use the sheer velocity of his speed to break through? Yes, he could’ve done all those things…if he had full control and power over his speed. This was, in my opinion, the first sign that something was wrong with Zoom’s speed. The second sign was the theft of the tachyon prototype. Why steal a device that would allow you to move/run even faster than you already do, if you’re already FAR superior to your (only) foe?
Zwells went to great lengths to get that prototype and it was evidenced in his discussions with the gang. When it was first revealed that ‘The Man in the Yellow Suit’ broke into Mercury Labs Barry and Joe said they didn’t know what he was after, but ‘Wells’ immediately mentioned the tachyon prototype, even though Tina later mentions that they ‘have literally hundreds of projects’ that they’re working on. This seemed odd for sure since 'Wells' should've known nothing about Zoom or his intentions. But by focusing Barry’s and Joe’s attention on the tachyon prototype ‘Wells’ is able to manipulate them into using it as bait, which springs it from the fortified Mercury Labs and puts it right in his own backyard. A little show later on (which mostly likely included Zoom traveling slightly backwards in time to ‘fight’ himself) and Zoom has what he desires, a way to supplement, or temporarily replace his failing speed.
But what’s wrong with Zoom’s speed? How is it possible that he’s literally losing it? The answer brings us to Zoom’s (theoretical) goal, Zwells’ secret plan, the reason ‘Wells’ is mentoring Barry: the Speed Force.
We learned in the pilot episode that Barry only has roughly nine years left of Flashy heroics before he disappears in a ‘Crisis’. If the show is using ‘Flash: Rebirth’ as a resource (and they most likely are) then we know that it’s Barry himself who generates the Speed Force. And it’s that source, Barry himself, that Zoom uses to create the ‘Negative Speed Force’, the source that he uses for his own great speed. But with future Barry gone Zoom now has a problem: the current Flash isn’t fast enough to access/create the Speed Force, and the future Flash, the one who could, is missing/dead.
So it stands to reason that Zoom is slowly losing his powers. This would also explain why ‘The Man in the Yellow Suit’ wasn’t seen again after Nora Allen’s death fourteen years ago, until now; Zoom simply didn’t have access to his speed, or needed to conserve what little he had left, until Barry was old enough to become the Flash. This would also make the intense, and obviously painful, effects we witnessed in ‘The Sound and The Fury’ make sense; Zoom overused his powers racing (taunting/motivating?) Barry, and traveling back in time briefly to ‘fight’ himself. This display of power also seems to have increased the deterioration of his abilities even further to the point where the tachyon prototype won't sustain him much longer.
Using the theory above also puts Zwells’ obsession with increasing Barry’s speed in context; Zoom needs Barry to gain access to/create the Speed Force so Zoom can access his ‘Negative’ Speed Force, thereby restoring his own powers. Zwells may also be trying to prevent Barry from ‘disappearing’ in the future ‘Crisis’ as well in order to prevent the Speed Force from disappearing too. Using the above mentioned theories puts much of ‘Harrison Wells’ actions in perspective; Zoom needed to kill Tess Morgan to ensure that her research into the particle accelerator happened in the proper location and according to Zoom’s timeline.
He also needed a way to get close to Barry to ‘mentor’ him so that Barry’s speed developed correctly, and to make sure Barry survives the future ‘Crisis’ to ensure that the Speed Force is created and survives too. And finally, Zoom needed to kill Nora Allen to make sure Barry followed the ‘correct path’ to becoming a forensics technician so that he’d be in the right place at the right time to get struck by that bolt of lightning. This also puts Zoom’s comments in a new light as well.
“It’s your destiny to lose to me Flash, just like it was your mother’s destiny to die that night.” A very cold-hearted and shocking statement to be sure, but what if Zoom wasn’t taunting Barry? What if Zoom was telling the truth? If only Nora’s death could put Barry on the path to one day become the Flash, then it would be a reasonable to state that that is her destiny. And if preventing that death would lead Barry down a path that prevented him from being struck by that bolt of lightning, then it would also be reasonable to say that it’s his destiny to ultimately lose to Zoom, since we know Barry will make a future attempt in the show to prevent his mother’s death at Zoom’s hands.
But if all of this is true, if Zoom has truly been manipulating Barry’s life on a grand scale to fit his plans, then what’s Zoom’s REAL plan? Surely there must be an end game to this, right? Most likely there is, but sadly this is where the trail ends…for now. But one thing is for sure, before the end of this season ‘Wells’ is going to take Barry’s ‘training wheels’ off, a big reveal will be made, and the Flash’s greatest archenemy will have been done great justice.