Who could the villainous Zoom be on ‘The Flash’?

The Flash hasn’t slowed down in becoming the best superhero show on television. This season, we’ve seen the introduction of many new characters. We’ve met Detective West’s new partner Patty Spivot, Firestorm’s new half Jax Jackson, the future Hawkgirl Kendra Saunders, and even King Shark has made an appearance. But the most interesting new character is the most mysterious of them all, this season’s big bad villain, Zoom.

Zoom is a speedster, apparently created by Earth-2’s Harrison Wells before their version of the particle accelerator explosion occurred. The villain is a menacing force who wants The Flash dead. Wells and Zoom try to accomplish this goal by sending Earth-2 metahumans into Barry Allen’s timeline via the singularity breach to try to kill him and Earth-2 Flash Jay Garrick, whose speed they stole. Why? That’s not entirely clear, but their motivation seems to be wanting to be the only speedster alive. With the ability to seemingly travel at will between Earths, their powers possess a huge threat for the Flash team.

“He’s faster than the Reverse-Flash, faster than Flash and will be very hard to catch,” showrunner Andrew Kreisberg revealed at San Diego Comic-Con. “He’s going to be terrifying and scary and fast, and it’s going to be all kinds of cool.”

Interestingly, Kreisberg refers to Zoom as “he” but that might be a misdirection.

Zoom wears a black suit and Tony Todd’s voiceover sounds like a cross between Darth Vader and a Dalek. It’s very dark. To this point, the identity of the character is still unknown. Given Zoom’s ongoing battle with Jay Garrick on Earth-2, I’m inclined to believe he’s not a character from our main version of events but an Earth-2 version of someone we’ve already met. Let’s run through the possibilities.

The More Likely Candidates 

Earth-2/Future Barry Allen: This is the most obvious choice. An alternate version of Barry Allen has yet to be introduced or even discussed. The weight of facing off against himself would be challenging and the reveal would carry gravitas. What’s harder to defeat than yourself? Tuesday night’s episode, the fifth of the season, featured Earth-2’s Linda Park being sent to our hero’s timeline and unless Zoom’s been watching Barry over time, how would he know he’d struggle with taking down a version of his ex-girlfriend? It’s possible he’s faster than The Flash because he’s a more powerful future version of the character.

Eddie Thawne: Thawne’s demise to save Earth-1 was tragic, but a fitting ending for a character whose purpose was to be a rival to Barry. He sacrificed himself for the greater good. We haven’t met the alternate version of the character, and it would be fun to see him take on a villainous mantle, which he sort of contemplated while captured by Reverse Flash. The actor Rick Cosnett is currently appearing on Quantico, but he’s going to be reappearing as a special guest star some point in season two, perhaps to reveals his true identity as Zoom.

A member of the West family: As Charlie Schneider of the YouTube channel Emergency Awesome points out, the focus this season has been on fixing the Wests, which could suggest Zoom may be an alternate version of a family member. Joe West is a first-rate good guy on the show, but Jesse Martin has the acting chops to pull off the villainous scowls of Zoom. Online fan-theories suggest it could be Earth-2 Wally West, a character who hasn’t been introduced yet on the main timeline (we do know Joe has a son, though), and while it’s possible, I’d like to rehash the theory when more information is available on the character. A dark horse could be Iris, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

It could be them, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

Henry Allen: Barry’s dad would be an interesting choice for the character, as I’d kill for a Darth Vader moment when Zoom lifts off his mask and reveals “I am your father.” But considering how his Earth-1 counterpart hasn’t been fleshed out, leaving town almost immediately following his release from prison, I’d be pretty surprised if the writers went that route. Henry has more story to tell, but it’s on Earth-1.

Patty Spivot: The Spivot we’ve met is dorky, cool and a welcome addition to The Flash universe. You’d truly believe she isn’t capable of doing anything inherently bad. But we don’t know how an alternate version of her functions, and it would be a surprising foil to see her as Zoom. While Zoom sounds and has the build of a male character, it’s no guarantee a man is under the suit.

The ‘probably nots’

Barry’s team: While I do think Zoom’s identity will be tied with someone close to Barry, Cisco or Caitlin Snow aren’t feasible candidates. Cisco is going through his own slow transition into becoming Vibe, and the show wouldn’t railroad that process by having him take a villainous turn. It would be too much of a stretch. I can imagine him interacting with his Earth-2 counterpart, but I’d imagine he’d be similar to our Earth-1 version. We’ve seen shots of Snow’s alter-ego Killer Frost in the singularity when it ripped open at the end of season 1, so it’s safe to assume that version she isn’t both Frost and Zoom. As for Harrison “Don’t call me Harry” Wells, he’s from Earth-2 and his character was the main villain last season, so it wouldn’t really work.

Someone we haven’t met: There’s been speculation that this character could be a classic comic book character like Malcolm Thawne’s Cobalt Blue, Daniel West’s Reverse-Flash or Hunter Zolomon, the Zoom from the comic books. However, I’d be surprised if Zoom wasn’t a character we’ve already met, as the show has already introduced a bundle of new characters and the payoff just wouldn’t be the same. Those characters could all exist in future seasons, but with Earth-2 and the doppelgangers present, it just makes perfect sense to set up a huge reveal. Using a new character would be a copout of sorts.

We’ll learn more about Zoom next week, as the episode is titled “Enter Zoom.” The producers are likely saving the identity reveal until the mid-season finale at the latest, but hopefully we get more clues to exactly who is the person behind the black mask.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYjk753-EzI