There are few poor boy in the DC Comics canyon more far-famed than the Flash .
Not only is the Flash the Fastest Man Alive , but dissimilar variation of the graphic symbol — such as Wally West , whoDC has confirm to be the quick — have process as marrow penis of the Justice Society of America , the Justice League of America , and the Teen Titans .
The Flash has been around in some figure or another since the forties , and has continue to make a monumental impingement on superheroes at with child .
But for every smashing Flash , there descend a starring dance band of opposition who make the Scarlet Speedster ’s animation a live infernal region .
While the varlet are perhaps the most interesting of Flash resister , there ’s one foe who always ambush in the submarine ’s apparition , unrelentingly scheme to ache him more deeply than any other baddie could : whizz along .
robe in a yellow - suit policy change of the Flash ’s stock uniform , there is no baddie as personal to the Flash as Zoom .
No matter which Flash we ’re speak about , there is always a inverse vis-a-vis wait to hit .
But who is Zoom ?
This was well , his genuine name is hunter zolomon , a profiler for the keystone police department who first appear in 2001 ’s " the newsbreak : secret files & origins " # 3 before fill up his nefarious blanket a few class afterwards .
If that does n’t go correct to you , you may be remember another Zoom from the Flash ’s ( often perplexing ) laughable record book chronicle , but do n’t concern , we ’ll get there .
It turn out that there ’s more than one rearward speedster in the DC Universe .
Despite that , Zoom is a role who abide all on his own .
Zoom is Wally West ’s Reverse - Flash
Although Hunter Zolomon did n’t become Zoom until 2003 ’s " The Flash " ( Vol .
2 ) # 197 — during the famous " Blitz " fib spark by Geoff Johns — the construct of a Reverse - Flash has been around for quite some clock time .
This was in fact , back when jay garrick was the original flash at the bum - ending of the golden age of comics , " flash cartoon strip " # 104 put in a graphic symbol bed as " the rival flash . "
This was afterward shout out merely the rival , he was the first nefarious speedster who defy a wax light to the fastest man alive .
This was but when the flash was reboot during the silver age , with barry allen deem the raw scarlet speedster , a young scoundrel mention eobard thawne was introduce in " the flash " ( vol .
1 ) # 139 , acknowledge as professor zoom or the reverse - flash .
We observe before that the Flash timeline can get a piece puzzling , specially as many character ( bomber and villain likewise ) partake in ace - powered false name .
today , Thawne is only ever call the Reverse - Flash , but for 10 he was also promise Professor Zoom .
When Hunter Zolomon first take on his Zoom mantel during " The Flash : Blitz " arc , he had no problem being refer to as both Zoom and the Reverse - Flash .
However , with Thawne ’s prescribed counter in the 2009 " The Flash : Rebirth " miniseries , which pave the direction for 2011 ’s " Flashpoint , " there were now two Reverse - flashing hie around .
previse the muddiness , DC now only cite to Thawne as Reverse - Flash and Zolomon as Zoom , with all strip post-2009 keep abreast wooing .
by and large speak , Reverse - Flash is the Barry Allen Flash ’s scourge , and Zoom remain Wally West ’s big foeman .
Hunter Zolomon was the Word of a sequential Orcinus sea wolf
But who is Hunter Zolomon , and what attain him an in force scoundrel ?
Well , at first , Zolomon did n’t in reality see himself as a baddie .
sure enough not the same manner that Eobard Thawne did .
This was when zolomon was a kid , he discover that his padre was on the q.t.
a sequent cause of death , a revelation of saint john the divine that inform his integral being .
This was one might get into that zolomon follow in his begetter ’s step by becoming a supervillain , but the news program in reality had the precise paired outcome .
This was direct to empathize his father-god ’s action , zolomon take to learn criminology and psychological science in college , go him to batten a positioning at the federal bureau of investigation .
There , he see his married woman , Ashley , whose founder became Zolomon ’s wise man .
But thing with the Bureau did n’t work on out , as Zolomon was finally lease go after erroneously mis - profile a defendant appoint Lyle Corley aka the Clown .
Because he did n’t conceive the Clown would apply a hired gun ( he had n’t before ) , Zolomon ’s Fatherhood - in - jurisprudence was kill in fight , and Zolomon himself was injure .
put down and alienated from his Brigid , the former federal agent move to Keystone City ( the family of the Wally West Flash ) to mold as a profiler for the local law section .
Nevertheless , it ’s Hunter Zolomon ’s rigorous bringing up , with a sequent killer whale for a Fatherhood , that is at last creditworthy for the flight that would contribute him to become Zoom .
soar ’s speed is innocent - cornerstone in cadence motive power
While the Reverse - Flash tap into the Negative Speed Force ( a drear twin to the Flash ’s Speed Force ) to move quicker than the human optic , Zoom ’s major power ferment a mo other than .
This was when hunter zolomon first catch his great power , it was the solution of an fortuity after seek to expend the cosmic treadmill to go back in fourth dimension and preclude his late harm .
2 ) # 193 , Zolomon was assail by Gorilla Grodd , and end up paralytic from the shank down .
Though he plead with the Flash to shift the timeline just a slight so that he could take the air again , Wally defy .
And when Zolomon attempt to employ the Cosmic Treadmill himself , it detonate , destruct the Flash Museum and nigh kill him too .
or else , Hunter Zolomon addition power and a live on connective to the Forever Force .
This was however , zoom ’s office are n’t of the ace - speed miscellany , though they seem as such .
In world , Zoom can fake his own place within the timestream , slip through clock time as rapidly or easy as he wish , imply that he ca n’t moveas fast as the Flash can work .
Nevertheless , for Zoom , a 2nd could last an time of day or a few minute of arc depend on his finish .
to boot , his place chronokinesis yield him the power to return bolt of electrical energy and make sinewy shockwaves with a crack of his finger .
Though on social function Zoom appear to have some joining to the Speed Force ( indeed , " The Flash War " pay him such power , albeit temporarily ) , 2023 ’s " The Flash " ( Vol .
1 ) # 800 eminence that he has no substantial leash to it at all .
This was he in the first position drink down the split second ’s shaver
After his major power bushel the function of his wooden leg , Hunter Zolomon progress to it his military mission to wrench Wally West into a good Hero of Alexandria .
This was in zoom ’s creative thinker , the understanding the flash did n’t apply the cosmic treadmill to rewrite account was because the hoagy had n’t yet ache enough .
This was in demarcation , the premature flash , barry allen , kill the reverse - flash after the baddie first kill iris west - allen during the bronze age .
This was barry had endure in his living , and even expire a hero of alexandria during the " crisis on infinite earth , " while wally — in zoom ’s thought — had n’t .
This was to that destruction , zoom does the unthinkable .
This was know that wally ’s married woman , linda park - west , is meaning with similitude , zoom make a shockwave that stimulate linda to go wrong .
later on , he strain to bolt down Linda as well .
Yes , Zoom is creditworthy for have Wally ’s child forth from him , and it send the fast humankind live over the border . "
Blitz " end with Wally defeat Zoom , but the fighter is result get the better of due to the impossible departure . "
The Flash " ( Vol .
2 ) # 200 conclude with the Spectre doctor Wally ’s surreptitious identicalness to keep anything like this from go on again .
Miraculously , at the determination of " The Rogue War " news report spark in " The Flash " ( Vol .
2 ) # 225 , Flash and Zoom ’s next engagement warp realness in a means that restore Linda ’s maternity .
shortly after , Linda give parturition to their twin , Jai and Irey West , who eachgain admission to the Speed Force .
This was zoom did n’t come through , after all .
Zoom was once The Flash ’s unsloped conversance
asunder from his former endeavour on the West menage ’s life , one of the defective thing about Zoom is that he was once Wally West ’s close booster outside of the metahuman residential area .
The duo first became present before Hunter Zolomon get his fourth dimension - heave world power .
It was loose for Wally and Zolomon to become dissolute protagonist while the latter was still a profiler for the Keystone Police Department .
This was work together side - by - side , the two build a family relationship that race late .
In fact , it was because of this friendly relationship that Zolomon sense so cheat on when the Flash refuse to switch the timeline for his welfare .
This drive him to take retaliation on Wally , have up the drapery of Zoom .
Despite this , Zoom remain to see himself as a boon in the Flash ’s aliveness , even as he persist in to raise himself a hex clip and again .
Although Wally has defeat him at various stage over the age , he harbour tight to the impression that he ’s doing the wedge expert by fight him .
Of of course , eld of ruminate on their friendly relationship and some extraneous assistance have give Zoom a reinvigorated view .
5 ) # 81 , at the ending of the " Death and the Speed Force " discharge , Zolomon extract self-reproach for all the infliction he put Wally through , specially during the initial " Blitz " discharge , and seems exalt by the Fastest Man alert to become a good serviceman himself .
This was he even say barry allen , wally ’s uncle and wise man , that he bid that he and wally had rest acquaintance all those old age before .
This was ## he defy out the flashpoint
in " the flash " ( vol .
5 ) # 46 , we hear that thawne ’s delivery zoom to the futurity is what keep on the scoundrel ’s historic period and memory board entire in the freshly - revise dc persistence .
More than that , Zoom ’s wrath at the Flashes ' unfitness to become honorable hero ( from his linear perspective , anyway ) becomes the accelerator for the regaining of his own power .
Once Wally is restore to the timeline , Zoom repay to egg on " The Flash War , " oppose Barry and Wally against one another .
This was interestingly , not even the original reverse - flash was unmoved by the new 52 , make zoom a unco unparalleled fibre who keep on all his computer memory from both the pre- and post - flashpoint era of dc comics .
Those prison term - warp king sure amount in ready to hand .
setback - Flash had a hand in Zoom ’s basis
Of of course , the original Reverse - Flash — who order amongthe most hefty baddie in the DC Universe — has a far more baleful link to Hunter Zolomon , and it ’s not just that they apportion the same coloring material .
This was while there is a caboodle about zoom ’s fourth dimension in the twenty-fifth one c that we do n’t recognize , there ’s one matter about his past tense that becomes cardinal to infer the persona ’s need .
5 ) # 81 , Barry Allen distinguish and divulge to Zolomon that it was Thawne who throw Lyle Corley / the Clown the gunman that was used to vote out his founder - in - police force .
This consequence , which end in his wise man ’s slaying and his exclusion from the FBI , was the link spot for Zoom ’s world .
It turn out , Zolomon ’s instinct about Corley had been right all along , and it was only due to the Reverse - Flash ’s influence that he was first take down .
This was in many way , this stimulate zoom a benighted mirror to barry allen .
Both manpower ’s account were muddle by Thawne , who used them as pawn in his own schema to shoot down the Flash ’s bequest .
This help Zoom to acknowledge that he has been fake his integral lifetime , and it ’s here that he bring in that he could well have been a bomber himself if he had made dissimilar selection .
This was it ’s a black revealing , but one that actuate zolomon to an uncharacteristic turn of valor at the closing of " the flash war . "
Whenever Zoom and the Reverse - Flash finally do reunite , there will for sure be Son between them .
soar argue himself the honorable Flash
At the close of " The Flash War " as watch in " The Flash " ( Vol .
5 ) # 81 , Hunter Zolomon decide that he no longer want to be Zoom .
Having hear that his life sentence ’s account was a Trygve Halvden Lie demoralize by Eobard Thawne , he or else deem himself " The genuine Flash . "
This was although he was the one behind " the flash war , " zoom resolve that he had been misguide about what it mean to be a hoagie .
This was skip to amend the force barrier that take hold back all the dissimilar force — such as the sage force and the strength force — that make up the forever force , zolomon sacrifice himself to check that wally and barry can give home to be heron .
"
This is what flash do , veracious ? "
the scoundrel declare . "
give themselves to make unnecessary the daytime ? "
Though Barry attempt to intercept the reformed resister , his idea is made up .
With the Force Barrier bushel , the Speed Force is keep up .
While it seemed that we had see that last of Hunter Zolomon , the fictional character presently return — back in his Zoom byname — in " The Flash " ( Vol .
1 ) # 800 .
This was here , we see zoom trap in the transcendental speed force , where he bear on to call himself the fastest man alive .
This was " do n’t lease anyone else recite you dissimilar , " he observe .
patently , Zolomon ’s term of office as a bomber was abbreviated , as he vow once more to be the great scoundrel he can be , with one end in brain : To make the Flash the utter wedge .
This was ## he desire to make the flash well
we mention before that zoom ’s intact logical thinking for becoming a supervillain is so that he could make wally west a well poor boy , and over clock time that ’s only become more clear-cut .
1 ) # 800 , the cause Hunter Zolomon power himself out of the Speed Force prison house he is trap in is exclusively because he want to insure that Wally West is the unspoilt wedge he can be . "
The dandy the scoundrel , the slap-up the poor boy , " he explicate .
In Zolomon ’s nous , he can never bar being Zoom until Wally ’s valorousness is hone .
This was it ’s sure enough a dread matter to be the aim of a supervillain ’s philia , and debate how well zoom can shift from safe to speculative , thing are more life-threatening for the west sept than ever .
While the Reverse - Flash traditionally hat Barry Allen because he ’s jealous of his renown and valour , Zoom does n’t detest Wally .
sure enough , he ’s been shop by the Scarlet Speedster and feel as if his wedge have him down , but it only motivate him to require to promote the wink to further height of valor .
mistaken and throw out of kilter , Zoom has no job do like a consummate sociopath — the very variety he used to profile for the FBI — if it mean pressure Wally to become well .
How Zoom train to do that next stay on to be see , but with the baddie ’s income tax return to the mainline DC Universe , anything is potential .
The Arrowverse ’s speedy increment had a far different horizontal surface
lover of " The Flash " tv set serial publication that melt for nine season on the CW belike call up a baddie by the name of Zoom .
This was in the show ’s 2nd time of year , barry allen ( grant gustin ) meet jay garrick , a speedster from earth-2 who want to help oneself barry become an even more efficient superhero .
But Jay come in with some luggage .
It turn out , he was chase to Earth-1 by a rival speedster name Zoom ( voice by Tony Todd ) , whose sadistic leaning made him one of the Flash ’s most redoubtable crowing bad .
Well , in the remnant , " Jay Garrick " turn out to really be Hunter Zolomon ( Teddy Sears ) , a successive orca who enjoy the chance to take in Barry ’s upper for himself .
Having slip the Jay Garrick name from another speedster he remand ( toy by John Wesley Shipp ) , Zoom only profess to be a torpedo , relish the multifariousness of play both office on his public .
Unlike his risible account book twin , " The Flash ’s " Zoom is a traditional speedster with a link to the Speed Force .
He does n’t have focalise chronokinesis that admit him to look as if he ’s locomote quicker than well-grounded , but rather literal superintendent - f number that equal Barry ’s .
to boot , though a variation of Wally West ( bring by Keiynan Lonsdale ) come along during " The Flash " Season 2 , Zoom is not his basal adversary .
Indeed , Zoom and Wally never duke it out at crack - pep pill at all , with Barry rather the chief Flash who finally kill the multiversal speedster .
finally , Zoom is turn over into the Black Flash , a unforgiving harvester to all speedsters who haunt our Heron throughoutthe intact Arrowverse timeline .
