Hunter Zolomon
Hunter Zolomon | |
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Flash, True Flash | |
Abilities | Genius-level intellect, Expert in criminology and psychology Skilled investigator, tactician and hand-to-hand combatant Personal time manipulation in reference frame grants:
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Hunter Zolomon, otherwise known as Zoom and the
Zoom appeared in the live-action Arrowverse television series The Flash, portrayed by Teddy Sears and voiced by Tony Todd.
In 2009, Zoom was ranked as IGN's 37th-greatest comic book villain of all time.[1]
Publication history
Created by Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins, Hunter Zolomon made his debut in The Flash: Secret Files & Origins #3 in November 2001.[2] He first appeared as Zoom in The Flash (vol. 2) #197 in June 2003.[3]
Fictional character biography
Origin and transformation into Zoom
Hunter Zolomon had a troubled relationship with his parents who rarely spoke to each other or to him. On the day Hunter was to leave for college, his father was revealed to be a
Hostilities. Hunter soon befriended the Flash as his insight was critical in solving a number of cases, though Hunter resented being stuck behind a desk.Hunter was severely injured during an attack by
Hunter came to the conclusion that Wally's refusal to help was because of never suffering a personal tragedy unlike
Zolomon's estranged wife Ashley replaced him as a profiler in the police department and attempted to communicate with him. When Ashley was hospitalized after a car accident, Zoom awakened from his coma out of concern.[6]
Rogue War
Zoom is freed from imprisonment by Cheetah (Dr. Barbara Minerva), seeking to recruit him into the growing Secret Society of Super Villains. Although the two share a minor attraction and romance, Zoom still considers himself married to Ashley.[7]
Zoom infiltrates the
A battle ensues between the three Flashes and the two Zooms. Zolomon and Thawne capture Wally and jump onto the treadmill. Hunter then forces Wally to repeatedly experience their first fight in which Linda was severely injured, feeling that West should be made to focus on feelings of sorrow and loss to become a better hero. However, Barry arrives on his own cosmic treadmill in search of Thawne. Barry subsequently saves Wally and returns Thawne to the predecessor's proper place in the timeline. The enraged Zoom then begins running around the world, building up speed to collide with and kill Linda. Wally catches up with Zoom and pushes him, causing the villain to fall forward into the sonic boom that he himself used to kill Linda's twins, thus creating a "fissure in time" that restores Linda's pregnancy. Wally grabs Zoom and uses the treadmill to return to the present. Zoom recognises his mistreatment of Wally and briefly apologizes before slipping into the timestream. He is later seen as a ghostly figure apologizing to Ashley.
Zoom returns during the Infinite Crisis event as the Secret Society of Super Villains' chief speedster. He serves as a member of the Society's strike force, scarring Damage with super-speed punches and massacring the Freedom Fighters.[9]
One Year Later
Zoom later appears at the sacking of Rome; it is unknown whether he travelled to this time period himself, or if he became stranded there after his last encounter with Wally. Zoom is asked by Bart's
Final Crisis
In Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge, Zoom frees Inertia from the paralysis inflicted by Wally, hoping to make an apprentice out of Inertia by teaching how to "improve" both his own life and the lives of others by inflicting tragedies.[13] Kid Zoom learns this lesson too well and ultimately betrays the Flash's Rogues and Zoom himself, revealing his own desire to make the heroes suffer whereas Zoom wanted them to work through their pain.[14] Inertia then uses his mentor's own timestream manipulation powers against him, unravelling Zoom's timeline and reverting him to the crippled, powerless Zolomon.[15]
The Flash: Rebirth
Hunter makes a cameo in
DC Rebirth
In the DC Rebirth relaunch, when Iris West seemingly kills Eobard in the 25th Century, a cloaked figure called the Judge sends the Renegades back in time to arrest Iris. The hooded man is then revealed to be Zolomon proclaiming that the only way to make the Flashes better heroes is to pit them in a war where they'll experience tragedy.[17] Zolomon muses that he sees Wally as the 'true' Flash, reflecting that Barry's ability to accept death is the crucial difference between Barry and Wally as the Flash (feeling that Wally goes into situations determined to survive) and musing that this difference is how he'll provoke his planned war.
It is later revealed that Thawne brought Zolomon into the twenty-fifth century as part of Zolomon's prior suggestion in Flash: Rebirth that they could help each other be better, the two manipulating the Renegades and agreeing on the need for the Flashes to take a different approach, but they soon parted ways because Thawne felt that, in the end, Zolomon still had faith that the Flashes could be what he imagined them to be whereas Thawne had given up on that idea. After Thawne's 'death', Zolomon finally concedes to Thawne's ideas, returning to his appearance as Zoom and proclaiming that he will provoke the Flashes to war if they will not cooperate with his vision themselves.[18] He subsequently draws Wally to him, claiming that he has lost his powers and regained his sanity, and provokes Wally's memories of lost children, convincing Wally that the Speed Force must be sacrificed to release the other speedsters—including the Flash's children, Impulse and Max Mercury—who are trapped within it, provoking Barry and Wally to war against each other due to their conflicting views on Hunter's 'advice'.[19] The situation escalates when Barry and Wally's conflict breaks the Speed Force, allowing Hunter to draw on the energies of other forces—including the Strength Force and the Sage Force, enhancing his physical strength and knowledge[20]—but when he tries to use these powers to set history to his own design, he is pursued by the Flashes and lost when he breaks the Speed Force, leaving his location unknown and rendering time travel impossible for the Flashes and any other heroes or villains.[21]
Death to the Speed Force
Now the only Speedster capable of multiversal travel, Hunter massacres Flashes across dimensions and terrorizes Gorilla City. After assimilating the Still Force, Hunter reveals to Barry that the combined forces create an entirely new one, the Forever Force, which allow him to see all of time and space as an all-intents-and-purposes god. Barry gives chase, along with the Black Flash hot on their trail, intent on purging the other Forces from the Speed Force. Hunter proclaims his goal is to kill the Black Flash, as he says it's his destiny to kill "death itself" after all the tragedies in his life. Barry then shows Hunter a memory fragment in the Forever Force, explaining he investigated Hunter's case on his mentor, discovering that Thawne played a part in the murder by giving the Clown a gun before the final confrontation. Distraught by this revelation, Hunter starts to slow his pace. Hunter is reminded that he broke the Force barrier by using Barry and Wally, so they also must find a way to repair the barrier in order to return and solve Thawne's involvement. Hunter feels remorse for all the tragedy he inflicted on Wally, his best friend, and against Barry's pleas, resigns to fix the barrier by sacrificing himself as the Flash for atonement as similar to what Barry did decades ago in Crisis on Infinite Earths, due to him currently wielding the power of all four Forces. He expresses a wish that things could have been different, but then remarks that saving the day is what Flashes do. After asking Barry to tell Wally that he wishes the two could have remained friends, his plan works and the Black Flash is also banished to the Forever Force, with Zolomon content dying a hero.[22]
Powers and abilities
While most speedsters in the
Hunter possesses a keen mind, as he was once an investigator specialising in the study of criminology and psychology. Zolomon is also an expert in many forms of hand-to-hand combat, including the martial arts form Taekwondo, and an avid cross country runner and jogger even prior to gaining metahuman powers.[3]
In other media
Television
Hunter Zolomon / Zoom appears in TV series set in the Arrowverse:
- Zolomon is introduced in Killer Frost. Following this, past versions of Zolomon make minor appearances in the episodes "What's Past is Prologue" and "A New World".[40]
- Zolomon as the Black Flash appears in the second season of Legends of Tomorrow, in which he pursues a time aberration of the Reverse-Flash to correct the timeline.[41]
Film
Hunter Zolomon / Zoom was planned to appear in David S. Goyer's cancelled Flash film.[42]
Video games
- Zoom appears as a boss in Justice League Heroes: The Flash.[citation needed]
- Zoom appears in DC Universe Online, voiced by Robert Dieke.[citation needed]
- The Arrowverse incarnation of Zoom appears in Lego DC Super-Villains via the "DC TV Super-Villains" DLC pack.[43]
Merchandise
- Funko released two POP! vinyl figures of Hunter Zolomon in The Flash television series tie-in toyline. The first is a regular version as Zoom and the second is a "Legion of Collectors" exclusive of Zolomon impersonating Jay Garrick.[44][45]
References
- ^ "Zoom is Number 37". IGN.com. Retrieved April 25, 2011.
- ^ The Flash Secret Files and Origins #3 (November 2001)
- ^ a b c d The Flash (vol. 2) #197 (June 2003). DC Comics.
- ^ The Flash (vol. 2) #193 (February 2003). DC Comics.
- ^ The Flash (vol. 2) #196 (May 2003). DC Comics.
- ^ The Flash (vol. 2) #211 (August 2004). DC Comics.
- ^ The Flash (vol. 2) #219 (April 2005). DC Comics.
- ^ a b The Flash (vol. 2) #223 (August 2005). DC Comics.
- ^ Infinite Crisis #1 (2005). DC Comics.
- ^ The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #10-#12 (2007). DC Comics.
- ^ Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps Special #1 (August 2007). DC Comics.
- ^ Justice Society of America (vol. 3) #8 (October 2007). DC Comics.
- ^ a b Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge #1 (September 2008). DC Comics.
- ^ a b Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge #2 (October 2008). DC Comics.
- ^ Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge #3 (November 2008). DC Comics.
- ^ The Flash: Rebirth #6 (April 2010). DC Comics.
- ^ The Flash (vol. 5) Annual #1 (March 2018). DC Comics.
- ^ The Flash (vol. 5) #46. DC Comics.
- ^ The Flash (vol. 5) #47. DC Comics.
- ^ The Flash (vol. 5) #49. DC Comics.
- ^ The Flash (vol. 5) #50. DC Comics.
- ^ The Flash (vol. 5) #81. DC Comics.
- ^ The Flash (vol. 2) #199 (August 2003)
- ^ The Flash (vol. 2) #200 (September 2003). DC Comics.
- ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #214 (May 2005). DC Comics.
- ^ "Zoom Confirmed As Flash Season Two's Villain". ComicBook.com. July 12, 2015. Retrieved August 24, 2015.
- ^ Ching, Albert (August 31, 2015). ""The Flash" Casts the Voice of Zoom for Season 2". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on September 2, 2015. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
- ^ Dyce, Andrew (January 28, 2016). "The Flash's Twist Explained: Who is Hunter Zolomon?". Screen Rant. Retrieved April 15, 2017.
- ^ Abrams, Natalie (February 23, 2016). "The Flash reveals Zoom's identity!". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved February 23, 2016.
- ^ Burlingame, Russ. "Teddy Sears On What Makes The Flash Great, The Zoom Twist, and This Week's Big Episode". Comicbook.com. Retrieved September 12, 2016.
- ^ Abrams, Natalie (January 26, 2016). "Did The Flash just reveal Zoom's identity?". EW.com. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
- ^ Schremph, Kelly (February 2, 2016). "Is Hunter Zolomon Zoom On 'The Flash'? Jay Garrick's Earth-1 Doppelgänger Has A Meaningful Name". Bustle. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
- ^ Bell, Crystal (January 19, 2016). "The Inside Story Of How 'The Flash' Created TV's Most Terrifying Villain". MTV News. Retrieved February 12, 2018.
- ^ "Flashback S3 Ep.1: Exclusive Interview with Teddy Sears". YouTube. April 24, 2017. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021.
- ^ "The Flash: Zoom's Secret Plan & Timeline Explained". Screen Rant. April 20, 2016. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
- ^ "The Flash: "The Race of His Life" Review". May 24, 2016. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
- ^ "Versus Zoom on New 'The Flash' Tonight". Entertainment Alley. Archived from the original on November 5, 2016. Retrieved September 12, 2016.
- ^ The Many Faces of Zoom featurette. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.
- ^ "SDCC: "The Flash" Reveals "Zoom" as Season Two Villain, Comic-Con Reel Released". Comic Book Resources. May 11, 2015. Archived from the original on November 19, 2015. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
- ^ "'The Flash' Series Finale Ending Explained: What Happens to Team Flash?". Collider. May 25, 2023.
- ^ "Black Flash's Return on Legends of Tomorrow Explained". Screen Rant. February 2017.
- ^ "Before Green Lantern, Before Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds as -- the Flash?". May 17, 2023.
- ^ Crecente, Brian (May 30, 2018). "'Lego DC Super-Villains' Drops in October".
- ^ Burlingame, Russ (May 25, 2016). "New The Flash And Arrow Pop! Vinyl Figures Revealed". Comicbook.com. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
- ^ Anderson, Jenna (January 3, 2018). "10 'Arrow' and 'The Flash' Funko POPs We Need in 2018". Comicbook.com. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
- ^ Mueller, Matthew (July 13, 2016). "DC Collectibles Show Off New Figures In CW TV Line". Comicbook.com. Retrieved March 19, 2017.
- ^ "DC Collectibles DCTV Zoom The Flash Action Figure". Amazon.com. Retrieved March 19, 2017.