| NOTE: This section contains information on Hunter Zolomon/Zoom before he became Black Flash, as Black Flash wasn't voted for Pure Evil. Thus only information about Hunter Zolomon/Zoom is allowed in here. |
| “ | You can't... lock up... the darkness! | „ |
| ~ Zoom's most famous quote. |
| “ | About two years ago—this is on Earth-2 now—the CCPD there, they got a 9-1-1 call about a hostage situation, but when the SWAT team got there, there were no hostages. It was a trap. Zoom set a trap in order to show the police that they could not stop him. And he killed fourteen officers, men and women. Slaughtered them. Left one alive to tell what happened. That officer described "blue lightning, zooming all about", as his comrades—brothers and sisters-in-arms were murdered. That officer considered himself to be the lucky one, spared in order to tell the tale... until Zoom went to his house that night and killed him too. And that's how he got the nickname "Zoom". | „ |
| ~ Harry Wells explaining how Zoom's first act of terror got him his name. |
| “ | Barry Allen: Caitlin found you a cure! Hunter Zolomon: A temporary one! I'm DYING, Barry! There's only one thing that can get me what I need! Barry Allen: And you just don't care how many lives you have to destroy trying to get it? HOW MANY PEOPLE YOU KILL!? Hunter Zolomon: NO! I DON'T!' |
„ |
| ~ Hunter emphatically stating to Barry that he doesn't care at all about all his evil actions he's committed. |
| “ | A remnant... Stole my trick, Flash. But you're too late. Bye bye, multiverse. | „ |
| ~ Zoom after tackling Barry and watching the Magnetar get close to completing his goal of destroying nearly all of the multiverse. |
Hunter Zolomon, also known as Zoom and formerly by his stolen identity Jay Garrick/the Flash, is the secondary antagonist of the 2014-23 superhero television series The Flash and the overarching antagonist of Season 2 of the 2016-22 crossover series DC's Legends of Tomorrow.
He is a deranged and sadistic serial killer from Earth-2 who became a meta-human speedster after being affected by dark matter from the particle accelerator explosion during his electroshock therapy treatment, leading to him becoming a notorious supervillain who terrorised Central City and pretended to be "The Flash" of his Earth to inspire hope, only to rip it away.
After finding out he was dying from cellular degeneration caused by his own speed-enhancing velocity serums, Zoom discovered the multiverse and began exploring it to steal the speed of other speedsters to cure his condition and become the fastest speedster in the multiverse, eventually targeting Barry Allen of Earth-1. He is Harry Wells' arch-nemesis, Barry Allen's second archenemy, and the arch-nemesis of the real Jay Garrick.
He is portrayed by Teddy Sears out of costume while being voiced by the late Tony Todd in costume, who also played Captain Darrow in The Rock, Benjamin Juma in the 24 franchise, The Fallen in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Darkseid in the DC Animated Movie Universe and William in Tales from the Hood 3. As an 11 year old, he was portrayed by Octavian Kaul.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
In General[]
- Although he's evidently mentally ill, unhinged, and clearly insane as a result of his horrifying childhood and uncontrollable lust for death, Hunter possesses full moral agency as he understands right from wrong and the law of heroes and villains.
- Even though his sadism and bloodlust were instilled due to the murder of his mother, it doesn’t justify the multiple murders of his victims or any of his other crimes.
- Although Zoom had a genuinely tragic past (witnessing his father murder his mother while making him watch, being sent to an orphanage, and growing up in absolute loneliness, neglect, and possible abuse by the staff or the other orphans, which caused him to become a serial killer in the first place), he was offered redemption by Team Flash and refused, and his actions by the end went far, FAR past it.
- His cellular degeneration disease was due to his own greed and obsession with becoming the fastest man alive, which doesn't justify his actions.
- It's also worth mentioning that he proudly calls family a weakness after Barry traps him in restraints using cardboard cutouts of his parents and later kills Henry Allen right in front of the heroic speedster, thus subverting any love he once had for his late mother.
- His cellular degeneration disease was due to his own greed and obsession with becoming the fastest man alive, which doesn't justify his actions.
- While Zoom claims to be similar to the Flash since they both watched their mothers die when they were 11 (which is why Zoom tries to provoke Flash into murdering him at the end of Season 2), this argument actually falls very flat because there is a big difference between the two men: Flash chose to become a pure-hearted hero and stays that way in spite of the hardships he faces, whereas Zoom chose to lash out at the world just for sick kicks. Furthermore, Savitar in Season 3 shows that even at his absolute worst, Barry Allen would still be capable of love, honesty, and even remorse at times, traits that Zoom distinctly lacks.
- If Flash had killed Zoom to avenge his father, it would've been 100% justified because Zoom is a multiversal threat and a monster in every sense of the word. Thus, Flash and Zoom are foils rather than equals.
- Although Zoom claimed that he didn't want to feel alone which was why he kept Caitlin as his prisoner, it's possible this was just a manipulation tactic. Even if Zoom was genuinely insecure and kept Caitlin as a prisoner because he truly didn't want to be alone, it's not particularly played sympathetically.
Background[]
- Before becoming a speedster, he was an infamous and deranged serial killer who killed 23 people in the span of three years.
- A news article depicting his capture said that he had no motive for his kills other than pure bloodlust, targeting men, women, children, and even disabled army veterans from the War of the Americas, with his disorganised killing pattern making him difficult to catch.
- He terrorized Central City on Earth-2 for two years, forcing all the meta-humans to serve him and killing the ones who refused.
- He faked a hostage situation and brutally killed 14 of the 15 cops who had arrived, sparing the only survivor so he could tell the tale about his power. He later killed him that night in his home as a demonstration of his lack of mercy.
- Once he discovered the concept of the multiverse, he kidnapped and imprisoned Earth-3's Flash and decided to steal his identity and pretend to be a hero to give people false hope, simply for his own amusement. Though he defeated numerous Metahuman criminals as the Flash, Zoom only did this for his own glory, as he enjoyed being a hero for the fame that came with it. Not to mention, many of the Metahumans he defeated were his own minions. He even admitted being a hero was “exhausting”, showing he never cared about helping people.
- When Harrison Wells rebuked him as the Flash, he attacked Central City College and kidnapped his daughter Jesse as Zoom to blackmail him.
Season 2[]
- He kidnaps Al Rothstein (Atom Smasher), Eddie Slick (Sand Demon), Shay Lamden (King Shark), and Linda Park (Dr. Light) and strands them on Earth-1, threatening to kill them unless they kill the Flash.
- Atom Smasher was remorsefully killed by Barry/The Flash due to this, indirectly making him responsible for his death.
- Dr. Light, at the very least, didn't want to kill Flash and tried to kill her Earth-One counterpart to trick him, only for her to kill Eric Larkin by accident, which also makes him indirectly responsible for his death as well.
- He arrives as "Jay Garrick" to help Team Flash stop Zoom, but he simply wishes to build the Flash's speed so he can take it. While doing this, he also helps Team Flash kill Sand Demon, showing that he possesses zero loyalty whatsoever.
- In his facade as "Jay Garrick," he constantly antagonized Harry Wells to keep him under control.
- He abducted the Linda Park of Earth-1 and dropped her off the roof of S.T.A.R. Labs while sadistically mocking Barry’s failed attempt to capture him.
- He infamously shatters the Flash's spine and drags him throughout Central City to humiliate him, nearly killing him in front of Team Flash until Cisco temporarily incapacitated him and he escaped.
- He blackmails Harrison Wells into helping him steal the Flash's speed, threatening to sadistically torture and murder his daughter slowly if he doesn't.
- He had Killer Frost, Reverb, and Deathstorm ambush Barry, but when the latter went against his orders by trying to kill Barry, Zoom brutally murdered the latter two as punishment, only sparing Killer Frost because she obeyed his orders, but this didn’t stop Zoom from strangling her just to intimidate her.
- He abducts and imprisons Barry in his lair and later brutally beats him when he tried to escape.
- When Cisco and Harry arrive to save Barry, Zoom attempts to kill Jesse in front of her father, only being stopped thanks to the efforts of a redeemed Killer Frost.
- He creates a time remnant to be in two places at once as a double agent and kills "Jay" after Team Flash rescued Jesse, subjecting the team to emotional trauma so they would work harder to make the Flash faster (and, in his mind, give him more speed he'll be able to take).
- Upon his revelation as Zoom, he kidnaps Wally West and threatens to kill him if the Flash doesn't give up his speed, forcing Barry to do so and successfully curing his illness. He then attempts to kill a defenseless Barry, but decides to kidnap Caitlin instead.
- When an older Barry and his daughter Nora travel back to 2016 to get a device needed to defeat Cicada, Zoom returns to S.T.A.R. Labs and catches them red-handed.
- Upon realizing that Barry was much older and that Nora was another speedster, he chased them so he could kill him and capture her for her speed, but was stopped by a Time Wraith with his memory of meeting 2018 Barry and Nora erased to preserve the timeline before he could.
- Although he claims to "love" Caitlin Snow, this is nothing more than an obsession. While he did develop real feelings for her and grew very fond of her, this sentiment later evolved into a twisted, possessive, and unhealthy fixation on the poor lady with how he locks her away in his lair against her will and regarding the way she looks as he imprisons her while trying to invoke Stockholm Syndrome on her, later killing her Earth-2 counterpart Killer Frost when Caitlin frees her (while he did save Caitlin's life in doing so since Killer Frost tried to kill her, this was merely out of his own obsession and not out of concern for her safety), threatening to do the same to Earth-3 Flash.
- He also tried to corrupt her, stating that there was a lot of darkness she had locked up. Although he ultimately failed, his actions, along with Savitar's, caused her to become Killer Frost in Season 3.
- Ultimately, he was willing to kill her when he grew tired of her disapproval of his behavior. Furthermore, in an encounter with Caitlin after releasing her to her friends by her choice, he attempts to kill her, though she was just a holographic image to distract him. Hunter wasn't aware of this, so he could've easily killed an innocent young woman he once loved simply for "betraying him" and therefore proving that he only loved her under the condition of being by his side and he didn't love her anymore because nothing was more important to him than his ego and glory.
- He also tried to corrupt her, stating that there was a lot of darkness she had locked up. Although he ultimately failed, his actions, along with Savitar's, caused her to become Killer Frost in Season 3.
- He invades Earth-1 and disempowers the CCPD. He lies to Rupture about his brother Reverb's death, saying Cisco killed him in an effort to get him to kill Team Flash. When Team Flash and CCPD capture Rupture, he dishonors his promise to Caitlin, kills the CCPD task force save for Joe West and Captain Singh, and sadistically kills Rupture, revealing he was the true culprit of his brother's murder. This also makes him partially responsible for Black Siren aiding Prometheus in his plan to break Oliver Queen.
- After Team Flash tries to recreate Barry's powers and thus seemingly kill him, Zoom shows up just to rub it in their faces.
- He kidnaps Barry's father (Henry Allen) and kills him right in front of him in order to "prove" they're the same. He gloats Barry into killing him and corrupting, him but he refuses. To traumatize Barry further, he committed the murder in the same place Eobard Thawne murdered Nora Allen.
- He kidnapped Joe West and blackmailed Barry into racing him to power Mercury Labs Magnetar to destroy all of reality except Earth-1 so he could rule it as the fastest man alive.
- It is also heavily implied that even if Barry won, Zoom would dishonor the agreement and try to kill Flash anyway.
- His murder of Henry Allen led Barry to create Flashpoint out of severe anger, which had the fallout of creating a new time remnant of Thawne that would mess with the timeline and creating a timeline where one of Barry's time remnants becomes Savitar, a time remnant of Barry who wound end up murdering Iris West until Team Flash managed to change the timeline at the cost of H.R.’s life.
- Although two of his worst actions are offscreen, Zoom still qualifies due to his onscreen crimes and murders, the fact that he carries a fearsome reputation, and the fact that he even recreated one of these moments by slaughtering several CCPD officers as CC Jitters.
- While he does get a brutal fate by getting horrifically disfigured and turned into the Black Flash by the Time Wraiths to serve them for eternity, it is not played for sympathy at all, and he indeed deserves it for his destructive and vile actions.
Season 9[]
- Upon returning in Season 9 by Cobalt Blue through being taken to the new Multiverse just before his abduction by the Time Wraiths in the original Multiverse, Zoom teams up with him, Thawne, Savitar and Godspeed to finally kill the Flash under the Negative Speed Force's orders with some speed offered by Blue on behalf of their Speed Force.
- Engages in a final fight against Team Flash in 2023 by running to cause as much havoc over Central City as he can.
- Attempts to kill the Central City Police Department blockade at one of the city's tunnels that prevent him from crossing the tunnel, then trying to kill Caitlin Snow's alternate godly personality Khione and her friend Chillblaine with a lightning for opposing him.
Trivia[]
- In mainstream comics, Hunter Zolomon isn't nearly as vile or sociopathic as he was in the TV show. He has a genuinely tragic backstory that still holds up (i.e., his serial-killing father murdering his mother [both of whom were already emotionally abusive towards Hunter beforehand] before being gunned down by the police, getting divorced by his wife after the death of his father-in-law, getting crippled twice while working with the FBI, and the Flash refusing to undo all of this via time-travel), and he's a delusional anti-villain whose motivation is making Wally West experience tragedy so he'll become a better superhero rather than simply craving blood and power for the sake of it. Furthermore, Hunter in the comics still deeply loves his ex-wife Ashley (and the feeling is mutual) despite everything that happened between them, whereas his relationship with Caitlin Snow in the TV show is what can only be described as fake, perverted, and flat-out abusive.
- In spite of his "love" for Caitlin Snow being an obsession, his actor Teddy Sears stated that he was told by former Arrowverse showrunner Andrew Kreisberg that Hunter Zolomon's feelings for Caitlin were indeed real and that despite being a manipulative sociopath who tricked others, he never tricked her because he related Caitlin to parts of his early life that made him feel that he wanted, needed, and loved her. However, Zoom's later attempts to kill Caitlin, even after she becomes Khione, suggest the contrary.
- Following the Crisis of 2019 in the Arrowverse crossover "Crisis on Infinite Earths," maybe some, if not all, of Zoom's action has been undone due to Oliver Queen's multiversal reorganization, as the sixth The Flash season reveals that because of the merge between all Earths into Earth-Prime, Zoom originated from the main universe, assembled a meta-human army, and killed Henry Allen before suffering his original Multiverse's transformation into the Black Flash. Thus, it can be speculated that Zoom no longer qualifies as Pure Evil in the current timeline. However, as the Zoom seen in the series finale is the one from the original timeline before his turning into Black Flash at the hands of the Time Wraiths, Zoom still qualifies.
External Links[]
- Zoom on the Villains Wiki
- Zoom on the Arrowverse Wiki
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 Pure Evils
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