The Flash finally gave its audience some answers with the biggest reveal this season. Of course, we’re talking about the identity of the monstrous Zoom .
In the ‘King Shark’ episode of The Flash, we didn’t get much in terms of the overarching story after the STAR Labs team closed the breach to Earth-2, keeping Earth-1 safe from Zoom.
However, in the final moments of the episode, viewers were treated to Zoom taking his mask off, revealing the villain’s true identity.
SPOILER ALERT! The following will reveal key plot points for The Flash season 2. If you haven’t seen the season or the latest episode, turn back now.
At the end of the episode, we see Zoom return to his lair with a deceased Jay Garrick in his arms. The villain drops the speedster as the jailed man in the iron mask from the previous episode looks on in horror.
Zoom proceeds to take his mask off to reveal….Jay Garrick?!
There’s a lot to process from that one scene. Zoom seemingly “killed” the Jay Garrick that was part of the STAR Labs crew and romanced Caitlin, before pulling him back to Earth-2 as the breach closed.
That Jay Garrick was taken back to Zoom’s lair and dropped to a heap so we know it’s not an after image.
But how can there be two Jay Garricks? Andrew Kreisberg, EP of The Flash, spoke to Entertainment Weekly after the episode aired and revealed Zoom’s true name.
“Zoom’s identity has been revealed: He is Hunter Zolomon, a.k.a Jay Garrick,” Andrew Kreisberg told EW. “How all of that plays out and what’s actually happening, we’ll leave for after the break. But we wanted to go out on this run of episodes with a big reveal, just the same way we did at the end of episode 9 in season 1, where we revealed that Harrison Wells was the man in the yellow suit. Zoom’s identity is finally revealed.”
Remember, when OUR Jay Garrick was on Earth-1, he revealed to Caitlin that they couldn’t find his doppelganger. That’s because his doppleganger was actually named Hunter Zolomon, which fans of the comics knew was the identity of Zoom in the comics.
So how does The Flash plan to explain the two Jay Garricks conundrum? It could be another time travel plot (hopefully that’s not the case), but it seems the true nature of Zoom ties into the man in the iron mask we mentioned before.
“The mystery of the Man in the Iron Mask will play out over the rest of the season with some clues being layered in along the way,” Kreisberg tells TV Line. “When you do find out who it is, everything will make sense in a very satisfying way.”
Our theory is that the man in the iron mask is ANOTHER Jay Garrick from another Earth. This would make Zoom a Jay Garrick from another Earth who travels between Earths to strengthen his own speed, like the Highlander.
The Jay Garrick who died is the Jay from Earth-2. But that’s our best guess.
Unfortunately, The Flash will be going on a lengthy break but will return March 22 so we won’t get any more clues until then. In the meantime, what are your Zoom theories? Let us know yours in the comments section.
