Teddy Sears, the actor who played Zoom (and his counterpart Jay Garrick/Hunter Zolomon) in The Flash Season 2, has not only confirmed his character did indeed transform into the Black Flash in the finale last year, but teased the evil speedster’s return to the series. While Sears’ role in Season 3 is far from confirmed, the fact Andrew Kreisberg is even considering the Black Flash’s return raises some important questions moving forward, especially regarding this season's main villain: Savitar.
So far, we know Savitar is trapped inside the speed force and uses the Philosopher's Stone as one of the sources of his godly powers. While Savitar considers himself a speed god, Black Flash is more of an entity of the speed force, a grim reaper who returns speedsters to the source of their power.
Zoom was able to travel the multiverse without any special tech. In fact, we saw him escape a fight last season by punching a hole in the space time continuum to open a breach. As Black Flash, he’ll be able to travel the multiverse as he pleases and if he’s anything like he was in the comics, use that power to kill speedsters in different multiverses.
But we may not see Black Flash in that capacity for some time. And if we do, Savitar may end up being the first speedster Zoom kills as Black Flash. That’s one way the writers could incorporate Black Flash into Season 3, have Black Flash take down Savitar. If Black Flash’s agenda is the same as the comics, I can’t imagine he’d be cool with Savitar going around killing speedsters. Unless the two are somehow working together? Which is another option, but an unlikely one, considering their agendas are different. Black Flash’s job is to be the personification of death. Savitar doesn't just want to kill Barry, he wants revenge and claims he has something "far worse than death" planned.
Personally I think the best option is one that wouldn’t necessarily have to involve Teddy Sears’ return. In the comics, Barry turned into the Black Flash for a brief period of time. Not so coincidentally, that’s how he defeated Savitar. Barry disintegrated Savitar with a single touch after Professor Zoom (unbeknownst to Barry) had altered the speed force to turn Barry into Black Flash.'
I think that alone would be a phenomenal nod to the Season 2 finale. No matter which direction the series chooses to go, Season 3 will see Barry learning a lot more about the speed force, and this newfound knowledge could mean we see Barry actually going back inside the speed force to defeat Savitar. Zoom, who Barry trapped inside the speed force, would be a perfect way to tie it all together. Black Flash is probably the only speedster who has powers that rival Savitar’s and may be able to give Barry the speed force knowledge he so desperately needs to compete with Savitar’s array of powers.
While there’s a Future Flash theory floating around that’s certainly a compelling one, I think it would be a missed opportunity not to explore the Black Flash arc that’s already halfway set up in the series. Future Flash is too complicated, especially after Flashpoint. Savitar should just be Savitar and following through with Black Flash would be an awesome end to Season 3.
If Black Flash returns, how do you think he’ll connect to Season 3? Let us know in the comments below!
