Geeking Out About Television #4: Arrowverse Rewrite | Zoom's Character

Context From The Author Before Reading

Let it be known that this was initially a bonus entry that would've acted as a last minute insert written years after the original Savitar article (a couple months after the series finale). Call me nostalgic I suppose, but I started thinking back on the more positive highlights of the series and Zoom came to mind. It also doesn't help that Marvel's Spider-Man 2 video came out featuring Tony Todd (the voice of Zoom) featured as the voice of Venom which was one of the best parts of that game. So with that out of the way, here's my quick little thrown together rewrite of Zoom. 

First off, let me say that the character of Zoom during Season 2 was my all time favorite villain on the show. Or at least he was my favorite...up to a point. You see the first half of Season 2 presented Zoom as this sinister world conquering and menacing speedster that just screamed "pure evil" simply from his design and voice performance alone. He was shown to be faster than Barry while also being the most scariest of the Flash's rogues due to his imposing presence in every scene (again gotta give Tony Todd major props). The problem came later on once the writers decided to pull a twist on the villain's identity revealing him to be the false hero/mentor figure to Barry, Jay Garrick with his real name being Hunter Solomon. 

Not only was the identity twist a game changer in story for the character, but his unmasking also simultaneously revealed a different feeling presentation as Zolomon's real voice and personality had a different feel. Teddy Sears would now make up several of Zoom's unmasked interaction scenes giving a more egotistical maniacal performance contrasting to Todd's more demonic and commanding register. If the identity reveal and presentation shift wasn't enough, Zoom's whole agenda started to slip into different routes from Earth conquering, speed stealing, and presumably Flash killing, to now multiverse destroying, Flash racing (???), and hero morale twisting (telling Barry that he can be a villain just like him). 

It just felt as though the writers had no clue what to do with this character taking notes from Season 1's Thawne with the fake mentor angle and weaving in all of these other elements that never felt fully characterized and organic. So, this is where I step in and throw in my little workaround. Only this is gonna be a lot more rushed together than my Savitar idea. Alright, without further ago, here we go. What if Zoom's legacy on the show could've been as simple as him just being an amazingly presented (that is to say Tony Todd's voice being more constant and the mask staying on 90% of the time alongside impressive cinematography) and terrifying as a homicidal, psychotic serial killer speedster who has his eyes set on conquering different Earths. 

It's as simple as that. No need for any convoluted agenda of him creating a time remnant to be a hero fooling Team Flash or trying to destroy the multiverse with some crazy device that somehow mirrors the Anti-Monitor's power as well as racing Barry in the end. No childish self centered objective to prove that he's the fastest man alive (a strange route that they occasionally hit on during the season and even the final race). All you have to do is present Zoom as a cautionary tale of "What happens if a homicidal maniac in an insane asylum who had a similar backstory to Barry (the witnessing of his his mother's death) ended up getting the same powers as The Flash?" What would such a scary scenario create? [Enter Zoom]. 

The audience gets to witness this terrifying horror-centric supervillain who mirrors our heroic protagonist in a dark, twisted way show up and becomes a larger threat to the world than Thawne ever was. The threat comes from the fact that he's viciously out for blood. Barry would have to struggle with someone who's faster than he is and also more dangerous than anyone he's ever faced prior due to there being a higher stakes bargaining chip on the table than what he may have had with Thawne. Remember, Thawne just wanted to go home and was a long-game schemer needing Barry's help whereas Zoom in this alternate take is like giving Jason Vorhees super speed knowing that he can and likely will kill everyone that you know. It's frightening.

There's no hero speech (like Barry does with some of the other villains) or much of a deal to be made with Zoom that would possibly lead to a happy ending. It's just Barry running and surviving, desperately trying to find a way to get faster, and maybe finding some weak spot to exploit. Perhaps Team Flash's approach could eventually be to find out about Hunter's past family trauma and using that to try to mentally distract him  (something Season 2 did try for a brief moment). You can also lean on the idea that Zoom's speed is somehow corrupted by his particular access to the Speed Force in addition to experimental drugs that he created prior to increase his power. It's revealed that, although he's becoming increasingly more powerful whenever he's using his powers, he's also slowly decaying physically unless he finds a cure to balance himself. 

This is why he keeps Harry and Team Flash alive to work on a cure of his decay while keeping both Jessie and perhaps one other member of Team Flash in a secret dungeon cage as insurance. He threatens to slaughter everyone of them and their loved ones if they don't successfully find him a way to stop his deteriorating while deciding to spare Earth-1 from his multiversal conquering and manslaughter. And with our titular hero being too slow and weak to stop him, Zoom has the entire city, the hero of the show, and by proxy, the entire Earth-1 in the palm of his sinister hands. This is what Season 2 could've been. As Team Flash desperately and fearfully tries to find a way to literally help the villain from not dying and in fact allowing him to grow more powerful with universes at stake, they're also secretly trying to find a way to save everyone and stop him.

Remember during Season 2 when Zoom physically annihilated Barry and dragged him through the city parading him around like a trophy for fear mongering? Or how about that scene where Zoom kills off a few police officers in CC Jitters as well as threatening his version of Central City with a collection of "Bring Me Wells" wanted flyers. Imagine more segments like those in the season with a similarly dark and tension-filled tone. The season would've left viewers constantly on edge every time Zoom appeared continuing to keep the city as a ransom killing off innocent bystanders on the news as Barry helplessly watches. You'd have a few glimmers of hope where Team Flash finds a potential weak point to exploit or rescue mission to attempt only for Zoom to completely turn the tables around in some heart racing, scary fashion.

Now, what about the villains of the week? I think this element can work similar to the actual show's direction where Zoom brings in villains from his Earth to terrorize and cause commotion as Team Flash tried to multitask handling them. Where will Zoom be the whole time? He would be shifting back and forth between Earths ensuring his domination is established on two fronts. As far as the character's more deeper characterization, I think there's a great opportunity to explore Zolomon via Team Flash/Harry research on him. This is where the season could do some nice investigative sections with the heroes looking into their villain's background as a human being and not just a scientific obstacle.

Once they find out Zoom's identity and begin secretly looking into this asylum records, you can have multiple flashbacks showcasing Hunter's past as a child being raised by an abusive and monstrous father figure. It's a nice cautionary tale mirror to Barry's more wholesome upbringing that lead to him being the hero that he is. You can also have flashbacks displaying him as a psychotic masked serial killer (with a freaky looking precursor mask to the Zoom mask that we know) listed on Earth-2's Most Wanted list. It'd be great to have this detective route for the show with our heroes reading through police files and records while having these suspenseful flashback segments of his crimes prior to being locked up with his moniker being 'You can't lock up the darkness" written in blood after each murder. 

The flashbacks could've then showed his time in the asylum after getting caught by the police where he carves the same phrase on his cell wall looking absolutely freakish in demeanor (Teddy Sears can certainly pull this off). Eventually, we get the big particle accelerator scene where Zolomon acquires his speed during electro shock treatment leading to him breaking out of his restraints, slaughtering the entire staff, and freeing all of the prisoners. The prisoners who also got powers from the accelerator joins him on a killing spree throughout Earth-2 eventually leading to him becoming the planet's most feared supervillain. I think going this route with with each episode diving into his background piece by piece would've made Zoom even more consistently threatening.

Zoom could've been to Barry what Carnage was to Spiderman. The worst case scenario person getting the same powers as the hero. In the end, once Team Flash finds a way to vibe the locations of the people that Zoom has encaged as ransom, they're able to plan out this big life threatening rescue mission. The finale is Cisco, Joe, and a few villains-turned temporary heroes (ones who also feared Zoom from both Earths) teaming up to embark on an intense mission to save everyone in Zoom's dungeon while Barry has to face him in a final epic battle. After Barry finds a way to tap into the ability to make time remnants (something that Zoom doesn't know how to do), Barry is able to eventually overcome Zoom after the evil speedster kills off several of them. 

Team Flash and the other supporting allies manages to save the day and Barry, after emotionally struggling with witnessing several of his time remnants being massacred by Zoom, manages to finally defeat our big bad. Only...it's not so easy. With the two ending up being almost equal in power, Barry is able to knock Zoom down to the ground with the help of his remnants being a tragic distraction. This is the moment that we finally see Zolomon's face in the present day as Barry tears off part of his mask to see him face to face in a victorious fashion telling him that he's gonna be locked up forever. Hunter looks around confused and stunned, glances up at Barry, his expression changes to a more sinister glare, eyes turning black, he utters the chilling line "You can't...lock up...the darkness".

Hunter then quickly phases his hand through Barry which Barry counter phases just in time. In this moment, Barry is shown to be petrified in panic not exactly knowing what to do in this state of counter phasing as it's the first time that he's ever done this during a speedster fight and it was merely out of a quick thinking reaction. Hunter, sinisterly grinning through the tear of the mask tells Barry to just surrender to his fate just as his father Henry did. This is where we get this dramatically engaging shot of Barry tearfully yelling in both agony due to the situation and rage towards the idea of dying like his father did as lightning covers over him. A breach portal then opens up as time wraiths fly through phasing through Barry and separating Hunter away from him. Here's where you can get the same shot from the series where Zoom is being transformed into Black Flash and taken away. 

And...that's it. Barry survives thanks to the Speed Force and we never know what was about to happen leaving viewers in a breathless state of both shock and relief. That is how you execute Season 2's Zoom arc. Or at least, that's how I would've done it. You lean in on the villain's greatest strengths being Tony Todd's performance and the costume design work giving him more scenes to shine as a powerhouse threat. Couple this with diving into the more psychological and horror angles with his past as both a traumatic retelling of Barry's story and a masked serial killer mystery (mystery in regards to profiling him and trying to find a point of exploit). I think compared to the Zoom that we got, this would've been far more terrifying, far more intense, and far more consistent and compelling to watch. What do you guys think?

Editor's Final Note: So, there you have it guys. My rushed together rewrite of the Season 2 villain known as Zoom. I do hope you guys enjoyed reading the article despite whatever errors may have made its presence known (I've always openly admitted to have terrible grammar for instance). Now yes, I may not have fixed all of my issues with Season 2's Zoom arc as a whole including the character in question himself, and I'm sure that I've opened up a can of issues or plot holes in the process. However, I do feel that I was at least able to give one of the show's most celebrated antagonists a much more compelling and satisfyingly engaging rewrite that would've elevated its already established strengths while removing some of its convoluted and questionable weaker points.

On a side note, if you'd like to see what I thought of the Flash series and other shows with individual episode discussions, check out my Facebook Page here. It's my central hub of content outside of the Saleem's Expedition blog.