The Flash and Arrow may have had a brief departure due to the introduction of Vandal Savage and the Legends of Tomorrow, but it's time to get back to all of the dangers Barry Allen unleashed with the portal to Earth-2. Most importantly, Zoom is still out there, and his identity is sure to be a big reveal on the CW series. Is Earth-2's Henry Allen Zoom on The Flash ?
I know Star Wars mania is crowding everyone's brain right now, but I truly think it's possible that Barry's new nemesis is a version of his own father. Earth-1 Henry's absence and "fishing trips" are suspect enough (didn't Zoom make a joke about fishing with bait) to even make him a candidate, but for the sake of clarity I'm going to stick with the simple doppleganger.
What do we know about Zoom? He's a speed demon and determined to be the only speedster in any world. He was created by the Earth-2 particle accelerator. He wants Barry Allen dead. He looks a bit like Black Flash from DC comics. However, with a suit that covers his entire face and the likely use of voice modification, we have very few clues as to his true identity.
There's a kind of poetic tragedy to having one Henry Allen be wrongfully convicted, and another be an actual criminal on the run. I also think it would be touching if Earth-2 Barry Allen didn't get to grow up with both of his parents either. Maybe the tradeoff is that, while his father is Zoom, Barry's mother is alive. Also, if we're going to get really technical about analyzing the Zoom suit, they do have similarly sharp chins and hazel brown eyes. Plus, John Wesley Shipp, who plays Henry Allen, played Barry Allen in the 1990 The Flash series, and both Amanda Pays and Mark Hamill have reprised their roles from that series on the new CW series. I have long suspected that this is flirting with the idea that these two series' are connected by more than just actors.
The last time that the identity of a character was revealed on The Flash, Harrison Wells as Eobard Thawne, he had a blood connection to one of the main characters — Eddie. The only narrative reason for having a character from a doppleganger world wear a mask is for he or she to be someone we have already met. It's gotta be somebody close to Barry. The series is exploring fatherhood this season in a few different ways. Joe West muses on what it would have been like to raise a son, and he'll soon meet Wally, the son he doesn't know he has. The latest crossover event even revealed to Oliver Queen that he has a son in Central City, and Barry gave him some advice on how to handle this news from the perspective of someone who grew up without their Dad around. This could all be leading to something big
Images: Cate Cameron, Dean Buscher/The CW
