Hunter Zolomon

For his Earth One equivalent, see Hunter Zolomon (Earth One). For the speedster's who identity he stole see Jay Garrick. For other uses of "The Flash", see The Flash (disambiguation).

Hunter Zolomon
Biological Information
Status	Unknown (in the Speed Force)
General Information
Occupation	Leader of his group Member of Team Flash (in secret; formerly) Serial killer (convicted) Vigilante (in secret)
Family	James Zolomon (father) Ashley Zolomon (mother; deceased)
Alter ego	Zoom The Flash (formerly)
Actor	Teddy Sears Ryan Handley (as Zoom; "The Man Who Saved Central City"–"Escape from Earth-2") Tony Todd (voice; as Zoom; uncredited) Octavian Kaul (young)

"You're a hero Barry. You couldn't kill me before. You won't kill me now."

—Hunter Zolomon's last words to Barry Allen^[src]

Hunter Zolomon is a meta-human speedster from Earth Two. Following the explosion of S.T.A.R. Labs' particle accelerator, Hunter was affected during electroshock therapy by the dark matter emitted, giving him super speed. Following this, he escaped and became a "speed demon" known as Zoom. However, at the same time, Zolomon secretly became known as Jay Garrick, a name taken from another speedster who he kidnapped and stole his identity. As "Jay" he operated as a hero known as The Flash, stylized as the Crimson Comet, to instill hope; whereas "Zoom" would rip away this hope.

Discovering the existence of Barry Allen on Earth One, "Jay" traveled to the other Earth and acted as his friend and mentor, apparently training him to fight Zoom, but instead forcing Barry to increase his speed to eventually take it for himself. He eventually killed a time remnant of himself to give Barry a reason to avenge "Jay" and increase his speed even further, only for his true identity as Hunter Zolomon to be discovered by Team Flash soon after. After losing a race to Barry Allen and attempting to destroy the Multiverse, Time Wraiths appeared and pulled him back into the Speed Force forever for his crimes against the timeline.

Biography

Early life

When he was 11 years old, Hunter came downstairs to find his father abusing his mother, demanding respect following his service in the War of the Americas. Noticing Hunter, he took him in front of his mother, giving him his silver helmet, forcing him to watch as he murdered his mother. His father, James, was shortly sent to prison, causing Hunter to be sent to an orphanage as none of his relatives wanted to take him in. At some point in his life, Hunter claimed to have visited the city of Atlantis where one of his best friends originated and admired it as a place one wouldn’t ever want to leave.

Serial killings and obtaining super speed

Hunter obtains super speed.

Hunter claimed he was a scientist with a significant solo operation specializing in chemistry and physics and began working on a way to purify heavy water without residual radiation. However given his deceptive nature it's unknown if any of this is true, though he did display scientific aptitude and he was the one who created the first Velocity serums. What is known is that he developed a bloodlust, having been triggered by the events as a child, and became a serial killer. When Hunter was finally arrested he was convicted on 23 counts of murder and sent to the Saint Perez Mental Asylum for the Criminally Insane. However, when Harrison Wells S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator exploded, waves of dark matter were sent through the city, Hunter was affected during daily electroshock therapy, giving him the power of super speed. Still plagued by an incurable bloodlust Hunter decided to use his powers to terrorize Central City.

Dissatisfied with his speed Hunter sought to increase it and developed a version of the Velocity serum created by Dr. Wells to increase a speedsters' speed. Though successful in making himself faster the drug had deadly side-effects and afflicted him with an illness that was killing him. Additionally the drug turned Hunter's lightning blue. Desperate to save himself Hunter set out to find a cure throughout the multiverse regardless of how many people had to die. Around the same time Zoom also fought with another another speedster, Jay Garrick in attempt to absorb his speed. He defeated him and tried to absorb his speed but he couldn't. So he took the man prisoner and put a mask on him that prevented him from talking. It was this time when he decided to disguise as a hero, to give the people false hope taking the speedster's name and alter ego, "Jay Garrick" and cleaned himself up. With this new identity, Hunter assumed the identity operating as a hero called "The Flash". With this identity he protected Central City from numerous other metahuman criminals including Atom-Smasher, Sand Demon and Dr. Light. He also had a statue built in his honor for his service as The Flash. However, Hunter soon found himself being relentlessly pursued by Time Wraiths, monstrous Speed Force beings devoted to punishing Speedsters who misuse their time-travel powers. Upon realizing that he could not stop them, Hunter was forced to take extra measures to hide and conceal himself from them.

Hunter adopted a new villainous identity as "Zoom", a speedster who would terrorize the city, opposing "The Flash" around this time also. As one of his first acts of violence being his other alter ego, Zoom, he tricked 15 members of the Central City Police Department on Earth Two into a trap to demonstrate his power and how he couldn't be stopped. Zoom viciously murdered all but one officer so that he could live and tell the tale. After that officer relayed the story, Zoom returned to his home that night and killed him as well. The story given by the last surviving officer resulted in Zoom gaining his moniker. On Earth Two, Hunter acted as both the powerful supervillain, Zoom, and the underdog hero, the Flash, to give people hope, so he could take it away from them.

To maintain control over the city Zoom sought out almost every metahuman in Central City and forced them to serve him, and the ones who refused Zoom killed. Among those Zoom employed were Killer Frost, Deathstorm, Reverb, Rupture and King Shark, who acted as his enforcers to keep Central City's criminal gangs in line. However they were under strict rules not to kill any speedsters they may encounter, a rule if violated was punishable by death.

One day, after learning that Dr. Wells was responsible for the existence of meta-humans, Flash arrived at S.T.A.R. Labs the day Dr. Wells presented several new gadgets designed to detect meta-humans, and accused him directly of his crimes in front of the public. However, Dr. Wells claimed not to know of The Flash's accusations, and the latter was disgusted with Wells not taking responsibility for his mistakes, begging him to make things right and help him stop Zoom. However Dr. Wells, coldly told him everyone in Central City would be safe if he would stop Zoom and The Flash sped off in seeming disgust. The next day Zoom attacked Central City College and "fought" Flash and kidnapped Harry's daughter Jesse Wells, imprisoning her in his lair alongside his prisoner.

As claimed by Hunter, on May 19th 2015 while Flash and Zoom "fought", a singularity opened above them and "Jay" was pulled into it and ended up on Earth One.

Being on Earth One

Atom-Smasher speaks to Zoom.

Hunter learned of the existence of Earth One's Flash and spent the next six months piecing together clues and eventually learned his identity; Barry Allen. Knowing that Barry's Speed Force held the answer to curing himself, Hunter plotted to steal it. To expedite Barry's accumulation of Speed, Zoom began sending meta-human villains from Earth Two to Earth One to fight Barry, ensuring their co-operation by refusing to bring them back to Earth Two until they succeeded in killing him, though in reality Zoom had no intention of allowing Barry to die except by his hand. The first meta-human candidate was Al Rothstein/Atom-Smasher, who Zoom dragged to Earth One via one of the 52 breaches across Central City on Earth One, and promised him safe passage home in exchange for killing Flash which he agreed. Hunter also learned the names of Barry's then-current team members; Caitlin Snow, Cisco Ramon, Joe West, Iris West and Martin Stein. As Hunter watched Flash being honored at the "Flash Day" festival, he witnessed Atom-Smasher from his Earth attack Flash.

Following Atom-Smasher's defeat, Hunter arrived at S.T.A.R. Labs, bypassed their newly installed security, introduced himself, and claimed that their world was in danger. Hunter introduced himself as "Jay Garrick" and explained to the skeptical team that the singularity had, in fact, opened a portal to his Earth through which other meta-humans had traveled, and that in his world he was a speedster named The Flash. Hunter also told them of his "enemy" Zoom and the circumstances of his arrival, but a skeptical Barry asked Jay to be tested to see if he really was a speedster. Hunter did so willingly, and explained his story of being a scientist to Caitlin, but Barry was still skeptical and had Hunter put in the pipeline prison. Hunter agreed to this, but tried to convince Barry that if Zoom had already sent Atom-Smasher, he would send others. Hunter also subjected himself to a full body scan upon Caitlin's request, and was tested on Barry's treadmill. However, Zoom also brought Sand Demon over with the same offer he made Atom-Smasher, to kill the Flash and he'd return him home and Sand Demon agreed. Once Sand Demon attacked Barry, Hunter offered his help to the team. However, Barry declined, believing they didn't need his help, and Hunter was locked back up in the pipeline.

After Sand Demon abducted Patty Spivot, Barry was finally forced to listen to Hunter and release him, and he told them Sand Demon's methods of attack; causing a diversion then attacking while the target is distracted. Hunter also told them Barry was going to defeat Sand Demon by harnessing the lightning that radiated from him while running, and hurling it at Sand Demon to turn him to glass. Hunter begun teaching Barry but after an hour Barry had no luck in hitting his target and Barry believed he couldn't do it, though Hunter insisted that he could. However, Barry told Hunter of his previous mentor, a man he idolized, who taught him how to get faster and stronger but was also the man who murdered his mother. Hunter expressed his sympathies but insisted he wasn't the same guy. Cisco and Professor Stein informed Hunter and Barry of Sand Demon's location and Barry suggested using Hunter as a distraction since Sand Demon was unaware of his lack of speed. When asked if Hunter had his suit, he confirmed, except his helmet, and Barry confirmed it was the same one that came through the portal 6 months before. Finally believing Hunter, he and Barry suited up and headed to Sand Demon's location.

Barry and Hunter approach Patty Spivot.

Flash (Barry) sped Flash (Hunter) into the greenhouse where Sand Demon was surprised to see his Earth's Flash alive and engaged him, despite lacking his speed, and Flash distracted Sand Demon in order for the other Flash to rescue Patty. Sand Demon started chocking Flash (Hunter), while Flash (Barry) used his super speed to kill Sand Demon as he was taught, and both Flashes came to Patty's aid. Hunter was tended to by Caitlin and confessed to missing his speed and Barry thanked him for his help and apologized for his lack of trust. Hunter equally commended Barry for his efforts in taking down Sand Demon but worried that Zoom would not be so easily defeated, since he claimed to have spent two years searching for Zoom, with no success and explained that his hate for Barry comes from his obsession to be the only speedster in the multiverse. Professor Stein was able to confirm the location of the largest breach from the singularity beneath S.T.A.R. Labs but Stein collapsed and Hunter tended to him.

After admitting Stein to the hospital, Hunter studied the breach in S.T.A.R. Labs but was unable to successfully pass anything into it, instead anything that touched it bounced back off, even Barry at high speed wasn't able to breach the portal. As Hunter continued his work he confided in Caitlin his worry of what he’d do once he returned home without his speed, admitting to having enjoyed the rush of speed, but Caitlin insisted that Hunter's scientific expertise were just as important as his speed. Later after finally fixing the portal's alignment Hunter decided it was time to head home to learn what Zoom was plotting and how he stole his speed, but Caitlin insisted Hunter could look for Zoom on their Earth and Barry further noted he could use more speed tips. After consideration Hunter agreed to stay until Zoom was defeated. After Slick's defeat Zoom sent in "King Shark" from his world to kill Flash.

Hunter was informed of Dr. Wells from Earth Two arriving at S.T.A.R. Labs and Hunter arrived in time to hear his plan to capture Dr. Light and use her to lure Zoom to S.T.A.R. Labs, but "Jay" immediately scolded Wells for his plan. Wells was surprised to see Hunter alive but mockingly accused him of hiding from Zoom, but Hunter told him the circumstances of his arrival, yet Wells wasn't entirely convinced, causing the two to argue. Eventually Barry intervened stating they needed to focus on catching Dr. Light in order for their plan to work. After facing Dr. Light, Barry was blinded by her powers and Wells scolded Barry for trying to talk rather than fight her, but Hunter defended Barry who elaborated that Dr. Light looked exactly like his ex-girlfriend Linda Park. Out of concern Barry tried to leave to warn Earth One Linda about Earth Two Linda but repeatedly walked right into walls, as Hunter told Barry he was to stay put until his sight returned and he and Caitlin left to warn Linda.

Hunter and Caitlin staked out in a van and discussed Hunter's "history" with Zoom where he claimed that Zoom scared him, "admitting" to not facing Zoom sometimes when he should have. Despite Caitlin insisting he and Wells talk, Hunter claimed that Wells couldn’t be trusted, since he happily profited from meta-human activities, but knew something had changed in him. As Hunter and Caitlin continued to talk the two almost shared a kiss before Dr. Light wrecked the van they were in, knocking Hunter and Caitlin out. Hunter regained consciousness and arrived at Central City Picture News too late to save Linda’s boss, Eric Larkin, but the very sight of Hunter made the Earth Two Linda too scared to murder Earth One Linda and fled. As Caitlin tended to Hunter he apologized to Barry for underestimating Dr. Light but Wells only further scolded Hunter, claiming that his doubt puts Barry at doubt and that he is ready to face Zoom. Furthermore, Wells claimed that "Jay" didn’t hunt Zoom but was the one to be hunted, and Hunter "admitted" to being terrified of Zoom, but stood his ground that Barry facing Zoom now would only result in his death. After Harrison called "Jay" a coward the two got into a heated fight which was only broken up by Barry. Hunter was present when Harrison announced his plan to find Dr. Light was to give Light’s helmet to Cisco, revealing he was secretly a meta-human. After some effort Cisco used his powers of astral projection to find Dr. Light at the train station. At the station Flash asked Hunter for advice but he was unsure of how to beat Light until Dr. Wells told him how to create speed mirages, but he initially was unsuccessful. Hunter however insisted Barry could do it, stating he was a better speedster and hero than he ever was, and with this inspiration Barry was able to beat Light.

File:Zoom interrogating Jesse.png

Zoom interrogating Jesse Quick.

Returning to Earth Two, Zoom taunted Jesse of her father's disappearance. However she didn't believe him and knew her father would find her and kill him, but Zoom mocked Jesse's convictions and simply reminded her that the fates of her and her father were still undecided and sped off. "Learning" that Wells had gone to Earth One, Zoom returned and interrogated Jesse to find out why, but she tearfully stressed that she didn't know. Zoom, who actually knew the answer due to his confrontation with Harry as "Jay", commended her loyalty before torturing her.

With Dr. Light secured in the Pipeline, Barry decided to go through with Dr. Wells' plan. Hunter, however, protested against it, declaring it too dangerous; when Barry declared his faith in his team to gain victory, Hunter announced that he wanted no part in that, declaring that he didn't want to help Barry meet his death. Before leaving, though, he warned S.T.A.R Labs that his Wells was just as secretive as theirs.

Zoom terrifies Linda before abducting her.

Zoom's meta-human plans took an unexpected turn when he was contacted by Dr. Light who claimed to have killed Flash and threw his emblem through one of the breaches as proof. Zoom however realized it was the Earth One Linda posing as her Earth Two double and easily saw through the deception easily and did not take the bait, choosing instead to bide his time. Once Team Flash had let their guards down, Zoom really did come through to Earth One and arrived right in front of Linda and simply stared at her for several moments as she became terrified, and took her to the roof of the S.T.A.R. Labs where he was confronted by Flash.

Zoom displays the defeated Flash to everyone in Central City.

Sadistically mocking Flash's failed attempt to deceive him, Zoom dropped Linda off the edge of the roof but Flash raced to the bottom followed close behind by Zoom and caught her with a wind-funnel before turning to face Zoom head-on. Flash then turned and raced around the S.T.A.R. Labs building, building up his speed-lightning before firing a bolt at Zoom who, to Flash's horror, jumped into the air, grabbed the lightning bolt in a somersault and hurled it right back at Flash with even greater force, scoring a direct hit. Desperate to regain control of the fight, Barry attempted to outmaneuver Zoom by forcing him into a free fall from a high altitude where Zoom's superior speed was neutralized but Zoom simply reversed the move and instead landed on top of Barry. Zoom then proceeded to brutally and savagely pulverize Flash at high speed before finishing with a devastating blow to Flash's spine, dislocating a portion of his spinal-column and temporarily paralyzing him. As Zoom stood triumphant over Flash's body, Well's attempted to shoot Zoom with a dart filled with the speed-dampening serum only for Zoom to catch it and jammed both darts into Flash's chest. This combined with the severe trauma and paralysis caused Barry to lose consciousness. Zoom then turned his head to Wells and told Harry he was next before speeding off with Flash's body.

Zoom holding a brutally defeated Barry by the throat and about to kill him.

Zoom dragged the limp, battered and bleeding body of The Flash across Central City to the newspaper office and police station to showcase his victory and declaring that the days of the Flash protecting Central City were over. He then returned to S.T.A.R. Labs with Barry to confront Harry and the team. Derisively mocking Wells for believing Barry stood a chance of defeating him, Zoom stabbed Barry with one of his claws before bidding him farewell. Drunk with victory and in the midst of gloating, Zoom was distracted long enough for Cisco to shoot him in the neck with a speed-dampening dart. Bellowing in agony, Zoom temporarily collapsed on the floor before recovering in mere seconds and raced away.

After Caitlin and Dr. Wells successfully developed Velocity 6 like Hunter once did, they called Hunter to S.T.A.R. Labs and explained that they wished to test the drug on him, as a subject who had been connected to the Speed Force. Hunter sternly refused, saying that the Speed Force could not be lab-made and the drug's effects could not be predicted, and warned Caitlin not to let Barry use the serum. After Wells was shot by Patty Spivot, Hunter was recalled by Caitlin and, to save his life, he reluctantly took the Velocity 6 to phase through Harrison's chest and remove the bullet. Wells thanked Hunter for saving his life but Hunter, other than saying he would never take the drug again, retorted that he could thank him by keeping Velocity 6 away from Barry.

File:Harrison Wells (Earth Two) stewed by Zoom.png

Zoom attacks Wells and makes him an offer.

Unbeknownst to Team Flash, Zoom returned in December shortly before Christmas, having recovered from the effects of the Speed-Dampening Serum, and offered Harry a mysterious deal in exchange for Wells assistance, to which Wells did not respond. Zoom sadistically pursued Wells throughout the Star Labs facility for amusement before cornering and disarming him. Holding Wells by the throat, Zoom's only words were "Merry Christmas" before racing away. In his identity as "Jay", he and Caitlin then worked on a way to close the other 51 breaches outside the S.T.A.R. Labs breach, therefore limiting the number of meta-humans he could bring through. As they talked Hunter and Caitlin playfully flirted with each other, Hunter sarcastically asking what Christmas is with Caitlin giving a very awkward and broad explanation only for Hunter to admit there was Christmas on Earth Two. When Captain Cold, Weather Wizard and the Trickster escaped prison Hunter helped Caitlin develop another version of Cisco's undeveloped Wizard's Wand (which he built in an alternate timeline that was erased and, therefore, never did). When the Trickster made a citywide broadcast to Barry challenging him Hunter noticed a reflection in his eye, and noted it was a stuffed children's toy and narrowed down that Trickster was in an abandoned toy factory. Shortly thereafter, Zoom confronted Wells for a second time to demand an answer but Wells begged for more time, which Zoom reluctantly granted and returned to Earth Two. During Barry's second attempt to get the Trickster and Weather Wizard, Hunter helped Wells and Cisco remove all the bombs he hid within children's presents across the city, using one of the breaches and pulling them all in. Later Hunter attended Joe and Iris' Christmas party with everyone else where he and Caitlin kissed under mistletoe.

Zoom briefly brings Jesse to Earth One to extort Wells into working for him.

In the wake of Flash's victory over Weather Wizard and the Trickster, Zoom returned once more to Earth One and was met by Wells, who demanded to see his daughter alive and well before anything else. Zoom consented and brought Jesse over, allowing Wells to see and talk to her briefly before super speeding her away again. Wells declared that he had figured out Zoom's master plan; to fatten up Barry with speed so that Zoom could take it all from him. Zoom confirmed it and asked for Wells' answer. Left with no other options, Wells reluctantly agreed to help Zoom steal Barry's speed in exchange for his daughter.<ref name="Running to Stand Still>"Running to Stand Still"</ref> Hunter was present when Cisco briefed the Team on Russell Glosson, which he named "the Turtle"; he was intrigued by the possibility of using his powers to slow down Zoom. When Barry failed in preventing the Turtle's new theft, Hunter seemed lost in thought; when asked by Caitlin, he answered he was thinking on how hard it was to assist to these things without remembering how he could no longer help others. Caitlin told him they could devise some way to get his speed back, but he said that when he arrived on Earth One. The first thing he tried was exactly that, and whatever tests she had in mind, he had already done. When the Team figured out that the next target for the Turtle would be an event that night at the Central City Museum, Hunter and Caitlin went with him, but the Turtle was able to foil Flash yet again. After the Team reconvened at S.T.A.R. Labs, Hunter asked if he could speak to Caitlin for a second, and shared with her some champagne (as she hadn't had hers at the event). After Barry managed to defeat and lock up the Turtle, Caitlin reached Hunter and informed him that she knew - she had collected his DNA from the champagne and she had realized he was sick with a terminal illness; she asked Hunter how he could let them get close, knowing that soon he would die, and he answered that he didn't expect to fall in love with her. Caitlin asked him to find a cure then, but Hunter said that the only way for him to live was to regain his speed, and for that they would need to defeat Zoom; she then said that they should get started.

Hunter and Caitlin both found that the Turtle was dead; he was suspicious about Wells, since it seemed he had died the same night they had brought him in. Wells denied this, asking him why he would kill a man potentially capable to stop Zoom, and Hunter retorted he could never figure out Wells' motives; Barry stopped the argument, although to Caitlin "Jay" commented that every time he thought Wells was on their side, something happened that made him doubt that. Caitlin later shared the news of Hunter's sickness with Barry , saying that he was affected by Zoom stealing his speed at a cellular levels, and therefore they could replace his dying cells with healthy, identical ones; for that, they needed his Earth One doppelgänger. However, both Barry and Caitlin couldn't find a Jay Garrick in this reality, to their puzzlement; he then suggested her to just ask Hunter about it. Caitlin met with Hunter and, after recounting her dad's fight against his own terminal sickness to explain her obsession with helping him, told him he could not find his doppelgänger; he said there was a good reason, and to meet him at Hofherr Park the day after to find out. While there, Hunter told her he had had the same thought, and was just as confused when he couldn't find any "Jay Garrick" of Earth One, but eventually he found him; pointing him out, he said his name was Hunter Zolomon, and claiming that this Hunter was an orphaned "Jay Garrick" adopted by the Zolomons. When Caitlin asked him why Hunter One couldn't help out, Hunter Two told her that his DNA had been mutated when he obtained his powers, and that the final conclusion was that the only thing that could reverse his sickness was defeating Zoom and having his speed restored. In reality Hunter showed Caitlin his Earth One doppelganger in an attempt to get her to stop trying to help him, and to give her an explanation of his own on why his doppelganger wasn't named "Jay Garrick", thus preventing Caitlin from realizing that the man she knows is not actually "Jay Garrick". This slip-up later allowed Team Flash, with the help of Harry's Earth Two knowledge, to find the clues to Zoom's true identity as Hunter Zolomon, a serial killer from Earth Two.

Zoom gains 2% of Barry's Speed Force energy.

After installing a speed-force draining-device underneath the emblem on Flash's suit, Wells managed to siphon off roughly 2% of Flash's overall speed-force supply and stored it in a S.T.A.R. Labs injection gun. Later, Wells met secretly with Zoom and handed over the stolen Speed-Force, which Zoom then injected into himself. Wells attempted to swindle Zoom by demanding the return of his daughter before he gave Zoom the rest of Flash's speed but Zoom was not fooled, rammed a claw into Wells shoulder and reiterated that Wells wouldn't get his daughter back until he had stolen and delivered the rest of Flash's speed to him, threatening to torture her to the brink of death every day that passed instead of killing her. Leaving Wells on the ground, Zoom raced away and returned to Earth Two.

When Barry, Cisco, and Wells traveled to Earth Two, Caitlin, and Joe remained to protect the city. After a meta human named Geomancer began attacking the city in an effort to draw out the Scarlet Speedster, Joe and Caitlin believe it's time for Hunter to take Velocity 6 again. Hunter, fearing the drug for what it's done to him, initially refuses but after telling Caitlin about Zoom not really taking his speed but rather the drug being the culprit, he is encouraged by Caitlin's loving support and together they formulated Velocity 7, which gave Hunter his speed back temporarily to confront Geomancer but his speed disappeared in the middle of their fight, resulting in Hunter at Geomancer's mercy. However, Joe shot at Geomancer, injuring him and forcing him to flee. Later, while Caitlin tends to his wounds, they discuss the short-lived success of Velocity 7 and plan to work immediately on Velocity 8.

Zoom kills Reverb after disobeying orders.

Noticing the presence of the Flash, Reverb decided to contact Zoom and inform him that a new speedster had appeared on Earth Two. Zoom immediately surmised that the new speedster was Barry. Though surprised by Flash's bold move, Zoom decided to take advantage and in secret set up an ambush for the speedster using Killer Frost, Deathstorm and Reverb as an enticement/bait for the Flash. When Zoom finally arrived to enact the ambush, he was enraged to find Reverb and Deathstorm pummeling the an unconscious Flash repeatedly against his direct orders that any speedsters found were not to be harmed. As punishment, Zoom brutally murdered both Reverb and Deathstorm but spared Killer Frost's life because she in fact had obeyed his commands. Zoom then scooped up the unconscious Flash, raced back to his lair and sealed Flash in a glass prison nearby Jesse. When Barry finally regained consciousness, Zoom returned to his lair just as Barry promised Jesse that he would get her out. Confronting the captive speedster, Zoom sadistically reminded him not to make promises he couldn't keep.

Hunter later learned that the Velocity 7 caused more cellular degeneration, though Hunter told Caitlin he had faith the next batch won't do harm. Later, Iris asked him if she could write an article on him. Hunter was reluctant at first but eventually agreed. Soon after, Geomancer caused tremors and collapsed a hospital. Hunter took the next Velocity serum and rescued the people at the hospital. When he returned, Iris told him she had everything she needed for her article. Hunter then took a "nap", but presumably actually traveled to Earth Two, realizing that he can't maintain his identities on two Earths at the same time. Hunter then convinced a time remnant of his to be killed as part of his plan to push Barry to get faster. The time remnant was then sent to Earth One, to explain Hunter's disappearance with the "nap" and assist Caitlin with closing the breach.

Zoom kills his time remnant.

Zoom then confronted his prisoners, telling the man in the iron mask to stop making contact with Jesse and the Flash. Zoom then phased through Barry's cell and beat him down, before leaving. When Wells, Cisco, Killer Frost and Earth Two Barry and Iris rescue the prisoners, Zoom arrived and thanked Killer Frost for leading them to him. Zoom then went to kill Jesse before being betrayed by Killer Frost, who took her revenge on him for killing Ronnie. Zoom escaped Killer Frost's attack and made it to S.T.A.R. Labs before Barry could bring Wells over. Zoom was temporarily stunned by Wells but made it through the breach in time to kill his time remnant. When Hunter arrived back to Earth Two, he dumped his time remnant to the ground, claiming the situation to be a complication. Additionally, now being closed off from Earth One, Zoom imprisoned Killer Frost rather than kill her due to looking exactly like Caitlin, who Hunter had genuinely fallen in love with during his masquerade as "Jay Garrick" on Earth One.

Identity revealed

Barry confronts an unmasked Hunter.

For six weeks, Hunter waited for Cisco to open a breach. One day, Hunter felt a breach being opened. He raced to where this was occurring and watched as a breach was being opened, but was disappointed when Cisco abruptly stopped. When Cisco opened a breach once again, Zoom made his way over. Zoom told Flash they made a mistake and the two raced over to S.T.A.R. Labs. Hunter then noted that Flash had gotten much faster, which would give him more speed to steal. Barry and Zoom quickly fought but Zoom hesitated as Flash set up cutouts of his parents. With Zoom briefly distracted, Zoom was shot by Flash with the B.O.O.T. With Hunter subdued and unmasked, Hunter asked how Barry knew his past. Barry then told him he made a mistake by revealing to Caitlin who his doppelgänger was. When Hunter asked how he knew he was Zoom, Barry revealed he was aware that Velocity serums turn a speedster's lightning blue if they run fast enough. Hunter noted Barry was clever to use his family against him and that family is a weakness. Hunter then told Barry that he couldn't lock the darkness up before breaking out and speeding off.

Hunter takes Barry's speed.

Following Barry's move, Zoom kidnapped Wally West and brought him to his lair on Earth Two. Zoom was then contacted by Vibe, who told him Barry would give up his speed. Zoom made his way back to Earth One, with Wally. Once he passed Wally over, Hunter had Harrison Wells make preparations, the latter of which promised to knock his smug face off one day. Hunter then explained that the "Jay" he killed was his time remnant rather than a speed mirage, explaining that he realized he needed to be on both Earths once Barry closed all the breaches and went to Earth Two. Hunter also told them that he enjoys pretending to be a hero so he could rip hope away from everyone, though Hunter was called a monster, by Caitlin, the very words his father was called. Once Barry ran on the treadmill and his speed absorbed, Hunter injected the vial with Barry's speed and cured himself. Hunter then thanked Barry as he held him against a wall, ready to give him death in return. However, just as Hunter was about to deal the killing blow, Caitlin told Hunter if there was a piece of humanity left in him, if he really loved her, he wouldn't kill Barry. Hunter then dropped Barry before kidnapping Caitlin.

Zoom kills Killer Frost after an attempt on killing Caitlin.

Through vibing, Cisco was able to determine that Zoom had taken Caitlin back to his mountain-top lair and tried to sway her into siding with him to no avail. Undaunted, Hunter allowed her to roam freely in the lair knowing that she couldn't escape while he attended to other business. When Zoom finally did return, he found Caitlin under attack from her Earth Two counterpart Killer Frost after being tricked into breaking her out. Wasting no time, Zoom literally ran in "through" Caitlin (using his speed to become temporarily intangible), grabbed the icicle Frost had fired at Caitlin out of the air and ruthlessly stabbed Frost in the stomach with it, killing her instantly while sadistically remarking that he did not need her anymore. Turning to Caitlin, he warned her that if she tried to escape again, he would kill the man in the iron mask. Zoom subsequently chained Caitlin to a bed and tried again to reason with her but she would not listen. He then revealed to her his future plans; to conquer more Earths like did with Earth Two, starting with Earth One, before speeding off with her.

Earth One Invasion

Zoom talks to Rupture.

Arriving back on Earth One, Zoom went to the CCPD, mocking Joe by greeting him as an "old friend" and declaring this city now under his control. When the cops were about to retaliate, he reminded them that their guns are useless against him. Caitlin managed to convince Zoom not to kill them and he agreed, warning that if they tried anything, they would all meet their end. Afterwards, he chained Caitlin to a desk within the Police department. When she questioned if his plan was to kill everyone, Hunter said not everyone as he wants to spare Caitlin due to his love for her. When she asks why he needs her, he gets a flashback of his mother's death and everything that followed and states he needs her because he doesn't want to be alone ever again. As part of his plan for invasion Zoom brought Rupture over. Later, he met up with Rupture to see if he killed Cisco, as Zoom managed to convince Dante's doppelganger that Vibe had killed his brother Reverb. Rupture failed but when he said would find him and get justice, Zoom told him to wait for now as he needed him to set an example and ordered him to go to Jitters and kill the police. After he left, Hunter sensed Caitlin's disapproval with his plan and she then asked if he wore the mask to scare people. This prompted another flashback of his rehabilitation back on his Earth and his desperation to convince his doctors that he wasn't a monster. However, it appears he moved past that as he coldly reminded Caitlin in his demonic voice that she said he was "nothing but a monster" then speeded off. Caitlin managed to get a phone and warn Team Flash of what is to come at Jitters. Utilizing that information, they set up trap for Rupture, using the Flash hologram to distract him and then depowering him with the Boot. The victory was short lived as Hunter saw the news report of Rupture's failure and quickly deduced that Caitlin had betrayed him by telling Team Flash his plan. She reminded him that he didn't keep his promise of sparing lives, and Zoom declared darkly that they were even then and sped off to Jitters.

Zoom arrives at Jitters after Rupture's failure.

Once arriving there, he demonstrated his immense speed by snapping the neck of the camera man and every cop in the vicinity in mere seconds, only sparing Joe and Captain Singh due to his affection for Caitlin. When Barry came in as Zoom throttled Singh for going against their agreement of not trying anything against him, Barry told him he proved enough. Zoom wasn't done however and after tossing Singh aside, he fatally stabbed Rupture with his claws and declared him just as worthless as his brother. Taking a camera, he told everyone watching that there was no Flash, just a hologram and that nothing can save them now from him taking over the city. Having made his point, he sped off. When Barry was trying to get his speed back by recreating the particle accelerator explosion, Hunter watched a bolt of lightning strike S.T.A.R. Labs and grew angry at the possibility his enemy would return. He quickly ran off to try to stop the return of The Flash. However, when he arrived, it appeared that Barry had died. Zoom mocked Team Flash for trying to bring back their beloved hero, instead killing him. Satisfied, Zoom sped off.

File:Earth Two meta-humans in Earth One's Central City Police Department.png

Zoom gathers his meta-human allies on Earth One.

While Team Flash was busy with bringing Barry Allen, trapped in the Speedforce, back to life, Zoom was gathering the Earth Two meta-humans on Earth One. Tired with Caitlin's anger at him, he's given her a choice: stay with him and be safe, or go back to Team Flash, only to be treated with the same "mercy" as its other members should they meet Zoom again. After delivering his ultimatum, Hunter left Caitlin alone in her room. She stayed back and listened as Zoom delivered a speech before his meta-human "brothers and sisters", urging them to take Earth One from normal humans.

Once the city was in the ‘Metapocalypse’ Hunter left a sign for Barry to find on the Police department building, of his lightning bolt insignia. After Barry’s arrival, Zolomon mentions how naive Barry, not seeing his mother’s murder. He told Barry that he was unable to beat him, because he had to save innocent people, and that was his weakness. To prove his point, a building starts collapsing across the street, and Barry goes to save all the people in the building. Later, Hunter was visited by Laurel Lance, who mentioned she saw and fought The Flash. Hunter urges her to knock down more building, as that is her strength, in order to distract The Flash and his team. After Team Flash turned on their Pulse weapon, Zoom, along with all his minions, felt the effects of it. However, Zoom was able to quickly make a portal in order to escape to Earth Two. Shortly after, Zoom came back to Earth One and kidnapped Henry Allen, though Barry quickly chased after him, bringing him to his childhood home. Despite Barry efforts to make him let Henry go, Hunter wishes for Barry to be "like him", so Hunter kills Henry in front of Barry. In a fit of rage and grief, Barry viciously attacked Hunter who gleefully cheered him on, daring Barry to kill him. The two then engaged in a high-speed chase-fight throughout Central City, culminating in Barry bringing down Hunter in an alley. Hunter once more dared Barry to give into his anger and kill him (Hunter), baiting him more and more but Barry still could not bring himself to do so. Suddenly, another Hunter appeared out of nowhere and killed the other, revealing that the Hunter who had killed Henry was another time remnant. Declaring that Barry was almost ready, Zoom swatted Barry aside and raced away.

Race for the title

Hunter's body decays before is dragged into the Speed Force by the time wraiths.

Hunter later ran by Barry's house to entice him to chase after him. Once Barry caught up to him, Hunter challenged Barry to a do-or-die final race between them to ostensibly establish who truly was the fastest man alive but in reality Hunter's plan was to use his and the Flash's energy to create a multi-verse doomsday event through a Mercury Labs magnetar, which would leave Earth One as the only Earth left standing. Unbeknownst to Zoom however, the Flash's allies refused to allow Barry to race, locked him in the Pipeline and instead attempted to trap Zoom on their own, which resulted in Zoom and Joe West being sent back to Earth Two. Zoom subsequently imprisoned Joe in his Earth Two lair, where in the midst of explaining his past, he revealed the identity of the man in the iron mask as the real Jay Garrick, a veteran speedster from Earth Three. It wasn't long however before Barry contacted Zoom through Vibe's powers and agreed to the race on condition that he bring and release Joe.

Zoom and Barry met at the Mercury Labs magnetar and, after a short talk, began their race around the magnetar with Zoom just about edging out Barry. However, in his arrogance, Zoom did not notice Barry traveling mere moments through time during the race, creating a time remnant. While the remnant continued the race, Barry jumped off the magnetar and freed Joe. Enraged that he had been duped by one of his own tricks, Zoom leaped off the magnetar and attacked Barry, all the while bragging that it was too late to stop the energy buildup anyway. Zoom's arrogance was to be his downfall as the Flash time remnant, who was still on the magnetar, was able to reverse the energy buildup, though he had to sacrifice his life to do so. Barry then subjected Zoom to a vicious beat-down, culminating with him shattering Zoom's mask. As he lay bleeding on the ground, Hunter derisively declared that Barry, as a hero, would not kill him. Barry coldly stated that he didn't have to and looked over his shoulder to see a pair of Time Wraiths emerge out of the Speed Force. Badly beaten and weakened from the race, Hunter could only scream in terror as the Time Wraiths surrounded him and began forcibly transforming him into the appeaser of a Time Wraith, changing the lightning-bolt emblem of his costume red as well as it's outline and the earpieces, turning the emblem circle white and turning his speed lightning red. The Time Wraiths then reopened their portal and dragged the screaming Zoom into the Speed Force forever.

Personality

It is presumed Hunter was an innocent, carefree child before his father murdered his mother, the former's incarceration, and he grew up alone in darkness. As a result, Hunter became antisocial, twisted, demented and manipulative.

Hunter is a master manipulator and actor as he was able to create the persona of "Jay Garrick" and "the Flash". In his "Jay" guise, Hunter presents himself as a courageous and selfless man, a person who always wants to do good and would have sacrificed his own life so that another could have lived. Jay is an efficient teacher as in just a few hours he was able to teach Barry to hurl lightning bolts from his body to defeat Slick. "Jay" has a strong dislike for Harrison Wells, viewing him as a shady man who keeps too many secrets, and who focuses on creating and selling meta-human technology rather than owning up to the particle accelerator explosion. However, despite his antipathy, he still proved willing to go at lengths to save his life. Wells accused Jay to be a coward and claimed the two years since he became the Flash that he did not fight Zoom at all, that he would rather run from Zoom, that he was the one being hunted by him. Jay did admit that Zoom scared him and he did not confront him as often as he could.

This was later revealed to be an act, as "Jay" was only a cover identity to instil hope in people, only for it to be taken away by his villainous alter ego, Zoom. As Zoom, and the person he really is, Hunter is obsessed with speed to the point of being unstable, as noted by Harrison Wells, he's set a mission of eradicating anything else with Super speed, enthralling or intimidating meta-humans to go out and "kill" Barry Allen, when he was really using them to increase his speed. Hunter instills tremendous terror as Zoom in everyone he encounters, such as both versions of Linda Park and Al Rothstein. He's utterly ruthless, having little to no regard for human life, murdering anyone, such as the police officer he spared after murdering a S.W.A.T. team he baited, and Reverb after the latter disobeyed his rule about speedsters. He even went so far as to kill Rupture after the latter failed his mission and got captured despite obeying his orders. He was also willing to do anything to achieve his goals, as he killed many people to find a cure and his time remnant agreed to die to ensure their goals when Team Flash was planning to close the breach.

Hunter has been shown to be very egotistical, as after his victory against The Flash in the episode, "Enter Zoom" he proceeded to parade Flash's body to Central City News, where he displayed it to the media like a hunting trophy, proclaiming himself to be "The fastest man alive." He then hauled the unconscious Flash to the Central City Police Department, gloating to the assembled officers, and revealing in their helplessness as he caught dozens of bullets with his speed. Finally, he carried Barry's body back to S.T.A.R. Labs, showcasing him to Caitlin, Cisco and Wells (Harrison Wells, Earth Two) and also mocking Wells for believing that the Flash was going to defeat him. After kidnapping Wally West in exchange for Barry's speed and letting him go, he was smug and confident, even after Harry threatened him he showed no concern or worry for his safety, instead he just smirked at him smugly.

Hunter couldn't hide his smug attitude after his true identity was revealed.

Hunter's arrogance and smugness has proven to be his one point of vulnerability when, in, the midst of gloating about his victory to the team, he let his guard down long enough that he was shot by a speed-dampening dart.

Hunter is also horribly sadistic, enjoying the fear and terror in his helpless prey with obvious and somewhat animalistic satisfaction. His sense of humor is extremely vile as he puts up a charade as "Jay Garrick"/"The Flash" to give people hope, all so he can take that hope away from them afterwards. Hunter is also exceptionally psychotic, as he shows absolutely no remorse or regret in his use of other people, meta-humans or otherwise, treating them as disposable pawns to further his goals. He casually references the amount of people he's killed to Caitlin.

On Earth One, Hunter found happiness in his romance with Caitlin Snow, something he couldn't expect at all.

Some question if he is still human, and Wells says he might be. This is indeed proven true when he attempted to kill Barry, however spares him for the plea of Caitlin Snow, proving Hunter is capable of love. After abducting Caitlin, he's somewhat trusting of her, letting her roam around his lair in his absence. He's also expressed a desire for the two of them to live together, much to her chagrin. Hunter's shown to be protective of Caitlin, brutally murdering her doppelganger after she tried killing her. However, he warned her not to try freeing his masked prisoner or he'd kill him. While he was angered that Caitlin managed to send a message to the team about Zoom using Rupture to ambush and kill the officers at Jitters, he did not harm her and instead went to kill the officers himself. However, Hunter showed to be impatient in his relationship with Caitlin Snow, genuinely refusing to understand why wouldn't she love him anymore after he was revealed as Zoom. Tired of arguing with Caitlin, Hunter gives her an ultimatum: stay with him and be protected, or go back to her friends, only to be treated with no mercy should they ever meet again.

He appears to suffer from some degree of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, as witnessed during his fight with the Tachyon device-enhanced Flash who used cardboard cutouts of Earth One's versions of his parents, which triggered invasive memories of his mother's murder. These invasive memories are characteristic of someone suffering from PTSD. He constantly has flashes to his traumatic experiences, either his father killing his mother, the orphanage he was placed in, or his shock therapy treatments, having lost time and reality of the present, leaving him off guard. Caitlin unknowingly caused him to experience these flashes more frequently, as her words would constantly remind him of these events. During these episodes Hunter tends to be more wild, impulsive, and far less tactical than he usually is, and acts in a deranged manner more akin to that of a feral animal.

Hunter's psychopathic mind proved to be so severe that he would do the most insane and drastic measures to prove a point as he labors under the idea that he and Barry's similar backgrounds and histories make them, for but for a difference in their mothers' murders, the same person. Due to the fact that Barry never witnessed his mother's actual death when he was a child, he was not completely consumed by the darkness like Hunter was, and Hunter is determined to prove that they are essentially the same being in their essence. He attempts to do this by forcing Barry to confront his inner darkness on multiple occasions, one of the most notable being the battle against Laurel Lance's Earth Two counterpart, Black Siren. Having to face off against the mirror image of his beloved, dead friend was one of Hunter's more poetic and disturbing ways of bringing Barry closer to the madness and darkness that had all but consumed him. When this failed to work, Hunter then forced Barry to watch as he killed his father in the same room in which Thawne had murdered Nora sixteen years prior. This also shows Hunter's taste for dark humor and irony when sadistically pushing his enemies over the edge, psychologically speaking. This was Hunter's final point to prove to Barry. And based on the latter's rage, grief, and desire to kill him equaling that of his desire to kill Thawne at the time of his capture a year earlier, it appeared that he succeeded when Barry could go through with it, but left for the Wraiths instead.

Powers and abilities

Powers

• Speed Force connection/Meta-human physiology: After being affected by the particle accelerator, while receiving electroshock treatment, Hunter gained a connection to the Speed Force; a mysterious energy field. His DNA was altered and cells supercharge with enormous amounts of electricity, augmenting his physiology to beyond peak human condition and obtaining a well-built frame to properly handle his new abilities.
• Velocity 9 enhancement: After injecting himself with Velocity 9, Hunter became faster than he was before but has some undesirable side effects that caused him cellular degeneration and later turned his lighting blue, but unlike Eliza, Hunter has a natural connection to the speed force that slows down the cellular degeneration.
  • Superhuman speed: With his connection to the Speed Force, Hunter was able to accelerate his natural mobility, letting him to at extreme speeds. Later, through extreme usage of the Velocity drug, Hunter artificially enhanced his connection to the Speed Force, allowing him to move so unimaginably fast, ranking among the fastest in the Multiverse. Initially, Hunter could move at least at Mach 6-8, leaving Barry Allen's initial speed not nearly able to keep up. As explained by Caitlin Snow, this is because with each stride of his legs, his feet spend less time on the floor than Barry, thus propelling him even faster. He was however unable to outrun Barry after the younger speedster increased his speed to over Mach 13. After gaining all of Barry's Speed Force energy, Hunter got faster, able to snap the necks of nearly every person in Jitters in less than a second.
  • Superhuman reflexes: Hunter's reaction time was also augmented, able to react to far faster than a normal human. He easily saw and countered a bolt of lightning hurled at him by Barry and likewise caught every single bullet launched at him by the entire police force with ease, while using a single hand.
  • Superhuman agility: Hunter was incredibly agile and able to change direction immediately while moving at super speed. This let him make sharp turns without sliding or losing his balance. It also let him leap farther and higher, able to easily perform acrobatic movements in combat as well as fight confidently while free falling.
  • Superhuman durability: Hunter had the ability to have large amounts of damage inflicted on him, and be hurt at a rate lower than regular humans, sometimes suffering no injuries. During his fight with Barry, he fell to the ground from hundreds of meters in the air with no noticeable injuries, and quickly resumed viciously pummeling Barry. Although, this may have been because he made Barry take the brunt of the fall.
  • Superhuman stamina: Hunter's body could handle the stresses of superhuman racing without noticeable distress, and function much longer than a normal human without getting tired or weak.
  • Superhuman momentum: Hunter was capable of inflicting massive amounts of physical damage on his opponents by packing speed into his blows. He was able to reduce Barry to a bloody mess in seconds with his deadly strikes, and even break his spine, causing paralysis. Even with Barry's rapid healing, the damage inflicted on him was noticeably prolonged. While at super speed, he effortlessly snapped the necks of every police officer at Jitters in less than a millisecond. He was strong enough to stab Rupture to death with his clawed hand after attacking him at super speed.
  • Enhanced strength: Presumably due to his greatly enhanced connection to the Speed Force, Hunter showed the ability to effortlessly exert great strength and force even without utilizing his speed, enough to lift fully grown humans over his head with only one arm, without any strain or effort. He was also able to easily break Barry's spine with one strike. Combined with his efficient fighting skills, Hunter was able to deal severe bodily harm with only a few blows. While at super speed, he effortlessly snapped the necks of every police officer at Jitters in less than a millisecond.
  • Bodily vibration: Hunter had the ability to vibrate some or all of his cells and overall parts of his body on command for various effects. His bodily control can vibrate his entire body to mask his form from others clearly perceiving it and distort his vocal cords to disguise his voice. His vibrations were more powerful than other speedsters, causing the electricity on his body to constantly show when he was disguising himself or even when he was not moving at all. It appears every time he used his speed, he proceeded to vibrate his whole body. By vibrating his entire body, Hunter was also capable of effortlessly phasing through walls. He was able to vibrate so fast that he was able to run right through Caitlin without harming her. Vibrating allowed him to generate the force of a buzz-saw, allowing him to smash the mechanized grapple hook restraint fired from the B.O.O.T., as well as saw his vibrating hand through chains to free Caitlin. He was also capable of effortlessly vibrating through carbide, which Barry had tremendous difficulty doing at first and only managed after considerable effort.
  • Intangibility: Hunter could move and vibrate any part of his body so fast that he could effortlessly change his frequency and phase himself through people or objects. His intangibility was lethal to living creatures, allowed him to cause people to drop dead when he vibrated and phased his arm through them, which is a signature move for villainous speedsters like himself. However he could also harmlessly pass through people, as he did with Caitlin.
  • Electrokinesis: While originally emitting yellow lighting from his body like Barry, usage of the Velocity drug made his body now produce sapphire blue lighting. His lightning was so powerful than while only slightly accessing his powers would produce a powerful aura of blue lightning from his body that always emanated off of him, whether he was moving at super speed or not. This is probably because Hunter's cells were moving so quickly that they generated electricity that emitted from his body. He could also manipulate electricity by touching it, as when Barry tried hurling lightning at Hunter, he managed to grab and hold the lightning as if it were a tangible object and hurl it back at him. When he grabbed Harrison and stabbed him with his claws, he was able to transfer electricity into him, causing extreme pain to Harrison. Also, while Eobard Thawne could cause interference and malfunctions in electronics, Hunter was capable of actually manipulating outside sources of electricity. Oddly enough, his lightning was now red after the Time Wraiths took him, similar to how Eobard Thawne's is.
  • Interdimensional travel: Hunter was able to travel between Earth One and Earth Two at will. He did so by using the "breaches" between worlds. His speed allowing him to temporarily stabilize the interdimensional "corridors" that linked any one breach on Earth Two with a corresponding breach on Earth One, letting him and those he brings along pass through them. After stealing Barry's Speed Force energy, Hunter became powerful enough to create breaches with his own speed. He was able to open a portal with a simple punching motion.
  • Accelerated healing factor: While unable to repair the cellular deterioration caused by the Velocity 6, Hunter's powers also afford him a heightened healing capacities, allowing him to quickly heal any superficial harm to his being. This is caused by his body's molecules moving at accelerated rates, causing the chemical reactions responsible for metabolism to mend and even restore any damages much quicker and efficiently than regular humans. Despite being shot by Cisco Ramon with a serum to dampen his speed, Hunter almost instantly recovered and ran off before the serum could take full effect, showing no signs of having been slowed down by the serum. With exposure to Velocity 9, it is revealed that Hunter's regenerative powers could access its previous levels, able to gradually repair the cellular deterioration. Once obtaining Barry's Speed Force, Hunter's full regenerative properties were restored, allowed him to recover from his former cellular damage.
  • Accelerated perception: Hunter is easily capable of keeping up with and clearly perceiving the movements of other speedsters while they are at super speed themselves even when he himself is not. He was thus able to carefully and methodically track Barry's exact movements during Barry's efforts to build up enough electricity for his Speed-Force lightning attack outside S.T.A.R. Labs.
  • Time travel: Hunter can move fast enough to break open holes in the fabric of time and space, allowing him to travel through time, an ability which Hunter abused to get time remnants of himself to assist him in the current timeline.
  • Speed mirage: Hunter can create a speed mirage as seen during his massacre at Jitters. He broke every officer's neck one after the other yet it appeared as if he didn't even move, thus unintentionally creating a speed mirage.
  • Eye transformation: Hunter can change the color of his eyes to pure black due to the physical corruption caused by the Velocity serum. This serves as both identity concealment and as a mean of intimidation (in the case of pure black). However, this is not a result of his electrokinesis (unlike fellow speedsters Barry Allen, whose eyes filled with flickering yellow electricity and Eobard Thawne, whose eyes filled with red light. As Jay, his eyes could fill with flickering yellow electricity, similar to Barry's, whenever he injected himself with Velocity-7, Velocity-8 and Velocity-9, in three separate occasions (this time, a result of his electrokinesis). As with Barry and Eobard, Hunter can change his voice as well as his eyes, while his altered voice sounds more like Eobard's.
  • Time remnant construct:  Through an unknown sequence of time travel, Hunter is able to get time remnants, versions of himself from either past, future, or aborted timelines, to assist him in his schemes. After understanding that he won't be able to stay on both Earths when Barry Allen decided to travel to Earth Two, Hunter pulled a version of himself and had it aid Team Flash before killing him to bring despair to the team. After killing Henry Allen, Zoom traveled back in time moments before his present self time travels, resulting with one of Zooms becoming a time remnant. This time remnant was defeated by Barry, but was killed by Zoom shortly himself when Barry couldn't bring himself to kill the time-traveling Hunter.

Abilities

• Genius-level intellect/Master tactician/Leader: Much like his fellow speedster Barry, Hunter is a very well-read and scientifically-adept man, excelling in both physics and chemistry. Confident in his own abilities, Hunter would even work in his own personal lab for his research. As a former seasoned superhero, Hunter has proven himself a very collected and methodical man. Quickly realizing the nature of his new environment on Earth One, he chose to first learn all he could about it before confronting Team Flash. His knowledge of the Speed Force and how to make use of super speed also proved useful in his exploits as the Flash, coming up with various useful feats with and could likewise teach Barry how to use them. He was quite careful, has he taught Barry how to throw lightning but omitted the fact that he knew how to counter it, turning one of Barry's strongest attacks against him. Hunter is extremely intelligent and was able to manipulate powerful meta-humans, either through simple bargaining or fear-extortion, such as Atom-Smasher or Sand Demon to do his bidding, under the promise of returning them to their world afterwards, even adjusting the strategy based on knowledge on Barry's personal life he somehow attained. Hunter managed to evade the trap that the Flash and Harrison Wells from Earth Two had set to capture him. Hunter was able to easily out maneuver and out-fight Barry in every way, leaving Barry near death, a testament to his strategic fighting and planning. Hunter also came up with the plan of sending meta-humans from Earth Two to battle against Barry, so the latter could quickly reach his full potential, before Hunter could steal Barry's speed. As Zoom, Hunter is a demanding and merciless leader. He controls nearly every meta in Earth Two and demand they follow his orders to the letter and swiftly punishes those who deviate from his imperative. He murdered Firestorm without hesitation for countering his orders of not harming speedsters. Soon afterwards, he did the same to Reverb, not only for trying to kill a speedster but also for conspiring to overthrow him. But he also spaired Killer Frost, due to her loyalty to him, since she tried to convince Firestorm to follow Hunter's orders, with Hunter remarking "she knew her place". During his invasion of Earth One Central City, he killed Rupture due to the latter's failure at killing the officers of the CCPD at Jitter's. Being a leader, Hunter is also fairly charismatic. He sucessfully portrayed himself as being an heroic and hopeful figure as "Jay Garrick" or The Flash. Alternatively, he created a whole new personna as "Zoom", a merciless and powerful speedster that feeds off of people´s fear, often being fearfully nicknamed "The Speed Demon", and portayed it to perfection, with no one ever suspecting they were the same person.
• Intimidation: Due to his incredible power and demon-like appearance, Hunter commands an extremely intimidating presence, able to instill terror in the most powerful of meta-humans, even in Atom-Smasher who himself was a big man. Nearly all of the meta-humans from Earth Two fearfully speak of Zoom as a monster or demon, and consider him unbeatable, like when Atom-Smasher considered Central City from Earth One and Barry Allen "unworthy" of him.
• Skilled hand-to-hand combatant: Complementing his ferocious appearance and personality, Hunter's unpredictable yet efficient style uses his tremendous speed and powers. His style is more precise than Barry Allen's yet not quite as tactical as Eobard Thawne's. Instead, Hunter uses powerful punches to accompanied by his glove claws for savage slashing movements, overall causing great blunt-force trauma. He also uses his great reflexes to redirect attacks from his opponent. His punches themselves probably break the sound barrier as indicated by the sonic boom like sounds produced when he was punching Barry. Although this may have just been the resulting sound of his fist hitting Barry at such high speed. He is also shown to be able to break the neck of a fully-grown adult human in less than a millisecond.
• Acrobatics: Due to his incredible agility, Hunter is capable of easily performing acrobatic flips, parkour, and free running.

Weaknesses

• Velocity serum: The Velocity speed drug that Hunter overdosed on to become faster had a severely degenerative effect on his cells that would in due course kill him unless he absorbed the speed of the Flash. Now that Hunter achieved this, his life is no longer in danger.
• Extreme cold: For every speedster low temperatures are a problem as it slows them down and can weaken their healing abilities. It is proven Zoom possess this weakness when Killer Frost used her ice manipulation to stall him long enough for Team Flash to escape his lair.
• Psychological trauma: Hunter suffers from severe PTSD, due to him watching his father kill his mother. Barry utilized his past memories to induce extreme psychological trauma, in order for him to loose his focus and become more feral, thus allowing Barry to overpower him, trap him and finally unmask him. He constantly has flashes to his traumatic experiences, either his father killing his mother, the orphanage he was placed in, or his shock therapy treatments. Caitlin unknowingly caused him to experience these flashes more frequently, as her words would constantly remind him of these events.
• Time Wraiths: As Hunter continually broke the rules of the Speed Force, especially after he went back in time for his time remnant, Time Wraiths, the Speed Force's enforcers, were continually sent by the Speed Force to go after him. When the Time Wraiths were intentionally summoned by Barry with the creation of a time remnant, the wraiths chose to go after and punish Zoom instead of Barry for the violation of the rules of the Speed Force, possibly since the remnant was used and sacrificed to save the multiverse. As they were taking Zoom away through an unknown portal, Zoom was aging into a corpse like figure. While his lightning changed from blue to red, parts of his suit, particularly the emblems, also changed color from black to red.

Equipment

• Zoom suit: Hunter wears a protective suit as his super villain alter-ego, Zoom, to hide his identity from his enemies. It is unknown what materials it's made out of. The suit includes a mask that fully hides Hunter's face and resembles the equipment he wore during the electroshock therapy sessions in the asylum. The suit's gloves are adorned with sharp "claws", allowing Hunter to perform slashing attacks upon his enemies. The left side of the mask was ripped off by Barry after Barry defeated Zoom. While the Time Wraiths were taking Zoom away, red speed force lightning changed the colors of the emblems in the suit; the lightning emblems on the ears changed from black to red, the outlines and lightning symbol on the chest also transformed from black to red except the inner part of the logo was filled in with white.

Former equipment

• The Flash suit: Hunter wore a protective suit as his superhero alter-ego, The Flash, when he goes out fighting crime. It is unknown what materials it's made out of. The suit includes a helmet, which is part of the military uniform Hunter's father wore during his service in the War of the Americas. However, Hunter additionally decorated the helmet with small yellow wings made of some sort of metal.

Appearances

The Flash

Season 2 "The Man Who Saved Central City" "Flash of Two Worlds" "Family of Rogues" "The Darkness and the Light" "Enter Zoom" (as Zoom) "Gorilla Warfare" (flashback; as Zoom) "Legends of Today" "Running to Stand Still" "Potential Energy" "The Reverse-Flash Returns" "Fast Lane" (as Zoom) "Welcome to Earth-2" "Escape from Earth-2" "King Shark" "Trajectory" (vision) "Flash Back" (mentioned) "Versus Zoom" "Back to Normal" "Rupture" "The Runaway Dinosaur" "Invincible" "The Race of His Life"

Arrow

Season 4

• "Green Arrow" (mentioned)
• "Canary Cry" (mentioned)

Supergirl

Season 1

• "Worlds Finest" (mentioned)

Gallery

Concept artwork

The Flash

Zoom

Promotional images

The Flash

Season 2

Trivia

• Similar to how Barry is called the Scarlet Speedster on Earth One, Hunter (while masquerading as Jay Garrick) was known as the Crimson Comet on Earth Two.

Behind the scenes

• In the DC multiverse Jay Garrick is the first person to take up the superhero mantle of "The Flash".
• In the DC comics, the alias of Zoom is used by Hunter Zolomon, also known as the third Reverse-Flash and the archenemy of the third Flash (Wally West). His powers are also portrayed as time manipulation, allowing him to alter flow of time around his being, slowing everything else around him to appear faster.
  • Unlike his comic version, Hunter Zolomon is never referred to as the "Reverse Flash" but only as "Zoom". In the comics Eobard Thawne is the first Zoom (official alias "Professor Zoom", commonly referred to as just "Zoom"), whose role as the Flash's enemy is continued by Hunter Zolomon (also known as both "Zoom" and the second "Reverse Flash", but without the "Professor" moniker). In the show this continuity between the two characters is removed.
• Zoom's blue lightning and speed-draining abilities suggest an influence from two characters, a futuristic version of Barry Allen from the story line Out of Time, and the villain Malcolm Thawne a.k.a. Cobalt Blue, Barry's long-lost twin brother who acquired a gem that could absorb Barry's speed.
• Zoom's physical appearance as well as his suit in the show resembles that of the Black Flash in the comics, who acts as a grim reaper to speedsters.
• Zoom's appearance becomes identical to that of the Black Flash after he is affected by the hold of the Time Wraiths: his mask is half-torn, his face is that of a decaying skull, his Reverse-Flash symbol is red on his head and red-and-white on his chest.
• Zoom's eyes have gone through some changes. In a previous version seen in the trailers and in the pilot when Cisco Ramon saw him talking to Atom Smasher, Zoom's eyes glowed blue. However, the current version has his eyes pure black. This is most likely to give him a more "demonic" appearance and also having the blue eyes would have been somewhat repetitive, since Reverse Flash had this quality last season. This seems to have been replaced by the presence of speed force lightning emanating from his body even when he isn't running.
• From his first appearance to his unmasking as portrayed by Teddy Sears, Zoom was portrayed by Ryan Handley, an Australian stunt actor, rather than Sears himself.
• It seems this character appears to be a combination of Zoom and The Rival, Jay Garrick's Reverse Flash.
• In the episode "The Race of His Life", when Zoom is being taken away by the two Time Wraiths, he takes on an appearance similar to that of the Black Flash, an entity of death for speedsters. In addition to his lightning emblems becoming red and the icon on his chest being filled with white, Hunter's body also warps somewhat, with his teeth resembling sharpened fangs in place of his normally unaltered and rather ordinary-looking teeth.
  • John Wesley Shipp confirmed in an interview that Zoom has indeed been transformed into the Black Flash by the Time Wraiths, most likely as an added punishment for his crimes against the Speed Force and the timeline. Basically this enslaves him to the will of the Speed Force and has made him an assumably eternal lackey to the very force he tried to cheat the rules of to destroy the multiverse. ^{[citation needed]}