Who Is Zoom Under the Mask in The Flash? Five Theories

Who is Zoom under the mask, and who is the man in the iron mask?

Comic book shows keep asking viewers to hold unanswered questions. Who is in the pod? Who is in the grave? Why is Daredevil such a jerk? In the world of The Flash, the question that hung over season 2 was who the prisoner was behind the iron mask, held captive by Zoom on Earth-2. It was a tidy mystery, and it came with a second one: who Zoom himself was under the creepy blue mask.

The short answer on the villain is Hunter Zolomon. “Versus Zoom”, the season 2 episode that aired on April 19, 2016 on The CW, is where Team Flash figured out who was behind the mask. The episode gave a lot of clues about Zoom, Hunter Zolomon and Jay Garrick together. Fans were left with an unsolved question about the other masked figure, and the theories below were written in the wake of that hour.

A point of honesty before the guesses. The show had a plot problem that viewers noticed right away, namely the world’s most well-known serial killer going unrecognized without his facial hair. That is easier to accept in a comic book world where glasses and hairstyle change everything, and the logic of the series asks for it.

The resolution came in the finale, “The Race of His Life”. The prisoner in the iron mask was revealed as Jay Garrick, played by John Wesley Shipp, the actor who had been the Flash on television in the 1990s. Zoom had taken Jay as a captive and trophy and had even borrowed his name. Anyone who put Jay on the list below was right, though not for the reasons most of the theories imagined.

What the clues said about the man in the mask

Three facts held up at the time. First, the man was a speedster, because he was held in the same kind of cell that had once held Barry. Second, his identity was important to protect, yet Zoom did not mind if the man saw his face, which suggests that the speedster already knew who Zoom was. Third, he knew military POW code, which pointed to a soldier or someone raised around one.

Those details are why the first round of guesses is so interesting to revisit. Every theory fit some of them and ignored others, and the best ones were the ones willing to say where they broke.

Theory 1: Wally West of Earth-2

The case for Wally was built on a few big clues. He was not seen during Barry’s trip to Earth-2, and nearly everyone else was. That could be explained away, since Wally was a smaller character back then and may have been in Keystone with his mother. Then Joe West mentioned doppelgangers, and it raised the idea that the Wally on Earth-1 might not be the speedster from the comics, and that the real one lived on Earth-2.

The reasons for the capture could vary. Earth-2’s Wally might be that world’s Flash, and Zoom may have covered his face to avoid recognition. Or Wally could have been in foster care with Hunter. Perhaps Maxine died sooner on Earth-2, or gave up Wally for adoption. There was even a version in which Wally was adopted into the Garrick family and became the Jay Garrick speedster, from whom Hunter stole the name.

If Hunter and Wally had been friends, it would explain why the prisoner was forced to wear a mask: Hunter would not want to look at his face every day. The episode showed that Hunter was not devoid of emotion, and that he had not cut off his feelings about his parents or Caitlin. That would also explain the masked man’s alarm when Wally was captured.

Theory 2: James Zolomon, Hunter’s father

The viewers saw what happened to Hunter’s mother, and it is easy to assume the same about his father, but that does not rule out Hunter going after his father first once he became Zoom. Supervillains famously experiment on their parents. The father made Hunter into the monster he became, and more importantly he knew Hunter’s true identity.

That matters because Hunter’s name is sacred to him. In “Versus Zoom” he was visibly surprised that Team Flash had worked out who was behind the mask. His name might be the last connection to a humanity he once seemed beyond reaching.

Theory 3: Jay Garrick of Earth-1

This one comes with a deeper story. Imagine Jay Garrick as a childhood friend of Hunter whose path diverged: Jay became the hero, and Hunter the villain. Hunter would have resented Jay for his good heart, especially if Jay wore the metal helmet of Hunter’s father. If Jay had been in the military like Hunter’s father, Hunter would never have seen soldiers as heroes, and might have killed Jay for it.

From there, in a Batman and Hush-style scenario, Hunter takes Jay’s face and name to feel the thrill of giving hope and taking it away. To cover his tracks he removed all knowledge of any Jay Garrick on Earth-1 and kidnapped that world’s Jay just in case. The theory leaned partly on confusion over Zoom’s many personalities and the line about killing a remnant of himself, and on Zoom saying that Jay’s death was a complication, which made some or most of his story suspect.

Of the five, this theory came closest to the truth. The prisoner was Jay Garrick, and Zoom had indeed worn the name.

Theory 4: Eddie Thawne, and Theory 5: Henry Allen of Earth-2

In comic books and in Game of Thrones, no body means there is still hope. So what if Eddie Thawne, dying, was pulled through the wormhole and ended up in Zoom’s hands on Earth-2? In the wormhole he could have gained speed or other metahuman abilities, which would make him valuable. Since Zoom would not know or care that Eddie is connected to another speedster, the mask would not be hiding an identity. It might instead be an attempt to make Eddie into Zoom’s image: in Zoom’s world, evil is created, and to harness Eddie’s power he would have to make him evil, the way he himself was made. The masked man’s concern on seeing Wally could be a resemblance to Iris and a fear that Zoom was closing in on her.

The last theory brings back Henry Allen. His earlier send-off left some fans cold, but he remains important to Barry. Earth-2’s Joe West is dead because of Barry, so Barry would feel compelled to save Earth-2’s Henry. The twist might be that the father, and not the son, was struck by lightning the night the particle accelerator exploded. Even a speedless Papa Allen would be Barry’s first priority.

The five theories compared

Zoom’s identity and the iron mask, explained

Looking back, the theories reveal how The Flash plays with its audience. It supplies clues that point in several directions and leaves the best one half-hidden in plain sight: Zoom keeps using the name Jay Garrick, and a man held in a cell knows he is being kept for a reason.

One prediction made at the time holds up. It was only a matter of time before Barry got his speed back, perhaps by generating his own Speed Force as in the comics, and then he would return to rescue the poor man in the mask. The series moved on to its season finale, where the prisoner was freed and named.

So, to answer the question the page began with: Zoom under the mask is Hunter Zolomon, and the man in the iron mask is Jay Garrick. The how and why are what the five theories tried to guess, and they make a good case study in how a mystery box show builds speculation.

Sources

• The Flash (2014 TV series), Wikipedia — cast, characters and season details