Spoilers below for The Flash finale.
The main source of conflict in The Flash Season 2 came between Barry and Zoom, the menacing Earth-2 superhuman with 1,000 different goals pertaining to stealing speed and destroying dimensions. There was no real reason to expect the show to kill off Zoom in a non-retractable way, considering that’s not how this show works, and Hunter Zolomon indeed met a fate that could very well see him returning to the show in Season 3 and beyond as a different but equally terrifying character, Black Flash.
Barry and Zoom’s final battle involved a race around a device the villain meant to use to destroy all the other Earths so that he could rule the only one that remained. That never got to happen, though, as Barry got an advantage by using Zoom’s trick of bringing a time remnant in. When Barry finally gained the upper hand over Zoom in a fistfight, he chose not to finish his nemesis off, instead allowing Time Wraiths to come in (with perfect timing) and capture the prey that had been alluding them for ages. And it’s when the Wraiths showed up that Zoom’s possible future was revealed.
As the Wraiths tore at Zoom’s mask, we saw not the bleeding face of Hunter Zolomon, but rather a ghastly visage, marked by sharpened and ugly teeth, darkened lips, a lack of a nose and some insanely gross eyeballs. As well, his earpieces seemed to turn to red, as the symbol on his chest turned to white, with a yellow lightning bolt, all matching up pretty closely with Black Flash’s costume from the comics.
On the page, Black Flash is essentially the Grim Reaper for all the speedsters zipping around the multiverse, bringing them back into the Speed Force when their time comes. He isn’t exactly a villain, so his inclusion wouldn’t be proof that Season 3 is using another speedy bad guy, but he’s also not very helpful to heroes. The Black Flash mantle was taken up by both Barry Allen and Professor Zoom at certain points, so that’s always something we might be able to see in the future.
Now, there’s nothing definite about Black Flash entering the live-action DC TV universe, and we’ll probably be waiting a while before Greg Berlanti or Andrew Kreisberg gets talkative about the character’s future. Plus, Barry’s trip back in time to save his mom might have completely disrupted everything anyway, making it so that Zoom wasn’t ever taken in by the Wraiths. Well, he would have been in one timeline, but I’m referring to the one that we’ll be following closest on the show. Oh no, the time-travel conversation nosebleeds have started.
The Flash will return to The CW this fall, hopefully with Jay Garrick back for more and possibly with Hunter Zolomon taking on the umpteenth new name of his villainous career.
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