| Zoom | |
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Zoom, from the cover to The Flash (vol. 2) #197 (June 2003). Art by Scott Kolins. |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | The Flash: Secret Files & Origins #3 (November 2001) as Hunter Zolomon, The Flash (vol. 2) #197 (June 2003) as Zoom |
| Created by | Geoff Johns Scott Kolins |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Hunter Zolomon |
| Team affiliations | Injustice League Secret Society of Super Villains Keystone Police Department F.B.I. |
| Abilities | Time manipulation in his reference frame |
Zoom (real name Hunter Zolomon) is a fictional comic book supervillain from the DC Comics universe. He is primarily associated with the superhero Wally West, the third Flash and is the third of the Reverse-Flashes. As Hunter Zolomon, he first appeared in The Flash: Secret Files & Origins #3 and was created by Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins.
IGN's list of the Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time ranked Zoom as #37.[1]
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Hunter Zolomon had a troubled relationship with his parents, who rarely spoke to each other or to him. On the day Hunter was to leave for college, he came home to find the police laying siege to his house. His father was a serial killer who had killed six young girls, and when his mother told the police, his father murdered her, and was subsequently killed by the police after refusing to give himself up.
Hunter became obsessed with understanding the criminal mind to stop people like his father, studying psychology and criminology in college, then joining the F.B.I. along with his girlfriend Ashley, whom he later married, specializing in low-level costumed criminals. One case resulted in Ashley's father being killed (Hunter had thought the criminal they were after was incapable of facing his adult life, and thus would not use an 'adult' weapon such as a gun). Ashley left him shortly thereafter, and the F.B.I. terminated his employment. Hunter was also left with a damaged knee due to the case, requiring a cane for walking and unable to ever run again.
After arriving in Keystone City, he got a job as a profiler, working with the police in their Department of Metahuman Hostilities. His work put him in constant contact with the Flash, Wally West, and the two became good friends. His insight was critical in solving a number of cases, but he always resented being stuck behind a desk.
Hunter was severely injured in an attack by Gorilla Grodd in Iron Heights, when Grodd staged a mass prison break, and was left paralyzed from the waist down. He asked Wally West to use the time-traveling cosmic treadmill in the Flash Museum to prevent this from occurring, but West refused, saying that he could not risk damaging the timestream. Zolomon, feeling that Wally should be prepared to disregard such fears for the sake of their friendship, then broke into the museum and attempted to use the treadmill himself. The resulting explosion destroyed the museum and shifted Hunter's connection to time - described by Jay Garrick as him being 'derailed' from the timeline by the explosion - thus allowing Zolomon to alter the speed at which he could move in time, giving him the effect of superspeed.
Zolomon decided that West had refused to help because, unlike the previous Flash Barry Allen, West had never suffered personal tragedy, and thus did not understand how terrible it could be. Zolomon decided that if he became the new Zoom and caused a great tragedy in Wally's life, this would help the Flash become a better hero. After borrowing speed from the other speedsters to even the playing field, briefly allowing him to match Zoom's near-light speeds, Flash succeeded in defeating Zoom, and prevented his former friend from killing his then-pregnant wife Linda Park. However, Zoom's attack caused a miscarriage of their twin children. Thanks to Wally using the slight 'rips' in time that were being created by the use of Zoom's powers, Zolomon was forced into a temporal anomaly - being shoved into the rift essentially tied a 'knot' in his timeline - and ended up in a comatose state, continually watching the death of his father-in-law.
Zolomon's ex-wife, Ashley Zolomon, replaced him as profiler and spent a lot of time attempting to communicate with him. Due to a car accident, Ashley was hospitalized for some time. It is around this period that Zoom awoke from his coma, out of concern for Ashley. He cautiously chose to remain in his cell, however.
Zoom is driven out of his self-imposed imprisonment by Cheetah (a.k.a. Dr. Barbara Minerva) in an attempt to both harness superspeed and induct him into the growing Secret Society. The two share a minor romance, but nothing serious happens as Zoom still considers himself married to Ashley.
Zoom later infiltrates the already-growing "Rogue War" between Captain Cold's Rogues, the Trickster's reformed Rogues, and the Top's brainwashed Rogues. Quickly spiriting his estranged wife Ashley out of danger to the home of Linda Park, Zoom returns to the battlefront to dispatch Captain Cold, claiming that the "Man Who Mastered Absolute Zero" is wasting the Flash's time with his longstanding, self-aggrandizing methods of villainy.
As the Flash and Kid Flash (Bart Allen) attempt to contain the battle, Zoom throttles Kid Flash and threatens to snap his neck in a manner reminiscent of what Barry Allen had done to Eobard Thawne (Professor Zoom). Before Zoom can kill Kid Flash, however, Professor Zoom (Eobard Thawne) himself arrives on a cosmic treadmill, with Jay Garrick chained to the front end, Zoom having earlier captured Jay and forced him to take him back to the day of Professor Zoom's death to recruit his assistance.
A battle ensues between the two Flashes and Kid Flash against the two Zooms (during which Kid Flash escapes Zoom by vibrating to become intangible, the only speedster power Zoom can't duplicate). In the end, the two Zooms accomplish what they intended, grabbing the Flash and jumping onto the treadmill. Zoom then forces the Flash to watch their first fight, in which Linda is severely injured and miscarries. Zoom tells Professor Zoom (Eobard Thawne) to replay the experience as he feels that Wally West should be made to focus on the feelings of sorrow and loss from this experience. As the scene starts to rewind, West's uncle and mentor Barry Allen appears, riding his own cosmic treadmill after searching for Professor Zoom.
Barry removes Wally from immediate danger, telling Wally that he was here to return Thawne to his proper place in time, and that no matter how bad it seems, West can win if he "just pushes himself a bit." He and Thawne then disappear through time. Zoom, enraged, begins to run around the world, building up speed with the intention of killing Linda by colliding with her. Wally rushes to catch up, though he's just a step or two behind. At the last minute, he realizes what Barry's advice means and puts on a final burst of speed, pushing himself, and hitting Zoom in the back. Zoom falls forward and is caught in the sonic boom that his past self created to kill Linda's babies, causing him to take the brunt of the force. This action creates a "fissure in time" that prevents Linda's original miscarriage and restores her pregnancy just in time for her to give birth in the present. Zoom runs for the treadmill, but Wally forces them back to their mutual present. Along the way, they view scenes of Zoom's life. Zoom realizes his mistreatment of Wally and briefly apologizes before slipping into the timestream. He is later seen as a ghost-like figure apologizing to his wife.
Zoom returns in Infinite Crisis as the Society's chief speedster, claiming that their adversaries would all be stronger heroes if they survive. In Infinite Crisis #1, he is part of the Society strike force responsible for massacring the Freedom Fighters. Zoom himself scars Damage by pummeling him with punches at superspeed.[2]
Zoom later appears at the sacking of Rome, being approached by Bart Allen's grandmother, to help her protect Bart from a great tragedy that the villain Inertia was setting up.[3] It is unknown whether Zoom traveled to this time period himself, or if he became stranded there after his last encounter with Wally West.
He was also pursued by the Justice League in an attempt to locate Sinestro after Batman and Hal Jordan learn of the existence of the Sinestro Corps.[4]
Zoom is pursued by the Justice Society of America into Atlanta. Damage is banned from the city, but enters anyway seeking revenge. During a scuffle, he ends up taking Zoom hostage until being talked down by Liberty Belle. Disappointed that Damage is not "improving", he throws a sharp pipe to kill him. Liberty Belle uses her superspeed to catch it and toss it back, knocking Zoom unconscious.[5]
In DC Universe #0, he can be seen as a member of Libra's Secret Society of Super Villains.
In Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge he frees Inertia from his paralysis, inflicted previously by Wally West, hoping to make him his apprentice as a new Kid Flash, teaching how to "improve" his own life and the ones of other by inflicting great tragedies.[6] Inertia learns the lesson too well, and claiming himself to be "Kid Zoom", the new master of tragedies, turns over the Flash's Rogues and Zoom altogether.[7] Employing the timestream manipulation powers Zoom granted him against his master, he reverts the body of Zoom to the crippled, broken body of Hunter Zolomon, stripping him of his powers.[8]
In Flash: Rebirth, when the original Professor Zoom is imprisoned in Iron Heights, Zolomon speaks to him, saying they can help each other be better.[9]
Zoom can alter time relative to himself, as opposed to using the Speed Force like most of the DC Universe speedsters do. He can apparently use this ability to move at "speeds" rivaling those of even Wally West, and usually "faster" than the speeds that even Wally can muster in most cases. Rather than actually time traveling, Zoom is controlling the speed at which time flows around him, allowing him to go faster or slower in time than everyone around him. Since Zoom is not actually moving at superspeed (rather, he is greatly slowing down time relative to himself, and can make himself so "fast" that even most of the Flashes look to him to be moving in slow motion), the temporal nature of his speed allows him to avoid the usual problems encountered by other Flash-type speedsters (friction, seeing and hearing at such near-light speeds, et al.), whose automatic and unconscious use of the Speed Force overcomes those problems. As he is moving at a normal velocity, and the rest of the world is "slow", those hindrances simply do not affect him. This aspect also means that he is unable to become intangible like other speedsters can by vibrating their molecules at certain frequencies, giving them a distinct advantage.
Even if his powers are not tied to the Speed Force, he has twice shown the ability to grant superspeed to other beings, granting Cheetah a speed rivaling Wonder Woman's, and restoring Inertia's speed, freeing him from his Speed Force-induced paralysis to turn him into his apprentice. This ability is related to the manipulation of the timestream, as he can allow others to tap into time through himself, and shut down this connection at will. Skilled individuals, like Inertia, have shown the ability to use Zoom as a mere tool, overriding his manipulation over them after tapping directly into the timestream.[10]
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