Lots of speculation has gone into the identity of the recent antagonist for the Flash this season, the maniacal dark speedster known only as Zoom. Guesses on his identity have ranged from Barry’s father, Henry Allen, Jay Garrick, and even an Earth 2 doppelganger of Barry Allen, who most recently appeared in an episode where the gang visited the parallel Earth. While these are all great guesses, one name was thrown into the ring by fan, Timothy Nguyen, in the form of Wally West. Wally, the sidekick of Barry Allen in the comics who one day would also become the Flash following Barry’s death in Crisis on Infinite Earths, recently splashed onto the scene of the CW hit show. While Wally hasn’t demonstrated any speed, is it possible that either he or his Earth 2 doppelganger is the malevolent speedster?
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First, obviously, Wally isn’t quite as big as Zoom in terms of physical stature so we may want to rule out the Earth 1 version of Mr. West. From what we’ve seen, Earth 2 versions of characters are radically different from their Earth 1 counterparts. Earth 2 Barry is something of a selfish jerk, Harrison Wells means well but has a bit of a prickly personality, and Joe West is a lounge singer versus being a police detective. This would lead one to believe that Earth 2 Wally would be vastly different from his Earth 1 doppelganger, who means well and has good intentions when it comes to his character. If Earth 2 Wally was Zoom, it would make sense in terms of having a radically different personality from the other West.
Also, while the seed was recently planted that Hunter Zolomon exists in the CW Flash Universe, as Jay Garrick’s Earth 1 doppelganger, Hunter wasn’t the only character who had the moniker of Zoom. The most recent Reverse Flash, aside from Eobard Thawne, was in fact a West, specifically Daniel West, so the precedence of Wally being Zoom is there in that the West family has good and evil speedsters in their blood line. Daniel, much like the Zoom of the television show, would use his powers to drain other speedsters dry of their powers and his costume resembles the dark material that cloths this more evil looking speedster. Without necessarily dropping the bombshell that Zoom is Daniel West, as Daniel doesn’t exist as far as we know, placing an alternate reality Wally into his shoes would make for a good placeholder for sure.
We can also see that Wally West is addicted to speed, originally street racing in order to pay for his mother’s hospital bills. So addicted that perhaps he’s donning a black suit and running laps around Barry Allen and Jay Garrick throughout the series? It would make sense in that regard when it comes to Earth 1 Wally, but perhaps his Earth 2 duplicate has a similar “need for speed”. Do you think Wally West could be the villain putting a new twist on the character and pulling the rug out from viewers?
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