Hunter Zolomon's New Origin

[Waterfall]

So in the last issue of Flash, something really important happened.

Williamson retconned Zoom's origin story.


SPOILERS BELOW!

Turns out Hunter was correct in his assessment of Clown not having a gun back when he was in FBI. Thawne went back in time and gave the gun to Clown to cause Hunter's descent into madness.


I haven't seen any discussion about this, which is a shame. This changes the game in my opinion.

What are your thoughts? How will this effect his next appearence or his ties to Wally?

[Bored at 3:00AM]

So in the last issue of Flash, something really important happened.

Williamson retconned Zoom's origin story.


SPOILERS BELOW!

Turns out Hunter was correct in his assessment of Clown not having a gun back when he was in FBI. Thawne went back in time and gave the gun to Clown to cause Hunter's descent into madness.


I haven't seen any discussion about this, which is a shame. This changes the game in my opinion.

What are your thoughts? How will this effect his next appearence or his ties to Wally?

It's an interesting tweak that makes sense given Thawne's MO. It's the kind of additive retcon that I enjoy a lot more than the "that story didn't happen anymore, but this one did" kind of retcon.

That said, I'm a little sick of Thawne at this point. He's reached Norman Osborn-levels of overuse as the big bad behind literally everything bad that's ever happened to the Flash family.

[Frontier]

Eh...even I'm starting to think they're getting a little egregious with Thawne .

Not that it's not something I see him doing to ensure his own legacy...although I think Hunter's story worked fine as is.

[married guy]

I don't like it at all.
I mean, it IS consistent with Eobard's current MO of going back & screwing with characters (which I also hate BTW).
But it also takes away from the tragedy of Hunter. He was the wunderkind of the FBI profiler's division who made a wrong call that ultimately cost him everything.
Now, he's just another pawn in Thawne's manipulations.

[qwertyuiop1998]

I don't like it at all.
I mean, it IS consistent with Eobard's current MO of going back & screwing with characters (which I also hate BTW).
But it also takes away from the tragedy of Hunter. He was the wunderkind of the FBI profiler's division who made a wrong call that ultimately cost him everything.
Now, he's just another pawn in Thawne's manipulations.

Agreed, There were already enough "contributions" which Thawne did to put him as the archenemy for Barry. He didn't need to be a villain who was the archenemy for entire Flashes. I prefer Barry and wally both have their own Reverse-Flashes

[Lee]

I think it adds a fascinating new wrinkle to the story, with Thawne essentially creating his successor. What he did to Zolmon wasn't far off what he did to Barry's life. The big question is why he did it. Whatever the answer ends up being, I think it will tie back to Williamson's Flash Rebirth one-shot, with the kid whose mother was murdered, allegedly by his dad. Reverse-Flash was at the crime scene.

[Waterfall]

I like the twist actually. Barry manipulated the lightning to give Wally powers, Thawne copied it for himself.

My only complaint would be how was the reveal handled. I wish Wally was there and it was treated as something bigger than the "now let's move on" feeling this shoehorned version did. This should have been Flash War finale tier stuff. Or a Crisis tie-in. Not this.

[Buried Alien]

It's an interesting tweak that makes sense given Thawne's MO. It's the kind of additive retcon that I enjoy a lot more than the "that story didn't happen anymore, but this one did" kind of retcon.

That said, I'm a little sick of Thawne at this point. He's reached Norman Osborn-levels of overuse as the big bad behind literally everything bad that's ever happened to the Flash family.

Indeed. After Barry killed Thawne back in 1983, we didn't hear from him again for an entire decade. He needs another long sleep of that length.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Lee]

Thawne has had a recurring presence in Williamson's Flash run, but he's only really been front and centre in one story arc - a very necessary story arc that essentially returned the pre-New52 version. And he's been dead for 55 issues.

[Tzigone]

That said, I'm a little sick of Thawne at this point. He's reached Norman Osborn-levels of overuse as the big bad behind literally everything bad that's ever happened to the Flash family.

Thawne has had a recurring presence in Williamson's Flash run, but he's only really been front and centre in one story arc - a very necessary story arc that essentially returned the pre-New52 version. And he's been dead for 55 issues.

Am I bad for not liking all the Reverse Flashes/evil speedsters? Thawne exist and be a villain, yes. Keep screwing the with the past (or being revealed to have done so) to destroy the heroes' lives, no. The Rival's got seniority, and he could stick around (I don't read Jay, so it wouldn't make a difference to me, and I didn't think him much used anyway). No Zolomon, no Inertia, no Daniel-as-speedster, and absolutely definitely no Cobalt Blue (fortunately, I'm not too worried about being forced to endure Barry's evil twin again). I find them repetitive as villains and think every hero doesn't have to have an opposite (please, only one Bizarro, too btw, and no Match). But I guess opposites are popular.

[BohemiaDrinker]

I like it, and I don't.

Now, hear me out on this: with Reverse Flashes, we have Thawne being both Barry's enemy and a perverted version of Wally, and Zolomon being both Wally's enemy and a perverted version of Barry.

So, if we're playing the "reverse" theme, I find it interesting that Barry unintentionally created Wally (in most modern versions, for better or worse, he had something to do with lightning) by giving him his powers and motivation while Thawne intentionally created Hunter by giving him tragedy and anger.

It's a nice bit of simetry.

What I don't like is the idea that Hunter knows this. He should never. Right now, Hunter is being played as "just a tad bit to insane to be an anti-hero" fella, while, let's face it, he should be a bonna fide villain.

[Frontier]

Am I bad for not liking all the Reverse Flashes/evil speedsters? Thawne exist and be a villain, yes. Keep screwing the with the past (or being revealed to have done so) to destroy the heroes' lives, no. The Rival's got seniority, and he could stick around (I don't read Jay, so it wouldn't make a difference to me, and I didn't think him much used anyway). No Zolomon, no Inertia, no Daniel-as-speedster, and absolutely definitely no Cobalt Blue (fortunately, I'm not too worried about being forced to endure Barry's evil twin again). I find them repetitive as villains and think every hero doesn't have to have an opposite (please, only one Bizarro, too btw, and no Match). But I guess opposites are popular.

I think it's just a staple of the franchise at this point that every Flash has their own Reverse-Flash.

[Waterfall]

What I don't like is the idea that Hunter knows this. He should never. Right now, Hunter is being played as "just a tad bit to insane to be an anti-hero" fella, while, let's face it, he should be a bonna fide villain.

I just don't think the reveal had the "gut punch" effect it should have. It's hamfisted to rush through the arc so we could move onto Snyder's event. It felt cheap like it shouldn't have.

It seems more like Hunter is going to become Sinestro --or if you push-- Lex Luthor type villain in the end, rather than just being a Eobard knock off crazy or completely redeemed like Clayface. They can never truly redeem him since he is Wally's arch-enemy (Luthor paradox) but they can also not let him go completely off the rails because it is just not him either. There is always going to be this tension because he can never bring himself to truly hate Wally.

[BohemiaDrinker]

I just don't think the reveal had the "gut punch" effect it should have. It's hamfisted to rush through the arc so we could move onto Snyder's event. It felt cheap like it shouldn't have.

I agree. But I don't think that that reveal should ever be made to him. It changes everything in a bad way. Once he realizes that his "condition" is engineered, the only 2 choices left are "accepting EVEEEEEEEEEEL" or trying to redeem himself. Neither works for Hunter.

[Waterfall]

I agree. But I don't think that that reveal should ever be made to him. It changes everything in a bad way. Once he realizes that his "condition" is engineered, the only 2 choices left are "accepting EVEEEEEEEEEEL" or trying to redeem himself. Neither works for Hunter.

I don't know, he came really close to latter at the end of Rogue War. We even had his wife introduced to books to create more sympathy for him, which is a shame because that plot line was interesting.(then Waid threw all Johns era to trash bin for twins)

If a writer is committed to it, Hunter can receive a good redemption arc. But he's Zoom, so it will probably never stick. Which is why I'm comparing to Sinestro & Luthor.