This week, The Flash closed out a two-parter in which Barry, Harrison Wells, and Cisco travel to Earth 2 to help Wells save his daughter from Zoom. These episodes have sparked even more interest and theories about Zoom’s true identity, which will likely remain a mystery until at least the season finale. Spoiler alert – read no further unless you are completely caught up with this season!

 

All season long, there’s been speculation as to Zoom’s identity. Top candidates include the Earth 2 versions of Barry’s dad, Henry Allen, and Joe West. Obviously Joe West is no longer in the running after the events of last week’s episode. Henry Allen is still a candidate, but after this visit to Earth 2, it’s also feeling less likely. After the conversation between Barry and his mother over the phone, we get a sense that Barry’s parents are fairly happy, so creating a motive for Henry to be a psychopathic villain who is hell-bent on killing another version of his own son might be a pretty far stretch.

Who does that leave? Our best guess is Earth 2 Eddie Thawne, who on Earth 1 was the ancestor of Season 1 villain Eobard Thawne. We haven’t seen any details of Thawne’s life on Earth 2, but we know it must be different. Joe West isn’t his partner, and neither is Iris – nor is she his girlfriend, for that matter.  It’s uncertain if Thawne is actually a detective at all on Earth 2, whether he harbors feelings for Earth 2 Iris, or if he sees Earth 2 Barry as a competitor. Holding back any details on his character might allow the writers to create a compelling narrative for Thawne’s transformation into Zoom. We know the actor who plays Thawne, Rick Cosnett, is on another series right now, but the use of a costume throughout the season and a transformed voice mean that Cosnett would only have to make a brief guest appearance to fulfill the role.

man-in-the-iron-mask-the-flash-s2e14

As for the man in the iron mask on Earth 2, here’s another theory: Jay Garrick.

The lost-his-speed-trapped-on-Earth-1-and-also-dead Jay Garrick, you ask? Well, sort of. Something has been up with the Garrick on Earth 1. He obviously looks the part, because Earth 2 Wells accepts him as Garrick, but he’s lost his speed and doesn’t seem to factor into many of the episodes until recently. My guess is that he’s not Jay Garrick, but Earth 2 Hannibal Bates, a.k.a. Everyman. Everyman made an appearance in The Flash season 1 as a villain who could shapeshift; he even impersonated Earth 1 Eddie. Zoom has surrounded himself with henchman on Earth 2, so it would be no surprise if he used Everyman to infiltrate the group  on Earth 1 and keep an eye on Wells by posing as a powerless Garrick. Frankly, it’d also explain why Garrick has felt like such an unrealized character all season.

This would also explain why the man in the mask tapped out “JAY” to Barry when he was trapped in the cell and seemed so upset when Barry described knowing Garrick. It’s a bit odd that Zoom would kill his own team member, but not when you consider that the portal between the two Earths was closing indefinitely, and he may have considered leaving Bates alive on Earth 1 a liability (also, he generally doesn’t seem to mind killing his own guys based on last week).

Lastly, when all is settled with Zoom, it means Earth 2 will still have its own version of the Flash intact.

Any other thoughts/theories out there? Please share!

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34 COMMENTS

  2. I thought so too at first, but then in other shots inside the case, it looked like he had blonde hair and white hands.

  3. Yeah, I think they deliberately used dark lighting to make it difficult to tell anything about him for certain.

  4. This is so far off, you’re out there in lala land pulling ideas from everywhere. Go watch this season again and maybe read some other sites that have much much more plausible theories. Your theory is so far out in left field. Wow

  5. I think the man in the mask is Jay Garrick and the Lame Jay Garrick we’ve been watching is none other than Earth 2 Hunter Zolomon. That is why when they looked for earth one Jay Garrick, and found instead Hunter Zolomon ( who Lame Jay said was him but with his name changed)

  6. That theory doesn’t hold up. If the Jay Garrick we’ve been seeing is Everyman from Earth-2, then why did his cells respond the way they did when he took Velocity? Why would he even know about it?

  7. If he’s working for Zoom, he probably knows about it already from Jay, who in this theory is surely being interrogated and used for his speed force access.

    If Hannibal copied the cells and structure of Jay’s physiology, he could presumably utilize Velocity.

    The issue I have with Hunter Zolomon being more than a red herring is that we’ve already seen Jay as a hero in flashbacks on Earth 2 from Harrison’s perspective. How many people look like Teddy Sears in this scenario?

  9. I think the man behind the iron mask is Jay Garrick, and the man who is pretending to be Jay on Earth 1 is in fact ZOOM. That’s my guess.

  10. I think Zoom is Eddie from Earth 1. When Eddie got sucked into the singular, there was blue lightning all around him. Since Earth 2 vibrates differently, Eddie survived, became a speedster and became mentally unstable. Also explains why Reverse Flash survived). He recruited then earth 2 Hunter Zolomon (now posing as Jay Garrick) scientist to steal the real Jay Garrick’s (now imprisoned in metal mask). speed. Hunter developed velocity 6 which he tested on himself but made him ill. Hunter knowing of Zoom’s plan to steal the Flash’s speed escaped through one of the breaches posing as Jay Garrick in hope to find a cure. That’s why Zoom killed Hunter through the last breach for abandoning him on Earth 2. I actually hope this is wrong because I enjoy John Wesley Shipp in the series and hope that he is involved as Henry in some of the next episodes.

  11. This would also explain why everyone’s doppelgänger on earth 2 looks exactly like their earth 1 counterpart except for Jay who looks like Hunter Zolomon.

  14. I like the everyman theory to an extent, the constant examination of “Jay’s” cells degrading makes that hard to swallow though, but one or two lines of exposition could fix that. “OMFG his cells were degenerating because he was keeping the appearance for so long!” or something equally trite. I’m personally leaning towards a twin. Someone who looks enough like “Jay” to fool Wells while the real “Jay” is locked up in the cell. Someone pointed out on another site the man in the cage is literally a ‘Man in the Iron Mask’ this could be a little tease towards the twin theory something that pops up a lot in the Flash universe. Of course I’m still not sold on this theory either, it has a few holes. what’s “Jay’s” motivation for coming to Earth 1? If it’s to get Barry to go to Earth 2 than why didn’t he just leave him trapped there? Also if Zoom has the hypothetical “Jay” locked in a cell with no speed to speak of, it is safe to assume Zoom has managed to take said speed, than why keep him alive? Speaking of Zoom, Eddie is still the only possibility I see, it would be incredibly dramatic that’s for sure, the man that sacrificed himself on Earth 1 because Barry wasn’t fast enough to defeat his enemy, is Barry’s strongest and fastest enemy to date on Earth 2. Now doesn’t that just scream psychological complex waiting to happen!

  15. “Obviously Joe West is no longer in the running after the events of last week’s episode.”

    Yes, because people always stay dead in superheroes.

    Zoom has Joe’s build and Joe’s voice. It’s Joe.

  16. It’s beyond obvious and clear from facial match up that zoom is 150% Henry Allen. Eyes don’t lie and completely match up to only one character, Henry Allen.

  17. My theory.. Both Earth 1 and 2 versions of Jay Garrick are twins.. their respective twins being Hunter Zolomon.. When Earth 2 Jay got his speed his brother Hunter Solomon got jealous and created velocity 6 to give him the same abilities.. but its only temporary.. he gets pissed Zoom offers to help him get the same abilities.. they hatch a plan.. the man in the iron mask is the real Jay Garrick.. His brother Hunter Zolomon has been impersonating him this whole time.. Every other earth 1 and earth 2 character has the same name.. Why would Earth 2 Jays name change to Hunter Zolomon in Earth 1? Probably plenty of holes with this theory.. but it is just a theory :)

  18. 1st – It’s not Joe
    2nd -Its not Joe
    3rd – It’s not Joe :)

    I truly can only think of one person it could be to first of all make it jaw dropping to the fans and secondly makes sense and the only person that falls in that category is Eddie Thawn. There are a few holes in that idea too seeming the fact that when the black hole opened zoom already existed. But there is literally no one else I can think of.

  19. All of these theories sound plausible (except perhaps that Zoom is Joe.) But here’s another slightly out-of-left field possibility just for fun — Zoom is Earth 3’s Harrison Wells.

    Earth 1: Wells was a good man before being replaced by Eobard Thawne.
    Earth 2: Wells is a dick.
    Earth 3: Wells is pure evil.

    My shaky evidence:

    1) The TV show continuity has established 52 earths, so Earth 3 exists.
    2) Comic continuity has established Earth 3 as home to evil versions of Earth 1’s super heroes.
    3) They need to keep Tom Cavanagh on the show because he’s so good in it. And he’s best when he’s bad.

    Or not — and here’s my theory #2: Zoom is *really* Jay Garrick. And that’s what the man in the iron mask was trying to tell Barry.

  21. My thought: The man in the mask is Jay Garrick (Current day E2 The Flash). The Jay Garrick we are seeing is FUTURE E2 Jay Garrick. He got addicted to the speed, got sick and needed his own HEALTHY cells to heal. He went back in time and took his own speed, then the singularity happened and the portal to Earth-1, and he learned of another speedster (Barry). Now, he has befriended Caitlyn and is getting Velocity from her, while getting close to Barry.

  22. “Zoom has Joe’s build and Joe’s voice. It’s Joe.”
    WHAT? Zoom does not have Zoom’s voice AT ALL. He’s played by Tony Todd.

    The Everyman theory makes no sense, because the Velocity drug is only for speedsters.

    I think that whoever is in the metal mask is either very important, or someone Zoom wants to suffer.

    I also think that other Earths can be involved in this. Earth 3, perhaps?

  23. I think that zoom is Eddie but he is not seeing Barry as a threat with Iris but a threat to powers. If Barry becomes faster than zoom Barry can stop zoom. As for the man in the mask I read in a comic that when Jay decided to use velocity 6 he did not lose his speed he split into two bodies a fast one and the Flash. So the man in the mask is Jay but he is in a type of amnesia so all he remembers is Zoom’s identity, his name, and his speed. However, the show seems to have made a mistake and gave him the ability to remember his knocking alphabet. Through all of this the Flash show made one mistake…. Reverse Flash and Zoom are the same exact person. Look up Zoom in the comics and it will show yellow and red flash.

  24. Also, there is possibly an earth 3 because in Legends of Tomorrow they travel to Central city’s future there is a black arrow which hints towards a 3rd earth due to there being a black arrow so during their fight with Kronos when they get shot down they spiraled and ended up in Earth 3

  25. Am I the only one that thinks it’s someone who just knows Jay garrik? All he spelled out was jay, when they were trying to figure out how to phase through. I believe he was trying to tell them that Jay could phase through because he’s from Earth 2 therefore able to phase through walls which Barry couldn’t because earth 2 vibrates at a different frequency. So when Barry told him that Jay was out of reach and on earth 1 he got upset because there was no way out anymore. But when Barry managed to phase through he instantly had his spark back. I think he was trying to get information on Jay basically hoping Jay would be able to help and when he found out he was on earth one he fell in despair. That’s just my idea though.

  27. I get it. Jay and hunter are twins separated at birth. Hunter hates jay for being the one who got the good life. E-1 jay is in the mask. E-2 jay is legit and gets killed. E-1 hunter is left alone. E-2 hunter is zoom and playing jay to get speed for his cell problem. Zoom might do the double image thing like eobard thawne did in season 1

  28. Last time we saw Earth 1 Hunter, he was sitting on a bench, reading. He didn’t seem like he was threatening enough to lock up and put in a mask.

    Zoom may have the same problem as Earth 2 Jay did with his speed being gone, but he solved his problem by sucking speed from speedsters across the multiverse.

  29. The man in the iron mask is Earth-2’s Eobard Thawne, The Reverse Flash. Check out this in-depth analysis of it, it seems like a pretty solid theory.

    https://redd.it/47xa2t

    I can’t really see any holes in the theory.

  31. I think that zoom is jay gerrik but if you remember jay was talking about how he kept trying to make him self faster. What if he made him self so fast he created 2 duplacts. When the flash moves so fast he makes pretty much holograms. What if jay created an evil a good and a neutral version of him. That could be why jay on earth one was so nice and perfect. Because every face couldn’t have taken velocity 8 and have the speed force if he never had it in the first place. The only reason it works on jay is because he had the speed force in him.

  32. I believe the man in the iron mask must be Eddie from Earth 1 or Earth 2. IMDB has Rick Cosnett listed in the acting credits for the episode that reveals the man in the iron mask. I’m quite disappointed this year and end of last year. Zoom is revealed during a preview, cmon. Henry goes fishing, cmon. Henry (John Wesley Shipp) was sensational in the first season, what a waste not to utilize him, would have been a much better Zoom reveal to have his face under the mask , even if it turned out to really be Reverse Flash (since he is still obviously alive, which makes NO SENSE). I also so hope they ditch Wally (send him fishing) what a boring and unless character. Also need to change intro Barry says”I’m Barry Allen the fastes man alive, but in both seasons Reverse Flash and Zoom are faster” Bring back Henry !!!!!

  33. How DISAPPOINTING this last episode was (it rivals last season’s finale – Barry goes all the way back in time and doe not save his Mother AND endangers the Earth by opening the breaches) Now Zoom captures Wally (what a waste of a character) and arrives at Star Labs (with all sorts of weapons pointed at him) only to say “they had a deal” (so what HE’S THE VILLIAN) Barry nods, Zoom lets Wally go (he trusts they won’t shoot him now) and they all stand around calmly as if out having coffee and take Barry’s speed. What no PLAN? How about shooting Zoom? How about poisoning the vial, how about Cisco using his Vibe powers and knocking Zoom silly, ANYTHING… c’mon this was borderline ridiculous and very disappointing, I hope the writers get it together and quit trying to be so cute.

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