Things are about to get a lot scarier in Central City in Season Two of ‘The Flash’ with the introduction of new Big Bad Zoom, a time manipulating villain that can move faster than The Flash or even last year’s major threat Reverse-Flash (Tom Cavanagh).  Just don’t look in the mirror and say “Zoom” three times.  The show has cast Tony Todd, best known as the title slasher in the 90s hit horror ‘Candyman’ franchise to portray Zoom… well, kinda.

Todd will only be providing the voice of the criminal from the future.  Executive producer Andrew Kreisberg explains:

“Last year, with the Reverse-Flash, we just modulated Tom Cavanagh’s voice, and this year we wanted to do something a little bit different.  Part of the mystery of the season is who or what is underneath the Zoom outfit, and so we wanted to do something like James Earl Jones as Darth Vader — this iconic voice coming out of this mask. Last year, we thought of the Reverse-Flash as a speed warrior; this year, Zoom is like a speed demon, and no one does demon-voice better than Tony Todd.”

So if Todd is providing the demonic voice, who will be appearing on screen?  Well, maybe no one.  It sounds as if Zoom may be computer generated, at least in the beginning.

Kreisberg added:

“The Zoom outfit is much more organic than the Reverse-Flash suit. In a way, it’s hard to tell if it is a suit or alive… There’s no skin showing, for all you know there’s a robot underneath, or dark energy… like a horror movie — ‘who’s the killer? Who’s under the mask?'”

In the comics, Zoom is Hunter Zolomon who initially befriends The Flash (who at this time was Wally West) only to turn to evil after West refuses to use his speed powers to go back in time to save Zolomon’s wife.  He gained his time-control powers from the Cosmic Treadmill, a popular prop in the comics which could be used to warp reality and allow The Flash and his fellow speedsters to travel between parallel dimensions.

On the show, Zoom’s story may emulate that of Eobard Thawne/The Reverse Flash in Season One.

“For us, the best villains are the ones who don’t have megalomaniacal ‘I want to rule the world’ motivations. Last year, the Reverse-Flash had a very simple goal which was, ‘I just want to go home, and if people need to die or cities need to get wasted for me to get that, so be it.’ And Zoom has a very similar, personal goal this season… simple and easy to understand, and very primal. And just as with Wells last year, Zoom doesn’t care who gets hurt or what gets destroyed in the service of him getting his goal.  [The] story of Zoom and who and what he is… hopefully comic book fans will be happy because we’ve come up with a clever way to spin the tale, but that also makes it exciting for the people who aren’t as familiar with the comics and are just enjoying the show on its own terms.”

Todd has continued working heavily over the years in many different film and TV projects, including many roles in the horror and sci fi genres.  This won’t be his first brush with the DC Universe either as he has lent that booming voice to the ‘Young Justice’ animated series as Icon and the direct-to-video ‘LEGO DC Super Heroes’ movies as the ultimate DC baddie Darkseid.  (He also voiced Blade for ‘Marvel Super Hero Squad’.)

What do you think of this interpretation of Zoom?  Does it sound intriguing?

Source: Comic Book Movie