Professor Zoom

Superherobox


caption=Art by Greg LaRocque.
comic_color=background:#8080ff
character_name=Professor Zoom
real_name=Eobard Thawne
publisher=DC Comics
debut="The Flash" #139 (September 1963)
creators=John Broome
Carmine Infantino
alliance_color=background:#c0c0ff
alliances=Secret Society of Super Villains
aliases=Reverse-Flash, Adrian Zoom
powers=Super-speed|

Professor Zoom is a comic book super-villain in the DC Universe. He is primarily associated with the superhero Flash, and is the second of the Reverse-Flashes. He first appeared in "The Flash" #139 (September 1963).

Biography

Originally, Eobard Thawne was a criminal from the 25th century, who found a time capsule containing the Silver Age Flash's costume. He was able to use a machine to amplify the suit's speed energy, giving himself the abilities of the Flash as long as he wore it. In the process, the colors of the costume reversed, the suit becoming yellow, the boots and lightning bolt highlights red, and the chest symbol's white circle becoming black. He used his speed powers to commit crimes, but was stopped by the Flash, who had travelled forwards in time to witness the time capsule being opened because it also contained an atomic clock which threatened to explode like an atomic bomb. The Flash, assuming his counterpart might know where the clock was, pursued Professor Zoom. After a destructive battle, the villain was finally defeated when he boasted how he used a chemical coating to protect himself from air friction. Betting that the invisible aura around his body would be superior protection, The Flash seized Zoom and began to push him forward so fast that the intense air friction overwhelmed the coating and the resulting burns forced Zoom to surrender. However, it all proved a waste of time, as Zoom knew nothing about the clock and The Flash was just barely able to find and remove it to an isolated area before it exploded.

Blaming the Flash for his defeat, Thawne began travelling back in time to gain revenge, using his knowledge of "history" to his advantage. He also became obsessed with "replacing" Barry Allen, not only as the Flash, but as the husband of Iris West. After Iris finally made it clear that this would not happen, Zoom (apparently) kills her at a party, vibrating his hand into her head. It took a long time for Allen to get his life back together after this. Shortly after he had found love again, Zoom reappeared, threatening to kill his new fiance on Allen's second wedding day. Terrified that history would repeat itself, Allen instinctively and inadvertently kills his enemy, breaking Thawne's neck in a final struggle. After he was found not guilty of murder in the subsequent trial, despite the fact that even Wally West (The current Kid Flash and future Flash) testified against Barry in the trial at the time, Barry went to the thirtieth century to retire and live with the resurrected Iris, only to later die during the "Crisis on Infinite Earths".

Being a time traveler, Eobard Thawne has managed to appear since then. The "Return of Barry Allen" storyline in "The Flash" v2, #74–#79, reveals that he started out as a fan of the Flash. After gaining super-speed by replicating the electrochemical bath that gave Barry Allen his powers, he travels backward in time to meet his hero.

Becoming Allen

Miscalculating, Thawne arrived in the period after Barry Allen's death, and was horrified to learn he was destined to become Allen's greatest enemy and die at his hero's hands (In his future Zoom's identity had been long forgotten, possibly a deliberate action on historians' parts to prevent Thawne gaining foreknowledge of his life as Zoom and changing history). His mental state already unbalanced by the trip through time, his unstable mind therefore created a scenario in which he was Barry Allen, returned from the dead, as a means of saving himself from his predestined fate, his detailed knowledge of Barry's life thanks to the autobiography making the 'impersonation' all the more convincing.

However, Thawne's life as Barry was soon discovered to be a deception; the future villain's insane determination to be the true Flash drove him to attack Central City, believing that they had 'forgotten him' in favour of Wally, leaving Wally to die in a trap and breaking Jay Garrick's leg in a confrontation, simultaneously easily outpacing Johnny Quick and Max Mercury when they attempted to take him out. After uncovering the truth (thanks to his discovery of Thawne's copy of Allen's as-yet-unpublished biography), Wally West sent Thawne back to his own time after one last battle by tricking him into using the cosmic treadmill, simultaneously getting over his fear of replacing Barry by becoming as fast as his mentor had been; as much as he feared replacing Barry himself, he was more afraid of letting "Thawne" do it. Although Thawne's mind blanked out these events, they apparently lead to his later obsession with eliminating Barry.

Feud

It was revealed that the Thawnes and Allens had a long-standing feud by the time of the 25th century. Eobard was descended from Malcolm Thawne, a.k.a. Cobalt Blue, Barry Allen's long lost twin brother. The Thawne/Allen feud was apparently ended in the 30th century by Meloni Thawne's marriage to Don Allen, and the birth of their son, Bart Allen (later Impulse and, far later, the second Kid Flash, and ever farther later Flash). However, Meloni's father created a "Reverse-Impulse"; a clone of Bart called Thaddeus Thawne, who took the name Inertia. Inertia made several attempts to replace Impulse before rejecting his role as an instrument of vengeance.

Zoom also returned to battle Wally West, working side-by-side with his own successor, former police profiler Zoom, having been pulled out of time shortly before Barry broke his neck. Using the cosmic treadmill, the two Reverse-Flashes intended to force Wally to watch the aftermath of his first battle with Zoom (When his wife Linda Park miscarried) over and over again, but the intervention of Barry Allen, from a time shortly before his death in "Crisis on Infinite Earths", transferred Professor Zoom back to his present, allowing Wally to not only defeat the new Zoom but also to undo Linda's miscarriage. During this return of Thawne's, it was hinted that he retained some vague memories of his time as Barry Allen, as he admitted to having a lost memory in the back of his mind about Wally that drove him to want to see Wally hurt.

Powers and abilities

Professor Zoom is able to move and travel at super human speeds. Professor Zoom can travel up to speeds of 7,500,000 m/ph, deliver hundreds of blows a second, walk on water, create cyclones, phase , and become invisible.

Other media

*In the Flash television show, Barry, while pretending to be the scientist who "created" The Flash, calls himself "Professor Zoom."

*In the season two finale of "Justice League Unlimited", Brainiac created evil robot versions of the Justice Lords. The Flash's counterpart wore the reversed colors like the Zoom's. The overall costume was a reversal of Wally West's costume, not Barry Allen's.

External links

* [http://www.fourthhorsemanpress.com/Flash/ Crimson Lightning] - An online index to the comic book adventures of the Flash.
* [http://www.monitorduty.com/mdarchives/2005/12/alan_kistlers_p_3.shtml Alan Kistler's Profile On: THE FLASH] - A detailed analysis of the history of the Flash by comic book historian Alan Kistler. Covers information all the way from Jay Garrick to Barry Allen to today, as well as discussions on the various villains and Rogues who fought the Flash. Various art scans.