Fictional Character Biography
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The "Return of Barry Allen" storyline in The Flash (vol. 2) #74-79 reveals that Thawne started out as a fan of The Flash living in the 25th century and became desperate to meet him. After gaining super-speed by replicating the electrochemical bath that gave Barry Allen his powers, losing years of his life in the process - even undergoing surgery to make himself look like Barry - he traveled backward in time using the Cosmic Treadmill to meet his hero. However, Thawne became mentally unstable upon arriving several years after Barry's death due to the fact that over the years the Treadmill had begun to break, discovering he is destined to become a villain, his mind - already disoriented by the stress of time travel - sought escape by convincing himself that he is Barry Allen. However, his true nature is eventually revealed due to his more violent nature, "Barry" attacking Central City in revenge for "forgetting him," until he is ultimately defeated by the Flash family and sent back to the future, his memory wiped of the incident.
He later became a criminal known as "The Professor," 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, Thawne reversed the colors of the costume, the suit becoming yellow, the boots and lightning bolt highlights red, and the chest symbol's white circle becoming black. Taking the new name "Professor Zoom", Thawne used his speed powers to commit crimes, but was stopped by the Flash, who had travelled forward in time to witness the time capsule being opened because it also contained an atomic clock which threatened to explode like an atomic bomb due to the process it had been sent into the Future. 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. He also destroyed the costume to prevent such use again.
Blaming the Flash for his defeat, Thawne began travelling back in time to gain revenge, using his knowledge of history to his advantage. In his second appearance he hypnotized Doctor Alchemy, who was trying to go straight, into helping him. 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 never happen (actually the second time she had insisted this, Zoom having erased her memory of the first time), 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 fiancee 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 Wally West (the then-Kid Flash and future Flash) testified that Barry could have stopped Thawne without killing him, Barry went to the 30th century to retire and live with the resurrected Iris, as it was revealed she was really an inhabitant of that era sent back for protection and that her mind had been taken from the moment before death, only to later die during the Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Read more about this topic: Professor Zoom
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