Zoom (comics) - Powers and Abilities

Powers and Abilities

Zoom can alter time relative to himself, as opposed to using the Speed Force like most of the DC Universe speedsters do. He can apparently use this ability to move at "speeds" rivaling those of even Wally West, and usually "faster" than the speeds that even Wally can muster in most cases. Rather than actually time traveling, Zoom is controlling the speed at which time flows around him, allowing him to go faster or slower in time than everyone around him. Since Zoom is not actually moving at superspeed (rather, he is greatly slowing down time relative to himself, and can make himself so "fast" that even most of the Flashes look to him to be moving in slow motion), the temporal nature of his speed allows him to avoid the usual problems encountered by other Flash-type speedsters (friction, seeing and hearing at such near-light speeds, et al.), whose automatic and unconscious use of the Speed Force overcomes those problems. As he is moving at a normal velocity, and the rest of the world is "slow", those hindrances simply do not affect him. This aspect also means that he is unable to become intangible like other speedsters can by vibrating their molecules at certain frequencies.

Even if his powers are not tied to the Speed Force, he has twice shown the ability to grant superspeed to other beings, granting Cheetah a speed rivaling Wonder Woman's, and restoring Inertia's speed, freeing him from his Speed Force-induced paralysis to turn him into his apprentice. This ability is related to the manipulation of the timestream, as he can allow others to tap into time through himself, and shut down this connection at will..