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Derek's
Continuity Corner: "Divided We Fall"
Actually,
the yellow-costumed character currently appearing in The Flash
is called just Zoom, a Reverse Flash created just to face
Wally West. The original character Professor Zoom was actually
a descendant of the twin brother of Barry Allen, Wally's predecessor
as The Flash.
In the
far future, Eobard Thawne developed a combination love and
loathing for his ancestor, which culminated in his duplicating
the Flash's power and traveling back in time to make his
life miserable. He killed Barry's wife Iris (but she got
better) and when he came back one last time to kill Barry's
new fiancee Fiona, the Flash accidentally snapped Reverse
Flash's neck with a high speed chokehold.
The
new Reverse Flash, Zoom, was a former ally of Wally's named
Hunter Zolomon. Crippled as a bystander to a fight with
the Rogues' Gallery, Zolomon found a way into the Speed
Force. It healed his legs and left him determined to make
Wally into a better hero -- by completely effing everything
up for him. First he caused Wally's wife Linda Park (who
appeared on camera in "Panic in the Sky") to miscarry
their twins. Then he tried to kill Jay Garrick, the original
Flash.
As happens
in this episode, Wally did once go too far in the Speed
Force, and thus purposely limits himself so as not to get
sucked in. Two speedsters willingly gave themselves over
to this mysterious power: Johnny Quick and Barry Allen.
Those interested in the defining Speed Force story can pick
up the trades The
Flash: Dead Heat
and The
Flash: Race Against Time
The main
villains, the Luthor-Brainiac team, have been a longstanding
tradition in Superman's adventures. It was Alan Moore that
first posited the grotesque literal combination used here,
in Superman:
Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? There Brainiac
took over Luthor in the form of a skullcap digging deep into
the bald genius' brain. Though the Warner animated version
of Brainiac has a more streamlined appearance, the skull ship
that he flies matches both that skullcap and the actual physical
appearance of Brainiac before Crisis on Infinite Earths. He
even had an action figure in that form, with super-kicking
power.
The
idea of the team combining physically has been picked up
in at least one other medium, as the aborted Superman Lives
film project scripted by Kevin Smith featured Brainiac possessing
Luthor in a fashion similar to the way used in this episode.
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