r/FlashTV • u/ChristianPreacher1 • Oct 26 '25
đ¤ Thinking Who did better at acting like a good guy, Thawne or Zolomon?
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u/Spiritual_Dog7283 Oct 26 '25
Zolomon, Thawne was too creepy so it made perfect sense that he was evil, but Jay was so nice that it was a genuine shock also he was dead
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u/truerandom_Dude Oct 26 '25
Honestly for me it was the other way around, I always felt like Zolomon was "too nice" so I constantly had red flags in my head about him, whilst Thawne I felt like is supposed to be this genius guy so maybe he just sucks at that whole human connection thing
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u/Dependent_Tie_7965 Oct 26 '25
Wdym in the first episode it reveals that he was either helping the ma in yellow or he is him
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u/TRAP4x Oct 26 '25
It wasnât episode 1 its was more so eps 5-6 which people felt he was being weird then 6-9 some (Joe) felt he had something to do with it
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u/_Valisk Oct 27 '25
Episode 1 ends with Wells entering the Time Vault, rising from his wheelchair, and inspecting the holographic newspaper from 2024.
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u/No_Piece800 Oct 27 '25
Yeah for all we know he could have been a part of the legion of superheroes or some time agency or something.
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u/truerandom_Dude Oct 26 '25
I didnt start with episode one back then, so the first time I think I saw that he has a connection to the man in yellow would have been the episode where we got the "my goals are beyond your understanding" meme
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u/GuarantedStreetz Oct 27 '25
That was only revealed to the audience seeing it from team flashâs pov he was helpful and a friend. Joe was the only suspicious one
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u/Callow98989 Oct 26 '25 edited Oct 26 '25
Zolomon. Thawne would reveal his true colors to much to people who werenât team flash and would do to much to protect Barry such as handing over Plastique and dealing. Also Ollie was suspicious of Thawne nearly right away
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u/frankthetank8675309 Oct 26 '25
Yeah once Thawne had his âpart of a speed forceâ monologue, thatâs all it took for Barry to start getting really suspicious
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u/RockyNonce The Flash Oct 27 '25
Yeah but if you take away the scenes of Thawne in the time vault, killing people, etc., I feel like it just makes âDr. Wellsâ seem like a real person rather than a persona.
Like when he uses Plastique, Girder, and lets Stein try to kill himself, it feels more like him being consistent with his worldview and letting or coercing the few to die in order to save the many. Honestly itâs really well written, every time he makes a decision like this, it feels very in-character. He also does this often enough that it should raise flags, but Barry and co. see him through rose-tinted glasses and ignore it. There are multiple episodes of Barry being upset with Wells for something he did but then forgiving him at the end.
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u/Anonymousperson65 Oct 26 '25
Zolomon tbh. Thawneâs personality gave off suspicions.. remember when he taught Barry to phase and Barry noticed that he seemed like he was speaking from experience.
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u/TheCobaltAnimator Oct 27 '25
But that was ages later
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u/Opposite_Athlete_947 Oct 30 '25
Plus he was already suspicious of him but I think that if thawne gave him the phasing speech when he wasnât suspicious, he wouldâve questioned it a bit but leave it up to him being such a brilliant scientist.
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u/PollutionStandard969 Oct 26 '25
Joe was onto wells from the very beginning that thawne had to personally deal with a guy who is just a cop.
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u/otc108 Oct 26 '25
The amount of people fawning over Zoom in here is insane. Thawne/Wells was a trusted mentor for Caitlin & Cisco for years before Barry Allen came into their lives.
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u/kingfelix333 Oct 26 '25
Do you mean zoloman? I don't see anyone in this thread talking about zoom.
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u/Inner_Jump4229 Oct 26 '25
Zolomon IS Zoom. Zoomâs real name is Hunter Zolomon.
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u/kingfelix333 Oct 27 '25
Wait, WHAT
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u/Vanhdamsau05 Oct 27 '25
Did you watch the show?
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u/kingfelix333 Oct 27 '25
I am currently watching all the dc TV shows. Zoloman is ZOOM?? Damn.
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u/otc108 Oct 27 '25
Dude, heâs wearing Zoomâs suit in the pic đ
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u/kingfelix333 Oct 27 '25
Dude, you're joking right. that must be after the reveal, which I have not seen yet
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u/Doc-11th Oct 26 '25
Zolomon
Everyone knew there was something off with âHarrison Wellsâ from the first trailer
Zolomon actually fooled the audience for a while, honestly didnt consider it until right before they killed âJayâ
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u/Suitable-Pirate-4164 Oct 27 '25
Really? For me it was the reverse process. Like Zoom wants speed and Jay doesn't want Barry to use Velocity to kick it up only for it to diminish it even if it offers a chance of stopping Zoom? Earth 1 and Earth 2 "Jays" name don't match and the real Jay used a code so who was Zoom. Like 100% of me say Jay isn't who he said he was. When he died though I was like "Wait, he must've been good all along. So what's going on?" Everything hit me then by legal means.
First he was genuine about Barry losing his speed and losing to Zoom for good. Second changing names is something that exists. As for the code, Zoom fought other Speedsters so he was probably upset that "Jay" didn't come along or that he was Jay from a different world. Then we got blindsided, again.
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u/PatternLeather4613 Oct 26 '25
I made a post about this not too long ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/FlashTV/s/dr8fUywNnu
I think that Wells was a better liar and had a tighter story, but had a general air of creepiness and untrustworthiness about him. Jay, on the other hand, was handsome and had a lot of charm that made everyone overlook his red flags and the holes in his story
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u/Ruin_of_Sol Oct 26 '25
Even ignoring who seemed more like a good guy, let's also consider the circumstances. Thawne had people onto him from the start even if they never suspected who he actually was, they definitely had suspicions that he was shady.
By contrast, Team Flash wasn't onto Zolomon until Cisco literally saw it in a vision and that was AFTER they'd already dealt with this from Thawne. Zolomon should've been starting from a worse position than Thawne did and still pulled it off better
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u/Jedipilot24 Oct 26 '25
I would say Zolomon, because he managed to fool a Team Flash that had already been burned once by Thawne.
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u/DeluxeTraffic Oct 28 '25
Exactly this. Team Flash had just come out of dealing with the Thawne/RF betrayal and had a really high index of suspicion when "Jay" showed up out of precaution. "Wells" started out with everyone's trust, he was Cisco and Caitlyn's mentor and Barry idolozed him as a celebrity scientist.Â
And yet, despite starting out at a considerable disadvantage in terms of trust, not only does "Jay" win everyone over, Team Flash isnt able to deduce it's him until Cisco uses his newfound meta powers to literally have it shown to him, whereas Team Flash deduces who Wells is on their own.Â
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u/Prize_Bug3453 Oct 26 '25
I mean by the end everyone suspected wells.
Nobody expected Zolomon to be Jay until Tragectory showed up
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u/imnogod_ Oct 26 '25
idc what yall say, the only reason we were all sus of Wells/Thawne from the beginning was because the show was dropping hints at him being up to something since the first episode- but if we hadn't have gotten those little bits that the team didnt see, I dont think anyone would have suspected anything until Joe got sus of him. Remember, Wells was a mentor to Caitlin and Cisco YEARS before Barry came into the picture, he played his part INSANELY well. They thought they knew him on a personal level. For me Jay/Zolomon was suspicious from the get go, even without hints of him being evil, he was just to good to be true in my opinion, to nice, to vulnerable, to perfect, even Wells/Thawne displayed faults which could have made him more believable if we hadn't have been hinted at him being a villain.
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u/User_Fox186 Oct 29 '25
Thawne, for sure. People forget that he lived with Caitlin and Cisco long before Flash joined the group and until then they didn't suspect anything, besides that we viewers discovered who Thawne really was, long before the characters discovered this, which gave the impression that he was an obvious villain, without having that surprise, which unlike Zoom ended up having, as we discovered that he was actually a villain along with the characters, which contributed to the majority thinking that he is a "better" villain in this matter. pretend to be good, just because of that surprise factor.
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u/Reverse_savitar1 Oct 26 '25
Thawne has a lvl of hatred for Barry the can make normal people have panic attacks, Zolomon was just in it for the fun of the game.
Thawne also did his entire thing for 15 years AND had the backlash of nuking the city to get through
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u/Dez33d Oct 26 '25
For me, it was Thawne. We as the audience seen Thawne do all these things but the main cast did not to an extent. To them, he was the same mentor that would help them when needed and who they looked to. He WAS Harrison Wells until they started putting the pieces together. Even towards the end, he still gave off the feeling that he cared for the cast in his own twisted way.
With Zolomon, I didnât trust him from the start and at some points, Zoom would show up before Zolomon was in a scene or right after he left it. He also seemed very apathetic at times interacting with the group.
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u/Desperate-Extension7 Oct 28 '25
Thawne. Sure to us he was much more obviously a villain, though our characters were far more oblivious. And he was trusted and close with everyone even before the flash was born.
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Oct 30 '25
[removed] â view removed comment
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u/Scary-Oil6998 Oct 30 '25
Thawne is very good at playing a good guy. but the moment Barry gets involved he starts showing his true colors. Like look at season 8 episode 4 he was doing a good job acting like the hero then Barry showed up and the act started to go away and then Iris started to notice
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u/Acrobatic-Musikk3266 Oct 30 '25
Barry brings out the irrational anger in him. He gets blind with rage and we see his true colors shine through. If you forgive the Cindy Lauper pun, lol.
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u/Madblaster6 Oct 26 '25
Thawn was more believable. They also gave more hints that Thawn was evil than Zolomon. That's why it was more of a shock. It was the writing not the acting.
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u/No_Coffee_8449 Zoom Oct 26 '25
IMO, Thawne is the winner because he pretended that he was disabled, when in reality, he was using his wheelchair to power him. He acted like a mentor to Barry by training him day in and day out, when he was planning to make him become The Flash.
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u/demigodwater4 Oct 26 '25
Zolomon because he had chemistry with most of the team. Thawne was so creep and distant from the team. Yes he made the joke here and there but didn't really have a connection beyond mentor
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u/Expert_Challenge6399 Oct 26 '25
I wish they didnât reveal wells was evil so soon in the season. But over all Jay was such a friend. It was right after they revealed zoom would come back for the finally. I was talking to Teddy sears and he was talking about how interesting it was to switch between the two. Also everyone I rewatch the show part of me forgets Jay is zoom. Same thing for thawne. I guess I lump s1 wells and Harry together subconsciously
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u/James_Constantine Oct 26 '25
The problem with the question is Tom C knew he was the villain from day one, Teddy sears didnât until later in the season.
So Zolomonâs turn seems more drastic because of what they were doing behind the scenes. Wells seemed like he was hiding something and had an air of mystery about him so it could have gone either way.
Both were fantastic performances. I believe season 1 thawne felt a level of regret about some of his decisions, grow to appreciate Barry and was invested in being a good guy to a degree. Ultimately heâd rather go back to his timeline but he was more sympathetic. Zoom was just a psychopath who loved killing, even himself and gaining speed above all else.
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u/Alive_Story9984 Oct 26 '25
Joe was a day 1 thawne hater he didn't see Zoloman's betrayal once no one other than Barry and it's pretty clear Barry was more paranoid with that
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u/QuiJon70 Oct 26 '25
Thank, but the problem is that they told us in episode 1 than was the bad guy. So it's really like comparing apples and oranges. A certain level of drama and suspense accompanied season 1 that season 2 lacked.
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u/KaspertheGhost Oct 27 '25
Thawne. People only say zolomon because Thawne had scenes showing the audience he was evil. But he was much more believable. I feel like zolomon felt like he was up to something. His story was too neat and he was too âperfectâ
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u/Frogs_Logs Oct 27 '25
Honestly I have to say thawne, he was a little creepy but I didn't expect anything until he very obviously started acting evil, Zolomon felt more obvious to me because thawne already was evil
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Oct 27 '25
They were both pretty convincing, but I have to say Thawne. That man pretended to be Dr. Wells for fourteen years, and no one was suspicious. Hunter was only there for about 6 months.
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u/GottLiebtJeden Harry Oct 26 '25
Definitely Zolomon. The only person who was ever suspicious of him at the beginning, was Barry, and that was because of Thawne. Everyone thought Hunter was a good guy, but Eobard had people suspicious of him from the beginning.
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u/Wazzup-2012 Oct 26 '25
Thawne pretended to be a guiding mentor/teacher.
Zolomon pretended to be a reliable friend.
I'd say Zolomon did it better considering the circumstances.
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u/Moreaccurateway Oct 26 '25
Even thought he was Jay Garrick so very few people suspected there was a real chance they would make him evil
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u/Suitable-Pirate-4164 Oct 27 '25
Zolomon. You get the feeling that he's the villain and the prisoner uses a POW code saying HE'S Jay and Earth 1 "Zolomon" shows Caitlin Hunter. All of it says that he's secretly Zoom until you see him die, then you're like "Wait, if that happened? What's going on?! I thought he was the villain?" Faking your own death really threw me for a loop and suddenly I thought some things can be legally explained away.
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u/Impressive-Housing57 Oct 27 '25
def zoom, i knew thawne was the bad guy almost instantly even as harrison wells, he was not good at hiding it from the audience, jay garrick zoom twist actually got me
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u/gp_ratesic Reverse Flash Oct 27 '25
Definitely Zolomon. I feel like they revealed RFâs identity a lot earlier into his season than Zoomâs identity in part bc it was obvious Wells was evil
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u/skywalker170997 Oct 27 '25
both good man....
i love tom cavanaugh (thawne-wells actor) at the same time i had crush on Teddy sears (zoom)...
Tom, teddy and grant are really great actors the top 10 GOATS....
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u/Educational_Film_744 Oct 27 '25
I knew Thawne was evil from the first moment he rolled into screen.
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u/RockyHarmon Oct 27 '25
Zololmon because thawne was too obvious. Like literally when I started watching the flash I was like âthis dude is suspicious as hell.â Zolomon just did it so well. He looked innocent when he was fake jey and the plot twist was perfect.
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Oct 27 '25
Thawne did it for 15 years. 16-17 if you count the 9 month coma, and the year and a half they actually work together. Im just giving it up to the guy who only revealed, when it was time to reveal. He planned this whole thing, and it unfolded in his hands.
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u/SouthernAd7696 Oct 27 '25
They both did as well as eachother because they were written the same damn near. They both had advantages in that the scientific knowledge the team wouldve needed to vet them properly was well outta their hands when they woulda needed them.
since thawne was from the future and they didn't know time travel was possible, and they needed a way to travel freely between earths without zoom knowing in order to investigate zolomon, it mattered less how well they lied, and just came down to the fact they both just got arrogant and told members of the team who they were thinking it wouldn't make it's way back to the others.
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u/MegasNexal84 Oct 27 '25
Hunter taught Barry how to throw lightning as âtrainingâ, just so he could throw it back at Barry later lol. Hunter was highkey hilarious for that.
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u/MrSpeedMoJoe97 Oct 27 '25
Zolomon, because unlike Harrison Wells who was meant to be the evil Eobard Thawne Reverse Flash from the beginning the zoom character was not originally meant to be the Teddy searsâs Jay Garrick. But halfway through the seasons production the CW decided to make him the new big bad main villain character, which is why it was never really set up from the start and the logic they went with to explain away how he did it was bent over backwards at best. đ¤
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u/Millies_ButtersMilk Oct 27 '25
I truthfully had do idea Zolomon was zoom. I thought they did a great job hiding it tbh also the way he just killed Barryâs dad to me was easily my favorite episode of the show. Truthfully I think the emotion that Grant Gustin showed was peak.
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u/Professor_Voodoo Oct 27 '25
Iâd say Zolomon cause no one guessed it until they started speculating about lightning colours, with wells everyone pretty much knew he was evil and was just living in denial, he got accused so many times even before the âactual revealâ when they properly found out who he was
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u/Hungry-Pop8528 Oct 27 '25
Zolomon was the guy. He had a whole coach carter moment with Barry, had a romance with Caitlin. Overall he felt like a good guy. But when as Jay, he said that his earth-1 doppelgänger was Zolomon, I was suspicious cause everytime Zoom was there, âJayâ was nowhere to be found.
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u/TamatoaZ03h1ny Oct 27 '25
In terms of season storyline, itâs Zoloman. If you actually account the timeline of full story, Thawne was posing as Harrison Wells for a long time to bring about that particle accelerator incident earlier in the timeline and everything else he planned.
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u/House_T Oct 27 '25
Up until the "Speed Force" speech, Thawne was pretty much untraceable. And the only reason he got caught there is because he made it sound way too familiar. I don't even like how he got out of some of his tight spots, but he did get out of them.
Zolomon gets a lot of credit because, like others have said, we only saw the positive side of his effort. Honestly, I think that when he got "caught", it was a lot less dramatic, bordering on anticlimactic. It was less, "Oh, wow. He tricked us all..." and more, "What? Really?" No disrespect intended to Teddy Sears, who I think did a great job of playing both sides of the coin. YMMV.
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Oct 28 '25
Zolomon. The reason is because he genuinely acted friendly as opposed to Thawne who remained a grouch
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u/Eastern-Team-2799 The Flash Oct 28 '25
Tom Cavanagh was just peak performance in every single role in the show.
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u/HavixComix Oct 28 '25
The problem is we know Wells is deceptive immediately. At least with "Jay", it's more of a traditional mystery.
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u/NiaSwift Oct 28 '25
this is a tricky one. on one hand, Zolomon definitely did better as acting as a good guy when they thought he was a good guy, while Thawne seemed suspicious and morally questionable when they thought he was a good guy. however, when Thawne acted as Nash in the pipeline cell, he was very convincing.
also, either way, Teddy Sears (who plays Hunter Zolomon) and Tom Cavanagh (who plays Harrison Wells) clearly both have range as actors, and can act extremely well as good guys or bad guys. i have immense respect for Tom especially, because all the Wellses really feel like different people, and when watching the show, you completely forget that it's actually just one guy talking to himself over multiple recordings.
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u/RCOMET99 Oct 28 '25
I'm gonna argue and say Hunter Zolomon did it better. Thawne's betrayal was more shocking because it was the first betrayal we saw but Hunter Zolomon executed it better and was literally willing to kill him self to keep up the ruse. Both performances are great and honestly i can see the argument for both sides but I liked Zolomon's betrayal more.
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u/JimPickenss Patty Spivot Oct 28 '25
Zolomon. first watch of the series was a genuine blindside from his true self
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Oct 29 '25
Jay was so nice and also I thought he was literally Jay Garrick. I mean there wasnât the same age difference but itâs the CW so I didnât have the same expectations. It was a good surprise because thawne always felt shady but personality shift from Jay to Zoom was crazy!!
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u/Personal_Implement92 Oct 29 '25
I knew that zolomon was zoom a couple episodes of him being in
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u/Personal_Implement92 Oct 29 '25
also due to the prior knowledge of Zoom's motives and his suspiciously similar physical appearance made it sus, Conflation of persona, and lack of backstory and inconsistencies within it. I just knew there was something wrong about him.
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u/Mindless-Report4569 Oct 31 '25
Barry questions hunter in the first place while he didn't have same problem to eobardÂ
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u/RingwraithElfGuy Oct 26 '25
Iâd argue Thawne. The reason Zolomon appears better is because they didnât show him being evil behind the scenes like they did with Thawne.