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    Zoom

    Character » Zoom appears in 168 issues.

    Former FBI profiler and once close ally to the Flash, Hunter Zolomon believes that to make Wally West a greater hero he must test him by being his greatest villain.

    Zoom Question..

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    virgin4life

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    #1  Edited By virgin4life

    Hello,
     
    I haven't read many comics involving Zoom but have just heard info. about him here.  Anyways, I have a question:  
     
    Since he doesn't actually move at superspeeds and just manipulates the time around him, doesnt that mean, in his eyes, for example, if hes running around the Earth, it would be comparable to a human running around Earth?  Wouldn't he have to stop and get food hundreds of times and go to the washroom hundreds of times?  Wouldn't he age drastically with just 1 cycle?  How is this explained?  Thanks
     

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    virgin4life

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    #2  Edited By virgin4life

    Also, wouldn't he get so bored and tired to the point of craziness

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    imaginaryman

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    #3  Edited By imaginaryman
    @virgin4life: good point, I'm not really familiar with zoom either, but I'm guessing that would only effect if he ran really far places
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    virgin4life

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    #4  Edited By virgin4life
    @imaginaryman: 
     
    punching someone a million times a second would take a life time... he would die of old age
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    Amegashita

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    #5  Edited By Amegashita

      I thought he controlled time, which is the reason he could travel back and forth between time frames.

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    roadbuster

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    #6  Edited By roadbuster
    @virgin4life said:
    " Hello,  I haven't read many comics involving Zoom but have just heard info. about him here.  Anyways, I have a question:    Since he doesn't actually move at superspeeds and just manipulates the time around him, doesnt that mean, in his eyes, for example, if hes running around the Earth, it would be comparable to a human running around Earth?  Wouldn't he have to stop and get food hundreds of times and go to the washroom hundreds of times?  Wouldn't he age drastically with just 1 cycle?  How is this explained?  Thanks  "
    There are two answers... one that is internally consistent sufficient to answer the question but which breaks down if extended further... the other is the truth of comics. 
     
    Answer One: Zoom controls time to such a degree he can reverse or restrict his own age, accelerate his perception of an event to stave boredom, and impart increased durability to one's self.  This is consistent with his feats and with Flash's manipulation of speed / kinetic energy / friction.  Consider: In the depowering of Zoom II, Kid Zoom/Inertia essentially unwound Zoom's personal timeline until he returned to being a cripple.  He didn't simply remove Zoom's powers, otherwise Hunter's legs would be whole; nor did he rewind Zoom wholesale because Hunter's memories of being Zoom remained.  This shows that the power is not in-gross but can be deftly applied to parts and pieces of an individual, their mind, etc. at will (or even automatically).  Inertia- a rookie at Zoom's time-based powers- was able to unwind just Zoom's body and not his mind... how much more can Zoom use his powers to ensure his [relative] sanity [at least with respect to boredom]?  Another example is of the snapping sonic boom or any similar "infinite mass punch" type application... the ability to withstand such events shows the ability to affect the timeline of an event on one side to make it offensive but in a different way to ensure it does not harm the one performing the act.  This is consistent with what we've seen from The Flash.  Consider the arm whirl wind.  Often used as a weapon to blow away enemies or what not.  But for every reaction there must be an opposite and equal reaction... why sin't Flash blown back by his own action?  Because the Speed Force allows him to govern his relative kinentic energy / friction / etc. at will... proven by the fact that should he direct his whirlwind down and will it... suddenly there will be an equal and opposite reaction and Flash can hover / fly (similarly, the whirlwind effect requires his arm engage the air via friction... but normally Flash does not experience friction to that degree... so again, it is a force controlled by the user).  The time dilation argument for Flash is lengthy too, but the short answer is that Flash can perform different degrees of "automatic" action to stave off boredom. 
     
    Answer Two: The reality is that comics are often written by guys who didn't take physics in college and their greatest intersection with science is Star Trek reruns.  Heroes- and villains- are thematic, not scientific.  The fact is that Flash, essentially, flies.  He runs faster than escape velocity, but some how stays arbitrarily grounded... if you can create force vectors down, you can create force vectors that let you fly at will.  Why doesn't Flash fly?  Because it doesn't fit his theme.  Zoom's whole "time-powered" stuff was just to tie him into the cosmic treadmill, the fact he wanted time turned back for himself, and to give him an immunity to Flash's speed force powers... any thought beyond that is purely incidental.  Superman doesn't wear a utilitarian radiation suit and anti-magic talisman all the time.  Batman hasn't determined to become the Bat Iron Man.  Peter Parker refuses to accept a loan or stipend from any of his multi-billionaire allies so he can even subsist.  Why?  Not because of reason or science, but because of theme.  Superman's invulnerable, he doesn't cover himself in additional stuff to shore up his weaknesses.  Batman's a human... wearing armor and using scifi gadgets turns him into a powered hero.  Parker struggles... even though many of his issues aren't all that hard to resolve.  If it ever comes down to Theme versus Science, Theme will always win out in the end even if a writer, now and then, tries to give science a mini victory here and there.
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    imaginaryman

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    #7  Edited By imaginaryman
    @virgin4life:  he does that? ok then I totally agree something is wrong with his powers, but then again comics... meh...
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    imaginaryman

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    #8  Edited By imaginaryman
    @Mainline: I think the second reason is the most abrupt answer to the question hahahaha
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    Ultimate JSA

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    #9  Edited By Ultimate JSA
    @imaginaryman:
    1st  he is alredy crazy 
    2nd he can bend time  
    3rd he can't die of old age or anything because he is out of our timeline
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    Amegashita

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    #10  Edited By Amegashita
    @Mainline:  Great post, someone paid a lot of attention in physics class.  Really, I"m awed.  If someone asks a question on Zoom's powers, I'll make sure to refer them to what you said.
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