Spoiler Warnings: Whose Past Does Zoom Alter In Flash #8 By Geoff Johns?

Spoilers

His own, believe it or not. He ran forward in time from the present and deleted his younger brother from the time stream to make himself an only child, and thus have more time to learn more.

He went from someone forced to research the Speed Force illegally on his own, to the ultimate authority on the Flash…well, the second most authority after a man named Professor Drake who has rebuilt the Cosmic Treadmill. He asked to work alongside Drake, to help him. Drake refused him.

So that’s the next piece of history Zoom alters, killing Professor Drake so that when a young Eobard Thawne went to the Flash museum they were looking to appoint a professor, and no one knew more about the Speed Force than him.

That’s why they called him Professor Zoom.

Despite all of this though, he was still unable to tap into the Speed Force. His parents arrive claiming he’s spending too much time chasing myths, and they’ve convinced local counselor to shut down the Flash Museum.
A panel and a red lightning bolt later and a man walks into the room to tell the busy Thawne that his parents were killed by the weather along with the local counselor.

Thawne fell in love with a reporter, though she was engaged. The fiancee is quickly removed. Thawne pursues her, but she rejects him. When next you see her she is in an institution, and hasn’t spoken since she was five. Thawne never fell in love.

He even deposited a time capsule in the middle of the night for his younger self to find, one containing one of Barry’s suits. It was with this that Eobard Thawne empowered himself by tapping into the Speed Force, and becomes the Flash of the 25th century.

A lifelong reader and self proclaimed continuity guru, Grey is the Editor in Chief of Comics Nexus. Known for his love of Booster Gold, Spider-Girl (the real one), Stephanie Brown, and The Boys. Don't miss The Gold Standard.