Sorry, Jason Blossom (Trevor Stines), but there's a new mystery plaguing the town of Riverdale...and it might come with an even juicier twist.
Like all of the characters on Riverdale, fans are looking at every clue in order to find out who shot Fred Andrews (Luke Perry). The masked assailant who attacked the only good dad in town and set Archie (K.J. Apa) on a Batman-esque path of vengeance is definitely the darkest character yet to grace The CW show — especially since he also murdered Ms. Grundy (Sarah Habel) in cold blood.
But who is this monster? According to one Riverdale fan theory on Reddit, it might be a famous character from Archie Comics — or, at least, an homage to him.
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"The Black Hood" is a character created by MLJ Comics, which, later, was renamed Archie Comics after the iconic redhead. The website Bleeding Cool first pointed out that the character looks an awful lot like the Black Hood. Remember how Archie kept insisting that the person who shot his father wasn't wearing a ski mask (as most robbers would), but a hood that he seemingly cut the eyeholes out of? It might be a more important distinction than we realized.
The Black Hood, who first appeared in the Archie Comics' universe in 1940, is a vigilante and, in his first iteration, is an ex-cop. In the most recent iteration of the character, from 2015, the Black Hood is the alias of Greg Hettinger, a Philadelphia cop who inadvertently kills a previous version of the Black Hood and takes over his crime-fighting agenda to atone for his sins. Hettinger also battles a pill addiction during his time as the Black Hood.
According to Redditor Boom.Toll, this character might be the same person who shot Fred — and maybe, he's not the traditional "bad guy" we think he is.
"The design of the killer's mask seems to be similar to that of the black mask's face in the comics, right stem to the diamond shaped holes in his hood. Maybe the black mask had been turned into just another criminal but I think that he's still a vigilante," wrote the Redditor.
They make the point that Grundy, who was seen kissing another underage student before she was murdered, may be considered the real villain in the situation.
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"Grundy obviously isn't a good person and I'm pretty sure that Fred had done something in his past worth the black mask's time."
Redditor Bosnyrose points out that the show definitely wanted us to know the specifics of what Fred's shooter was wearing that day.
"I could see them making it both that the Black Hood is a cruel, misguided vigilante (not a superhero type even though he believes he’s doing good) and that Fred has done something bad to at least warrant drawing his attention. Calling it a hood and the diamond-cut holes make it too much of a callback to the comic to ignore."
Whether this guy considers himself a superhero or not, he's definitely a scary dude. Lock your doors, citizens of Riverdale.