*CONTAINS SPOILERS FROM RIVERDALE EPISODE 2X05*
If you’ve been watching Riverdale from the beginning like I have, you know how good they are at surprising us. When it was revealed that Clifford Blossom killed his son, Jason, I was completely shook. This season, the creators of Riverdale are doing just as good of a job at keeping the identity of the Black Hood a secret, but like most people that watch, I have some theories.
I could be asking you the same thing, Hal. If that’s even your real name! I never liked Hal; from the beginning of the show, he gave me the creeps, and after finding out the whole thing with him sending Polly away and Alice giving up their secret baby, my dislike for Hal Cooper has only grown. At the event in the last episode, hosted by the Lodge family, it became clear that Hiram and Hal get along. It wouldn’t surprise me if they were in cahoots for some reason. Not to mention the obvious things that point to Hal being the Black Hood: he fits the profile (white male, middle aged, green eyes) and the Black Hood is doing this for Betty! His daughter! We’ve seen the length that Hal will go to to protect his daughters. It wouldn’t surprise me if he went as far as to kill.
Everyone from New York City to Riverdale knows that Hiram Lodge is not a good guy, and with the theories that he was the reason for Jason’s death from last season being so believable, that makes this theory even easier to believe. Of course, I don’t think it’s Hiram himself going out in the night and killing people, but rather someone he’s hired (because obviously, he doesn’t fit the profile). And with the way Hermione is acting this season, I wouldn’t put it past her to somehow be involved too. Veronica thought so too, in the season two premier, when she accused her parents of being the ones behind the hit on Fred Andrews because he wouldn’t sell his part of the company in season one.
3. Betty and Polly’s Long Lost Brother
When it was announced that Hart Denton would be playing Betty and Polly’s long lost brother, Chic, in season two, theories began flying. We know nothing about Chic other than the fact that he’s Alice and Hal’s son (maybe. I think he night be FP’s son, but that’s a theory for another article) that they gave up for adoption when they were in high school. In the comics, Chic Cooper is a secret agent for the government, which could somehow tie into why he wants to cleanse Riverdale of its sinners. Also, being that he’s Betty’s brother, it would make sense that he’d want to protect her, even though he threatens to hurt Polly; he never goes through with it though, which makes me think that he was never going to hurt her, just used the threat to get Betty to do what he wants. However, the Black Hood said that Betty would recognize, and Betty’s never met her brother.
4. A Southside Serpent
I feel like the Black Hood being a Serpent is too obvious, but maybe that’s what the creators of Riverdale want us to think. The South and North sides of Riverdale have never gotten along; the drugs and violence on the South side seem intentionally set up to contrast the picture perfect homes and families on the North side. A serpent classmate of Jughead’s, Sweat Pea, goes as far to say that the Black Hood is a hero to him and the other Serpents, giving the North side what they deserve for all the years of blaming the South side for Riverdale’s problems. Plus, the Serpent that gave Jughead the leather jacket in the season one finale could fit the description of the Black Hood.
The Sheriff’s job is to uphold the law, right? But the Sheriff’s job is also to keep the people of his or her town safe. What if Sheriff Keller decided to take it upon himself to cleanse Riverdale of all of the bad people in it by killing them? He could rationalize it by saying he was “just doing his job” and keeping the good people of Riverdale safe by getting rid of the bad people. Plus, being the sheriff, it would be easy for him to throw the trail off of him by finding (or not finding) evidence that pointed everywhere but him. Last season, Sheriff Keller worked his tail off to figure out who killed Jason, but he doesn’t seem to be working half as hard to find out who the Black Hood is.
6. Someone New?
Like I said before, the Riverdale writers love throwing curve balls at us. For all we know, the Black Hood is someone we’ve never met before and probably won’t meet until the season finale, just like how they didn’t reveal Jason’s killer until the very end of season one.