We’re not entirely convinced
Ever since the news that the Black Hood would be returning, Riverdale fans have been eagerly awaiting to find out his/her identity.
The original villain was initially revealed to be the school janitor, Svenson, late last year – but that ended up not quite sitting right with fans or some of the town’s residents.
But following the tragic events of Riverdale’s musical episode, it looks like the Black Hood is back.
And we may have found out his identity.
The rest of this story contains spoilers for Riverdale’s Chapter Thirty-Two, Prisoners – the episode after the musical.
Unless you’re all caught up/want to be spoiled, proceed with caution.
After bringing her not-brother Chic to the Black Hood, Betty returned home to comfort her mum – and told her that she had taken Chic away.
But as she explained where she had taken Chic (or tried to, anyways), she noticed that there was one person from the Cooper clan who was missing.
When she asked Alice where her dad was, her mum simply replied:
“He went out looking for you.”
Queue the record-scratch, “wait, what?!”, and just general confusion.
“Mom, where’s dad?”
“He went to go look for you.”
So Hal leaves at the same moment Betty takes Chic to the Black Hood? 👀 #Riverdale pic.twitter.com/0qtF9Gr6FH— mandy ♡ (@ivymorgans) April 26, 2018
So they are hinting that Hal Cooper might be The Black Hood. But Hal's eyes are not blue. #Riverdale
— team soaps (@TeamSteffy08) April 26, 2018
https://twitter.com/LexaXo1/status/989508215565111296
How can you say the blackhood is Hal???? Look at those eyes AND eyebrows! They are not the same! #riverdale pic.twitter.com/ZpjCNUazcH
— Caterina Sosso (@caterinasosso) April 26, 2018
If #PrettyLittleLiars taught me anything, it's that Hal is not the Black Hood.#Riverdale
— Harker Ryan (@HarkerRyan_) April 26, 2018
As in…the Black Hood, who went out looking for Betty?
Did Riverdale just seemingly confirm the relatively-mild-mannered Hal Cooper as the Black Hood?
It all seems a little weird, especially since that means that Hal would have been psychologically tormenting his own daughter for months – not to mention murdering her friends.
Plus, y’know, that’d mean he also tried to kill his neighbour. We can’t imagine that would go over too well.
Fans didn’t appear to take the reveal too well (although many have remained convinced of Hal’s guilt since the beginning), with many coming up with some alternative fan theories.
The biggest of them all? That Hal has a twin.
It’s already been well established that twins run in the Blossom family, like with Cheryl and Jason, as well as Claudius and Cliff Blossom.
And with Hal sharing Blossom blood, it’s not totally impossible that he, too, could be a twin – and that the Hal fans have been seeing onscreen is actually an imposter.
It would definitely explain why he didn’t know that his own wife was allergic to the flowers he was bringing her, anyways.
Combined with the fact that Hal doesn’t have green eyes like the Black Hood, and the fact that it was just be SO twisted if he was tormenting his daughter like that…we’re really hopeful it’s not actually him.
Of course, Hal could’ve also just been actually looking for Betty. He may have nothing to do with Black Hood.
In which case, it’s back to the drawing board as to who the killer actually is.
Although, it would make an incredibly easy way to get him out of the picture for FP and Alice to reunite…
