Riverdale fans finally got the answers they were looking for. Sort of.
The Black Hood has been terrorising the town since the end of season one. There’s been fake-outs, misdirections and just plain confusion as to who the villain actually was.
But it looks like the Black Hood’s identity has finally been revealed, once and for all.
WARNING: Spoiler alet for the latest episode of Riverdale.
After using a machete to attack Cheryl Blossom at Thistlehouse (who promptly shot him with a bow and arrow, which we already have so many questions about), the Black Hood set his sights on another character.
Or two of them, anyways: Betty and her mum, Alice.
Like many fans had already theorised, the Black Hood was Hal Cooper (and no, not his not-yet-seen twin or anything like that).
That’s right, Betty’s dad is the big bad that has been terrorising the town and absolutely tormenting his daughter.
Although he may not be the only one, as he told Betty and Alice he wasn’t the man behind the gun during the mayoral debate between Fred and Hermione.
Especially since the Black Hood was attacking Archie and Fred while Hal was confessing.
Still, though. Having already guessed that Hal was the big bad, many fans weren’t too impressed with the reveal.
Finding out Hal was the Black Hood had me like #Riverdale pic.twitter.com/zZU9ozKdWi
— ɐlʎssɐ (@ganonswhore) May 10, 2018
After trying to kill them both, he told Alice and Betty that Grandpappy Cooper was actually the one who killed Grandpappy Blossom – and not the other way around like he had previously claimed. He took the last name Cooper as a cover.
Hal’s dad was the one that was behind the Conway murders, which left Svenson the only remaining member of his family.
hal is the black hood i was sure of that but as he is a blossom the second black hood is his twin brother #riverdale
— emilie (@jenschester) May 10, 2018
Meanwhile, Hal was raised to believe the sinners of Riverdale needed to die – and Betty’s powerful speech at the Riverdale Jubilee was what sparked him to remember the promise he made to his mum.
Lochlyn Munro, who plays Hal on Riverdale, spoke to Entertainment Weekly about what it felt like to find out he was the Black Hood.
HAL COOPER IS THE BLACKHOOD. #Riverdale
— R.A (@RepublicAct_) May 10, 2018
He explained that “never ever ever” thought it was Hal, and that he had actually thought it was Sheriff Keller.
Adding that he never actually wore the Hood, he said:
“Well, you’re going to be shocked when you find out. Episode 21 is when I found out I was the Hood. I had my theories on who it was.
“I was starting to sweat when we started reading 19 and 20, but I thought, ‘It can’t be me, it’s just too on the nose.’
“And then episode 21 [happened], so that was a big shock to everyone.
“What’s cool about the writers is they keep everyone guessing all the time right up until the end.”
Now that Hal is the confirmed Black Hood, but I think he has a twin who shot Fred & the one who fired on the debate. #Riverdale
— Alli 🍑🐯 (@allisssonrose) May 10, 2018
He also admitted that he initially thought Hal being the Black Hood – and subsequently getting arrested – would mean that he was going to be exiting Riverdale.
However, that’s not quite the case.
OMFG HAL IS ACTUALLY THE BLACK HOOD😱😱😱 #Riverdale
— Emma💋 (@emgerrie31) May 10, 2018
He continued:
“Right away, I thought I was done. I thought, ‘Okay, so that’s my last season of Riverdale and my last two episodes.’
“And Roberto came up to me and adamantly said, ‘No, it’s not over [for] Hal. We have a whole different story arc planned for that.’
“I’m really excited to see what they come up with, so I can really jump into it.
“Because I now have really embraced this situation with him, and I want to see why he became the guy he is.
“It gives me more to do, and I look forward to it.”
