Hiram Lodge Sounds A Lot Like The Black Hood On Riverdale, But It May Not Mean What We Think

Veronica may have been wrong about her father orchestrating Jason Blossom's murder, but could the formerly incarcerated businessman be behind the Black Hood killings? There's video evidence to suggest the answer is "definitely" — but it might not mean what we think it does.

Everyone has their own theory as to who the Black Hood really is, but whether you believe the masked man is secretly Hal Cooper (Lochlyn Munro), Sheriff Keller (Martin Cummins), or even Betty's long-lost brother Chic (to be played by Hart Denton), tangible evidence is hard to come by.

However, a video posted by Twitter user @Chloe1D, and later uncovered by website PopBuzz, seems to suggest that Hiram Lodge (Mark Consuelos) is actually the person behind those Black Hood calls.

In her video, @Chloe1D adjusted the pitch of one of the Black Hood phone calls, revealing a "normal" voice that sounds a lot like Veronica's shady dad. She even posted a scene in which Hiram appears in order to compare it to the Black Hood's voice.

There's no way to tell for sure if the Black Hood's voice is really Consuelos in that scene, but for the sake of argument, let's say it is. Does that mean that Hiram is the person targeting the sinners of Riverdale?

I don't think so — but that doesn't mean he wasn't the one calling Betty (Lili Reinhart) and manipulating her into betraying her friends.

We believe that the person talking to Betty is the person behind all of the Black Hood shootings, but the only thing that we know seemingly for sure is that they're connected to the execution of the Sugarman. Betty identified the person selling Riverdale's drug of choice, Jingle Jangle, which led to the Black Hood entering the jail cell to kill said dealer.

Yet there's one weird piece of the story that makes it seem like the Black Hood isn't who he says he is. When Betty told the Black Hood to go after attempted rapist Nick St. Clair (Graham Phillips), a true sinner, the killer balked, claiming that Nick wasn't really a "son of Riverdale." Yet Ms. Grundy (Sarah Habel), who died by the Black Hood's hand for a similar offence, wasn't from Riverdale, or even living in it at the time.

Nick is the son of a friend of Hiram's, and while Hiram does seemingly have Nick's family injured in a car accident later on in the episode, it's possible that, at the time of that phone call with Betty, Hiram doesn't want to hurt Nick. Maybe Hiram only posed as the Black Hood in order to manipulate Betty into doing his bidding? He could benefit from killing the Sugarman, but would not benefit from hurting Nick.

Sheriff Keller mentions at one point during the season that the notes sent by the Black Hood had some odd inconsistencies. Is it possible that they were written by two different people — the real Black Hood, and then Hiram?

Consider this: The Black Hood's notes were all public information, meaning that it wouldn't be impossible for someone to fake their M.O. in order to scare Betty. It's also possible that Hiram knew more about his daughter's friends than one might expect — the walls at the Lodge's apartment are notoriously thin, and it's quite possible that Betty let slip details of her life to Veronica (Camila Mendes) that Hiram was able to use to manipulate the Cooper daughter later on.

The real question, of course, is why: What would pretending to be a serial killer do for Hiram? It might be his way of ultimately taking over all of Riverdale. In season 1, Hiram paid the Southside Serpents to destroy the drive-in. Later, in season 2, Hiram encouraged Archie (K.J. Apa) to move forward with his Red Circle army, despite the fact that it would plunge Riverdale into chaos. Hiram also bought the struggling Pop's Diner, where the Black Hood first appeared, but keeps his ownership a secret.

Perhaps Hiram wants Riverdale to disconnect completely from what it once was, in order for him to go in, buy up land, and create something that he has complete power over?

It's just one of many theories surrounding the Black Hood. But season 1 Veronica certainly seemed right about her dad being shady as hell: If he's the Black Hood, or pretending to be, everyone in Riverdale should be worried.