'Riverdale' Finally Revealed The Last Black Hood & Confirmed This Major Fan Theory

Season 2 of Riverdale is officially over, and with it goes the mystery of the Black Hood. The masked serial killer and theories about who might be under that hood was a central element throughout this entire season, but in its final two episodes, Riverdale wrapped up the mystery so that Season 3 will be entirely clear of the Black Hood (at least, so it seems). In its penultimate episode, we found out who the main Black Hood was, and in the season finale on Wednesday night, Riverdale revealed the final Black Hood's identity, putting the mystery to rest once and for all. And yes, a bunch of the fans totally called who the second Black Hood was.

Spoiler alert: Don't keep reading if you have not yet watched the Riverdale Season 2 finale, "Brave New World." After Hal Cooper was revealed to be the main Black Hood in the episode before the season finale, the big question fans needed answered was who the second Black Hood might be. Yes, although Hal confessed to being behind the attacks on Fred Andrews, Miss Grundy, the Sugarman, and Moose and Midge, he said that he was not the who attacked the town hall during the mayoral debate, and he was clearly also not the Black Hood who tried to shoot Fred in the Andrews house during his confession in the Cooper house. So, while the bulk of the Black Hood mystery was put to rest when Hal Cooper was arrested, we still had to figure out who that second Black Hood might be.

Thankfully, Wednesday night's season finale revealed that second Black Hood's identity before closing out Season 2, so we don't have to keep theorizing throughout the season break. At first, Archie, Betty, Veronica, and the not-dead Jughead make a pretty convincing case for Hiram Lodge's new handpicked sheriff Michael Minetta, pointing out that he was supposed to be guarding the mayoral debate and that he was suspiciously M.I.A. on the night of the riots. The group works out that Hiram must have hired the second Black Hood, since he is only targeting Fred Andrews, and Hiram clearly wants Fred out of the way so his wife can become mayor. But it turns out, the Hiram-hired Black Hood is not Sheriff Minetta, but instead the former Southside Serpent Tall Boy.

Yes, a lot of the fans were suspecting Tall Boy to be the Black Hood for a while now, and a brief scene in the finale confirmed everyone's suspicions. Sheriff Minetta reveals to Archie that he and his officers tracked down the man who shot his dad, and the guns discovered in Tall Boy's possession matched the ones used at the mayoral debate shooting. But, Minetta says that he had to kill Tall Boy rather than bring him in because the confrontation erupted in gunfire.

Archie and the crew are quick to piece together the truth: Hiram hired Tall Boy to kill Fred Andrews and give the mayorship to his wife, Hermione, just as he had hired Penny Peabody and the Ghoulies to drive the Southside Serpents out of town, and gotten his right-hand man Andre to kill his mafia rival Papa Poutine. Plus, Hiram has hired Tall Boy before, back when he had the Serpent decapitate the statue of General Pickens in order to ramp up tension between the town and the Serpents.

So, now we have one Black Hood dead and the other one in custody, and with all the Black Hood crimes accounted for, that means that we are finally done with the serial killer mystery, right? Well... for the most part. That finale definitely made it seem like Betty's connection to the Black Hood (ahem... her "darkness") will play a big part in the upcoming season, and showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa apparently told Lochlyn Munro that Hal Cooper will have a big arc in Season 3, so don't think it's all over just yet.