The Flash's John Wesley Shipp Teasing Jay Garrick Return

Following the events of 'Crisis on Infinite Earths,' one of the big outstanding questions is what [...]

By Russ Burlingame

Following the events of "Crisis on Infinite Earths," one of the big outstanding questions is what happened to the pre-Crisis Earths that were important parts of The Flash, Arrow, and other Arrowverse worlds. We know that Supergirl's history was folded into that of Earth-1 when the Crisis happened, but what of Earth-2, where H.R. Wells and his daughter Jesse "Quick" lived? What of Earth-3, home of Jay Garrick? On that last point, it sounds like fans might get an answer sometime soon, as veteran DC actor John Wesley Shipp, who starred as The Flash of Earth-90, both in his own TV show 30 years ago and then again during "Crisis on Infinite Earths," seems to be teasing on Twitter that Jay is coming back.

Using a comic released last week -- The Flash #750, which re-established the history of Jay Garrick and the Justice Society of America as DC canon -- Shipp tweeted that he was sharing a pair of images "apropos of several messages I've received today." Of course, he used the #Flash80 hashtag established by DC to celebrate 80 years of The Flash in the comics, so it's possible that he is literally only responding to the book in question.

It doesn't feel that way, though, especially since the second image goes in tighter on "To be continued in The Flash in 2020." You can check it out for yourself below.

Jay Garrick (on TV) is The Flash of Earth-3 and a doppelganger to Henry Allen, Barry's father. He was a veteran speedster captured by Hunter Zolomon during the show's second season, and eventually freed by The Flash. Shortly thereafter, there was an episode where he decided to retire and turn the mantle of Earth-3's speedster over to someone more capable of shouldering the load than Jay was at his age.

"As an actor, I gotta tell you I miss the intimacy of those Henry scenes," Shipp told ComicBook.com around the time of Jay's retirement. "Everything conspired to make those Henry/Barry scenes work. The fact that I had been, the role that he was playing 24 years earlier, we're from the same part of the country, he was born the year I was doing The Flash. There was just so much in our personal lives that made it a natural fit. We just slid into that father and son role effortlessly. And the writing was so beautiful....Because John is so fond of Grant, and Henry was always so warm toward Barry, it was hard to reset that temperature to cool. But I think it began to thaw in the episode 'Into the Speed Force,' where I take Wally's place, and I give him my helmet to get out."

There's no telling what role Jay might play if he comes back this season. In the pre-Crisis era, the Flash Museum had catalogued Garrick as a known and beloved superhero -- and one has to wonder whether that may suggest that, like in the comics, the Crisis reset things so that Jay and his allies weren't from another Earth but another time -- the past. While that future has since been erased, following the comics's suit would provide an opportunity to bring Shipp back occasionally and maybe even establish him as part of the Justice Society previously seen in DC's Legends of Tomorrow.

The Flash airs at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Tuesdays, before episodes of Legends of Tomorrow on The CW.

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