A DC Hero Finally Got the Spotlight 36 Years Ago, But It Would Take Decades for Full Redemption

September 20, 2026, 10:18pm

The Flash is one of DC’s most recognizable superheroes, and his history on television goes back much further than most modern audiences might realize. Before the CW show, DC had already given Barry Allen his own live-action series. It arrived at a very different time for comic book adaptations. Superhero shows were still trying to prove they could work outside the pages of comics.

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On September 20, 1990, The Flash premiered on CBS with John Wesley Shipp playing the legendary speedster. The series gave Barry Allen his own live-action world, complete with super-speed, colorful villains, and a costume that stayed true to the original with only a slight modern update. Unfortunately, the show only lasted one season, but the series would become far more important to Flash history than its short run suggested. But Shipp’s connection to the character was only beginning. The Flash would eventually return to television more than two decades later, seemingly out of the blue. And when it happened, the actor who had first brought Barry Allen to live action would have a surprising role to play.

The Flash Finally Put John Wesley Shipp in the Spotlight

When The Flash premiered in 1990, John Wesley Shipp became the star of the first live-action television series centered on DC’s Scarlet Speedster. The show followed Barry Allen who was initially a police scientist. He gained super-speed after a laboratory accident and used his new abilities to fight crime in Central City. Amanda Pays played scientist Tina McGee, while Alex Désert played Barry’s friend Julio Mendez. The series brought plenty of elements from the comics to television while attempting to capture general adult audiences during its evening time slot. That was important at the time because superhero television looked very different in 1990. Comic book adaptations were still very young, and there was no massive superhero television universe waiting to make the character feel instantly familiar like the MCU.

The DC show introduced familiar characters and villains while giving Shipp the chance to define Barry Allen for television audiences. Unfortunately, the series only lasted 22 episodes before disappearing from television after its first season. For Shipp, though, that wasn’t the end of his connection to the character. His version of Barry Allen may have been left behind when the series ended, but little did he know that The Flash itself wasn’t finished with him. More than two decades later, the character would return to television in a much bigger way. That gave Shipp an opportunity that would have seemed almost impossible when the original series premiered, and it would eventually turn his early superhero role into something much more important.

John Wesley Shipp’s Flash Story Came Full Circle

The Flash returned to television in 2014, this time with Grant Gustin playing Barry Allen. The CW series introduced a new version of Central City and brought the Flash to an entirely new generation of viewers. But there was still a connection to the original series that longtime fans couldn’t miss. John Wesley Shipp surprisingly returned to the franchise, although he wasn’t playing Barry Allen this time. Instead, he played Barry’s father, Henry Allen. It was a clever way to bring the actor back into the world of The Flash without simply pretending the 1990 series had never happened. Shipp had once worn the red suit, and now he was watching another actor take on the role. The CW also connected the 2014 series with their Arrowverse and rumors are swirling about Grant Gustin.

The connection went even further when Amanda Pays returned as Tina McGee, giving the newer series another direct link to the original show. For Shipp, it created something of a television time warp. The 1990 series had finally given him the chance to play one of DC’s biggest heroes, only for the show to disappear after a single season. More than two decades later, he was back in The Flash’s world as part of a much bigger television universe. His original series may have ended quickly, but Shipp’s superhero story clearly had plenty of mileage left in it. And that’s a pretty good second act.

John Wesley Shipp’s journey with Barry Allen eventually became its own kind of Flashpoint, sending the actor back to a world he had once helped create. He first played Barry Allen, then returned decades later as his father, giving him a second life in the same universe without ever needing to wear the suit again. In the end, Shipp didn’t just play the Flash twice; he became one of the few actors who had been both the hero and the man who helped guide the character’s legacy. And that’s a flashy way to bring the Flash Family to TV.