Jay Garrick, the Golden Age Flash, will be racing his way to the CW network. Long-time Flash actor John Wesley Shipp will play Garrick again, but not on the TV series Flash. This time, Shipp will appear on a Season 2 episode of the CW’s Stargirl, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Stargirl is a relative newcomer to the CWverse. (That’s what the studio now calls its Arrowless Arrowverse.) The show stars Brec Bassinger and Luke Wilson. It began as a DC Universe series. Before it premiered, the CW became interested and aired episodes the day after they dropped on the former DC-themed streaming service. Season 2 will be exclusive to the CW.
Stargirl takes place on its own version of Earth, separate from the shows on the CW. Last year, at the end of the CW crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths, all the DC-centered CW shows merged into one continuity, Earth-Prime. In a coda of the event, almost all of DC’s planned series gained their own designation. Stargirl landed on the new Earth-2. (The Arrowverse had a different Earth-2 which was eliminated during the early days of the Crisis.)
Stargirl‘s Earth-2 has been shown to be the most comic book accurate version of a DC Earth and has traditionally been home to the Golden Age heroes that debuted in the late 30s and early 40s. The Justice Society of America is the premier superhero team of that Earth. In its first episode, we saw the JSA fighting a pitched battle that they lose. Flash can be glimpsed speeding through the fight, but he never stops moving. He’s just a red blur, so this will be the first time we actually see the Flash on the series.
It is not completely clear whether this Flash is the same Jay Garrick that Shipp played on The Flash (2014) or a multiverse doppelganger. Shipp has already played The Flash (Barry Allen) in the ’90s TV series of the same name and a version of Jay Garrick in the Arrowverse. That Jay originated on the Arrowverse’s pre-Crisis Earth-3, so this could be a Golden Age Flash that has no knowledge of the multiverse that always existed on Earth-2. That would make it the third distinct version of the Flash Shipp will play.
The CW has revealed that the Flash will appear in an episode of Stargirl that will be a “pivotal flashback episode” focusing on the original JSA. Season One ended with the young JSA’ers defeating Icicle and his Injustice Society, but revealed the Shade, a mysterious Golden Age villain. The shadowy character, closely tied to the Starman lineage since the 90s, began his history as a Flash rogue. Any story exploring the Shade’s background would most likely include Jay Garrick.
Stargirl, whose real name is Courtney Whitmore, was created by former DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns. She first appeared as the second Star Spangled Kid in Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. #0 (1999) and became Stargirl in 2003, after she received the Cosmic Rod from Jack Knight in Starman #80. Courtney was named and patterned in honor of Johns’ sister, Courtney Johns, who died in an airline crash in 1996.
Stargirl Season 2 does not have a scheduled release date on the CW as of yet. Other DC family of shows have or will soon launch their new season. Black Lightning is currently airing its final season. Superman & Lois, the newest series, debuts Tuesday, February 23rd. The Flash, Season 7, lands the following week, on March 2nd
