Jay Garrick is finally coming back to The Flash, but what does his return mean for the future of the Arrowverse following Crisis on Infinite Earths? While John Wesley Shipp's Flash from Earth-90 sacrificed himself in the last major crossover, his time in the franchise was far from over. Even though his version of Barry Allen is dead, Shipp also portrays the Golden Age Flash, Jay Garrick. However, since his last appearance in The Flash season 6, his fate was unknown until the news came out that Jay would be back, but on a different Arrowverse series.
For Stargirl season 2, Shipp will appear in the ninth episode that will retroactively establish Jay officially coming from Earth-2 rather than Earth-3. Before Jay makes his Stargirl debut, Shipp will return to The Flash for its 150th episode. While the trailer only showed Jay briefly taking on the Godspeed army, it's safe to say he'll be a crucial player in helping Barry and the Flash Family defeat the speedster villain once and for all. As exciting as it'll be to see Jay's comeback, there are a couple of critical questions that the Arrowverse will need to address, especially post-Crisis.
While it's clear this will be the same Jay that Team Flash had come to know since The Flash season 2, how much has his life changed post-Crisis now that he is on Earth-2? The only confirmed information about his Stargirl episode is that he'll be part of an important Justice Society flashback story. However, it wasn't specified if Jay's alive in the present or not on Earth-2. Since he's appearing on The Flash again, Jay's definitely not dead. That creates a different mystery because while Earth-Prime doesn't know about the Multiverse still existing, it's unclear if people on other Earths do.
Since Jay's traveling from one Earth to another, The Flash's 150th episode will need to establish why he hasn't shown up sooner after Crisis on Infinite Earths. It'd especially be weird if Jay has had all of his pre-Crisis memories since Earth-2 was recreated but didn't let Team Flash know he and his wife Joan were still alive. Is there perhaps a JSA reason that prevented Jay from visiting Earth-Prime? While that's a mystery itself, Jay's return raises another question for the Arrowverse's future. Since they didn't know that Oliver Queen recreated the Multiverse, will this be when they finally discover that Earth-Prime isn't the only world to exist?
Ever since the Arrowverse introduced the Multiverse through The Flash, that has always been one of the stronger storytelling devices in the franchise. It's also inevitable that the Arrowverse heroes would, at some point, learn that there is still a Multiverse, post-Crisis. It'd only be natural for The Flash characters to be the first ones to learn about it since their show introduced it in 2015. As Jay reunites with his allies on The Flash, his Arrowverse return will hopefully address all these mysteries before Stargirl season 2.
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July 13, 2021 at 12:24AM
