The Flash has come to yet another temporary stop, as Barry finally managed to best Zoom in “The Race of His Life,” preparing to pivot toward a Point-ed new chapter in Season 3. Apart from Zoom’s final defeat however, tonight’s finale at last revealed the mysterious fate of the so-called “Man in the Iron Mask,” none other than … you guessed it, Jay Garrick! But which?

Oh yes, original TV Flash John Wesley Shipp got the chance to suit up again, albeit this time as the “Earth-3” Jay Garrick. We didn’t see (the doppelganger) Shipp’s face until closer toward the hour’s end, though a captive Joe wasted little time quizzing Zoom about his masked cellmate, balking at the villain’s suggestion that “it would only confuse you.” Intrigued by Joe’s persistence, Zoom reiterated how he’d received his powers and eventually begun doping up on Velocity-9 to enhance said speed, traveling between different worlds and even encountering other speedsters.

One of whom he’d taken captive as a trophy of sorts, and even borrowed a name from: Jay Garrick!

Flash Earth 3 Jay Garrick John Wesley Shipp
Katie Yu/The CW
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Mind you, the hat actually belonged to Zoom/Hunter Zolomon’s Earth-2 father, though the real Jay thought perhaps he could “take something from him for a change” by wearing the hat to bring hope to others.

The mysterious iron-masked figure had been glimpsed as early as “Welcome to Earth-2,” each trip to Zoom’s lair slightly peeling back the mystery man’s identity. On the one hand, we knew he’d been placed behind the same kind of power-proof glass Zoom stored other metahumans, as well that the man appeared frustrated by Barry’s misinterpretation of the tapped-out word “J-A-Y.”

Perhaps the biggest clue arrived as an offhand reference from Henry Allen himself, who noted back in “Rupture” that the Zoom/Hunter’s fictional surname “Garrick” was actually his Earth-1 mother’s maiden name. Henry’s death at Zoom’s hand robbed us of an immediate payoff to that little tidbit, but given John Wesley Shipp’s prior role as the original 1990 CBS Flash, it was only a matter of time before The CW found a way to get the actor up and running again.

After all, Barry never actually told the Earth-3 speedster of his paternal doppelganger, while the newly-identified Jay only got so far as taking Harry and Jessie back to Earth-2, in hopes of devising a means for him to travel home to Earth-3. Plenty of chances to return, or even pop up in Legends of Tomorrow, as Barry’s closing trip through time only managed to muck up his own future, not those of any other world (er, maybe, but let’s think about that later).

Elsewhere of The Flash Season 3, we also know that Kevin Smith will return to direct another episode after this year’s critically-lauded “Runaway Dinosaur,” as well that the episode’s writer Zack Stentz (Thor, Booster Gold) will join The Flash as a consulting producer.

Well, what do we think? Was the reveal of a real Jay Garrick’s identity worth all the iron mask teasing of Season 2? How might Season 3 incorporate the character? Stay tuned for our full review of Season 2 finale “The Race of His Life,” and keep it here for all things Flash!

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