Heroic actor of the week (12/8): John Wesley Shipp

In this year’s final Heroic Actor of the Week, we look at how The Flash’s John Wesley Shipp made an unforgettable impact in the Arrowverse’s Crisis On Infinite Earths.

It’s been quite the half-season for superhero television. A year that has seen Titans return for a second offering, Watchmen make an impact on HBO and Riverdale get crazier than ever, there has been a lot of great content to divulge. And that content allowed us to see some incredible performances, which we looked at in-depth in our new weekly column, Heroic Actor of the Week, which highlighted performances from the likes of Katie Cassidy, Curran Walters and Candice Patton. However, perhaps the biggest event of them all was the Arrowverse’s long-awaited Crisis On Infinite Earths crossover.

That’s right, after years of world-building and foundation-laying, Crisis brought the superhero TV season to a close last week by kicking off across three episodes of Supergirl, Batwoman and The Flash.

Being the game-changing event that it was, it’s only natural that Crisis On Infinite Earths brought with it some moving performances – and believe this writer when he says that great performances were plentiful. That said, there was one performance that, although brief, managed to stand out among all the chaos, cameos and Crisis.

So without further ado, we give you this year’s final Heroic Actor of the Week.

John Wesley Shipp – Crisis On Infinite Earths (The Flash)

John Wesley Shipp is no stranger to moving us with his performances – something he’s done multiple times on The Flash, particularly in his role as Barry Allen’s father Henry. But there was something about his performance in Crisis On Infinite Earths that, although not the most emotional of them all, was undeniably inspiring and hopeful – something that the character he plays is literally all about.

Reprising his most famous role as The Flash/Barry Allen from the 1990s TV series (also titled The Flash) – which just so happens to be Earth-90s Flash in the Arrowverse’s infinite multiverse – Shipp’s veteran speedster spoke of how he ultimately married love interest Tina McGee, before going on to save Earth-1’s Flash (Grant Gustin) by taking his place on the cosmic treadmill and sacrificing himself to stop the Crisis.

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We may not have gotten to spend much time with this Flash (on this show at least), but we’re all familiar with the warmth that Shipp brings to any of his three Arrowverse roles (the other being Jay Garrick). All three of those characters are father figures to Barry Allen, but it’s his engaging performance that ensures he becomes almost a father figure to viewers too.

Seeing him back in his original role is nothing short of a sight to behold. He’s powerful, charismatic and a strong leader that managed to stand out in a colorful array of costumed heroes. And his performance of The Flash’s sacrifice – which was made all the more emotional by the flashback to the ’90s show and the fact that he called Barry “son” – somehow managed to make what should have been a harrowing scene a triumphant one.

John Wesley Shipp was born to play The Flash and this was just another perfect example of that in a career that is full of them. An incomparable performance from an incomparable veteran.

Congratulations, Flash.

This was our final Heroic Actor of the Week piece this year. The column will return in January 2020. In the meantime, why not check out our previous Heroic Actors of the Week here?! Thanks for reading!