The Flash: Every character ranked from worst to best

5. Joe West

Where to even begin with how great a character Joe West is? From CCPD Detective to Captain, from non-believer of the impossible to fully-fledged member of Team Flash, from our TV screens right into our hearts; Joe West is a paragon of integrity.

The father of Iris and Wally, he also became a major father figure to Barry after his mother’s death, taking him in and looking after him. That’s the thing about Joe West; it doesn’t matter what he’s doing or where he is; he will show up for the people that he loves. And his heart-warming conversations with Iris, as well as his incredible motivational speeches to Barry, are just some of the absolutely endless examples of that you will find in The Flash‘s nine seasons.

The Flash‘s later seasons were a frustrating time for Joe West fans because the show often came up with ways to write the character out of the story, ignore him for large portions of time, or have him act somewhat out of character. But not even that, nor his exit as a full-time character in the final season, is enough to take away from the absolute heartfelt performance Jesse L. Martin delivered every time he was on-screen.