35 Years Ago Today, An Iconic DC Show Came to an End (But Fans Finally Got Closure Decades Later)

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Long before superheroes ruled movies and TV, Marvel and DC Comics spent years bringing their characters to the screen. In 1966, the Batman TV series with Adam West introduced live-action superheroes to a wide audience, and a decade later, Lynda Carter starred as Wonder Woman in a popular drama that lasted three seasons. The Incredible Hulk, featuring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno, proved superhero stories could attract viewers for years with a five-season run. On Saturday mornings, The New Adventures of Superman brought the Man of Steel to animated form in 1966, and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (1981) expanded Marvel’s universe in a way that foreshadowed their later movie plans. Another early attempt was the 1990 CBS adaptation of The Flash.

Today marks 35 years since the original The Flash series concluded on May 18, 1991, after just one season of 22 episodes. Created by Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo, the CBS show featured John Wesley Shipp as Barry Allen, sporting a distinctive red suit that was expensive to produce – costing over a million dollars per episode. While the show initially generated buzz, frequent changes to its timeslot led to declining viewership and its eventual cancellation. This meant the story of the Flash couldn’t fully explore its villains. Despite its short run, the series had a lasting impact on DC television, raising the bar with its high production quality and cinematic style – qualities that a later version of the show would clearly build upon.

How The CW’s The Flash Brought Back John Wesley Shipp

In 2014, The CW launched The Flash, building on the success of Arrow, which had become a hit in 2012. The network was hoping The Flash would prove their strategy of creating a shared superhero universe – later known as the Arrowverse – was viable, and it did. This paved the way for other series like Supergirl, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman, and Black Lightning, all linked through yearly crossover events that appealed to DC fans across different channels. After nine seasons and 184 episodes, The Flash concluded on May 24, 2023, becoming one of the longest-running superhero shows ever made for television.

From the beginning, The CW’s The Flash clearly showed respect for the 1990 CBS series, treating it as an important foundation. The show’s creators even brought back several original cast members, like Mark Hamill as the Trickster, Amanda Pays as Dr. Tina McGee, and Alex Désert as Julio Mendez. These actors didn’t just reprise their original roles; they played versions of those characters that fit into the show’s larger universe. However, the most significant nod to the 1990s series came with the inclusion of John Wesley Shipp, a star from the original show, into the main storyline.

John Shipp initially appeared in The Flash as Henry Allen, Barry’s father who was in prison, a role he played throughout several seasons. The show then expanded his role by introducing the concept of the multiverse, casting him as Jay Garrick, an older version of The Flash from another Earth who mentored Barry. The culmination of this came during the Crisis on Infinite Earths event, where Shipp wore an updated version of his original Flash costume, officially connecting the show to the wider Arrowverse. During this large crossover, his character, the Earth-90 Flash, bravely sacrificed himself to save all realities by running on a special treadmill to stop an anti-matter wave. This provided a satisfying conclusion to a story that had been left unfinished for many years.

As a longtime fan, I’m happy to report that you can finally own the truly iconic 1990 Flash series digitally. If you’re more familiar with the recent CW show, that Flash is currently streaming over on Netflix. So, whether you’re an old-school devotee or a newer fan, there are options for getting your speedster fix!

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2026-05-18 23:13