Jay Garrick


 * For his Earth One equivalent, see Henry Allen. For his Earth Two equivalent, see Barry Allen's father. For the Earth Two meta-human who also stole his name and alter-ego, see Hunter Zolomon.

"We’re not gods, we’re men. Who for whatever reason have been given extraordinary abilities. You have to ask yourself what kind of hero you're gonna be. Are you just gonna take a do over every time you make a mistake, or are you gonna live with them and move forward?"

- Jay to Barry

Jay Garrick is a veteran speedster from Earth Three known as The Flash. Jay was found by Zoom, a meta-human speedster from Earth Two, and held prisoner forced to wear an iron mask that dampened his powers, until being rescued by Team Flash. Jay's name and mantle as the Flash was used by Zoom to carry out facades as part of a plan to inspire hope in Central City. It seems he found his way back to Earth Three with the help of Harry and Jesse due to him pulling Barry out of the Speed Force months later.

Early life
Little is known of his early life though given his surname is Garrick rather than Allen, like his Earth One doppelgänger, it's implied that Jay's father never played a role in his upbringing.

Activities as the Flash
At some point Jay Garrick was given the power of superhuman speed through connection to the Speed Force. He began helping the public as a hero known as The Flash. At some point Jay witnessed a personal tragedy and traveled back in time to stop it occurring, but only succeeded in making the situation worse. Some time after this Jay learned to live with the consequences of his decision deciding to never use time travel for personal reasons ever again. During the course of his heroic adventures, he was found by Hunter Zolomon/Zoom, an evil speedster from another Earth. Wishing to steal Jay's speed as a cure from the deadly side-effects of the Velocity serums he overdosed on, Zoom defeated Jay in a titanic confrontation but was unable to devise a way to take Jay's speed and instead resorted to imprisoning him on his own Earth within his base of operations. Hunter also put a mask on Jay with a speed dampener in the helmet in order to suppress his speed. Following this, Hunter was bored of always playing the villain and wanted to have fun playing the hero, and he took Jay's name and identity upon his own Earth to give people false hope under his heroic persona, only to take it away from them as his alter-ego and true personality Zoom.

Helping Barry Allen
He was eventually joined by Jesse Quick, and later, speedster Barry Allen, the Flash of Earth One. He attempted to continually knock on the glass. Barry soon realized that he was trying to communicate, but Jesse urged him to let it go. Barry and Jesse eventually realized he was not using Morse code, but a 5x5 tap code commonly used by POWs. The two began to work together and started to decipher his message. Barry and Jesse discovered the first part of his message spells J-A-Y as in Jay Garrick, when Barry stated that "Jay" was alive, but not with them, believing Hunter was Jay, Jay became distressed. Just as Barry got Jay to calm down enough to try to explain what he meant, Zoom ran in and warned Jay not to talk to them again. Jay watched in distress as Zoom pummeled Barry.

Eventually Barry and Jesse were rescued by their friends, but before they could help Jay, Zoom arrived and endangered them all. While Killer Frost pinned down Zoom to allow Barry and the others to escape, Barry promised the man that he would return to rescue him. When Zoom returned to his lair with his deceased time remnant, Jay was suddenly horrified by his return.

New inmates
Jay encountered a new temporary inmate, Wally West, asking where he was. He attempted to use the same tap code, but Wally didn't understand it. Zoom then spoke to the new prisoner, before speeding off, taking Wally with him, leaving him alone once more.

Caitlin Snow had an encounter with Jay while he was tapping the glass, but was cut off by her doppelgänger noticing her. Killer Frost said if she could get her powers to work through the wall the first thing she would do would be shutting him up. Caitlin then asked who he was but Killer Frost said she didn't know. She concluded that Zoom must've needed him due to him being there. He later witnessed Zoom murdering Killer Frost.

Finally escaping Zoom
After Joe was taken prisoner to Earth Two by Hunter, following a botched attempt to stop him without Barry, Hunter revealed Jay's identity to Joe and the circumstances of his capture. After Zoom's defeat Jay was rescued and taken to Earth One where Cisco and Harry removed the mask. However Jay was confused as to why they all looked shocked towards him, especially Barry. After reclaiming his uniform and destroying the mask he noticed Hunter's helmet. Harry explained what it was supposed to stand for and Jay decided to claim the helmet for himself and inspire the hope it was meant to. After thanking the team for his rescue Jay transported Harry and Jesse back to Earth Two through the breach with the promise of helping him find his way back to Earth Three.

Consequences of time travel
During his stay on Earth Two Harry informed Jay, still confused as to why Barry was especially shocked to see him, that Jay's Earth One Doppelgänger was Henry Allen, Barry's deceased father. He also told him that Barry's mother was murdered when he was 11 by the Reverse-Flash. Fearing Barry's inexperience may lead him to using time travel to forge a better life for himself, Jay kept an eye on Barry. His suspicions proved correct, as Barry decided to undo Nora's death, and created the Flashpoint timeline, before having Eobard Thawne restore the event, creating yet another altered timeline. After Barry discovered some horrifying changes to reality, Barry attempted to go back and alter time yet again. This time however, Jay finally lost his patience with Barry, intercepted him in the Speed Force and pulled the young speedster out, landing them both in 1998. Taking Barry to a diner, Jay had a heart-to-heart talk with Barry. He revealed he is aware he is the late Henry's doppelganger, Jay offered his sympathies, and explained how he understood Barry's reasons for wanting to save his parents. However, Jay stressed the consequences of time travel and that once an event is altered, it cannot be restored to exactly as it was before. Jay told Barry that he would need to learn how to live with the consequences of his actions and keep moving forward. Barry, though frustrated, eventually agreed as both Jay and Barry returned to their homes.

Personality
Jay showed himself to be a good-natured and kind man. He shares many traits with his Earth One counterpart, Henry Allen, including his kind nature, his admiration for Barry Allen, his intelligence, and his ability to control his temper even when having undergone a terrible ordeal. He also showed himself to be a humble man as well, respectfully calling Barry by their shared name, Flash, displaying his deference to the Earth One speedster who saved his life, and acknowledging him as an equal and hero.

He was not without his need for display his anger, using his vibrating hand to split the speed-dampening mask that Zoom had used on him in half. Jay was also capable of appreciating poetic justice and irony, taking up Hunter's helmet as it was originally a symbol of hope on Earth Two as explained by Harrison Wells, and Jay smiled, taking it with him and adding it to his uniform, hoping to make a symbol for justice back home. He also did this partly out of revenge against Hunter for stealing his identity, and also as a memento of this adventure.

Jay has been shown to care for Barry after learning of his past and that he is his father's deceased doppelganger and has kept an eye on him, fearing he may make a mistake out of grief. Rightly assumed Jay intercepted Barry when he attempted to alter time yet again and Jay had a heart-to-heart talk with him on the consequences of time travel, revealing he made the same mistake himself once. This allows Barry to realize the timeline will never be the same as it once was and allows Barry to move on with his life, his current life.

Powers and abilities

 * Speed Force connection: Jay possesses a natural connection to the Speed Force, as evidenced the the yellow lightning he generates.
 * Accelerated healing factor: As a speedster, Jay's cells are capable of regenerating at an accelerated rate, allowing him to heal rapidly from injuries and resist disease. This ability also allows him to resist the effects of sedatives and tranquilizers.
 * Accelerated perception: Jay is easily capable of visually keeping up with and perceiving the movements and actions of other speedsters when they are moving at super-speed.
 * Bodily vibration: Jay has the ability to vibrate his cells and overall parts of his body on command for various effects, as shown when he vibrated his hand to split the iron mask that was put on him by Zoom, destroying it. He had enough control of this ability to break only a piece of a mug to demonstrate how once time was changed it could not be truly turned back the way it was.
 * Electrokinesis: As a speedster, Jay produces a yellow electricity from his body when he runs which is the same exact color as Barry's as opposed to the lighter yellow lightning generated by Jesse Quick and Wally West and the sapphire-blue lightning produced from the Velocity serums.
 * Superhuman agility: Jay possesses far greater balance and bodily coordination than a normal human, allowing him to easily maneuver while moving at superhuman speeds.
 * Superhuman reflexes: Jay's reaction time is augmented to superhuman levels, allowing him to react to danger and events far faster than normal humans.
 * Superhuman speed: Jay is able to run at incredible superhuman speeds, as shown when ran through a breach back to Earth Two with Harry and Jesse.  He was fast enough to intercept Barry in the Speed Force when he tried to change the timeline again.
 * Interdimensional travel: Jay was able to travel between different dimensions using his super speed. He is much more skilled in this ability than Barry as evidenced by him travelling from Earth-3 to Earth-1 to stop Barry altering the Earth-1 timeline without the need for a pre-existing breach.
 * Superhuman momentum: Jay is able to generate great amounts of physical force through kinetic energy, simulating superhuman strength, notably allowing him to grab Barry while he was time traveling, and yank him out into 1998, causing Barry to be sent flying across the air and into a truck when he appeared.
 * Time travel: Jay told Barry that he is able to travel through time as he has done it before. His skill at this ability is such that it allows him to even intercept other speedsters attempting to time travel through the Speed Force. He also seems to be aware what time he arrives at when time traveling, as he told Barry that they were in the 1990s, possibly from bringing themselves to that time on his own.
 * Superhuman stamina: Jay is able to withstand the stress of moving at superhuman speeds, without showing signs of weakness or fatigue.

Equipment

 * The Flash suit: Jay wears a protective suit as his superhero alter-ego, The Flash. It is similar to Hunter Zolomon's Flash suit but when he stole his identity, Hunter switched up the colors and designs of Jay's.
 * Jay Garrick's helmet: The helmet, originally from Hunter Zolomon, now belongs to Jay Garrick. After the defeat of Zoom, Jay got his suit back and decided to wear Hunter's helmet as it originally symbolized hope to the people of Earth Two and as a bit of revenge for stealing his identity.

Former equipment

 * Speed-dampening mask: During his imprisonment, Jay was forced to wear an iron full faced mask that not only prevented him from speaking, but also temporarily severed his connection to the Speed Force. After the combined efforts of Harry and Cisco removed it on Earth One, Jay took great pride in destroying it, saying he never wanted to see it again.

Trivia

 * In his earlier appearances before his identity was revealed, Jay was seen to be skinnier and less muscular. Presumably because he was played by a different actor or stand in before his identity was revealed. A possible in-universe explanation would be that Jay was malnourished during his captivity, and that his heightened metabolism allowed him to quickly regain his physique once free of the power dampening iron mask.
 * Eobard Thawne implies that he met either Jay or Hunter given that he seemed to recognize his (formerly Hunter's) helmet in "Fast Enough".
 * Jay has expressed a fondness for corn-beef hash.
 * Unlike the other speedsters previously encountered, Jay does not wear a mask or a cowl when going by his Flash persona.

Behind the scenes

 * In DC Comics Jay Garrick is the first person to take up the superhero mantle of the Flash. He was also a member of the Justice Society of America.
 * This is John Wesley Shipp's second time portraying the Flash. The first was that of Barry Allen from the 1990s CBS The Flash series.
 * When the series was announced along with John Wesley Shipp's involvement fans hoped to see him play Jay Garrick until it was announced he was instead playing Henry Allen. However the producers kept him in mind for the role when they planned the second season.
 * Jay Garrick appearing in the finale was hinted by Greg Berlanti, stating in a tweet weeks before the episode "For those inquiring, we love Jay Garrick and would never make him a baddie. No reinvention. Keep watching :) love that you're asking q's.".

The Flash
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Season 3
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