Greatest American Hero William Katt Appears In “Crisis on Earth-X”

Believe it or not… the upcoming crossover between Supergirl, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow and The Flash has another trick up its sleeve.

Photos from the upcoming “Crisis on Earth-X” crossover were released late last week, and some joked that it appeared Colonel Sanders of KFC fame would be officiating the wedding of Barry Allen and Iris West. Curiously, the photo captions didn’t list the name of the actor playing the pastor, who most certainly wasn’t the KFC pitchman… but a Google search confirmed our suspicions.

Decades before the Arrowverse and even a few years before John Wesley Shipp wore the suit of The Flash, TV brought us The Greatest American Hero, a series about a teacher named Ralph Hinkley who obtained an alien costume that gave him super powers… though sadly, he lost the instruction manual for it. The series starred William Katt as Ralph; reboots of the series have been attempted several times over the years but it never ended up happening. Right now, ABC has a Greatest American Hero reboot in development.

In addition to the color costume and likable cast in Katt, Connie Sellecca, and the late Robert Culp, Joey Scarbury’s Greatest American Hero theme song “Believe It Or Not” was a staple of 1980’s radio.

It appears that it is William Katt who is playing the pastor of the WestAllen wedding ceremony. A peek at Katt’s Facebook page did confirm that he’d be showing up soon on Supergirl.

Might he put on the red jammies to help save the day and beat up some Nazis? Doubtful. But is the Arrowverse paying tribute to a hero of times past? Absolutely.

It should also be noted that this isn’t the first time William Katt’s heroic legacy has been referenced; Katt also appeared in the second episode of Season 3 of NBC’s Heroes, and a clip of his encounter with one of Ali Larter’s many characters was shown in the “Previously On…” for most of the season. KryptonSite’s Craig Byrne interviewed him about that appearance at a Greatest American Hero reunion.

You can see William Katt and all of the “Crisis on Earth-X” wedding action in the gallery below. “Crisis on Earth-X, Part 1” airs this Monday, November 27 on The CW.