There are going to be a lot of new faces on the second season of "Supergirl," which premiered Oct. 10 on its new network, The CW. One of those faces could lead to a whole "Legion" of more.
That face belongs to a fellow named Mon-El, whom we see in the Kryptonian pod-ship at the beginning of the episode (titled "The Adventures of Supergirl"). He requires some explanation, so let's save him for last. Other new faces include:
_A new Superman. He's played by Tyler Hoechlin, who isn't as convincing as Christopher Reeve or as imposing as Henry Cavill or as avuncular as George Reeves. But the internet has declared him a "hunk," so 'tis enough, 'twill serve.
_In the second episode, former Wonder Woman Lynda Carter will debut as U.S. President Olivia Marsdin. "We can't believe she said yes," executive producer Andrew Kreisberg told Entertainment Weekly. Welcome back, Lynda! We've missed you.
_Lex Luthor's sister Lena (Katie McGrath) has taken over LexCorp now that her brother has been incarcerated (an oblique reference to some movie or other). Lena Luthor has been both a good girl and a bad one in comics and cartoons, and appears to be on the side of the angels in "The Adventures of Supergirl" _ so it'll be fun waiting for her inevitable heel turn.
_Ian Gomez will play a character named Snapper Carr, whose bizarre history in the comics deserves a whole column of its own. But this Snapper shares nothing but the name with his comics counterpart, so that's irrelevant. He's the editor of "CatCo Magazine" on TV, and potentially Kara Danvers' boss.
_Miss Martian will appear, played by Sharon Leal. That's kind of surprising _ M'gann M'orzz (Megan Morse to you) has only existed for 10 years, and has always been a pretty minor character. I guess she's coming on board to give Martian Manhunter (David Harewood), who thought he was the last survivor of Mars, a chance to do some emoting.
_Perennial supporting character Det. Maggie Sawyer (Floriana Lima) will add to her lengthy resume as The Cop Who Deals with Capes on "Supergirl." The character first appeared in 1987 in various Super-books as the head of the Metropolis Police Department's Special Crimes Unit. Despite having a child with a fellow in her first marriage, Sawyer has been openly gay since her first appearance. That came in handy when she "transferred" _ only in comics, folks! _ to the Gotham City Police Department in the 2000s. Not only did she become a presence in all the Bat-books, and the head of the Major Crimes Unit, and GCPD Commissioner (briefly), but she dated Batwoman _ and almost married her! She appears to be back in Metropolis now, but on TV she's in National City in some law-enforcement capacity or other.
Which brings us back to the last major new face, Mon-El. He wasn't named in "The Adventures of Supergirl," but his identity was confirmed by The CW over the summer.
He's an interesting guy.
Despite his name, he is not related to Kal-El (Superman) or Kara Zor-El (Supergirl). Despite his super-powers _ and yes, he will have them _ he is not Kryptonian. Despite being referred to as Mon-El most often, he has gone by at least three other names.
It all goes back to "Superman's Big Brother" (1953), in which a guy named Halk Kar crash-landed his spaceship on Earth. He had amnesia, but there was a note from Jor-El (Superman's pop) in the spaceship, and he had Superman-like powers, and a Superman-like super-suit (with the colors reversed). So the Man of Steel _ who can leap tall conclusions in a single bound _ decided Halk Kar must be his older brother!
Naturally, that couldn't be the case, because nobody wants to see Superman defer constantly to an older sibling, especially one whose name sounds like a smoker's hack.
As it turned out, Halk Kar was from the planet Thoron, and had just visited Krypton, where Jor-El gave him the note. Mystery solved, and the Last Son of Krypton sent his "brother" back home at the end of a throwaway 10-pager.
That could have been the end of it, except that in those days, publishers believed that comics were mostly read by kids, most of whom eventually aged out and got replaced by younger ones. They believed, and with some justification, that the entire readership turned over every three or four years. So DC Comics thought nothing of recycling a good plot, or even a mediocre one, once enough time had passed.
Which is how it happened that DC published "Superboy's Big Brother" in 1961. It followed the original plot closely, with a boy a little older than Superboy crash-landing on Earth with amnesia, super-powers and a Superboy-like super-suit with the colors reversed. Oh, and he had the same note from Jor-El.
As fast as a speeding bullet, Superboy decided this kid must be his big brother. Until that pesky amnesia was cured, said the Boy of Steel, the new boy could use the family name "El" plus "Mon" _ for Monday, the day the mystery lad came to Earth.
Despite super-smarts, Superboy was super-wrong. He found out just how wrong when Mon-El came into contact with lead.
"Exposure to lead has caused terrible molecular changes in my body, destroying my super-powers," he gasped, collapsing. "It shocked my brain out of its state of amnesia! ... I am a native of Daxam ... where lead affects Daxamites the way kryptonite affects you, except that its effects never wear off! Any damage is permanent!"
Superboy sent Mon-El _ now revealed as Lar Gand _ into the ageless Phantom Zone until a cure could be found ...
... which didn't happen for 1,000 years. That's when a team of super-powered teenagers formed a team called the Legion of Super-Heroes. Among their number was Brainiac 5 (yes, Brainiac's descendant), who cured Mon-El and released him from the Zone. Without vulnerability to either kryptonite or lead, and with the same super-powers as a Kryptonian, Mon-El was for years the mightiest Legionnaire.
They also established that Daxam was violently xenophobic, so that none of the planet's population would ever emigrate _ which eliminated the possibility of a super-powered army showing up on your doorstep. (And promptly dropping dead from all the lead in paint, pencils, auto exhaust, etc.) Lar Gand was one of a kind.
In a later reboot, Mon-El was re-christened Valor, and operated in the 21st century before moving to the 31st. In another he was called M'Onel, which was Daxamite for "Wanderer." But in almost all of his iterations, the main elements _ Kryptonian super-powers, a lead allergy, a 1,000-year pause _ would somehow be part of the story.
Of course, what happened to Mon-El in the comics may not happen to the Mon-El on TV. Still, if I were Lar Gand, I wouldn't be buying any green bananas. But I would be brushing on Legion of Super-Heroes comics.
We can dream, can't we?
