Warning: spoilers ahead for Episode 2 of Season 2 of Supergirl.
Supergirl Season 1 ended on a doozy of a cliffhanger as what seemed to be a Kryptonian pod crashed onto Earth right outside of National City. The Season 2 premiere proved that the pod contained a man whose invulnerable skin led Kara to believe that she found yet another survivor of the destruction of Krypton. The latest episode revealed that the pod person isn't just any old survivor. In fact, the mystery man is a major figure from Superman comics history who could be a major player in what happens next for Kara.
The unnamed character spent most of Episode 2 unconscious and healing, but he woke up in time to grab Kara by the throat and strangle her into the closing credits. As it happens, however, the pod person is not a villain. According to Supergirl executive producer Andrew Kreisberg, this new arrival is none other than the DC Comics superhero known as Mon-El.
The Mon-El of DC Comics fame is a character that originally went by the name Lar Gand and hailed from Daxam, which was a sister planet to Krypton. He was visiting Krypton when he was warned by Jor-El - that is, Superman's dad - that the planet would be destroyed in the very near future. Jor-El gave Lar Gand a map that would lead him away to the safety of Earth. Lar Gand survived the destruction of Krypton, but he suffered amnesia when he landed on Earth. He was unable to remember his name, his past, or how he had some to crash land on Earth.
Lar Gand came across a young Clark Kent, then-Superboy, who wrongly assumed that he and the similarly powerful Lar Gand were brothers of the house of El, and that Lar Gand's name should be Mon-El. It was only when Superboy discovered that Mon-El was unaffected by Krytonite that he realized they were different races of aliens. Unfortunately for Mon-El, he was affected by lead rather than Kryptonite, and Superboy accidentally exposed him to a lethal amount of the substance. Rather than letting the Daxamite die on Earth from lead poisoning, Superboy sent him into the Phantom Zone to endure throughout the ages. He was finally cured in the 30th century, and he joined the Legion of Super-Heroes while wearing the reverse colors of the traditional Superman suit.
Mon-El has a lot of history, so he makes a lot of sense as a character to adapt for Supergirl. He became such an important hero in DC Comics lore that he managed to survive the Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot that technically erased Superman's past as Superboy from the chronology. A special pocket universe was created to protect Mon-El's origin story, and it's a fun nod to the comics that Mon-El woke from his coma in the same episode that featured a callback to an iconic image from the Crisis on Infinite Earths comic run.
Obviously, the Mon-El of Supergirl is going to have some major differences from the Mon-El of DC Comics. His story is connected to Kara as Supergirl rather than young Clark as Superboy, and he won't be shipped off to the Phantom Zone any time soon. Chris Wood was signed on as a regular for Season 2. He'll be around for a while, for better or for worse. Here's what Kreisberg said fans can expect from Kara's fellow alien, according to TVLine.
We're going to explore in our universe the idea that Daxam and Krypton were sister worlds, but they didn't really get along. There's a lot of innate hostility that Mon-El and Kara have for each other simply because of their backgrounds.
The Kryptonians and the Daxamites weren't best buds back in the days before Krypton was destroyed, so there may arise some tension between Kara and Mon-El. Kara remembers enough of Kryptonian culture that she may not be inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt once she figures out that he's from Daxam. Hopefully the two come to some kind of agreement before Kara discovers that he is vulnerable to lead.
Tune in to The CW on Mondays at 8 p.m. ET to see what's next for Mon-El and Kara on Supergirl.
