Supergirl’s Jimmy Olsen will become Guardian as season two progresses
The Guardian is headed to National City and the man behind the mask is one that Supergirl fans already know well. Jimmy Olsen himself, Mehcad Brooks, revealed via social media the first image of the CW series’ Guardian outfit, revealing that it’s something that we can expect to see him in quite a bit as season two continues. Check it out in full in the gallery viewer below!
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“These next few episodes are going to make [James] realize that being a photographer is not enough for him,” executive producer Andrew Kreisberg tells DC Comics, “So he’s going to go on a pretty exciting career trajectory that we’re really pumped by. James is going to decide that he can no longer sit back and be a sidekick, so he’s going to decide to become a vigilante. He’s going to become Guardian, complete with the shield, which is going to cause a massive problem in his relationship with Kara because he has decided not to tell her. Now there’s this new masked vigilante, and she has her own feelings about vigilantes, and it becomes a push and pull about who gets to decide who gets to be a hero?”
Guardian made his first comic book appearance in 1942’s “Star-Spangled Comics #7” and there’s no hiding his similarity to Marvel Comics‘ famous red, white and blue hero who Kirby had created the previous year. Although Guardian has had a number of men wear the helmet over the years and realities of DC canon, the vigilante hero debuted as a Metropolis cop, Jim Harper, who took to the streets with an indestructible shield to defeat criminals that he felt the law couldn’t reach.
Although Olsen himself has never been Guardian in the comics, the two characters do have a close connection. It was in 1971’s “Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #135” that Kirby, as part of his immortal Fourth World saga, re-introduced Guardian to DC lore. This take on the character saw a new Guardian as a clone of the original Jim Harper complete with transferred memories.
Although he did not adopt the Guardian identity, Jim Harper previously appeared on Supergirl, played by Eddie McClintock in the first season episode, “Manhunter”.
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