This Month On SUPERGIRL: A Very Luthor Feeling Looms Over American Aliens

As Supergirl‘s fourth season prepares for the reintroduction of Lex Luthor to a new generation, the series is as strong as it’s ever been. Supergirl, and the CW DC shows, or the Arrowverse, for that matter, have always served as an allegory for the socio-political landscape of America. In fact, most comic books and their adaptions almost always symbolize either an actual current or historical United States event or movement. Marvel’s X-Men has depicted the mutants as the American minority as seen through the lens of Jews, African Americans, and the LGBTQ community, among other minorities. Marvel’s The Avengers series has weaved in some interesting commentary on the military industrial complex through its characters Iron Man and Captain America. What Supergirl, and her older cousin’s storyline, Superman, consistently touch upon, is the status of immigration in the United States.

Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) and her cousin are from the planet Krypton. Since they weren’t born here, they are aliens in two senses of the word. There has always been a subtext that analyses them as such in the various different visual mediums that have depicted Kara Zor- and Kal-El as illegal immigrants and a potential threat to the country’s security. This both adds conflict to the storyline and depth to the superheroes while allowing Supergirl to explore weighty themes. In Season 4 of Supergirl, showrunners Ali Adler, Greg Berlanti, and Andrew Kreisberg focus more heavily on the topic of immigration and the increased division in America as a result of a substantial xenophobic and racist population emboldened by Trump; nativism has become xenophobia and “nationalism” is used to passively describe white supremacy.

Lex Luthor, Superman’s archenemy, has always been an “America first” kind of person. He’s what many in today’s America would call a “nationalist,” which is simply a more tame way of proclaiming that one doesn’t like minorities in a proud manner. Luthor is, by almost every measure, a Trumpian figure. The surface qualities are obvious: sociopathic, childish, unstable, and bald. However, beyond that, the similarities are striking. Both Luthor and Trump have run corrupt presidential campaigns based on paranoia fear of “aliens,” and the false perception of business acumen. Both figures never actually wanted The Oval Office, but instead used it as an opportunity to promote their personal brand. It’s no coincidence, then, as Luthor was reintroduced to a new generation in the Reagan era as the Trump-inspired criminal capitalist in 1986, according to “The Man Of Steel” comics scribe John Bryne, that he will be introduced as the Trump-inspired criminal capitalist in 2018.

After three seasons, the infamous Superman villain will finally be introduced in Supergirl. During a time when horrific hate crimes are being committed against minorities and the America’s doors have never been harder to open for immigrants, the timing couldn’t be more right to explore this storyline, particularly ahead of midterm elections. Before Luthor’s introduction, let us explore the events that will lead up to his rise to relevance again. Filled with hate crimes against aliens reminiscent of todays America, a divided population, chants of “earth first” by non-alien populations, and the makings of a modern-day Cold War, Season 4 is arguably the most gritty entry so far for Supergirl.

Episode 1 – “American Alien”

The title alone speaks volumes. Supergirl is very much an American. However, many see her as an alien. A dangerous one, for that matter. Particularly with the rise in anti-alien sentiment. J’onn J’onzz (David Harewood) attends alien support groups, wherein members can discuss their day-to-day run-anti-alien experiences. Within the first ten minutes of Episode 1, the audience witnesses a hate crime against one of J’onn’s fellow support group members committed by none other than the Graves twins (Rhona Mitra, Robert Baker), two of Lex Luthor’s old criminals pals. Supergirl insists that it wasn’t a hate crime and that anti-alien sentiment has subsided, while J’onn sees the stark reality.

Reality Versus Perceived Reality

Supergirl’s views about the nature of anti-alien sentiment are somewhat naive, akin to the average liberal before the 2016 election. Few anticipated that there would be such a large population of “nationalists.” J’onn has been living among the alien populations within National City, and doesn’t think Supergirl’s experience growing up as an alien that looks like a human being is one that should dictate the overall experience of the American alien. Some, who can’t physically assimilate, have had it far worse than others. “Am I crazy? I feel like the world is better than it’s ever been. More diversity. More acceptance.” Proclaims a frustrated Kara, still surprised to hear about word of a hate movement.

Her sister, Alex (Chyler Leigh), ever the realist, sees J’onn’s point-of-view. As somebody who’s had to navigate being lesbian in this shifting climate of hate, she helps Kara, ever the optimist, see the country for how it really is. There is something to say about Kara’s optimistic naïveté, as there has been an inordinate amount of trust put in Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath), Lex’s sister. Yes, Lena, who has spent two seasons trying to separate herself from her criminal relatives, is a good person, but is a Luthor. Writers Gabriel Llanas, Aadrita Mukerji, Robert L. Rovner, and Jessica Queller are increasingly alluding to Lena’s ruthlessness and closeness to her family getting in the way of her judgment, and, in turn, the safety of those around her, including Supergirl.

The Biggest Enemy Yet: Hate

Supergirl is using what has turned America against itself time and time again, blind hatred, as the primary villain this season. An emotion can spread like a disease. “They were motivated by hate. And there’s a web of these people…It is bigger than anything I have every fought. The people involved in it are like the people I save everyday. A building I know how to stop. But these people…” Kara says to J’onn. As Supergirl convinces the president (Lynda Carter) that the hate movement is going to attack an upcoming alien summit, Lena makes a hush deal with the DA to reduce her mother’s jail sentence and acquit James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks) of all charges associated with him being Guardian.

Supergirl: Red Daughter

At the end of the episode, viewers finally get more of a taste of what executive producers Robert Rovner and Jessica Queller teased in the finale of Season 3 of Supergirl. The Harun-El from Krypton is actually Black Kryptonite, making Lena responsible for the splitting of Kara into two separate beings: one good and one evil. When Supergirl traveled back in time at the end of Season 3, the other Kara ended up in Kaznia, Supergirl‘s equivalent of Russia. This is a twist on Mark Millar‘s famous comic book “Red Son,” which envisions Superman if he landed in Ukraine instead of America, becoming a Soviet Union asset. In that comic, Lex Luthor actually joins forces with the Justice League against their common enemies, Superman and the Soviet Union.

At the end of Episode 1 of Season 4, we see Kaznian Kara training as two military men stand guard. As Russian political interference in America has occurred over the past two years, Supergirl‘s showrunners continue to reflect real-life issues with their own Cold War conflict, which, if it weren’t already revealed, would be a great crossover event of in the Arrowverse. Supergirl‘s “Red Son” adaption takes a few liberties, of course, as there are two Supergirls, one being the Red Daughter, Superman will likely remain a hero, and instead of teaming with the Justice League, one has to imagine that Kara will call her other-earthly allies The Flash (Grant Gustin) and Arrow (Stephen Amell) for another Super Friends-esque team-up. Furthermore, Lex will most likely remain a villain. In the comics, he has been known to have financial ties with Russia. Perhaps he sees Kaznian Kara as not only a solid business investment, but also an opportunity to finally beat Superman, and, by proxy, Supergirl. Time will tell. It will be interesting to see how it will shape Lena’s arc this season.

Optimism Will Win, Eventually

Hope and compassion will win in the end. But not before a lot of hate prevails throughout Supergirl. When the president is outed as an alien, it only further aggravates the alien hate movement. And we still have Lex’s return, and subsequently, Superman’s inevitable return, to anticipate, to only increase the alien race wars. For now, Kara’s world and perceptions about humankind’s innate goodness have been turned upside down. As far as the Cold War storyline goes, it will likely remain a secondary conflict until Lex becomes more of a central villain.

Episode 2 – “Fallout”

Protests have taken root outside of the White House in lieu of the president’s revelation that she is an alien. Her subsequent resignation represents the temporary collapse of compassion and rise of fear and hatred in the highest office of the United States. Writers Maria Maggenti, Daniel Beaty, and Dana Horgan are setting the stage perfectly for Lex Luthor’s rise to power again. He will use the increase of distrust that revealing the president’s identity has put in its people to mold America so that it will serve his personal interests. The episode’s title refers to effect the president being an alien has on the the American people: division. Division from government institutions (the DEO) to the media (CatCo Worldwide).

CatCo As An Outlet Of Integrity: An Allegory

CatCo was bought by Lena Luthor, who, in defiance of her family name, purchased a liberal media conglomerate that firmly embraces a pro-alien stance. Still, even in such sensitive times, especially after the president’s resignation and the following even further increase in anti-alien sentiment, James Olsen has to juggle taking too much of a side, as he doesn’t want to lose readers that may have been swayed by the hate movement. Ultimately, Olsen makes the integrous decision, to cover stories that focus on the anti-alien sentiment and hate crimes, with the help of a new employee’s plight, Nia Nal (Nicole Maines). However, CatCo may have a moral conundrum down the road when Lena and Lex begin to reunite.

Nia Nal: The Superhero We Need Right Now

In July of 2018, trans activist Nicole Maines became the first transgender actor to be cast as a transgender superhero on television. In the first court case in the U.S. to rule that a school district couldn’t prevent a student from using the restroom that matches his or her gender identity as opposed to their physical sex, Maines‘s family successfully sued her high school in Maine, representing a major victory for progress in America. Earlier in 2018, showrunner Berlanti expressed his disillusionment that there was not an active trans character in the Arrowverse.

So, he, Adler, and Kreisberg conceived of Nia Nal, or Dreamer, the descendent of Nura Nal, or Dream Girl, from the comics. Her abilities include precognitive dreams. According to Maines, Nal has “this ferocious drive to protect people and to fight against discrimination and hatred. She’s the superhero we need right now.”

“You’ve chosen a side. I’d never do that.”

Explains Lena to Mercy Graves (Rhona Mitra). Perhaps this is an apt foreshadowing of what may come of Supergirl and Lena’s relationship. Lena believes that human beings should be as as powerful as aliens, a very Luthorian sentiment. This is considerably disconcerting given the rise in hate crimes by humans, including one against the DEO’s own Brainiac (Jesse Rath). She maintains much of Lex’s human-enhancing technology without disclosing it to the DEO. Ultimately, with the help of Supergirl, Lena bests Mercy, but nearly kills her in the process. Berlanti and team are making sure to keep viewers on their toes about Lena’s loyalties.

A New Presidency, A New Landscape

Supergirl ensures the new president and his administration are safe as he takes over office. He implies that he feared Supergirl might have been loyal to the former president and not him. The audience can deduce that this administration is somewhat ideologically different. Regardless, the highest office in the country was compromised, much like it was in our country, creating an immense amount of fear and distrust in the American people. Even with a new president in Supergirl, since he is the former vice president, it is likely he will be associated with the increasing distrust in the country, further allowing for Luthor’s takeover.

Episode 3 – “Man Of Steel”

Before Lex enters the picture in Supergirl, we meet a smaller scale villain, Agent Liberty, or Ben Lockwood (Sam Witwer). He is the one who has been ordering the Graves twins as they wreak havoc against Alien citizens. Lockwood’s character arc represents what can happen to one when they become under the brainwashing influence of hateful rhetoric. Lockwood’s father, Peter (Xander Berkeley), is one of the American “nationalists” of the population. He’s afraid of the influx of aliens granted amnesty in America, citing a preposterous conspiracy in the vain of Alex Jones or some other right wing lunatic that aliens are teaming up against people like him, a white American. He goes on to complain about factories that manufacture products using alien raw materials instead of American resources. Sound familiar? He is the Supergirl equivalent of a Trump supporter. And he undoubtedly represents the kind of person that will support Lex Luthor.

An Angry Working Class

Writers Rob Wright and Derek Simon depict Peter’s angry textile workers violently opposing a new factory run by alien workers on alien raw materials as the catalyst for Ben Lockwood’s rise to Agent Liberty. Peter’s factory, which has always run on steel (and is now being replaced by a stronger metal), represents the working class population that had been historically overlooked by our government. These are some of the people who Trump pandered to and continues to do so with his slogan “Make America Great Again and the promising of a return of American-sourced jobs in manufacturing. Often inciting violence during his campaign and presidency, Trump would only divide the country further. The factory assault in the beginning of “Man Of Steel” symbolizes this divide in our country. Lockwood accidentally gets injured by an alien, prompting his spiral towards hatred.

Alien Amnesty Act

Lockwood uses the idea of progress to promote his agenda of hatred during the origin episode. The discovery of the New World was considered progress for Spain and Christopher Columbus, yet it was the opposite for Native Americans, for instance. It was, in fact, one of the darkest moments in world history. Lockwood tries to equate this example with that of the Alien Amnesty Act, which occurred in Season 2 of Supergirl. He explains that this negatively affected the working class by outsourcing jobs to aliens. People are even losing their homes. He attempts to bring this news to CatCo, which keeps these kinds of stories in the back of their magazine, but James explains that there are bigger issues.

Lockwood even denounces the term nativism as “the fear of the other” to reinforce his belief that “native” inhabitants of the United States should take precedence over “immigrants,” which, in this case, also includes aliens. Of course, this theory is nonsensical, as nobody in America today is native except for Native Americans, who are tragically disenfranchised. In the end, it is his father’s death during an alien fight that solidifies his path towards villainy.

Agent Liberty & Lena, Two Sides Of The Same Coin

It is Lena who dropped the steel contract for Peter’s company and put up new factories producing alien raw materials. Initially, she urged Lockwood to encourage his father to adapt with the times. In the end of the episode, however, she attends Peter’s funeral and offers to set up an account in his name to make up for Lockwood’s loss. Although she urges him not to take her brother’s path, she is clearly conflicted about not having put “America first” when tending to her business interests. Sadly, Agent Liberty passed the point of no return, but it isn’t too late for others to stop themselves before they go down a similar path of hatred in Supergirl.

Supergirl, Season 4, Month 1: Wrap-Up

It won’t be long in Supergirl before the stage is neatly set for Lex Luthor to terrorize National City and the rest of America. Until then, we still have the Graves twins, Agent Liberty, and the growing hate movement to worry about. Alas, with Supergirl’s life left entirely in Lena’s hands at the end of Episode 3, can the DEO fully trust a Luthor? To further the rising tension and political disagreement within the DEO, Alex and team now have to worry about a traitor, Jensen (Anthony Konechny), who has joined forces with the Graves twins and Agent Liberty. Benoist arguably turns in her finest performance yet in Season 4, showing immense maturity as the seasoned superhero, with a handful of mental battle wounds after going through villain after villain throughout Seasons 1 through 3 and then facing the far more powerful Reign (Odette Annable). As a mentor of Nia, Benoist gives Kara a wise, almost omniscient quality, countering the disheveled, anxious, but still smart and ambitious Kara of the formative seasons.

It will interesting to see Kara and Nia’s relationship blossom in Supergirl this season. To that end, it will fascinating to find out how Kara and Lena’s relationship plays out once Supergirl and Lena begin to ideologically drift apart. Will Lex’s entrance into the picture be the nail in that relationship or the event that pushes Lena out of neutrality towards the side of Supergirl and moral justice? What will happen with the Red Daughter storyline as it pertains to Lex, Lena, and Kara, and Supergirl? Supergirl is back next week with an all new episode titled “Ahimsa.” The official premise reads: “Alex asks Lena and Brainiac to team up and help Supergirl; J’onn discovers new ways to help his fellow aliens after running into Manchester Black.”

What do you think of the storylines this season thus far? Do you like where they’re taking Lena’s character? Do you think the Red Daughter will ultimately unite Supergirl‘s America? Are you excited for Lex’s introduction? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!

Supergirl has an all new air slot this season on Sundays at 8 PM. Catch Episode 4, “Ahimsa,” on November 4, 2018. For more information on this season’s episode air dates, click here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcsOph_nqm0