The news that James Olsen is going to become the newest superhero on Supergirl came as quite a surprise. Even with his modern makeover on the show, most people will have to get used to the photographer taking on crime in any concrete way. Well, we've got our first look at James all suited up as the DC hero Guardian, and at least now we can say with a certainty that he looks amazing. Just take a gander at him:
Um...OK. WOW. This isn't exactly the same as the classic look for the vigilante hero, who usually wears a bright blue spandex suit with a gold helmet and gold shield (and gold briefs over that suit, by the way), but he looks pretty damn cool like this for Season 2 of Supergirl. This first look at James as Guardian comes to us courtesy of the DC Comics website.
Traditionally, Guardian, who was created by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon and first appeared in 1942, is the persona taken on by Jim Harper. Jim was a Metropolis police officer who became the vigilante Guardian to catch crooks he couldn't catch during his day job because police procedures got in the way. He was also the literal guardian to a group of boys who would have otherwise been sent to juvenile, and they often aided him during his crimefighting and became known as the Newsboy Legion. Guardian isn't technically a superhero, as he has no super human powers. He's just a skilled and dedicated fighter, who also happens to wield an indestructible shield to help him battle the bad guys.
While Jimmy...I'm sorry, James Olsen, is generally known for palling around with Clark Kent and Superman and getting into adorable scrapes, we all know by now that the Supergirl version of the character has grown up quite a bit. While it's clear that James takes care of himself, though, it's not clear if he has enough fight training to really take down the bad guys of National City during his down time. It's not like he's Oliver Queen and has had five years of dealing with supervillains and mobsters on his own to train him up for such a task.
But, I can't argue with the fact that James, good guy that he is, will surely throw all his heart and soul into the task once he takes it on. According to DC Comics, he will even have Winn to back him up as tech support, so that should make finding the bad guys a bit easier for James when he hits the streets to look for more than your average purse snatcher.
Even though the outfit has changed quite a bit from its original iteration in the comics, it does look good. James does appear to be suitably armored up for the task of taking down a wide variety of violent crooks, of which National City has an unfortunate number. The full helmet is a nice addition, as it protects his identity and helps keep him safe, and the shield does look like it might be indestructible.
Well, we can all see how James Olsen does as a vigilante when Supergirl airs Mondays on The CW.
