Spoilers for tonight’s episode of Supergirl below.
If you’ve been watching Supergirl for the entirety of Season 1, you will have no doubt thought to yourself at one point or another that David Harewood’s DEO head Hank Henshaw was kind of a hard-nosed, secret-keeping dick. It was revealed tonight in “Human for a Day” that real-life Hank Henshaw is dead, and the current version is actually J’onn J’onzz, better known to comic fans as Martian Manhunter. There’s a good chance you were cheering so loud during this big reveal that you didn’t even hear him introduce himself.
Martian Manhunter is one of the seven original members of DC's Justice League, and this marks his second major presence in a live-action TV show. In and of himself, Martian Manhunter an incredible thing to bring to Supergirl, which looked temporarily destined to utilize the outskirt-riders of the comic book medium. And beyond already having the perfect look for the character, which was at the center of some fan theories that this exact reveal was coming, Harewood is now able to give Henshaw an added depth and it makes audiences rethink some of his actions this season.
But story, schmory. The best part of the episode was watching the transformation from Henshaw to J'onzz, and getting that first look at how Supergirl thinks this character should look. I'm a sucker for glowing red eyes in the first place, and I like the simplistic take on the appearance. Alien head. Armor that has an X-ish shape on the front. Some reverb in his voice. It's Martian Manhunter, y'all.
So yes, once you get past the look and the "whoa" moment, one can reflect on how this is also a nice spin on how Henshaw was originally described as more of an evil character, which led to obvious assumptions that he would turn into Cyborg Superman, as it was in the comics. So instead of him being a villain out to take down Supergirl and other good guys, he's actually a better good guy than everyone else.
At least, assuming his reputation hasn't been tarnished by backstory in this show. I mean, we do know that he owes his life to Jeremiah Danvers, and he's keen on keeping Alex safe as a way of repaying that debt, so we'll stay optimistic. We can't wait to see how Henshaw's story expands from here, now knowing just how important the show's creators view him as.
Recently having gotten an extended episode order, Supergirl has one more episode left in its pre-hiatus run, and the show will return to CBS on Mondays at some point in early 2016. Let us know what you guys thought of the reveal below.
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