Ever since Mehcad Brooks was originally cast as James “Jimmy” Olsen for Supergirl, I and others couldn’t help but notice he didn’t quite have the nerdy appearance we’ve come to know from the character. In fact, I maintained from the beginning that he looked much more like a superhero.
In fact, I remember some fans using crafty photo editing to place Brooks as Val-Zod, the Superman known from Earth 2 comics and, trust me, what I saw was quite believable. And although James may not be Kryptonian, I’m guessing the producers working on the series noticed the actor’s impressive build along the way, perhaps influencing them to evolve him into the Guardian.
After giving criminals on the streets of National City one more person to fear throughout season 2, Olsen has since taken a step back from the vigilante lifestyle in season 3, instead focusing on his duties of running CatCo. But if this freshly released synopsis is to be taken at face value, it looks like his days of anonymity may be numbered:
JAMES CONSIDERS UNMASKING AS GUARDIAN – When Tanya (guest star Nesta Cooper), a disciple of Coville’s, escapes from what’s left of his cult, she gives Kara (Melissa Benoist) and James (Mehcad Brooks) a journal that could hold the key to saving Sam (Odette Annable). Someone learns Guardian’s identity and threatens to expose James if he doesn’t do what they ask. James contemplates what it means to be a black vigilante without a mask in America. Mairzee Almas directed the episode written by Paula Yoo & Eric Carrasco (#319). Original airdate 5/21/2018.
While it does sound riveting and the show has taken it up a notch in the way of drama this year, it remains to be seen if this offering will have the depth of an episode of Black Lightning when it comes to tackling relevant social issues. Still, we’re interested to see how it all pans out.
Supergirl airs on Mondays on The CW, with “The Fanatical” set to debut on May 21.
