Is Talia al Ghul Supergirl’s Next Big Bad?

Something I’ve always found appealing as a lover of comic books is whenever heroes are pitted against one of their buddies’ villains. In other words, if Batman is locked in battle with Lex Luthor, then you’d better believe my attention is guaranteed.

Similarly, we’ve seen this idea applied to the television medium in recent years, though not too often. One obvious example was when Eobard Thawne migrated over to Legends of Tomorrow from The Flash in order to form the Legion of Doom, which, if you’ll recall, also included the likes of Damien Darhk, Captain Cold and Malcolm Merlyn.

The reason I’m bringing this up is because we need to give serious thought to Talia al Ghul appearing on Supergirl once its fifth season begins. Comparable to how Reign and Red Daughter were teased in the finales preceding their featured seasons, Arrowverse fans should remember how the organization known as Leviathan debuted in “The Quest for Peace” earlier this month.

To give some background, Leviathan is a shadowy group run by – you guessed it- Talia al Ghul in DC Comics lore. Suffice it to say, they’ve been a thorn in the side of Batman, Robin and some of their other cohorts in recent years, but now they’re plaguing the Man of Steel himself.

If you’re not up to speed, know that Leviathan have been factoring heavily into Brian Michael Bendis’ Action Comics run for the past few months, which is actually serving as a springboard for DC’s next major crossover series, Event Leviathan, set to arrive in comic shops on June 12th.

Interestingly enough, Talia’s control over the organization was usurped by a masked figure with aspirations of his own in Superman: Leviathan Rising Special #1, which hit shelves today. If you were to ask me, it’d be wise to keep our eyes affixed to both Event Leviathan and Action Comics over the summer, as both could lend considerable influence on Supergirl‘s fifth season.

Since the source material for the next year of programming is currently being told, this puts us in a situation we don’t normally find ourselves in because it makes forecasting even more difficult. The way I see it, either the hooded fellow could be adapted as season 5’s big bad, or it’ll be Talia – or perhaps the producers will create a new character of their own making.

The tricky thing about incorporating Talia is that she’s already been introduced on Arrow, which takes place on Earth-1. That said, there’s no law decreeing we can’t meet her Earth-38 doppelganger on Supergirl. Then again, “Crisis on Infinite Earths” could just wind up streamlining everything into one universe, thus eliminating the need for we the viewers to overthink this.

With Supergirl set to return with new episodes on Sundays this fall on The CW, it’ll be some time before we learn more about what’s to come (at least until San Diego Comic-Con in July). In the meantime, feel free to let us know what you think about Leviathan showing up in the comments section below!