‘Supergirl’ spoilers: How the Martian Manhunter reveal changes things

Sometimes, TV is best when you are willing to make a few changes on the fly. This is precisely what happened with “Supergirl” Monday night. Going into the season, every suggestion out there was that David Harewood’s character of Hank Henshaw was going to be Cyborg, and a villain who would work in opposition to Alex, Kara, and others at the DEO.

However, what we learned in the end Monday was that rather surprisingly, he was even more of a hero than we could have ever predicted. His alter ego is none other than Martian Manhunter, a very famous DC Universe character who is a shapeshifter, and once he starts to reveal himself more, could become a role model of sorts to Kara Zor-El as she learns how to be a hero in this world. Speaking on this subject to The Hollywood Reporter, executive producer Andrew Kreisberg had the following message to pass along:

“Watching this relationship that’s growing between him and Alex and him and Kara that started out in a very gruff place and then by the time you’re getting into the meat of the season, they’ve become this little family unit … He’s become a surrogate father for them, and at the same time, they’re helping him become more human. It’s one of the great surprises of the show.”

We personally couldn’t be excited more about the reveal. While our feeling of “Supergirl” as a relatively-imperfect show has not changed much since this reveal first came to light, this does give us a little bit of something more to be excited about. It’s innovative, surprising, and it gives Harewood some of the meatiest material we’ve gotten to see him play.

You can see more of what the actor had to say about this reveal over at the link here. Also, sign up now to secure some other TV scoop on all we cover, sent right over to you via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: CBS.)