Supergirl: Who is Rick Malverne?
Tonight's episode of Supergirl centers on a threat brought by Rick Malverne, a childhood [...]
Tonight's episode of Supergirl centers on a threat brought by Rick Malverne, a childhood acquaintance of Alex and Kara's who stalks and kidnaps Alex in order to force Supergirl to do his bidding.
...But was Malverne always such a bad guy?
In story, the answer is no...maybe? While Kara sticks up for him as a "nice guy" who "carried Alex's books," he quickly wipes away much of that goodwill by saying that as a kid, he didn't know Alex was going to turn out to be a lesbian, likely suggesting that he wasn't doing those things out of kindness but because he had a crush on her.
That is, of course, not exactly a bad thing in and of itself, but it certainly casts his kindness in a more self-serving light.
Comic book fans, though, likely know a different Malverne.
In the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths era, Malverne was a love interest for Linda Lee, Supergirl's alter ego. He grew up in the same orphanage that she did, and only made a couple of dozen appearances, typically centering on him trying to uncover her sercret and Supergirl trying to vex him (this is basically the same relationship that Superman had with Lois around this time).
Eventually, Dick Malverne would succumb to cancer. On his deathbed, Malverne revealed to Linda that he had always known she was Supergirl, but wanted to let her reveal it to him on her own terms.
This is similar to the ending Pete Ross in one of the last Superboy stories around the time of the Crisis -- not that he died, but that he revealed he had always known about his friend's double life.
In the post-Crisis era, a version of Malverne returned during the Linda Danvers Supergirl era written by Peter David. In this version of the mythology, Dick had already experienced his fight with cancer and was in remission...until Supergirl realized that he was actually possessed by an evil spirit. When she kicked the spirit out of Dick's body, his cancer returned, and he ultimately died, in part because he had ignored conventional treatments in favor of appealing to the Church of Supergirl.
Supergirl airs Monday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
More Supergirl news:
- Supergirl Season 2 Finale Title Revealed
- Supergirl: Martian Manhunter And Livewire Concept Art
- How Supergirl Influenced Wonder Woman's Marketing
- Supergirl Casts Man of Steel and Smallville Alum Mark Gibbon as General Zod
