Supergirl’s James Olsen To Suit Up as The Guardian

Mehcad Brooks is going to have to get used to wearing a costume, as James Olsen will be pulling double duty as the Guardian this season on Supergirl, producers revealed this morning at a Q&A on the Warner Bros. lot in Los Angeles.

The move offers Brooks’s character a clearer role in Team Supergirl, which makes sense given the changes being made at CatCo in season two of the CW drama.

“James has a pretty big turn coming up. These next few episodes are going to make him realize that being a photographer…is not enough for him, so he’s going to go on a pretty exciting career trajectory that we’re pretty pumped by,” teased executive producer Andrew Kreisberg. “James is going to decide that he can no longer sit back and be a sidekick, so he’s going to become a vigilante. He’s going to become Guardian, complete with the shield, which is going to cause a massive problem in his relationship with Kara, becuase he’s not going to tell her.”

James will recruit Winn to be his “man in the van,” so Winn will be helping both Supergirl and Guardian, but trying to keep his “night job” off the radar of Supergirl and the DEO.

Last season, character actor Eddie McClintock appeared on the series in the role of James Harper, the character known as Guardian in the comics. Over the years, both Malcolm Duncan and Jake Jordan, both men of color, among others have assumed the role of the Guardian. Arguably the most visible iteration of the Guardian was the one in Young Justice, heavily influenced by the Jake Jordan version of the character.

Supergirl airs on Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.