‘Supergirl’: “Ahimsa” Preview Released

The CW has released a promo for “Ahimsa”, the upcoming fourth episode of Supergirl‘s fourth season.

The episode will build off of the last moments of this week’s “Man of Steel” which focused primarily on the origin of Agent Liberty (Sam Witwer), but also showed Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) getting the new, armored-style suit previously teased in the San Diego Comic-Con teaser trailer earlier this year. You can check out the “Ahimsa” promo above.

In the promo, Supergirl continues to take on threats to National City thanks to the new suit despite nearly dying due to the Kryptonite poisoning of the atmosphere by Mercy Graves (Rhona Mitra), but it’s a move that will only make her enemies even more determined to take her down. In the promo, Mercy makes it clear that they will find a way to kill Supergirl yet.

The episode takes its name from one of the cardinal virtues of Jainism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. A multidimensional concept, ahimsa is inspired by the premise that all living beings have the spark of the divine spiritual energy and, therefore, to do harm to one being is to do harm to oneself. It’s a concept that sounds like something that Supergirl, as an alien herself, would espouse or that J’onn (David Harewood) might share as a teaching of H’ronmeer, but it will be interesting to see how it factors into the episode — especially as “Ahimsa” will also see the introduction of Manchester Black (David Ajala).

In comics, Black is a dangerous and manipulative psychic and telekinetic. As the head of a team of self-styled superheroes called The Elite he sought to upstage Superman and the Justice League in “What’s So Funny ‘Bout Truth, Justice, and the American Way?”, a tale widely considered to be one of the best Superman comics in the last quarter century.

On Supergirl, Black is likely to be a challenging antagonist. Referenced by Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath) in the season premiere as the influence she most blames for Lex’s fall, Black has a dark past but easily deflects the brutality of his mission with charm and humor. What role he will play this season overall is anyone’s guess, but he might just make for a solid “big bad” this season or even help clear the path for one — especially with Lex Luthor on the way.

Supergirl airs Sundays at 8/7c on The CW. “Ahimsa” will debut on November 4.