Supergirl Season 5 Trailer Teases a Dark Turn for Lena Luthor

It was one of the more sobering revelations in Supergirl‘s Season 4 finale: Lena Luthor finally learned that her best friend, Kara Danvers, was actually Supergirl and had thus been lying by omission to her for years. It was a revelation that rocked Lena, but fans were left wondering just how big of an impact it would have. In the trailer for The CW series’ upcoming Season 5 released at San Diego Comic-Con Saturday, though, fans got their first look and revealed that Lena and Kara will come to blows — literally.

In the trailer we see Lena (Katie McGrath) confront Kara (Melissa Benoist), calling her by her civilian name while she’s suited up as Supergirl. When Supergirl responds and appears to try to explain herself, Lena punches her square in the face. A voiceover in the trailer goes a bit further, revealing Lena doesn’t want to kill Supergirl, just make her hurt the way she hurt.

It’s also worth noting that while the trailer does show Lena and Supergirl at odds with Lena appearing to be a lot more like her deceased brother, the diabolical Lex Luthor (Jon Cryer), it also does show Lena as more of a woman in deep pain as opposed to an actual villain. That’s an important distinction, one that appears to be something that is central to Season 5 with Benoist having previously told Entertainment Weekly that the season will be a fight for Lena’s soul.

“This season’s going to be a fight for Lena’s soul,” Benoist said, who was surprised and heartbroken by how Lena found out Kara’s secret. “I was devastated that it was Lex Luthor that told her. That was such a shot in the heart to Lena, a character that my character loves so dearly. It was painful.”

McGrath herself has also previously said that she never wanted Lena to learn Supergirl’s identity, though Benoist said she always knew it was going to happen and she thinks it’s important to explore.

“To me, that would be wishful thinking, but I always knew it was going to happen,” Benoist said. “I think part of what we are trying to do on Supergirl specifically, too, is explore relationships between women, and friendships, and sisterhoods, and how we treat each other, how we communicate that’s different between men and women. I think their relationship is singular already because they’re such close friends and you get to explore that. This is only going to make that conversation a little more complicated.”