Is Despero in the Supergirl Pilot?

Supergirl Arrow  The Flash 

And along the way, fans met Hank Henshaw, director of the Department of Extranormal Operations, one of the DC Universe’s alphabet soup of quasi-governmental organizations who police and/or interact with the metahuman community.

For the purposes of the show, they seem mostly or perhaps exclusively concerned with aliens, though, which is why it’s interesting to see the purple-skinned character at the bottom of one of the DEO’s monitor banks.

Many fans suspected it was The Parasite, an Earth scientist whose experiments transformed him into a purplish-pinkish monster who consumed energy from others. He’s a likely candidate because of his coloring, the fact that he he didn’t have much else identifying him and the fact that he’s one of the more famous and recognizable members of the Superman family rogues gallery.

We think it’s probably more likely that you’re seeing Despero, though.

The alien despot is generally depicted with a third eye in his forehead and a fin on his head (which may come up from behind or ride the crest of his skull, depending on the artist). He’s been known to challenge the Justice League and more recently appeared as one of the Time Stealers, a group who tried to menace Booster Gold and Rip Hunter.

The absence of a fin may be damning, but much of this sizzle reel looks like it features incomplete or not-final visual effects. The fin could be something they were going to add later. There’s certainly something on this character’s forehead. If I didn’t suspect he was Despero, I wouldn’t necessarily say that it looks like a third eye, but I woudln’t shy away from the possibility either.

He’s also a darker shade of purple and more muscled than current iterations of The Parasite have been; he tends to be more melty, monstrous and less muscled in his newer appearances. The wide nose, almost cro-magnon brow that shadows his eyes, pronounced lines on his face and scowl also feel very much like a look that you’d see on Despero.

So…what do you think? Does that look like Despero? And would you like to see him on Supergirl this season?