'Supergirl': Man of Steel Photos Released

The CW has released photos for "Man of Steel", next week's episode of Supergirl.

The episode will feature an origin story for Ben Lockwood/Agent Liberty, this season's primary villain played by Smallville alum, Sam Witwer.

Supergirl's version of Agent Liberty is described as "the ruthless and terrifying leader of the Children of Liberty, a human-first hate group" and as "a brilliant orator in the guise of a family man who can easily convince people that he's right."

Audiences got a taste of Agent Liberty's oratory skills in this week's "Fallout" when he addressed a community meeting of similarly-minded anti-alien National City residents while they also got a look at just how far he's willing to go. His associate Mercy Graves (Rhona Mitra) used a device to spread Kryptonite in the Earth's atmosphere, poisoning Supergirl and taking her out of commission.

However, based on the photos from the episode as well as the synopsis for "Man of Steel", Agent Liberty wasn't always this way. The episode will show how, over a series of incidents and input from his anti-alien father (guest star Xander Berkeley), Ben slowly transforms from a mild-mannered professor into the villainous Agent Liberty.

According to series star Melissa Benoist, the slow spread and transformation of anti-alien sentiment is something that Supergirl will have to grapple with all season as it will pit hope against fear.

"The writer's room is being really great this year," Benoist said in a recent interview. "Last season, it was a lot of fire and brimstone and a lot of homages to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which was great because I was such a big fan of that show. This season they really want to thematically tackle more topical stories that maybe mirror what's going on with the state of the world and our country. There's a lot of anti-alien sentiment at the beginning of Season 4 that Supergirl is going to have to grapple with. I think their main premise is that fear itself is a villain and can hope conquer it? Supergirl stands for hope, so we'll see. I think fear is her biggest opponent yet because it's more of a wildfire-type emotion."

Supergirl airs Sundays at 8/7c on The CW. "Man of Steel" airs October 28th.