Melissa Benoist Teases Supergirl's Reaction to James Olsen's Guardian

11/14/2016 05:11 pm EST

Tonight on Supergirl, James Olsen will make his suited-up debut as Guardian, an armored, shield-wearing vigilante who will take on street-level crime while Supergirl tackles alien invasions and the like.

What will their relationship be? Well, there have already been some hints, in the form of a revealation that Supergirl will not (at least right away) know who this new armored "Guardian" is -- or that Winn will be his "man in the van," providing the technical expertise both to find crimes to thwart and to help keep James alive.

"You'll definitely see how she reacts to him coming onto the scene, and you might be surprised how she reacts," Benoist said cryptically, acknowledging that maybe a little jealousy at a new hero getting so much attention wouldn't be an unbelievable scenario.

In the comics, of course, James Harper, the antagonist in the season 1 episode "Manhunter", was the superhero Guardian, a creation of Jack Kirby and Joe Simon who is closely tied to the Cadmus Project, the Newsboy Legion, and Jimmy Olsen.

Harper, a former Metropolis police officer, took on the name of the Guardian and was in some ways DC's version of Captain America -- a man with peak human abilities, a blue costume, and an indestructible shield.

After his retirement, Harper was cloned, along with the Newsboy Legion; the elder Newsboys remained on as scientists at Cadmus, where the younger Harper served as chief of security and wrangled the kids as the original Harper had with the original Newsboys.

Cadmus, the central antagonist on this season of the show, has been name-dropped on Arrow, and a vial from Cadmus Labs was hidden in plain sight for the first two seasons of The Flash, but the lab has never really served a significant purpose on any of the current crop of DC TV series. For his part, Guardian was one of a number of DC characters speculated by fans to be the costumed identity of John Diggle on Arrow.

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.

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