How Supergirl’s New Job Is Different

At the end of Supergirl season 1, Cat Grant told Kara Danvers that she should choose her future — select a new job within the CatCo empire, and that she wasn’t going to be Cat’s assistant anymore.

Kara did just that at the end of the season 2 premiere, telling Cat that she wanted to be a reporter. Inspired by Clark Kent, she said she knew that being a reporter would bring her closer to humanity and allow her to make a difference and have a calling.

This week, that calling starts — and if there’s anything to dampen Kara’s boundless enthusiasm, it’s her boss, Snapper Carr, who has more in common with cantankerous TV icon Lou Grant than with Cat Grant.

The change is coming, on a meta level, because when Supergirl made the move to The CW and to Vancouver, series regular Calista Flockhart, who plays Cat Grant on the series, was bumped down to a recurring guest star because she couldn’t leave Los Angeles due to other obligations.

Ian Gomez, who joins as Kara’s new boss, is the second former Cougar Town cast member to join The CW’s DC Universe this season, following in the footsteps of Nick Zano on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.

“Cat — both with Kara and I think with others — is actually devoted to mentoring people,” executive producer Andrew Kreisberg told reporters during a recent screening of Monday’s upcoming episode. “She challenges them hard, but she does that with the idea that she’s forging them and they’re going to come out the other side as stronger, better people. Snapper Carr doesn’t give a crap. He believes in the written word, in facts and ‘Are you good at your job or are you not? If you’re not good at your job, I don’t have time for you.’”

In the comics, Snapper Carr was basically DC’s version of Rick Jones, a supporting charater from the Incredible Hulk. Lucas Carr got his nickname “Snapper” because of his propensity for snapping his fingers when he talks. For a while, he was the Justice League’s “mascot,” having inadvertently helped them stop Starro the Conqueror on their first mission. He would later resign in disgrace after being tricked into helping The Joker get one up on the League.

Snapper played a major role in the 1988 DC event series Invasion!, which is the basis for the four-show mega-crossover between Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow. After being kidnapped and experimented on by the Dominators, Snaper is one of a handful of people who survive and develop super powers. They formed a team called The Blasters, which disbanded shortly thereafter. Snapper’s power — teleportation, brought on by his finger snaps — eventually stopped working.

Years later, he would re-emerge as a kind of mentor figure for young heroes, first for the third Hourman (an android from the future who had immense power but a fairly childlike mentality) and later Young Justice.

Snapper Carr was created by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky.

Supergirl airs on Monday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW. “Last Children of Krypton,” which marks the first appearance of Snapper Carr, premieres on October 17.