Supergirl: Every Character Who Returns in the 100th Episode “It’s a Super Life”

On Sunday night, The CW‘s Supergirl hit its milestone 100th episode and it’s one that saw the Girl of Steel take something of a strange trip down memory lane as she revisited key moments in previous seasons to explore one central question: what would happen if Kara (Melissa Benoist) could go back in time to tell Lena (Katie McGrath) her secret before Lex did? To get the answer, Mxyzptlk (Thomas Lennon) helps gives Kara some do-overs, taking her over familiar territory — and bringing back some familiar faces in the process.

Spoilers for Supergirl‘s 100th episode, “It’s a Super Life” below.

In order to take Kara back to those critical moments in which she could change her approach with Lena, the episode sees Supergirl revisit multiple previous seasons. While much of those moments come from previous footage of the series, there are some new interactions as well. That means we get to see the “returns” of Sam Arias, Mon-El, and Agent Liberty among others with each return playing an important role as Kara tries to decide what to do. While there are a couple of “returns” that are seen only from previous season footage — we’re specifically thinking of James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks) here — here’s a roundup of all the returns that saw some unexpected deviations from reality as we know it as well as the ways they showed up. It may be a super life for Supergirl, but some of these returns are also a super surprise so read on to see who all came back for Supergirl’s 100th!

Mxyzptlk

Perhaps the most fun and most creative return belongs to Mxyzptlk. Played this time around by Thomas Lennon, Mxyzptlk is the the “how” of Kara’s trip down memory lane/do-over adventure. In addition to the episode having Mxyzptlk help Kara determine a point where she could change things by revealing her identity to Lena, we learn that this version of the 5th dimensional imp is the “real” one — his previous appearance was one he chose to be more appealing to Kara. We also discover that he’s there to make amends to everyone he’s wronged and Kara is the last stop on his apology tour. 

Sam/Reign

Sam Arias/Reign (Odette Annable) returns in three of Kara’s alternative realities and plays a pretty significant role in each. In the timeline in which Kara tells Lena after they’ve saved Sam, Lena flees to Metropolis to talk to her about it, crushed that Kara might see her as a villain. Sam reassures her that this is not the case, but because Lena is in Metropolis she is not able to save Kara from the Kryptonite-laced atmosphere and the heroine dies. In the reality where Kara tells Lena before they use Kryptonite to stop Reign, Lena finds another avenue to do so but it results in Reign killing Lena and Mon-El instead (and in this one, Reign is killed by Mon-El before he dies.) The final appearance of Reign is the dystopian future in which Kara and Lena never were friends at all in which Reign serves as Dictator Lena’s enforcer before being destroyed by J’onn.

Ben Lockwood/Agent Liberty

Turns out there’s not a timeline in which Ben Lockwood (Sam Witwer) doesn’t become Agent Liberty. In the version of reality in which Kara tells Lena even before they’re really friends that she’s Supergirl, the pair team up and do a lot of good. However, it only exacerbates a group of people’s worship of Supergirl as a god thanks to the Cult of Rao. Ben pleads with Lena to tell him Supergirl’s real identity after his whole family kills themselves beieving Supergirl will save them. She refuses, so he kidnaps her and Thomas Coville and uses them as a way to get Supergirl to out herself. When she does, he then hunts down all of her friends and family and brutally murders them in an act of revenge.

Thomas Coville

Cult of Rao leader Thomas Coville returns in the timeline in which Kara tells Lena about her secret early on. He doesn’t play a huge role, just as a vocal figurehead of the Cult. He’s also kidnapped along with Lena and used as leverage to get Supergirl to reveal herself.

Mon-El

Thanks to one of the timelines not seeing the defeat of Reign, Mon-El (Chris Wood) doesn’t return to the future. That timeline sees him go with Supergirl to try to stop the Worldkiller, but he’s killed in the process. In the timeline in which Kara and Lena are never friends, Reign is also not defeated, leaving Mon-El in the present where he’s working with the rest of the heroes in the Tower fighting against Dictator Lena’s world. 

Winn

Winn Schott (Jeremy Jordan) may have returned to the future last week, but the beloved character appears in Kara’s alternative timelines as well. He gives her a pep talk about revealing her identity in order to save Lena in the timeline in which she never lies to Lena. He also appears — in his Legion gear — in the Dictator Lena timeline. In fact, it’s Winn who has the idea of using Hat’s hat to get Mxyzptlk his powers so that the bleak, dystopian timeline never happens at all.

Otis Graves

Perhaps the most surprising return of the episode is that of Otis Graves (Robert Baker). He appears in the timeline in which Supergirl and Lena team up early. He’s working with Agent Liberty and helps him kidnap Lena in order to force Supergirl to reveal her civilian identity.