‘Supergirl’ Fans Have Mixed Feelings About “Man of Steel”

Tonight’s episode of Supergirl took a moment away from the current events of the season to look back at how Agent Liberty came to be and fans of The CW series weren’t quite sure what to make of it.

Spoilers for tonight’s episode of Supergirl, “Man of Steel”, below.

Tonight, while Alex, J’onn, and Brainy tried to figure out how to save Supergirl from the Kryptonite Mercy Graves spread through the atmosphere last week, the episode took fans into Agent Liberty’s backstory. Before he was an anti-alien figure, Agent Liberty was Ben Lockwood, a college history professor who was more open-minded and understanding. However, as various alien activities had catastrophic impact on his life — his family business went under, his home was destroyed by the Daxamites, even his father died — he became more radical. He ultimately lost his job as a professor and went full hate-filled fanatic, burning down a Nth metal factory and murdering aliens.

His full transformation into Agent Liberty came when he was approached by Mercy Graves and given an armored suit, the metal mask an addition he himself made after finding it in the remains of his father’s steel factory.

The Agent Liberty-focused episode saw very little of most of Supergirl‘s regular cast, something that Agent Liberty actor Sam Witwer said in a recent interview was a risk for the show.

“403 is a risky episode in that it does take the show in a different place,” Witwer said. “Agent Liberty/Ben Lockwood kind of hijacks the show for an entire episode and the regular cast kind of pop in and out, but it really takes you through the seasons of Supergirl from this guy’s perspective. There was an alien invasion, what was he doing? Where was he?”

And, if fan reaction on Twitter is any indication, it’s a risk that might not have worked out as well as hoped. While not all comments about “Man of Steel” were negative — and there was quite a bit of praise for Witwer’s portrayal of the villain — there were many who were bothered by the episode. Some didn’t feel it did the show any favors trying to portray Agent Liberty in a sympathetic light while others felt that the episode’s timing just days after a series of terror-like events in the United States was just too much.

Want to see for yourself how fans reacted to “Man of Steel”? Read on for a collection of reactions.

What did you think about the episode? Let us know your take in the comments.

Supergirl airs Sundays at 8/7c on The CW.

You can’t humanize hate.

Important perspective.

Awful timing.

Well, at least there’s Charmed?

Not buying it.

Extra ugly.

Just skip the middle.