New ‘Supergirl’ Episode Titles Hint at DC Comics Villain

Reign and the Worldkillers may have been defeated last season on Supergirl, but it sounds like the Girl of Steel may find herself battling another significant villain — this one from Green Lantern lore.

A new report from Spoiler TV recently revealed the titles for the fifth, sixth, and seventh episodes of The CW series’ upcoming fourth season. While all three titles give a little more insight into what fans can expect when the show returns — the sixth episode title “Call to Action” in particular leans in a bit to some of the topical, real-world issues the show plans to address and the seventh is called “Rather the Fallen Angel” — it’s the fifth episode that has us feeling some Green Lantern vibes. That episode title? “Parallax”.

First appearing in Green Lantern vol. 3 #48 in 1994, Parallax is most commonly associated by many DC Comics fans with Hal Jordan/Green Lantern but has interacted with a number of other heroes within the universe. With immense fear-creating and mind-control abilities — and we’re talking strong enough to control and terrify people like Superman — Parallax can be a formidable opponent. A being of pure energy, Parallax also changes forms and frequently chooses one that will most terrify its intended victim. It also can possess people, as was seen early in the villain’s interactions with Hal.

The idea of Supergirl and her allies having to face a fear-inducing villain isn’t too far off from what we saw with Psi and her psychic fear projection last season though it’s probably safe to say that Parallax will work on a much larger scale. Bringing on a fear-based villain also fits in well with how series star Melissa Benoist has described the show’s fourth season, particularly the idea of Supergirl as a symbol of hope going against fear as the enemy.

“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.”

Are you excited for the prospect of Parallax coming to Supergirl? Let us know in the comments below.

The fourth season of Supergirl will debut on Sunday, October 14th, at 8/7c on The CW.