Who is Mon-El on Supergirl?

Wow. Where to start with Mon-El?

When I was a teenager, Lar Gand (more popularly known as Mon-El) was known as Valor. Spinning out of the events of Eclipso, the character was a Superman-level power who was having vague memories of a past life.

That’s just one of a handful of different versions of Lar Gand/Mon-El, and there’s a lot of confusion that comes with him. In some stories, he’s actually been slotted in to replace Superboy due to retroactive continuity changes that made Superboy appearances impossible.

He’s from Daxam, a fictional DC world with a people who have powers and abilities similar to those of Kryptonians — but instead of being weakened by Kryptonite, it’s lead that kills them.

Lar Gand studied “forbidden lore” on Daxam, including stories of Krypton. When he decided to follow Kal-El’s rocket to Earth, he crashed and lost his memory. Given his similar abilities, a then-teenage Superboy supposed that the two might be related, and Lar Gand took on the name Mon-El. Later, when exposure to lead nearly killed him, Mon-El was placed in the Phantom Zone, where he emerged in the 30th Century to be healed by (and join) the Legion of Super-Heroes.

It’s as a Legionnaire that he had the most connection to Supergirl, particularly during Mark Waid’s Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes run. He would also serve as Earth’s primary super-protector during “World of New Krypton,” headlining the Superman titles while Superman himself was living with thousands of unsettled Kryptonians on the moon.

Ah, comics.

It seems likely that version — one who is fascinated/obsessed by Kryptonian lore, and who comes to Earth believing himself to be Kryptonian or wanting to be part of the El heritage — will be the one they use on the show. Of course, this being a Berlanti/Kreisberg show, it’s just as likely he’ll turn out to be evil and just playing dumb.

If he’s not, though? Could we see Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes on TV?!