From being Superman’s pal to being stronger together with CW’s “Supergirl”, James Olsen has been part of the never-ending battle for truth, justice, and the American Way with the Man of Steel and his cousin. Now, he is about to suit up and be on the front lines as well as on the front pages, as Supergirl executive producer Andrew Kreisberg announced that James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks) will become the Guardian.
“These next few episodes are going to make [James] realize that being a photographer is not enough for him, so he’s going to go on a pretty exciting career trajectory that we’re really pumped by. James is going to decide that he can no longer sit back and be a sidekick, so he’s going to decide become a vigilante,” Kreisberg stated. “He’s going to become Guardian, complete with the shield, which is going to cause a massive problem in his relationship with Kara because he has decided not to tell her. Now there’s this masked vigilante, and she has her own feelings about vigilantes, and it becomes a push and pull about who gets to decide who gets to be a hero?”
After all, Kara/Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) has been the guardian of National City for a year: rising/falling/rising again as the world’s finest of superheroes, becoming an advocate with a desire to right wrongs and seek justice done, serving as both a shield and a symbol for female empowerment, light, hope, positivity, and goodness.
So, could we have Supergirl vs. Guardian in the tradition of “Batman v. Superman” and CW’s “Arrow vs. Flash” sometime in the near future?
For now, though, National City’s newest Guardian will have his own sidekick in the form of Winn (Jeremy Jordan), who’s now working at the Department of Extra-Normal Operations (DEO) agency.
“[James] recruited Winn to help him,” Kreisberg said. “The two of them are doing this together, and Winn and James together – it’s comedy gold. Watching Winn, as he takes his job at the DEO, but then he’s lying to everybody about how he’s spending his nights – because he’s going out with James – and how he walks in exhausted or walks in with a black eye and says he walked into a door. It’s the fun and excitement of building these first 10 episodes.”