With its titular heroine and Jimmy Olsen cast, CBS’ Supergirl is looking for its first villain to fight Kara in the pilot.
Kara Zor-El (Kara Danvers on Earth) will take on a villain named Lumberjack in the pilot. He is described as a “big, burly monster of a man,” which is why the series is looking for someone akin to Game of Thrones‘ Rory McCann, who plays the Hound.
Lumberjack has had previous run-ins with Kara’s famous cousin and appears in the pilot to get a read on Kara’s powers for a mysterious superior who is pulling the strings.
Who is this Lumberjack? Well, if we dig into the DC Comics, there was a super-assassin called Lumberjack who appeared in 1980s Wonder Woman Vol. 1 #268.
It makes sense that an unseen supervillain would be introduced in the pilot, as when the series was first conceived, it was described as more of a crime procedural with elements of a serialized story. “She’s a crime solver, so she’s going to have to solve a crime. She’s going to get a bad guy,” explained CBS entertainment chairman Nina Tassler at the Television Critics Association press tour.
The series synopsis for Supergirl reads: “Based on the DC Comics character, the drama tells the story of Kara Zor-El, who was born on the planet Krypton, but escaped amid its destruction years ago. Since arriving on Earth, she’s been hiding the powers she shares with her famous cousin Superman. But now, at age 24, she decides to embrace her superhuman abilities and be the hero she was always meant to be.”
So far, Melissa Benoist (Glee) has been cast as Kara and Mehcah Brooks (Necessary Roughness) has been cast as Jimmy Olsen. Supergirl already has a series commitment from CBS.