Supergirl (TV Series)

## Cast

Melissa Benoist as Kara Danvers/SupergirlMehcad Brooks as James Olsen

***Supergirl*** is an American superhero fiction action-adventure drama television series developed by Ali Adler, Greg Berlanti andAndrew Kreisberg (the latter two having previously created *Arrow* and *The Flash*) that airs on CBS. It is based on the DC Comicscharacter Supergirl (Kara Zor-El), created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino, and stars Melissa Benoist in the title role. Supergirl is a costumed superheroine who is the biological cousin to Superman and one of the last surviving Kryptonians. The series was officially picked up on May 6, 2015, after receiving a series commitment in September 2014, and premiered on October 26, 2015. *Supergirl*received a full season order of 20 episodes on November 30, 2015.

## Premise

Kara Zor-El (Melissa Benoist) was sent to Earth from the doomed planet Krypton as a 13-year-old by her parents Zor-El (Robert Gant) and Alura (Laura Benanti). Alura gave her instructions to protect her infant cousin Kal-El, and informed her that she, like her cousin, would have extraordinary powers under Earth's yellow sun.

En route to Earth, Kara's spacecraft was diverted by a shock wave from Krypton's explosion and forced into the Phantom Zone, where it stayed for 24 years. During this period, time stopped for Kara so, when the spacecraft eventually escaped the Phantom Zone, she still appeared to be a 13-year-old girl. By the time the spacecraft crash landed on Earth, Kal-El had grown up and becomeSuperman. After helping her out of the craft, Superman took Kara to be adopted by his friends, the Danvers family. The main series begins more than a decade later when the now 24-year-old Kara is learning to embrace her powers after previously hiding them.

Kara hid her powers for more than a decade, believing that Earth didn't need another hero. However, she has to reveal her powers to thwart an unexpected disaster, setting her on her own journey of heroism as National City's protector. Kara discovers that hundreds of the criminals her mother prosecuted as a judge on Krypton are hiding on Earth, including her mother's twin sister Astra (also played by Benanti) and Astra's husband Non (Chris Vance), who seek to rule the world. After briefly becoming suspicious of the true agenda of her boss, Hank Henshaw (David Harewood), she and her adoptive sister, Alex Danvers (Chyler Leigh), secretly discover that Henshaw is actually a benevolent alien refugee, J'onn J'onzz, who has resided on Earth for over fifty years after escaping a holocaust on his homeworld of Mars. J'onn infiltrated the DEO to reform the organization as well as to watch over both Alex and Kara in addition to guiding the latter in the use of her powers due to his experience with his own abilities. Kara is also being targeted by Earth's criminals as the result of her being related to Superman, and later on encounters an emerging community ofmetahumans and individuals from parallel universes. She is aided by a few close friends and family who guard her secrets--most notably her cousin's longtime friend, James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks)--which also serves as a major plot in high tech mogul Maxwell Lord's (Peter Facinelli) scheme to expose Kara's identity.

## References

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supergirl\_(TV\_series)#Premise