Jimmy Olson is a superhero. Well, this SUPERGIRL character is actually just a human — but he’s striving to be a hero nonetheless. We’ve seen him don a mask and head out to fight crime in National City as Guardian and this is a journey he’ll continue to take in season 2.
During a recent visit to the set of SUPERGIRL in Vancouver, Mehcad Brooks explained that Jimmy feels motivated because “the world needs more heroes.” Brooks said that it’s “cool to be part of that world as an actor. Just to look at bad guys and not just pull out the camera all of a sudden or look to my superfriends. It’s a big growth process for sure for James and also for me. It just makes my job so much more fun. I’m really athletic, I took martial arts as a kid and later in my adult life as well. I’m finally getting able to use all of my talents and I’m really having the time of my life.”
But Jimmy is without superpowers like Kara and Mon-El so, like Batman, he needs to figure out how to fight crime as a human: “If you have superpowers, there’s definitely a way you can approach fighting crime, right? You’re not going to get hurt, you can stop a bullet and fly over stuff. It’s fine. But if you don’t have powers, you just have gadgets. But still, there’s got to be something a little off about you. So I’m kind of bringing that to the role as well. He’s just had so much in his life that he’s seen that’s so bad that he has to bring it.”
As for sidekicks, Jimmy has Winn. “I think James and Winn are already really good friends,” Brooks said. “There’s a definite bromance going on there. And we find each other at a time in our lives when we need each other, right? I’m helping him accomplish something in his life where he feels his hands are tied in a certain way. You’ll find out this in episode 6 [which is airing on November 14]. And he’s helping me accomplish something that’s been on my mind and in my heart for years. So yeah, that relationship does become something that’s an odd couple.”
Jimmy’s also going to continue on with his day job at CatCo, according to Brooks, even if there’s a learning curve. “I kind of liken it to Bruce Wayne. You’re kind of running an enterprise during the day and at night you’re putting on a sleek black suit and you’re accosting criminals. James in the DC universe has seen examples of it before. He’s never had to do it himself, but I think he was ready for both of those responsibilities anyway. Now he’s handling it well….[but] at first not so much.”
Meanwhile, how is Kara going to react to the news that one of her BFFs is Guardian? Well….we don’t know yet. Because it’s a secret, even from her. Brooks explained that “in true fashion of a superhero, he knows that she cares about him, and he knows that she could stop him, and we all know that she could, if she wanted to. It’s more about him wanting to earn her respect in a world that he’s not in yet, so that he can prove that this is something he can do.” And soon we’ll “definitely see how she reacts to him coming onto the scene. You might be surprised by the way she does.”
Don’t miss an all new episode of SUPERGIRL tonight (November 14) at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on The CW (U.S.) and Showcase (Canada).
