Cyborg Superman to Appear on Supergirl with a Familiar Face

The TV Series Supergirl has been pulling out characters left and right from the Superman and DC mythos. This week, the titular heroine faces another classic Superman baddie: Cyborg Superman.

On her way to Cadmus to save Mon-El, Supergirl, played by Melissa Benoist, she runs into someone familiar: Hank Henshaw. Referred to by Kara as the 'real' Hank Henshaw, he claims to have been saved by Cadmus, which inherited the mission of the D.E.O. to wipe out the aliens in the planet. The two then start hitting each other, with Henshaw, played by David Harewood, showing superiority over the Kryptonian. He then states that 'Hank Henshaw' is now dead, and that he is now known as Cyborg Superman. The cybernetic part appearing on one side of his face gives a good nod to his comic book counterpart.

Henshaw, introduced on the show's first season, was as an agent of the Department of Extranormal Operations (or D.E.O.). The character supposedly died when he fell off a cliff after Jeremiah Danvers (Dean Cain) stopped him from killing the Martian J'onn J'onzz on their mission to Peru.  J'onzz, in turn, used his shape-shifting abilities to take the role of Henshaw, Comic Book adds.  

Fans of the comics that are watching the show would pick up the clues from season one leading up to this confrontation.  In the comics, while the transformation was quite different, Hank Henshaw was also the name of the person who became the Cyborg Superman.  In 1993's "Reign of the Supermen" story arc, he came to Earth after Superman's death at the hands of Doomsday, claiming to be the real Kal-El. He became the cyborg that he is thanks in part to the character Mongul, which, according to Cinema Blend, was given a reference when Mon-El (Mike Matthews) mentioned being to Warworld. This also leads to an interesting possibility of Supergirl facing off against a tag team of the Man of Steel's greatest villains.

Supergirl, which started airing on October 2015, tells the story of the titular character, who is the cousin of the Superman. Originally broadcasted on CBS, the show is now seen on the CW.