'Supergirl' Is No Match For Reign's Powers & That's A Problem

Kara's faced many foes over the first two seasons of Supergirl, but none like the Season 3 one. According to what executive producer Andrew Kreisberg told Entertainment Weekly, the show's third season has a whole new approach to the "big bad," Supergirl's newest villain: Reign. The character may be familiar to some from her arc in DC Comics' The New 52, was introduced in the Season 3 premiere, but she has no idea about her sinister Kryptonian identity, and thinks she's just a single mom named Samantha. The character's powers in the comics are devastating — but what are Reign's powers on Supergirl?

Right now, she mostly has the power of... amnesia, because the character doesn't realize anything about her identity as the baby in the pod from last season yet. But as Samantha begins to transform into Reign, she'll also discover the extent of her superpowers. A combination of what happened in the season premiere, the character's history in the comics, and what Supergirl producers have hinted at adds up to Reign becoming a very powerful character and a formidable villain.

In the Season 3 premiere, Samantha Arias was introduced, a woman who has no idea of her secret generic difference from most Earthlings. When her young daughter was trapped after an explosion, Samantha discovered the first manifestation of her powers: Super strength. And, according to the official synopsis of Episode 2, "Triggers," Samantha will start her job at L Corp, which could put her right in the path of Kara and the rest of the characters, another step closer to learning who she is and the nature of her biology.

Speaking of which, in the comics, Reign isn't just a Kryptonian, she's also genetically mutated "Worldkiller," an experiment created by Kara's father, Zor-El. So, she has the usual Kryptonian powers that come from Earth's yellow sun: Strength, invulnerability, flight, X-ray and heat vision, powerful hearing, frozen breath, and super speed — and then some. But in the season premiere, Reign/Samantha dreams about Kara's mother, Alura, not Zor-El. Maybe in the CW version of the DC universe, it's Kara's mother, not father, who created the Worldkillers. The Worldkillers were outlawed on Krypton because they were such dangerous biological weapons, but five survived — and, like Samantha, lost their memories, but not their knowledge that they were aliens.

According to actress Odette Annabelle, who plays Reign, her arc will last multiple episodes, and she may wind up as a sympathetic character. "What I think is really special about this storyline is it’s a slow play and you’ll get to see this whole heartbreaking story unfold," Annabelle told Entertainment Weekly. "They’re taking their time with it, and we have the time to do it. I think the audience is really going to hopefully relate." In the comics, the Worldkillers also have a mutated appearance, while on Supergirl, Samantha, like Kara, can totally blend in with humans, which means it may take her a long time to realize her identity. As Kreisberg said to Entertainment Weekly, "She has no idea that she was the baby in the pod at the end of last season, so the journey that she takes this season is watching her realize her heritage and see how it manifests."

The one way it's manifested so far is by giving her the unexpected strength to save her daughter, and Reign's other powers could arrive in the same way, as surprise moments that connect to what she's doing. If she wants to see a moment she isn't privy to, she could discover her X-ray vision, or realize she's invulnerable to bullets if she gets into the middle of another attack. In the comics, the Worldkillers are even stronger than typical Kryptonians, and have increased combat skills, so once Reign begins to turn to the dark side, she could be a formidable foe for our Supergirl.