Bizarro, DC Comics Villain, Coming To CBS’ ‘Supergirl’ In 2016

CBS’ Supergirl just saw it’s mid-season finale on December 14, and so far the show has introduced a number of classic DC villains, as well as heroes. The show’s executive producer, Andrew Kreisberg, appeared on filmmaker Kevin Smith’s comic book-themed podcast Fatman on Batman, and during the two-part interview, he mentions that plans are in place to bring DC Comics villain Bizarro to the CBS series, around the 52:50 mark.

“We’ve got the Toyman coming up, we got Bizarro,” he says. However, Kreisberg did not specify which version of Bizarro would be appearing on the show.

There are two versions of the villain. The most well-known version is the classic Superman villain, the imperfect clone of The Man of Steel, Bizarro Superman. The other is the imperfect clone of Kara, a.k.a. Supergirl – Superman’s cousin, Bizarrogirl.

Bizarro is an imperfect clone of Superman, who holds all of the same superpowers, yet none of his morality or ethics. In essence, Bizarro is and represents the exact opposite of what Superman is and represents, a twisted reflection of his pure heroism. The character goes on destructive rampages, creating devastation all around him, with an unbreakable commitment to violence, mirroring Superman’s relentless efforts to do good. He possesses flawed logic, speaks in almost broken English and is not capable of understanding that his actions are deplorable. He believes with all of his heart that he is the hero, and Superman is the villain. The character was created by writer Otto Binder and artist George Papp and his first appearance was in Superboy #68 (1958).

In Mike Conroy’s 500 Comicbook Villains, writer Alvin Schwartz claimed that he originally created the character before Binder and Papp.

“I was striving, you might say, for that mirror-image, that opposite. And out of a machine which would reveal the negative Superman, came the mirror image — always remembering that in a mirror everything is reversed… The times were such that one-dimensional characters, your standard superheroes, even in comics, seemed rather simplistic, like paper cut-outs. What was demanded was the full dimensional personality — a figure that carried a shadow, if you like. I was certainly inspired to some degree also by C.G. Jung’s archetype of “the shadow” — and Bizarro certainly reflected that, as well.”

It looks as if CBS’ Supergirl has pulled a lot of inspiration from Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle’s well-received run on Supergirl in the comics. Therefor, it is very possible that audiences will see the female version of Bizarro appear on the show next year. In Gates and Igles “Bizarrogirl” story in Supergirl, the character’s origins began on a planet called Htrae that served as a broken and warped mirror image of the entire DC Universe.

Bizarro was last seen on Smallville where Tom Welling played a Bizarro version of his character Clark Kent a.k.a. Superman and back in September of 2015, it was reported by ScreenRant that Bizarro has been rumored to be one of the villains in the sequel to Zack Snyder’s 2013 film Man of Steel.

Supergirl is currently on its holiday hiatus, leaving fans on a cliffhanger in the mid-season finale’s final moments and will be back on January 4, 2016.

[Image via DC Comics]