Favorite Characters: J’onn J’onnz (Supergirl)

I’ve decided to stop opening each post with #IStayHomeFor statements. At this point, it’s plenty clear that we’re all staying home for everyone, including ourselves.

I’ve been rewatching the early seasons of Supergirl lately (in other words, get ready for plenty more Supergirl-related posts in the coming months!), and I’m reminded anew of how much I love J’onn. I still do, of course, but he’s been less prominent over the last season or so, and rewatching season 1 brought everything flooding back (J’onn-related spoilers.)

We’re introduced to J’onn J’onnz as Hank Henshaw, the brusque, no-nonsense director of the DEO who perpetually butts heads with Kara when she first teams up with them. Right from the end of the first episode, though, we’re let in on a secret: Hank is an alien in disguise. It’s Alex who first learns the truth, and he reveals himself to her as J’onn J’onnz, the last son of Mars.

A lone survivor of genocide against the Green Martians, J’onn has been hiding out on Earth for hundreds of years, and thanks to his shapeshifting abilities, he’s spent the last decade as Hank Henshaw, using that identity to watch over the Danvers sisters as he promised Alex’s father years ago. When J’onn first reveals himself to Alex, it’s when he’s backed into a corner and doesn’t really have any way out, and for a long time, that’s how J’onn treats his true self, as a secret to be guarded at all costs. He realizes that the government won’t be thrilled to find out its extrajudicial organization dealing with alien threats is run by an alien in disguise, and he knows that the fame and adoration Kara receives as Supergirl is due in part to her good fortune to look human. In his natural Martian form, J’onn is more threatening to the human eye.

True to form, J’onn only “comes out” publically as Martian in a desperate bid to save Kara at a critical moment. He’s a guarded man who protects his secrets and his past, but his honor means even more to him, and he’s not about to fail in his promise to Jeremiah to keep his daughters safe; if outing himself and bringing the suspicion of the government/public down on him is the only way to do, he doesn’t even hesitate. It’s an act that also demonstrates how much love he’s grown to have for Kara and Alex, protecting them as he could not protect his own daughters so long ago.

J’onn is smart and tactical, and he leads with integrity and a desire to protect those who cannot protect themselves. That’s not to say he doesn’t have shortcomings, and he’s probably harshest on himself than anyone else. At different times, he’s struggled with the anger inside him, and when he gets to the point where he sees that it’s driving him beyond his control, he makes the bold decision to step back from the DEO, instead setting up shop for himself to investigate crimes against aliens who are afraid to take their issues to the police.

I’ll be honest – I think the show has had a hard time incorporating J’onn well since he left the DEO, and the “Martian Angel Investigations” thing has never really born as much fruit as I’d like it to. I love the idea of it, and it feels like a great fit for J’onn as he tries to walk the path of peace, doing good in the world without violence, but it’s wound up being more of an afterthought in the series. I’m glad that Alex has partnered up with J’onn now in the back half of season 5, because I’m hoping we’ll get more alien-P.I. plots for J’onn when he has another regular to share investigation scenes with.

Relationship Spotlight: Kara Zor-El, Alex Danvers & J’onn J’onnz (Supergirl)

It seems like, on this blog, a reoccurring adage is, “When in doubt, write about a character/relationship on Supergirl!” Because even though I recognize that the show can be silly and the writing can be heavyhanded, I continue to love it pretty wholeheartedly, and a major component of that is my love for so many of the characters and the relationships between them. I’ve already written about Kara and Alex as the major heart of the series, but I want to circle back around and look at the dynamic of adding J’onn into the mix (some spoilers, including from the most recent season 5 episode, “In Plain Sight.”)

It’s wild to stop and think that J’onn, under the guise of DEO head Hank Henshaw, is initially brusque and short with Supergirl, and that Kara and Alex go through a period of thinking J’onn is shady before he reveals his true identity to them, a Green Martian who fled the genocide of his people 300 years ago. Because looking at them now, you’d never think there was ever a time when these three didn’t love each other.

Alex and Kara may be adopted sisters, but in a way, J’onn is the man these two fatherless young women have chosen to adopt as their father. The series features so many warm, loving moments that show how J’onn cares for both Kara and Alex. He and Alex have had numerous heart-to-hearts at the DEO about Alex’s career goals, her personal heartaches, and her moments of self-doubt, and he encourages and champions her every step of the way. He and Kara relate to another one as aliens on Earth, both from races that have been all but wiped out, and he gives her support and advice on her hero’s journey.

J’onn is definitely like a surrogate father to Kara and Alex, but the fact that they don’t meet until all three are adults help Kara and Alex simultaneously approach J’onn more as equals. Just as they come to him when they need a sounding board or an empathetic ear, they’re there for him to lean on when he has troubles of his own. That can mean support (Kara giving her blessing to his vow of non-violence and excitedly checking out his new alien P.I. digs,) a loving push (Alex helping him come to terms with his father’s dementia,) and, most recently, gentle understanding and validation.

This last point is what prompted me to talk about these three now. One of the main plots of this season is the return of J’onn’s long-lost brother Malefic, a White Martian collaborator who was erased from the collective Martian consciousness. J’onn works to uncover his hidden memories of Malefic and learns that he was the one to erase his brother from memory. Although he did it in a desperate bid to ease his father’s guilt at Malefic’s war crimes, this is the worst sin a Martian can commit, and J’onn beats himself up with shame when he realizes what he did. He at first hides this knowledge from the others, convinced that they’ll feel as disgusted with him as he does with himself, but when he confides in Kara and Alex, both respond lovingly, pointing out the compassionate motivation behind his actions them and reminding him of the honorable man he is today. Such beautiful expressions of understanding and accepting, making my heart swell for this wonderful little intergalactic found family.