It’s Not Just You: David Harewood Hates SUPERGIRL’s “Boring” Cyborg Superman

We first met actor David Harewood on Supergirl as Hank Henshaw, the mysterious head of the DEO. It was later reveals that Henshaw was actually presumed dead, and assuming his identity was J’onn J’onzz, aka Martian Manhunter. In season two, Henshaw was resurrected by Cadmus as “Cyborg Superman,” giving Harewood a dual role on the show.

Unfortunately, Cyborg Superman only played a minor role in season two. They never gave him a costume, they never fleshed out the character, and they only gave him a little mask. So, Supergirl didn’t exactly do the villain justice, and it turns out Harewood agrees.

In an interview with a young fan at Supanova Comic-Con (transcription via Geeks of Color), Harewood was asked which character he prefers playing on Supergirl: J’onn J’onzz or Cyborg Superman. Harewood says he prefers J’onn without a doubt, and he doesn’t hold back when sharing his disappointment with Cyborg Superman. “I don’t like playing Cyborg Superman. It’s boring. They didn’t really flesh it out, they didn’t really write for the character, they just gave me this rather cheap-looking mask and no costume and said ‘okay you’re Cyborg Superman.’ But it didn’t really pan out, they didn’t really go into why he was a Cyborg, how he became a Cyborg, what its powers were, it was just kind of randomly calling him Cyborg Superman. I was very excited about it at first, but then I very quickly realised that there wasn’t really much to it. […] Whenever I’m walking to my trailer and I see that costume, I just switch off because I know it’s gonna be a really boring day.”

Oof. It’s very clear that Harewood didn’t like the direction the show’s writers took with Cyborg Superman. And honestly, he isn’t wrong.

Of course, there’s always the possibility of redeeming the character in season three, making him more memorable and more, you know, like a cyborg Superman. But will the show actually go that route? We’ll have to wait and see. Regardless, at least we have Harewood playing Martian Manhunter…

Supergirl returns for its season three premiere on Monday, October 9th at 8 PM EST on the CW.