Liv Moore (Rose McIver) goes through mood swings unlike anyone else. The iZombie lead’s special dietary requirements have her switching personalities with each meal to hilarious, effective, and often disastrous effect. So far, Liv’s been a painter, musician, a morbid magician, and a grumpy old man—and that’s just a tiny smattering of the brains she’s ingested thus far. And in the upcoming Season 2 midseason finale, “Cape Town,” Liv will become a vigilante crime fighter. Series executive producer Diane Ruggiero wrote the episode, and while on a visit to the iZombie set, Nerdist was part of a small group of journalists to get some details about the episode from Ruggiero herself.

Ruggiero said she wanted to do a nod to Phoenix Jones, a real-life superhero. The Seattle citizen is a vigilante who took battling crime into his own hands and eventually started wearing a full costume. He’s part of a group in Seattle called the Rain City Superhero Movement.

Ruggiero tapped into that real life news for the episode. “I’m literally fulfilling my own fantasies via the show. So, she eats the brain of a wannabe superhero. You know, like Phoenix Jones. Liv eats the brain of a vigilante, and it’s literally because I just want to do that. It’s our holiday episode, so it’s my Christmas present to myself.”

Liv doesn’t get a complete costume, but there is a slight wardrobe change. She gets a special outfit, and as she sat down for interviews inside Liv’s apartment, McIver teased how Liv ended up with the new accessories: Clive’s closet. But she doesn’t just upgrade her accouterment, she also adopts the deceased superhero’s name—The Fog—too. The actual name of the murder victim is Chris Allred—a mash-up of Chris Roberson and Michael Allred, the writer and artist (respectively), and co-creators of the iZombie comic on which the series is based.

And that’s just one example of the fun Ruggiero had with names. She said, “Probably the funnest moment of my iZombie experience thus far was coming up with fake superhero names. I actually called one of our writers, Kit Boss, because he was there when I was—he was mocking me periodically throughout the day as I was coming up with these names like someone’s life depended on it, like, ‘That’s not quite funny enough.’ So, I had gone to his office very serious and asked him what he thought of ‘Wonder Puma.’ He was literally like, ‘Are you fucking kidding? This is your desperate question? What I think of ‘Wonder Puma’?’ So, now I call Kit Boss ‘Wonder Puma.’ He does not enjoy it.”

Ruggiero mentioned that while the costume designers were working on the vigilante costumes they’d share some of their work with her—things like utility belts. She joked that she wanted one for personal use and said, “I think my only weapon would be duct tape because i’’s the only one I would know how to use. I would just be running up to people and just duct-taping them to things; I’d be completely ineffective.”

Besides feeling compelled to patrol the streets of Seattle to keep its residents safe, Liv is also faced with Blaine bringing in a lead on a possible zombie cure. McIver mentioned she loves working with David Anders, so she’s glad that they’ve been teamed up more this season. “It’s such a nice opportunity to work with David Anders. He’s one of my favorite actors.” She mentioned she liked how the writers came up with a way for Liv to have to rely on Blaine to get her chance at being human again.

What do you think of Liv the superhero? Let us know in the comments below, and remember: “Cape Town” airs on Tuesday, December 8 at 9:00pm ET/PT on The CW.

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Images: The CW

Editor’s note: Nerdist’s time at the iZombie set was courtesy of Warner Bros.