J’onn J’onzz’s (David Harewood) new crush is hiding a major secret on Supergirl.

When J’onn found M’gann M’orzz (Sharon Leal) a.k.a. Miss Martian hiding out in an alien dive bar deep in the heart of National City, he was overjoyed to have found another living Martian. But at the end of last week’s episode, “Survivors,” it was revealed that M’gann is not a Green Martian like J’onn, but rather a White Martian—the race that killed every last Green Martian on Mars, other than J’onn. M’gann’s species is the reason why J’onn’s family was brutally murdered in the horrible Green Martian genocide, and he has no idea. So what will happen when J’onn finds out Miss Martian’s secret?

“I don’t think he’ll react very well,” Harewood told Nerdist on set in Vancouver. “But what’s wonderful about it is he’s obviously conflicted, because he likes her. She reminds him of home. It’s a bit of a double-edged sword. I think he’s struggling with the idea he could like a White Martian. It’s not something he’s used to.”

He continued, “Having a sympathetic White Martian pretty much turns his world upside down. I think I have a line coming up where I say, ‘You define yourself by your patronage, and if I spent all this time hating White Martians, that’s what I do.’ Without that, I think he could perhaps feel a little lost.”

As of now, J’onn has been extremely aggressive in his attempts to do “the bond” with M’gann, and now viewers know why: if they bond, J’onn will see all her memories and know that she’s a White Martian. But according to Harewood, their dynamic will continue to develop as “they get close.”

“I think she gets herself into a difficult position,” Harewood says. “The closer we get, the closer I get to her secret. There’s an attraction, but also she’s very wary of me finding out so there’s some nice, different levels going on.”

Another character who will be hiding a big secret moving forward: James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks). The CW revealed three weeks ago that James is going to be putting his camera down to pick up a shield as the DC Comics vigilante Guardian. And in tonight’s episode, “Crossfire,” he’ll suit up for his first official fight.

“The world needs more heroes—I really believe that,” Brooks told Nerdist on set. “We’re in a state of violence. But it’s really cool to be part of that world as an actor, just to look at bad guys and not just pull out the camera all of a sudden or look to my super friends. It’s a big growth process for sure for James and also for me. It just makes my job so much more fun. I’m really athletic, I took martial arts as a kid and later in my adult life as well. I’m finally getting able to use all of my talents and I’m really having the time of my life.”

But James’ first mission as Guardian won’t go off without a hitch. In fact, he’s going to be facing quite a few challenges in his journey to becoming a hero; Brooks faced some challenges of his own in portraying that.

“They fitted the suit to me, which is amazing,” Brooks said. “It’s really futuristic and cool. It’s skin tight. I was like, ‘I got to fit in this every time.’ So I started fasting every eight days, which is really good for you. It’s made me feel better as a person. There’s a lot of research done about that and it’s really helpful.”

The first time he put on the Guardian suit, he felt “powerful.”

“I feel like I can really fight crime,” Brooks said. “It’s a different world and it’s kind of made me … If you have superpowers, there’s definitely a way you can approach fighting crime, right? You’re not going to get hurt, you can stop a bullet and fly over stuff. It’s fine. But if you don’t have powers, you just have gadgets. But still, there’s got to be something a little off about you. So I’m kind of bringing that to the role as well. He’s just had so much in his life that he’s seen that’s so bad that he has to bring it.”

As for how the comic book fan boys will feel about his version of the iconic DC Comics character, Brooks isn’t trying to please everyone.

“You hope people like it but you can’t care,” he said. “You really do hope people like all the hard work that all of us put into it. It takes a village. Between costumes and graphic design and visual effects and my work and the writers and producers, everybody—we really do hope you like it, but we can’t care.”

What do you hope to see from James as Guardian? Let us know in the comments section below or tweet me your thoughts at @SydneyBucksbaum!

Supergirl airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on The CW.

Images: The CW

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