Not a villain: Lena Luthor’s best moments in ‘Supergirl’

Supergirl will return to its regularly scheduled season on Sunday, Jan 19. While Kara (Melissa Benoist) and the gang will deal with the aftermath of Crisis on Infinite Earths, we’re also hoping that Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath) will be a top priority. After all, we really don’t want Lena to “break bad”.  Though with Lex (Jon Cryer) now beloved on the new Earth Prime, it’s hard to tell how Lena will go.

While she may have done some questionable things over the previous seasons of Supergirl, Lena does so much good as well. Even her more misguided actions have come from a place of good intentions arguably. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of Lena’s best moments over the course of Supergirl.

Season two finale (S2E21, S2E22)

In the two-part season two finale of Supergirl “Resist” and “Nevertheless, She Persisted”, Lena has been taken captive by the Daxamite Queen Rhea (Teri Hatcher). Due to some twisted sense of “love” for Lena, Rhea wants her to marry Mon-El (Chris Wood). Unsurprisingly, neither of them are into the idea of getting hitched. 

After the wedding gets derailed, Lena and Mon-El make their escape. Lena proves herself to be more than capable: shooting a Daxamite guard, using her tiara to get through a locked door, and proving herself to be quick on her feet. She then helps to build a bomb that will seed the atmosphere with a special Daxamite targeted lead to make sure that the invaders could never return to the planet. 

Buyout of Catco (S3E1)

Morgan Edge (Adrian Pasdar) was a sexist and egotistical asshole if we can put things frankly. There was nothing quite as satisfying as watching brilliant and sharp businesswoman Lena win against him time and again. While there are some great moments, we have to go with our favorite. Edge had plans to buyout Catco and remake it for himself. Lena, partly to help Kara, swoops in to do so instead.

When Edge mocks her and declares that he will take her down using Catco, Lena leaves and buys the company for herself. She then sets the others to work in investigating Edge, which is utterly glorious. Never mess with Lena Luthor indeed. 

Taking out Morgan Edge and Lillian Luthor (S3E12) 

What better way than to take out your evil adoptive mother and your latest business annoyance? You take them out at the same time, of course. With Lillian (Branda Strong) after Edge in a misguided attempt at maternal affection, Lena and Kara team-up to take them both out. Really, however, it should all come down to Lena. 

Lena, proving that she should be the next Sherlock Holmes, deduces that Lillian was the one attacking Edge. While Supergirl and Mon-El handle Lillian, Lena uses the chaos to extract a taped confession of Edge. This allows them to get two threats off the street all at once. Nice work, Miss Luthor. 

“Will the Real Miss Tessmacher Please Stand Up?” (S4E20)

Season four had a lot of great Lena moments, but our personal favorite comes during the final crunch of Supergirl’s final episodes of the season. Even though Kara, as we know, could defend herself. The fact that Lena tried time and again to defend her friend and protect her on the Kaznian base shows that, at her core, Lena is a truly good person. Her instinct is to protect rather than harm. Even though it’s become a little twisted in season five, it’s still a valuable part of her.

“Crisis on Infinite Earths, Part 1” (S5E9)

Like it or not, understand her motivations or not, Lena has done a lot of questionable things in Supergirl’s fifth season. One thing that proves Lena is still a good person who has been hurt and is lashing is her actions during the first part of Crisis On Infinite Earths. When Alex (Chyler Leigh) goes to Lena for help to save the people of Earth-38, Lena’s immediate instinct is to help, despite her personal reservations about Supergirl and the Superfriends. 

While people will not remember what Lena did (or Earth-38), it’s important that, over all else, her first action is to help save lives. While season five may have a battle for her soul, Lena’s first instinct is always to try to help.