Reign (Supergirl)

"You are no god, just as I am no devil. All I am is truth. And judgement. And death. And I will REIGN."

- Reign defeating Supergirl in their first fight.

"Purity. Sister. We will find our third. Our pestilence. Once we're finally together, there will be nothing but unstoppable power."

- Reign meeting her "sister", Purity. Samantha "Sam" Arias, also known as the Worldkiller leader Reign, is the main antagonist in the third season of the CW superhero TV series, Supergirl. She is a powerful Kryptonian with a dual personality disorder, with her civilian persona being a loving single mother, and her other persona being a ruthless vigilante aimed at finding the other Worldkillers and judging which criminals live and die. She is also the archenemy of Supergirl.

She is portrayed by Odette Annable.

As Samantha Arias
Although Sam is a single mother, she does her very best to support her daughter, Ruby, who is the most important person to her in the world. She is very nice and caring, and has a motherly air to her. She is also a very strong woman, loyal to people who are close to her, especially Lena Luthor, besides her own daughter, responsible to any fault she makes, quite sociable and can hold her own in mental battles against businessmen such as Morgan Edge. She has a high-level intellect, and has enough business knowledge to run L-Corp flawlessly.

According to her Reign persona herself, Sam’s character is stronger than her Worldkiller persona initially dismissed — expressed by Sam taking cumulatively longer periods of control over herself and, in turn, increasingly suppressing Reign to keep her from emerging for just as long in the process, causing her to occasionally miss out or be late on summons sent out to her by the hologram from her Fortress — hinting a substantial sense of individuality on the part of Sam. After the Worldkiller went up against Psi, it was seen that Sam’s greatest dread would be to lose Ruby forever. She later affirms to her closest circle of friends that she fears the thought of Ruby losing her mother and thus be left alone by herself in the world just as much.

As Reign
Due to her forced mental programming operating on her as Reign, Sam becomes an exaggerated polar opposite of everything she is, while her Worldkiller persona remains inactive in her default state, for the periods and duration where Reign remains in control: a brutal vigilante who indiscriminately kills anyone she sees as an evil-doer in order to further her goal of ruling the world, and will react expediently cold and silently murderous whenever she comes across the said people or catch knowledge of such. She is cruel, sadistic and ruthless towards anyone who stands in her way. She is also egotistical; even though she doesn't actually see herself as a "god" or a "devil", she sees herself as "truth", "judgment", "death" and an executor of justice. Thus, her eventual dominion is inevitable and this causes her to also view those who say or stand otherwise as obstructing targets to her goal.

She believes all of her actions are intended to spread justice to all those who deserve it. She also perceives that humanity has ruined their world and they must all be judged by her. Despite her ruthlessness, she is not above offering prey whom she sees as her equal a chance to stand down, like how she offered Supergirl to do so (threatening to subject the latter "into purgatory" if she chooses to stand in Reign’s way) and was perhaps a hint disappointed when the latter refuses and even responded defiantly, making the disguised (and mentally-overridden) Samantha realize that she had to manhandle her fellow Kryptonian for her insolence.

But despite all of her negative drives and overzealous conviction, it would seem that Sam — as Reign — still retains vestiges of her civilian persona in that she has been known to simply leave be or tolerate those whom she is familiar with as Sam, even if they directly oppose her; this was made apparent when she smiled in amusement after Lena, her civilian boss and friend, refused to comply when Reign came to deliver her message to the world via CatCo’s broadcast, rather than viewed the human as a standing obstacle to the cleansing that she was trying to effect (and the Worldkiller would have killed her, just for that, on the most recent instructions received from the Fortress of Sanctuary) upon Earth, but went on with her purpose anyway and left Lena unharmed. Additionally, she rapidly took over and went immediately after Morgan Edge upon Sam learning that Edge staged an assault against Lena from days prior, hinting a protective (if not fiercely territorial) side of herself even as Reign.

Though this leniency of sorts oddly did not prevent her from attempting to go after Alex (whom Sam is also reasonably acquainted with) when the latter, J’onn and several of the D.E.O. operatives staged a futile ambush against the Worldkiller — and had to be physically stopped by the Martian himself. Reign would later come close to killing Alex, knocking the latter down then stepping over to place a foot upon Alex’s chest (though to be fair, at both confrontations, Alex clearly identified herself as Reign’s enemy when she forced Green Kryptonite around the Worldkiller’s neck to bring the masked Sam down during first and then repeatedly fired several ineffective shots, in the second, with her gun at the latter) after telling the agent that she’ll take her life then and there — only stopping at the beseech of Julia, who offers to be taken and become Purity completely on the condition that Alex was allowed to live. The fact that Reign agreed to Julia’s terms shows an honorable aspect on the part of the former not obligated to carry out every will of the Fortress of Sanctuary and would also not do anything as drastic as taking another’s life without sufficient motive.

As Reign, Sam speaks in a disguised tone that ends her sentences in a reverberating manner.

Powers

 * Altered Kryptonian Physiology: Like other Kryptonians, Reign's physiology exceeds beyond what any human is capable of. However, due to being a bio-genetically modified Kryptonian, Reign's powers are naturally greater than any other solar-powered Kryptonians.
 * Solar Energy Absorption: Reign's powers are dependent on the energy spectrum from a blue or yellow sun, absorbing and metabolizing it into her system. While essentially acting as a battery to keep her empowered, her constant exposure to Earth's atmosphere, filled with such solar radiation, allows her to continuously and passively absorb such energy while exposed to it, keeping her reserves fully charged near-constantly.
 * Accelerated Healing Factor: Reign's metabolism is tremendously enhanced by solar energy, allowing accelerated healing abilities and burning calories at a fast rate, making her practically immune to becoming overweight.
 * Containment Immunity: Reign is immune to all forms of diseases or containment.
 * Flight: Reign has the ability to propel herself through the air and fly at super sonic speeds.
 * Heat Vision: Reign, like Supergirl, can emit focused heated energy beams from her eyes. However, while other Kryptonians' heat vision are colored blue, Reign's is a bright and searing red.
 * Invulnerability: Reign is immune to all Earthly weapons, with bullets simply ricocheting off her flesh. While fighting Supergirl, though she was repeatedly staggered from all of the former’s powerful attacks, she rather quick to recover and retaliate - emerging with no signs of even being hurt or tired at the end. She would later fare the same against Martian Manhunter who, despite the his attempt to entrap Reign by miles beneath the Earth by phasing her through the planet’s surface, was forced back above ground by the Worldkiller’s thrashing movement as Manhunter extended his intangibility over to her.
 * Self-Sustenance: Due to the effects of a blue or yellow sun, Reign's physical needs are greatly reduced or completely removed.
 * Atmospheric Adaption: While Reign does require oxygen to breathe, her physicality allows her to survive while inhaling more harsh forms of it.
 * Longevity: Being a Kryptonian, Reign's lifespan is considerably longer than that of a normal human's, and she therefore ages slower.
 * Super Breath:
 * Super Hearing: Reign has super-sensitive ears that can perfectly pick up sounds from miles away and even through structures.
 * Super Speed: Reign possesses the ability to move at super-sonic speeds, both through flight and on foot. Her speed seems greater than Supergirl’s, who despite being fast enough to intercept bullets, failed to evade the vast majority of Sam’s assaults, and even repeatedly outmaneuver the latter for the most part of their first battle.
 * Super Strength: Reign is capable of super strength which, during her fight with Supergirl, appears to exceed any other Kryptonian. Her strength is also greater than Martian Manhunter and Mon-El. However, it is currently unknown if she is stronger than Superman.
 * X-Ray Vision: Reign has the ability to see through objects. However, she cannot see through lead.

Abilities

 * High-Level Intellect:
 * Intimidation: Due to her willingness to spill blood unlike Supergirl, Sam, as Reign, can easily strike fear into the hearts of many humans, including Morgan Edge, Thomas Coville, and other criminal meta-humans like Leslie Willis and Psi. Even the highly skilled and courageous DEO agent Alex Danvers admitted the Reign has terrified her. It is clearly implied that these individuals have grown to fear Reign due to her publicly defeating Supergirl, who also shown small signs of fear after realizing the Worldkiller's true formidable power and her surprising near-invulnerability to Kryptonite.
 * Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatant:

Weaknesses

 * Dual Personality: Due to being a Worldkiller raised on Earth since when she was a baby, Sam developed a dual personality disorder since fully gaining her powers.
 * Lead: Reign, even with her X-Ray vision, cannot see through lead as she attempted locate Morgan Edge while he was hiding in his lead panic room.
 * Kryptonite (concentrated amounts only): Like other Kryptonians, Reign is vulnerable to all types of Kryptonite. However, due to being a Worldkiller, the rocks have little effect on Reign, as the D.E.O. found out after they attempted to use it to ambush her. However, she is vulnerable to a concentrated amount when interacting with her bloodstream.
 * Red Sun Energy: Exposure to the Red Sun will make Reign the equivalent of a normal human on Earth. However, similar to Green Kryptonite, the said colored energy would appear to have a mitigated effect on her, since she was thrown back but otherwise retained her powers — not to mention most of their intensity — after getting exposed to a Red Sun grenade lobbed upon her by Alex.

Season 2

 * Episode 22: "Nevertheless, She Persisted" (flashback)

Season 3

 * Episode 01: "Girl of Steel"
 * Episode 02: "Triggers"
 * Episode 04: "The Faithful"
 * Episode 05: "Damage"
 * Episode 07: "Wake Up"
 * Episode 09: "Reign"
 * Episode 10: "Legion of Super-Heroes"
 * Episode 11: "Fort Rozz"
 * Episode 12: "For Good"
 * Episode 13: "Both Sides Now"

Victims

 * Kara Danvers/Supergirl (attempted numerously)
 * Jindah Kol Rozz
 * Leslie Willis/Livewire
 * Numerous unnamed criminals

Trivia

 * In the DC comics, Reign is a major Supergirl villain and one of five Worldkillers, which were biological weapons created by Zor-El to before being outlawed by the Krypton Science Council. Her origins were unknown even to her.
 * She is the first villain in the series where she is the main antagonist of her debut season where it also serves as her origin into a villain.
 * Unlike her comic book counterpart, she is a genetically enhanced Kryptonian who was raised on Earth under the name Samantha Arias.
 * Her role in the series is similar to Superman discovering who he is and visiting their fortresses.
 * During the mid-season finale, fans have pointed out that her first battle with Supergirl resembled The Flash's first battle with Zoom since in both of the battles, the villain easily overpowers the hero in front of the public. The only exception is that while Reign brutally beat Supergirl into a coma, Zoom snapped Flash's spine and left him temporarily paralyzed.
 * She is similar to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, in that she has two distinct identities/personalities, one being good and sane and the other a vicious, misanthropic killer. In both cases, the dual identity is not initially known to the characters with whom the villains is friends with in their "normal" persona.
 * The above is also quite similar to Green Goblin as he appeared in the 2002 Spider-Man movie, with both also caring about their child (at least in their civilian persona), and opposing idealistic heroes in red and blue costumes (and also being able to fight them on almost equal footing). As Green Goblin is archenemy of Spider-Man, it is possible Reign is Supergirl's archenemy.


 * Reign is currently the first season main antagonist whose portrayal is acclaimed by both critics and fans, since the previous main antagonists (Non and Rhea) where poorly received.