Rhea (Supergirl)

Evil-doer
Full Name	Rhea
Alias	Queen Rhea Tiara Woman (by Cat Grant) Fashion-Challenged Fascist (by Cat Grant)
Origin	Supergirl
Occupation	Queen of Daxam
Powers / Skills	Super strength Invulnerability Accelerated healing factor Super leaping Manipulation Deception Leadership
Hobby	Manipulating Ruling Daxam Killing
Goals	To bring back her son, Mon-El, in order to restore Daxam's fallen culture To return to Daxam and rule the planet with an iron fist To kill Supergirl and invade Earth for "poisoning" Mon-El To bring Daxam to Earth (all failed)
Crimes	Murder Tyranny Kidnapping
Type of Villain	Hypocritical Tyrantess

“	I crossed an ocean of stars looking for my son. I'm not going to let you get in my way now.	„
	~ Rhea to Supergirl

Rhea, Queen of Daxam is the main antagonist in the second season of the superhero TV series, Supergirl.

She is the cruel, sadistic and tyrannical leader of the planet Daxam and the mother of Supergirl's love interest, Mon-El. Desiring to secure her rule over Daxam, she and her husband Lar Gand traveled to Earth to bring him back. But after Mon-El decided that Earth is his new home with Supergirl, Rhea, unable to accept this, killed Lar Gand and secretly declared war against the Girl of Steel.

She is portrayed by Teri Hatcher, who also portrayed The Beldam in Coraline.

Biography

Origins

Rhea was born on the planet Daxam and at he some point, she became the planet's queen. She met and fell in love with a man named Lar Gand, who became the king of the Daxamites, and they later had a son named Mon-El. However, unbeknownst to both her husband and son, Rhea was secretly mentally unstable, being delusional, power-hungry, and hypocritical.

Search for Mon-El

When Daxam was hit with the debris of the destroyed planet Krypton, Rhea fled the planet alongside her husband as well as an assortment of other Daxamites aboard their prime ship. They survived off-world for years and learned that Mon-El was alive. They searched from the Well of Stars and then later Maaldoria where they learned that Mon-El was on Earth. They then journeyed to Earth when Rhea and Lar Gand began to notice that the yellow sun was having an effect on them.

Arrival on Earth

Rhea and Lar Gand reuniting with their son, Mon-El.

When they settled in the atmosphere of the planet, they sent a message to Earth for Mon-El to be given back to them, under the belief that he was being held against his will. When Supergirl flew for their ship, they believed that she had come to attack them and had the ship's weapons lock in on her. However, Mon-El sent a message to stand down as he would give himself to them. They transported him and Kara to the ship where the three of them were finally reunited. At dinner, Rhea told Mon-El of their trials in trying to find him and praised the fact that Mon-El managed to survive. During dinner, there was also some moral debating exchanged with them and Kara when the topic of their slaves came up after mentions of Mon-El and Kara's heroics on Maaldoria. They then revealed to their son that Daxam's atmosphere was hospitable again and were going to return and rebuild their society again. However, Kara and Mon-El excused themselves back to Earth. Later, Rhea went to the D.E.O. to speak with Kara about convincing Mon-El to return to Daxam to reclaim his birthright as the prince of Daxam. She told Kara that if he stayed then Mon-El would only be cruelly reminded that he was not good enough for her. She also pointed out that now that she knew Mon-El was royalty, she despised him for it and she needed to do what was best for Mon-El which was convince him to go with his parents. When Mon-El returned to the ship, Rhea and her husband believed that he was joining them in returning to Daxam but he instead told them that he was staying on Earth and that they should leave. Rhea accused Kara for this change in Mon-El's behavior but he angrily told her that being close to Kara made him want to be a better person and that she and Lar Gand didn't truly care about their fellow Daxamites at all. He then left the ship leaving Rhea and Lar Gand to angrily go over what just happened.

Fighting Over Mon-El

Mon-El confronting Rhea and Lar Gand at the alien bar.

When a bounty was issued against Kara, Mon-El summoned both of his parents to the Alien Bar. She and her husband were surprised to find that he was a bartender but he claimed that it a humble and satisfying job which Rhea audibly doubted. When Mon-El brought up the bounty Lar Gand quickly denied that they had anything to do with it and Rhea threw in that Kara had no shortage of enemies that would want her dead. When he asked them why they were still on Earth, they both said that they were hoping that he would change his mind and return to Daxam with them. Lar Gand pointed out that if not for Rhea's strength in the time that he was gone, the both of them would've sunk into despair.

Rhea was called by both Mon-El and Kara to the Fortress of Solitude where she was less than happy to be in a place that was reminiscent of Krypton. They revealed that they knew that she was the one that issued the bounty as one of the bounty hunters they faced ratted her out. They both tried to appeal to Rhea to allow Mon-El to stay as he had found happiness and meaning on Earth but Rhea claimed that what Mon-El found in his tryst with Kara was an illusion and it was over. She then revealed that she had Kryptonite weapons due to the amount that littered Daxam and used them against Kara. Mon-El quickly moved to stop his mother from killing her and said that he would return to Daxam with her if she stopped and didn't hurt Kara anymore. When she was assured that she had his word, the two of them returned back to the ship. Once there, Mon-El told her to call off the bounty which she did immediately. After Mon-El was escorted away, Lar Gand approached her as he was surprised that she was the one that issued the bounty after all. She defended her actions as she had been trying to get her son back.

Rhea overpowering Supergirl with Kryptonite weapons at the Fortress of Solitude.

When Mon-El was trying to reason with his father on making changes to how they were to rule Daxam, she went over and slapped Mon-El into silence. She told him that it would take four years to reach Daxam and she wanted Mon-El in a cell with the hope that it would drive away Kara's influence on him. She then ordered for the ship to take off as soon as possible as she wanted to finally leave Earth. Before they could leave, Kara returned to the ship to get Mon-El back. Rhea and her guards confronted her but she was shocked when her Kryptonite had no effect on her. It was revealed that it wasn't Kara but J'onn J'onzz she had been fighting. Soon, the real Kara arrived to help and Rhea moved to fight her as her husband moved to confront J'onn. When she had Kara pinned and was ready to kill her, Mon-El ruptured the ship's window to suck out her Kryptonite weapons. Lar Gand then called for the fighting to stop as he saw that Mon-El made his choice.

Before the ship could leave, Rhea confronted her husband on why he let Mon-El go with Kara and the others back to Earth. Lar Gand claimed that their way was to pursue happiness and he saw that their son wouldn't be happy returning with them but he would be happy to remain on Earth. Rhea told him that they always used to be in sync from the moment they were married but he no longer stood at her side. Lar Gand claimed that he would always stand by her side but Rhea then stabbed him claiming that he betrayed her and she vowed that she would have vengeance against Kara and Earth for taking Mon-El and turning him against her.

Manipulating Lena Luthor

Rhea went down to L-Corp where she found Lena Luthor in her office after her emotional ordeal with Jack Spheer. She told Lena that she was there to offer her a proposal.

Rhea meeting Lena Luthor in her office.

Rhea had given Lena the schematics for a transmatter portal which caught Lena's interest as it had a large amount of implications and benefits. Rhea told Lena that she had things she was keeping from Lena about the project which she would share if she was interested and Lena told her that she was. They went off to share dinner where Rhea made a comment that Lena's mother must be proud of her. Lena then admitted that she and her mother had a very sour relationship after everything she did. Rhea was surprised as she thought that mother/daughter relationships were strong. She then told Lena about her son and how she had met a girl that took him away from her. Rhea was then called to Lena's office and Lena told her that she was arranging security arrangements to give Rhea access and she just needed a thumb print to make it final. Rhea gave her a thumb print and wondered what the red flashing on the device meant. Lena then told Rhea that the portal design had a flaw as it needed an element that didn't exist on Earth. Rhea tried to seem surprised but Lena told her that she knew that she was an alien as the device she had just used proved it. Lena told Rhea that she wouldn't build anything for her and to leave her office immediately.

Later on, Rhea teleported herself to the balcony of Lena's office. Rhea told Lena that she had lied to her about what she was as she knew that Lena's mother hated aliens and wasn't sure if she was the same way. Rhea claimed her origin was the only thing she had lied about. The portal device proposal was genuine and she felt that Lena could build the portal and use it for her planet, and Rhea could use it to return home. She then left Lena to reconsider her offer. Eventually, Lena had agreed to work together.

Rhea went for dinner with Lena after working on the portal. Lena was upset that she still couldn't get the device to work though Rhea told Lena that she shouldn't have expected it to be so easy. Rhea offered to head back to the lab and look more into the portal and would see her in the morning. When Rhea left the restaurant, she had been seen by Mon-El though he quickly lost sight of her and thought that he might've just been seeing things. When Lena tried to get the portal to work again, the circuit blew and the machine shut down. Lena let her frustration show for her but Rhea told her that she couldn't let herself be so affected by their setbacks. Lena then started to believe that her brother Lex could've gotten the machine to work if he were there. Rhea told Lena that her problem might be that she was trying to solve the problem like Lex would, with more power. She told Lena that she should think and look at the problem as she would normally do so. When Lena told her how she would be solving it, by making sure that the energy was stable but didn't overload the rest of the machine, Rhea told Lena that she would be concerned with balance over power.

Rhea trying to inspire Lena to finish the portal for her.

Lena began to work a lot better after that and she told Rhea that if her mother had given her pep talks like Rhea just had then she might've gone on to accomplish so much. When Lena's phone started ringing, Rhea went over and saw that Kara was calling and answered it. She told Kara that whatever happened to the Earth from this point on would be on her for interfering with her family. She also wasn't surprised when Mon-El told her to stop all this as she guessed that he would be with her. Mon-El then asked her why she was still on Earth and she told him that she was here to wake him up before she hung up. Lena noticed that she had her phone and Rhea told her that it was just a telemarketer. Lena then told her that the portal was ready and they would begin the final test tomorrow which Rhea was happy to hear. Lena then realized that success meant that Rhea would be leaving and she wasn't ready to say goodbye to her just yet. Rhea told her that Lena was someone that any mother would be proud to call a daughter and told her that no matter what happened, she had grown fond of her. Rhea then went and activated the portal to Lena's confusion and shock.

When it was activated, the D.E.O. managed to track it and Kara, J'onn and Mon-El arrived. Lena told them that she couldn't shut it down as Rhea had apparently made it self-sustaining. Mon-El then realized what his mother was doing and asked her what she was bringing to Earth from it. Kara went to attack her, accidentally getting Lena knocked aside in the process. Rhea fought her off and Kara went to try and shut the portal down. J'onn was ready to engage her but Rhea quickly brought out a device that she procured from the White Martians that made a Green Martian mentally trapped in a perpetual nightmare. Before she could do more, Mon-El brought out a gun with lead bullets. Rhea told Mon-El that he wouldn't shoot his own mother as he had become a hero of Earth and they don't kill their mothers. Mon-El told her to stop but Rhea told him that she remembered when he was a child and promised to always love her when she put him to bed. She then lied to Mon-El about his father's death, telling him that he killed himself as the act of him abandoning them was too much for him to bear. That made Mon-El begin to falter and he found himself unable to shoot his mother. Rhea then looked over at the portal as Daxamite ships started to appear. She revealed that the portal was bringing the hundreds of ships carrying the thousands of Daxamite survivors spread across the universe to Earth in order to make it their new home, New Daxam. She then had herself, Mon-El and Lena teleported back to her ship.

Invasion on Earth

Lena awakens alongside Rhea who kidnapped her before.

Rhea had moved Lena to a nice room and tried to gently explain herself when she finally came to but Lena told her that she wasn't going to listen to anything she said anymore. Rhea explained that her getting hurt was Supergirl's fault but Lena said that Supergirl was trying to stop her but it should've been her that stopped Rhea. Rhea however told Lena that she still had plans for her and wanted Lena to be able to live up to her full potential which she couldn't because of how Earth was. Later, she visited Mon-El, who was looking down at the invasion of National City with great distaste. Rhea told Mon-El that she planned to re-shape the Earth into what Daxam used to be with the aid of all of Daxam's wealthiest and influential as well as build great pyramids like they had back home. Mon-El guessed that Rhea would want the humans to build them for her and told her that the people of Earth won't stand by and just allow it. Rhea told him that she planned to forge a connection with the humans in the traditional Daxamite way of a marital union by having Mon-El marry a prominent Earthling, Lena Luthor.

Rhea was quickly contacted by President Olivia Marsdin. She quickly demanded that Rhea cease her invasion of National City and leave Earth. Rhea refused and Marsdin threatened her with retaliation from the entire planet though Rhea wasn't fazed by the threat. Their verbal quarrel was then interrupted by Cat Grant who went on to mock Rhea's position and power. Rhea became annoyed by the taunts and ordered for her ship to fire upon Air Force One and bring it down though Grant was saved by Supergirl and Marsdin emerged unscathed.

Rhea forcing Mon-El and Lena to marry each other.

Rhea was then visited by both her son and Lena and they told Rhea that they weren't going to get married. However, Rhea insisted that they were going to get married and produce an heir. While Lena refused to give her an heir, Mon-El revealed their ways of producing a child using DNA and Rhea told them that she had collected some of Lena's hair while she had been asleep. She then told them that they would participate in a marriage ceremony before the Daxamite people and if they wished, spend the rest of their lives in a cell. When the two of them still refused, Rhea then brought up an image of a Children's Hospital that Lena had funded and told her that if they refused then it would be the first of many that she would destroy. The two of them then surrendered to her demands.

Rhea had gathered her loyal Daxamite followers to witness the marriage between Mon-El and Lena. The two reluctantly stood before her as she began the ceremony. However, before she could finish with the wedding, Cat Grant began a transmission to all of National City. She told the people to resist Rhea's armies and warned Rhea that she had no idea the kind of people that she had made enemies of. In anger, Rhea commanded for a squad to be dispatched to hunt Cat Grant down. She then had Mon-El and Lena taken away so that she could focus on the fresh waves of resistance happening in the city. She was soon visited by Kara who told Rhea that her plans had been thwarted. Supergirl tried to reason with Rhea to stop while there was a chance for her and for her people. Rhea then told Supergirl that she was wasting her time and revealed that she killed her husband for betraying her and wouldn't falter to her words. Rhea then watched as Supergirl was then taken by a surprise attack from Superman.

She watched as Kara fought against her cousin whilst trying to reach him. She revealed that Superman was under the influence of Silver Kryptonite which she doused him with when he had tried to confront her before Kara had arrived. They then took their fight out of her ship to the city below.

Death

Rhea's Death.

Rhea was preparing to launch another wave of assaults against National City when Kara contacted her and demanded the right of Dakkum Ur or trial by combat. Should Kara win then Rhea must take her ships and leave Earth but should Rhea win then Kara won't interfere with her plans. Rhea accepted the challenge. When she arrived at the place for their duel, she saw that Mon-El had joined Kara. Rhea and Kara quickly started to fight but not too long after they started, Rhea ordered for her army to attack the city. Mon-El told her that she had shamed herself in the face of the gods but she defended herself by saying that her invasion was justified. Kara told Mon-El to go and help defend the city while she stayed to fight Rhea. Rhea then started to goad her into attacking her and Kara quickly followed through. Rhea was wounded but revealed that her innards were soaked in Kryptonite. Kara began to get weakened and Rhea moved to try and finish her off.

Mon-El then arrived and gave Kara a switch and she then activated a device which released lead into the atmosphere making it toxic to Daxamites. Rhea quickly began to feel the effects, as did the rest of her army. The Daxamites all retreated to their ships and they quickly left the Earth, stranding her. Rhea began to feel weaker by the second and reached out for Mon-El to help save her. He glared at her through his own pain and asked if he should save her like she had saved his father, revealing that Kara had told him about her killing Lar Gand. Rhea then succumbed to the lead and died as her body disintegrated.

Personality

Rhea was an extremely arrogant, selfish, vicious, stubborn and unreasonable individual who refused to compromise against anything that goes against her way. Rhea didn't stop in her search for her son and refused to leave when her son asked her and Lar Gand to leave Earth. She was not afraid to use any tactic she finds necessary, such as murdering her husband after he sided with Mon-El. She was also unforgiving as she has vowed revenge on Kara Zor-El and Earth for taking her son from her, and even killing her husband when she felt that he betrayed her.

It was seen that Rhea had a twisted but genuine love for her family, especially her son Mon-El. She will claim to act and think only for the well-being of Mon-El but will accept the need to hurt him physically and psychologically to get through to him. She easily lies to him and even manipulated his heart with a fabricated story of his father's death to make him vulnerable. She had found that she was developing a fondness for Lena Luthor, to the point where she had thought of her in a daughter-like capacity though was inclined to render her the same ruthless treatment as Mon-El.

Rhea had the common traits of Daxamites, as she loved entertainment and vanity. Like all Daxamites, Rhea disliked Kryptonians due to their arrogant and self-righteous traits, a feeling which had only gotten stronger due to what had happened to Daxam in Krypton's destruction and with Kara's influence on her son.

Rhea was immoral to the point of being a sociopath; this was evidenced by the fact that when Mon-El and Lena refused to get married, she threatened to destroy the Luthor family children's hospital and several hospitals in National City unless the two latter' agreed to marry. She was also hypocritical, claiming that her invasion of the planet Earth was to make it the Daxamites' new home, however, in truth, it was actually to get revenge on both Kara and the people of earth for (supposedly) turning Mon-El against her. She was also quite delusional, when she attempted to destroy National City, stated that "something that's destroyed will need a new leader to rebuild it", believing that the people of National City would ever accept her, the destroyer of their home as their leader.

Rhea had no sense of honor or mercy as she was willing to kill innocent people, especially children to make Lena and Mon-El agree to her demands. She also threw the fact that she killed her husband shamelessly at Kara before she orchestrated for her to fight her own cousin who she poisoned to be under the influence of Silver Kryptonite. When Kara invoke the sacred rite of "Dakkam Ur", the trial of combat, that if the latter wins, Rhea's invasion ends and she must leave the planet Earth once and for all. However, she had no intention of honoring their agreement, and quickly violated it. Though Mon-El told her that she had shamed herself in the eyes of the gods, she stood firmly and proudly behind her actions as justified. Up until her final moments, she showed her lack of honor as she had revealed that she went low enough to douse her innards in Kryptonite to defeat Kara.

Ultimately, in her last moments Rhea tried to appeal to her son to save her, though her own actions had robbed her of having Mon-El's love before she died.

Powers and abilities

• Daxamite physiology: Normally, like all Daxamites, Rhea's capabilities were no greater than a normal human of her physical conditioning. However, once charged by the energy of a blue or yellow sun and metabolized into her body, she became able to perform various inhuman feats.
  • Solar energy absorption: While Rhea's powers are dependent on the energy spectrum from a blue or yellow sun, her body is able to constantly and passively absorb such energy while exposed to it, essentially keeping her reserves fully charged near-constantly. Direct exposure to sunlight will also accelerate her recovery from any injuries she does manage to sustain.
    • Accelerated healing factor: Rhea's solar charged metabolism accelerates her healing and allows her to burn calories at a fast rate, making her resilient to weight gain.
      • Electrosynthesis: Rhea's cells harness and absorbed the electrical energy surrounding her, manipulating it to regenerate herself at a cellular level and manifest her own energy source.
      • Contaminant immunity: Rhea had an immunity to all forms of disease and contaminants on Earth.
      • Kryptonite immunity: Despite having a similar physiology to Kryptonians, Rhea was immune to the radiation effects of Kryptonite; such as Green Kryptonite, Red Kryptonite and Silver Kryptonite.
    • Super leaping: Rhea is able to perform incredibly high jumps in a single bound.
    • Invulnerability: Rhea was essentially invulnerable to all Earthly weapons. She was able to take far more damage than any normal human.
    • Super speed: Rhea possessed the ability to move at incredible speeds, far greater than that of any normal human.
    • Super strength: Rhea's strength was enhanced under a blue or yellow sun, enough to easily kill a normal human if she were to attack them directly.

Trivia

• The actress, Teri Hatcher, also portrayed Lois Lane in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.
• There are two characters in the DC Comics named Rhea, although none of them are related to this version:
  • The Titan revered as the Goddess of Earth, a supporting character of Donna Troy from the New Teen Titans comic book series, who is an adaptation of the aforementioned deity.
  • Rhea Jones, the electromagnetic heroine Lodestone, a member of Doom Patrol.
• Like Non, Rhea's portrayal as the season's main antagonist was criticized by both critics and fans, continuing their streak of poorly received main antagonists until Reign's introduction in the following season.
• Rhea is one of the most cruelest major villains on the TV series, alongside Indigo and Morgan Edge.

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