The Arrowverse Just Revealed Its Strongest Superpowered Team

Superheroes are only as good as the people they have supporting them, and this season Supergirl's powerful group has emerged as the Arrowverse's strongest superpowered team. Like Arrow and the Flash, Supergirl has built a well-functioning unit out of those closest to its superhero. The Girl of Steel’s friends fully demonstrated how formidable they've become in six seasons by working together to defeat the Prime Phantom and his progeny, while also developing a plan to rescue the heart of their team, Supergirl, from the Phantom Zone.

As Oliver had Felicity and Diggle join him early in his Arrow journey, and Barry had Cisco and Caitlin at his side from the beginning on the Flash, Supergirl didn’t fly solo for long, as Alex Danvers and J’onn J’onzz quickly began working with her. Each person who has joined the team since that first season has had their lives enriched, inspired, or influenced by the Girl of Steel.

Each member of Supergirl’s team has a deep personal connection to the hero. Alex and J'onn's relationships with her are the bedrock of the show. Brainy’s past is a future where he was a member of the Legion of Superheroes, a collective built on Supergirl’s legacy. Dreamer joined the team after being inspired by both Kara and Supergirl, who guided the Arrowverse's first transgender hero into believing in herself and trusting in her growing powers. This season the core team is joined by Miss Martian, M'Gann, who has returned to Earth after successfully leading a White Martian resistance on her home planet.

Kara’s group features the most individuals with superpowers of all the Arrowverse teams. Four members in total have superpowers, J’onn and M’Gann both have the Martian abilities of flight, super-strength, psychic strength, and shapeshifting, while Brainy uses mind powers and can wield technology. Dreamer adds her ability to conjure visions and mold energy into tools and weapons to the team. Though technically that number is five superpowered members, considering Alex’s specialized training and enhanced abilities thanks to her Martian Hand of the Soldier gauntlet. Even more significantly, this is a team that derives its greatest strength from the interpersonal connections among its members, whose bonds have been repeatedly tested. They’ve learned to lean on each other, in the face of personal tragedies and setbacks. That willingness to be vulnerable to others has enabled them to build each other up.

With Supergirl trapped in the Phantom Zone, Alex has unsurprisingly stepped up to lead the team, to reiterate her sister’s message of hope and make the hard calls. Alex and Kara's relationship has always been considered the foundation of the show, yet just how much her sister had inspired her was never as evident as when Alex made the difficult and selfless decision to rescue the Phantom Zone's victims over rescuing her sister. Even though she is not there in person, Supergirl continues to inspire her team to be their best selves.

The team on Supergirl may continue to grow in the show’s final season, as Kelly Olsen will take up her brother’s shield and Guardian moniker. Despite receiving both Alex and Supergirl's forgiveness, Lena Luthor has declined to fully join the team just yet, in part because the position isn’t in line with her skills, ambition, or personality, and also because she’s still searching for a fitting path of atonement. What is certain is that Supergirl's team will continue to be the Arrowverse's strongest superpowered team, both because of their actual powers and because they stand united under the Girl of Steel's motto of "Hope, Help, and Compassion for All."