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The November 28 episode of Supergirl, “Medusa,” isn’t just another mid-season finale. It’s also the first crossover with other Arrowverse shows since Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) visited Kara (Melissa Benoist) in the season one episode “World’s Finest.” It takes an alien invasion of his Earth to get Barry to Kara’s Earth again. Producer Greg Berlanti and his team of writers and producers are bringing the 1988 crossover series Invasion! to the small screen this week. The series featured an alien race called The Dominators, as you can see above.
Here’s a look at who these evil aliens are and what they want with the world The Flash, Green Arrow and the Legends of Tomorrow occupy.
The Dominators in the Comics
The Dominators were first introduced in Adventure Comics #361 in 1967 in a Legion of Super Heroes story. They made another major appearance in Invasion!, a three-part series that debuted in late 1988. The plot was planned out by Keith Giffen, with Bill Mantlo writing the issues and Todd McFarlane doing most of the art. Each issue ran an astonishing 80 pages.
The story involved the Alien Alliance, a group led by the Dominators who wanted to see the destruction of Earth’s heroes because they though the superheroes were a threat. While the Dominators plotted the invasion, they let other species do the fighting.
Easily the most important aspect of Invasion! was the introduction of the metagene, which was revealed to be the true source of a superhero’s (or villain’s) powers. A Dominator scientist even creates a “gene bomb,” which can make a human lose control of their powers. However, non-humans like Superman and Martian Manhunter were able to fight the Dominators since they weren’t affected. Green Lanterns like Hal Jordan get their powers from their rings, not metagenes, so they were able to fight as well. This is likely why Barry and Oliver Queen will need help from a Kryptonian like Supergirl to stop the Dominators.
The wild card in Invasion! was the Daxamites, who were first members of the Alien Alliance. However, once they learned that they had powers like Superman’s on earth, they switched sides.
The Dominators in ‘Supergirl’
As you can see in the video above and in the screenshot, the most obvious difference between the Dominators of the comics and the Dominators of the Arrowverse is clothes. We can’t quite explain why the aliens aren’t wearing any.
For the most part, it looks like the TV version of the Dominators will be similar to the ones in the comics. The crossover is timed with the 100th episode of Arrow, which will air on November 30.
“To me, the 100th episode had to be a crossover,” Arrow star Stephen Amell told Entertainment Weekly in October. “It gives us a chance to do something for the fans that, in the normal course of our season, we would never get to do.”
Berlanti also promised that Invasion! will really feel like a three-hour movie.
The Dominators debuted in the preview after the Supergirl episode “Medusa,” which told us what Cadmus was trying to learn from the Fortress of Solitude. We saw Cyborg Superman use Kara’s blood to enter Superman’s home and ask for information on Project Medusa, the formula for the Medusa virus, in the previous episode. That could actually come in handy during the fight against the Dominators since the virus is used to kill all aliens. Cadmus wanted to kill all the aliens in National City, but Lena Luthor betrayed her mother, the head of Cadmus, to police. When Cadmus tried to use the Medusa virus, it didn’t work thanks to Lena.
For a complete guide to when each part of Invasion! airs, click here:
