Taking almost 90 years of comics and squeezing them into a six season show is no easy feat. Everyone has a detailed and often contradictory backstory, and they're all intertwined. On top of that, the show has to stay true to its comic book origins while still maintaining an internal logic and realistic characterization.

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The CW writers have to adapt well known and deeply loved stories while still finding ways to keep the viewers guessing and leave everyone entertained. In trying to make a cohesive, interesting story, some things have to change. Many of the biggest changes the show had to make were the characters themselves.

10 Mon-El

Supergirl Mon-El

Mon-El is a man of many names. His other monikers include M'Onel, Lar Gand, Halk Kar, and Valor. In his first appearance, Halk Kar crashed to Earth in a rocket ship with a note from Jor-El and no memory of who he was. Superman assumed that Halk Kar was his brother, but it quickly became apparent that he wasn't as powerful as Superman.

Superman covered Halk Kar's shortcomings, leading him to become haughty and overconfident. Eventually he regained his memory and explained that he was from the planet Thoron. This appearance is no longer canon but the story was recycled into a Superboy story, with Halk Kar becoming Mon-El and Thoron becoming Daxam.

9 Maggie Sawyer

Supergirl Maggie Sawyer Holding Badge

Most viewers recognize Maggie as the person who made Alex realize she was gay and subsequently her first girlfriend. Alex is an original creation of the show, but Maggie actually does have her origins in the comics.

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Her first appearance was in Superman Vol. 2 #4 as the captain of the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit which was dedicated to combating superhuman threats. She didn't trust Superman and even tried to arrest him a few times until he saved her life. Though some friends and colleagues knew she was a lesbian, she mostly kept that a secret until Lex Luthor tried to blackmail her with the information at which point Maggie decided she was no longer ashamed of who she was.

8 Agent Liberty

Supergirl Agent Liberty Sons of Liberty

Unlike the mild-mannered history professor turned domestic terrorist he is on the show, the Ben Lockwood of the comics is actually an ex-CIA agent who left in disgust at the government's methods to the point that he joined the Sons of Liberty, who sought to overthrow the government.

He left the group after they asked him to assassinate a politician and helped bring them down by passing information to Clark Kent. He was later brainwashed by a cult and forced to take up the Agent Liberty mantle again to do their bidding until Huntress and Vixen rescued him. Sadly he didn't get to enjoy his free will for long as he was killed by Superwoman for spying on Lex Luthor and Sam Lane.

7 Martian Manhunter

Supergirl J'onn J'onzz Martian Manhunter

J'onn's troubles started with his twin brother, Ma'alefa'ak, who was not the tragic figure depicted in the show. The reason he doesn't have telepathic abilities in the comics is because he committed an unforgivable psychic crime and was stripped of his telepathy as punishment. His memory of the incidents was erased and he was led to believe that he was born that way. Out of anger, he created H'ronmeer's Curse, a virus that caused any Martian who used their telepathy to catch fire and burn to death.

J'onn sealed his mind off from the rest of the Martians in order to survive, but he had to watch his wife and daughters burn to death before being accidentally teleported across space and time by Dr. Saul Erdel's experimental teleportation beam. After finding out that Mars was a dead planet, he took on the human identity John Jones and became a detective. He went on to be one of the founding members of the Justice League.

6 Gamemnae

Supergirl Gamemnae Gemma Cooper

The only thing Gamemnae has in common with her comics counterpart is her name, and even that she usually abbreviates. The Gamemnae in the comics was born in Atlantis but was exiled at birth due to her blonde hair, which is considered a curse by the Atlantean people.

She grew to become a fearsome magic wielder, eventually using her powers to raise Atlantis from the sea. She believed it was her destiny to lead Atlantis to conquer the world. After meeting a time-traveling Aquaman and turning him into a water spirit (it's complicated) Gamemnae formed the League of the Ancients to battle the Justice League when they showed up to rescue him.

5 Miss Martian

Miss Martian Supergirl M'gann M'orzz

M'gann M'orzz first entered the DC Universe as a Teen Titan. Like in the show, she pretended to be a green Martian but was actually a white Martian who wanted to earn J'onn's trust because she looked up to him.

The main difference here is age; while the Miss Martian in the comics is much younger than J'onn, her Supergirl counterpart seems to be roughly his age. Still, it can be a little jarring for comic fans when the two of them become romantically involved. Additionally, this version of M'gann has much better control over her telepathy than the comics version, who has accidentally hurt others with it on multiple occasions.

4 Silver Banshee

supergirl silver banshee

Silver Banshee's backstory changed drastically after Flashpoint, and Supergirl's Siobhan is an eclectic mix of both versions. The first version, Siobhan McDougal, was the firstborn child of Garrett McDougal, the patriarch of a Gaelic clan. After her father died, she started the dangerous ritual to become clan leader, but was distracted by her brother and subsequently dragged to the underworld. Then she met the Crone, who gave her powers and returned her to Earth in exchange for a book she wanted. The Silver Banshee killed everyone in her way, attracting Superman's attention.

She proved a formidable adversary due to Superman's weakness to magic until he discovered that she had a weakness too: the Silver Banshee can't kill the same person twice. Normally this wouldn't be a huge issue, but these are comic books. Everyone's died and come back at least once. The New 52 version, Siobhan Smythe, was actually Kara's friend and used her powers to protect her on multiple occasions. On the show they call her a metahuman, meaning that this version's powers don't have magical origins.

3 Manchester Black

Supergirl and Manchester Black

Upon introduction, Manchester had no powers; relying on his combat skills and weapons proficiency. He only gained telepathy upon obtaining the staff of H'ronmeer. Additionally, he didn't have a problem with superheroes or the DEO until his partner Fiona was murdered. That was when he decided that someone needed to take drastic action.

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This eventually led to him forming his team, the Elite. His comics analog already led the Elite before he showed up in the comics and he also had powers. Black was a powerful telepath and telekinetic capable of giving Superman a stroke by pinching blood vessels in his brain. He wasn't an alien; he had a growth on his brain that caused his powers. Adding to his unlikability, he was also seemingly white but claimed African and Korean heritage as an excuse for racist behavior.

2 Acrata

Supergirl Andrea Rojas Acrata

Andrea Rojas has the same name and powers as she does in the comics but not much else in common. Far from the high society rich girl depicted on Supergirl, Acrata was a Mexican hero who fought organized crime and often ridiculed inept or corrupt police.

While she worked with others, Acrata had some traits of an anarchist and would even stop to graffiti a crime scene if she had the time. In her civilian identity, Andrea was an anthropologist. She was considered one of Mexico's pre-eminent heroes and lots of people considered her to be Mexico's answer to Batman.

1 Brainiac-5

Supergirl Brainiac-5 Querl Dox

Supergirl has presented a lot of different Brainiac-5s over the course of the past couple seasons. He's been rebooted, reprogrammed, brainwashed, inhibited, uninhibited, blue, green, and all sorts, and that's without even addressing his alternate earth doppelgangers. All of these versions of Brainy at least partially resemble his comic iterations, but he's also incredibly distinct. A lot of his character arc revolves around his romance with Dreamer, but in the comics Kara was his main love interest.

He's also significantly powered down from his comics version. The show tried to explain this with a retcon, but in the end, the only real change was his hair and complexion as any individuality he gained was lost in Lex Luthor's dominating grasp. Here's hoping that he'll get to show more of his unique personality in season 6.

NEXT: 10 Things The Flash TV Series Changed From The Comics