Siobhan Smythe

"All my life I thought I was cursed. But now I see I was cursed for the better."

- Siobhan Smythe

Siobhan Smythe is the former second assistant of Cat Grant at CatCo Worldwide Media. After Kara Danvers outed her plan to offer her information on Supergirl to the Daily Planet, she was fired by Cat. Soon afterward, she discovered that a family curse gave her the power to sonic scream, and began calling herself Silver Banshee.

Working at CatCo Worldwide Media
Siobhan Smythe was hired to be Cat Grant's new assistant alongside Kara Danvers. Kara was annoyed by being unable to pronounce her name correctly. Cat designated Kara as "Assistant #2" to her confusion. Siobhan promptly one-upped Kara's coffee while Winn looked on uncomfortably. Cat told Siobhan to get James Olsen and Lucy Lane into her office and told Kara to cover the phone, which she then broke. Siobhan later tried to flatter James but was brushed off. Siobhan saw them talking and walked away smirking.

She continued to antagonize Kara by sending her messages asking what's between her and James. Kara asked what she meant and she boldly sent another asking whether they were dating or friends with benefits, which Kara denied, while Winn Schott observed. Siobhan continued sending messages and upset her when she apparently accused her of being "obsessed" with James. Cat arrived and told her to keep it down. When Kara was called away, she reminded Siobhan about Cat's lunch, but Siobhan recited it perfectly and mocked her for not doing her job, winked at Winn and smirked at his uncomfortable reaction. She later tried to listen on James and Lucy's private conversation. Later Siobhan smugly told Kara she did all her work for her. Kara bluntly said she didn't like her, but she retorted she wasn't there to make friends, but to be the next Cat Grant, detailing her massive ambitions, and Kara said they'd see who gets to stay.

Dating Winn Schott
Siobhan continued to put down Winn but she was interrupted by Cat asking everyone in for a conference call. Siobhan showed a package that Cat should see personally, but Cat wants it open for all to see, so James takes the package and opens it to find a letter and flash drive. An unimpressed Cat tells Siobhan to have the drive microwaved. Cat tells Siobhan to call her investment broker, but she stammers for a moment before Kara took the assignment. Winn offers to help Siobhan make copies, but she is upset over finding that her father was listed as a member of a cheating website thanks to Indigo and leaves Winn to make the copies. Later Winn told Siobhan about his family and how he has felt just like her. Siobhan then kisses him but warns Winn not to say anything.

Fired
She continued her secret relationship with Winn until Kara caught them together in a supply closet. When Supergirl has her inhibitions destroyed by Red Kryptonite, Siobhan caught her on tape letting a Khund get away. When Cat refused to run the scoop, she plans to send it to her old employer, the Daily Planet. She planned to use the scoop as her route to returning to Metropolis as a reporter. However, Kara finds the tape, and lured her away from her desk so she can print the email. When Cat found out about Siobhan's treachery, she fired Siobhan on the spot, and persuaded Perry White not to rehire her either.

Frustrated at her apparent blackballing from National City's media industry, Siobhan plots revenge on Kara. She slips into CatCo Plaza after hours and sends a nasty email to Cat on Kara's account. The next night, Cat calls her in. She believes that Kara has been fired and that she is about to get her old job back. However, Cat had Winn analyze the email, and found that the typing pattern was an exact match to Siobhan's pattern. Cat brusquely ordered Siobhan out, and warned her that she would be arrested if she ever set foot at CatCo or pulls another stunt like that again. That night, a drunken Siobhan lays into Winn for turning on her, but Winn tells her that resorting to criminal and manipulative behavior will get her nowhere. Suddenly, one of Siobhan's spike heels breaks, sending her screaming over the balcony. To her surprise, the sound waves from her screams break her fall just as she is about to smash into the pavement - blowing a giant hole in the concrete in the process.

Becoming Silver Banshee
Winn took her to doctors at the D.E.O., who found that she wasn't an alien. While begging Winn for help, she started hearing a piercing scream inside her head, and also saw visions of a banshee. Later, she implied that she had been dealing with these visions for some time; she said that she had believed that she had been cursed for "all her life". Later in the week, she was walking along the streets of National City when the visions and screams returned. Out of nowhere, she stormed into CatCo Plaza and screamed at Kara, sending her flying out of a window, but Kara was rescued by the Flash, who accidentally traveled to Earth-38 after using the Tachyon prototype to get faster. Later, a seemingly distraught Siobhan consulted her Aunt Sinead for help. She learned that years ago in Ireland, one of their ancestors stole something from a banshee. In retaliation, the banshee placed a curse on all of the women in the Smythe family. Whenever a female Smythe is wronged, she is possessed by the spirit of a banshee. Once her powers grow to their full potential, she will be able to send her scream anywhere in the world. However, unless she kills the object of her rage, her scream will destroy her soul. This made Siobhan decide to kill Kara. However, believing that Supergirl had rescued her, she believed she would need to get past Supergirl to get a shot at Kara. Siobhan proved a quick study with her powers once she fully embraced them. Remembering that Livewire was incarcerated at the D.E.O. and wanted to kill Cat and Supergirl, she sonic screamed from a distance and shattered Livewire's cage. She then lured Livewire to an abandoned warehouse and offered to team up. Livewire readily agreed, but suggested that Siobhan get a new costume and a makeover. Siobhan painted her face white with heavy black eyeliner and put on a gray/silver wig--taking on an appearance similar to the banshee she saw in her visions. At Livewire's suggestion, she began calling herself Silver Banshee. When Supergirl and The Flash tracked Livewire and Silver Banshee to the warehouse, Supergirl was about to douse Livewire with water when Silver Banshee screamed with enough force to make Supergirl's ears bleed. Livewire and Silver Banshee then stormed CatCo Plaza, with Silver Banshee arriving on Cat's private elevator. Winn tried one last time to talk some sense into Siobhan, but Siobhan tempestuously screamed him to the ground. They then kidnapped Cat and chained her to a bench at National City Park. As Livewire was about to kill Cat, Supergirl and the Flash rushed in. Silver Banshee tried to scream at them, but it had no effect; the two heroes had enhanced earplugs that the Flash had used on the Pied Piper, an old foe of his who used sound as a weapon. Livewire tried to crash a helicopter, but Kara flew in front of the blast to prevent a potential disaster. As Livewire and Silver Banshee were about to go in on an incapacitated Supergirl, several bystanders rushed in to protect her. Livewire was about to electrocute them all when a fire engine doused her with water. Lightning uncontrollably arcing off Livewire hit Siobhan and incapacitated her. She was then arrested by the National City Police, who with Barry's help, could now contain meta-humans.

When Winn was showing Livewire's criminal record to the rest of the team, it showed Siobhan's name and said she had affiliated with Livewire.

When Kara had to battle Purity, Winn dug up the same tech that Kara used to defeat Livewire and Silver Banshee.

Personality
Siobhan is a strong and short-tempered young woman. She is also ambitious, arrogant, snobbish, impartial, manipulative and selfish; as money and fame are her dreams.

Siobhan has no moral limits to attaining her desires; an example would be the incident when she caught Supergirl on tape letting a K'hund get away, she wanted this to be publicized (regardless of whether or not the persona was an imposter) when Cat Grant refused to run the scoop, she planned to send it to her old employer, Perry White of the Daily Planet. She planned to use the scoop as her route to return to Metropolis as a reporter. However, when Kara Danvers (under the influence of Red Kryptonite at the time) exposed her to Cat; this disloyalty and treachery not only got her fired but blackballed from National City's media industry as well.

Siobhan is vengeful towards Kara for (supposedly) ruining her life; a vengeance that would escalate to the point of obsession.

Powers

 * Curse of the Banshee: Siobhan's powers come from the curse that runs in her family.
 * Sonic scream: Because of the banshee curse that effects her, Siobhan is able to emit high-frequency sound waves through her scream. The sound waves are powerful enough to shatter glass, break thick concrete and pulverize cement, as well as cushion her falls. They are also strong enough to affect two full-sized adults at once, by knocking them off their feet, disorienting them, or even killing them. Kryptonians are not immune to these screams, either because Siobhan's powers come from a curse (Kryptonians are not protected from the effects of magic), as a side effect of their enhanced hearing, or possibly both. She can also direct her screams over large distances and even send them at specific targets, as seen when she deafened Supergirl without affecting both Livewire and the Flash. As her powers grow she will be able to send her scream anywhere in the world by focusing on her target.
 * Superhuman strength: The banshee spirit that took over Siobhan gave her enhanced physical strength. When the spirit first took her over, she single-handedly threw off Winn without breaking a stride. Later, after fully embracing her powers, she was able to land a hard punch on Supergirl that sent the latter flying several feet.

Abilities

 * Skilled hand-to-hand combatant: Siobhan has shown moderate skills in unarmed combat.

Trivia

 * The Banshee curse apparently makes women in Siobhan's family "unlikable", which is probably the reason why no one but Winn seemed to like her.
 * That would likely mean that Siobhan's family would only have a single child per generation as the cursed member of the family would drive off their partner; Siobhan admitted to Winn that she caught her father having an affair when she was 17.
 * Also, Siobhan is not mentioned to have any siblings from her parents' marriage, furthermore supporting this theory.
 * Unlike in the show, where Siobhan and Kara become enemies at first sight, in the DC comics of the New 52, they become best friends right after they meet (and later roommates). Notably, Siobhan turns out to be the only one able to understand Kryptonese (as Kara could not speak or understand English until the Kryptonian H'el later gave her this ability) due to her Silver Banshee nature, and the first to recognize Kara as a hero.
 * The actress who portrays Siobhan, Italia Ricci, is married to Robbie Amell, who portays Ronnie Raymond on The Flash.

Behind the scenes

 * The character's appearance as the supernatural meta-human resembles the adaptation of Superman's enemy, Silver Banshee. The original version named, Siobhan McDougal, was created by John Byrne, first appearing in Action Comics #595 (December, 1987). The second version, on which the show's character is based, Siobhan Smythe, debuted in Supergirl vol. 6 #6 (2012) and was created by Michael Green, Mike Johnson and Mahmud Asrar.