James Olsen

"I see a city full of people who need help. Who need a hero."

- James Olsen to Kara Danvers

James "Jimmy" Olsen is the former art director and current interim CEO of CatCo Worldwide Media, who was promoted by Cat Grant to be a stand-in for her while she is on her leave of absence from the company. Always longing for his own brand of justice, James asks friend Winn Schott to help him in his quest. Assisted by Winn, James adopts the guise of Guardian, a vigilante operating in National City.

Early life
Jimmy is the only son of a soldier who died during Operation Desert Storm in 1991 and, before he was deployed to the Middle East, he gave him his first camera. Since the death of his father Jimmy keeps the camera with him at all times and decide to become a photojournalist; a nervous kid starting out, he find employ at the Daily Planet, where he befriended Clark Kent, who eventually entrusted him with his super-heroic secret allowing him to take the 1st photo of Superman, from wich he won a Pulitzer and soon gained public recognition for being friends with him.

Growing up, he began to find annoying the nickname "Jimmy" preferring to be called "James"; also he start a brief relationship with Lucy Lane, which nevertheless ends because she constantly feels sidelined by him in favor of Superman.

Moving to National City
Seeking to broaden his own horizons, James was asked by Superman to move to National City to keep an eye on his cousin, Kara, also accepting a job as CatCo Worldwide Media's art director. First meeting Kara when she came to get some layouts on request from Cat Grant, he told her that Grant could wait, as it'd be her loss if she fired him right after hiring him. Introducing himself as the new guy, James was recognized by Kara after she saw a framed print of the first photo ever taken of Superman. James offered the copy to her, on the condition that she first tell him what her name was, as he hadn't caught her name. After introducing herself and attempting to leave, he reminded her of the layouts she had originally come to get.

He was later asked to lunch by Kara, though he told her to meet him on the roof instead as he entered the elevator. On the roof, he presented her with the blanket Kal-El had been wrapped in as a baby when he arrived to Earth, revealing to her that he came to National City as a personal favor to her cousin.

A week later, James went to the content meeting called by Cat, who firstly made sure everyone knew about Supergirl's recent heroic failure. James pointed out that even Superman had made mistakes starting out. He was then asked by Cat whether he could get her an interview with Supergirl by approaching the subject to Superman the next time they met, though James was reluctant to do so. After the meeting, James later tried to convince Kara that Cat wouldn't recognize her if she did the interview, giving her a pep-talk when she contemplated whether she had become a hero too soon, telling her that if anyone could fill Superman's boots, it was her. The next day, James encountered Winn Schott in the alleyway outside of CatCo. After the two made several attempts to get each other to leave, they were soon surprised to learned that one another were both confidants of Kara, after she landed in front of them. She then told both James and Winn that needed to practice if she was going to be a hero, and that she needed their help, with James agreeing to do so. Using Kara's apartment as a base of operations, James and Winn alerted her to several emergencies occurring in National City, also simultaneously advising her how to handle the situations as well. Later at Kara's apartment, James and Winn were both thanked by Kara for their assistance as people were finally starting to believe in Supergirl. The following day at CatCo, James was given the dilemma of getting Cat an interview with Supergirl within 24 hours, or being fired. Outside of CatCo, Kara offered to do the interview so James wouldn't be fired, with James telling her that he thought moving to National City he could be his own man, and escape the fame of being friends with Superman. James was then told by Kara that on Krypton no one was their own man, and that apart of being his own man meant knowing when to accept help from others. James was later called by Cat about the interview with Supergirl, with him telling her to look out of her car window as the interview had already started, with Supergirl carrying her car into the air.

Rekindling with Lucy
Coming Soon!

His feelings for Kara
Coming Soon!

Myriad
James along with the rest of National is later put under the control of Myriad.Under the orders of Non, he, Winn and Kelly jump all from CatCo,with Supergirl rescuing him and Winn though failing to save Kelly.The two then tell Kara to accept defeat or die.

Becoming CEO of CatCo
Coming Soon!

Becoming Guardian
Coming Soon!

Personality
James is intelligent, kind, caring, selfless, brave and moral, with an urge to help people in any way possible. This was partly inspired by his many years of assisting Superman. He severely dislikes Sam Lane, partly because he has interfered in James' relationship with Lucy Lane, which James and Lucy both correctly felt was not his place, but mainly because of his arrogant, disrespectful, ungrateful and immoral traits.

Abilities

 * Master hand-to-hand combatant/Martial artist: James has a black belt, although what level and in what style of martial arts was not revealed, and thus he demonstrated remarkable fighting skills.

Equipment

 * Signal watch: James wears a special watch who Superman gave to him so that he would be able to contact him in case he ever got in trouble. Occasionally James has also used the watch to communicate with Kara.
 * Guardian suit: James wears a mechanized, armored suit as his heroic alter-ego, Guardian, to hide his identity from enemies, when he goes out fighting crime. It was designed by Winn Schott, it is made of lead and other unknown materials. The suit enhances physical strength and resilience to match that of opponents, such as Rudy Jones. The suit has a built-in shield that folds up into and out of the arm and it generates golden shockwaves to deflect and repel beings with super strength who strike it. The wrist also has a grappling line that can lasso enemies and attach itself to a high structure at the same time to dangle people by their foot.

Supergirl
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Season 2
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Behind the scenes

 * In the DC comics, James "Jimmy" Olsen is the best friend of Superman, and a photographer for the Daily Planet.
 * Unlike the show, Jimmy Olsen is Caucasian and has red hair.
 * Cat Grant mentions that James is famously known as Superman's "pal".
 * James' superhero persona, Guardian, is a legacy superhero mantle that has been used by several characters in the DC canon. Though in the comics, it has never been used by Jimmy Olsen. The original Guardian was Jim Harper, a Golden Age superhero, operating in Metropolis. This mantle has also been notoriously associated with Project Cadmus, regarding cloning experiments.
 * Even though this is the first instance that the alias of Guardian is used by Olsen, the character has used several other superhero aliases through the years including: Elastic Lad, Turtle Boy, Mister Action, Flamebird, Accountable, and most recently Doctor Impossible.