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- "Look at my face. Look what they did to me. Now, I wore that mask to protect me and my family because there are aliens who don't like to hear what I believe, don't like to hear the truth, so I'm cards up. What about Supergirl, huh? You know who I am. Who is she?"
- —Ben Lockwood while being arrested[src]
Professor Benjamin "Ben" Lockwood is the former host of The Lockdown and a former history professor at National City University. After his life was torn apart by consequences of alien attacks, he began working with Mercy and Otis Graves as the leader of the Children of Liberty, known as Agent Liberty, serving to exterminate all extraterrestrials and establish humans as the superior race on Earth. He was later appointed Director of the United States Bureau of Alien Affairs under President Baker, which soon became an official Cabinet department and the position was renamed the Secretary of Alien Affairs. Ben is also the son of the late Peter Lockwood, the husband of Lydia Lockwood and the father of George Lockwood. Ben and the rest of his organization are all unwittingly pawns of Lex Luthor in his schemes.
Biography
Early life
Ben was a history professor at National City University, living with his wife Lydia, his son George, and his father Peter. He had helped his father out at his steel factory for some time, even negotiating with Lena Luthor for help with the factory.
At dinner with his family, the news showed Supergirl trying to snap the city out of Myriad, but Peter didn't approve of Supergirl and the Alien Amnesty Act, hating so much of aliens that he wouldn't accept material from them. Ben tried to convince him otherwise, but his father wouldn't have it. However, after their argument, a fight at the Nth Metal Factory across the street included a fight between Peter's workers and two aliens at the factory, one of whom ended up accidentally shooting Ben in the chest. Supergirl arrived at the scene to break up the situation and Agent Alex Danvers helped to deal with Ben's stab wounds. Later, Ben also had bad luck when Lena denied any help for his father.
Ben's life got worse after the Daxamite invasion as his home was destroyed in a fight between a Daxamite and Martian Manhunter. As a result, he began showing more prejudice to his alien students, which cost him his job. He began giving flyers on how aliens were taking away everything from humans until the Worldkillers attempt to terraform Earth. He went to save his father from the steel factory, but to his horror, his father didn't want to be saved and could only watch as his factory crushed him in the end. He spoke at his father's funeral afterwards and was surprised to see that Lena had came to pay her respects. She wanted to help him and his family during their time of need, but he refused, stating that she chose the aliens over the humans and they are to blame for everything that was happening. She told him that if he chose this path of blaming people for everything that was happening to him, no good would come from it, but he refused to listen.
Becoming Agent Liberty
Ben soon met his friends outside his father's ruined steel factory and together, they set fire to the Nth Metal factory as revenge for putting their factory out of business. During the fire, a person came out gasping for air. At first, he wanted to help him as he thought he was human, but was actually an alien disguised as a human. Recognizing him as the same alien that shot him once and refusing to consider aliens as people, he beat him to death with a pipe. He began recruiting others to his organization dedicated to ridding the earth of aliens where he was contacted by a person named Mercy Graves. Ben was unaware that he was working with Lex Luthor and he is the one who sent Mercy and Otis Graves to recruit him. She told him that she and her brother Otis knew about his organization that they were hunting down aliens and the alien that he killed. At first, he thought they were going to arrest him, but they actually wanted to recruit him for their plans against the aliens. They gave him equipment that would be useful to him. To test him, they told him he had to kidnap and kill an alien named Fiona Byrne who was beginning a group that would protect aliens from humans.
After the plan to expose the president in her alien form worked, he stood behind Fiona ready to kill her. Before he did, he told her that he never sought conflict with aliens, but they left him with no choice. When she asked who he was, he merely responded he was an agent of liberty and stabbed her in the back. He soon watched on TV as Supergirl stopped a fight between two human groups: ones that supported aliens being on Earth and others that didn't. While watching, he knew she would be a problem for them, but Mercy revealed she had Kryptonite that could be used against her. He told her to be careful with it as they couldn't kill Supergirl yet as she would then become a symbol of hope, but she told him it was just insurance. He soon went to his followers giving a speech that they would take back Earth from the aliens and went back to Otis and Mercy to see what their next move is. After returning from his followers, he saw Otis and Mercy were going to kill the D.E.O agent that freed them. Although willing to kill aliens, he refused to kill his own human kind. Although Mercy said it was necessary so they could tie up loose ends and that Jensen was a nobody. He convinced her otherwise though as he not only released Mercy and her brother, but could also bring them back into the D.E.O.[1]
Identity exposed to the public
Personality
- "Well, history is extreme, truth is extreme.The classroom isn't a safe place where everyone gets to hear a fairy tale version of the facts. And if students can't handle perspectives that are different than their own, then I don't know. Maybe they don't belong here."
- —Ben Lockwood[src]
- "Because we can come together and we can tear out this alien disease that threatens to poison our world, we can invite them to return to the planets that they came from and we can restore health and vitality and security to this country. And I, as your Agent of Liberty, will stand with you as we dare to put Earth first!"
- —Agent Liberty[src]
As Agent Liberty, Ben is a human patriot and nationalist, who seeks to empower his fellow humans, regardless of ethnicity or faith, to unite against their ungodly extraterrestrial immigrants. Ben has witnessed many tragedies befalling, not only his family, but also many humans due to extraterrestrial activities. This is further fueled by the media disapproval to help these humans or even L-Corp to help them in their times of crisis, causing many humans to be let go without jobs and homes.
With the United States government turning on it's human civilians in favor of extraterrestrial amnesty, Ben decided to help humanity by exposing extraterrestrials of the threats they really are.Abilities
- High-level intellect/Skilled tactician/Leader: Ben is a capable leader, coupled with good communication skills. Mercy Graves has compared his rhetoric skills to Franklin Roosevelt and Mussolini. Ben was able to recruit many individuals into the Children of Liberty by feeding on the increasingly tense atmosphere following numerous alien battles. Before being recruited by the Graves siblings, Ben and his friends were able to keep cause against alien immigrants a secret from federal authorities and even the D.E.O.
- Master debater: Ben possess great knowledge of alien politics and cultures and even human politics and economics. During a TV debate against Kara, Ben was able to use logical and factual statements, bringing up certain points in human history, to prove his points, vocally defeating the disguised Kryptonian much to Kara's disdain.
- Skilled combatant: Ben is somewhat skilled in hand-to-hand combat, most likely having received minor training from Mercy Graves, as he was able to temporarily fight against Manchester Black. He also quickly beat down Coop, using his Agent Liberty helmet as a blunt weapon, before he could react.
- Skilled knife wielder: Ben is skilled in using a knife in combat. This is seen when he used an antique bayonet against Manchester Black, even managing to stab him in the shoulder.
Equipment
- Agent Liberty suit: Ben possesses a suit that protects his identity and himself from threats.
- Retractable blade: The suit has a retractable blade hidden in its arm. This is displayed when it is used to kill Fiona.
- Antique Bayonet: Ben used an antique bayonet from his collection to fight back against Manchester Black.
- Handgun: Ben used Manchester Black's own handgun against him in an attempt to execute him.
Appearances
Supergirl
Season 4
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Trivia
- Unlike most villains, Ben didn't don a mask to conceal his true identity; the Agent Liberty mask was to emphasize that who he was as an individual didn't matter; what he stood for did.
- While what Ben stood for was extremely prejudiced, the idea of himself not mattering more than his crusade in the long run arguably ensured his following.
- Ben could be seen as a foil to Manchester Black:
- Both their ideologies involve violence against those whom they feel wronged them. Unlike Manchester though, Ben has allies and support.
- Ben remained close to his family and friends in spite of his vendetta while Manchester grew estranged from his family and friends due to his vendetta.
- Both of their journeys began after the loss of someone they loved; Ben lost his father while Manchester lost his fiancée.
- Ben shares similarities with Orlin Dwyer/Cicada.
- Both of their vendettas are based on xenophobia; Orlin hates meta-humans while Ben hates aliens.
- They're also willing to kill any individual of the aforementioned species, be it heroes or criminals.
- Both faced repeated attacks and losses due to the prominent heroes in their cities; Orlin lost his sister to a meta-human attack while Ben lost his home and family business as a direct/indirect byproduct of extraterrestrial presence on Earth.
- A beloved family member getting hurt as a result of the final battle in their show's previous seasons was the final catalyst for their descent into villainy; Orlin became Cicada after his niece was rendered comatose during the Enlightenment. Ben became Agent Liberty after his father died during Reign's terraformation of Earth.
- Furthermore, Orlin and Ben were both presented as the main antagonists of their respective shows during the 2018-19 season, until another villain usurped them; Orlin was killed and replaced by his time traveling niece, Grace, while Ben was revealed to be a pawn of Lex Luthor's agenda.
- Both of their vendettas are based on xenophobia; Orlin hates meta-humans while Ben hates aliens.
Behind the scenes
- In the main DC Comics continuity, Ben Lockwood was the first Agent Liberty, an ex-CIA operative turned Superhero, who worked for the Sons of Liberty organization. Unlike the show's adaptation, he was more heroic, disgusted with the violent methods of intelligence, but he still shares a number of similarities; his looks, elements of his suit, the fact that the suit was provided for him by the interested organization, and said organization opposing Superman, eventually targeting politicians, which made Agent Liberty breakaway with the group. Later on he investigated an influx of Kryptonians on Earth, similarly to how the three attacks from Krypton motivated Ben Lockwood in the TV show to start his anti-alien actions. He was killed by Superwoman (Lucy Lane) during his investigation.
- Lockwood is the second male antagonist on Supergirl, since Non in Season 1.