10 Most Controversial Changes Made In Arrowverse Shows
3. Mon-El's Origins
When a mysterious pod crash-landed at the conclusion of Supergirl's first season, many wondered just who was inside it. And after months of waiting (and plenty of theorising), it was revealed to be none other than Mon-El. However, the progression of said character's arc proved to be a divisive one, both for fans of the comics and fans of the show.
While the Daxamite had plenty of different origin stories in the comics, he was always portrayed in something of a positive light - showing up in Smallville with amnesia in an attempt to figure out what happened to Krypton and befriending Superboy (Superman) in the process. Supergirl did adopt the outline of that story, but they rewrote him to be a servant of a selfish Daxamite prince... only to eventually reveal that he was actually the selfish Daxamite prince himself.
A highly controversial change, some fans took issue with the fact that a misogynistic and selfish slave-owning prince was romantically paired with a beacon of hope like the Girl of Steel on a show that championed feminism and diversity - but the point that those fans missed was the fact that the Supergirl writers took it upon themselves to make him learn about the beauty of feminism, love and morality so that he could ultimately see the errors of his ways... something he couldn't have done if he was already a morally strong character.
No one was trying to excuse his once-abhorrent behaviour, they were trying to have him learn from it. It was his love for Kara that ultimately redeemed him and turned him into the selfless hero that he became in the third season, allowing him to live up to his comic book counterpart. No, it certainly wasn't handled perfectly, but now that we can reflect on it all, we can say that Mon-El developed into a man worthy of Kara's love - and, in the process, underwent one of the Arrowverse's best redemptive arcs.