Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for Stargirl season 3, episode 8, "Infinity Inc. Part Two."Five DC Comics characters were introduced into the Arrowverse in the Stargirl season 3 (a.k.a. Stargirl: Frenemies) episode "Infinity Inc. Part Two." The two-part story centered around an unlikely team-up between Stargirl Courtney Whitmore, her stepfather Pat Dugan, and the immortal villain known as The Shade, as they tried to help the Green Lantern's daughter, Jennie, rescue her twin brother, Todd, from the clutches of the Helix Institute. Run by a mysterious man known as Mr. Bones, the Helix Institute seemed to be holding teenagers against their will but was ultimately revealed to be trying to help at-risk metahuman teens control their powers.
Most of the new DC Comics character introductions in Stargirl season 3, episode 8, "Infinity Inc. Part Two" (a.k.a. " "Frenemies – Chapter Eight: Infinity Inc. Part Two") were quick cameos of super-powered teens living inside the Helix Institute. Some characters were only mentioned by name or hinted at indirectly. However, each of these Easter eggs expanded the world of Earth-2 in the new Arrowverse and hinted at what might be coming later in Stargirl season 3. Here is a look at all five characters introduced in the episode.
Tao Jones
As the Stargirl: Frenemies episode "Infinity Inc. Part Two" opens, the Helix Institute is put under lockdown, as Todd Rice's shadow powers rage out of control and alarms blare. One of the students, identified by the sign outside her room as Tao Jones, seems worried by the alarms. Despite this, she is quick to comfort a dog named Kritter, who is likewise disturbed by the alarms. The fact that this girl seems to have been allowed to keep a pet is the first subtle sign that the Helix Institute might not be as sinister as they seem.
In the DC Comics series Infinity Inc., Tao Jones was one of six teenagers who developed superpowers and fought the sons and daughters of the Justice Society of America as part of the supervillain team Helix. Tao possessed the power to generate a force field that redirected the energy of any attack against her toward the attacker and could also levitate. Eventually brought to justice, Tao was institutionalized due to her age in the hope that she might be rehabilitated. Sadly, this effort didn't seem to stick, as she went on to work for the sorceress Circe and was connected enough in the supervillain community to act as an informant for Black Lightning. Her post-Flashpoint incarnation did not fare much better, being recruited into the Suicide Squad and dying on her first mission.
Kritter
Like Tao Jones, Kritter first appeared as a member of the supervillain group Helix in Infinity Inc. #17 and was created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Todd McFarlane. Comparable to Beast from the X-Men, Kritter had a genius intellect and a furry form resembling that of a cartoon canine. While unable to speak normally, Kritter invented a device dubbed "the bark enhancer" which translated his dog-like efforts at speech into eloquent English. For this and his habit of wearing glasses and a tie and nothing else, his teammates teasingly nicknamed him Peabody, in reference to the super-smart dog from the Peabody and Sherman cartoons.
The Kritter character introduced in Stargirl season 3 appears to be an ordinary dog. It's possible he is a pet to Tao Jones and the name is just an Easter egg. It is equally possible, however, that Kritter might be another inmate of the Helix Institute whose brain was put into a dog's body by a mad scientist or a mutant whose powers transformed him into a dog.
Penny Dreadful
The next DC character cameo involves a young woman whose room placard identifies her as Penny Dreadful. A haughty figure clad in a white fur coat, Penny seems annoyed by the lockdown alarms, in contrast to the fearful Tao Jones. Penny's room is also notably different from the other inmates' rooms, being entirely lined with mirrors.
Despite having a name associated with horror, Penny Dreadful was a living conductor who could absorb and enhance energy, releasing it as powerful electrical blasts in the Infinity Inc. comics where she first appeared. Another member of Helix alongside Tao Jones and Kritter, Penny Dreadful fell into career supervillainy despite being given a chance at reformation and briefly working for Mr. Bones as a secretary after he became Director of the Department of Extranormal Operations. She ultimately died in battle facing the Mikaal Tomas Starman.
Carcharo
The next room placard observed in the Stargirl: Frenemies episode "Infinity Inc. Part Two" reveals the name Carcharo, as an unseen figure growls and pounds the door with considerable force. First appearing in Infinity Inc. #25 and created by writers Roy Thomas and Dann Thomas and artist Todd McFarlane, Carcharo had a brief but involved history as an enemy of both Infinity Inc. and Helix. Carcharo was another victim of the same mad scientist who created the Helix teens, born as a half-man, half-shark hybrid and abandoned to the wild after his parents' deaths. Presumably, the Arrowverse Carcharo suffered a similar mutation and, while unseen in the Stargirl season 3 episode, might resemble the more famous but similarly empowered Suicide Squad member King Shark.
Carcharo is mostly remembered today for his death at the hands of Mr. Bones, who lost a leg to the shark-man before his cyanide touch could kill him. Carcharo is also notable as a cousin of the second Wildcat, Yolanda Montez. It's possible that Stargirl: Frenemies might pick up on this connection, particularly in the wake of Yolanda being abandoned by her family.
Sandy Hawkins
Before parting ways with Courtney and Pat, Jennie informs them that she's heading to New York City to meet up with Sandy Hawkins. Jennie explains that Sandy was the nephew of Wesley Dodds, who fought crime with the Justice Society of America as the hero Sandman. Jennie further explains that Sandy inherited her uncle's precognitive dreams of people in danger and that his dreams helped her find her brother at the Helix Institute, before going off with the reforming Stargirl villain Shade and her brother to keep her promise to help Sandy deal with his nightmares.
Sandy Hawkins was created by writer Mort Weisinger and artist Paul Norris and was introduced as Sandy The Golden Boy in 1941's Adventure Comics #69, where he became the Robin to Sandman's Batman. He would later take up his mentor's mantle using the codename Sand as part of the 21st-century Justice Society of America, after inheriting Wesley Dodd's dream visions. He also developed the power to meld his body with the Earth and generate localized seismic disruptions, though he generally preferred to use his uncle's pistol and sleeping gas gun.
What Stargirl's New Season 3 Characters Mean For The Future
Infinity Inc. was the name adopted by the superhero team formed by the sons and daughters of the Justice Society in the comics after they were refused admission to their parents' team due to their inexperience. The team's founders included Green Lantern's twin children Jennie and Todd, who took the code names Jade and Obsidian. The use of the Infinity Inc. name in the title of the Stargirl: Frenemies season 3 episode reuniting the twins could tease the Arrowverse Jennie and Todd forming their own superhero team with Sandy Hawkins in New York, setting up a potential spinoff.
The "Infinity Inc. Part Two" episode of Stargirl season 3 also hints at the formation of Helix in the Arrowverse, with Mr. Bones musing that "Helix should form a team of our own" after considering Courtney Whitmore's argument that teenagers with special gifts should not be locked away from the world. Time will tell if this Helix will become a threat to Stargirl and her allies, like in the comics.
New episodes of Stargirl release Wednesdays on The CW.