Warning: SPOILERS for Supergirl season 5, episode 5, "Dangerous Liaisons".
The latest episode of Supergirl took one of DC Comics' New Gods, Rip Roar, and changed him into a lackluster ripoff of the Spider-Man villain Doctor Octopus. While this is hardly the first time a comic book character was drastically altered for the sake of an Arrowverse adaptation, Supergirl's showrunners might have been better served staying closer to the original concept from the comics.
The story of Supergirl season 5, episode 5, "Dangerous Liaisons", centered upon the effort to track down a mercenary known by codename Rip Roar after he broke into a military base and stole a long-range laser rifle from the personal effects of Lex Luthor. A cool and emotionless cyborg, Rip Roar was armed with a pair of prehensile robotic appendages, giving him a longer reach, enhanced mobility, and a degree of super-strength. By the end of the episode, Rip Roar was revealed to be Russell Rogers; the best friend of reporter William Day, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances after becoming engaged to tech magnate Andrea Rojas. It remains to be seen, however, who transformed Rogers into something more man than machine, with no apparent memory of his previous life.
Supergirl's version of Rip Roar owed much to Marvel Comics' Doctor Octopus, having the exact same power set but only half the limbs. The character also seemed to be heavily inspired by Robocop, having a similar helmet and a background centered around a man being forced to become a cyborg and forgetting who he was. This adapted character ultimately had nothing in common with the original Rip Roar, apart from the name and the fact that they both had four arms.
The original Rip Roar first appeared in Young Justice #2, in October 1998. A native of Apokolips (home to the evil New Gods), Rip Roar was a soldier in the service of Darkseid and the chief rival of Darkseid's son, Kalibak. Rip Roar became trapped on Earth after passing through a Boom Tube that had been sabotaged as a result of Kalibak's scheming, shortly after he had stolen a Super-Cycle from the world of New Genesis. This Super-Cycle would become the primary transport of the Young Justice team, after the team defeated Rip Roar.
Naturally born with four arms, Rip Roar was a danger even ignoring the enhanced strength and durability that were part and parcel of his abilities as a New God. He also possessed the power to generate fire and ice from his hands. This made him a difficult enemy for the newly-formed Young Justice to face, with Superboy, Impulse, and Red Tornado barely able to contain Rip Roar and unable to match him in raw power.
With that pedigree, it seems curious that out of all the aspects of the original Rip Roar that Supergirl could focus on in adapting the character for television that they would choose the fact that he has four arms. Granting that the series seems to have been avoiding utilizing the New Gods characters despite their long association with the Superman mythology, there are so many more interesting aspects to Rip Roar's background and powers to utilize than the fact that he has extra arms. Worse yet, making those extra arms into robot tentacles only serves to make Supergirl's Rip Roar into a lame ripoff.