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Feel that chill in the air? That must mean DCs Stargirls Big Bad, Icicle (Neil Jackson) has arrived, and Blue Valley will never be the same.

Though the leader of the Injustice Society showed up towards the end of last weeks episode, made his presence known in a big way on this weeks eponymous episode of the hit CW superhero show, written by Colleen McGuinness and directed by Michael Nankin. In the hour, we met Jordan Mahkent (the civilian name of the ice based villain) two years after the death of the Justice Society of America. Already based in Nebraska, Mahkent watches his wife die, and spends the next eight years building up The American Dream in Blue Valley, and traveling the country to see whats going on in small town America. On the surface, The American Dream is a community reclamation project. Underneath? Its something far more sinister Or is it?

As cool and mean as it may sound, it will make sense, Jackson teased to Decider. Everybody who hears it is kind of like, I dont know if thats a villainous plan, or if its a plan that we all need.

So what is Mahkent up to? To find out more, we talked to Jackson about his surprisingly emotional character arc, how the action scene on the bridge in Icicle was one of the more ridiculous things hes ever filmed, and how Barbara Whitmore (Amy Smart) might be the key to beating him.

Decider: Theres so much you need to establish in the opening scene of the episode You need to establish a relationship with young Cameron. You have to establish the relationship with his wife which is kind of the core thing going forward through the episode his powers, his family, etcetera. What was it like tackling all of that, in a relatively short period of time?

Neil Jackson: This is a gift that wed been given by the scripts that Geoff [Johns] and the team over in the writers room had put together. So much of it was already there, and condensed right into the characters and on the page. Also, the scene that we got to do, the opening scene, was just a gift for me. The two actors that played young Cameron and Christine were just incredible. They brought it every single take. [Young Camerons] father was there, his father was his acting coach. His father would pull him to one side and say to him, Okay, do you understand the situation? This is your TV mom, and shes dying. Its incredibly sad. And you could see the emotion was welling up in the kid. And then he said, Okay, so just live that moment. And then theyd call action, the set was very very respectful. Everyone was very quiet. Theyd call action, and this kid was just tears. Just heart-wrenching to watch. And then theyd call cut, hed look at his dad and go, Did I do it okay? And then hed turn back and smile at everyone. So he knew the separation between: we were acting; and what was real. His emotional availability is better than most actors Ive had the chance to work with. He was setting the bar for all of us, in that scene, of where we needed to be. We all rode that wave.

Watching the episode, it felt like the key line at least for Jordan/Icicle is concerned is where he tells Zarick that he made a promise to his wife to combat injustice. Which sort of flipped the switch in my mind of: Oh, okay, thats why theyre called the Injustice Society of America. I get it now.

I love that line. Its something that theyre done really well with the series. And they kind of make it a joke Theres some hokey names in this: the Justice Society, the Injustice Society, theres Stripesy and all that stuff. Kind of like they did with Shazam!, they poke fun at some of the silliness of the comic lore thats existed for decades. And then reinvent it.

One of the great reinventions is, in the original comics, it was the Justice Society, and the opposite of the Justice Society is the Injustice Society. But I loved what they did here, is giving Jordan a reason for calling it the Injustice Society. Its because his wife suffered this injustice at the hands of this company. He wanted to make sure no one ever suffered the same injustice again. So he sees himself as a warrior against this injustice, and in many ways, the hero of the peace, if it wasnt for those pesky kids that keep getting in the way. And so that was something that we touched on: that hes not evil. Not in his own mind, anyway. Hes doing something thats incredibly noble and justified, born out of a great pain that was his wifes death. So I loved what Geoff did to reinvent the lore of the comic books in there.

He clearly has a different relationship with the other members of the Injustice Society than, say, when hes working at the American Dream. I dont think it made it to The CW broadcast, but theres that fun scene where hes talking to Barbara in her office, and helping her with the photos, for example How do you find the consistency in the character based on that? Who, in your mind, is the real Jordan Mahkent?

Its a really good question. Everything changed when his wife died. I think that there was lightness and happiness and joy in his life when his wife was there. And when his wife died, he lost a lot of that to his grief, but he also channeled that through his hate and his need to try to change society. We cut to many, many years later hes deep, deep, deep in the throes of the New America project and what hes tried to achieve. Hes almost forgotten how to have fun. And then along comes this wonderful, bright spark of Amy Smart whos Barbara Whitmore who is just a joy to be around. It catches him for a moment. The sort of paradox with him is that everything hes talking about is family values and community, so the last thing hed want to do is be a homewrecker in any way, get involved in trying to break up her relationship. But he cant help the attraction.

And not just physical attraction, its a soul attraction that he feels to her, because she has this lightness in her that just emanates. I think that she has awoken in him this dormant side that hed forgotten about for so long since the death of his wife. So the true Jordan is this mixture: hes forgotten who he was in the pain of the death of his wife, but Barbara awakened a little bit of that in him, which makes him conflicted. The nice thing is, over the course of the next episodes, were going to see that relationship with Barbara cause more and more conflict within him that starts to unravel the plan that hes trying to put in place. Or at least challenge the plan that hes putting in place.

I did want to ask about the effects for Icicle, because theyre so well done. How are they executed on set?

Well, the way theyre executed on set is a ridiculous guy whos just got the measles. They put dots all over my face, they have specific markers on my face that were set by the visual effects team, the dots. And then a cap with dots on it, so they can track the visual markers when they put it into the computer. And then they overlay the visual effects onto those dot markers, so they can track it.

It was one of the things that we talked about early on, is that they had this great early artwork for the way that Icicle would look. They showed me that before we did any of the scenes where he turns into Icicle. We all discussed it, and I was like, The look is just so incredible and powerful and imposing. I need to get out of the way of the appearance of the character, and not step on it. So we talked about minimalizing the way that I move, minimalizing the way that I speak, minimalizing the way that I fight so everything is contained. Because that appearance is so imposing. If Id have done too much with what I was doing as an actor, it would have been a hound in a hat and it wouldve weakened the character. So it was a real blessing to see what I looked like. Because looking in the mirror, with those dots on my face, Im like, What am I, Cheetah Boy? The Lady Bug? [Laughs]

Lets talk about the big action sequence on the bridge, which really shows off Jordan/Icicle at his most villainous. Im curious about what his intention was here. Was it to take down Courtney/Pat? Or was it to kill Joey Zarick the whole time? Or was that a last minute improvisation?

I think its a combination of all three. He initially wanted to take out Courtney He wanted to take out Courtney and he wanted to take out Stargirl. He completely underestimates her, and then S.T.R.I.P.E. saves the day. Which was one of the more ridiculous things Ive ever shot in my life, it was hilarious: being in a green screen room, pretending. Im sitting on the floor, holding a green ball, a beach ball in my arms, pretending Im flying through the air on a mechanical fist.

I think when that happened, there were two things. He wanted to prove to [Stargirl] that he will go to the next level to make sure that his plan is a success, and she isnt a fly in the ointment that shes trying to be. He wants to show to her that if she wants to take him on, then the collateral damage of what shes trying to do will be bigger than she can ever contain. So its a lesson. But within there, its also: [William] Zarick disobeyed him and is a problem. He needs to make a statement to anybody else who thinks that they can step in front of him or try to oppose his rule. So its a sort of three-pronged thing that was born out of improvisation, as a result of that wonderful flying through the air on a fist moment.

Then theres that terrifying but wonderfully staged scene where William Zarick comes to his house. He immediately grabs the wand and slowly pushes him down and freezes him. Its so simply staged, and powerful at the same time.

That was incredible. That one its all, again, on the page. Its all written there, which was a joy to see. It simply states everything that hes been trying to achieve. You get a sense of no pun intended how cold he is, with regards to his plan. I just love the fact that he very, very quickly neutralizes a very powerful character. Which makes a statement going forward that he has this extreme power and hes willing to wield it, if he needs to. But theres also sadness, and that was the thing I liked about it. Theres such a lot of sadness in that scene. Theres obviously the sadness of William Zarick, played brilliantly by Joe Knezevich, about what happened to his son and the pain and everything else like that. But Jordan has an extreme amount of sadness, because he doesnt want to do this. Thats the overarching thing that we talked about the most. He doesnt want to do this. He doesnt want to do the plan, he doesnt want to have to kill people. But he has to make the hard choices necessary to make sure that society is bettered as a result of it.

I havent actually seen the episode yet, but I feel like when we did and hopefully with the editing, theres a sadness that just comes over. Its just like, Hi. Well that was unfortunate. But weve got to move forward. I love the end, where his parents, Sofus and Lily, played by Jim France and Kay Galvin, they just come and clean up the mess. Theres just something about his parents: taking care of a dead body, which seems even more macabre.

Theres also the last minute twist of Cameron turning out to be his son We dont get to see a lot of the relationship, because the script is holding back for the eventual reveal, so what can we expect their relationship to be like?

Their relationship is really strained. Its a difficult relationship. On the one hand, Jordan thinks hes being the best father he can possibly be, by making the world a better place for his son to inherit. On the other hand, in doing all of that, hes become an absentee father. Their personal relationship has really suffered. Cameron was basically raised by Sofus and Lily, who were his grandparents. And so, there are scenes of them trying to wrestle back that relationship. I really hope they can, over the course of seasons. The point we meet in Season 1, at least, is a very frayed point.

Going forward, what can we potentially expect from Icicle as he continues to plague Stargirl and S.T.R.I.P.E.?

Well, were going to be growing closer to the plan. And the plan hes setting in motion on the America Project is about to be outlined, I think either in the next episode or in the episode after that, the real full force of what hes trying to achieve. Theres the business side of it that we got a glimpse of in Episode 3. Then theres the Injustice Society side of it, which is a far broader reaching plan. Which is fascinating, when you hear him talk about it. As cool and mean as it may sound, it will make sense. Everybody who hears it is kind of like, I dont know if thats a villainous plan, or if its a plan that we all need.

But then within there, as I said, this fly in the ointment is going to be, for Jordan at least, Stargirl, obviously, stopping the plans. But this wonderful addition of Barbara Whitmore, who is just this gorgeous light in there that suddenly makes him reawaken to feelings that he hasnt had in quite a while. So hes a very conflicted fella. Poor little Jordan.

DCs Stargirlstreams Mondays on DC Universe, and Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

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