William Henderson (New Earth)

Inspector Bill Henderson is a police inspector in Metropolis.

Inspector Henderson first appeared in The Adventures of Superman radio series, in which he was Superman's police contact. He was subsequently introduced in a similar role in the 1950s Adventures of Superman television series, where he was played by Robert Shayne.

It took a while longer for Inspector Henderson to be introduced in the comics, however; his first appearance there was in Action Comics #442 in December 1974, once again as Superman's main police contact. He also appeared in issues of the Black Lightning series.

In the 1980s Superboy comics, Inspector Henderson was introduced in that series as "Detective-Sergeant" Henderson, where he was visiting Smallville in an unsuccessful attempt (for the time being, anyway) to convince Superboy to relocate to Metropolis.

Since John Byrne's 1986 Man of Steel miniseries, Inspector Henderson's role has been reduced somewhat, in favor of newer characters Dan Turpin and Maggie Sawyer. Currently, Henderson is Metropolis' police commissioner.

Inspector Henderson has also appeared in the 1990s live-action television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. In most of his appearances he was played by Richard Belzer. However, in the pilot, he was played by Mel Winkler, who reprised the role (as Commissioner Henderson) in an episode of the 1990s cartoon Superman: The Animated Series. Furthermore, in the fourth episode of Lois and Clark, Inspector Henderson was played by black actor Brent Jennings, the only time to date the character has not been played by a white actor. Inspector Henderson never appeared in any Lois & Clark episodes after the first season.