Kara Danvers (Melissa Benoist) combines the best elements of the character’s personalities and costumes from her many iterations in the comics. Photo by Darren Michaels/Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. © 2015 WBEI. All rights reserved.
James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks) and Lucy Lane (Jenna Dewan-Tatum) have a volatile relationship on Supergirl, as they always have in the comics. Photo by Trae Patton/CBS ©2015 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved
On Supergirl, the Maid of Steel (Melissa Benoist, center) is aided by Hank Henshaw (David Harewood, left) and sister Alex (Chyler Leigh). In the comics, Henshaw is a supervillain and Alex doesn’t exist. Photo by Robert Voets/Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. © 2015 WBEI. All rights reserved.
By Andrew A. Smith
Tribune Content Agency
The new CBS show Supergirl debuted Oct. 26, cobbling together parts of lots of DC Comics going back decades. And it’s a lot of fun.
I’m not saying the comic book references are what make Supergirl work. That honor goes to Melissa Benoist, who plays the Maid of Steel. If Benoist wasn’t a strong enough actress to carry the show, it would Super-suck. But she is, and it doesn’t.
She’s alarmingly cute and likable, appealing even to middle-aged, married men like presidential candidate Jeb Bush, who described her as “hot.” (I wish I was making that up.) But what sets her apart from other cute and likable actresses is that she can sell the role. She seems to tap into her inner Christopher Reeve so that her shy, nerdy and insecure secret identity, Kara Danvers, seems organic. And when someone in the premiere episode describes Supergirl as 5 feet 9 inches, Danvers seems to nervously shrink into herself to look shorter. So cute!
Surrounded by a telegenic and competent supporting cast, Benoist And Supergirl have a strong foundation. The show is also lucky to be supported by Greg Berlanti’s production company, which produces Arrow and Flash.
As to the comic book bits, some are pretty interesting. For the most part they’re just Easter eggs for comics fans, but knowing the references could be a clue where Supergirl is going.
Or not. Either way, here are some choice deviled eggs:
KARA DANVERS: That’s not her name in the comics, but it’s close enough.
Supergirl was introduced in Action Comics in 1959 as Kara Zor-El, Superman’s cousin, who had been rocketed to Earth by her parents, Zor-El and Alura In-Ze. The origin varies a bit from what’s on TV, but not enough to worry about – and besides, Supergirl has been rebooted several times, and what’s on TV is something of an amalgamation of her many backstories.
Back in 1959, Superman dropped the girl off at Midvale Orphanage somewhere in the Midwest, with orders to disguise herself as brunette “Linda Lee,” self-sabotage any possibility of getting adopted and keep her Kryptonian side a secret until Superman deemed her ready to go public. (Which seems Super-cruel. Perhaps that made more sense in 1959.) This Supergirl was very sweet, a girlish teen on which many fanboys (and perhaps some fangirls) developed a crush. In many ways, Benoist channels this version of the character. Eventually “Linda” was adopted by …
FRED AND EDNA DANVERS: This couple has been renamed Jeremiah and Eliza on TV, but that’s not important. What is important is that they are played by Dean Cain and Helen Slater, who portrayed Superman on Adventures of Lois and Clark and the Maid of Steel in Supergirl the movie, respectively. Thank you, TV!
Also, thanks for having Superman skip the orphanage bit, which was creepy. Incidentally, the comic book Danvers were childless, whereas TV provides the re-named Kara Danvers with an older sister named Alex. Usually names that shorten to “Lex” are bad news in Super-stories. Is that coincidence … or something more?
COSTUME CHANGES: In the 1970s, DC wasn’t quite sure what to do with Supergirl, as the sexual revolution and women’s liberation movements had made her orphanage adventures seem kinda quaint. One thing they did was allow her multiple costumes, supposedly submitted by readers. (And maybe they really were!) They were based on 1970s fashions, which as we all know was the nadir of Western civilization, and pretty awful. That’s what the costume scene in the premiere episode was all about, especially the midriff-baring outfit where Kara whines “I wouldn’t even wear this to the beach!”
DC eventually solved their Supergirl dilemma by killing her off (in 1985), and having a variety of other concepts use the name. But none of that’s important now, as the current Supergirl is once again Kara Zor-El. Instead let’s look at …
CAT GRANT, who was introduced in 1987 as a gossip columnist for the Daily Planet, to give Lois Lane a little competition in the Clark Kent department. She’s been rebooted a couple of times to serve various story purposes, so her position as CEO of Catco – which isn’t in the comics – isn’t important. What is important is that in one iteration she had a son, who was murdered by …
WINN SCHOTT. That’s right, Kara’s dorky co-worker is a lethal supervillain in the comics named Toyman. Now, the TV Schott seems harmless enough. But why is his desk covered with toys? Which brings us to another villainous name lurking among Kara’s friends …
HANK HENSHAW. On TV he’s a big shot at the Department of Extra-Normal Operations, helping Supergirl battle aliens (and occasionally supervillains). But in the comics he’s a supervillain named the Cyborg Superman. Is that why his eyes glow red, or that just a red herring? But then there are actual villains, like …
MAXWELL LORD. This character started out as a good guy in the 1980s, but later turned out to be a really, really bad guy. (He shot Blue Beetle in the head! That’s pretty bad!) I’m not sure if he’s a good guy or a bad guy in current DC comics, or even if he’s appeared since the latest reboot in 2011. So I guess "answer unclear, ask again later" is his status on the TV show as well. He bears watching.
REACTRON: The comics version is pretty much like the TV version, an armored guy tossing around radioactive blasts. He’s usually a pretty minor supervillain, except for one time when he managed to kill Zor-El, then blow up Alura by exploding himself. (Supergirl’s parents, unlike Superman’s, tend to survive the destruction of Krypton. They’ve done so in at least two origin stories, but in one of ‘em they ended up dead anyway.) That alone makes Reactron a pretty serious Supergirl villain.
VARTOX. Vartox debuted in 1974 as a sort of parody of the Sean Connery character in Zardoz, complete with hairy chest, barely-there outfit and super-macho attitude. Vartox’s chauvinism is usually played for laughs in the comics, but the TV show played it seriously, as when the character told the Last Daughter of Krypton: “On my planet, females bow to males.” What a creep!
In the comics, Vartox has “hyper-powers” but isn’t a Kryptonian, just as in the TV show. Weirdly, Vartox carries an atomic-powered axe on TV, much like another DC Character, the Legion of Super-Heroes villain Persuader, who lives in the 31st century. That’s not really important, I guess, but it is a nice Easter egg. As is …
NATIONAL CITY. DC Comics began its corporate life as National Comics in the 1930s, so that name is just a nod to knowledgeable fans. As are the references to various Super-creators, which in the first three episodes included writers Sterling Gates and Jerry Siegel; artists Jamal Igle, Al Plastino and Dick Sprang; and Superman: The Movie director Richard Donner. Watch for a reference to Jim Mooney, the artist most closely associated with the character in her Action Comics days.
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