unpopular(?) opinion, but i really liked the supergirl movie for the most part, but i think its biggest flaw was the soundtrack. i’d be getting into it, then the most girlbosspoprock™️ song would play and take me out of it. LET KARA BE MESSY AND NOT OVERPRODUCED. and let the songs have at least a teeeeny bit more coherence for her character, come on. i have taken the liberty to make my own soundtrack. it is far from perfect, and since i haven’t seen the movie since it first came out, some of the scenes might be out of order, or just a little off, so i apologize.
ALSO, this is no hate to any of the artists or anyone who enjoys the sountrack. to ME it felt out of place, especially during the fight scenes. HOWEVER, i am not hating on YOU or THEM. my taste is not refined and intellectual by any means.
Germfree Adolescence by X-Ray Spex for intro and girlfailure scene
I Miss America by Slutever for birthday bender (does this actually happen or am i misremembering??)
Sorrow by Suffrajett when jukebox & fight
Got to Get Up by Siouxsie and the Banshees when motivated to find Krypto cure
Ideal Woman by Skinny Girl Diet when space pirate thing goes down on the bus
PJ Harvey’s Highway 61’ Revisited cover when little road trip moment
Me Gusta Ser una Zorra by Vulpes in bar fight thing and then when Lobo shows up
Return of the Mother by Nina Hagen when walking through evil misogyny town
What Are Little Girls Made of by Spitboy when big baddie villains confront
Sweet 69’ by Babes in Toyland when Kara and Lobo fight the traffickers
They Say Vision by Res when Ruthye is kidnapped and Kara is giving up (can’t totally remember what’s going on in this scene actually, i might’ve made it up)
Franklin by Paramore when Kara is in apartment being sad
Long Live the King by Jucifer in beginning of boss battle confrontation with Kara and Lobo
The Devil is Loose by Asha Puthli in place of that cover when Kara saves Ruthye (kinda out of place, but so was the song in the movie. it’s dramatic)
Eyes on You by Veruca Salt after Krypto heals (this one i struggled with, idrk i’m not totally down with this)
Little Sister by The Runaways when Ruthye goes with Kara
Mailbox by Adickdid when meeting Clark again at the end
Rock Star by Hole for end credits (again i couldn’t decide, maybe Call Me instead because it was in the trailer?)
it would be kind of a long album, but i had a fun little time. i made a spotify account wow.
My Adventures with Superman S3E07 "The Ex-Games" Review
Mxyzptlk and his wife Gsptlsnz are geting a divorce, and thusly abduct our heroic quartette to battle their alternate universe selves to determine who the imp's stuff will be split in the settlement. ...Not huge stakes, but they're good to work through some character stuff!
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Fun episode, but like I said was there more to get everyone's characters up to a certain point before things escalate in the final three episodes of the season. Gsptlsnz was a delight, and largely the alternate selves were pretty fun (especially Flamebird!Jimmy, who is repressing his sadness EXTRA hard). But yeah, fun character growth episode.
References and Musings
Gsptlsnz being much more human looking than Myx is a long established thing, with her being more conventionally attractive playing into old cartoon tropes regarding funny male characters have hot wives (a dynamic that carries over into old American sitcoms). Her having more of a Gurren Lagann look to contrast with Mxy's Dragonball-ish design is also fun.
Jimmy in the alternate universe using Flamebird as a superhero name is a reference to how Flamebird (and Nightwing) are both Kryptonian superheroes from prior to the world exploding.
Im down with the MAWS version of Lex being canonically face blind, and it can explain a lot to be honest.
Seemingly most of Team B (none of them are really evil, so Team Evil is out), they explain that with Clark dead it left the world open to attacks from the Hungry Dogs. Now, while there isn't a specific group called that in the DCU, it IS the name of the final part of Jack Kirby's New Gods stuff. This would imply that Darkseid may be invading the Earth in the next season if it happens?
And finally, I'll put this last one behind a cut...
An updated Jon (Jon Lane from the second dystopia), only he appears to have a sister with him now. in all likelhood, she may be Cir-El (Lois and Clark's daughter from another universe, in the preboot comics), although in all honesty, i think it would be funny if she was called Connie as a reference to one of the main Superboy, Conner Kent.
I just wanted to get it out of my system to do some fanart of Skeletor and Adam ‘cause, man, I loved the characters in Masters of the Universe 🥺… btw, I really liked the movie, I would definitely watch it again 👌🏼✨
I read this article entitled "What can you do with Supergirl that you can't do with Superman?" on DC's website today, and I think it encapsulates a lot of things with how DC approaches both characters and their relationship to one another, and I'm responding to them all. I apologize in advance for this being unpolished.
(Using a Read More because I basically copy the article to spare you all the effort)
Direct Responses
Writer Alex Jaffe: "When your guiding principle for Supergirl is only that she isn’t Superman, there are thousands of directions you can take."
This guiding principle is shit. I don't have a polite way of framing it. Kara's gender, age, place of origin (for even if Krypton hadn't exploded, Kal was born in Kryptonopolis!), and the time period in which she was introduced to Earth culture are just a few aspects that differentiate the characters without an author explicitly needing the crutch of "well, she's not him." Moreover, and perhaps more importantly, I would argue that this relies on Superman himself being a relatively stagnant and unchanging character, both in narrative and in wider perception, or the goalposts for developing Supergirl must change in response. The authors themselves do a better job of elaborating on their positions and how they've developed Supergirl, but the premise they're working from manages to be vague, trite, and damaging somehow.
Cary Bates answered, “At the time I was writing,” he told us, “the answer would be ‘not much.' But I think a more blunt answer to the question came in 1985 with Crisis on Infinite Earths, when DC took the drastic step of killing Supergirl "for real.""
I'm not going to say that Superman and Supergirl having nothing that's theoretically "off-limits" to the other for whatever reason that may crop up is inherently better — but I fail to see why them being so different that you can't regard them similarly is considered necessary from the outset rather than being a natural result of the characters' respective backgrounds and story progression.
I think the COIE mention is interesting because it's a perception-based answer; Superman was/is just too iconic and important to the overall DC universe to exclude, but Supergirl could be removed for a prolonged period without too much fuss as far as editorial was concerned. Still, "you can kill her off" isn't really the kind of answer people care about when they ask this.
Jeff Loeb answered, “What I loved about writing Supergirl was that she was a young woman who came to Earth—unlike her cousin Superman,” Loeb told us. “She had no Ma and Pa Kent, so her perspective on everything had to do with what she knew from Krypton. It became a different kind of immigrant story. Much more of a stranger in a strange land than Clark. Having spent years exposed to the yellow sun, she is, in many ways, more powerful than Superman, and hasn't had the human experience of keeping those skills in check when needed,” he suggested. “She can be the badass in the family. It's great fun.”
Based on what I've read of Loeb's take on Kara, I'm not necessarily surprised by the answer. The first half of it repeats what I mentioned earlier, and I take issue with the latter half, which aligns with how I felt about Loeb's writing anyway. I don't take issue with the origin where Kara got trapped orbiting the sun in stasis because of the powerscaling bit; I hate that writers of similar mind to Loeb accidently vilify her under the impression that they're making her cool. Supergirl being written as ill-tempered and violent — as a (often teenaged) young woman and a refugee — reeks of latent bigotry. Kara not having an amazing control over her powers at first is a completely normal aspect of Superlore, but if said lack of control's supposed to be "badassery," I feel there's an intentionality there evoking unsavory stereotypes. If we're working with the juxtaposition angle, then this heavily implies that her older male American Earth-raised cousin, who historically did struggle with impulses, is the softer and more reasonable one. Call me Ralph Dibny if you want, but it doesn't sit right with me.
Also, again, I don't appreciate comparisons between Kal and Kara that imply or state that his different immigrant story is lesser. He lost me with that.
"That difference in Supergirl and Superman’s origins is where most writers seem to find the crux of Supergirl’s character."
Finally!
“Supergirl is the stranger in the strange land trope at its best,” Landry Q. Walker (Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the Eighth Grade) told us. “And that is a tremendous amount of fun to write. She can look at a cow with wonder and amazement. She can be skeptical about ice cream. The room for comedy and drama is virtually limitless as Supergirl gets to be overwhelmed by the best and worst that Earth has to offer in a way that Superman—born and raised as a human—never can.”
Hm. Okay, I guess. Cliche and not my cup of tea.
Shea Fontana (DC Super Hero Girls) similarly casts her view of Kara back to her origins. “Supergirl had a much more complex life and journey before she came to Earth than Superman,” she told us. “I love stories that explore the potential friction that causes and how it shapes her as a hero.”
Fontana's referring to the fact that Kara was a teen and not a baby. The use of the word "complex" rubs me the wrong way, but I'm oversensitive to discussions about Superman's immigrant themes so I'll give her the benefit of the doubt.
Steve Orlando, one of the writers on Supergirl’s Rebirth series, is of the same mind, but has clearly given the issue considerable thought. “While Kal learned about the home he lost after the fact, Kara experienced it firsthand—she had plans, hopes and dreams,” he explained. “She had friends, family and teachers she left behind. For Superman, coming to Earth meant discovering a history he never knew. For Supergirl, coming to Earth means leaving behind a future she'll never see. So, with Supergirl, you can tell stories that truly analyze the immigrant experience, even the refugee experience, in a way completely different than with Superman. And that can be as big as the pain she feels on a holiday no one else alive remembers should be celebrated, on the birthday for a lost friend no one but her in the universe remembers...or as personal as the complexities of the Kryptonian languages and the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis as it pertains to Kara's lens on Earth.”
Thank Rao for an actual answer to this question that elaborates on why the Supercousins can/should be treated differently and how that stems from their respective backgrounds without implying anything negative about either one. I hope Orlando's run was actually good.
Supergirl: Being Super’s Mariko Tamaki takes another approach—looking not to Kara’s past, but the nature of her arrival. “The essence of Supergirl is that she showed up second,” Tamaki posited. “She’s someone who has to forge her own path in a world that has a Superman. I don’t think that’s her essence, but I think it’s relatable to have a character who is becoming themselves in the context of an existing narrative that isn’t their story. It’s why I love writing her.”
Clarification aside, I wish a painful death to the word and concept of "relatability."
Writer Alex Jaffe: "And as many of Kara’s more recent writers have embraced, It’s about existing outside of Kal’s strict moral bounds and giving herself some room to let her hair down and get wild with it when she needs to."
You know, if statements like this were elaborated on, I might take them more seriously. In general, I don't respect the refusal to acknowledge basically any time period or run where one or both of them were in a greyer area of morality than people like to assign to them.
“Supergirl, despite sharing so many qualities with her cousin, is her own person,” Supergirl: Survive’s Griffin Sheridan explained. “With Superman, we see him arrive as a blank slate that is raised human and must eventually learn what it is to be Kryptonian as well. The balancing act of being a god amongst man. With Supergirl, it’s almost reversed. She has always been a Kryptonian who has to learn to accept her new home, all while having a much more vivid picture of what was lost.”
Something about this doesn't sit right with me, but beyond balking at the use of "blank slate" to describe a violently orphaned, assimilated toddler, I'm not sure what it is.
To Brandon T. Snider, the writer of the middle grade graphic novel Supergirl’s Family Vacation, Kara Zor-El’s value is often as a critique of Superman. “Superman wants to be an example,” offered Snider. “He knows his own impact. He doesn’t just say whatever is on his mind at any given time. He also looks for ways to get his message across inoffensively. Supergirl, however, doesn’t have those same self-imposed constraints. She says what she’s thinking. If something doesn’t sit right with her, she’s not going to mince words or censor herself. Part of that is her youth. Part of that is her ability to see things Superman can’t. They both have a sense of right and wrong, but Supergirl is unafraid to point out inconsistences.”
What?
That sense of uninhibited freedom is what defines the tone of Sophie Campbell’s ongoing Supergirl run, now well into its dizzying second year. “The main thing you can do with Supergirl that isn't allowed with Superman is that she can be messy both literally and figuratively,” Campbell shared with us. “She can be a bit slobby, make mistakes, go overboard, she can party, and she can be a bit of a hot mess and still be a hero. She can have an all-night pizza party and still go save the city.”
I need everyone to understand that this is bad.
One last note from the legendary Mark Waid, who took on Kara for his Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes storylineas well as the recent Summer of Supergirl Special. He only had three words for us when we asked him what you can do with Supergirl that you can’t with her cousin: “Change her costume.”
Points for hilarity, but Waid is probably one of the most popular Super writers ever, and I wish he'd answered it.
Musing
I often come out of conversations and interviews like this one wondering where people get their understandings of Superman and Supergirl from, and this time is no different. I would say that most of these answers are somewhat underdeveloped at best and concerning at worst regarding the state of the Supercousins' respective portrayals. They're just so... reductive.
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