5 Questions About Superman Coming To ‘Supergirl’

Yesterday was a huge one for fans of Supergirl as it was announced that her cousin Superman will be making his debut in Season 2 for the first two episodes when the show moves to The CW for the fall. The search for TV’s next Man of Steel is currently underway and hopefully we will know either at the end of this month or perhaps at San Diego Comic-Con in July who will be portraying Clark Kent/Kal-El. While we have no details other than that he will be in the season two premiere and the episode after that, today I wanted to go through 5 major questions about Superman coming to Supergirl this fall and what this means for the larger DC TV Universe on The CW.

1: Is Superman’s Appearance Related To The Pod?

At the end of the season one finale of Supergirl, a mysterious character arrived in National City in a Kryptonian looking pod. The last shot we get is Kara opening the pod and being stunned by what/who she sees inside of it. We have yet to learn the identity of who the character is other than this statement that show-runner and executive producer Andrew Kreisberg said to EW in April:

EW: Is this a character we may have seen in the comics before?

Kreisberg: Again, I don’t want to give too much away, but it’ll be cool. The fans are going to be excited. It’s going to definitely shake things up for season 2.”

Even though we have no idea what is in store in the season two premiere and what brings Superman to National City, it would make quite a lot of sense that Kara reaches out to him in regards to the arrival of the mystery character. Season 1 of Supergirl did introduce the concept of Project Cadmus which in the comics is most known for creating Conner Kent a.k.a. Superboy. What if the mystery character is in fact Superboy and the reason Superman is there in the first two episodes is to figure out where this young clone of himself arrived from and why. No matter who it is, I bet right now that Clark’s presence will have something to do with the pod.

2: Will More Superman Related Characters Show Up?

Supergirl and Superman share quite a lot of characters in the comics as their rogue gallery and supporting characters library are very much connected. Season 1 of the show already introduced several of them with James Olsen and Cat Grant, two big players of the Superman lore along with Winn Schott (son of the Toyman) as well as supporting players like Lois Lane’s father, General Sam Lane and her little sister Lucy Lane. We have also had some Superman villains (that are also Supergirl villains in the comics) show up throughout the first season.  Now that the gateway has been opened for Superman to arrive on Supergirl, does this possibly mean that the bigger collection of Superman characters can pop up?

Before I go on, it’s important to remember that while Superman’s upcoming appearance is exciting, this shouldn’t put Supergirl in his shadows. The show is called Supergirl and its main mission is and should always be about Kara as the main focus. While I’m glad that we can finally get Superman on the small screen again, the reason I tune in for the show every week is for Kara. But having the potential to now at least reference or see appearance of some Clark’s big foes, is a welcomed idea. Seeing Supergirl’s spin on someone like Parasite or Metallo would be really neat or maybe even a guest spot by Lois since the show has introduced Lucy. I just like the idea that with Superman now being allowed to pop up, that the show can play with all the toys in the sandbox of Superman AND Supergirl’s library.

3: Are More Big DC Comics Heroes On Their Way To TV?

With the DC TV and Cinematic Universes being separate, there has always been major interest from viewers of the DC TV world to see characters like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and more be portrayed on the small screen as well. For the longest time, the movie division hasn’t really been keen on that idea as we hear often from many creative teams of these shows that certain characters just can’t appear on various shows due to the films. But given that the DC Extended Universe is currently being re-worked on with the recent announcement that DC Comics’ CCO, Geoff Johns, is now co-running the DC Films, maybe things are changing. In fact, I strongly believe that the decision to have Superman be able to show up on the small screen too, is one of the first signs.

While this is just pure speculation, I can’t help, but feel that this is possibly the beginning of the end for those restrictions that we have been hearing and seeing over the past few years. Back in February, I wrote a piece on why DC Films shouldn’t restrict the DC TV shows and how it’s questionable that it’s alright by Warners to have two Flashes in live-action at the same time, but not with other big DC heroes or villains. With the Man of Steel now being good to show up on both film and TV, this could potentially mean that we might see other big heroes come over to TV as well. There have even been references to many Justice League members like Hal Jordan/Green Lantern, Aquaman, Batman, as well as Oracle and a couple of big baddies. Who knows if the restrictions are actually being lifted, but the fact Superman is now being allowed onto TV, says something. Given that the concept of the Multiverse has been established through The Flash this past season and something that DC plays a lot with, I hope what we are seeing is the embracing of the idea of having TV takes of these iconic figures as well as cinematic ones too.

4: Will Superman Have Anything To Do With The Flash Season 3?

I feel that I somewhat know the answer to this question already, but at the same time you can’t be certain since we have no information on this, yet. At the end of the season two finale of The Flash, we see Barry Allen go back in time to save his mom from being murdered by Reverse-Flash, thus changing history which comic books fans will recognize as the DC Comics storyline Flashpoint. We have no idea as of now how The Flash will be adapting this huge storyline, but one of the things that have been discussed by fans already is the fact that many of the key players from that storyline, may not be able to show up in The Flash’s adaptation and one of them was Superman.

While I don’t want to spoil those who haven’t read the graphic novel or seen the animated film adaptation, Kal-El in this new reality is incredibly different. Prior to this announcement, the idea of having Superman even be part of The Flash’s take on Flashpoint, was pretty much just a dream. But maybe it’s not as impossible anymore, especially if this is how Supergirl will become part of CW’s DC verse and if so, could we see Supes be featured in that storyline after all? While it would probably make more sense for the TV version of Flashpoint to have Kara play the role that Clark plays in the story, it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch if they had him in there somehow. We’ll touch more on this in our final point so hit the next button to get there.

5: What Could Superman’s Future In CW’s DC TV Universe Be?

We know that a huge 4-show crossover is coming in December on The CW between Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. It’s safe to say that in one way or another, Supergirl will become part of the CWDC-verse whether it’s through Flashpoint, Crisis or something that involves the merging of worlds since that’s most likely what the 4-show crossover is all about. But that also means that Flash, Green Arrow and all these other heroes will now be living in a universe where Superman exists. What I would look forward to see through this is what role Superman would now play in this universe along with Supergirl as the CWDC-verse would now consist of aliens. The bigger speculation though is what role he could serve next to his cousin and in the bigger overall DC TV Universe or if he would be mostly left off-screen in Metropolis while maybe only showing up a few times throughout all the shows.

Those are just some of the questions that we have about Superman’s debut on Supergirl as well as the DC TV Universe in general. Let us know in the comments below what thoughts and speculations you have about the Man of Steel on TV. Who would you like to see as the next Last Son of Krypton?

Supergirl will be airing its second season on Monday nights at 8/7c at its new home on The CW in October.

Andy Behbakht

Andy Behbakht

Andy Behbakht is an online entertainment journalist who has been covering television and movies since 2010. In addition, he is also a podcast producer.