Now, don’t
get me wrong: I absolutely love Supergirl for Supergirl. She’s incredible and I adore her, plus she’s
one of the superheroes I see myself in the most. But, as I said back when I wrote about Kara’s
relationship with her Kryptonian cousin, I never fully “got” Superman until I
saw the show’s version of him, but I’m now 100% down with the Man of Steel. Even though his guest appearances are
infrequent, he’s always a welcome presence for me when he pops up. (Note:
yes, I know his name’s actually Kal-El, but the show usually uses either
Clark or Superman, so I’m gonna stick with that.)
As a
character, Superman can sometimes fall into the same perceptual trap as Captain
America: that because he’s so “good,”
that means he’s boring, a Boy Scout as fast as a speeding bullet. But just like the MCU has shown how
compelling Cap can be, Supergirl has
shown that Superman doesn’t need to be bland.
He’s friendly and warm while also being incredibly powerful, and he’s
kind without being a pushover. Although
he has a lot more experience as a hero than Kara, he doesn’t step on her toes
when he comes to National City, working with her and offering ideas without
taking over. Not for nothing, he also
100% acknowledges that Kara is stronger than he is but doesn’t take issue with
that. For the win!
In this
portrayal, it’s clear that the character is both fully Superman and fully Clark
Kent. In his appearances, we see ways in
which he connects with his Kryptonian heritage – learning about his planet
through the data records in the Fortress of Solitude, growing closer with Kara,
visting Argo – but he’s also very much the farmboy from Smallville turned
Metropolis reporter. I really enjoyed
seeing him hang out with Kara and Lois on the Kent farm in the Arrowverse
crossover this past season; these scenes bring with them such a strong, comfortable
sense of roots, and it’s cool to see Clark sharing that with Kara.
Because a
lot of MCU characters have identities that aren’t so secret, I haven’t consumed
as many stories in recent years about heroes who hide their identities, and
with both Superman and Supergirl, what’s interesting about them is that their “mask”
is the one they use in their 9-to-5 lives.
This is a little bit less true for Clark than Kara, since he was raised
on Earth from infancy and didn’t learn who he really was until later, but those
glasses are still his disguise; it’s when he’s being Superman that he’s showing
the world his true face.
As such,
I love those scenes in the crossover of him spending time with Kara and/or Lois
where, even though he and Kara are both wearing their human disguises, we see
them entirely as themselves: a pair of
alien refugees who’ve adopted Earth as their beloved new home, a couple of
off-duty superheroes and journalists (I am such a sucker for scenes of
superheroes in their downtime – I live
for this stuff!) So they talk, joke, and
commiserate while Clark casually lifts a pickup truck with one hand, and he
uses his heat vision to cook while on a date night with Lois.
I know
that nothing I’ve said really adds up to scintillating, and while that’s
partially just because Superman’s appearances on Supergirl are so sparing, I also admit that I can’t exactly
articulate why I feel this show gets
him so right when I hadn’t connected with the character before. I can’t pinpoint specific moments that prove why Supergirl’s Superman is engaging to me, but I think it may be
rooted in the show’s overall attitude about the character. If a writer or actor comes to a project with
the perspective that Superman is a bland Boy Scout, or if they think the way
for him to be interesting is to make him “gritty,” that’s not going to be true
to who he is. But if they approach it
with the attitude that Superman is already interesting, that’s going to shine
through, and all those little moments are going to add up and really bring the
character to life.
