"Smallville" Adds to the Cast...Or Do They?

(originally published at the now-defunct www.poweredbyshows.com)
I’m a strange fellow. Perhaps it’s my nostalgia-driven love for the 1980s or my borderline-creepy affinity for really good family films. Either way, when it comes to the superhero movies of the 80s, I vastly prefer 1984’s Supergirl over any of the four Superman films. Yes, two of the Superman films are pretty bad on their own, but what possible explanation could I make to justify my preference of a very silly movie with Helen Slater as the titular character, and Hollywood royalty Faye Dunaway and Peter O’Toole sleepwalking through their roles? I really don’t have one.

Which is why I’m excited that in the world of CW’s fun primetime superhero soap Smallville they are making room in their mythology for one Kara Zor-El, a.k.a. Supergirl. I am half a season behind on this show currently, as I prefer to watch the show about Superman’s younger years in large groups (as I did the first four seasons. Thank you, Netflix!), so I don’t know if anything was set up to make me even more excited than I really am, but just let it be known that she would make an excellent addition.

1. Some of the lesser episodes of Smallville bring in outside comic book characters from the DC world, but they are usually awkwardly jammed in with a crowbar and rarely last more than a stand-alone episode, one that is usually apart from the central Clark Kent mythology of the show. The few exceptions include the recent Justice League episode where Cyborg, Flash and Aquaman make semi-triumphant returns, as well as the Green Arrow who had half of this most recent season partially dedicated to his romance with Lois Lane and battle against the still-not-completely-evil Lex Luthor. By introducing a character that has the potential to be a regular during the show’s final years, it bodes well for the upcoming story.

2. Which brings me to the fact that every news outlet (and, well, the comic books) lets us know that Supergirl, Superman’s cousin, has all of his powers plus a few more, including the power of flight. Smallville creators Miles Millar and Alfred Gough have always let viewers know that they were going to stick close to their guns when it came to setting this show in a kind of pseudo-reality, coining their slogan “No tights. No flights.” Smallville is entering its seventh season this fall, which will probably be its last. Michael Rosenbaum (Lex Luthor) has said publicly he will not continue the series after this season, and the story seems to be heading toward an exit for Clark to end up in Metropolis very soon. The only way the creators would break their slogan would be to end their show, and what better way than for Clark to finally take to the skies?

(Yes, technically he already flew once, but that’s when he was possessed by the spirit of his Krypton self Kal-El to retrieve a jewel in season four, so that doesn’t count.)

3. Kara will act as a dramatic foil to the budding Chloe-Jimmy Olsen love story, as she will catch the eye of said “Daily Planet” photographer from a character who is unfortunately never mentioned in the comics. Chloe needs a story of her own, and not just following Clark around and keeping his secrets, and this will do the trick.

Some viewers will mention (and already have mentioned) that Supergirl already appeared on Smallville during the third season finale during all that weird hoopla about the cave and the Indian cave-drawings and piece of Jor-El’s ship in Clark’s possession. Wasn’t her name Kara, didn’t she have Clark’s powers, and didn’t he refer to her as his cousin?

Let’s clear things up: I know the show doesn’t follow the comic books as closely as it should (seriously, how will Lois react when she sees the real Superman out of the Clark Kent glasses of the movies, considering she lives in Smallville on the show and knows Clark without his glasses?), but there are easy explanations. In the comics, there was a fake Kara in the canon before the real one. Now, they never say that the Kara on Smallville was a fake, but unlike the real Supergirl who escaped from Krypton before it exploded, the one on the show was from Earth and had been missing for a decade and was thusly possessed by Jor-El to show Clark his true destiny.

I obviously cannot tell you if the show will deal with this fact for more than a fleeting mention, or at all, but I thought that it would appease the show’s fans and give them hope that this Supergirl will be equally as cool as the one from 1984. Even if they hate that movie. Which I don’t.