Spoilers Supergirl - Season 3

[TREK_GOD_1]

Really? How many times did he come running in Season 1 when all the Fort Rozz Kryptonians were running around?

You're proving the point: Superman should have been involved at that time as well. The Fort Rozz villains were not some one-off, baddie of the week, but tied to his own heritage/history. For a being who is among the last of his kind, any Kryptonian matter on earth should concern him, in the way it has for the character in comics and other adaptations. So yes, the showrunners should have had him involved at that time....but they did not, largely for the reason several members have already covered.

 

[The Old Mixer]

But at this point the pattern is well-established, so it's disingenuous to claim in Season 3 that he should come running as soon as a Kryptonian shows up, when we've already seen that he doesn't.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

I didn’t say Supergirl should be dependent on Superman

In fact, no one has ever argued that she should be dependent.

, but that he should be involved for a threat on Reign’s level (which the episode showed Supergirl couldn’t handle) or at least Kara or DEO should consider bringing him in, not just bringing up his name to dismiss it. Getting help is not the same thing as being dependent.

Thankfully, someone understands this willfully avoided truth.

But at this point the pattern is well-established, so it's disingenuous to claim in Season 3 that he should come running as soon as a Kryptonian shows up, when we've already seen that he doesn't.

You're talking in-series. The showrunners should have used common sense (or picked up a comic for reference) and brought Superman to the scene when the Fort Rozz incident occurred. Again, given the near-extinct nature of his species, there's no rational way Superman would be nowhere to be seen when that--and now a second major, Kryptonian event--has posed a great threat.

 

[DigificWriter]

They explained why Superman isn't constantly showing up to help Kara way back in Season 1. They don't have to keep repeating said explanation every single time Kara faces down some massive threat, especially when it's not their problem if a very tiny group refuses to accept said explanation in the first place even two seasons later.

 

[USS Firefly]

I only don't understand why j'onn and mon-el didn't help supergirl.

 

[doylem1]

I only don't understand why j'onn and mon-el didn't help supergirl.

They didn't help because its a Supergirl show and all they would do is just get in the way and get more hurt than Supergirl herself.

Mon-El is just a poster boy and Supergirls love interest
MMH is the wise old mentor.

MMH hasn't won a fight since season 1 and Mon-El hasn't won a fight period against any villain

Against a foe like Reign they are about as useful as an ordinary civilian. (Which is wrong considering the range of powers MMH has)

 

[Kirk Prime]

But at this point the pattern is well-established, so it's disingenuous to claim in Season 3 that he should come running as soon as a Kryptonian shows up, when we've already seen that he doesn't.

What that shows is that the writers didn't learn their lesson from mistakes from Season 1. I don't think anyone is claiming that his absence is something NEW, but rather an ongoing issue with the series. We should have seen that in season 1 as well.

They explained why Superman isn't constantly showing up to help Kara way back in Season 1. They don't have to keep repeating said explanation every single time Kara faces down some massive threat, especially when it's not their problem if a very tiny group refuses to accept said explanation in the first place even two seasons later.

Well, if I remember right, there was a time when Clark saved Kara's butt, and she got mad at him because she wanted to fight her own battles. There's a difference though between letting someone fight their own battles, and letting them die because of their ego. There's also a difference between legitimately helping someone and being overprotective.

We have seen plenty of episodes this season that Kara could easily handle on her own without Clark holding her hand. This was not that situation.

 

[ihno]

to the "why didn't they help or call Superman":

As far as I understood it, it all went quite fast and so they just didn't react quickly enough. If the fight would have lasted for hours I would have expected some reaction but at least to me it didn't.

 

[Christopher]

I only don't understand why j'onn and mon-el didn't help supergirl.

Does Mon-El even still have superpowers? We haven't seen any sign of that yet. He might've been in that pod too long and hasn't yet absorbed enough yellow sunlight to recharge.

J'onn's absence is the main problem. Not to mention the perennial absence of all the DEO troops they had in the first season but that never seem to get deployed anymore. But as ihno said, the fight went pretty quickly.

 

[Kirk Prime]

As far as I understood it, it all went quite fast and so they just didn't react quickly enough. If the fight would have lasted for hours I would have expected some reaction but at least to me it didn't.

Well, before Kara fought Reign, Reign was heat visioning her symbol all over the place. There was a lot of detective work going on and they knew they were dealing with a Kryptonian threat. Kara challenged Reign knowingly to that showdown. So I think there was plenty of time for Clark to know what was going on.

As for Mon-El, there is no reason to believe he still doesn't have powers.

 

[Romulan_spy]

I only don't understand why j'onn and mon-el didn't help supergirl.

It's a standard comic book trope that the superhero has to challenge and fight the supervillain one-on-one.

 

[Christopher]

I'm wondering if the budget has been cut, since we've seen little of J'onn's Martian Manhunter form this year except in the Mars episode. Hopefully it's just because they were saving resources for the big crossover, and we'll see more of MM in the back half of the season.

 

[Reverend]

Has it occurred to anyone that Kal might not even be on Earth while all this is going on? So the question of why he didn't show up may be entirely moot.

Besides, Kara isn't a sidekick, she's a hero in her own right and doesn't need her cousin to come swooping in every time she runs into a problem.

 

[Scout101]

thankfully no one was arguing it from that perspective, other than as a strawman to then claim misogyny against anyone wondering why Superman wasn't involved...

And the first part was exactly the suggestion (busy, off-planet, got another fight on his hands) that most people complaining were wishing they had used, so not sure it's much of a counterpoint.

 

[Kirk Prime]

Has it occurred to anyone that Kal might not even be on Earth while all this is going on? So the question of why he didn't show up may be entirely moot.

Besides, Kara isn't a sidekick, she's a hero in her own right and doesn't need her cousin to come swooping in every time she runs into a problem.

When Superman has his own show, and gets help from another hero, like in the cartoon when he worked with The Flash or Batman or the New Gods, he was hardly a sidekick.

In the beginning of season 2 last year, when Superman guested, Kara was not his sidekick either. Having a mentor doesn't mean that the star of the show isn't the hero. This isn't a case of Clark bailing Kara out--this is a Kryptonian that would absolutely require both of their attentions.

If they came up with an excuse for Superman's absence, that would have been enough.

 

[DigificWriter]

I only don't understand why j'onn and mon-el didn't help supergirl.

Wally, Caitlin, and Cisco don't always help Barry out physically, even though they can. Why is "superpowered allies not helping out their hero" a problem on Supergirl and not on The Flash?

 

[Christopher]

Wally, Caitlin, and Cisco don't always help Barry out physically, even though they can. Why is "superpowered allies not helping out their hero" a problem on Supergirl and not on The Flash?

Well, part of it, as I said, is that the first season routinely showed DEO troops going out into the field to face down the baddies, but in the CW era it's mostly just been Supergirl and Alex, or sometimes other lead characters. So it's a matter of what the show itself has previously established.

The other part is that, as the fight went on, it started to get pretty clear that Supergirl was in trouble. Toward the end, I was starting to wonder why nobody at the DEO was coming to help her (since that's the logical first recourse before calling Superman). On The Flash, when Barry's in that much trouble, we generally would see Vibe, Kid Flash, or whoever's available coming to his rescue, much as Vibe and Ralph came to Caitlin's rescue this week, or else they'd explain the reason why.

 

[ihno]

Well, before Kara fought Reign, Reign was heat visioning her symbol all over the place. (...)

But that doesn't indicate that she could beat her up till she almost dies. I wouldn't call my boss, my cousin or my cheating Ex because of street art.

In retrospective it would have been better I guess but you never know that before.
I still don't see a big problem, plus: it's her show as someone said before.

I expect Superman to show up in the next episode though. He's in the opening though (@Christopher - it was there again ) and he's great to watch (unlike the movie Superman, who buah...)

There was a lot of detective work going on and they knew they were dealing with a Kryptonian threat.

The whole Kryptonian thing is a mess up in my eyes. There were those Kryptonian prisoners from Fort Whatever and none of them ever tried to use his powers to cause some problems?

So if the earth is full of demigods living there (or has been for a while), without ever doing something, why should there be Red Alert because of another one, who shows some interest in street-art?

If they came up with an excuse for Superman's absence, that would have been enough.

I really missed Superman, when Mrs. Mon-El (Saturngirl?) spoke about her influence. Something "you and your cousin were our idols" would have been better instead of "you are our idol", even if I consider that Mon-El might have talked more about her than him.

 

[DigificWriter]

Up until the very end of the fight with Reign, there was no real reason to believe or suspect that Supergirl needed backup, and by the time it became apparent, everything was already over.

Plus, the DEO wasn't sure what they were dealing with, and, most of the time, Supergirl is sufficiently able to handle things so that sending an entire DEO strike team isn't necessary.

Going back to The Flash, Joe ought to be routinely dispatching Metahuman Task Force squads to help Barry out given that he's A) in a position to do so and B) the CCPD has had a fairly cordial partnership with The Flash, but nobody seems to question why that's not happening.

 

[Christopher]

Up until the very end of the fight with Reign, there was no real reason to believe or suspect that Supergirl needed backup, and by the time it became apparent, everything was already over.

It felt to me, though, as if the DEO should've begun to react at least a couple of minutes earlier. At least there should've been a scene of J'onn saying "I'm going out there" and then arriving to find it was too late.