Spoilers Supergirl - Season 1

[shapeshifter]

I have always thought of Birds of Prey as a sequel to the Tim Burton Batman films. Not the Schumaker films. Just the Burton films.

Part of me wants to associate Supergirl with Superman Returns, but I am also really trying to avoid that.

Something about a piece of the dialogue in this weeks episode seemed to infer a reason why Supes went back to Krypton as seen at the beginning of SR.

Something about his being so young when they left Krypton causing a void in adulthood requiring a trip home in order achieve closure.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

I thought the scene of Kara rescuing "Fluffy" was an homage to the scene in the first Donnor movie, til we learned that Fluffy was a snake.

I believe it was. Like Supergirl's rescue of a plane--at night--the cat in a tree seems like an homage, with a spin in the kind of animal.

Berlanti on the Donner influence:

5. The original Superman movies had a huge influence on Supergirl. “The movies had a charm and believability and also an epic quality. [These qualities are] imprinted on our brains that that’s how you capture superheroes on a screen,” said Berlanti of the Richard Donner films. He added that he finds “a relatability” to star Melissa Benoist when she’s in her civilian Kara identity: “When she hesitates and phumphers like Clark Kent did, it’s the most evocative [of that kind of secret-identity character] since Christopher Reeve.”

 

[shapeshifter]

Why didn't someone just drive the boat away 5 minutes before Kara showed up?

As has been said, pushing would have been preferable to pulling, but as the scene played out I wondered why she didn't push the ship laterally away from the pier.

I concluded she is new at this kind of thing and has yet figure out better ways of applying her strength in order to achieve optimum results. She's in a kind of superhero childhood concerning the mechanical universe in large scale applications.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

Confirmation that Supergirl has the power to cross between universes!

But seriously, I wonder how that happened, her actually being there in costume. Were both shows filming on adjacent locations on the same day? Or did she actually just show up on the SHIELD set in full costume from her own show just so she could photobomb them?

Are we sure Melissa is on the SHIELD set? I could totally see Clark and Chloe going over to her set.

Chloe Bennet's also in costume.

 

[Admiral2]

That tears it! Disney needs to buy Supergirl! She'd be much better trained by Coulson, May and Daisy than anybody I've seen her interact with so far.

And hey! No kryptonite in the MCU!

 

[Warped9]

I get hung up on the physics of how Superpeople fly sometimes. When she was pulling on the ship, and straining so hard - what was she straining against? I mean, what force is she exerting, to make herself move backwards in mid-air, and how is that force amplified to move a 1,000-ton vessel? What are her muscles straining against? When you pull something, your feet planted on the ground give your force a solid foundation. What was hers in that scene?

And for some reason it doesn't bother me that she and Supes can LIFT airliners while in flight, but it does bother me when they apply lateral force in flight.

I've always liked John Byrne's concept that Supes' super strength is actually telekinesis, but he has to touch the object for it to work.

I thought the very same thing. And I agree with Byrne's take on it.

 

[sojourner]

Why didn't someone just drive the boat away 5 minutes before Kara showed up?

Ships like that need tugs to leave the pier. The fire fighter commented that the tugs wouldn't make it in time.

As has been said, pushing would have been preferable to pulling, but as the scene played out I wondered why she didn't push the ship laterally away from the pier.

I concluded she is new at this kind of thing and has yet figure out better ways of applying her strength in order to achieve optimum results. She's in a kind of superhero childhood concerning the mechanical universe in large scale applications.

You're right, it had been said, not sure why you felt the need to add it to my answer to Guy.

 

[JD]

Forget Arrow or The Flash, we need a Supergirl/Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D crossover. Superpowered aliens already exist in the MCU, so she would actually fit better there than the Arrowverse.

Why didn't someone just drive the boat away 5 minutes before Kara showed up?

Ships like that need tugs to leave the pier. The fire fighter commented that the tugs wouldn't make it in time.

As has been said, pushing would have been preferable to pulling, but as the scene played out I wondered why she didn't push the ship laterally away from the pier.

Laterally means sideways, right? That was my first thought too.

 

[Christopher]

Pushing at one point on the side of the ship would probably have just crumpled in a dent on that side and eventually punched through the hull. Like I said, she should've used the same kind of tow lines that a tugboat would use, because the ship is designed to be pulled that way.

 

[FPAlpha]

Pushing at one point on the side of the ship would probably have just crumpled in a dent on that side and eventually punched through the hull. Like I said, she should've used the same kind of tow lines that a tugboat would use, because the ship is designed to be pulled that way.

Superhero shows.. you gotta give 'em some slack.

Realistically she should have torn that plane apart in the pilot. Planes don't have thick hulls and they are nowadays aluminium composites or carbon polymers meaning they dent easily and are not meant to take big stress in that direction.

The amount of force Supergirl exerted to lift a 100+ ton aircraft with just her hands (an area measured in square centimetres/inches) should have her punch right through once she started to lift.

But i can forgive this as without overlooking such things you wouldn't be able to watch anything superpowered as they often break the laws of physics or realism.

 

[Christopher]

For what it's worth, Kara did crumple the plane's skin in her hands when she pulled at it.

I'm reminded of Superman's first big save in Superman: The Animated Series, which was also a crashing plane. He tried grabbing the tail and pulling, but he just tore the tail off. I think he tore the wings off at one point too, and eventually the best he could manage was to slow it down and direct it to a survivable crash landing in a park. This plane-rescue sequence was so similar that I'm inclined to suspect it's an intentional homage, even though I tend to be skeptical of seeing similarity as evidence of homage. (After all, these producers are clearly big comics/superhero buffs, so it seems likely that they'd be familiar with S:TAS.) And it's interesting that they had James say Superman's first rescue was a plane, though that could've been a nod to John Byrne having him save a space plane in his public debut.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I think that in Silver/Bronze Age retellings of Superman's origins, his debut as Superman in Metropolis typically involved a headline about him saving a plane (which is probably where Byrne got it).

As for the topic of the Supeses being able to move things while flying...think of them as engines being strapped to whatever they're moving. The 90s DC RPG version of how Superman could lift heavier objects while flying was that he was adding the push/thrust of his flight power to the force being exerted by his strength, and/or negating gravity on them the same way he was able to negate it on himself.

 

[Christopher]

As for the topic of the Supeses being able to move things while flying...think of them as engines being strapped to whatever they're moving.

Yeah, but that only works if they're directing thrust in a way the craft is designed to handle. That's the issue here. It's not about whether Superman or Supergirl can exert enough force to move something as large as a plane or a ship; that's a basic conceit of the premise. It's about whether the plane's or the ship's frame is strong enough to withstand a force applied asymmetrically or concentrated on a single point.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Superhero shows.. you gotta give 'em some slack.

Point of the thread. The clue that real world laws do not apply can be found in a series about a flying woman from another planet. From that point forward, anything is possible and does not need to be plausible in real world terms.

The amount of force Supergirl exerted to lift a 100+ ton aircraft with just her hands (an area measured in square centimetres/inches) should have her punch right through once she started to lift.

But i can forgive this as without overlooking such things you wouldn't be able to watch anything superpowered as they often break the laws of physics or realism.

Well said. This is a pure fantasy genre, so impossible feats of strength or acts defying laws as we know them is routine in Super...anything. That has been the case in adaptations decades ago as it is now, as the "old and new" photos above illustrate.

 

[davejames]

I will be curious to see if they attempt to explain her ability to fly at any point (much like they've kinda sorta tried to explain some of Flash's powers). Although given how easily everyone seems to accept it, and the fact there's been a Superman in this world for a while, the writers may just decide not to bother.

 

[The Old Mixer]

As for the topic of the Supeses being able to move things while flying...think of them as engines being strapped to whatever they're moving.

Yeah, but that only works if they're directing thrust in a way the craft is designed to handle. That's the issue here. It's not about whether Superman or Supergirl can exert enough force to move something as large as a plane or a ship; that's a basic conceit of the premise. It's about whether the plane's or the ship's frame is strong enough to withstand a force applied asymmetrically or concentrated on a single point.

No argument on that point. That comment was intended for those who'd been questioning how a Supes could move anything while flying if they didn't have anything to push against.

 

[Sto-Vo-Kory]

Who's that guy in the costume to the left of the SUV and behind the civilian? It looks like he's wearing a red mask similar to Deadpool's.

 

[Taylirious]

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xiwISrp1H4[/yt]

Superman Returns - Airplane Rescue

Well said. This is a pure fantasy genre, so impossible feats of strength or acts defying laws as we know them is routine in Super...anything. That has been the case in adaptations decades ago as it is now, as the "old and new" photos above illustrate.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

I will be curious to see if they attempt to explain her ability to fly at any point (much like they've kinda sorta tried to explain some of Flash's powers). Although given how easily everyone seems to accept it, and the fact there's been a Superman in this world for a while, the writers may just decide not to bother.

Honestly, it is not necessary to know how she's able to fly. It is not a critical component of what makes the series works, would not help the character or the series for that to be explored. Trying to to explain the inexplicable was one of the great failings of the Berman Star Trek series (more often than not), with the obsession with techobabble--going into lengthy discussion about the minutiae of why device A does this, or alien B functions for that reason, instead of focusing on compelling stories.

 

[Dark Gilligan]

It's not about whether Superman or Supergirl can exert enough force to move something as large as a plane or a ship; that's a basic conceit of the premise. It's about whether the plane's or the ship's frame is strong enough to withstand a force applied asymmetrically or concentrated on a single point.

Byrne's rationale was that Kryptonian strength and flying ability were telekinetic in nature. Yes, Superman and Supergirl have incredible physical strength, but lifting impossibly heavy weights like a ship or airplane or building was more an act of will than of brawn. It's why Kryptonians don't rupture the frame of said objects when lifting, because the applied force is mentally distributed evenly over the object's entire body.

In one of Byrne's early issues, Superman himself commented while lifting an ocean liner that the ship actually seemed to be getting lighter once he took flight, implying that his mind, not his muscles, was doing the heavy lifting.