Superheroes!

[warpus]

What's the story behind Supergirl? From what I understand Superman was put in a spinny square thingy and landed on Earth and has superpowers on our planet because of some chemical compound found here but not on his home planet. Or something like that? Did the same thing happen to supergirl, or is she from another place? Or did she arrive here in some other way?

 

[EgonSpengler]

Spinny square thingy? Like, a Rubik's Cube or something? Yeah, Supergirl is from the same planet as Superman - they're cousins - and has pretty much the same powers. There's some hand-wavy mumbo-jumbo about the light from our yellow Sun giving them superpowers (their sun was red). She's also younger than him, even though she was older than he was before they left their home planet. Some kind of faster-than-light, relativity thing? I dunno. Doesn't matter. More hand-waving. These stories are not renowned for their strict adherence to science.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Spinny square thingy? Like, a Rubik's Cube or something? Yeah, Supergirl is from the same planet as Superman - they're cousins - and has pretty much the same powers. There's some hand-wavy mumbo-jumbo about the light from our yellow Sun giving them superpowers (their sun was red). She's also younger than him, even though she was older than he was before they left their home planet. Some kind of faster-than-light, relativity thing? I dunno. Doesn't matter. More hand-waving. These stories are not renowned for their strict adherence to science.

The "phantom zone," which is outside the normal time stream and was used as a prison by the government of Krypton, was disrupted by the explosion of the planet and trapped the craft that Supergirl was launched in. So she was delayed in a place where no time passed for her and arrived after significant time had passed for her cousin.

Or, technically speaking, hand waving mumbo jumbo.

The disrupted phantom zone also provides a basically endless stream of Kryptonian villains, demonstrating that collecting your whole history of criminals in a basically timeless bottle so they can outlive your entire civilization is a monumentally stupid idea.

 

[warpus]

Spinny square thingy? Like, a Rubik's Cube or something? Yeah, Supergirl is from the same planet as Superman - they're cousins - and has pretty much the same powers. There's some hand-wavy mumbo-jumbo about the light from our yellow Sun giving them superpowers (their sun was red). She's also younger than him, even though she was older than he was before they left their home planet. Some kind of faster-than-light, relativity thing? I dunno. Doesn't matter. More hand-waving. These stories are not renowned for their strict adherence to science.

Like this thing, I seem to remember Superman arriving on the Earth in one of those things.

How did supergirl get there?

 

[Cutlass]

 

[CivCube]

Yep, it's a strange situation for Supergirl. Time will tell how much they will slash the budget. Although it sounds like Calista Flockhart and Chyler Leigh are staying on despite the move to Vancouver.

 

[EgonSpengler]

The "phantom zone," which is outside the normal time stream and was used as a prison by the government of Krypton, was disrupted by the explosion of the planet and trapped the craft that Supergirl was launched in.

Oh right, I'd forgotten about that. Good catch.

Like this thing, I seem to remember Superman arriving on the Earth in one of those things.

How did supergirl get there?

That was the Phantom Zone, back in the day. In the Richard Donner movies, Superman came to Earth in a giant sea urchin. In the Berlanti show, the Supers came to Earth in more traditional-looking, rocket pod type things.

Yep, it's a strange situation for Supergirl. Time will tell how much they will slash the budget. Although it sounds like Calista Flockhart and Chyler Leigh are staying on despite the move to Vancouver.

They're both pretty important to the show. I hope they stay on.

 

[CivCube]

22 episodes confirmed for Supergirl :yaaaay:

 

[EgonSpengler]

Warner Bros Responding To Fans & Critics With DC Films Shakeup

Deadline has confirmed a major reorganization at Warner Bros with the approach to the still-building film series based on its DC Comics properties. Warner Bros declined comment, but sources with knowledge of the reorganization have confirmed that DC Chief Content Officer Geoff Johns, who helped establish the brand’s presence on television, and WB EVP Jon Berg will now co-run DC Films. While DC Films has long been a production banner within Warner Bros, it will now exist as a formal division as the studio seeks a course correction after the mixed response to Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice earlier this year.

DC Films is not being created as a clone of Marvel Studios nor does WB intend to copy the Marvel method of making films — which is to say, Johns and Berg won’t be occupying a role identical to Kevin Feige at Marvel. We’ve been told that the so-called “director-driven” approach Warner Bros has touted since first announcing the DC Extended Universe is very much still in effect. Johns and Berg, who will still report to their respective superiors within Warner Bros as they attend to their other duties, will be providing guidance and structure to the task of building out the DCEU. Individual directors will therefore retain control over key decisions including casting, aesthetics, and certain story elements.

It's a little unclear to me what to expect from this, as a potential viewer (I emphasize "potential" here because I haven't seen most of the recent, poorly-received DC Comics movies - Green Lantern, Jonah Hex and Batman v Superman - and if they continue to suck I have plenty to watch already). At the outset, I'm happy they're not following the Marvel model because, frankly, I wouldn't want the people screwing up the films to get their mitts anywhere near the television shows. As things stand, I'm glad the DC properties are so scattered and disconnected, without any overall vision in evidence. Greg Berlanti shouldn't even be in the same room with Zack Snyder.

That said, I've heard good things about Affleck as a director (I'm ashamed to say that I haven't seen any of his films yet, but I hear good things about them) and Seth Grahame-Smith exiting The Flash may not be a bad thing, depending on who they replace him with. I think Zack Snyder is locked into Justice League, so that may be a lost cause, but oh well.

The DC Comics crew have an opportunity to leapfrog Marvel in its promotion of women in feature films. Princess Diana is already on her way to beating any of the Marvel women to theaters, and Margo Robbie may get a solo Harley Quinn movie too. Anyway...

 

[Timsup2nothin]

One could say that any news is good news. DC Films has been so bad that pretty much the only available direction for them is up.

 

[Buster's Uncle]

I have to ditto that last.

Worries me a bit to see Johns promoted even further - I understand that he can write the heck out of a comic, but that's only if you can look past that his central ideas are always cheesey fan ideas that shouldn't have made it into print if it wasn't at least Neil Gaiman making them work - I wouldn't trust Grant Morrison to successfully polish an idea like a rainbow of lantern corps, and that's not a slam on Grant...

 

[EgonSpengler]

I really liked the season finale of Agents of SHIELD. The show has never quite grabbed me by the [neck], I'm honestly not sure why, but I thought this episode was great.

Spoiler :

I'm glad it was Lincoln who bought it, and for a character who was so "meh" throughout his tenure, they really did a job with his ending. It was much more affecting than I would have expected. Chloe Bennet even sold me on Daisy's grief, even though the lack of chemistry between the characters and/or actors was one of the problems I had with Lincoln's story arc. And the scene with Lincoln and Hive just floating in the doomed jet was a nice change of pace from the battle-to-the-end one might expect from a superhero story.

I'm glad they didn't kill off Elena. I think she has some potential, and these superhero shows need some more Latinos. (Is Carlos Valdes on The Flash the only other Latino in any superhero property right now? That sounds insane. I must be forgetting someone.) Agents of SHIELD has led the rest with its women and its Asians, so why not keep it up? And I think Natalia Cordova is kind of hot, so that doesn't hurt.

I assume the epilogue is a direct result of the Sokovia Accords. I find it a stretch that Daisy would go straight heel, but it would make sense if she's an unsanctioned vigilante and Mack & Coulson decided to go legit.

Another great fight scene with Daisy incorporating her powers into her martial arts. The Marvel people are getting very good at showing their characters using their powers in creative ways, from Quake to Ant-Man to Falcon.

L.M.D. = Life Model Decoy, I presume. When Fitz & Simmons went to that cyberpunk 'transhumanist' club, it looked like an obvious setup for a future arc, or even a whole season, post-Hydra. A.I.M. perhaps?

 

[Cutlass]

 

[Cutlass]

I really liked the season finale of Agents of SHIELD. The show has never quite grabbed me by the [neck], I'm honestly not sure why, but I thought this episode was great.

Spoiler :

I'm glad it was Lincoln who bought it, and for a character who was so "meh" throughout his tenure, they really did a job with his ending. It was much more affecting than I would have expected. Chloe Bennet even sold me on Daisy's grief, even though the lack of chemistry between the characters and/or actors was one of the problems I had with Lincoln's story arc. And the scene with Lincoln and Hive just floating in the doomed jet was a nice change of pace from the battle-to-the-end one might expect from a superhero story.

I'm glad they didn't kill off Elena. I think she has some potential, and these superhero shows need some more Latinos. (Is Carlos Valdes on The Flash the only other Latino in any superhero property right now? That sounds insane. I must be forgetting someone.) Agents of SHIELD has led the rest with its women and its Asians, so why not keep it up? And I think Natalia Cordova is kind of hot, so that doesn't hurt.

I assume the epilogue is a direct result of the Sokovia Accords. I find it a stretch that Daisy would go straight heel, but it would make sense if she's an unsanctioned vigilante and Mack & Coulson decided to go legit.

Another great fight scene with Daisy incorporating her powers into her martial arts. The Marvel people are getting very good at showing their characters using their powers in creative ways, from Quake to Ant-Man to Falcon.

L.M.D. = Life Model Decoy, I presume. When Fitz & Simmons went to that cyberpunk 'transhumanist' club, it looked like an obvious setup for a future arc, or even a whole season, post-Hydra. A.I.M. perhaps?

Spoiler :

I think it was pretty obvious who was going to be killed. The other actors/characters were just more popular. Not having seen Civil War yet, they try to stay away from too much in the way of spoilers, but can't entirely. So I don't see that they gave much of a reason for what Daisy did in the end.

 

[EgonSpengler]

The CW has released a couple of teasers about the Fall lineup. Nothing worth posting here, they're just mashups of footage from the various shows. One of them focuses on Supergirl, and seems to tease more teamups. With all the dimension-hopping in The Flash, I guess this doesn't have to mean that Kara & Co will somehow be transplanted to "Earth-1."

The other teaser includes a glimpse of Vixen, who I'd forgotten about. Perhaps all of the heroes will band together, into some kind of society of justice, to battle one of DC Comics' mega-villains. They've already done Vandal Savage and the films are obviously aiming squarely at Apokolips. The Ultra-Humanite could be fun.

Spoiler :

I think it was pretty obvious who was going to be killed. The other actors/characters were just more popular. Not having seen Civil War yet, they try to stay away from too much in the way of spoilers, but can't entirely. So I don't see that they gave much of a reason for what Daisy did in the end.

Spoiler :

I agree, Lincoln was my pick too. That said, his death probably had the least impact of any of the characters besides Elena. If they wanted a character's death to really land hard, it would have been Mack, May, Fitz or Simmons (Coulson and Daisy seem to be the show's focus, so I assumed they were safe).

As for the epilogue, you're right, they gave no hint what's going on, it was obviously meant to be a head-scratching teaser for season 4. Daisy as a vigilante is pure speculation on my part, although, like I say, I think that's more plausible than her turning straight villain. I'm guessing the new Director is either May or General Talbot.

 

[Buster's Uncle]

The Ultra-Humanite is always fun. How can you possibly mess up a big evil albino super-gorilla with brain-zap powers? He's Grodd with a more striking look in that body.

 

[CivCube]

Spoiler :

Earth-2's Justice Society of America appeared on Legends' finale last night. We're going to have a hell of a crossover this fall.

 

[EgonSpengler]

I stopped watching Legends of Tomorrow a while back, but maybe I'll check out the finale.

The CW announces four-way crossover with Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl

by Natalie Abrams, Entertainment Weekly, 19 May 2016

[CW chief Mark] Pedowitz then made it official during The CW’s upfront presentation. “Next season, Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, and now Supergirl will join forces in our annual crossover event, our biggest ever,” he said.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Spoiler :

I agree, Lincoln was my pick too. That said, his death probably had the least impact of any of the characters besides Elena. If they wanted a character's death to really land hard, it would have been Mack, May, Fitz or Simmons (Coulson and Daisy seem to be the show's focus, so I assumed they were safe).

As for the epilogue, you're right, they gave no hint what's going on, it was obviously meant to be a head-scratching teaser for season 4. Daisy as a vigilante is pure speculation on my part, although, like I say, I think that's more plausible than her turning straight villain. I'm guessing the new Director is either May or General Talbot.

Spoiler :

You may have missed it, I may have imagined it, or it may have been a red herring (after all, there are lots of directors besides THE director of shield...but Scottish science guy in that end clip was addressed as 'director.' I couldn't see how that creep could wind up being the director, but creeps do creep.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Yeah, I guess I missed that. That could be weird.

So Thor: Ragnarok is looking more interesting.