A Tale of Two Kryptons: How Supergirl Undoes James Gunn's Biggest Superman Twist

Warning: This nonfiction contains spoilers for Supergirl!

James Gunn’s Superman whitethorn person been heavy inspired by the DC Comics root worldly successful immoderate ways, but Gunn wasn’t acrophobic to present a important alteration oregon 2 successful his mentation of the Superman mythos. Most notably, the movie dropped the astonishment twist that Superman’s (David Corenswet) biologic parents, Jor-El (Bradley Cooper) and Lara Lor-Van (Angela Sarafyan), were not arsenic noble arsenic they seemed. It turns retired they were really abstraction fascists the full time.

That’s 1 of the reasons we were truthful funny to ticker Craig Gillespie’s Supergirl. The 2nd theatrical merchandise successful Gunn’s DCU is simply a nonstop follow-up to Superman, and it really shows america glimpses of beingness connected Krypton earlier that satellite was annihilated. How does Supergirl physique connected the large twist from Superman? Are Kara Zor-El’s parents besides abstraction fascists?

Well, no, they aren’t. It seems that Jor-El and his woman whitethorn person been the unusual ones retired connected aged Krypton. Let’s instrumentality a person look astatine however Supergirl walks backmost Superman’s biggest crippled twist, and what this means for Kryptonians successful the DCU, including what Gillespie himself has to accidental connected the matter.

How James Gunn’s Superman Changes Krypton

2025’s Superman introduces the Man of Steel’s Fortress of Solitude, wherever helium keeps his astir treasured souvenirs and relics of Krypton. Chief among those is simply a signaling of his parents, Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van, arsenic they bid farewell to their babe kid conscionable earlier their homeworld is destroyed. A information of the connection is garbled and corrupted, but Superman ever assumed they were simply wishing him good and urging him to beryllium the leader humanity needs.

That each comes crashing down erstwhile Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) and the Engineer (María Gabriela de Faría) interruption into the Fortress and download the message. Once decrypted, it becomes evident that Jor-El and Lara were not urging their lad to beryllium a benevolent protector. They wanted him to regularisation implicit Earth and usage it arsenic a breeding crushed to repopulate the Kryptonian race.

Ultimately, Kal-El is forced to judge that his parents weren’t the radical helium thought they were. Luckily for him, helium inactive has his adoptive parents, Jonathan (Pruitt Taylor Vince) and Martha (Neva Howell). They, not Jor-El, were liable for forging a almighty alien into the world’s top and astir selfless hero.

In Gunn’s DCU, this precocious civilization isn’t a shining beacon of subject and knowledge, but a fascist civilization that believes it has a close and a work to predominate lesser worlds. “

This twist suggests that Gunn has a precise antithetic presumption of Kryptonian nine than galore Superman storytellers. In Gunn’s DCU, this precocious civilization isn’t a shining beacon of subject and knowledge, but a fascist civilization that believes it has a close and a work to predominate lesser worlds. They look much similar a little convulsive mentation of the Viltrumites from Invincible.

This isn’t a implicit divergence from the comics, caput you. Writer/artist John Byrne took a little favorable presumption of Krypton erstwhile helium reinvented the Superman mythos successful the precocious ‘80s, portraying Krypton arsenic a formerly hedonistic satellite that was transformed by a brutal warfare into a cold, unfeeling satellite ruled by a strict caste system. Over time, Kryptonian civilization has travel to beryllium depicted arsenic its ain worst enemy, incapable to germinate oregon judge the existential menace facing it. If anything, Gunn seems to beryllium leaning connected Byrne’s enactment with his depiction of a much fascist Krypton.

How Supergirl Reconciles the Krypton Twist

That each being said, 1 of the large takeaways from 2026’s Supergirl is that not each Kryptonians were similar Jor-El. The movie introduces the parents of Milly Alcock’s Kara Zor-El, David Krumholtz’s Zor-El and Emily Beecham’s Alura In-Ze. The movie includes flashbacks to Krypton’s destruction, wherever we spot Zor-El prevention a information of the metropolis of Argo utilizing precocious forcefield technology, fundamentally creating a beingness raft of Kryptonian survivors.

Because of this, Kara is capable to turn up with her household by her side, dissimilar her older cousin. It’s lone aft galore years, erstwhile Zor-El discovers that helium and his radical are dying of radiation poisoning, that helium chooses to nonstop the teenage Kara to Earth to articulation Kal-El.

Unlike Kal-El, Kara has an full puerility of memories of beingness connected Krypton (or a portion of it). She knew her commencement parents and was shaped by them. And the movie makes it wide that Zor-El was precise dissimilar his brother. He didn’t rise Kara to beryllium a tyrannical ruler bent connected dominating Earth and establishing a harem for making Kryptonian babies. He and Alura imparted a strict motivation codification much successful keeping with that of the Kent family.

In short, the Kryptonians that lived successful Argo look overmuch much successful enactment with the classical mentation of Krypton from the comics. Their Krypton was much idyllic and utopian. Zor-El lived precise overmuch successful absorption to the views of his brother; earlier sending her to Earth, Kara’s parents adjacent pass her not to travel the way Jor-El laid retired for Kal-El.

Clearly, Kryptonian civilization successful the DCU is not a monolith. Some whitethorn person supported Jor-El’s views that Kryptonians are superior to lesser races and should predominate them, but others were similar Zor-El, believing that Krypton could beryllium a beacon of airy and anticipation for the universe. This seems to person been the root of a large rift betwixt the 2 brothers successful the past.

In a caller interrogation with IGN, Gillespie said, “It was fascinating to spell connected that journey, and obviously, we had to admit that, and they bash successful the film, but that’s the falling retired betwixt the 2 brothers, and him trying to enactment behind, support the civilization, and truly instill this goodness. I deliberation that’s what makes [Kara’s] beingness truthful hard successful the film, is the trauma of losing that, losing this nurturing family, and seeing it endure and dice is thing that she has to enactment through, but it’s fascinating to see. It’s astir the reverse of what happened with Superman.”

At the extremity of the day, the Supergirl movie argues that Krypton wasn’t needfully an “evil” satellite successful the DCU. Jor-El himself seems to person conscionable been a atrocious apple. This, too, has immoderate ground successful the comics. As portion of the DC Rebirth storyline successful 2016, writer Geoff Johns revealed that Jor-El survived his planet’s demolition (with assistance from Watchmen’s Doctor Manhattan, nary less) and became a shadowy fig called Mr. Oz. Oz was disillusioned with humanity and attempted to compel his lad to permission Earth behind. That didn’t work, obviously, and Oz/Jor-El was yet returned backmost successful clip to dice with his planet. So overmuch for the noble, wise, optimistic Jor-El of yesteryear.

Maybe Gunn said it champion erstwhile helium wrote Michael Rooker’s Yondu successful 2017’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: "He whitethorn person been your father, boy, but helium wasn't your daddy."

For much connected the caller film, cheque retired IGN’s Supergirl reappraisal and brushwood up connected each DC movie and bid successful development.

Jesse is simply a mild-mannered unit writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intelligence thicket by following @jschedeen connected BlueSky.