The DC Universe has just replaced Superman’s origin story with the backstory of another major superhero, in a decision that seems as though it will pay off immensely for the franchise. The decision to evade an in-depth look at Superman’s origin story is one that has already set the DCU timeline apart in many ways, since almost every other live-action movie series involving Superman has initially focused on the hero’s earliest days.
That said, given the level of focus that this origin story has seen on the big screen – and the particular focus it received in the original Superman film serial, Richard Donner’s Superman movie, and Man of Steel – it’s safe to say Clark Kent’s hero origins had already been effectively pulled off in several film formats, meaning there simply wasn’t a need to rehash this territory.
Instead, the DCU’s more recent updates have provided a look at what story grounds the franchise is delving into in lieu of Superman’s origin story – and which it is arguably delving into because not going into Superman’s origin story allows this specific story corner of the franchise to be more viable, and allows audiences to gain a good sense of Krypton’s plight without having Kal-El’s early life rehashed in depth once more.
The DCU Has Replaced Showing Superman’s Origin Story On-Screen With An Extended Look At Supergirl’s
While the DCU started its story by delving into Superman’s life on-screen, the franchise began its depiction of its timeline well after Kal-El had become a superhero in his own right, and almost entirely skipped over showing the origin story of how he came to Earth and discovered his latent Kryptonian superpowers.
Interestingly, Supergirl has instead gotten more of the DCU’s focus on her origin story, ostensibly at least in part because Clark Kent’s has barely featured in the franchise. Supergirl is confirmed to go into Kara’s final days on her home planet based on flashback scenes shown in the trailer, and Supergirl‘s newest trailer also features a scene of the hero’s ship landing on Earth, and being met by none other than Superman himself.
This is pressing in that the scene of a young Kryptonian being sent to Earth via ship and landing on the planet is usually a sequence Superman has gotten in more detail, and because it shows that Supergirl will be providing an extended focus on Kara’s origin story and all its faucets, which should be a gripping call given how little we’ve seen of Supergirl and her story on the big screen when it comes to live-action movies.
Why Showing Supergirl’s Extended Origin Story In The DCU Is The Right Call
Much in the same way that not focusing intensely on Superman’s origin story seems to have been the right call for the DCU given everyone and their dog is at least roughly aware of the Man of Steel’s backstory, letting Supergirl instead get the focal Krypton backstory scenes that usually have been Superman’s in live-action movie worlds makes a lot of sense for a few different reasons.
Though audiences tend to be aware that Superman and Supergirl are related thanks to their names, knowing the specifics of how Kara also came to Earth – and how Superman ended up not being the last surviving Kryptonian by a long shot – is less common knowledge, meaning there’s a clear lore reason to explain the specifics of Supergirl’s backstory.
On a similar note, since the Supergirl movie is centered around Kara’s grief, trauma, and struggles when it comes to dealing with the tragedies of her past, it feels very much appropriate to have a significant part of the film feature some of the backstory that effectively defines Supergirl’s feelings of isolation and character arc in the movie’s story.
With Clayface and Lanterns on the horizon too, it will be interesting to see which characters also get their own full origin stories shown in the DC Universe, and which follow more in Superman’s footsteps due to their role in the franchise or the prominence of their backstory overall.