#still wish carl lumbly had been there

[agentem]

"I will not answer that stupid question. But thank you." -- Harrison Ford

For some reason I was worried Harrison Ford and Anthony Mackie wouldn't get along.

[wenellyb]

Captain America: Brave New World Spoilers

I loooved the movie.

What I didn't like:

I wasn't a big fan of the ending. I didn't hate it but I wish they had chose another path for the outcome of the final fight.

I didn't like what they did to Isaiah. That man has been through enough... If I hadn't paid for the ticket I would have paused and left. Carl Lumbly's acting was amazing, but the scene broke my heart.

The villain was "meh" but the movie plot more than made up for it.

What I liked:

Loved the characters. Loved the chemistry between Anthony and Danny.

I loved the plot, I wish the trailers hadn't given so much away because the storyline was brillant.

Loved the cameos.

They couldn't have cast a better actor than Harrison Ford to play such a complexe character. I still hate Ross, but the acting was great

Anthony's acting was impressive! I love it when you go into a movie and feeling that you're experiencing everything with the character.

Loved the husbandism, I dont think a ship has even been more canon in shipping history.

I loved that it's a done deal that Sam is cap and nobody is challenging that.

Last but not least, give Carl Lumbly an Oscar or I will riot. If he doesn't get least get a nomination then the Oscars are a scam (I'm serious).

[wordishismart9]

Don't care what everyone else is saying. Brave New World is a good movie.

The best? No, but it's still good.

I'd say my main issue with the movie is the third act. It's a little lack luster, but not bad by any means.

The acting is top tier. I feel like that's something the MCU has been doing a lot better at recently. Even Secret Invasion had great acting (in the first 3 episodes) and the same is true here.

Harrison Ford knocked it out of the park Anthony Mackie stepped up well into the role of Captain America and he got to do way more unique things with the shield than Steve Rogers ever did Carl Lumbly continues to absolutely crush it as Isaiah Bradley Danny Ramirez was a big surprise for me as Joaquin Torres, he was a great sidekick and quite charming And holy hell The Leader felt like a menace, you feel the power and fear he can bring.

I do wish we didn't let Red Hulk be in the advertisement, but I understand that they need to get people in seats, so what can you really do :/

[novelmonger]

Went to see Captain America: Brave New World. In short, it was much much better than I was afraid it would be, I had lots of fun, Sam is amazing as always, and I cried twice.

Spoilery thoughts under the cut.

In no particular order:

A;LDKSFJSDL;KFJDFLSKFJ BUCKY IS IN THIS MOVIE AHHHHHH WHAAAAAT

Why. The HECK. Is Bucky running for Congress????? It...I just...why. It makes no sense. It doesn't feel like it's in character. Bucky would make a terrible politician. Who thought this up. If they don't explain this in Thunderbolts or something and do a really good job of it, I'm headcanoning that it's a running joke between Sam and Bucky.

BUCKY SAID "I LOVE YOU" TO SAM AHHHHHH ;A; MY B R O S <3

I wish we got to hear Steve and Bucky say those words to each other, but I guess that's what fanfic is for....

Sam's fighting style feels...heavier? Slower? More deliberate? Like, even though he's incredibly athletic/acrobatic and uses the shield in many of the same ways that Steve did, Steve felt lighter on his feet, I suppose because of his enhancements. Sam feels distinctly different in how he throws punches and such. I like how it gets across how Sam is a really good fighter, but he doesn't have superhuman strength and speed.

Sam wondering/wishing he'd taken the serum, after being so against it in F&WS, was kind of heartbreaking, tbh. But Bucky was right there to remind him of what he already knew, but still needed to hear in that moment ;^;

TORRES WAS GREAT. Just as in F&WS, he was a great sidekick to Sam. Sam needs someone to joke around with and tease, and without Bucky around, Torres did a great job of doing just that.

TORRES WANTED TO BE A HERO LIKE SAM BECAUSE HE WAS NORMAL. THIS IS WHY IT'S BETTER THAT SAM NEVER GOT THE SERUM AHHHHH!!!

I loooooooved that Isaiah Bradley played such a large role, and that he was vindicated in the end. Carl Lumbly did a really good job in this movie.

I've gone from kind of hating Ross's guts to actually having quite a bit of respect for him. After all the hell he caused with his involvement in the Sokovia Accords, now he's actually trying to change, and in the end he even took accountability for his actions and let himself be locked up in his own prison.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Sam's superpower is his ability to meet people where they are. He notices them, he understands them, he loves them. That's what makes him such a good hero, such a good person, such a good friend. And he really shone in that regard in this movie <3

Sam should be the one running for Congress, not Bucky. I mean, he never would, because he has to do Captain America stuff, but he'd make a much better politician than Bucky. He's just so good at compromise and negotiation <3

Sam knows sooooo many languages, oh my goodness! When on earth would he have picked up Japanese?! Headcanon that he's been a closet anime fan for years.

Ruth Whatshername was a really interesting character, and I hope she gets more development in later movies, because I have so many questions. I also can't help but feel that, in an early version of this script, her role might have been intended for Natasha, but then had to be rewritten because of Natasha's death. For now though, I'm just really glad she ended up on the right side instead of just being like, "My superiors told me to do X, so that's all I'm going to do."

I can't decide if I more want to read or write fics about Sam with Torres in the hospital, thinking about Riley. Also fics about how certain conversations with Sam doubting himself would go if Steve were there for him to talk to directly about why he gave the shield to him.

Overall, it felt like a very plotty movie. It did end up having some nice character/relationship development, but I would have liked to see a bit more about Sam's backstory, family, etc. Guess I got spoiled with F&WS ^^'

This is by no means a complaint, but I do find it interesting that they've never given even the tiniest hint of a romance between Sam and anyone. (Despite what the shippers will tell you :P) I was expecting there to be a little bit of something between him and Leila Taylor, since they have a thing in the comics. But I guess if they never try to put him in a romance, they can't mess it up :/

Uh...I know I'm completely biased, but...this Leila Taylor was so boring compared to mine XD She's competent and cool, and I have nothing against what little we saw of her, but...Leyla Tailor > Leila Taylor, any day.

The parts where I cried were the Bucky scene (because it was the only thing I wanted from this movie, and was exactly what I never thought I'd get), and the scene with Sam and Torres in the hospital at the end (sympathetic tears, and crying over how much of a hero Sam is <3).

I can't wait for the movie to come out on Disney+ so I can watch it again, mainly for two reasons (besides just wanting to watch it again because it's fun): I want to watch with subtitles and see what I didn't catch the first time, and I want to be able to pause and take a good long look at those photos Sam has.

[lies-unfurl]

Okay, thoughts on CA:BNW.

Putting the spoilers beneath the cut, but my initial rating would probably be like a 6.5 or 7 out of 10. imo, it's better than The Marvels, Love and Thunder, or Eternals (cannot compare it to Quantumania because I don't care enough about Ant Man to watch that). It has its flaws, but I do think at least some of the critical reception is more negative than it would be if the MCU hadn't already lost a lot of goodwill. That said, pros and cons:

PROS:

The acting is good. Anthony Mackie had good chemistry with Carl Lumbly and Danny Ramirez; their early scenes were one of the highlights for me. And Harrison Ford went harder than he had to.

The suit is really cool. idk, I'm not good at breaking down action scenes, but I thought Sam was fighting in a sort of whole-body way that was neat, and I liked getting to see more of the Wakandan tech.

I've seen people complain about the pacing, but I actually thought that was pretty good. It moved at a solid clip.

This will sustain the SamBucky fandom at least until Thunderbolts* comes out.

I like that they explicitly acknowledged Sam's background as a counselor. The more introspective moments that we got with him were what we really needed more of, which is a great segue into my criticisms.

CONS:

On the whole, I think the movie lacked an identity, if that makes sense? Like, you can have a grounded political thriller, or you can have the president hulk out and smash the Washington Monument. Both in the same movie leads to a sort of tonal dissonance.

Related to the above, some of the dialogue was just kind of bad. Sterns talked like a stereotypical comic book villain, and that just seemed so out of place in a movie that often felt like it was trying to be more realistic.

A lot of the characterization was lacking. We get told that Sam and Leila are friends, but we're never offered any sort of elaboration. Actually, we don't get much of Leila at all. Ruth was even shallower Her inclusion is this weird, flat character who obviously won't pacify the people who (understandably) wanted her removed altogether, but who I assume is also going to be a letdown for whatever audience they wanted to pull in when they announced her as Sabra.

I have really mixed feelings about Joaquin. I do like that he got some sort of emotional journey, and like I said, his interactions with Sam and Isaiah were one of the highlights for me. But, sorry, it's weird that they went out of their way to emphasize that he's from Miami (like, multiple pieces of clothes with Miami logos!) when so much of his comic backstory has to do with him growing up near the US-Mexico border and helping undocumented immigrants. Rewriting that is the sort of thing I'd expect of Disney, but it's a cop-out all the same. (And of course he could still be helping undocumented communities in Miami, but Disney obviously won't show that lol.)

Sam's character arc. Hmm. Idk. In some ways it felt like a repeat of TFaTWS. I think if they wanted to show more of him figuring out whether he could lead the Avengers, then there should've been less of an emphasis on the hulk stuff. And to the extent that part of his story is tied up in him thinking he should've taken the serum, that could have been developed more.

Which leads to a sort of side criticism--I liked the action sequences overall, but he should've been hurt a lot worse after the junkyard fight without the suit. I'm good at suspending my disbelief for action sequences, but still.

Not really a criticism, but I wish we'd gotten a Riley mention. Seeing his partner yet again get shot out of the sky must've brought up some bad memories, and it would have been nice if Marvel remembered that that was part of Sam's backstory.

Having Sam ultimately defeat Ross by talking him down... I'm honestly not sure how I feel about that. Like, on the one hand, it's consistent with Sam's character, as someone who doesn't automatically try to fight his way out of things. It's what he tried to do with Karli and failed. It's sort of coming full circle in a way that could be satisfying. But on the other hand... the end of TFaTWS, with his speech to the GRC leaders, had such a poor audience reception and was so widely mocked. Essentially redoing that feels like a risky choice.

And that gets me into my last criticism. The scene where Sam compares being judged for being Black to people judging Ross for things he did of his own free will... that was weird. I think there's a lot to unpack in terms of this movie's politics. Robert Daniels' review is worth a read, and I expect there will be more takes like his to come.

Anyway. I know my criticisms were a lot longer than my pros because I am, at heart, a hater. But I overall thought it was a solid movie. I liked seeing Sam again, and as always, I'm ready to turn to the fandom to see people exploring the things the MCU won't touch.

[infinitecrime]

Spoiler free TFATWS Episode 5 review:

Another very solid episode. A huge amount of pay off for many of the various subplots at play and a great progression of the overall story. Some conversations that really needed to be had were finally had and it was immensely satisfying. Other than a strong opening action sequence, this episode was mainly character and dialogue focussed, which I think is going to upset some of the fanboys, but for me it might have been the strongest episode yet.

Spoiler heavy review:

Writing/Plot: 

The opening fight was fantastically choreographed and heart breaking in a lot of ways. The acting was noteworthy which is rare for a fight scene where people normally phone it in or we don’t really see much of their expressions because they’re stunt doubles. I’m glad this was the only real action this week - it felt nice to get a break and return to character and plot driven scenes.

Overall this episode was just really satisfying in terms of plot progression and pay off. We resolved Bucky’s beef with Wakanda, Zemo’s fate, Bucky and Sam not seeing eye to eye, Isaiah’s story, Sam’s issues with the shield, and closure for Lemar’s family. We’ve progressed Sam and Sarah’s money/boat issues and whatever the fuck Sharon and Batroc have going on. Next week we’re setting up to give Yori some closure and put an end to John and the Flagsmashers.

Even the Flagsmashers, who we barely saw, got more development than it seems they have for a while - we now know they are all in on criminal behaviour, are willing to kill, have a distinct target (the GRC), and a distinct goal (stop the Patch), and have a mini army to do it with.

The vibe of this episode was just... soft, which is surprising for a hyper masculine superhero bro show. The whole community coming together to help the Wilson’s and Bucky being inducted into the family was just so wholesome. Even the Isaiah scenes, heart wrenching as they were, would have been intercut with violent and graphic torture flashbacks under some other director, but Kari knew that the story was powerful and upsetting enough on it’s own.

Sam:

Sam and Sarah are just amazing. Really really hope we see her in future Marvel properties. It's so nice to see the perspective of someone so grounded in a world of wizards and shit. I love that he seems to tell her everything and values her advice just as much if not more than that of soldiers and superheroes. 

Watching him grapple with Steve and Bucky’s expectations of him vs Isaiah’s expectations of him vs Sarah’s expectations of him vs his own wants and needs was very impactful, and in the end, he’s going to honour them all and pick up the shield, but on his own terms, as his own man, because he wants to, not because some old men told him to/not to.

Sam finally got some of those deeply emotional beats that I have been hoping for this whole time, which gives Anthony a chance to really flex his acting muscles. He’s great at subtlety but he really shines in this episode now the writing has allowed him to. Everything with Isaiah and the scene of him wiping blood off the shield was so raw.

Isaiah, who gets his own section this week:

God, his entire section was so powerful and well done. I’m so glad he came back and we got to learn more about his story and his situation. I’m so glad it was explicitly addressed what was done to him, why it was done, how it affects Sam and his perception of the shield, how it affected his family, and how he still carries all that trauma to this day. I’m so glad it was a one on one between them.

Carl Lumbly was absolutely fantastic and Anthony played off of him wonderfully. The injustice and pain is so stark in this scene. I would love to see more of him in the future but I also want him to be able to finally rest.

Isaiah did exactly what Steve did. Went against express orders to do the right thing and saved a group of POW's that the top brass had written off as expendable. In return, Steve got his fake Captain title made real, a fancy new shield, and was lauded as a hero. Isaiah was imprisoned, tortured, experimented on, and treated as a criminal. For the same. damn. thing.

I was perplexed in previous weeks about people condemning Bucky for not telling anyone about Isaiah, when doing so would have disturbed his well earned peace and put him in extreme danger. In this episode we get the confirmation that Bucky’s choice was right: Isaiah is legally dead and in hiding and the government don't know he's alive. He wants to be left alone ("Leave me dead, my name is buried") and that’s more important than what Sam wants or what you think Bucky should have done. It’s up to Isaiah; and Bucky (and later Sam) respected his wishes.

Bucky:

Ayo calling Bucky White Wolf, telling him to steer clear of Wakanda “for the moment” but not forever, and making Sam a vibranium Cap suit shows he’s fully forgiven. To be honest, they likely don’t have an extradition treaty with Germany so they actually never would have gotten their hands on Zemo if Bucky hadn’t broken him out, so they’re probably happier with him than they let on right now.

The Zemo-Bucky relationship and the grudging respect and understanding they have for each other is so interesting. I honestly don’t believe this is the last we’ll see of Zemo. He’s straddling the anti-hero/villain divide and he’s just so fascinating. Bucky getting his closure with Zemo and showing him that he isn’t the weapon Zemo treated him as was powerful, although I don’t think Zemo actually thought he would kill him. He knows that Bucky wasn’t corrupted by the serum, and even admitted as much.

Fighting John with the shield must have given him flashbacks to the helicarrier fight with Steve which can’t have been pleasant. The pure rage on his face at seeing the shield misused was clear here.

Seeing him helping the Wilson’s and being integrated into the community and the family in a way he hasn’t had since the Howling Commandos (and even then, they were at war) was just so, so sweet and wholesome. And his boat fixing skills corroborated my science nerd/mechanic Bucky headcanons.

Bucky and Sarah lightly flirting is very cute and I would like to see that relationship be developed more. 

It was nice to see him explicitly apologise and recognise why Sam didn’t want the shield, as well as explaining why he reacted the way he did. I don’t understand the people saying it wasn’t good enough at all - it was a clear and sincere apology and completely proportional to the actual offence, which was not quite understanding a perspective that he wasn’t really equipped to immediately understand. He doesn’t need to beg or plead - just acknowledge his ignorance, say sorry, and improve, which he did. Sam was perfectly happy with it and accepted the apology, his gift, and his help on the boat. Drama over nothing as per usual amongst the Bucky antis.

I still wish they would be more explicit about Steve’s fate and how they both feel about it, but I liked the scene we got.

Other characters:

“You built me.” - Wyatt is extremely good at mining sympathy out of an otherwise unsympathetic character. As much as I hate him, I did feel for him in the courthouse scene and with Lemar’s parents. He's an example of the veterans that are exploited until they crack then left in the dust as damaged goods when they do. I’ve been so, so impressed with Wyatt and the nuance and complexity and sympathy he’s managed to inject into the character. In anyone else’s hands he would be a two dimensional power crazed villain, but in Wyatt’s he’s a lot more than that.

Val is intriguing. Skrull? HYDRA? Power Broker? Something new entirely?

I wish John’s wife got a name. This is the second love interest minor female character (after the bartender) without an onscreen name, unless I missed it.

I am still somewhat perplexed by Sharon. Is she a double agent? A triple agent? Is she the Power Broker? Is she against the Flagsmashers, or with them, or only out for herself and against everyone? I’m not sure how this can all be resolved in only one episode but I guess we’ll find out. I wonder if she’s being set up for a future project. Is she a Skrull?

I knew Batroc would be back when we didn’t explicitly see him die - is he being used by Sharon without his knowledge for some other purpose, or does she genuinely not give a fuck if he kills Sam?

Nice to see Torres and to see that he has an obvious crush on both Sam AND Bucky. He’s for sure swooping into the final battle next episode having fixed Sam’s wings.

Is the inclusion of Eli Bradley setting him up for a future Young Avengers series, or is he just a nice comic cameo and nothing more?

Lemar's parents had me tearing up. Fuck Walker for lying to them but at least he gave them some closure I guess? Poor Lemar. He deserved so much more and we deserved more of him.

Fuck John Walker and his fake shield.

[fallenangelontheceiling]

Thoughts on The Finale

Pros & Cons

CONS:

Most of these can be categorized as problems with tone. This has been a problem throughout the series and unfortunately it was most clear at the finale.

John Walker's Character Arc - I guess I can buy that he didn't want a truck full of people to die instead of taking revenge... but it feels too quick. In 1x04 there was blood on the shield and the stinger for 1x05 (the thing that primed us for this episode!) telegraphed him as unhinged. Now he has Sam and Bucky's reluctant approval. Talk about tonal whiplash.

And then at the end - were we supposed to think it was cute that this mentally unstable man is all excited to go out in the field again? I think we were. And I kinda hate it because he'd be a great villain. He went from Everything Wrong With Entitled White Men to an insecure doofus who happens to have the strength to lift a car. I think that was a very sanitized decision.

Ironically I think the reason behind that decision is because they didn't want Lemar to just be the Dead Black Dude. John is the one that gets to tell Karli the truth: "Lemar mattered," and by saying that he illuminates everything wrong with Karli's fight. And I guess he really did care about Lemar as a person (on some level, at least - everything else about John points to narcissistic tendencies imo).

Bucky's Confession - Felt rushed. We didn't see Yori get any bittersweet closure. I don't understand what the last shot with Bucky, Yori, and Leah was trying to convey - especially Leah's little nod at him. Look, I appreciate how this show doesn't always spell everything out, but all that shot did was take me out of the scene - does Leah know he was the Winter Soldier now? that he killed Yori's son? and at the minimum shouldn't she feel mad or awkward about the way Bucky ditched her lol?

And now I'm gonna sound like a real bitch... but because that scene didn't hit the right amount of bittersweet Bucky's happiness at the party later doesn't feel earned enough for me. I love smiley SebStan as much as anyone, but facts.

[In retrospect, one interesting thing about the confession was that Bucky said "I was forced to do it. It wasn't me." That's character growth. I wish we had seen the journey to that realization more, but I'm okay with that likely being incited by him being able to actually rescue civilians of his own free will for a change.]

This is more of a personal belief creeping in: Bucky, just because you're done with the book doesn't automatically mean you're done with therapy lol. I think Bucky should need therapy for the rest of his over extended life, and that is not a sign of weakness or infantilization. I think that would be a far better message for the show to give about mental health. (And I was sent out of the scene AGAIN because I was wondering um, isn't that still court mandated?? I thought the schedule was just more flexible, not terminated.)

Karli - Isn't it weird how I can agree with a villain's motives so much but not find them interesting at all as a character? Like how lol?? I think if they had fleshed out her and Sharon's relationship she could have been a very tragic figure. Or her relationship to Mama Donya, for that matter. Instead we get her with mostly nameless Flagsmashers that narratively operate more like goons than comrades.

Sam - I started this series pretty convinced that Sam should get rid of the Cap mantle and shield due to racism, nationalism, populism... a few other -isms that I am not smart enough to elaborate on. But after episode 5 I was on his wavelength. I was hyped by his training montage! I screamed for him to put on his sexy costume uniform!

And then the costume sucked. Okay it definitely didn't totally suck (more on that later), but the colors and goggles look horrendous.

Maybe I'm just in too jaded a mindset to enjoy a superhero show but I rolled my eyes that an impassioned speech would make any difference. I hated that the senator looked ashamed, like that would never happen, especially not in public lol. I wanted him to do something a bit more subversive -what exactly I can't put my finger on, but this was too much of a buy-in that powerful institutions work. I thought it was really corny how suddenly everyone started listening at the exact same time. I know throughout the show we've seen civilians constantly monitoring with their phones in the background, but the way this was shot was too on the nose for me. Maybe if it had been just one news camera nearby? Idk idk...

The Power Broker - It could have only been Sharon so I didn't really care.

PROS:

These are shorter because I'm tired and it's always easier to say more about things we dislike lol.

Sam's Utilities and Fight Scenes - The costume looked awful but it worked great! Loved the two redwings and what they can do, the way the wings and jet back move when he fights, and I have to admit I like the angelic look of the wings.

I love that Sam still takes more punches than nearly any superhero in the MCU but he doesn't let that stop him. "I can do this all day!" is very Cap. I adored how he collaborated with the civilian (senator?) in the helicopter to get everyone to safety. That also felt very Captain America and in line with Sam's strengths. That scene worked as a strong opening.

Isaiah Bradley - Just. Carl Lumbly needs an Emmy. I kinda love Eli as well.

Sarah Gazes Up at Bucky as He Shows Off and Plays with Children and Brings What is Clearly a Costco Cake to the Cookout - Same, girl. Same. I want a slowburn Hallmark movie about them.

Sharon - I enjoy Emily VanCamp getting ~revenge~.

Zemo's Butler (Of All People!) Taking Out the Last of the Super Soldiers - Is it bad I cheered? This is what creepy Batman-esque butlers are for, yes?

[popculturebuffet]

The Color of Friendship Review (Commissioned by WeirdKev27): A World of People

Happy Black History Month! Another day, another comission from longtime supporter of the blog Weird Kev and like a good chunk of his-non duck asks, he asked me for something outside my usual wheelhouse. In the past this has meant an episode of the short lived fox show whoops in which we found out how Santa dealt with the end of the world, didn’t know how doors worked, and interacted with some characters so thin you could remake the episode with just Mick Foley in a santa suit and carboard cutouts playing the characters lines and it’d be about the same, and earlier this month Sorry Wrong Meeting, an episode of a sitcom i’d never seen an episode of the Jeffersons about the KKK. So unsuprisingly his big comission for Black History Month was the 2000 Disney Channel Original Movie, The Color of Friendship. 

I couldn’t find much on the making of the film, which dosen’t entirely suprise me as at the time this came out, Disney was releasing around 10 a year and whlie that stopped shortly, it still was a whopping 6 a year for some time, ocasionally more ocasionaly less, slowly dwindling down to the two of year we have now. Though it’s still an ongoing concern and has been since the channel started in 83, closing in on 40 years ago, so it’s still impressive Disney hasn’t just outright phased them out. Then again the popular ones make them a lot of money and some like High School Musical and the Descendants Trilogies have broken out so big they’ve lead to spinoff books, tv series in the latter’s case, and all that stuff making them money hand over fist. So making some cheap movies that MIGHT end up making them rich and usually star people that are already on shows they have or were at one point is a no loose proposition, especially now they add an extra release to the Disney Plus callender twice a year. And while the library has it’s gaps and i’ve griped about them enough.. I will say it’s stil la damn good library and it’s nice to be able to watch a film like this, as the dvd was LONG out of print and likely horribly expensive, and while renting it was an option, it would’ve chipped into what I got commissioned for the film. Still would’ve done it it just would’ve sucked to loose money on the deal, if only two bucks, for something I had no control over. Still would do that over adding it onto the comission fee. Point is stuff that’s not been easy to get for some time is now just a few clicks or taps of the remote away, and having the VAST majority of disney’s long and storied history from theatrical to dcom to weird tv oddities like.. this thing

I don’t know what Fuzzbucket is, and frankly I don’t want to know.. I mean I will for a comission or something but i’m not going to go out of my way to find out what that thing is and if it can give me scabies through a telvision screen despite being fictional and proabably long dead. At least I tell myself it’s long dead so ic an sleep at night without worrying about that thing breaking into my house and watchnig me while I sleep changing “SOON JACOB, SOON”. So yeah while you’ll hear me complain about the gaps in DIsney Plus’ library a lot on this blog. 

I will give credit where it’s due, and what is on there is pretty expansive and now includes the Muppet Show, which I give them full credit for as that probably took a LOT of work and money to make happen. Plus WandaVision is fucking fantastic, especially now i’m finally all caught up. 

But while as I said I couldn’t find much on the making of the film I did find a bit on it’s inspiration: It was inspried by a short story wrtten by Piper Dellums, a writer, poet and activist, and daughter of Ron Dellums. Dellums is a notable congressman who fought against apartheid and constantly fought for a bill to divest from South Africa, something that SHOCKINGLY, Ronald Regan tried to veto because he was a racist disney anamatronic what did you expect, and all in all seemed pretty awesome. He sued Bush SR to try and prevent Desert Storm, in his earliest days in office had an exibit near his phsyical office of vietnam war crimes to try and hold them acountable and in general seems to be a fascenating, hardworking man who constantly and religiously fought for the people and against war. 

The story was a real life account of the Piper’s experince housing a South African Student, Marie, who the Delums Family expected to be black.. but turned out ot be white. During Apartheid, south africas racist as hell and horrifying goverment system of segregation that wasn’t abolished till the 90′s. As expected she was racist, but as a proudct of the horribly racist country she came from and much like with her fictional counterpart in this film, slowly grew to realize how fucked up her homeland was and by the time she went back, became an activist She and Piper were very close but her story ends tragically as eventually Piper stopped hearing from her after she was arrested and despite attempts to talk to her.. it was clear by the silence, and by the fact Piper visited South Africa post-aparthied to help and likely would’ve seen her.. that she was likely quitely killed by the state. But her story thankfully lives on, so join me under the cut to see how a 20 year old disney movie aired during black history month handles this difficult real life story, racisim and the 70′s. 

The Cast: Quick bit about the cast since I usually do this for first episodes of an animated show and wish i’d done so for my other film reviews so far. Though to keep things simple, i’m only doing the main four cast members, especailly since frankly outside of Mahree’s parents the rest are more supporting roles that don’t have a lot of screen time and in hte case of the south african embassy workers, are just there to be racist card board cutout villians.  Piper, who keeps her name from real life is played by Shadia Simmons, who eventually retired from acting to become a High School and Acting Teacher. During her career she was in a bunch of Disney Channel Original Movies, including the first two Zenon Movies, and was in a major role in a bunch of live action childrens shows: I Was A Sizth Grade Alien, Strange Days at Blake Holsely High, and Life with Derek, the only one of which i’ve seen and even then barely so I can’t comment on the rest of her work. Simmons does a decent job in the film, and does shine in the more dramtic scenes, not the best part of it but certainly not bad at all. 

Lindsay Haun plays Mahree, and had more of an acting career after this one, having a small recurring role on True Blood as Hadley, while also directing some smaller films. Haun is easily one of the two highlights of the movie and the best of the two main tween actresses by a mile. More on that in a bit. 

Next we have Carl Fucking Lumbly as Congressman Ron Dellums. Carl has had a long and storied career and the fucking is because of what I best know him from: Playing the Martian Manhunter Jon Jonzz on Justice League. And let me not undersell it: his version of Jon is waht made me LOVE the character, still do to this day, being the first time I encountered any version of Jon and the one I still love the most, a stoic man who tries to adapt to a world he feels he can never be a part of, adding shades to his stitled demeanour to show off his emtitons and in general being the heart and soul of what made this verison work and made me love the character with his performance. He’s done other stuff too including Cagney and Lacey, Doctor Sleepand what have you.. but he’ll always be Jonn to me and that’s not a bad thing in the slightest. Unsuprisingly he’s the other standout here. 

Finally we have Penny Johnson as Ron’s wife and Piper’s Mother Roscoe,  who played Captain Sisko’s love intrest on Deep Space 9 and was one of the leads on castle. Haven’t seen either of those but she does seem awesome and does a terrific job here. 

Moving on to the film itself.. it’s really fantastic. It has some awkwardness and goofy bollocks as you’d expect from a disney channel original movie in 2000, but it handles a really heavy subject, race relations, gracefully and clearly with the goal of educating an audience with a lot of white kids in it about race. So I can praise what it does right i’m going to be handling the parts that are a bit wobbly first so I can get to the good stuff

Awkwardness and Goofy Bollocks:

First the out and out criticism: The films TV Movie roots show in places, as this film lacks the polish these films would have later this decade, with the film barely having an opening title sequence and just sorta throwing you in, though to their credit it does open with the utterly awesome Back in Love Again, because 70′s. 

That slaps and that’s an undeniable fact. What’s also an undenaible fact is the film dosen’t try the hardest to be very 70′s in it’s sets and what not, though it does do it a little with the clothes and that not being the case with Mahree is intentional, as her family while wealthy is from another culture and one literally and metaphorically behind the times. 

I will also say Shadia Simmons is a decent actress, but is mildly weak in comparison to the other 3 in the leads, but its more the result of putting a pretty standard child sitcom actress up against two experinced actors who know what their doing and one whose about as experinced as her, but simply has a LOT to work with and goes above and beyond. It’s less that she’s bad and more that she’s simply not as good as what’s around her, and in general I tend to go easier on child actors since it’s not an easy job for a grown adult much less a teenager, it’s very pressurey and there’s a reason a LOT of them bottom out as they get older or retire all together. 

I will say though that Piper’s brothers are awful and I feel are only there because she actually had brothers. The actors try, i’m not pinning this on them but writing wise their just two little shits who contirbute ntohing of value to any scene their in, being generally way to young to get into the heavy topic at hand, and mostly being there for unfunny shneanigans. They aren’t in the film too much otherwise they might’ve ruined it for me, but if Shadia struggles a bit agianst sttronge perofrmances imagine who younger actors with the stage direction “Be the bane of my existence” and you’ll MAYBE see the problem. 

The film also loves cheesy time passing montages, including an actual factual shopping montage, easily the goofiest, but it’s something you’d expect from a dcom and helps lighten the mood. That’s a running theme outside the brothers there really isn’t anything too silly.. until the last act.  See in the last act, the film tackles the real life death of Steve Biko, a South African activist against apartheid who was captured by the state and very transparently murdered in jail. with the government claming he killed himself which no one bought because why would they, and it sparked riots worldwide and finally got the US to take Apartheid seriously according to the film. Though as I mentioned earlier Regan did not in case you thought the republican party being terrible and deeply racist was a brand new thing. It was not. Guys like Tucker Carlson and Former President Trump are a symptom, not the disease.. though they certainly look and feel like some form of plauge. Point is Mahree is breifly taken by the embassy.. whose staff who take her feel like the Disney Channel Original Movie form of Nazi’s. The heavy accents, the way they compose themselves... I half expect an elderly indiana jones to show up to whip the piss out of them. And dont’ get me wrong, the only diffrence between these pricks and a nazi is the fact they don’t call themselves nazis, this isn’t a nuanced horrifying racist to be scared of but a saturday morning cartoon version. 

While  white supremacists in real life can be cartoonishly evil, again see trump and carlson, it does kind of undercut the seriousness and nuance of things to have your villians be cold, cackling cutouts who are 5 seconds away from saying “You are part of the rebel alliance and a traitor take her away” to our heroine, especailly since Mahree’s reaction to being taken away and confusion at everything and at being treated like a prisoner by her own people are very painful and very well acted.   I do get showing them as monsters, because they were, but given Mahree’s father who as a south african police man was DEFINTELY ONE and even outside his racisim doubts and downtalks his own daughter, still feels like an actual person, if not a GOOD person, they could’ve done better and did in the same film. 

But that stuff aside.. I really can’t find much that’s honestly that silly or bad and as you can tell what little I did was more a product of being a tv movie. So now i’ve got the negatives out of the way

This Film Is Pretty Good: It truly is, for a lot of reasons. But the biggest is the nuance. It could’ve been easy to just have Maree as some racist kid needing to learn a lesson who was openly cruel and easy to jeer at.. but the film went iwth the reality: that she was instead an extremley privlaged and insulated girl who simply NEVER knew better. To her her very racist and segregated world is just the way the world worked for her and she dosen’t even consider when the Dellums come to pick her up minus Ron these aren’t servants and her own servant’s words fall on deaf ears, as the poor woman tries to make it clear how miserable her life is and how much she deseprately wants this child to do better. Marhee is never actively malicious even when, due to the shock of her all black host family, she baricades herself in Piper’s room. It’s obnoxious sure and CERTAINLY hurtful and the film makes no bones about it and Piper rightfully calls her out on it. The film dosen’t let her get away with any intetnional racisim like that and after Piper calls her out, she realizes she’s been selifsh and makes a genuine effort. And even then the film makes a good choice in not making it an easy road to realization. Mahree makes a genuine effort in the first place not because of any big revelation or anything, but because she simply hears her dad in her head telling her she’d give up after a week and that, coupled with Piper’s words, makes her see herself as a selfish brat. Even after she’s floored by a mall where black and white people stand side by side aand casually talks about horrors like ID Cards like i’ts a GOOD thing, because that’s what she’s been taught by her dad. That black people are happy being told where they can and can’t go when no they weren’t they simply had no chocie in the matter. And while we do see early on when an asshole at a restraunt assaults a waiter for an accident that Mahree clearly isn’t okay with the more horrifying side of things, she still dosen’t quite grasp WHY that happened, simply that it’s something that does reguarly she dosen’t like. It’s excellently, and unsuprisingly called back when they visit an ice cream place in the states and something similar happens.. but the guy takes it in stride, even ordering a sundae, to Maree’s confusion. 

It’s what makes the film work and all the more striking: As Roscoe makes clear to Ron, whose admant about nto having a racist in the house, this is not her fault. While the film makes it clear Mahree’s behavior at first was not okay and her prejudiece is not okay, it also makes it VERY clear she’s a product of a terrible system and terrible parenting from people who choose to benneift from the system instead of challenge it. She’s only like this because she hasn’t had a reason to ever think diffrent and just took her parents at face value and no mater the country, this is something that sadly happens far too often: Someone hating a group or thinking discrimination is okay because that’s how they were taught and that’s all they’ve known and the only way to change that is to challenge that opinon and try to get them to have some empathy and see the other way and as this film shows it’s a struggle.. and at the end of the day while the Dellums make a concentrated effort, Maree is the one who has to realize what her parents taught her is bad and her country is inherently flawed and NEEDS to change, just like ours did, and STILL badly needs to. 

And that’s where the nuance kicks in as the good congressman is understandable in not wanting a racist in his house... but his wife is equally right that Maree is not some easy symbol of his hatred towards south africa, but a girl who grew up knowing nothing more than the fucked up system, and eventually he comes around, realizing , especially after she apologizes for him even thinking she’d use a racial slur on piper after a very powerful conversation with the two and piper accidently saying she used the South African N Word, almost accidently getting her friend thrown out, that she simply hasn’t been outside her shell and gently guides her to keep reading roots, even letting her take it with her if she wants back home. The film shows the full pain of the situation  but also shows change is posisble. Again it’s not easy, Mahree has a panic attack waiting in an almost all black line in school and it’s shown to be as horrible a thought as it is., but she DOES change and it comes off as real, as someone realizing the system they grew up with is broken and needs to be fixed and she can’t just sit back and let it. 

What makes this happen, besides the aformentioned kidnapping by saturday morning cartoon racists, is Piper confronting her after a friend from south africa forces Piper to acccept that while her and Mahree are friends, Mahree might not seee her as equal and Piper in turn in a heated argument and easily Simmons best performance of the film, that things are broken and wrong and that her “firend”, her nanny/servant back home, is not happy. It leaves Mahree crying and Ron telling her the honest truth: Change was, and again still is but this was 2000 and while we should’ve had this talk disney channel wasn’t ready for it, needed to make things better here.. and tha’ts what south african’s doing> Fighting for equal rights at last. It’s some powerful, heavy as hell stuff you woudln’t expect from a line of movie that also include a robot house, before that was an actual thing, a merMAN dad MerMan, a boy slowly turning into a leprechaun, and at least two diffrent movies centering around wacky kidnappings. It’s a nuanced and hard look at race, as hard as late 90′s jsut turned into the 2000′s disney could get mind, aimed at kids and the film, whiel stilted really has my utter praise. It’s genuinely moving, well acted and teaches a valuable message that while not eveyrone can change.. it dosen’t hurt to try and help them, as well as the equal message that change start with YOU. someone has to WANT to be better and learn and actually let other people in to help them. And I wont’ lie and say this is the most naunced or subtle film.. at time’s it’s about as subtle as a ralph wiggum throught he window

But sometimes you don’t need to be. It also taught kids about apartheid, not me as I barely saw the film, but many learned of something ghoulsih that had barely ended at the time of the film’s release, something I only learned about as a teen via bloom county and a diffrent world, which has an utterly awesome apartheid episode “A World Alike”. Seriously check it out if you have prime, as it shows that america isn’t the only country with a deep history of ingraned racisim. And was it an easy way to have an anti racisim narriative without fully confronting america’s own racist history? Yup. Just.. yup. Can I blame Disney Channel for it when they clearly, while equipped to tackle racisim, weren’t ready to tackle something that dense or heavy, and while Proud Family later would there’s a diffrence between a 20 minute one off episode of a cartoon and 90 minutes of film? Yeah. For what it is and for what the time period is, I applaud this film taking on such a heavy topic with grace. Some goofyiness here and there yes and some lack of subtly.. but still grace. For what it is is, it’s pretty good and i hope to show it to my nieces one day soon. It has i’ts heart in the right place and thus has a place in my heart. See you next rainbow. 

[aion-rsa]

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Episode 2: New Marvel Characters Explained

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This article contains The Falcon and the Winter Soldier spoilers.

While there are still a number of tantalizing missing credits at the end of Marvel’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode 2, including a placeholder for Emily VanCamp’s Sharon Carter, we do get to meet (and in one instance, hear about) some familiar characters from Marvel Comics who make their MCU debut in episode 2 of the Disney+ series.

If you’re not overly familiar with their comics-based origins, though, you might not be too sure about the backstory of our new The Falcon and the Winter Soldier players, or what impact their introduction may have on the Marvel Cinematic Universe going forward.

Never fear, we’re here to help!

Isaiah Bradley – Captain America

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier examines the legacy of Captain America from numerous angles. In Marvel Comics, Bucky Barnes, Sam Wilson, John Walker, and Isaiah Bradley all suited up as Cap at various points, so the appearance of Carl Lumbly as Bradley marks yet another historic notch in the story of Captain America.

In The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode 2, Bucky (Sebastian Stan) drags Sam (Anthony Mackie) along to Isaiah Bradley’s humble home during their investigation into where the Flag-Smashers might be getting their Super Soldier Serum. Bucky once encountered Bradley decades ago in Goyang, South Korea when he was acting as HYDRA’s Winter Soldier, and realized that Bradley had been imbued with super strength, but kept it secret after Bradley ended up being a worthy match – destroying half of Bucky’s bionic arm in their face-off. Bradley is less than happy to see Bucky re-emerge asking for information, telling Sam and Bucky to get out of his house and leave him alone.

Bradley’s basic story in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is fairly similar to the one in the comics, where he was just one of 300 African-American soldiers who were experimented on in an attempt to reformulate the Super Soldier Serum. Of those 300 soldiers, Bradley was the only one to make it through, and went on to suit up as Captain America, choosing to fight in WWII against the wishes of the military. He eventually spent 17 years behind bars for treason, and his past as Cap was kept under wraps.

Lemar Hoskins – Battlestar

We also meet John Walker’s sidekick in episode 2. Lemar Hoskins (Cle Bennett) has been enlisted to help the new Captain America track down bad guys for the US government following the disappearance of Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson’s decision to pass up the Cap mantle. Hoskins fights at Walker’s side under the codename “Battlestar” but is quickly in trouble during a tussle with the Flag-Smashers and their super strength.

Hoskins originally made his debut in Mark Gruenwald’s Captain America #323 as an Army pal of Walker’s who also got his super strength from the Power Broker (more on him in a bit) and went on to become a professional wrestler in Marvel’s Unlimited Class Wrestling circuit. Much like in the series, Hoskins then fought alongside Walker when he was Captain America, first as the “new Bucky” and later as Battlestar.

Elijah Bradley – Patriot

We meet Eli Bradley, Isaiah’s grandson, when he answers the door to Sam and Bucky in episode 2. At first denying any knowledge of his grandfather, he eventually lets them inside after Bucky reveals his 1950s connection to Isaiah. We don’t get any hints that Eli will be of any importance to the MCU’s ongoing story during his introduction in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but it’s very likely that he’ll be back!

Eli is a fairly new character in the pages of Marvel Comics, having arrived on the scene in the 2005 Young Avengers run from Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung at a time when the older Avengers had disbanded. In the comics, Eli initially claims to have been blessed with Super Soldier Serum, but we later find out that this isn’t true. He does eventually get a transfusion of Isaiah’s blood, however, granting him a flow of the serum.

This young man could certainly show up in the MCU’s version of Young Avengers if Marvel decides to go down that road (and given the introduction of two other key Young Avengers on WandaVision with Wanda’s kids, Wiccan and Speed, and the impending introduction of Kate Bishop on Hawkeye that seems like a real possibility. He could be a key member of that team as his alter ego, Patriot.

Power Broker

In episode 2, we find out that the Flag-Smashers may have got their superhuman strength via a shadowy figure known as the Power Broker. This is the first mention of the Marvel Comics villain in the MCU, but it looks like he will be a major player in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Yep, it appears Marvel has been hiding a secret guest star in the run up to the series’ debut, one who will surely fill an empty slot in the end credits soon enough!

We don’t know much about this version of the Power Broker yet, only that he is feared by those who deign to cross him, but in the comics there are two versions of the Power Broker to draw from.

There’s the Curtiss Jackson Power Broker, who founded a company that blessed paying customers with superhuman strength – for a price – and who was also responsible for both John Walker and Lemar Hoskins getting their powers. He played a key role in the Mark Gruenwald-penned Captain America comics that have inspired much of this show. Then there’s Dan Slott and Christos N. Gage’s more modern version of Power Broker, who has a much more mysterious past. It’s possible that in true MCU fashion, the version we meet on screen will be a blend of both.

Right now, Walker and Hoskins are keen to assume their new superhero roles as Captain America and Battlestar, but they don’t quite have what it takes to dominate their opponents yet. It seems the Power Broker may be able to give them the extra strength they need to do the same kind of superhuman job as Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes …with some added Super Soldier Serum.

Will Walker and Hoskins incur the debt in future episodes?

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[pass-the-bechdel]

Alias s02e01 ‘The Enemy Walks In’

Does it pass the Bechdel Test? 

Yes, nine times.  

How many female characters (with names and lines) are there?

Four (33.33%)

How many male characters (with names and lines) are there?

Eight (66.67%)

Positive Content Rating:

Three

General Episode Quality: 

A mixed bag.

MORE INFO (and potential spoilers) UNDER THE CUT:

Passing the Bechdel: Sydney meets Irina. Sydney and Barnett talk about Sydney’s encounter and escape, what she did afterwards, SD-6, the hardest part of being a double agent, and Sydney’s feelings about her mother. Francie asks Sydney where she is. Francie tells Sydney where she’ll be. Sydney comes to Barnett’s office and tells her about Emily’s funeral and Irina’s appearance at the C.I.A.  

Female Characters:

Irina Derevko

Sydney Bristow

Judy Barnett

Francie Calfo

Male Characters:

Jack Bristow

Will Tippin

Dixon

Arvin Sloane

Weiss

Marshall

Alexander Khasinau

Michael Vaughn

 Other Notes:

Alias’ introspiel for season 2 is different from season 1’s in one key way: it reframes the series premise in a way that suggests that she has always been a C.I.A. agent whose mission happens to be infiltrating SD-6, rather than an SD-6 agent who defected to the C.I.A. It’s the sort of thing that is extremely telling, in retrospect.

I really wish Sydney’s sessions with Dr. Barnett had been a lasting dynamic, rather than a device to allow for exposition and recapping. Sydney’s had sounding boards before, but that’s not the same as having a therapist. 

In fact, a lot of this episode is not-so-subtly written to facilitate exposition; there’s really no reason for Jack to ask what happened to the person who shot Sydney, except to allow her to speak about SpyMommy. A lot of the episode is similarly contrived.

Somehow, Jack and SD-6 know that Irina’s organization is on the ropes after Sydney destroyed the big red ball. This makes no sense, and, combined with the death of Khasinau and the complete irrelevance of Clifford the Big Red Ball, it makes the whole “The Man” story arc seem like an inconvenience to be swept under the rug. 

While the show does a fairly good job of maintaining continuity between sequences shot months apart, one thing that is very noticeable is that Victor Garber appears to have gotten a haircut between the season finale and the premiere.

As disappointing as it is to see Dixon’s confrontation with Sydney treated as a simple misunderstanding, Carl Lumbly, as always, sells the hell out of the scene.

As always, Sydney’s SpyBarbie mission is the slightest part of the episode, although at least here it allows her to reunited with Vaughn.

More contrived staging: Sydney, Vaughn, and Weiss are on a C.I.A. field mission to retrieve the Bible, even though none of them should be in it. It’s barely acceptable when Sydney is doing C.I.A. missions, but having them all in it bothers me a huge bunch.

Irina’s use of a screwdriver to jury-rig a auto-shoot mechanism for a sniper rifle is easily the coolest thing in the episode, as well as a nice callback to Vaughn’s earlier praise of the tool.  

Sydney states that she first met Emily when she first began working at Credit Dauphine. This, we’ll learn, is not the case.

SpyMommy’s here, and she is spectacular—unfortunately, this episode, by and large, isn’t, undoing most of the developments of the finale in order to restore the status quo, and spending too much time recapping what has gone on before to be consistently enjoyable. Still—SpyMommy!

[briangroth27]

Supergirl Season 3 Wish List

Full Spoilers…

Season 2 made several improvements I was hoping to see after the already good Season 1, so I was very happy with how it went! There are, of course, some things I’d still like to see.

Kara Danvers/Supergirl With Kara rejecting her human “Kara Danvers” side in Season 3, now is the perfect chance to reestablish her Kryptonian culture in her personal life. I hoped we’d see her share Kryptonian culture with Mon-El this past season (that culture clash would’ve been a fun parallel to real-life relationship speed bumps). Since she didn’t, trying to revive her culture for herself could be the correct way of preserving the past that Rhea and Lillian resorted to atrocities to accomplish. To that end, Kara should be sharing her culture and traditions with her friends and family. What Kryptonian traditions would she love to continue and keep alive? Which human traditions are similar and which does she like better? What Kryptonian values does she have that humans don’t? Are there human values she prefers? What does she know about Krypton that could be applied to helping lead Earth in a new direction? Since she lived on Krypton for 12 years and knows about the planet while Superman doesn’t, answering these questions and playing up Kara’s Kryptonian side would help set her apart from her cousin and the various iterations of his story.

While I hope it doesn’t last very long, Kara turning away from her human side will hopefully be about more than just losing Mon-El. I’m specifically hoping it will include confronting the Danvers about raising her as a human first and a Kryptonian never. She had a great arc throughout Season 1, growing from the repressed CatCo Kara that the Danvers raised in the pilot to a respected Supergirl in the finale, but even though Jeremiah and Eliza were trying to protect her, raising a girl who wouldn’t risk her cover to save people from a fire (because she’d been trained to believe the world didn’t need her to be super when they had Clark) is certainly an issue that needs to be dealt with. It’s a brilliant parallel to real-world society telling girls they just need to be pretty rather than strong, smart, and active, and Kara should absolutely smash that conditioning. Likewise, I’d love for Kara to have a frank discussion with Clark about abandoning her as soon as she arrived on Earth, particularly since she was sent here to protect him and he didn’t return the favor. Alex brought up the fact that Superman abandoned her in Season 2, but it wasn’t followed up on. I’d like to see that change; being angry or disappointed about her situation isn’t a bad thing and she could stand to assert those emotions more. Of course, she shouldn’t become entirely sullen and depressed or anti-humanity—Kara’s optimism in the face of what she’s lost (and finding the good in how she was raised, like her compassion for the downtrodden) shows how strong a person she is and losing her human ties would be a mistake too. I want them to find a Flash-like balance (and think they have been, if Season 2 is any indication) between her cheery optimism and her tragic past. I don’t believe heroes need tragedy to be compelling, but Kara does have it, so use it!  

Kara kicking all the Daxamites off the planet was a stronger moment than Lillian betraying everyone like I thought she would, but they absolutely need to dig into Kara having a hand in Rhea’s death this season. There’s a bit of a gray area in both Rhea and Parasite’s deaths—Mon-El refused to help Rhea to safety and Parasite continued charging even after Kara warned him to stand down—but if Kara is going to be a hero that doesn’t kill (as she professes), they need to deal with it when she does. I’d also like to see Kara get over her adoration for President Marsdin enough that she can confront her about the plan to commit genocide of the Daxamites, particularly now that she knows they can be reasoned with (and her general hope that anyone can improve). While Marsdin’s order to kill the Daxamites never felt like it came from a corrupt or evil place, wrapping Kara up in a plan to murder them all needed more of a reaction from Kara. I feel like Kara stepping back from humanity could be about having a hand in killing Rhea, which would give the season a bit of Superman’s “Exile” storyline, only set on Earth; that could be interesting. Regardless, the kill or no-kill conversation is something Flash needs to deal with as well. Likewise, both shows have a tendency to make Kara and Barry the muscle of their respective teams, if only so the rest of Teams Flash and Supergirl have things to contribute (Kara's not really even the leader of her team, J'onn is). That's something I'd like to see remedied in both their upcoming seasons. Taking on a leadership role in the DEO (or just as a public hero) would be a great next step to Kara’s arc of asserting herself. It’d also be great to see her continue her journalism career at CatCo and rise through the ranks there. That subplot felt underserved in Season 2, particularly the back half of the season, but it’s in perfect position to put Kara in contact with people on a personal level that Supergirl perhaps doesn’t see.

Super Friends! -Alex Danvers: I’d like to see a return to the closeness in Kara and Alex’s sisterly relationship we saw in Season 1. That said, it’d also be interesting to see how Alex responds if Kara does confront her parents about how she was raised. Alex certainly helped keep Kara’s alien status under wraps at first, so would she feel guilty about not letting Kara express herself for who she truly is for all those years? Does Alex feel a bit overshadowed by Kara again now that she’s taken on such a large role with the DEO? Kara called her out on that while on Red Kryptonite in Season 1, so I hope that’s brought up again. And how does Alex relate to the other DEO agents? Does she have friends there? Alex is awesome in general, so whatever they come up with for her is great! 

-Maggie Sawyer: Maggie’s awesome too, so even though she’ll have a reduced role this season, I hope she’s not gone for too long. I love her and Alex’s relationship, so hopefully we’ll see that develop into marriage. I’m very interested in meeting her father this year, so we can get a stronger idea of where she came from. It’s also cool that Maggie can provide a woman on the street perspective on Supergirl and how legal—or even how helpful—her superheroics are, so I hope that continues as well.

-Lena Luthor: I loved Lena in Season 2 and I’m up for anything in Season 3, except for a turn to the dark side for her. I like that Kara talks to Lena and genuinely listens to and trusts her, as opposed to the (unintentional) air of superiority Superman may give off, which probably goads Lex on. I want Lena to continue defying the Luthor destiny and for her to be one of Kara’s greatest allies. I think she must at least strongly suspect Kara is Supergirl, so it’d be a nice twist if she just told her instead of teasing it out.

-James Olsen/Guardian: I liked James’ arc as Guardian and how the show made a point to display the importance of minority representation in superheroes. However, I think his duties at CatCo fell by the wayside rather quickly in favor of the Guardian arc. I’d like the show to find more balance between CatCo James and Guardian. He needs a solid path at the company with goals and roadblocks. I liked Snapper challenging him early on, but that also stopped relatively soon. It’d also be fun to explore more of the differences between how the public perceives him and Supergirl. I loved that they explored the importance of representation through James as Guardian and I hope they do more of that.

-J’onn J’onzz/Martian Manhunter:  I wish we’d seen more of Kara helping him to be comfortable in his green skin in public, but since he still wears his Hank Henshaw face at the DEO maybe there’s more of that to explore (even if that’s probably primarily a budgetary issue). Perhaps as humanity becomes more accepting of aliens, he’ll feel more comfortable in his true appearance. It’d also be good to see him dealing with regular civilians as Hank Henshaw. They mentioned the relevance of him looking like an African-American, but I’d like him to interact with the community. He shares the connection of being a race that was nearly obliterated, so perhaps he could bring that experience to a civil rights movement. Does he live at the DEO headquarters? If not, what’s his neighborhood like? Does he have human neighbors he’s friendly with, but afraid to share his true appearance? Whatever shape it takes, I’d love for J’onn to establish a life outside the DEO; perhaps he could become a leader in the alien community in National City. They’ll probably need one if human opinion of aliens turns negative in light of the Daxamite invasion (even if Supergirl is an alien and White Martians helped protect people). A small, fun addition to his character would be an inclusion of comic-J’onn’s love of Oreo-styled Chocos cookies! I wasn’t expecting a romantic relationship with Miss Martian, but I liked it and I’m definitely down for more. I can’t wait to see what his father brings to the show and I’m stoked that he’s played by Justice League’s Carl Lumbly! Now, if only they can find a way to incorporate Phil Morris as well…

-The Danvers: Eliza telling Jeremiah that they needed “to learn each other again” when he suddenly reappeared was a brilliantly realistic way of handling his absence. I’m sorry we didn’t get to see that last year and hope we do in the coming season, even if their marriage doesn’t end up working out. I’d like to see Eliza take on a consultant role at the DEO and I definitely want more of Jeremiah; he has strong ties to Kara, Alex, and J’onn that would be wasted with his absence, and working with Cadmus (to protect his daughters) certainly drove a wedge into those relationships that deserves exploring. Plus, if there’s some way to get him an onscreen reunion with Rhea (maybe studying a prerecorded holographic message from her or something?), that would be fantastic.

-Miss Martian: M’gann M’orzz was a great addition to the show and I hope she returns often this year. Her romance with J’onn wasn’t what I thought we’d get at all, given I knew her as a teen on Young Justice, but I thought it worked really well. What I thought was missing was interaction with Kara: M’gann would be great as a super-powered best friend to her. M’gann’s backstory being so opposite of Kara’s would be a cool juxtaposition, and they could work together to find a balance between being an alien-American and being an alien who just masquerades as a human. M’gann hid who she was for many years (both her status as an alien and as a White Martian), so she already has a lot in common with Kara even if they haven’t talked about it. Plus, she has 300 years of life experience; both she and J’onn could stand to explore more of their long lifetimes.

-Snapper Carr: I’d wanted CatCo to seriously investigate and try to expose the DEO in Season 2. It’s a vaguely secret organization and it illegally held Max Lord prisoner, so there are story reasons shining a light on them would be good dramatically. It’d bring Kara’s worlds into conflict, unite both halves of the show, and put everyone on both sides in danger. Since James runs CatCo, a large-scale investigation prosecuting the DEO seems unlikely, but I don’t see why Snapper couldn’t investigate a different aspect of the organization. I’d like Snapper to look into whether Supergirl should be a government-sponsored hero; do we trust the government with a superhero? It’d be a good way to bring back the comparisons between Supergirl and Superman in a totally different way, while also exploring what Kara’s role should be if she’s effectively a government representative. Making Kara do the article would be the perfect way to get her to reflect on her role with the DEO and in the world.

-Cat Grant: I’m definitely interested to see where she goes as (apparently) the White House Press Secretary, especially if the President’s status as an alien is outted. I’d love to see her—and the show—handle that fallout.

-Winn: The show fixed every complaint I had about him in Season 1 in its second year, so I’m up for just about anything with Winn. I’d like to see Toyman return to face off with this new, more confident Winn. The one thing I don’t want is Winn ever dating Kara; we’ve already seen that she isn’t into him, he seems to have moved on, and this nice guy doesn’t need to date her.

-Mon-El: Season 2 slowly won me over on him dating Kara, but it felt like he’d begun to hold her back when she was hanging out with him all the time instead of looking for a job and I still feel like she forgave him too quickly after their breakup; that seemed like it should’ve been the final nail. Regardless, if they can bring him around to stop screwing up (because I do believe he genuinely improved and wanted to be a better man), I don’t have a problem with him coming back and continuing to date Kara (not that dating her again should be seen as a reward for his improvement; he should continue to improve whether they get back together or not). If he’s only back temporarily on a mission to found the United Planets or to lead Daxam into a better future, I think that’d be a more fitting resolution for him. It might be worth exploring the unpleasant personal effects of Kara successfully teaching him to be a better person over the season if they lead to him choosing to go and spread her message. Regardless of how or when Mon-El returns, if he’s going to be so important that Kara shuns her humanity, I’m going to need some flashbacks showing more about why he was so much more special than anyone else she’s been interested in. I can speculate that he made her feel like she wasn’t so alone since they’re both members of endangered species and shared the camaraderie of both of them pretending to be human, since that side is specifically what she’s turning away from. I’d like to think they found some commonalities between Kryptonian and the non-gross Daxamite customs to share with each other (as neighboring races, they may’ve had a few in common, and anything they did disagree on could’ve led to some fun, relatable couple disagreements about clashing traditions). But I’d like to see those things, not just assume they happened.

-The DEO: I like the DEO and love that it’s a very different team from the Berlanti formula used on Flash and Arrow, but I think it needs a more distinct personality and methodology: think more Men in Black or IMF than “generic spies.” What sets them apart from the CIA/FBI/Checkmate/ARGUS? An episode focused on the agents with Kara in the background would be enlightening. What do the other agents think of working with Kara when they’re always after aliens? Is she liked by them, even though she makes them kinda irrelevant and doesn’t share the same physical risk they do? Does Kara try to make friends with any of them? What does she think of their methods? Do they sympathize with the Fort Rozz prisoners at all? Are they xenophobic? How did they react to Hank not being Hank?

-Alura: I like the bittersweet setup that while Kara can talk to her mother’s AI, it’s completely emotionless and therefore serves as an ever-present memory of what she’s lost. With the recasting of Erica Durance as Alura, I have to assume she’ll have a bigger role this year and I’m excited to see what that might be! If they want to let Durance somehow play Astra as well (maybe she had a hand in the creation of Reign?), I’d be all for it.

-Miss Tessmacher: I’d like to see if there’s a story to her beyond just working at CatCo. It’d be funny if she saw a lot more than we knew, but was missing a vital piece of information that would reveal the entire show to her. An episode from her point of view would be a great way to see CatCo, Kara, and James from an entirely new perspective. Both heroes could be rushing in and out while Tessmacher just misses the moments that would let her see who they really are. Tessmacher’s perspective would also let us see what the common civilians think of National City’s heroes on a personal level.

-Barry Allen/The Flash: I love Grant Gustin’s chemistry with Melissa Benoist (and Barry’s with Kara), so anything they want to do that includes these two hanging out is fine by me! That would definitely include a CW Seed show dedicated to them just spending time together!

-Iris West: I wanted Iris to give Kara some journalism guidance in either of the crossovers last year, but we didn’t get that. Hopefully we will this year!

-Barbara Gordon/Batgirl/Oracle: What makes Barbara awesome is her drive to do what she feels is right no matter what other people tell her, from being Batgirl in the first place to reimagining herself as Oracle after being paralyzed by the Joker. Barbara’s unbeatable personality would be a nice counterpoint to Kara’s frustration with everyone telling her how to act and the city judging her every action. Plus, they both have male superheroes everyone assumes are their mentors/bosses and could bond over the male/female respect divide in the superhero realm. While I’d prefer they introduce her as Batgirl, showing up as Oracle would be cool too. Batgirl’s New52/Rebirth costume is already a cosplay hit and I’m sure a version of it would look great onscreen too. I still think Castle’s Molly Quinn could be perfect for the role, and Babs is the hero I’d love to see on Supergirl most.

-Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl: Since Flash and Legends established that Hawkgirl was not only repeatedly resurrected by a curse, but her powers came from Thanagarian Nth metal meteors, there’s an opportunity to have Kendra visit Kara to learn more about Thanagar as she recovers more and more of her memory. I’ve long held the theory that the meteors were a stealth invasion attempt, planting Thanagarian psyches in humans (manifesting as that Hawk demigod that kept taking Kendra over), so what if Kendra also has memories of being an alien? What if her alien self visited the Earth-1 Krypton? What if that Krypton still exists? I’d like more of Kendra in the Arrowverse in general, and after Babs, she’s who I’d like to see Kara meet most.

-Superman: I loved Superman’s appearances on the show and thought they did a great job of showing him as the more experienced hero without stealing the spotlight from Kara. I’d definitely like a talk with Kara about why he thought it was best to ship her off to the Danvers.

-Lois Lane: We need to see her—and see her redeemed—after so much negative talk from Cat and Lucy. I’d like to see what kind of a mentor she could be to Kara after interacting with Superman for so long and how her life advice and approach to work differs from Cat’s. Kara’s journalism is the arc I thought dropped the ball most in Season 2, so perhaps Lois coming to mentor Kara would make up for it!

-Karen Starr/Power Girl: A Kara from an alternate universe, perhaps the show’s Power Girl landed on her Earth as planned and raised Kal-El in secret. I don’t need her to be from Earth-1—that would bring up a lot of questions about why she never came out of hiding—so maybe Kara’s transdimensional gateway gets messed up for an episode and she lands on Karen’s world instead of Barry’s. It’d be cool to compare Kara’s life with Power Girl’s. That could provide Kara with some great perspective on her life (and give Benoist a fun acting challenge!). Maybe Karen is even BFFs with the Huntress of her world, giving Jessica De Gouw an entirely different Huntress to play.

-Oliver Queen/Green Arrow: With Kara shunning her humanity, it seems like a conversation with Ollie about the unhealthy effects of completely splitting yourself in two could yield some interesting effects. They could also have a solid talk about coming back from darkness and killing your enemies.

-Brainiac 5: Any version of the evil AI would be welcome, but I’d also be interested in meeting his future descendant, the super-smart member of the Legion of Superheroes and one of Kara’s canon love interests. It’d be especially fitting if the show followed the comics and had Brainiac 5 invent the partial cure for Mon-El’s lead exposure. That could bring them both back to the present and lead to Brainy falling for Kara as well. I wouldn’t want his entire arc to be a love triangle, but I’m not sold on Mon-El being Kara’s endgame relationship either, so I’d be open to a Brainiac 5 relationship. Plus, he could give Winn a run for his money in the hacking department and it’d be fun to see what other Silver Age super-science he could introduce into present-day National City. It would also be fun to see Winn’s reaction to Brainy’s intelligence, and to see Kara use whatever Kryptonian science she knows to try and outthink Brainiac’s tech if it were to become a problem.

-Livewire: I was shocked by the twist that Livewire wasn’t creating an army of lackeys, but was being used by someone else, and I loved that she and Kara came to something of an understanding. I doubt she’d go as far as Snart into being a good guy, but it’d be cool if Livewire became something of a reformed villain for Kara like Captain Cold did for Barry.

-Lucy Lane: I’d like to see where her development as the head of a branch of the DEO goes. Being thrown into the deep end to run it was the first time she really felt like she had an obstacle in her professional life and it’d be a shame to just forget about her character.

-Dick Grayson/Nightwing: Original Robin Dick Grayson is one of my favorite DC characters. His ability to keep an optimistic outlook despite the tragedy of his past—and even his ability to help Bruce come back into the light through their father/son bond—has always made him feel like a more admirable hero than Batman to me; he’s certainly better-adjusted and healthier. He also seems like he’s been allowed to grow and change more than Bruce has. Dick’s often depicted as one of the most-liked characters within the DCU, which would make for an easy friendship with Kara and they could compare notes on surviving tragedy with a smile. Introducing Spyral (where Batman embedded him as a mole) as an organization that’s working against the DEO would also set him and Kara at odds, even if he’s secretly on her side the whole time. Of course, Grayson’s leading Titans now, so while a solo appearance on Supergirl is unlikely, hopefully we’ll get a Berlanti-verse crossover one day.

-Kaldur’ahm/Aqualad: Flash had a line referring to Aquaman cut from its pilot and on Earth-2, Atlantis is a popular tourist destination, so while Aquaman himself may be off-limits because of the Justice League films, there’s no reason we can’t see a supporting character appear here. Introducing Kaldur as a respectful agent of his King would play well with Kara forging her own path as a hero and growing out of Superman’s shadow. Given his father is Black Manta, one of Aquaman’s arch-nemeses, Kaldur would also have a lot in common with Kara’s aunt and uncle being the villains of Season 1 (and her father’s newly revealed misdeeds). Maybe the DEO mistakes an Atlantean scouting party for another alien invasion, bringing Kara and Kaldur into conflict at first before they bond over their military service, “sidekick” status, and family struggles. Kaldur’s Atlantean magic would bring a fun new wrinkle to the show (and magic can also Kara just like it would anyone else). Like Miss Martian, you can catch up with Kaldur on Young Justice, where he proved to be more complex and interesting than Aquaman. I’d like to see him in the Berlanti-verse somewhere, so maybe he could appear on Titans if not here.

-John Henry Irons/Steel: Superman saved his life, so Irons dedicated himself to crafting a life worth saving, including getting the high-powered weapons he designed for AmerTek (which has been mentioned on Arrow several times) off the street. Much like Iron Man, he uses a high-tech suit to fight crime and is a tech genius (but with none of Stark’s arrogance). Maybe he’s one of Lena’s most promising employees. It’d be cool to see him and Lena Luthor team up in the lab and face off against Cadmus’ inventions. Let him be Kara’s trustworthy tech whiz who works in a completely different realm from Winn. Like his mythical namesake, let’s see John Henry Irons try to outthink and outpace the future!

-Natasha Irons: I wouldn’t be surprised if they rolled Natasha and her uncle John Henry Irons into one character who’s saved and inspired by Supergirl. However, I think it’d be better to play Natasha as a parallel to Kara, either with Natasha welcomed as Irons’ presumed successor (who enjoys that fact), or with Nat and her uncle having a much more tense falling out than Kara’s annoyance at everyone fawning over Superman. Or, if she’s on the show long enough, we could get both of those connections. Her Starlight solid light construct powers (along with standards like strength and flight) would be a cool, distinct way to give her abilities without completely doubling Kara’s powers. And if she gets them through a government program like Lex Luthor’s Everyman Project from the comics, that’d be a great arc for the whole show.

-Zatanna: A stage magician who can perform real magic by speaking spells backwards, she’d be a fun way to continue the use of magic begun by Silver Banshee in Supergirl. Her fame as a successful illusionist and efforts to live up to her father’s legacy would provide interesting connections to Kara’s struggle for acceptance on her own terms and her attempts to escape Superman’s shadow. Zatanna’s life touching both the supernatural and human worlds could be a cool parallel to Kara’s experience as an alien raised by humans, and bringing Kara fully into the supernatural realm would be a great way to throw her off her game.

-Thunder and Lightning: Can Kara meet Jefferson Pierce’s kids? I’m sure this one’s only a matter of time given the frequency of interdimensional travel in the Arrowverse, so it’d be great to see Kara mentor two up-and-coming superheroes.

-Streaky and Krypto! Who doesn’t want a super-powered pet? The producers said nothing is off the table, even Supergirl’s super-powered cat Streaky, so why not? I’d also be up for Kara pup-sitting Krypto for Clark. Their interactions in the excellent fan comic by Comickergirl that starts here have been fantastic, and I’d love to see something similar happen on the show.

Supergirl Revenge Squad -Reign: I know nothing about Reign, so I’m open to anything on this front. I’m eager to see what the show does with her! From behind the scenes photos posted on Instagram, it seems like she may be part of the CatCo side of the show, which is definitely interesting and new for the series. It’s been said she’s different from other Arrowverse villains in that she doesn’t know she’s the villain yet, which could be an interesting comparison to Kara taking so long to accept the fact that she should be using her powers.

-Hank Henshaw/Cyborg Superman: I feel like Henshaw has a lot of potential to be a compelling villain, so let’s dig deeper with him! Harewood thinks Cyborg is boring, so I hope they explore him more! Why does Henshaw hate aliens so much? Does he have evil schemes beyond being Cadmus’ main muscle? He could examine just how much of his humanity is left and mourn what he’s lost, like Metallo on Superman the Animated Series. Does he even want his humanity back; would he rather become even more of a “cyborg Superman?” They should explore what he meant that comment and how he views the Man of Steel! Does he see himself on Superman’s level? Does he think he’s above humanity? Does he think being a cyborg is a beneficial evolution from humanity? Perhaps he thinks cybernetic enhancements are the only way humanity can keep up with the growing alien presence on Earth. How do his opinions on these questions parallel Kara’s thoughts on power and humanity? J’onn’s? I think he’s a cool opposite number to J’onn, but Harewood is right: he could definitely stand to be explored more.

-Parasite: I liked what they did with Parasite—Kara maybe killing him notwithstanding—but I think there's a great comparison between him and Kara to be explored in terms of the correct use of power, so I’d like to get him back somehow. Perhaps when he exploded, some bits of him imbedded themselves in a bystander or two (perhaps becoming the other Parasites from the comics), who now live as vampire-like creatures in the shadows of National City, feeding on the homeless and poor. Rudy Jones’ consciousness could still be “alive” in those people along with the alien’s mind, as a workaround to him being “killed.” What if a Parasite drains her and gets her powers and memories? Could he even steal her memories of Krypton (at least for a little bit)? Would he use her memories to endanger her secret ID and the family she loves…and how would she know to protect people she might not even remember (temporarily)!? Since Kara tried killing him and humans are killing the Earth, would his position be that power corrupts completely, so he should just have it all for himself (and his Renfield-like victims?). Does he think spreading around power rather than sharing it is a useless waste? What if he/they have to absorb energy to stay alive? How would Kara stop him/them without resorting to killing again? Can she find a better way?

-Zor-El: Kara being disappointed in Zor-El for creating the Medusa Virus was good and I want more of that. He survived the destruction of Krypton in the most recent comics, so it’d be cool if he showed up on the show too. With Kara possibly shunning her humanity, now would be a great time to have Zor-El appear and try to force the Kryptonian way onto her and Earth (maybe he survived by combining himself with an Eradicator matrix; something else he could’ve invented to preserve Krypton). We haven’t really seen Kara missing her birth father a lot, so I’d love to dig into that!

-Mr. Mxyzptlk: I loved what the show did with Mxy and I can’t wait to see him return! His possibilities are endless, providing a great way to do Titano, James the Turtle Boy, and any other Silver Age wackiness they want without breaking the tone of the show. As a bonus, Kara has to use her brains to defeat him, and it’s always great to see her take down an opponent without using her fists.

-Max Lord and General Lane:  I’d love to see what they are plotting with the Omegahedron! Perhaps this would be a great time to bring back Lucy and introduce Lois as well. And how does Max feel about being completely replaced by Lena as the tech mogul of National City?

-Psi: With Psi appearing this year, I just hope Sterling Gates’ excellent tie-in comic The Adventures of Supergirl is still considered (and referenced as) canon. Psi was a cool villain and it’d be great if that series still counted. Plus, it mentioned that James turned into a Turtle Boy in this continuity, so anything that makes that canon is gold in my opinion! If she gets to appear, it’d be cool if the other villains featured in Gates’ run could as well!

-Winslow Schott/Toyman: A Toyman return wouldn't be unwelcome. My favorite Winn plot is still the stuff with his dad from Season 1, so to see how their relationship has developed in the past year and a half would be great.

-Roulette: This version of Roulette was a good small-scale enemy. I’d like her to continue to return in any number of alien-tinged criminal enterprises; I like that she diversifies.

-Lex Luthor: I don’t really need to meet Lex on the show—Lillian has been a great stand-in—but I wouldn’t be adverse to the idea either. I feel like his appearance would be a perfect opportunity to team up Kara and Clark again, which could be fun. He’d also make for some excellent conflict with Lena. I wonder what else Lex has in his vaults (assuming he has more); think his war suit survived the explosion?

-Titano: If Flash can fight a telepathic gorilla and a man-shark, I definitely want Kara to fight a giant ape with Kryptonite vision!

-Metallo: I was satisfied with the Metallos we got in Season 2; they made for good cannon fodder that posed a threat to Kara. I wouldn’t mind them coming back as an army; if they don’t explore the tragic loss of humanity with Henshaw, they could do it with Metallo (John Corben seems very dead, though, so it’d have to be another one).

-Fort Rozz Escapees: Even though the prison itself is gone, there are likely still more alien criminals hiding on Earth waiting to become villains of the week. I’d like the show to develop a group of recurring villains like Flash’s Rogues: they wouldn’t be the main enemies of a season, but just a group with a solid direction, purpose, and personality. Building a stable of second-tier enemies will help not only flesh out the world, but develop grudges between Kara and these enemies that can be mined for all they’re worth as they clash again and again. It could be a Supergirl Revenge Squad.

-The Supergirl Cult: There’s a Supergirl-worshipping cult showing up in Season 3, and I’m definitely interested to see where the dark side of loyalty and obsession takes them. I think it’d be cool to play them as over-the-line vigilantes instead of all-out villains, which would be a good way to have Kara look at her influence on the city, possibly leading her to interacting with the people more to get her real message out. This cult could also be a cool foil for the Legion of Superheroes being inspired by the Super family, or at least what they think they know about history.

-Mongal: Warworld was mentioned this year. I figure Supergirl would go for Mongal over Mongul, so she might be a cool opponent. I’d definitely want them to find something more interesting than gladiator matches or simple galactic destruction for her to do, though.

I don’t have specific ideas for them, but I’d love for Bizarro (who is also used brilliantly in that Comickergirl comic), Indigo, Silver Banshee, Music Meister, and of course Lillian Luthor to return!

General Series Notes I'd like to see exploration of how Kara can more efficiently help the city, and more about how the civilians and police view her. Supergirl swooping in and stopping a hostage situation Sawyer and the National City PD had been working on for hours—frustrating Maggie—was a great point of conflict. How do they make her arrests stick? I loved that Maggie introduced that question and I hope they continue to explore things like that. Questions about the best use of superheroes’ time—should they just stick to fighting supervillains or should they handle street-level crime that’s beneath their powerset?—aren’t often asked in movies and TV, and I hope that Maggie (and Snapper) continues to bring these questions up. How much can Kara help the city before she starts stunting humanity’s ability to help itself? Another good angle would be getting Kara’s journalism to expose her to the problems of the city beyond supervillains; issues Supergirl can’t just punch away. Anything to get her interacting with the people would be great.

The alien bar was a cool addition and I’d love to see more of the alien subculture that’s developing in National City, as well as humans’ reactions to it (both positive and negative). Do kids emulate Supergirl? Do alien kids think she’s a sellout for (presumably, to them) passing as a human or even just for siding with humans? How has Supergirl’s standing compared to Superman changed in the past year? Has the Daxamite invasion changed the alien subculture of National City at all? Will it affect the city’s opinion of Kara? If President Marsdin is outted as an alien, could that trigger mass riots and even a civil war? I feel like her pro-alien stance would mean more if she were human or if people at least knew she was an alien, but since it’s a secret, I feel like it almost has to get out. The fallout seems like it’d be immense.

I’d like Kara to explore the Fortress of Solitude more; maybe the Bottled City of Kandor is in there, or we could go to the future to the Legion of Superheroes and see how the Kryptonians in the present affect and inspire Earth’s future. I’d bet Supergirl’s Legion will be inspired by Kara instead of Clark, and if Mon-El is going to create the United Planets like in the comics, it makes sense that her influence on him would be a major component of that.

Since the show wears its feminism proudly on its sleeve as part of Kara’s quest to move out of Clark’s shadow and prove she’s just as good if not better than the men in any of her professions, they should continue to tie the show’s feminism directly to Kara’s heroics. That gives her heroics another relevant and relatable layer in addition to the pure inspirational aspect of her being a strong female superhero. The show’s also shown me gender inequalities and expectations I never would’ve known existed, such as women’s inability to show anger in the workplace while guys can do it without any consequences. This is a vital component of Kara’s arc on the show and I hope it continues.

Let’s get a second volume of Sterling Gates’ excellent Adventures of Supergirl tie-in digital comic too! The tone is perfect, the characters are spot-on, and the unlimited budget allows Gates, cover artist Cat Staggs, and the various interior artists to do things that are simply impossible on television. 

 Whatever Season 3 brings, I can’t wait! What do you want to see?