Supergirl (television series)

[Batman]

'Twist'? I suspected JJ first time his eyes turned red. And Red Tornado took that much out of her? She never seemed in any real danger in that fight last episode. Maybe heat vision is especially draining? She did seem to be straining with that one.

On a completely unrelated (and essentially irrelevant) note, is it me or this this the first Iteration of any version of Kara to wear pantyhose?

[Tsyroc]

The latest twist with Hank was certainly nice. And people really seem to like the scene.

What I liked about it is that it means that this "Hank Henshaw" isn't a bad guy and I was kind of hoping for that. It also still leaves it open for the original Hank Henshaw to come back as a villain. It's not like we know how he died.

I think most people figured this Hank was either the Martian Manhunter or already some sort of cyborg. It seemed a bit out of character for him to be supporting Supergirl so much if he was the cyborg already.

[Tsyroc]

'Twist'? I suspected JJ first time his eyes turned red. And Red Tornado took that much out of her? She never seemed in any real danger in that fight last episode. Maybe heat vision is especially draining? She did seem to be straining with that one.

On a completely unrelated (and essentially irrelevant) note, is it me or this this the first Iteration of any version of Kara to wear pantyhose?

I think using her heat vision to destroy the Red Tornado was probably the worst way for her to go about it. It looked like the android was designed to withstand a great deal of Kryptonian style heat vision, perhaps absorbing the energy someway. She would have been much better off using her "freeze breath" when she was up close and shattering as much of the android as possible. Anyway, her choice had more to do with her anger than fighting smart. It does seem that with the way the show and Man of Steel have been depicting heat vision it does look like it would be a rather significant energy drain, and might not be the most comfortable thing to use. In this style it looks like they are dumping massive amounts of their collected solar energy out of their eye sockets, instead of the old focusing a tight beam out of the pupil of their eyes.

In semi-related ocular thoughts. It looks like Kara might be able to see via x-rays and not because she is emitting x-rays when she uses her x-ray vision. I could be wrong on that given the jokes about making the turkey radioactive during the Thanksgiving episode. I know that traditionally x-ray vision has been something that came from Superman/Supergirl but I prefer the idea that they can just see more of the light spectrum, at least when they focus a certain way.

I don't recall any version of Supergirl wearing pantyhose before. Maybe tights or skin tight superhero style pants but not actual pantyhose.

[Borgholio]

Interesting idea about her X-ray vision but not sure how that would even work on Earth. There are few natural sources of X-rays on the planet, and most coming from space are blocked by our atmosphere. I don't think you'd be able to see much of anything if you simply were able to see in the X-ray spectrum...certainly you'd be unable to see through objects.

[Tsyroc]

Interesting idea about her X-ray vision but not sure how that would even work on Earth. There are few natural sources of X-rays on the planet, and most coming from space are blocked by our atmosphere. I don't think you'd be able to see much of anything if you simply were able to see in the X-ray spectrum...certainly you'd be unable to see through objects.

I did not know that. That means she has to be emitting them. Hopefully she's doing it at a very low power and she especially sensitive to seeing it.

There used to be a thought running around that Kryptonian heat vision was actually their x-ray vision on max, or maybe their x-ray vision was heat vision on super duper low. I don't think anyone ever actually went with that though. Marvel's Superman stand in, Hyperion has atomic vision, which is his version of heat vision and it has been stated to be radioactive. It sounds like Supergirl's might be a little radioactive, and if tipsy Alex is to be believed, no worse than a microwave. Of course, I'm guessing that is on low, cooking the turkey, levels. Going all out and vaporizing a military android specifically made to stand up to heat vision levels is probably something you don't want to be around without protection.

[RogueIce]

I loved Martian Manhunter in the JL/U cartoons, so I'm eager to see what they do with him there.

And Kara talking down the robber...that just feels like such a Superman-y kind of thing to do. Very nice scene.

[Batman]

No. It was an incredibly hero thing to do. Sure, Clark would've done that too-being fully aware the worst that could happen if his speech failed was he'd have to catch a few stray bullets. Kara did it with a broken arm knowing the only way she could stop bullets was being in the way of them.

[RogueIce]

No. It was an incredibly hero thing to do. Sure, Clark would've done that too-being fully aware the worst that could happen if his speech failed was he'd have to catch a few stray bullets. Kara did it with a broken arm knowing the only way she could stop bullets was being in the way of them.

I meant the general feel of it. Whereas someone like the Arrow Batman would have just punched them out no matter what, a hero like Superman (or Supergirl, in this case) would appeal to their better natures and the innate idealism of the human species. Instead of just melting the gun with their heat vision or whatever.

[Grumman]

I doubt Superman would be quick to essentially attack the US government.

At the end of Man of Steel, Superman knocks an American surveillance drone out of the sky because he objected to their attempts to spy on him.

[The Romulan Republic]

Granted. Although that is only one particular iteration of Superman.

And I'm not saying he wouldn't do it if sufficiently provoked (like, say, Luthor becoming President and abusing his power ).

[mr friendly guy]

I thought Supergirl was supposed to use her "solar flare" attack rather than heat vision per se? In the new 52, Supes now has this new attack where he realises all of his stored energy as one blast, which has the effect of temporarily depleting him.

The dialogue states Kara did the same, although the visual effects just showed her doing heat vision, so its most probably a cost thing.

[Prometheus Unbound]

I think using her heat vision to destroy the Red Tornado was probably the worst way for her to go about it. It looked like the android was designed to withstand a great deal of Kryptonian style heat vision, perhaps absorbing the energy someway. She would have been much better off using her "freeze breath" when she was up close and shattering as much of the android as possible. Anyway, her choice had more to do with her anger than fighting smart. It does seem that with the way the show and Man of Steel have been depicting heat vision it does look like it would be a rather significant energy drain, and might not be the most comfortable thing to use. In this style it looks like they are dumping massive amounts of their collected solar energy out of their eye sockets, instead of the old focusing a tight beam out of the pupil of their eyes.

In Superman 2, Non had issues with it. And Superman, after regaining his powers and seemed fine in everything else (speed, breath, punching, flying etc), had some real problems using his eye beams to the point it hurt him using them to destroy the concrete wall that Zod threw at him.

https://youtu.be/HiGZXhs9V9s?t=1m34s

[Themightytom]

um slight tangent, wtf was the Wall Reassembling Vision that Superman had in Superman IV

[Batman]

That was chinese great wall rebuild-o-vision, a superpower first (and only ever) seen in Superman IV.

[mr friendly guy]

Damn it, ending on a cliffhanger. I will have to wait to January 4 to see the next episode.

[Batman]

So Cat finally figured out Kara's secret, Astra's people figured out how to shield against kryptonite, and I 'thought' Kara won that fight too easily.
Let's see where they're going with the 'I'm just trying to save the planet' angle for Astra. Call me cynical but isn't that what Ra's usually claims?
The dreaded 'kill' question is out in the open, JJs telepathy is in (and I think it not working on kryptonians is new), and they ended the episode on a cliffhanger...AGAIN.

[Tsyroc]

So Cat finally figured out Kara's secret, Astra's people figured out how to shield against kryptonite, and I 'thought' Kara won that fight too easily.
Let's see where they're going with the 'I'm just trying to save the planet' angle for Astra. Call me cynical but isn't that what Ra's usually claims?
The dreaded 'kill' question is out in the open, JJs telepathy is in (and I think it not working on kryptonians is new), and they ended the episode on a cliffhanger...AGAIN.

I'm thinking that JJ not being able to use telepathy on Kyrptonians has been around before but I'm not certain about that. I'm curious as to what powers he is going to have. The Justice League cartoon kind of tweaked on his powers so he was a little more different from Superman than he originally was in the comics, and IMO, a little more Visiony. I'd be fine with that version, which I think the comics tend to lean towards now, but I'd be fine with the original take where he was kind of Superman with more powers but a weakness to fire. Martian vision was the weirdest though. Sometimes it was x-ray or microscopic vision, sometimes it was kind of sort of heat vision.

I'm starting to suspect that maybe, just maybe, that Astra really does want to save the world, but her husband (Non) is the extremist who's more about the power and will go full on supervillain. Given how Astra acted when she first encountered Kara I could easily be wrong, but this episode set up much more of a past relationship between the two of them, and messed with how Kara feels about her mom. Looking forward to that.

In the flashback Astra said that it was Non who killed some people but she appeared to think it was something necessary for the greater good.

So far the show has been interesting in that it often appears to serve up some obvious things but then comes back around and tweaks them with details so they aren't quite what they seemed at first. Hank Henshaw is the most obvious one, but I think Cat Grant fits in there too. She seemed like she was just going to be the "horrible boss" but I've been liking the nuances they've put into her character.

[Tsyroc]

This show has been pretty hit and miss this season but the most recent episode with Red Kryptonite was very good.

All the main cast got used and did well. Lots of emotional stuff with far, far less clunky acting than in previous episodes.

Also no complaints on the FX in this episode. Often the episodes will have something great and then something not so great. This one was much more consistent.
Spoiler

Not only did they show Supergirl being a bit of a badass they had the Martian Manhunter being an even bigger one. Considering he was kind of lame against Astra this was a welcome change.

[Batman]

Superpowers and the use/depiction thereof have always been hit-and-miss so far (for example, Kara hardly ever uses superspeed).
I love what they did with JJ's in-uniform (so to speak) visuals.

[Kojiro]

I've been forced to watch this since my other super completest partner found out there was going to be a Flash cross over. I'm not up to date so I can't comment on the recent episode but if I have one VFX complaint it's the way they have her eye beams meet perfectly with whatever they're firing against, like two lances meeting perfectly tip to tip but maintaining it for several seconds.

There was a depiction of superspeed by Astra recently against Supergirl's sister, in her apartment. She sees her grab a Krypotonite clip of ammo and before she can get it into her gun Astra is across the room, has disarmed her and has her by the throat- exactly the way someone with super speed/strength would react to a credible threat. That's how every encounter should go- the humans should be neutralised before they have half a clue what's up.

I'm still worried what the whole cross over thing means for the universes at large. It means that Flash and Arrow not only exist in a world with Supergirl, but with Superman. I'm kinda hoping we see a Justice League TV version to compete with the movieverse.

[Tsyroc]

Superpowers and the use/depiction thereof have always been hit-and-miss so far (for example, Kara hardly ever uses superspeed).
I love what they did with JJ's in-uniform (so to speak) visuals.

They used superspeed a lot more in this episode, and did so pretty well. Maybe they've been gearing up for when the Flash crosses over.

[Crown]

I'm still worried what the whole cross over thing means for the universes at large. It means that Flash and Arrow not only exist in a world with Supergirl, but with Superman. I'm kinda hoping we see a Justice League TV version to compete with the movieverse.

Firstly the disclaimer; I stopped watching this show waaaaay back when but I will be tuning in for the Flash crossover.

Now in regards to your point above; don't worry. The DC EU is all about the 'multiverse'. I suspect Earth 1 Flash is trying to get back to Earth 2 to battle it out with Zoom but accidentally ends up in Earth 'n' where Supergirl is in.

[Crown]

Barry's real superpower? Bumping Supergirl's ratings by 30%: source.

[Kojiro]

Now in regards to your point above; don't worry. The DC EU is all about the 'multiverse'. I suspect Earth 1 Flash is trying to get back to Earth 2 to battle it out with Zoom but accidentally ends up in Earth 'n' where Supergirl is in.

The interesting thing about this is (if true, I'm not up to date on the shows- no spoilers please) then the Flash and Arrow we're following aren't the 'prime' versions. If they are then Earth 1 lacks Kryptonians, which would make it a major departure.

[Batman]

Given how much Arrow lifted from my little slice of the DCU I'd say they're not particularly worried about deviating from the source material.