There is something draws me to Supergirl that I can’t quite explain. She’s not exactly my favorite character and I haven’t gone out of my way to read all of the comics either. That said, she will always be one of those characters who I feel because she will forever be tied to Superman, she never never have an identity of her own. Supergirl has gone through many different incarnations throughout her creation which makes her one of the more difficult characters to truly define. There really hasn’t been any writer who has come along and been able to write her in a way that readers can point to and say which incarnation is the “definitive” version of the character. What follows will be four different versions of what could be considered a movie pitch. There are just too many different characters, both hero and villain, that bring such a different vibe that smashing them all together would be such a waste. So, instead I have chosen to provide what some would dare to call “variety”.
Which is the spice of life after all! … (or so they say).
Supergirl
Brit Marling | Kara Zor-El
There were a lot of extremely talented young actresses that I could’ve gone with to cast as The Girl of Steel. I’m choosing to go with the mysterious Brit Marling.
However, I wanted to cast somebody as Supergirl who was getting on in age. I think that might have to do with the fact that I am also getting on in age and completely and totally over the whole young adult / teenage characters aspect that usually get incorporated into the comic book type films. Brit Marling has always stood out from the crowd, not because she’s a weirdo … she’s just always stood out. She made a big splash with both Sound of My Voice (2011) and Another Earth (2011) and was able to find some success with The OA (2016-2019), but she seems to have disappeared in recent years. Which would make this the perfect come back movie! Truth is, when I look at her gaze, I can’t help but get the feeling as if she is somehow experiencing reality differently than the rest of us, in a way all her own.
That’s how I view this Kara Zor-El.
Anyways, just to make one thing perfectly clear: Melissa Benoist will always and forever the definitive live action portrayal of the character … because she is just too cute and I can’t get over her … but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t mind seeing somebody else in the role; but only when it comes to how I would like to see the character portrayed on the big screen.
1. “Brains vs Brawn”
In this first movie, I would have it take place after the events of The Death of Superman (1993) and Funeral for a Friend (1993). The first thing you need to know is that Supergirl had been killed off during the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985) so she wouldn’t have been used in either of the stories. Which makes having her currently off world the perfect throw away excuses of explaining why she was away and missed the death of her cousin.
Superman is Dead and Lex Luthor has become The President of the United States.
Antagonist:
Bryan Cranston | Lex Luthor
This might seem a little cliche … and after the success of Breaking Bad (2008-2013) it probably is, but who cares! Bryan Cranston‘s portrayal of Walter White characteristics and mannerisms comes extremely close to that of a comic book accurate Lex Luthor … and let’s be honest; we all want to see it! Walt was all about power. For Lex, it’s all about control. It might seem like type casting but that’s kind of the point. I’ve always liked the concept of the “Brains vs Brawn” aspect that both Superman and Lex represent and have always felt that these two are just as much two sides of the same coin as Batman and the Joker.
Why am I casting him in a Supergirl movie? Well, I guess that would be obvious. Like I said, I want this story to take place after the death of Superman and have everybody mourning and grieving in their own way while Lex will be thriving. Kara comes back to a world that she doesn’t recognize and wants to set things right. The concept being that now Superman is no longer around to keep him in check, Lex ultimately ends up going crazy with power and Kara has to take him down — and yes I’m putting him in that horrid green and purple suit.
Alternative:
Giancarlo Esposito | Lex Luthor
This also might seem cliche … and at this point in his career it probably is, but again who cares!! Would Giancarlo Esposito be able to pull off Lex Luthor the same way as Bryan Cranston? I think so … but he would do it in his own unique way. Both of them brought a lot to Breaking Bad and their characters can also very much be described as being “two sides of the same coin” analogy. So maybe choosing these two as portraying the main antagonist isn’t totally original but like I said above: variety! Anyways, his story would be the same.
Supporting:
The Daily Planet Staff
Michael Douglas | Perry White, Emily Blunt | Lois Lane, Hayden Christensen | Jimmy Olsen, Kristen Bell | Cat Grant
This was a weird idea I had. I decided to quickly throw a cast together for The Daily Planet Staff. These were who I would chose to cast as these characters if I had to do it in five minutes. Even if these aren’t the best actors to portray these characters, it has more to do with the story that I want to give The Daily Planet rather than the characters themselves … and what I mean by that is focusing on the absence of Clark Kent. Clark worked at The Daily Planet for years; they have all gotten to know and love him. The story would be some type of anthology featuring all four characters and how they are dealing with the loss together but also how Lois, Perry, Jimmy and Cat are all mourning him in their own ways.
Supporting:
Silver Banshee
Felicity Jones | Siobhan McDougal
I almost feel bad for Felicity Jones … “almost” being the key word there. She was cast in Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) and potentially could’ve became Felicia Hardy AKA the Black Cat. She was given a chance by Disney for the lead role in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) and even though she had potential, she is pretty much known for almost having a career but I’m going to give her a chance. She wouldn’t have much of a story other than being a another minor villain that Supergirl comes into contact and interferes with her evil plans.
2. “To Save Kandor”
Instead of choosing to have both Brainiac and Lex Luthor team up together and completely waste both of them for the sake of one movie — why not provide a completely different movie where both of them can shine on their own? For anybody who really knows the Superman lore will know just how important The Bottled City of Kandor is to said lore. Basically, it’s the last piece of Krypton that still exists. Brainiac incapsulated the city mere hours before the destruction of Krypton and he added it to his collection with the sole intention of it sitting on the shelf forever. In this movie, I would have Supergirl finally leave Earth in search of finally finding Kandor after learning her birth mother was still alive. Unfortunately for Kara, what begins like a happy reunion ends with … dire consequences.
Antagonist:
Benedict Cumberbatch | Brainiac
It’s obvious with a name like Brainiac that whomever would be cast would have to have not just the attitude and appearance but also the gusto of intelligence … but really, that picture on the right is just fanart that fancast Benedict Cumberbatch as Brainiac and I like it enough to steal it and pretend as though I had thought it up all on my own. This role would be more similar to that of his character in Sherlock (2010-2017) but even more so The Imitation Game (2014). Even though I’m pitching different movies, the truth is I don’t actually have anything in mind for what exactly his story would be for this film. Other than being some type of overarching threat, I’d want to give him some type of back story but I just don’t know enough about the character to know exactly what to do with him, hehe!
Supporting:
Cara Buono | Alura In-Ze
You’ll either know exactly who Cara Buono is or you won’t. I first caught her during her time on the fourth season of Mad Men (2007-2013) and she has recently popped up in Stranger Things (2016-) as Karen Wheeler. I like to think that her story would have to have some sort of twist to it to make her more devious than originally thought; maybe she appears to have good intentions when first reuniting with Kara only for her true intentions to slowly get revealed and Kara realizes that her mother isn’t to be trusted, or something cliche like that.
3. “Tears of a Clown”
There are few movies that I continue to have fond memories of from my childhood and Batman Forever (1995) is one of them and it mostly has to do with my love for Jim Carrey. His portrayal of The Riddler isn’t exactly what I would call comic book accurate; in fact I would just say that he is just continuing to play another wacky character that he was known for at the time. There are a few Superman villains that just don’t fit the serious story tropes either stylistically nor characteristically but would be more equip by going the more light hearted that borderlines on the wacky. The direction I would take with make this movie would lean more into the tragic side of comedy similar to that of the Melpomene masks.
Antagonist:
Toyman
Bob Odenkirk | Winslow Percival Schott
This is another hand pick from the world of Breaking Bad. The one thing that has always stuck out to me about Bob Odenkirk is the fact that he failed to become the comedic actor that he set out to become but was ultimately able to find tremendous success with his dramatic acting skills. Humor is said to be a mask for hiding pain and if I had to give this movie a subtle, it would be; “The Tragic Tale of the Terrible Toyman”. There is a certain type of pain that one needs to be able to tap into in order to be able to mix both humor and dramatics. It only makes sense to go the high energy with the hint of melancholy and just a tad zany route that only Bob Odenkirk would be able to bring to the role.
Supporting:
Livewire
Anna Faris | Leslie Willis
Now, I’m not exactly a fan of Livewire but that’s only because I haven’t read any comics with her in them, she’s more a character that I know of rather than one that I know anything about. She kind of seems like a low rent Harley Quinn … if not something similar. That’s probably why she is all the way down at the bottom and left for last. However, I’m still going to cast Anna Faris because I feel that she would be able to do the character justice.
4. “Who is Superwoman?”
After her re-introduction in the pages of Superman/Batman (2003), Supergirl would receive her own monthly on-going series in 2005. There are a few other storylines that I could’ve chosen to adapt. One of them being The Supergirl From Krypton and another being Supergirl: Power. When Sterling Gates took over writing duties, he wrote a storyline called Who is Superwoman? following the crossover events of New Krypton. His run was somehow finally able to give the Supergirl comic book a little bit of direction and focused on the Lane Family.
Featured:
Teri Hatcher | Lois Lane
Teri Hatcher played Lois Lane in The New Adventures of Lois and Clark (1993-1997) and a large part of this casting comes from the recent surge of nostalgia in the past decade or so. It’s a trend, not one I’m particularly fond of but one I’m willing to jump on anyway. Everybody else is doing it and so am I. There is something about the way that Lois has progressed as a character in the comics since her tenure portraying the character that Teri Hatcher would be able to bring to a new and improved Lois Lane in this modern day world and I would love to see her come back into this role after all these years.
Antagonists:
Superwoman
Adrianne Palicki | Lucy Lane
It’s been a while since I read Sterling Gates’ run on Supergirl, but Lucy Lane was given a reintroduction and even though Superwoman’s identity was a mystery for many issues … this is who it turned out to be. It was kind of disappointing but whatever, that’s comic books for you. Anyways, Adrianne Palicki is another who almost had a career but didn’t so I’m going to give her a chance as Lois Lane’s little sister.
Reactron
Dylan McDermott | Ben Krullen
So, who is Reactron, you ask? Well, Reactron was the second villain who appeared in the Who is Superwoman? storyline. He’s basically just there so so that he and Superwoman can team-up and be an actual threat to Supergirl. You know, the whole strength in numbers, that kind of thing. Dylan McDermott is who I’m choosing to cast. Why? Oh, I don’t know. No really, I don’t. But, I mean … he might be cool in a villain role … right?!
A Symbol for Hope
I’m trying to find the final words but it’s difficult to say what the final story for any of these films would ultimately turn out to become. Especially considering these are simply four quick ideas I wanted to get out of my head. Knowing me, I would make the tone of Kara’s character arc incredibly introspective. In the sense of she is searching for an identity. Maybe sometimes she will be off world for a number of years and maybe she might’ve come to the conclusion that there isn’t a place where she belongs on Earth. Kara was sent to Earth in means of keeping Kal-El safe when he was just a baby, but he ultimately grew up without any of her help. She too is dealing with the loss of Krypton, the death of her own parents as well as coming to terms with being the last daughter of a dead planet.
Regardless of the story, at the end of the day, the “S” is a symbol for Hope.
… and that is exactly what any movie about the Superman family should be about.
- Who Would You Cast in a New Supergirl Movie?
- Would You Watch Any of These Supergirl Movie Pitches?
- What Does the Superman Mythos Mean to You?