Showrunner Jake Wyatt confirmed the inspirations and motives behind the changes made to Supergirl in the newest season of My Adventures with Superman.
The finale of My Adventures with Superman's first season suggested that the villain for the next season would be General Zod, with Brainiac as his lackey. But in an Elseworlds-like twist, it was revealed to be Supergirl with Brainiac acting as her "father."
Fans also couldn't get enough of Kara's civilian design taking blatant inspiration from Dragon Ball Z's Android 18. However, another character from that franchise acted as an even bigger inspiration for Supergirl.
Showrunner Confirms Inspirations for Their Kara Zor-El
On June 24, My Adventures With Superman showrunner Jake Wyatt, alongside voice actors Ishmel Sahid (Jimmy Olsen) and Kiana Madeira (Supergirl), participated in a Reddit AMA on the unofficial DC Comics subreddit and answered various questions from fans.
When asked about the big departure with Kara's character and backstory, Wyatt said that they "wanted Kara to be almost an Elseworlds:"
"We wanted Kara to be almost an Elseworlds, What-If version of Superman, and to examine the struggle of isolation from different circumstances--she's got so many origins, we felt comfortable being flexible."
Another user asked about other potential anime inspirations for Kara, specifically Tenchi Muyo!, which Wyatt confirmed with "the thought projector she and Clark wear:"
"So! The main tenchi inspo in 206 was the thought projector she and Clark wear, with the little cheek symbols! I hadn't thought about the Ryoko parallels, but they're DEFINITELY there."
In response to the same question, he also confirmed what many fans had already suspected—that Supergirl's storyline was primarily inspired by Vegeta:
"Pretty sure Kara's storyline was originally Brendan [Clogher]'s idea--Supergirl as Vegeta--but we're all so deep in the paint that every other Supergirl we've ever met has to be bleeding into this interpretation."
Such inspiration makes sense, considering Vegeta started as an antagonist in Dragon Ball Z and was raised in a culture that respected nothing but strength and ruthless conquest before ultimately finding redemption on Earth.
How This Supergirl Differs From Other Adaptations
The biggest change from the comics and most recent adaptations of Supergirl is that she no longer grew up in Kryptonian culture. Something meant to contrast with her cousin, Kal-El, who was raised on Earth and knew nothing of Krypton.
Another change was that Clark and Kara were the same age when they were sent away from Krypton's destruction. In all three of Kara's major origins from the comics, she was sent away from a dying Argo City, a principal city of Krypton, as a teenager to Earth, only to meet a Superman two decades older than her.
However, My Adventures with Superman compromised by having Brainiac raise Kara as her "father" and teach her Krypton's militant culture through historical holograms, wherein the final big change with Supergirl was Krypton itself.
No longer was it a world similar to a slightly futuristic Earth but a culture fueled by galactic conquest akin to the Sayians of Dragon Ball Z or the Viltrumites of Invincible with Kara as Brainiac's scion—his unwitting vanguard.
Funnily enough, before Young Justice was canceled (again), the next season would have a Supergirl as one of Granny Goodness' Furies, also sporting a red and black color-schemed costume.
My Adventures with Superman is currently streaming on Max.
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