Supergirl is technically a female Superman. There were versions of Supergirl/Super-Sister/Superwoman before who obviously aren't related to Superboy/Superman before like Queen Lucy, Lois Lane and Lana Lang. Even Clark Kent himself got genderbent for a while, which is taking the Supergirl concept to a logical conclusion.
For a considerable amount of time, Supergirl is better known for being Superman's female cousin who grew up to adulthood and died to save people. Then she reluctantly came back with a drastically different backstory and powerset, though eerily foreshadowing and pre-empting Conner Kent's appearance along with the temporal duplicate Superboys.
This Supergirl got fused with another lass and became an angel. Then we have attempts at reverting back to the classic version which immediately stuck around. Supergirl herself is no stranger to appearing in anything outside of comics be it planned events like water-skiing, licenced children's books and merchandise, her own movie or television.
She came close to appearing on The Adventures of Lois and Clark as Ultrawoman, considering that Lois Lane herself became a Supergirl character before. (And she also became black, eerily foreshadowing what became of Peter Ross, Perry White and Jimmy Olsen onscreen.) She appeared in the DCAU and various direct-to-video cartoons.
She finally got her own telly series but it's suffering from faltering ratings. We should keep an eye on the staff especially when they start introducing Superboy. Superboy is essentially a younger Superman though the idea of him being separate from Superman was sporadic but could be dated as far back as the Imaginary Stories have shown.
The Superboy that hung out with the futuristic Legion of Super-Heroes turned out to be a duplicate. This was also true of the Pocket Universe Superboy which again foreshadowed and predated Conner Kent's own appearance and backstory. He actually didn't start out as a clone of Superman himself but eventually turned out to be one himself.
When Superboy appears on Supergirl, it's likely that in the interim producers and writers would change their minds. Instead of being Kal-El, he's Kon-El. What's more radical is that this Kon-El is James Olsen's brother. He had a sibling before but making Kon-El/Conner his younger brother is as interesting as it is controversial.
This would invite death threats and the possibility of cancellation. Conner Kent did make televised appearances before, coming close to appearing on Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes as Superman X, then making proper appearances on Smallville and Young Justice.
If and when Conner appears on Supergirl but this time as James's kid brother it will drown the programme in infamy if it weren't for that appearance and the forthcoming death threats, which sounds like what happened to another programme before.
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An Incoming Decline Part Four
Non-FictionA series of essays on superhero fatigue and backlash. These range from predictions to reminisces and mentions of prior controversies that will repeat itself again if producers and writers aren't careful.
