My Adventures with Superman’s Fist-Pumping, Tear-Jerking Finale Promises a Bright Future for Supergirl

By Anna Govert  |  July 22, 2024 | 11:45am
Photo Courtesy of Adult Swim
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My Adventures with Superman’s Fist-Pumping, Tear-Jerking Finale Promises a Bright Future for Supergirl

“Home isn’t a place. Home is the people who love you, so come back home to us, Kara.” 

If no one else is going to say it, I will: after just five episodes, My Adventures with Superman might be one of the best Supergirl adaptations of all time. 

While that exaggerated statement may come with a few caveats (the fact of the matter is that Supergirl hasn’t been adapted nearly as many times as her cousin, and certainly not as any kind of focal point of any series or film beyond her six-season CW series and the Helen Slater-led 1984 film), it still doesn’t make it any less true. In just the second half of the Adult Swim series’ second season, My Adventures with Superman has already shown both a deep love and understanding of the Girl of Steel, adapting the core elements of the character while implementing the series’ signature bends and changes to her backstory—all to great success. And the season finale, titled “My Adventures with Supergirl,” allows the series to explore Kara’s past while looking towards her future with an unshakable sense of hope. 

In the finale, Brainiac’s (Michael Emerson) reign of terror over Metropolis continues, but when it seems like both Superman (Jack Quaid) and Supergirl (Kiana Madeira) are down and out, their friends come to their aid. Lois (Alice Lee) and Jimmy (Ishmel Sahid) team up with Steel (Byron Marc Newsome) and his newly-formed cavalry to bring Clark and Kara to Brainiac’s ship so they can put a stop to him once and for all, protecting them from the Kryptonite-infused Metallo bots that have been reprogrammed to Brainiac’s side. What follows is a horrifying sequence that pits Clark against his cousin, where Brainiac forces him to choose between saving Earth and a now-brainwashed Kara. Instead, Clark refuses to truly fight her, attempting to disengage at every turn. When Clark finally brings Kara back down to Earth, he pulls her in for a hug instead of throwing a punch. Lois and Jimmy join in, and as they each grasp Kara in the throes of her hijacked mind, it’s their love that breaks her out of Brainiac’s thrall. 

It’s in this moment that the finale shifts, making good on the episode title: with the main theme playing, Kara launches into the sky and attempts to push Brainiac’s ship into orbit, and with a little help from her cousin, the two succeed in eventually punching Brainiac and his ship into the sun. As she flies head-first towards the being that raised her with her cousin at her side, Kara truly becomes Supergirl. And when she nearly sacrifices herself to save all of Earth, her magical girl-esque transformation into the suit only enhances her evolution. She quickly becomes a member of the Kent family, and is seamlessly integrated into both Clark’s life and friend group, from playing catch with her cousin at the farm to doing a double date with Clark and Lois with Jimmy at her side. As Kara and Jimmy fly together behind Clark and Lois in the final moments of the episode, it truly feels like a new beginning for Kara, one filled with hope and happiness on the horizon. 

It’s no secret that My Adventures with Superman took plenty of liberties when bringing Kara’s story from the page to the screen. In most iterations of this character, she arrives on Earth much later than her cousin, who was just a baby when Krypton exploded. Most importantly, she grew up on Krypton and remembers the people and the culture and the heartache of losing that part of herself—a part that Kal-El never truly grasped through second-hand accounts. The hallmarks of this character are the grief she carries over losing her planet and being truly the last of her people, as well as the anger she harbors over both the death of her world and the immense loneliness she shoulders. And while this series’ take on Kara completely changes most of those details, all the hallmarks are still present, if elevated by their reconfiguration. 

Instead of harboring anger over the destruction of her world, she seethes when she learns of Brainiac’s betrayal; instead of shouldering the grief of losing a culture she grew up in, she grieves for the worlds she unknowingly destroyed and for the father-figure she believed she had; instead of feeling lonely in a world filled with people, she is just plain lonely in the vast reaches of space, ultimately vulnerable enough for Brainiac to bend and shape to his will. The result is a stunning examination of grief, guilt, anger, and loss, all wrapped in the heartbreaking tale of a girl simply trying to do good but creating total and utter destruction instead, all unbeknownst to her until that ultimate betrayal. 

And all of these elements are only strengthened by the incredible voice performance by Madeira, who offers so much depth to the Girl of Steel. Her take on Kara is strikingly different from Quaid’s Clark, who is kind and soft spoken, with a strength solidly underneath. While Kara carries the same kindness in her voice, she speaks with a much more alien pace and timber—even the way she smoothly says “Kal-El” just feels alien yet natural. And when she’s able to fully let loose screams of anger or anguish? To voice her heartache and sorrow or her frustration and fury? Madeira doesn’t waste a single breath, conveying those emotions with the heaviness of a woman who’s lost everything and yet still has so much hope left in her heart to give. 

Superman’s Supergirl is just as heart-achingly human as its Superman, yet still so alien in comparison to her cousin, crafting the perfect companion to the series’ central hero. It’s the differences between them that make them such a compelling pair, and the promise that she sticks around heading into Season 3 makes this development all the more exciting. Even on the aforementioned Supergirl and The CW’s Superman & Lois follow-up, the two cousins were never truly allowed to spend all that much time together, with their interactions saved only for major crossovers. My Adventures with Superman finally has the opportunity to explore how Clark and Kara’s vastly different upbringings and starkly dissimilar traumas and experiences strengthen them when they’re together, solidifying the series’ central theme of power through connection. 

So, sure, it may be slight hyperbole to claim that, in just five episodes, My Adventures with Superman has crafted the perfect Supergirl, but the care taken folding the last daughter of Krypton into this story is incredibly heartening and satisfying as a lifelong fan of Superman’s lesser-known cousin. With a bright future on the horizon, it’ll be just as immensely gratifying to see her story unfold in future seasons.

Anna Govert is the TV Editor of Paste Magazine. For any and all thoughts about TV, film, and her unshakable love of complicated female villains, you can follow her @annagovert.

For all the latest TV news, reviews, lists and features, follow @Paste_TV.

 
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