Supergirl Trailer Analysis: Easter Eggs and References to the DC Comics Universe

CBS recently announced that DC’s Supergirl will air Mondays at 8pm (9pm CST) and will debut this fall (November). It will be CBS’ first entry into the superhero and comics world, and what better way to start than with one of the most prominent heroines in the universe?

What’s more exciting, however, is that they unveiled a first look trailer for the show which gives us a glimpse at all the action. Give it a watch and then head on past the break for a closer look.

What’s Going on Here?

It makes sense to take a closer look at the characters first, so let’s do that.

Supergirl or Kara Zor-El (played by Melissa Benoist) is Superman’s cousin. We also know Superman as Kal-El, which is his birth name.

According to the show’s creators, Kara Zor-El escaped her doomed home planet Krypton when she was twelve, right along with the infant Kal-El. For years, she’s raised by a foster family and is forced to keep her abilities a secret, even from her foster sister Alex (played by Chyler Leigh).

When we finally meet Supergirl, she’s 24 and living in National City. She works for media mogul Cat Grant (played by Calista Flockhart) and with her newly hired colleague and art director James Olsen (played by Mehcad Brooks).

Eventually, Kara embraces her powers and becomes “the hero she was always meant to be.” Unfortunately, the cat’s out of the bag when Hank Henshaw (played by David Harewood), head of a secret agency, turns to her for help protecting the citizens of National City from sinister threats. That’s when she dons the iconic outfit and cape and takes to the skies to fight crime.

Apparently, throughout the first season we will watch Kara as she struggles to “find a way to manage her newfound empowerment with her very human relationships, [and] her heart soars as she takes to the skies as Supergirl to fight crime.”

Did You Find Any Easter Eggs?

Yes, of course I did! There are a ton of them actually, if you’re willing to take the time to pick apart the trailer.

That’s Krypton, Kara and Kal-El’s home planet which they flee from.

Hopefully, you don’t need my help identifying who this baby is. The spitcurl hanging over his forehead should give him away. Yes, that’s Kal-El, or Superman.

Take note of that red blanket little Kal is swaddled in. That’s going to become Kara’s cape later on, which Jimmy Olsen gives to her as a gift from her cousin.

Laura Benanti plays Alura, Supergirl’s mother. Apparently, she has a recurring role in the show although we don’t know what she’ll be doing just yet. We don’t get a glimpse at any of her later involvement from the trailer either so all we can do is speculate at this point. It’s possible Kara will find some kind of communication device, similar to what happened with Superman’s Dad, Jor-El.

You have to pay close attention to the early montage, to see this one.

That’s Dean Cain from the Lois and Clark TV series and Helen Slater from the Supergirl movie, playing Kara’s foster parents. This is a symbolic ‘passing of the torch’ akin to John Wesley-Shipp playing Henry Allen — Barry’s father — in The Flash since he played Barry in the original series from the 90’s.

This is our first glimpse of Kara Danvers at age 24, or as we’ll meet her in the timeline. We learn from the trailer that she hasn’t bothered to create a secret identity, and that she’s been aware of her powers for a long time now.

What we don’t know is why she’s acting so awkward? Perhaps, it has something to do with her inability to act truly human? I’m sure it’s not easy to act normal when you have super powers and can accidentally take out an entire building just by leaning against a wall.

This is CatCo, the media outlet where Kara works, run by Cat Grant.

Here’s our first glimpse at Calista Flockhart as Cat Grant. Right away we can see that she’s a force to be reckoned with and that she has a mean spirit. Her reaction to Kara Danvers’ gives us an idea of how poorly she treats her employees. They seem like nothing more than disposable pieces to her. Then again, I may be reading too far into her character.

Also, she doesn’t like people using her private elevator.

As Olsen says, that’s the first ever shot of Superman and apparently he posed for it.

Here we meet Mehcad Brooks as James Bartholomew or James Olsen.

It becomes clear immediately that he knows Superman and has some kind of connection to him. Later in the trailer, we learn that Olsen actually know’s Kara’s secret before she reveals it to him. That probably means that Superman told Olsen about Kara.

Did Clark Kent actually send James to National City to keep an eye on his cousin and help her become a hero?

This is Kara’s foster sister, Alex Danvers played by Chyler Leigh. We learn that she works works as a scientist for the Department of Extranormal Operations.

This could be a stretch, but there’s a possibility that Alex has ties to Lex Luthor — the infamous Superman baddie. How so, you ask? In the comics, Lex did have an estranged sister named Lena, and his background is rooted in science. If anything, it could just be a simple nod to the comic universe.

We also learn that Kara and her sister are close, and that Alex is much more put together.

This is a pretty powerful moment for comic fans, in particular Superman lovers. It’s a nod to the “aircraft rescue” trope from Jon Byrne’s Superman comics.

In the original Adventures of Superman show, Superman saved a blimp. In Superman: The Movie, he saved a helicopter. In the Man of Steel comic book (1986), Episode 1 of Lois & Clark and Superman Returns he saved a space shuttle.

As you can see, Kara embraces the family tradition here by saving a plane.

It’s also worth noting that in the Man of Steel comic book, Clark Kent gets lost in the moment and saves a space shuttle. He didn’t have a costume on in the comic, and his secret identity hadn’t been established yet, so he was exposed to the public. Here, we can see that very thing happening to Supergirl.

In addition, a news feed reveals the bridge to be one Otto Binder Bridge. If you don’t know, Otto Binder is the writer who co-created Supergirl with artists Al Plastino and Curt Swan, back in 1959, with Action Comics #252. Pretty neat little easter egg there!

This is Jeremy Jordan as Winslow “Winn” Schott. He’s a possible love interest for Kara, as we can see in the trailer. Superman fans might recognize his name, as it belongs to The Toyman. It’s not likely we’ll see him become a villain over the course of the show, but you never know.

Perhaps Kara breaks his heart and sends him spiraling into a world of darkness?

This is one of the early costume designs for Supergirl. At this point, Kara’s sidekick seems to think that capes are lame. He learns his lesson later, by revealing they help with aerodynamics.

Also, we can see a mesh of Supergirl’s different costumes from the comic book world. Those pants come from the 1970s costume, her exposed midriff comes from the late 90s/early 2000s, and her headband is from the 1980s era.

We learn here that Supergirl is bulletproof but also that she’s having trouble finding fabric that is too.

See, that’s a pretty holy cape. Get it? I know, I’m lame. Moving on.

This is the final Supergirl costume we’ll see. Pretty slick! Notice the beloved S that stands for hope.

There’s the Department of Extranormal Operations which investigates alien supervillains.

Check out the mugshots on the TV screens. That purple guy is either Despero or the Parasite.

Here’s a quick look at the Lumberjack.

Same supervillain, the Lumberjack, except this time he has his weapon of choice in hand.

Here we see David Harewood as Hank Henshaw, the head of the Department of Extranormal Operations. In the comics Henshaw is actually a villain, and he becomes someone known as the Cyborg Superman. We might see a mentor/villain dynamic in Supergirl, similar to what we’ve seen between Barry Allen and Harrison Wells in The Flash.

Finally, Supergirl is flying!

That’s a badass super kick.

Here we go again. Those Kryptonians love stripping down to their underwear and… oh, that’s her costume underneath. Well that wasn’t expected.

Finally, we learn that Kara’s cousin Kal-El — or Superman — approves of her using her abilities for the greater good. We also learn that he passed on the red blanket from when he was a baby. Kara can use this material as her cape and it won’t shred, meaning no more bullet holes!

This is also where we see that James Olsen knew Kara was Supergirl all along.

Did You Catch Anything I Missed?

That’s everything I noticed while watching the trailer. Did you catch anything that I might have missed?