When it came to Superman’s origin story, James Gunn mostly played it safe in his 2025 movie. While the plot zooms past Kal-El’s birth on Krypton, his arrival on Earth, and his wholesome Kansas upbringing, none of those details change much. They still define the character as an all-powerful alien who represents the best of humanity. But Gunn did make one radical change to the Superman origin story, and it’s one that Supergirl smartly doubles down on.
Spoilers ahead for both Superman and Supergirl.
In Superman, Kal-El (David Corenswet) doesn’t have much to remember his birth parents, just a mangled holographic message that they recorded before their death. But early in the movie, after Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) breaks into the Fortress of Solitude, he decodes the entire recording and discovers something shocking: Superman’s parents sent him to Earth, not to save it, but to conquer it. Here’s the full message that Lex reveals to the world:
Jor-El (Bradley Cooper): “The people there are simple and profoundly confused — weak of mind and spirit and body. Lord over the planet as the last son of Krypton.”
Lara (Angela Sarafyan): “Dispatch of anyone unable or unwilling to serve you, Kal-El. Take as many wives as you can, so your genes and Krypton’s might and legacy will live on in this new frontier.”
Jor-El: “Do us proud, our beloved son. Rule without mercy.”
While the movie makes it clear that this isn’t some sort of deepfake, plenty of fans refused to believe it was true.
“How can someone not think it’s real? I don’t understand,” Gunn said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, pointing to several scenes in Superman that confirm the recording wasn’t faked.
DC’s follow-up film doubles down on that twist. While Supergirl focuses heavily on its title character, Kara Zor-El (Milly Alcock), Superman shows up in a couple of scenes. However, we don’t actually see him in the most important one. In a flashback sequence about halfway through the movie, we see a younger Supergirl back on Krypton in the lead-up to and aftermath of the planet’s destruction. As the planet begins to shake, a small escape pod containing baby Superman streaks across the sky. Kara’s mother then turns to her husband and says something along the lines of, “There goes your brother’s beautiful baby boy to become a conqueror of worlds.” (That’s not the exact quote. Sorry, I saw the movie a couple of weeks ago and forgot to write it down.)
With one line of throwaway dialogue, Supergirl cements that Superman twist, confirming once and for all that the recording Luthor discovered was real — and that Kal-El really was sent to Earth to “rule without mercy.”
It’s unclear who chose to include that line in the Supergirl script. Was it screenwriter Ana Nogueira? Director Craig Gillespie? DCU boss and Superman writer/director James Gunn? The answer doesn’t matter. What matters is that the DCU isn’t shying away from its boldest choices. And that’s a good thing, even if the movie itself isn’t particularly great.
Supergirl is in theaters now.