Every Superman and DC Comics Reference on the Supergirl Season 2 Premiere

Warning! This article contains nothing but spoilers for Supergirlseason 2 episode 1, "The Adventures of Supergirl." If you prefer, we have a spoiler free review you can read by clicking here.

The Supergirlseason 2 premiere didn't just introduce Tyler Hoechlin as Superman, it also was an absolute love letter to nearly 75 years of Superman and DC Comics history. This was too much to fit in a review, plus it would be full of spoilers, so let's get right down to business, shall we?

- Let's start with the title, "The Adventures of Supergirl."The Adventures of Superman was the name of Supes' radio show (his first excursion outside of comics, and where so much you know and love about the character was actually developed), as well as the 1950s television series starring George Reeves and a long running Superman comic book, which for years featured one of my favorite creative teams, Marv Wolfman and Jerry Ordway. It was in that book where we first met Cat Grant, by the way.

- Superman first appeared in Action Comics #1 in 1938 and he was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. This obscure character is...oh, c'mon, who am I kidding. You know all this stuff, right? Let's get to the good stuff!

The Superman costume is similar to the underpants-less "New 52" design, which was streamlined nicely for recent big screen outings Man of Steeland Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It's not quite that, though, and the cape with the weird fasteners is more like what we've seen in the Injustice video game. It's still a recognizably "Superman" look, though.

- The Clark Kent look is pretty standard, but the tan Harrington jacket is important. Clark wore a similar jacket through a significant portion of Superman II.

- Did you spot the Midvale Gazette on the newsstand when Clark is on the phone? Midvale is where the comic book Kara honed her powers and civilian identity for years, and was featured in the 1984 Supergirl movie.

- This then leads to a classic Superman shirt rip, but more importantly, the "running down the alley/shirt rip/takeoff transformation" mirrors the one from Superman II.

- “This looks like a job for the both of us,” is, of course, a reference to a phrase made famous by the first actor to play Superman, Bud Collyer, the Superman of radio and animation. To differentiate his Clark and Superman performances and to illustrate the transformation on radio, Collyer would start in Clark's tenor, "This looks like a job..." before dropping to a resonant Superman voice, "...for Superman." 

We get this again with the "up, up...and away" joke at episode's end. How else would a radio audience know that Superman was taking off, right?

- Having Superman and Kara save a crashing space launch together speaks to so many things in Superman history, just like having Supergirl catch an airplane in the first episode of season one, this is just something they do. Just to name a few: in the first episode of The Adventures of Superman in the 1950s, Superman saved a guy who was stuck on a blimp; in Superman: The Moviehe catches a falling helicopter (something that Kara does this time around); on the first episode of Lois and Clark Supes prevents a space shuttle launch from going up in smoke; in Superman Returns it's a space plane...you get the idea. It's a lot.

- You have to love Superman's wink to the family after he saves them. The Fleischer Studios Supermancartoons from the 1940s (which are spectacular) always ended with Clark Kent winking to the audience, letting us know that we were in on his secret. That tradition was taken up by George Reeves for the 1950s TV series, and some other animated incarnations, too.

And no, your ears didn't deceive you, the Dad says he's "moving back to Gotham" after that incident.

- Cat Grant's new assistant is "Miss Teschmacher." That would be Eve Teschmacher, made famous as Lex Luthor's moll in Superman: The Movie, where she was played by Valerie Perrine. 

- Winn asks Supes about "the earthquake in California" that Lex Luthor caused, which is kind of a sidways nod to the final act of Superman: The Movie, although it doesn't sound like an XK-101 rocket was involved this time.

- Since I'm on a roll with Superman: The Movie (which happens to be my favorite superhero movie ever and one of my favorite films of all time), Lena Luthor makes a crack about how flying is "statistically speaking, the safest way to travel" when she boards the helicopter. That's what Supes tells Lois after he saves her from a rooftop helicopter crash in the 1978 film.

Who's In The Pod?

- Right out of the gate, we see the occupant of that Kryptonian escape pod. While they haven't named him yet, I can tell you that his name is Mon-El, and well...if I tell you too much more, it's going to spoil a whole lot of things. But lets just say for now that the red bodysuit he's wearing is a nod to his comic book look. Note the high collar, too!

Funny enough, they refer to him as "the man who fell to earth" which was the title of a sci-fi novel by Walter Tevis that was turned into an unsettling movie starring David Bowie. Both are worth checking out.

We also see them break a needle on the mysterious stranger's skin. Wanna know how Superman's invulnerability was established in his very first appearance in Action Comics #1? 

Also note that "try again, Doc" counts as the first words spoken by Superman in comic book history.

The Villains

- Lena Luthor has been around since 1961, and she was created by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel and Kurt Schaffenberger. She might not be faking the "I'm not a villain" act, as she was separated from Lex at an early age, and is more nuanced than your average Luthor. 

Lena's in charge of LuthorCorp, which is the name of the Luthor empire in Smallville, although when Lex switched his mad scientist gear for a business suit in the mid-80s, it was known as LexCorp. Either way, it doesn't matter, since she's rebranding.

- Clark's “I’ve got some sway with Cat Grant” line is a reference to the fact that Cat was originally created (by Marv Wolfman and Jerry Ordway) as a new romantic interest for Clark. For a period of time in the '80s, she was a legit competitor for Clark's (not Superman's) affections. 

- John Corben will soon be known (as we saw in that stinger) as Metallo, the man with the Kryptonite heart. Well, the cyborg with the Kryptonite heart. He first appeared in Action Comics #252 in 1959. His military/mercenary background is relatively new, having been touched on in Superman: The Animated Series and more recently in the comics.

Corben disguises himself as a police officer, which seems like a fun nod to Terminator 2: Judgment Day, since he's going to become a rather Terminator-esque cyborg soon.

Miscellaneous Stuff

- As a kind of nerdy thing specifically about these shows rather than broader DC mythology, most of the time, these shows take place in "real time" and the season premieres of both Arrow and Flash pick up months after their season finale. This one doesn't, instead hitting the ground running just a few hours after the season finale ended.

- Was this the first reference to Intergang on any of the new CW superhero shows? Because between this and Cadmus, that's a lot of potential coolness.

- There's a "Great Caesar's Ghost" reference in here somewhere, which was Perry White's most famous catch phrase for decades. It even led to an episode of The Adventures of Superman in the '50s where someone tried to convince him he actually WAS seeing Caesar's ghost.

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- Kara was indeed a reporter briefly in the comics, although she was a TV reporter, not a print journalist. Not sure where she'll end up at CatCo.

- They mention "the President herself." That's because former Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter, is coming to the show as the Prez!

Did I miss anything? Well, help me in my neverending battle by shouting 'em out in the comments, or hit me up on Twitter. I'll update this with the stuff that checks out!