Supergirl: Who is Metallo and Other Superman References Explained!

Ready for another look at all the crazy Superman and DC Comics stuff in the latest episode of Supergirl? Good. Then let's go! Oh, and if you're looking for an actual review of "Last Children of Krypton" click here!

Who is Metallo?

Hey, look! John Corben is now Metallo, the man with the Kryptonite heart! Well, the cyborg with the kryptonite heart.

The thing is, until fairly recently, he wasn't exactly the most nuanced character...and even know he isn't. I mean, let's face it, a character with Superman's power levels can rarely cut loose, and the easiest way to do that (other than aliens) is with robots/cyborgs. To make things more interesting, you give the robot and/or cyborg a kryptonite power source. Ding! That's Metallo, for you!

Now, everyone has a personal favorite Metallo story. Right? No? It's just me? OK, fine. I still maintain that the most effective deployment of Metallo in the comics was right after DC Comics pulled off their "reboot" (before this was even a word!) of the Superman comics in 1986. John Byrne and Terry Austin's Superman #1 was the first time this version of Supes ever encountered Kryptonite, and chronologically it was in the story right after he first learned he was an alien.

Basically, that version of Metallo was built by a creepy, paranoid scientist, who knew that an alien rocket had landed in Smallville 30 years earlier, but was convinced that Supes was the advance scout for an alien invasion. At the time, the only chunk of kryptonite in existence had hitched a ride through the wormhole with Kal-El's rocket, so this guy stole the whole damn rocket, and used the radioactive green rock to power a nearly unbreakable robot body. Metallo went out into the world to kick the hell out of Supes, and basically did exactly that.

John Corben is never mentioned by name. At this point, the character is just a nameless tough guy who ends up as a radioactive cyborg. But the real beauty of that particular Metallo story is how well John Byrne was teasing out elements of familiar Superman mythology. He treated every reveal of his new Superman not as a "look who's here, friends!" and more as if readers had never encountered anything about the character before. It's something that more reboots, both on the page and the screen, should get better at.

And if that doesn't sell you, then how about this. John Byrne was at the absolute peak of his artistic powers in 1986, and he drew a mean muthascratchin' Metallo, with all of the proper Terminator imagery you would expect from the era.

Seriously, have a look:

(whew...that took way longer than I expected).

This isn't the first time we've seen Metallo in live action, either. Metallo showed up on Lois & Clark season two, as well, but just for one episode. He was introduced on Smallville in what was (if I remember correctly) one of that insufferable show's more watchable episodes (with a surprisingly ripped Brian Austin Green as Corben!) and popped up sporadically for the rest of the show's run. But if you really wanna dig deep for Metallo stuff, check out the six or so episodes of Superboy he appeared in, played by Michael Callan. Or don't. I am a huge defender of Superboy (and especially its latter two seasons, when it became The Adventures of Superboy) but they, ummmm...they aren't for everybody. In fact, I probably shouldn't talk smack about Smallville in the same paragraph where I'm defending Superboy. 

Metallo has yet to make it to the big screen, which just seems faintly absurd to me. He may not be the kind of villain you hang a whole movie on, but he definitely needs to show up in one of these movies. He did make it into an unproduced Superman screenplay or so, most notably Alex Ford's wonderful Superman: The Man of Steel from 1998.

- Snapper Carr. Wow. Here's a character I never, ever expected to see on one of these shows, and certainly not in this form. Lucas "Snapper" Carr was conceived as a hip, teenage sidekick for the Justice League in 1960, and is a fine example of what square comic book writers thought those crazy teenagers would be into in the pre-Beatles/pre-sexual revolution years.

Now, I'm not going to spoil things yet, especially because there's no guarantee that the show is going to any of these places, but Supergirl is lining up some interesting connections. Snapper Carr has both a connection to Mon-El (hoo-boy, I'm gonna have to write a whole article on him, aren't I? Is that what you want? OK, fine, you convinced me) and the villains of the upcoming DC CW superhero show crossover, The Dominators.

Anyway, this version of the character couldn't possibly be any more different than the comic book version, which is just fine with me. Also, Snapper looks kind of like Julius Schwartz, the legendary DC editor who basically kickstarted DC's revival in the Silver Age, so that's kind of awesome.

Crisis on Infinite Earths

- Just in case you didn't notice the Crisis On Infinite Earths nod, DC and The CW really want you to, because they released this cool official piece of promo art today.

So, what's the big deal? I'll tell you what! This is far from the first nod to Crisis we've had on these shows. Hell, the very first episode of The Flash hinted at Barry Allen's death in that comic. Keep in mind, that this was at a time when these kinds of things weren't done every other day, and both Kara and Barry stayed dead for about 30 years.

Also, lemme tell ya, Crisis On Infinite Earths #7 is a helluva comic, and Kara's death is as heroic and heartbreaking as you would want it to be. It meant something, and the fact that it really looked like she was never coming back was a big frakkin' deal at the time.

Miscellaneous Kryptonian Memory Crystals

- When Supes asks the crooks, "If the bullets don't work, why the punching?" I can't help but feel that's a reference to The Adventures of SupermanTV series in the '50s. George Reeves' version of Superman would happily endure a hail of bullets from thugs in suits but when they ran out of bullets and threw their guns at him? He'd duck. After all, those prop guns were made of metal, and would not bounce off an actor.

- The title of this episode, "Last Children of Krypton" is a play on one of Superman's nicknames, "The Last Son of Krypton." Considering that this show has already put the lie to that "last anything of Krypton" stuff from pretty much its first episode, well, I wouldn't read too much into it. But what I WILL do is take this opportunity to insist that every single one of you who enjoys this portrayal of Superman check out Elliot S! Maggin's novel, Superman: Last Son of Krypton. I promise you, it's one of the best Superman stories ever, it's an all-time favorite of mine, and it's an absolute masterclass in how this character should be portrayed.

In fact, the "Supes harnesses a cloud to help put out a fire thing" is similar to the kind of superfeats he pulls off in that book. Like Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's brilliant All-Star Superman, the Last Son of Krypton novel is about a Supes who saves people rather than punches them.

- "How is it so hard to be nice to Superman? He's Superman!" sounds like it's addressed to Zack Snyder.

- OK, I lose my mind whenever we go to the Fortress of Solitude on this show, but I'd like to take a moment to point out how cool the look is. It's a cross between the icy/crystalline look from the Christopher Reeve films but with the cool sci-fi Silver Age mythology, like the statue of Jor-El and Lara holding up a globe of Krypton...except they're done up in that crystal/ice style.

- Krypton Park in Metropolis appears to be a memorial (it looked like there was a wall of names there). Is there a chance that this Superman has already faced Doomsday, died, and been revived?

- "You speak Kryptonian." It's Kryptonese, damn it! The language is called Kryptonese!

- Kelex looks fucking awesome. Ahem...I mean, Kelex! Kelex was a Kryptonian serving robot who first appeared in John Byrne and Dick Giordano's Man of Steel #1 in 1986, which was that modern (well, '80s modern) reboot of the Superman mythos I mentioned earlier!

- "He won't drink and fly." God, this show loves Superman: The Movie, which is fine, because so do I. During Superman and Lois Lane's first interview in that wonderful movie (buy me a couple of drinks if you spot me in NYC and maybe I'll take you to Lois Lane's apartment building), he cracks that "I never drink when I fly" when Lois offers him some wine. 

- "I'm with her." Damn right.

- So, I sure just watched Superman and Martian Manhunter fight side-by-side on my TV. Life isn't so bad.

- This episode was so good that I almost forgive them for not letting Cat know Kara's secret...which she should totally be smart enough to know.

Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter!

Hit the dropdown to check out all of the Superman easter eggs and references in last week's episode, too!