---
title: 'SUPERGIRL Ending Explained and BRAINIAC Teaser for Superman: Man of Tomorrow'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=m9h9w0VOwU4'
video_id: 'm9h9w0VOwU4'
date: 2026-06-28
duration_sec: 0
---

# SUPERGIRL Ending Explained and BRAINIAC Teaser for Superman: Man of Tomorrow

> Source: [SUPERGIRL Ending Explained and BRAINIAC Teaser for Superman: Man of Tomorrow](https://youtube.com/watch?v=m9h9w0VOwU4)

## Summary



## Transcript

Supergirl's ending sets up the arrival
of Brainiac and a mystery threat who I
believe is the big bad of the DCU. And
there is one moment of this ending that
is a huge departure from the comics that
I think is going to piss a lot of people
off. Welcome back, Screen Crush. I'm
Ryan Ari, and let's talk about the
ending of Supergirl. Now, we're going to
go over what actually happens in the
third act of the film, the themes of the
movie, and how it resolves the arcs of
Cara and Ruthie. But then we're going to
talk about how this movie sets up
Superman: Man of Tomorrow, where
Superman Lex and Supergirl will team up
to fight Brainiac. So before our full
Easter egg video releases tomorrow,
first let's talk about the final act of
the film and the climactic fight. It's
not just a big action scene for the sake
of action. Everything that happens
serves the characters and the themes of
the film, which is not just a battle for
Ruthy's life, but also for Ruthy's
innocence. The movie centers around the
growing friendship between Ruthie and
Cara, two weavered women who have
survived the destruction of their
families and are trying to escape their
traumatic past. For Cara, this involves
clinging to her old life through her
love of crypto and her rejection of
Earth. But for Ruthie, her reason to
hang on to her past is more
straightforward. She wants revenge. In
the comic Woman of Tomorrow, which this
film is based on, only her father was
killed while her mother and six brothers
lived. I think the film makes a wise
decision to completely slaughter her
family. So, the only way she has to
remember them is through her vengeance.
But throughout the film, we see this
quest destroy the people around her. For
instance, an entire family dies because
she tries to kill Creme herself. And
like I'll talk about in a second, Cara
then tries to save her from this cycle
of pain. And don't get me wrong, Cara
also wants revenge in her own way. Creme
harmed Krypto, her only friend and her
only connection to home. Like she tells
him,
>> "Home is wherever you are, buddy."
>> And this actually reminded me of a great
line in Action Comics 500 by Marty Pasco
and Kurt Swan, where Superman talks
about how lonely he was before Krypto
arrived on Earth. But suddenly, he had a
friend who knows the sound of bullets
bouncing off of your skin. But see,
Cara's connection to her dog, as we see,
runs even deeper. She keeps Krypto in
the pocket watch that her father gave
her. And I suspect this watch is always
set to Kryptonian time, which is a way
for Cara to pretend that time still
moves on in a world that no longer
exists. This is the connection she
shares with Ruthie. Neither of them can
accept that their families are gone.
Now, throughout most of the movie, these
two are at odds because they are so much
alike. But the turning point comes when
Ruthie is forced to care for Cara when
she's dying. This is the first time in
the movie where Cara is at a lower
status than Ruthie. So, it forces the
girl to finally put aside her anger and
show compassion for others. And it's the
first step to Ruthie learning how she
can let go and live her life without
vengeance. So, she soothes Cara by
saying, "You're not always nice, but you
are kind." Which is similar to Cara's
dying words from the film and the comic
when she asks her to be good. Now, what
makes Supergirl stand apart from her
cousin is that Cara has every reason to
break bad. She personally buried almost
everyone she ever loved and she watched
firsthand while her civilization died.
As our friend Lee Masio likes to put it,
Clark is an immigrant story, but Cara is
a refugee story. This is the origin
story of a super villain. She has every
right to turn into Superman's evil
cousin, and yet she chooses goodness
mostly. She's very different from Clark
in ways we'll talk about in just a bit.
I want to share something with you guys.
When I started back at the gym, I was
gone for so long. I felt terrible the
next day. It felt like I had the flu,
weakness, muscle aches, and it's because
I didn't get enough electrolytes. That
same week, we started working with
Element, and this has absolutely changed
the way that I work out. I am so glad
they sponsored this video. Element is
one of my favorite sponsors that we work
with. It's an electrolyte drink with a
concentration of potassium and
magnesium. But the secret ingredient is
salt. element tastes great and also
helps me to stay hydrated but without
the sugar and dodgy ingredients in other
popular sports drinks. It comes in many
different flavors, but my new favorite
is their lemonade iced tea. The lemonade
iced tea has elements sciencebacked
electrolyte formula plus naturally
occurring caffeine, eltheonine, and
polyphenols to deliver a blend of
antioxidants which are perfect for
workouts. I'm a big caffeine drinker and
Elements Iced Tea Lemonade hits me right
in my sweet spot. It's just strong
enough, but it's mild enough to not give
me a big spike and a big crash. That's
because the caffeine is not artificial.
It comes from a full black tea extract.
Guys, I love this drink. And you may
have noticed I even drink it when
they're not sponsoring us, like during
our live streams. But I think you should
try it for yourself. If you give it a
try and you don't like it, it's risk-
free. Give it away to a friend and
Element will give your money back, no
questions asked. So, right now you can
get a free sample pack of Element's most
popular drink mix flavors with any
purchase at drinklelntt.com/screencrush.
That's drinklnt.com/sreencrush
or click the link below to get a free
sample pack with any purchase. You won't
regret it. Give it a try. Now, back to
what I was saying. So, in the final act
of the movie, Cara is trapped on a
binary star system with two suns, one
yellow, one green. And something similar
happens in the comics where she is
trapped on a green sun world that was
actually created to kill Superman. In
the comic, this gives Ruthie a chance to
defend Supergirl from dinosaurs. But in
the movie, it gives a dying Cara a
chance to look back and reflect on her
life. She remembers the words of her
father telling her to move on and live
her life. She remembers her mother
telling her to be good. And most
importantly, I think she remembers her
cousin when he first showed her the
super suit. I personally love this scene
where Clark acknowledges that the
Superman suit is kind of goofy. Like
Cara says when she lands on Earth,
>> it's green. See, when James Gun was
designing the super suit for Superman,
he reasoned that Superman needed those
trunks so that people would know that he
was there to help. He wanted to look a
little ridiculous, like a wrestler's
costume. Otherwise, people might be
scared of an immortal god from outer
space. But then again, what kind of
threatening person would possibly dress
in his underoos? Now, it's significant
that Cara does not wear this suit while
she is out partying. This is her time to
indulge and be free of the attachments
of superhero life. But when she chooses
to wear the suit, it is her way of
finally embracing Earth, which means
letting go of her family and her past
trauma. Now, we are going to break down
the full fight in our Easter egg video.
But toward the end, as the freed girls
take care of the last Brigund, Ruthie
stalks in on Crim. No matter how much
Cara has protested against killing him,
Ruthie still believes that this
vengeance will set her free from her
pain. But Cara doesn't let her do this.
In fact, it's almost a reversal of their
comic interaction. In the final issue,
Ruthie backs down from killing Crim, but
Supergirl nearly goats her on, trying to
get her to understand the lesson of this
whole journey. Now, in the comic, this
was Cara's main goal. She brings Ruthie
with her specifically to teach her over
a few weeks that the quest for vengeance
will destroy her soul. Like I said,
she's not just trying to save the girl's
life, she's trying to save her
innocence. And this core theme stays
throughout this film. For instance, in
the comic, the sword belonged to Creme
and was not made by Ruthie's father. But
in the movie and the comic, the sword
retains the same meaning. It is a symbol
of vengeance. But because Ruthiey's
father made the sword, it also becomes a
symbol of her healing. So I actually
think this sets up a key part of Man of
Tomorrow that I'll talk about in just a
bit. So let's talk about Ruthie's final
decision not to kill Crim. Like I said,
this is a major part of the comic book
where it turns out that Krypto had been
fine for weeks and that Cara only asked
Ruthie to come along so she could help
her overcome her thirst for vengeance.
But the Cara in the comics is very
inspirational. But in the movie, she's a
wreck. However, she recognizes enough of
herself and her own pain in Ruthie to
know that she can't let her go over to
the dark side. So, when Ruthie is about
to kill Creme, Cara says that she can't
let her do this. Now, earlier in the
movie, Lobo had this debate with Cara,
saying that Ruthie deserves her revenge.
And this calls back to the earlier scene
in the movie where Lobo basically
encouraged her to take revenge to set
right the wrongs in her life. So, Lobo
and Cara end up being the devil and
angel on Ruthy's little shoulders. So,
back to the moment where Ruthie makes
her decision. So, because Cara told
Ruthie about her past, the girl knows
that Cara is speaking from experience
when she tells her that revenge will not
make her pain go away. Cara never had to
seek revenge for the death of Krypton,
but she did try to numb her pain in
other ways through alcohol and, let's
face it, probably a lot of space drugs.
So Cara tells Ruthie that killing Crim
will not take away her pain and that
living her life will be revenge enough,
which is similar to how Zorel consoled
her about her own life. When Cara felt
like she was meaningless and not worth
being sent off and saved, Zorel reminded
her that her life is not just her own.
The lesson is that Cara had to go on.
She had to live so Krypton would live
with her. And now she's imparted the
same lesson onto Ruthie. If Ruthie kills
Crim, then her soul will be corrupted.
But if she goes on and lives a pure good
life, then she is living that life for
her family. In the same way, Cara
finally learns the lesson that the best
way to honor her dead is to be a hero to
the people of Earth. And guys, to
celebrate the DCU, the team and I had a
blast designing these new parody shirts
like this absolutely kick-ass Lobo biker
tea in the style of a biker vest. We
also have Krypto as Snoopy destroying
his own dog house. Supergirl as Rosie
the Riveter saying, "Don't [ __ ] with my
dog." And Cara reimagined as a Barbie
redesign. This is along with some of our
old favorites like GI Robot in the style
of G.I. Joe, the bird blindness PSA,
give a hoot about bird blindness, and
where's the dog? As well as Peacemakers,
Charlie Brown, and the peace cycle as
the Akira cycle. Remember, store members
at our $5 tier get an additional 15% off
at our merch store sitewide. And
shopping our store really does help out
our channel. Thank you for helping us
and the links are below. So, after
inviting Ruthie to the last leg of her
pub crawl, Cara finally returns to Earth
to the same apartment that Clark had in
Superman. It's even in the same room
where he and Lois watch the Justice gang
defeat an imp from another dimension.
The two of them talk about birthdays and
what home means to them. And this is
when Cara finally accepts that she is
going to stay in Metropolis. She is
taking her own advice to live her life,
which in turn is a way of continuing to
live the lives of her loved ones. And
Clark also tells her, "I could have used
your help against the last guy." And I
kind of wonder who that last guy could
be. Is he referring to the events of the
first Superman movie? Or is this another
Superman foe like Metallow or Parasite?
I mean, after all, Matallo was the
villain in the Superman prequel Junior
novel, so he could still return to this
universe. Now, then the film ends with
Krypto getting into some chocolate,
creating the perfect bookend. We started
with Krypto knocking over a bottle and
peeing on a newspaper. So, it's only
fair that he creates a little more chaos
before the end. But, I don't think
chocolate would affect him because he's
on a yellow sun planet. Although, it is
hilarious that they spent the whole
movie trying to keep him away from
poison when he just dives into eating
poison at the very end. So, now let's
talk about how this movie sets up
Brainiac and what's next for the DCU. We
know that the next Superman film titled
The Man of Tomorrow will feature the Man
of Steel working with Lex Luthther and
that Lex will build a version of his war
suit from the comics. Supergirl is also
confirmed to be in that movie, but most
importantly, the villain will be
Brainiac. Next to Lex Luthther, Brainiac
is the Superman villain, but he's never
actually been on the big screen. Now,
there are several iterations of the
character from the comics and animation,
but he is always an artificial
intelligence that collects life and
information throughout the universe. In
the Superman animated series, I loved
the added twist that Brainiac was a
supercomput built on Krypton. When it
discovered Krypton's imminent doom, it
lied to everybody and didn't tell them
that the planet was going to explode.
And Brainiac did this in order to escape
the planet in pursuit of knowledge. So,
in a way, Brainiac was responsible for
the deaths of billions of people because
he could have helped them prevent the
planet's implosion or at least helped
everyone escape. Also, in the comics,
Brainiac miniaturizes an entire
Kryptonian city called Canandor and kept
it in a sealed bottle. So, Superman
worked for years to enlarge Canandor and
restore its people. And this is just the
kind of goofy story I think James Gun is
going to adapt into the DCU. See, I
think it's very interesting that Cara
will be in Man of Tomorrow. And I think
this explains certain changes they made
in the movie altered from the comic book
Supergirl Woman of Tomorrow that the
movie is based on. The big change in the
movie is that Cara actually kills Crim.
And we'll get into that in just a
second. But here's the thing. If the
movie adapts Brainiac's origin, that he
was a Kryptonian supercomputer that was
responsible for destroying Cara's home
world. Well, I think this explains why
the movie chose to have Cara kill at the
end. See, Ruthie may have let go of her
quest for vengeance, but Cara has not.
She killed a man for messing with her
dog. So, imagine what she would do to a
computer that destroyed her entire
civilization. And I think this points to
her arc in Man of Tomorrow. Now, another
change for the movie is that Ruthiey's
father is a swordsmith. In the comics,
he's a rock farmer. Wait, what does that
mean? Wouldn't that just make him a
minor? I don't know. Maybe on his
planet, like rocks grow in the field and
he farms them. I I don't know. Okay, so
why make her dad a swordsmith instead of
a rock farmer? I mean, in the comic, the
sword actually belonged to Creme. So,
there was like added symbolism that
Ruthie wanted to use the same evil
object that killed her father to kill
the sword's owner. Why would the movie
ditch that symbolism? And why would the
movie end with Ruthie becoming a
swordsmith like her dad? Well, I have a
theory. So, she says that her dad made
his weapons from the strongest metals.
And in the DC universe, one of the
strongest metals in existence is called
nth metal. For instance, Hawk Girl's
mace is made out of the metal in the
comics. Now, Brainiac, like Ultron, is
constantly upgrading himself. In the
80s, he even sported this badass robot
look that I still think of as the
definitive Brainiac. And get this, the
hexagonal pattern on that version of
Brainiac's head is the same pattern as
the ship that brought Cara to Earth,
making it look like they are both made
from Kryptonian technology. So, if he's
upgrading himself, then it would make
sense if he made his new form from the
strongest metal he could find, Enth
Metal. So, in the movie, if Cara and
Superman can't make a dent in him, Cara
can be like,
>> "I know a guy." and then bring Clark to
shop Ruthiey's collection of nth metal
swords. Nth Metal is also used to
disrupt magic, which could come in handy
against the real big bad of the DCU,
dark side. Dark side's the big bad of
the DCU. Look, James Gun came on this
channel and he claimed that Dark Side
was not his overall plan.
>> Using Dark Side as the big bad right now
is not necessarily the thing.
>> And I do not believe him. Not totally.
Something is going on here. Peacemaker
set up the Salvation Arc from the comics
where villains are stranded on a planet
that is actually a training ground for
Dark Side's armies. I just think there's
no bigger bad in the DC comics than Jack
Kirby's Dark Side, and I'm convinced he
has a role to play in the saga.
Furthermore, this movie established a
piece of lore that is even more crucial
to the next Superman film. We have more
kryptonite. In the Superman Jr. novel,
Metallow's core is powered by
kryptonite, and when it's destroyed,
there is none left on Earth, which is
why Luther had to have Metamorpho
created. Now, traditionally in the
comics, kryptonite was created when
chunks of the planet followed the
gravity of Clark's rocket and were
irradiated by the yellow sun. This is
the same kryptonite poisoning that
killed Car's people in Argo City. But
the movie changes this. Now, kryptonite
was already a deadly mineral in the
boughels of Krypton's core, which means
that it is a lot more plentiful in the
universe. Creme even has designer
weapons made from it, which actually
happens in the comics, too. Now, as I
mentioned earlier, Lex's warsuit will be
featured in Man of Tomorrow. And in the
show Peacemaker, we saw Lex was released
from prison and he's working for Argus.
Maybe he's using the portal tech that we
saw in that show to find alien
technology in order to build his
warsuit. And in the comics, he often
uses kryptonite as part of its weaponry.
So, if Lex, Superman, and Supergirl go
to space to fight Brainiac, that means
that Lex will suddenly have near
unlimited access to a weapon that can
kill his worst enemy. And in the
landmark comic, Whatever Happened to the
Man of Tomorrow, Lex and Brainiac team
up to become one entity that actually
kills Superman. I would actually not be
surprised if the same thing happens in
this film. Brainiac offers Lex what he
always wanted, unlimited knowledge and
the ability to kill Superman. And then
in the final battle, Superman and his
cousin have to use these in metal swords
against this combined villain. And so
Cara, seething with rage that Brainiac
let their home world die, is ready to
kill him just like she killed Crim. But
instead, Clark is there to stay her hand
and help her to take the last step in
her grieving process, which would be
forgiveness. Still, it is a very
controversial decision to have Cara kill
Creme. In the comic, Cara is a
pure-hearted person, but in the movie,
she's a [ __ ] mess. She's still
clinging to her old baggage, and she has
not been a superhero for that long. And
she even says,
>> "You sees the good in everyone, and I
see the truth." So for this version of
Supergirl, I think it would make sense
that she would choose to kill just like
it makes sense for a Solen Randian loner
like Henry Caval Superman to kill Zod.
But I have to think that they made this
decision for a reason and not just for
the sake of having Creme die. In the
comic, she actually lies about killing
Crim to spare Ruthie the vengeance of
the Briggins and instead they send him
to the Phantom Zone for 300 years where
he is eventually reformed. But the comic
ending itself is also very vague. So
maybe the movie is too. I mean, after
all, Creme's death is filled from a
distance, and the only person who really
knows what happened is Lobo, who is
watching all of this happen from a
distance. But what did you guys think
about Car's decision to kill Creme at
the end? And what did you think of
Supergirl? Is it better than its
reviews? Let me know your thoughts down
in the comments below or on our free to
join Discord server. And if it's your
first time here, please subscribe. Smash
that bell for alerts for Screen Crush.
I'm Ryan Ery.