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

[00:00] Supergirl's ending sets up the arrival

[00:01] of Brainiac and a mystery threat who I

[00:03] believe is the big bad of the DCU. And

[00:05] there is one moment of this ending that

[00:07] is a huge departure from the comics that

[00:10] I think is going to piss a lot of people

[00:11] off. Welcome back, Screen Crush. I'm

[00:13] Ryan Ari, and let's talk about the

[00:14] ending of Supergirl. Now, we're going to

[00:16] go over what actually happens in the

[00:17] third act of the film, the themes of the

[00:19] movie, and how it resolves the arcs of

[00:21] Cara and Ruthie. But then we're going to

[00:23] talk about how this movie sets up

[00:24] Superman: Man of Tomorrow, where

[00:26] Superman Lex and Supergirl will team up

[00:28] to fight Brainiac. So before our full

[00:30] Easter egg video releases tomorrow,

[00:31] first let's talk about the final act of

[00:33] the film and the climactic fight. It's

[00:35] not just a big action scene for the sake

[00:37] of action. Everything that happens

[00:38] serves the characters and the themes of

[00:40] the film, which is not just a battle for

[00:42] Ruthy's life, but also for Ruthy's

[00:44] innocence. The movie centers around the

[00:46] growing friendship between Ruthie and

[00:47] Cara, two weavered women who have

[00:49] survived the destruction of their

[00:50] families and are trying to escape their

[00:52] traumatic past. For Cara, this involves

[00:54] clinging to her old life through her

[00:56] love of crypto and her rejection of

[00:58] Earth. But for Ruthie, her reason to

[01:00] hang on to her past is more

[01:01] straightforward. She wants revenge. In

[01:03] the comic Woman of Tomorrow, which this

[01:05] film is based on, only her father was

[01:07] killed while her mother and six brothers

[01:09] lived. I think the film makes a wise

[01:11] decision to completely slaughter her

[01:13] family. So, the only way she has to

[01:15] remember them is through her vengeance.

[01:17] But throughout the film, we see this

[01:18] quest destroy the people around her. For

[01:20] instance, an entire family dies because

[01:22] she tries to kill Creme herself. And

[01:25] like I'll talk about in a second, Cara

[01:26] then tries to save her from this cycle

[01:28] of pain. And don't get me wrong, Cara

[01:30] also wants revenge in her own way. Creme

[01:33] harmed Krypto, her only friend and her

[01:35] only connection to home. Like she tells

[01:37] him,

[01:37] >> "Home is wherever you are, buddy."

[01:39] >> And this actually reminded me of a great

[01:40] line in Action Comics 500 by Marty Pasco

[01:43] and Kurt Swan, where Superman talks

[01:45] about how lonely he was before Krypto

[01:47] arrived on Earth. But suddenly, he had a

[01:49] friend who knows the sound of bullets

[01:51] bouncing off of your skin. But see,

[01:52] Cara's connection to her dog, as we see,

[01:54] runs even deeper. She keeps Krypto in

[01:57] the pocket watch that her father gave

[01:58] her. And I suspect this watch is always

[02:01] set to Kryptonian time, which is a way

[02:03] for Cara to pretend that time still

[02:05] moves on in a world that no longer

[02:07] exists. This is the connection she

[02:09] shares with Ruthie. Neither of them can

[02:11] accept that their families are gone.

[02:12] Now, throughout most of the movie, these

[02:14] two are at odds because they are so much

[02:16] alike. But the turning point comes when

[02:18] Ruthie is forced to care for Cara when

[02:20] she's dying. This is the first time in

[02:22] the movie where Cara is at a lower

[02:24] status than Ruthie. So, it forces the

[02:26] girl to finally put aside her anger and

[02:28] show compassion for others. And it's the

[02:30] first step to Ruthie learning how she

[02:32] can let go and live her life without

[02:34] vengeance. So, she soothes Cara by

[02:36] saying, "You're not always nice, but you

[02:38] are kind." Which is similar to Cara's

[02:40] dying words from the film and the comic

[02:42] when she asks her to be good. Now, what

[02:44] makes Supergirl stand apart from her

[02:46] cousin is that Cara has every reason to

[02:49] break bad. She personally buried almost

[02:52] everyone she ever loved and she watched

[02:54] firsthand while her civilization died.

[02:57] As our friend Lee Masio likes to put it,

[02:59] Clark is an immigrant story, but Cara is

[03:02] a refugee story. This is the origin

[03:04] story of a super villain. She has every

[03:06] right to turn into Superman's evil

[03:08] cousin, and yet she chooses goodness

[03:10] mostly. She's very different from Clark

[03:12] in ways we'll talk about in just a bit.

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[04:46] what I was saying. So, in the final act

[04:48] of the movie, Cara is trapped on a

[04:50] binary star system with two suns, one

[04:52] yellow, one green. And something similar

[04:54] happens in the comics where she is

[04:55] trapped on a green sun world that was

[04:57] actually created to kill Superman. In

[04:58] the comic, this gives Ruthie a chance to

[05:00] defend Supergirl from dinosaurs. But in

[05:03] the movie, it gives a dying Cara a

[05:05] chance to look back and reflect on her

[05:07] life. She remembers the words of her

[05:08] father telling her to move on and live

[05:10] her life. She remembers her mother

[05:11] telling her to be good. And most

[05:13] importantly, I think she remembers her

[05:14] cousin when he first showed her the

[05:16] super suit. I personally love this scene

[05:19] where Clark acknowledges that the

[05:20] Superman suit is kind of goofy. Like

[05:22] Cara says when she lands on Earth,

[05:24] >> it's green. See, when James Gun was

[05:27] designing the super suit for Superman,

[05:29] he reasoned that Superman needed those

[05:31] trunks so that people would know that he

[05:33] was there to help. He wanted to look a

[05:35] little ridiculous, like a wrestler's

[05:37] costume. Otherwise, people might be

[05:39] scared of an immortal god from outer

[05:40] space. But then again, what kind of

[05:42] threatening person would possibly dress

[05:44] in his underoos? Now, it's significant

[05:46] that Cara does not wear this suit while

[05:48] she is out partying. This is her time to

[05:51] indulge and be free of the attachments

[05:53] of superhero life. But when she chooses

[05:55] to wear the suit, it is her way of

[05:57] finally embracing Earth, which means

[05:59] letting go of her family and her past

[06:00] trauma. Now, we are going to break down

[06:02] the full fight in our Easter egg video.

[06:04] But toward the end, as the freed girls

[06:06] take care of the last Brigund, Ruthie

[06:08] stalks in on Crim. No matter how much

[06:10] Cara has protested against killing him,

[06:12] Ruthie still believes that this

[06:13] vengeance will set her free from her

[06:16] pain. But Cara doesn't let her do this.

[06:18] In fact, it's almost a reversal of their

[06:20] comic interaction. In the final issue,

[06:22] Ruthie backs down from killing Crim, but

[06:24] Supergirl nearly goats her on, trying to

[06:26] get her to understand the lesson of this

[06:28] whole journey. Now, in the comic, this

[06:29] was Cara's main goal. She brings Ruthie

[06:32] with her specifically to teach her over

[06:34] a few weeks that the quest for vengeance

[06:36] will destroy her soul. Like I said,

[06:37] she's not just trying to save the girl's

[06:39] life, she's trying to save her

[06:40] innocence. And this core theme stays

[06:42] throughout this film. For instance, in

[06:44] the comic, the sword belonged to Creme

[06:46] and was not made by Ruthie's father. But

[06:48] in the movie and the comic, the sword

[06:50] retains the same meaning. It is a symbol

[06:52] of vengeance. But because Ruthiey's

[06:54] father made the sword, it also becomes a

[06:56] symbol of her healing. So I actually

[06:58] think this sets up a key part of Man of

[06:59] Tomorrow that I'll talk about in just a

[07:01] bit. So let's talk about Ruthie's final

[07:03] decision not to kill Crim. Like I said,

[07:05] this is a major part of the comic book

[07:07] where it turns out that Krypto had been

[07:09] fine for weeks and that Cara only asked

[07:11] Ruthie to come along so she could help

[07:12] her overcome her thirst for vengeance.

[07:14] But the Cara in the comics is very

[07:16] inspirational. But in the movie, she's a

[07:18] wreck. However, she recognizes enough of

[07:21] herself and her own pain in Ruthie to

[07:23] know that she can't let her go over to

[07:26] the dark side. So, when Ruthie is about

[07:27] to kill Creme, Cara says that she can't

[07:29] let her do this. Now, earlier in the

[07:31] movie, Lobo had this debate with Cara,

[07:33] saying that Ruthie deserves her revenge.

[07:35] And this calls back to the earlier scene

[07:36] in the movie where Lobo basically

[07:38] encouraged her to take revenge to set

[07:40] right the wrongs in her life. So, Lobo

[07:43] and Cara end up being the devil and

[07:44] angel on Ruthy's little shoulders. So,

[07:46] back to the moment where Ruthie makes

[07:48] her decision. So, because Cara told

[07:50] Ruthie about her past, the girl knows

[07:52] that Cara is speaking from experience

[07:54] when she tells her that revenge will not

[07:56] make her pain go away. Cara never had to

[07:58] seek revenge for the death of Krypton,

[08:00] but she did try to numb her pain in

[08:02] other ways through alcohol and, let's

[08:04] face it, probably a lot of space drugs.

[08:06] So Cara tells Ruthie that killing Crim

[08:08] will not take away her pain and that

[08:10] living her life will be revenge enough,

[08:12] which is similar to how Zorel consoled

[08:14] her about her own life. When Cara felt

[08:17] like she was meaningless and not worth

[08:18] being sent off and saved, Zorel reminded

[08:21] her that her life is not just her own.

[08:24] The lesson is that Cara had to go on.

[08:26] She had to live so Krypton would live

[08:28] with her. And now she's imparted the

[08:30] same lesson onto Ruthie. If Ruthie kills

[08:33] Crim, then her soul will be corrupted.

[08:35] But if she goes on and lives a pure good

[08:37] life, then she is living that life for

[08:39] her family. In the same way, Cara

[08:41] finally learns the lesson that the best

[08:42] way to honor her dead is to be a hero to

[08:45] the people of Earth. And guys, to

[08:46] celebrate the DCU, the team and I had a

[08:48] blast designing these new parody shirts

[08:50] like this absolutely kick-ass Lobo biker

[08:53] tea in the style of a biker vest. We

[08:55] also have Krypto as Snoopy destroying

[08:57] his own dog house. Supergirl as Rosie

[08:59] the Riveter saying, "Don't [ __ ] with my

[09:01] dog." And Cara reimagined as a Barbie

[09:03] redesign. This is along with some of our

[09:05] old favorites like GI Robot in the style

[09:07] of G.I. Joe, the bird blindness PSA,

[09:09] give a hoot about bird blindness, and

[09:11] where's the dog? As well as Peacemakers,

[09:13] Charlie Brown, and the peace cycle as

[09:15] the Akira cycle. Remember, store members

[09:16] at our $5 tier get an additional 15% off

[09:19] at our merch store sitewide. And

[09:21] shopping our store really does help out

[09:23] our channel. Thank you for helping us

[09:24] and the links are below. So, after

[09:26] inviting Ruthie to the last leg of her

[09:28] pub crawl, Cara finally returns to Earth

[09:30] to the same apartment that Clark had in

[09:32] Superman. It's even in the same room

[09:33] where he and Lois watch the Justice gang

[09:35] defeat an imp from another dimension.

[09:37] The two of them talk about birthdays and

[09:39] what home means to them. And this is

[09:40] when Cara finally accepts that she is

[09:42] going to stay in Metropolis. She is

[09:44] taking her own advice to live her life,

[09:47] which in turn is a way of continuing to

[09:48] live the lives of her loved ones. And

[09:50] Clark also tells her, "I could have used

[09:52] your help against the last guy." And I

[09:54] kind of wonder who that last guy could

[09:55] be. Is he referring to the events of the

[09:57] first Superman movie? Or is this another

[09:59] Superman foe like Metallow or Parasite?

[10:01] I mean, after all, Matallo was the

[10:03] villain in the Superman prequel Junior

[10:05] novel, so he could still return to this

[10:07] universe. Now, then the film ends with

[10:09] Krypto getting into some chocolate,

[10:10] creating the perfect bookend. We started

[10:12] with Krypto knocking over a bottle and

[10:14] peeing on a newspaper. So, it's only

[10:16] fair that he creates a little more chaos

[10:18] before the end. But, I don't think

[10:19] chocolate would affect him because he's

[10:20] on a yellow sun planet. Although, it is

[10:22] hilarious that they spent the whole

[10:23] movie trying to keep him away from

[10:24] poison when he just dives into eating

[10:26] poison at the very end. So, now let's

[10:28] talk about how this movie sets up

[10:29] Brainiac and what's next for the DCU. We

[10:32] know that the next Superman film titled

[10:33] The Man of Tomorrow will feature the Man

[10:35] of Steel working with Lex Luthther and

[10:37] that Lex will build a version of his war

[10:39] suit from the comics. Supergirl is also

[10:41] confirmed to be in that movie, but most

[10:42] importantly, the villain will be

[10:44] Brainiac. Next to Lex Luthther, Brainiac

[10:46] is the Superman villain, but he's never

[10:49] actually been on the big screen. Now,

[10:51] there are several iterations of the

[10:52] character from the comics and animation,

[10:54] but he is always an artificial

[10:56] intelligence that collects life and

[10:58] information throughout the universe. In

[10:59] the Superman animated series, I loved

[11:01] the added twist that Brainiac was a

[11:03] supercomput built on Krypton. When it

[11:06] discovered Krypton's imminent doom, it

[11:08] lied to everybody and didn't tell them

[11:10] that the planet was going to explode.

[11:12] And Brainiac did this in order to escape

[11:14] the planet in pursuit of knowledge. So,

[11:16] in a way, Brainiac was responsible for

[11:18] the deaths of billions of people because

[11:21] he could have helped them prevent the

[11:22] planet's implosion or at least helped

[11:24] everyone escape. Also, in the comics,

[11:26] Brainiac miniaturizes an entire

[11:28] Kryptonian city called Canandor and kept

[11:30] it in a sealed bottle. So, Superman

[11:32] worked for years to enlarge Canandor and

[11:34] restore its people. And this is just the

[11:36] kind of goofy story I think James Gun is

[11:38] going to adapt into the DCU. See, I

[11:40] think it's very interesting that Cara

[11:41] will be in Man of Tomorrow. And I think

[11:43] this explains certain changes they made

[11:45] in the movie altered from the comic book

[11:47] Supergirl Woman of Tomorrow that the

[11:49] movie is based on. The big change in the

[11:51] movie is that Cara actually kills Crim.

[11:53] And we'll get into that in just a

[11:54] second. But here's the thing. If the

[11:56] movie adapts Brainiac's origin, that he

[11:58] was a Kryptonian supercomputer that was

[12:00] responsible for destroying Cara's home

[12:02] world. Well, I think this explains why

[12:04] the movie chose to have Cara kill at the

[12:06] end. See, Ruthie may have let go of her

[12:08] quest for vengeance, but Cara has not.

[12:10] She killed a man for messing with her

[12:12] dog. So, imagine what she would do to a

[12:14] computer that destroyed her entire

[12:16] civilization. And I think this points to

[12:18] her arc in Man of Tomorrow. Now, another

[12:20] change for the movie is that Ruthiey's

[12:21] father is a swordsmith. In the comics,

[12:23] he's a rock farmer. Wait, what does that

[12:25] mean? Wouldn't that just make him a

[12:26] minor? I don't know. Maybe on his

[12:27] planet, like rocks grow in the field and

[12:29] he farms them. I I don't know. Okay, so

[12:32] why make her dad a swordsmith instead of

[12:34] a rock farmer? I mean, in the comic, the

[12:36] sword actually belonged to Creme. So,

[12:38] there was like added symbolism that

[12:40] Ruthie wanted to use the same evil

[12:42] object that killed her father to kill

[12:44] the sword's owner. Why would the movie

[12:46] ditch that symbolism? And why would the

[12:48] movie end with Ruthie becoming a

[12:49] swordsmith like her dad? Well, I have a

[12:51] theory. So, she says that her dad made

[12:53] his weapons from the strongest metals.

[12:54] And in the DC universe, one of the

[12:56] strongest metals in existence is called

[12:58] nth metal. For instance, Hawk Girl's

[13:00] mace is made out of the metal in the

[13:02] comics. Now, Brainiac, like Ultron, is

[13:04] constantly upgrading himself. In the

[13:06] 80s, he even sported this badass robot

[13:08] look that I still think of as the

[13:10] definitive Brainiac. And get this, the

[13:12] hexagonal pattern on that version of

[13:14] Brainiac's head is the same pattern as

[13:16] the ship that brought Cara to Earth,

[13:17] making it look like they are both made

[13:19] from Kryptonian technology. So, if he's

[13:21] upgrading himself, then it would make

[13:23] sense if he made his new form from the

[13:25] strongest metal he could find, Enth

[13:26] Metal. So, in the movie, if Cara and

[13:28] Superman can't make a dent in him, Cara

[13:30] can be like,

[13:31] >> "I know a guy." and then bring Clark to

[13:33] shop Ruthiey's collection of nth metal

[13:35] swords. Nth Metal is also used to

[13:37] disrupt magic, which could come in handy

[13:39] against the real big bad of the DCU,

[13:41] dark side. Dark side's the big bad of

[13:43] the DCU. Look, James Gun came on this

[13:46] channel and he claimed that Dark Side

[13:47] was not his overall plan.

[13:49] >> Using Dark Side as the big bad right now

[13:51] is not necessarily the thing.

[13:53] >> And I do not believe him. Not totally.

[13:56] Something is going on here. Peacemaker

[13:57] set up the Salvation Arc from the comics

[13:59] where villains are stranded on a planet

[14:01] that is actually a training ground for

[14:03] Dark Side's armies. I just think there's

[14:04] no bigger bad in the DC comics than Jack

[14:07] Kirby's Dark Side, and I'm convinced he

[14:09] has a role to play in the saga.

[14:10] Furthermore, this movie established a

[14:12] piece of lore that is even more crucial

[14:14] to the next Superman film. We have more

[14:16] kryptonite. In the Superman Jr. novel,

[14:18] Metallow's core is powered by

[14:19] kryptonite, and when it's destroyed,

[14:21] there is none left on Earth, which is

[14:23] why Luther had to have Metamorpho

[14:25] created. Now, traditionally in the

[14:26] comics, kryptonite was created when

[14:28] chunks of the planet followed the

[14:29] gravity of Clark's rocket and were

[14:31] irradiated by the yellow sun. This is

[14:33] the same kryptonite poisoning that

[14:34] killed Car's people in Argo City. But

[14:36] the movie changes this. Now, kryptonite

[14:38] was already a deadly mineral in the

[14:40] boughels of Krypton's core, which means

[14:42] that it is a lot more plentiful in the

[14:45] universe. Creme even has designer

[14:47] weapons made from it, which actually

[14:48] happens in the comics, too. Now, as I

[14:50] mentioned earlier, Lex's warsuit will be

[14:52] featured in Man of Tomorrow. And in the

[14:54] show Peacemaker, we saw Lex was released

[14:56] from prison and he's working for Argus.

[14:58] Maybe he's using the portal tech that we

[15:00] saw in that show to find alien

[15:01] technology in order to build his

[15:03] warsuit. And in the comics, he often

[15:05] uses kryptonite as part of its weaponry.

[15:07] So, if Lex, Superman, and Supergirl go

[15:10] to space to fight Brainiac, that means

[15:12] that Lex will suddenly have near

[15:14] unlimited access to a weapon that can

[15:16] kill his worst enemy. And in the

[15:17] landmark comic, Whatever Happened to the

[15:19] Man of Tomorrow, Lex and Brainiac team

[15:21] up to become one entity that actually

[15:23] kills Superman. I would actually not be

[15:25] surprised if the same thing happens in

[15:27] this film. Brainiac offers Lex what he

[15:29] always wanted, unlimited knowledge and

[15:31] the ability to kill Superman. And then

[15:33] in the final battle, Superman and his

[15:35] cousin have to use these in metal swords

[15:37] against this combined villain. And so

[15:39] Cara, seething with rage that Brainiac

[15:41] let their home world die, is ready to

[15:43] kill him just like she killed Crim. But

[15:45] instead, Clark is there to stay her hand

[15:47] and help her to take the last step in

[15:49] her grieving process, which would be

[15:51] forgiveness. Still, it is a very

[15:53] controversial decision to have Cara kill

[15:55] Creme. In the comic, Cara is a

[15:57] pure-hearted person, but in the movie,

[15:59] she's a [ __ ] mess. She's still

[16:00] clinging to her old baggage, and she has

[16:02] not been a superhero for that long. And

[16:04] she even says,

[16:04] >> "You sees the good in everyone, and I

[16:06] see the truth." So for this version of

[16:08] Supergirl, I think it would make sense

[16:10] that she would choose to kill just like

[16:12] it makes sense for a Solen Randian loner

[16:14] like Henry Caval Superman to kill Zod.

[16:16] But I have to think that they made this

[16:18] decision for a reason and not just for

[16:20] the sake of having Creme die. In the

[16:22] comic, she actually lies about killing

[16:24] Crim to spare Ruthie the vengeance of

[16:25] the Briggins and instead they send him

[16:27] to the Phantom Zone for 300 years where

[16:29] he is eventually reformed. But the comic

[16:31] ending itself is also very vague. So

[16:34] maybe the movie is too. I mean, after

[16:36] all, Creme's death is filled from a

[16:37] distance, and the only person who really

[16:39] knows what happened is Lobo, who is

[16:41] watching all of this happen from a

[16:42] distance. But what did you guys think

[16:43] about Car's decision to kill Creme at

[16:45] the end? And what did you think of

[16:46] Supergirl? Is it better than its

[16:47] reviews? Let me know your thoughts down

[16:48] in the comments below or on our free to

[16:50] join Discord server. And if it's your

[16:51] first time here, please subscribe. Smash

[16:53] that bell for alerts for Screen Crush.

[16:55] I'm Ryan Ery.