We, as viewers, will probably never know the truth to this leak but we at FTN have put together a list of Easter eggs present in the show which viewers may also not know about. Please note, the following is not a review but does contain spoilers!

Throughout the pilot, Supergirl’s cousin is referred to on several occasions and glimpsed several times while cleverly obscured by sunlight or from a distance. It’s worth noting that early in the episode a young Kara is seen walking hand-in- hand with Superman as he walks her towards her adoptive parents. The sleeve of his suit can clearly be seen and it’s definitely more in line with The Man of Steel film adaptation of Superman as it is dark blue.

In a cool meta twist, the aforementioned adoptive parents are played by Dean Cain and Helen Slater who played Superman on the 90s TV series The Adventures of Lois and Clark and Supergirl in the 1984 Supergirl film respectively. This little nod follows another wink that the CW did with their Flash TV series by casting John Wesley Shipp as Barry Allen’s dad as he had played the role of The Flash in the early 90s Flash series.

There have been many different incarnations of Supergirl in the comics and she has used many aliases. Her Kryptonian name is Kara Zor-El and, while on Earth, she has most commonly used the alias of Linda Lee Danvers. With the show, Kara has been adopted by the Danvers and goes by the name of Kara Danvers, an amalgamation of the two. In the pilot she is also referred to as a “guardian angel” which is a clear reference to an incarnation of Supergirl, Linda Danvers who was actually an Earth-bound Angel.

While not an established city in the comics, Kara resides in National city on the TV show. This is a clear reference to National Comics, the original publishing name of DC comics.

Again, early in the pilot we are introduced to supporting cast member Winslow “Winn” Schott played by Jeremy Jordan who works with Kara at Catco as a tech expert. What many may not know is that this is the alter-ego of Toyman, a villain of Superman in the comics. I can’t believe this to be a coincidence and, much like Caitlin Snow and Cisco in the Flash which looks to explore their comic alter-egos of Killer Frost and Vibe, I think we’ll see Toyman in future episodes.

Kara is captured by the DEO (Department of Extranormal Activity) a shadowy Government agency within the DC universe with the primary focus of monitoring and preventing any metahuman threats to the public. The DEO has straddled the line between protagonist and antagonist so it remains to be seen in the show exactly where their loyalties lie.

While Kara’s adoptive sister may work for the DEO, the most interesting character involved with the Agency is Hank Henshaw. Henshaw first appeared in the comics in a pastiche of the Fantastic Four. An astronaut sent on a Lexcorp mission to space, he was exposed to radiation which caused his body to rapidly decay. He was able to transfer his consciousness into a robot body.

Driven mad, he blamed Superman for his ills. After Superman died battling Doomsday, Henshaw posed as a returned Man of Steel but was later exposed as a villain. Later, the cyborg Henshaw was instrumental in the destruction of Coast City, the home city of Hal Jordan (Green Lantern). With Arrow to feature Ollie in Coast City next season, could a crossover between the two shows be on the distant horizon?

The main villain of the pilot is Vartox, who is surprisingly different to his comic counterpart who was actually an ally of Superman. It appears that most of the villains on the series will come from Fort Rozz, the Kryptonian prison that came to Earth from the Phantom zone with Supergirl’s craft.

Speaking of which, a video screen in the DEO’s headquarters shows Kara several of the escaped prisoners from Fort Rozz. There is a distinct possibility that the pink skinned alien shown is either Justice League villain Despero or Superman villain Parasite.

Vartox uses an axe with weird vibrational qualities to fight Supergirl which has left me wondering if this is a reference to Nth metal. Nth metal is an alien substance mined on the planet Thanagar and was utilised by the hero Hawkman in various weapons and in his harness which enabled him to fly.

Winn references Super friends on the show, a fun nod to the animated TV show that ran from 1973 to 1986 and which focused on the Justice League of America and DC comics characters.

Kara tries on several outfits until finally settling on the iconic costume we know and love, complete with an unbreakable cape made from Superman’s blanket that he was wrapped in as a child. She also explains to Winn the significance of the S shield as the symbol of the House of El, a concept first introduced by Richard Donner in Superman: The Movie whereas before, in the comics, the S just stood for the initial of Superman/Supergirl. We are even treated to the iconic torn open shirt shot…

When I first heard Vartox mention ‘the General’ I put 2 and 2 together, Phantom Zone prison + general = Zod and got very excited.

However, with the pilot’s conclusion the real General stood revealed and in a great twist it’s actually Kara’s Aunt from Krypton, twin sister to her mother Alura and both played by Laura Benanti.

While we don’t get any solid information on who this character is in the comics we can make some guesses. Supergirl never had a super villain in the books who was also an aunt so we can either assume this is an entirely new character created for the show OR the personal relationship has been added to an already established character to add that soap-opera dynamic. If that’s the case, then could this be Zod’s second-in-command Ursa? She was first introduced in Superman 2 and later adapted into the comics in 2007 or maybe it’s Faora, the character that Ursa was initially based on. Faora was first introduced in issue #471 of Action Comics and made her cinematic debut in 2013’s Man of Steel. Another possibility is that she is the Black Flame, Zora Vi-Lar. This was a recurring villain that Supergirl fought many times in the comics.

It’s apparent from the start of the pilot that this is already a fully established universe.

Superman has been around and doing his thing for a long time, Jimmy Olsen is now grown up, is best friends with the big guy and moved from Metropolis to National city and we see that the DEO is aware of Kryptonite. This means that Supergirl does not exist in the same universe as Flash or Arrow.

So does this mean the shows can never crossover? Well, not exactly.

CBS, which produces Supergirl, co-owns the CW, which produces both Flash and Arrow with Warner Bros, so they wouldn’t have to take great leaps (I see what he did there – ed) and bounds to do it. Also, with the Flash series 2 set to explore the multiverse it doesn’t rule out the possibility.

This sounds pretty damned good. We – ahem – wish we’d watched it…