What is Superman’s role in Supergirl Season 2 and was DC supportive of his appearance?

Well, Supergirl is coming to The CW on October 10th (yay!) and she’s bringing her famous cousin with her…

But it seems that it’s not because of the network change – from CBS to The CW – that Superman has been allowed to jump into the spotlight (he was in Season 1, remember).

Executive producer Andrew Kreisberg has been talking about how getting the man of steel on the show was actually pretty simple: “I think people would love to hear that we had to promise our children and there was a blood right, and a goat was sacrificed, but the truth is we’re all partners, and we all want what’s best and so it really wasn’t a tough sell,” he told IGN.

“We had our plan, and we presented it to Warner Bros. and to DC and they were totally supportive of it. It was more once they actually said yes, it was like, ‘Oh crap, now we have to do Superman!’ We have to find the right actor, and we have to write the best scripts. We have to make the suit. That was the stuff that gave us [headaches]. Actually pulling it off. But behind the scenes, everybody at Warner Bros. and DC and the CW, we’re all growing in the same direction.”

However, he wants it to be known that he’s not being introduced because Kara, AKA Supergirl, isn’t up to the task: “I think we’ve spent a year establishing her, and the year ended triumphantly with her saving the world, so there wasn’t any sort of doubt that Supergirl couldn’t do it on her own. It felt like you weren’t bringing him in to save the day. It was bringing him in the same way that the crossovers with Flash and the Arrow… it becomes about a partnership. It becomes about deepening the characters’ relationships, not “Well, Arrow couldn’t do it alone!” or “Flash couldn’t do it alone!” So that’s why it felt right.”

He goes on: “You’re starting Season 2, how do you get people to come in and check it out and watch? This felt like the best way to do that. We felt like we had an interesting, unique take on Superman because our show is viewed through the prism of Supergirl.”

As  for Superman’s role around Supergirl, he says it’s pretty much a world that knows Superman well and he’s always the centre of station: “We sort of liken it to if your brother was a famous rock star, or a famous movie star, all you remember is a lifetime of growing up and fighting over who’s sitting in the backseat, and sharing a bathroom, and he pulled my hair. And then you go to a restaurant, and people are sending him drinks, like, ‘Oh, right this way…’ and that’s sort of Kara’s interaction.”

HE does say that, depending on factors such as DC themselves and viewers’ reactions, Superman may appear again but for now he’s only in the first two episodes.

Superman himself, actor Tyler Hoechlin, spoke to EW about the character and who exactly he’ll be in Supergirl, given that many claim the cinematic Superman is far too dark: “[We want to] honor the tradition that is the character without really emulating anything that somebody else has done before… It’s Superman as I think he was intended to be, which is just an incredible symbol of hope to kids that they can do anything, that they can be good people, and that good people can triumph over evil. You don’t have to be dark and brooding and always in this state of masculine toughness. He sits in that very hopeful and optimistic place that Kara tends to be in.”

As for the impact of playing the hero on the actual world? Seems like putting the suit on is a game-changer: “It’s one of those things where you put it on, and it’s the nicest Halloween costume you’ve ever worn. Then, once you step on set, it becomes something different because people actually start addressing you as Superman. You’re in the scenes, and people are playing along that you are Superman, so that’s when it really hits you for a second. You have to then believe that you are this person, and just really own it and roll with it. That was really the moment that it hit closest to home.”

Oh, and here’s a new trailer for Season 2 as well.

Enjoy