Joel McHale Cast As Starman

Joel McHale, known for Community, joins the DC Universe Stargirl series as Sylvester Pemberton aka Starman.

Fans will note the Starman for the DC Universe app series is different than the comics, as Sylvester Pemberton is known better as The Star-Spangled Kid and Skyman in DC Comics.

In DC’s official announcement, they note the changes:

If you’re familiar with Stargirl’s story in the comics, you’ll likely notice a few changes. The biggest is that Sylvester Pemberton has never been Starman in the comics. He’s best known as the former Star-Spangled Kid, though he did eventually adapt the similar sounding name of Skyman in the mid-1980s. However, other details remain the same. As the Star-Spangled Kid, Pemberton did operate with Dugan’s Stripesy as his sidekick, he did use Starman’s Cosmic Staff for a time, and he was a member of the JSA.

Still, it sounds like Stargirl may streamline Courtney’s origin a bit. In the comics, she discovered the Star-Spangled Kid’s suit and cosmic belt among her stepfather’s things, stole them and began operating as the new Star-Spangled Kid. Eventually, she was given the Cosmic Staff by the retired Jack Knight, at which point she adopted the name Stargirl. By making Sylvester Pemberton the series’ Starman, it allows the writers to sidestep Courtney’s earliest adventures as part of the duo known as Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E., which while interesting and fun, probably aren’t all that necessary to see brought to the show.

Here is the official description for Starman in the series:

Joel McHale plays rich socialite Sylvester Pemberton, aka Starman. A courageous and confident Super Hero, Starman is a member of the Justice Society of America—DC’s original Super Hero team, which first appeared in ALL STAR COMICS #3 in 1940. Starman wields a mysterious anti-gravity weapon called the Cosmic Staff. His longtime partner is his sidekick, Stripesy, better known as Courtney Whitmore’s stepfather, Pat Dugan. 

The series itself follows Courtney (Brec Bassinger) as she inspires that unlikely group of young heroes to stop the villains of the past, and aims to reimagine Stargirl and the very first superhero team, the Justice Society of America, in what promises to be an unpredictable series. Stargirl focuses on the character that started executive producer Geoff Johns’ career as a comic book writer when he created her in 1999, and was lovingly inspired by his late sister, who was killed in a 1996 plane explosion.