One of the most divisive choices in James Gunn’s Superman last year was what he did with Jor-El.
Supergirl doesn’t walk it back. It doubles down, and in the process, it hands Kara Zor-El the heroic message that Gunn denied Clark Kent.
Warning: Full spoilers for Supergirl follow.
The Jor-El Change, Explained
For decades, the core of Superman’s origin has been simple and powerful: Jor-El and Lara send their son to Earth to save him, and to make him a beacon, a protector who would use his gifts to do good and inspire humanity.
The message from his birth parents is hope.
Gunn’s Superman altered that.
In his version, the Kryptonian message was reframed so that Kal-El was effectively sent to Earth to conquer it, a darker, more cynical spin on Krypton’s intentions that landed with a lot of fans as a betrayal of who Superman is supposed to be.
The idea that the most hopeful hero in comics was dispatched as a conqueror rather than a savior was, for many, the single most objectionable swing in the movie.
What Supergirl Does With It
However, some fans thought the Jor-El footage was something Lex cooked up. Even though Lex says it himself in the movie that he wasn’t responsible, and even with Gunn saying it, the fans still had hope that Gunn would walk it back.
Well, in Supergirl, it’s another giant middle finger to the fandom from Gunn, one that fans are now accustomed to from Gunn and his DCU.
Supergirl directly references that change and confirms it.
Kara’s father makes a remark tied to the same idea — that Kal was sent to conquer Earth — so the movie isn’t quietly ignoring the controversy. It’s acknowledging it and building on it.
Then comes the part that stings for Superman fans.
Kara’s father gives her the kind of send-off that, traditionally, belongs to Superman: be a hero, do good, use your power for something bigger than yourself.
It’s essentially the classic Jor-El message — the one Gunn took away from Clark — handed instead to Kara.
So Kara Is The “Real” Superman
Put the two films together and the implication is hard to miss.
In Gunn’s DCU, Superman was sent to conquer, rape and pillage, while Supergirl was sent to inspire.
Kara gets the better, more heroic origin message than the actual Superman does.
By that logic, she’s the one carrying the true Superman ideal, which makes her the “real” Superman of this universe, not Clark.
For fans who already disliked the conquer-Earth change, this plays as a deliberate doubling-down.
Gunn had a clear opportunity to soften or recontextualize the Superman twist. Instead, Supergirl leans into it and underlines it, positioning Kara as the inheritor of the heroic legacy Clark was written out of.
A Pattern, Not A One-Off
This connects to a broader complaint about Gunn’s handling of the character.
From the start, his take on Superman has drawn fire for chipping away at the hero’s traditional, unambiguously aspirational core, and the Jor-El change was the lightning rod.
Supergirl reinforcing it suggests it wasn’t an accident or a misread on the first go; it’s a creative direction Gunn is committed to. Don’t forget that Supegirl also starts with Krypto – his dog – pissing all over him. Gunn’s message is loud and clear: It’s FU.
For more, read our full Supergirl review and our breakdown of why the film’s bland villain revives an old Gunn problem. Supergirl is in theaters now.
