DC Studios' Supergirl movie makes some big changes to the Tom King and Bilquis Evely comic book it once shared a name with (the Woman of Tomorrow subtitle was dropped last summer).
Not all of those have sat well with fans of the eight-issue limited series, especially as the expectation was that the movie would be a direct adaptation. Ultimately, the main thing they have in common is characters like Ruthye and Krem of the Yellow Hills.
The latter goes from being a muscular, red-headed space pirate to something more along the lines of a Ravager in Guardians of the Galaxy. His dashing good looks are replaced with a face covered in metal studs, though that is more in keeping with Supergirl's grungy tone.
While the change to his appearance hasn't been explained, Supergirl writer Ana Nogueira has revealed why she wrote him as leader of the Brigands—a group he's only tangentially associated with on the page—reimagined here as an all-male group of sex traffickers.
"It's a crazy change," she started. "In the comic, Krem's just a guy, and he's not even a Brigand, but all of that for a movie is too complicated. You have two hours; you have to make everything one idea."
"We couldn't have Krem be a world destroyer because we wanted to keep it all within the same story," Nogueira added, justifying the decision not to show him committing genocide "because it was so far in the past, it didn't feel immediate to the story."
"I wanted something that could have our girls specifically be threatened," she notes, "because otherwise I don't know why the Brigands would even get caught up. And then it all clicked together: The Brigands are all men, so how do they continue to be Brigands? There's something that they need. So it was this thing that checked all of those boxes and felt connected to the characters."
Another controversial change sees Supergirl kill Krem after stabbing him in the neck and chest. While his death was deserved, it's a big change from what's on the page, where Kara Zor-El and Ruthye decide to send him to the Phantom Zone for 300 years (the comic's message is about why taking revenge is ultimately destructive).
However, Nogueira reveals that James Gunn, Peter Safran, Craig Gillespie, and Milly Alcock were all on board with Supergirl delivering the killing blow to Krem.
"Milly was never like, 'Why does she do this?' Milly was always like, 'She has to do this,'" the writer confirms. "She has to define herself differently than Superman."
"She has to say, 'I have my own morality. I have my own sense of goodness, and actually, my ability to discern when I'm gonna take somebody off the map is a power I have. I don't have a rule that you have. I have my own guidance, and I know this is the right thing to do. And the fact that I've been through it all gives me the ability to do this.'"
Finally, Nogueira addressed the decision not to include Comet the Super-Horse. He also plays a pivotal role in the comic; Krypto is never actually dying (Kara pretends so she can join Ruthye on her revenge mission and talk her out of taking vengeance), but Krem kills Comet, which nearly causes Supergirl to murder the big bad. Ruthye intervenes and stops her, revealing what she's learned from the Kriptonian about revenge.
"I love Comet the horse," Nogueira notes. "It's a lot to ask of a general audience to bring in Comet the horse, but I know people love Comet. There's so much that the general population would go, 'What? There's suddenly a horse?' And then for comics [fans], they're so happy Comet showed up, but anybody else going to see the movie would be like, 'I don't understand.' I couldn't do a horse and a dog."
Supergirl is now playing in theaters. How do you feel about these changes from the comics? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.