Supergirl Season 6 Retcons Kara’s History Post-Crisis

Supergirl’s time-traveling episode “Prom Night” uses the already overused excuse of a post-Crisis new world to explain why a significant part of Kara Danvers’s history is given a major rewrite. Brainy and Nia journey to a vastly different 2009 Earth Prime Midvale than the one Supergirl fans remember. Time will tell if these changes ultimately strengthen or weaken the show.

The highly acclaimed Supergirl season 3 episode “Midvale” gave fans their first introduction to young Kara and Alex Danvers. The episode was important in that the first time the Danvers sisters truly bonded was when they worked together to solve the murder of Kara’s young geek friend, Kenny Li. The episode is often considered one of Supergirl’s very best and an important turning point in the development of the sister relationship that is considered the heart and foundation of the show.

In “Prom Night,” Alex explains that Kenny Li was never murdered in this reality. While Alex has gone on to college at Stanford, Kenny and Kara are not only boyfriend and girlfriend, but they are also the beginnings of a superhero team. While these major changes to Supergirl’s history work well for short-term storytelling purposes, they significantly diminish the importance and impact of the original Midvale story, which marked a major turning point in Kara and Alex’s personal history. In “Midvale,” a pivotal moment showed Kara saying she “felt at home on Earth with Alex” in an emotional, powerful scene that paid tribute to the strong bond they share as adults.

“Prom Night” dismisses those major events with the hand-waving explanation that those memories belong to the old Earth, largely invalidating their significance. Thankfully, the episode doesn’t completely dismiss the original events, as Alex confirms that she and Kara have retained their Earth-38 memories and are aware of Kenny’s alternate fate. For the Danvers sisters, at least, those events still exist, as well as their bonding moment, however, given that there is still palpable tension between the sisters in “Prom Night”, next week’s “Prom Again”, needs a bonding moment of equal import on this Earth. The Supergirl resurrection of Kenny sets up many storytelling possibilities. He could easily be a supporting character in a much-desired prequel Danvers Sisters spin-off. Additionally, this twist opens the door for a grown-up Kenny Li to reenter Kara Danvers’s life. Will Kenny show up in National City and rekindle his romance with Kara? In the new timeline, Kenny is one of the people who has known Kara’s secret the longest and could play an important role in her post-Phantom Zone recovery.

Another major alteration to Supergirl’s established history is the appearance of a young Cat Grant, played by Eliza Helm nailing Calista Flockhart’s moves, early in her journalism career. In the show’s pilot, Kara was first introduced to Cat Grant when she took a job as Cat’s assistant. “Prom Night” sets up not only a much earlier meeting between the two but also hints that Cat may learn of Supergirl’s existence years before Kara dons the cape and symbol. Perhaps this early encounter with the hungry, tenacious young C.J. Grant is what inspires Kara to consider a career in journalism. While it’s entertaining to witness Cat’s path crossing with Kara’s, these interactions come at the cost of Supergirl and Cat Grant’s established history. Will the show imply that future Cat recognized Kara’s identity from their past collision and hired her as a result?

While “Prom Night” made for a fun Supergirl episode, there were advantages and disadvantages to rewriting Kara’s Midvale history. By presenting the young Danvers Sisters alongside intriguing supporting characters like Kenny Li and the young Cat Grant, Supergirl has shown that there are more stories to tell in the past. However, the show would be wise to not let a spinoff setup detract from the rich, meaningful character arcs already established.

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