Hello, my friends. When it comes to finding our true calling, it usually takes the proper place and the right group of people to help you reach your full potential. For a familiar Girl of Steel and a youthful genius, they’re about to engage a certain foe while discovering their rightful roles together. On that note, I welcome you back to another entry of my familiar review series known as…
We once again venture into the TomorrowVerse as a certain heroine looks to make a name for herself in the superhero space. In order to do so however, it’ll have to be in a harrowing struggle outside of her original time period. As such, she’ll find herself far away from what she’s previously known within a tale called…
Released in the U.S. on February 7, 2023, for digital download and on home video (mainly Blu-Ray & 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray), this film has Jeff Wamester in the director’s chair while Josie Campbell wrote the script. As for the personal venture that will span thousands of years, let’s hop into our critical craft and discover it for ourselves.
We open on Krypton as a youthful lady named Kara Zor-El (voiced by Meg Donnelly) is in the middle of a small-scale race with her mother named Alura (voiced by Jennifer Hale). Despite her daughter’s over-confidence, Alura manages to distract her in order to take a commanding lead.
Fortunately for Kara, she finds a nearby nature-filled path as she uses it to take a shortcut in order to surpass her mother and win the race.
Afterwards, she gets commended for her improved form due to her daily practices as Alura says that she would gladly join her if not for the numerous official responsibilities that she’s regularly tasked with across Argo City. While Kara is aware of her mother’s duties, she gets a little sad over it since it prevents them from hanging out with each other a lot. Alura promises to try and make time for her daughter before telling her that she’ll become “busy” with some new responsibilities herself. Kara initially thinks that it’ll be babysitting her baby cousin, but her mother actually reveals a badge as she discovers that she’s just been accepted into the Military Guild.
Suddenly, the planet begins to fall into a cataclysmic state as the two ladies make a run for it. They manage to reach a specific building as Alura tells her daughter that Jor-El had warned her about Krypton’s imminent destruction and that he gave the same warning to the Science Council, but it ultimately fell onto deaf ears. During this, she uses a console to unveil a series of hyper-sleep escape pods that she’s built off of Jor-El prototype. With this invention, she’ll be able to save Argo City’s citizens. Because the Science Council was against this, she’s had to create these pods in secret. As such, it’s the main reason why she was unable to spend more quality time with her daughter.
As she preps them however, she discovers that because she didn’t have enough time to properly perfect them, nearly all of the pods are un-operational. Thankfully, there’s one left that’s still functional. As such, Alura tells her daughter how much she’s proud of her before placing her into the pod. After it gets sealed up, Kara gets told to find her cousin and that her mother loves her.
From there, she gets launched into space before Krypton blows up. Shortly afterwards, a piece of the former planet strikes her pod, causing her to hit her head upon the door and get knocked out while the spacecraft spirals out into the cosmos.
During the opening credits, the pod slowly makes its way across the stars before it ultimately reaches Earth.
We then transition into Metropolis as a disguised Kara is out shopping for clothes due to the recommendation of her cousin. She then tells a mall display to bring up a map for her, naively thinking that an automated computer is inside of it. After learning from a security guard that the display is actually the mall’s map, she tries to use it and even taps her finger onto it, but her superhuman strength causes it to fall over, with even a pair of young ladies murmuring about her action and even calling her a “weirdo”. Suddenly, an explosion occurs in the distance as Kara decides to go check it out.
Over in the streets, the major destruction is being caused by Solomon Grundy (voiced by Darin De Paul). Not only that, but he’s also wielding a high-tech gun for his rampage as he intends to ultimately smite the municipality’s main protector. Just then, he’s met upon by Kara who’s in her superhero guise of Supergirl as their scuffle commences. During the tussle, she rips a fire hydrant from the sidewalk and throws it at him with enough force to smash him into a building. After he recovers and heads outside, he discovers that his gun has been damaged and rendered inoperable as he’s forced to discard it.
As they resume their fight, she then notices a pair of mysterious figures watching from a nearby alley. However, this distracts her long enough for Grundy to come in and deliver a severe beatdown.
Just then, he gets rammed into before getting pelted by a series of Batarangs, one of which is explosive. Sure enough, Bruce Wayne a.k.a. Batman (voiced by Jensen Ackles) & Kal-El a.k.a. Clark Kent a.k.a. Superman (voiced by Darren Criss) have arrived as the latter comes in and takes Solomon down with a key series of strikes.
After Kal-El checks up on his cousin, Bruce then takes him off to the side for an important talk. Back with Kara, she tells a nearby citizen that the day has been saved. However, the guy is bummed that his apartment became badly damaged as a result of the scuffle, and he even blames her for what happened to it. Supergirl then tells him that his “robot servants” can help him build “a better place”, but she again learns that Earth doesn’t have the same kind of robotic help that Krypton used to have. Meanwhile, Batman tells Superman that he’s doubtful about them being able to trust her. Even though Kal-El assures him that Kara’s been doing the best she can despite having only been on Earth for a couple of months, Bruce says that it’s not enough. He even says that she’s been a potential hazard to the human race, due to her accidentally damaging buildings and not being able to carefully control her powers. Even though Superman tells him that he doesn’t like his teammate’s terrifying implication about his cousin, they soon discover that she overheard their conversation as she tearfully flies off.
Shortly after Kal-El heads out after her, Batman notices the weapon that Grundy used as he investigates it and discovers a red rock within in as its power source. Suddenly, he’s met upon by Barry Allen a.k.a. Flash (voiced by Matt Bomer) who arrives too late to the situation due to being held up within Star City. As Barry surprisingly learns that Solomon used a high-tech weapon during his recent rampage, Bruce decides to look into it since the fiend isn’t capable of creating a device “this complex”.
Later that night at the Kent Family farm in Smallville, Supergirl is sulking up on the barn’s roof while looking over her Military Guild badge. Just then, Superman flies in and tries to tell her that he also used to come up here whenever he felt bad. He then says that he can’t imagine the personal struggles that she’s going through, even mentioning that her pod got knocked off course and caused her to arrive on Earth several decades past when she was originally supposed to. As such, he wants her to be careful and give Earth a chance. Kara tells him that she’s trying, but she’s having a hard time dealing with how primitive this world seems to be to her. With their home planet & her mother no longer existing and also due to Batman’s distrust of her, she feels like she doesn’t belong anywhere.
Thankfully, Superman has a different idea for her. As such, he takes out a small sphere and throws it, creating a portal into an entirely different place. They then fly into it as Kal-El’s device closes the portal and returns to him before Kara takes in the futuristic surroundings and spots a particular building. Superman then tells her that they’re still on Earth, but in the 31st Century as he also says that the building is the main headquarters for the Legion of Super-Heroes.
Back in the 21st Century and within S.T.A.R. Labs, the building gets broken into by the same mysterious figures as they shoot a pair of security guards with their high-tech guns, causing them to disintegrate. With a scientist at their mercy, he offers them his I.D. badge in exchange for his life. However, they refuse and execute him before blasting their way into a high-end lab, which contains a familiar figure’s head within a special tube.
Suddenly, one of the goons gets taken out by a Batarang as Batman uses another one to slice up their high-tech guns. From there, he easily defeats them before he confronts the lone conscious soldier in order to figure out who they are & why they’re here. However, the goon simply tells him “The Circle remains unbroken” before Bruce discovers that he’s taken his own life with a cyanide capsule. Afterwards, he contacts his Justice League comrades about the break-in at S.T.A.R. Labs and that he doesn’t know what the fiends were after.
Meanwhile in the 31st Century, Kara asks her cousin how and why they’re in their current location. Clark explains that he used a Time Bubble, which he got from the futuristic team and allows him to travel between two fixed points in time. As for the Legion of Super-Heroes, he says that they’re a heroic group that came together to combat crime after being inspired by him. After he helped create the Justice League, the Legion initially contacted him via the Time Bubble and he’s been in sporadic contact with them ever since. As for why they’re here, he mentions that the team has its own training program for budding Legionnaires within Legion Academy and that it can provide her with some proper training. However, Kara is initially unsure.
Just then, they’re met upon by Lar Gand a.k.a. Mon-El (voiced by Yuri Lowenthal) who immediately expresses his admiration to her before mentioning that he’s also a Legion Academy trainee. Because of his last name, she asks him if he’s a fellow Kryptonian. However, he says that he’s actually a Daxamite from a planet called Daxam. Despite that, he says that he’s been a fan of Krypton ever since childhood and has even legally changed his last name. Specifically, he admires the former planet for its “scientific wonders”, its “emphasis on conformity” and its “order”. Not to mention, he shares her equal liking of their robots. Ultimately, she becomes smitten for him and becomes convinced into joining the trainee program. From there, Superman uses the Time Bubble to return to his time period. Afterwards, Mon-El proceeds to give her a tour of Legion Academy.
Later, they complete the tour as Supergirl notices something adjacent to the main building. Mon-El informs her that it’s the vault and that it contains every weapon that the Legion has confiscated. He then demonstrates its security system by tossing a small rock towards it as the main door blasts it with a series of lasers. He goes on to explain that throughout the entire team’s history, it’s never been broken into due to its hair trigger-based system. Not only that, but all Legion Academy members aren’t allowed in there.
Afterwards, they’re met upon by another budding Legionnaire named Dawnstar (voiced by Cynthia Hamidi) as she tells Kara that she’s her roommate before also expressing her own excitedness with them eventually training together. Just as they’re all about to head inside in order to meet the rest of Kara’s fellow recruits, a familiar figure is emerging from the building as Supergirl recognizes him as Brainiac. With her stunned by seeing him after having somehow survived a Kryptonite Bullet to the head, she picks him up and looks to prevent him from causing any harm. However, he has no idea what she’s talking about, yet he takes her “unhinged actions” as a threat before he uses a device on his belt to force her off of him. Afterwards, he uses the same mechanism to create a force field that easily withstands Kara’s punches. He also mentions that he’s a 12th-level intellect and that his barrier is made of “kinetic-reactive photonic energy”, which will only get tougher with every single punch that she tries to throw at it. However, she delivers an uppercut that lifts him and the ground that he’s on before she kicks him into the air.
He ends up crashing into a classroom before he retaliates by using his belt-based device to create three small energy balls that proceed to attack her with a strong electrical blast. As their fellow recruits observe all of this, Supergirl manages to zap the small spheres with her Heat Vision. After a short while, their fight gets broken up by a Legionnaire who’s also an academy teacher.
The two of them are then brought into the main chamber as they get scolded for their “reckless endangerment” and for causing some classroom damage. Kara says that Brainiac was pulling out a weapon and she’s even surprised that he’s allowed to be here. However, he says that he’s not the Brainiac that she knows and that he was originally going to repair a laser for a project before she engaged him. One of the head Legionnaires named Tasmia Mallor a.k.a. Shadow Lass (voiced by Victoria Grace) tells Kara that he’s actually Brainiac 5 (voiced by Harry Shum, Jr.) before explaining that scientists on the planet Colu created him and his siblings out of the organic remains of the original Brainiac. Not only that, but he’s also a Legion Academy trainee. From there, a fellow Legionnaire named Brin Londo a.k.a. Timber Wolf (voiced by Robbie Daymond) tells them that they’re in trouble, especially since the rest of the Legion is away on a mission. From there, his fellow Legionnaire named Condo Arlik a.k.a. Chemical King (voiced by Eric Lopez) lets them off with a warning before dismissing them.
After Supergirl and Brainiac 5 head out, Timber Wolf asks his fellow teammates why Saturn Girl allowed Brainiac 5 to join the team, especially since the prior three clones ended up becoming just as evil as their originator. Brin then says that Brainiac 5 will ultimately become like his predecessors and unleash a devious plot before vanishing, to which Chemical King says that he and Shadow Lass agree with him, but Brainiac 5 was ultimately allowed to stay since he received enough votes. She then tells him that they have much bigger concerns to deal with before she uses her Umbrakinesis to conceal themselves from the outside world via her self-created darkness. From there, she says that they haven’t heard from their fellow Legionnaires ever since they headed towards the planet Durla in order to combat some terrorist attacks. Not only that, but they can’t find their teammates. Not only are they unable to get in contact with their Legionnaires, but they’re also not even showing up on their intergalactic map. Chemical King admits that it could be their own computer problems that they’ve been dealing with over the past day, to which Timber Wolf says that they can’t rule anything out. From there, his tells his teammates to check their system and that they must be prepared. Shadow Lass then adds onto the fact that their academy recruits must not know about this. Unbeknownst to them, Brainiac 5 had discreetly placed a receiver inside the main hall and has overheard their conversation.
Meanwhile, Supergirl and Mon-El arrive back in the dorms as Dawnstar introduces her to their fellow classmates. First, there’s Charles Taine a.k.a. Bouncing Boy (voiced by Ely Henry) who can turn his body into a giant bouncing ball. Next up, there’s Jacques Foccart a.k.a. Invisible Kid (voiced by Zeno Robinson) who can turn himself invisible, but not his uniform as well. While both of them are from Earth, Luornu Durgo a.k.a. Triplicate Girl (voiced by Daisy Lightfoot) is a native of the planet Cargg and is capable of splitting herself into three self-figures.
Dawnstar then introduces Kara to the Bgztlian heroine known as Tinya Wazzo a.k.a. Phantom Girl (voiced by Gideon Adlon) who’s able to phase through walls. However, she’s also shy as she uses her hands to also present their class pet named Proty. Finally, there’s the hero of Lallor known as Floyd Belkin a.k.a. Arms-Falls-Off Boy (voiced by Benjamin Diskin) who’s presently able to only make one of his arms pop off his body.
Afterwards, Triplicate Girl mentions how there’s only a single open spot within the Legion and that Mon-El is most likely going to get in due to his powers being more impressive than the rest of them. However, Mon-El tells them that they all have the potential to join the team, even Brainiac 5.
We then shift to a class as Kara, Brainiac 5 and their fellow trainees are being taught by Chemical King. He then calls upon Supergirl to solve a hyperdrive equation, but Brainiac 5 simply scoffs at her once she finishes. In a later class set within the training room, Shadow Lass has the recruits taking part in a fight simulation against a series of drones. Brainiac 5 tries to take on a drone, but Kara easily smites it before she acts smug at him.
The two of them are then forced to properly build a drone, but their creations either end up crashing or malfunctioning and attacks their classmates. As the latter happens, Supergirl and Brainiac 5 agree to join forces in order to stop the rogue drone. He’s able to distract it before taking out its motion targeting system, allowing her to blast it with her Heat Vision. Despite their teamwork, they end up going back to arguing with each other. Meanwhile, Timber Wolf walks in and sees the destruction that was made onto the classroom. As such, he tells them that they’ll be kicked out of the academy and will be properly dealt with in the morning.
Later, Kara and her classmates take their leave from the academy. Dawnstar then tells her to not feel bad for herself, since she’s not the first person to fight Brainiac 5. She also mentions that not only does his intellectual superiority vibe rub their classmates the wrong way, but they, as well as their teachers, don’t really want him here. Despite the intended-encouraging notion, Supergirl doesn’t necessarily feel better about it. As her classmates head out, she then spots Brainiac 5 emerging from the building who sees her before heading out on his own. Suddenly, she spots some Circle agents on top of the building before Dawnstar asks her if she’s coming. Once Kara looks back at the academy, the mysterious foes have vanished. Not only that, but she’s unable to spot them with her X-Ray Vision.
Later that night, Triplicate Girl is out looking for Proty after it managed to escape. She ultimately finds it before it tries to tell her something. Just then, she spots Mon-El from afar and wonders what he’s doing before she’s suddenly approached by some Circle soldiers. Despite initially putting up a good fight, they manage to overwhelm and strike her down before shooting her with their high-tech gun as Proty helplessly watches from afar.
Meanwhile, Supergirl prepares to apologize to Brainiac 5 for their recent arguments before she spots him from afar and heading towards the vault. She tries to ask him what he’s doing, but he says that it doesn’t concern her. Just then, Proty reaches them and points them towards Triplicate Girl’s charred corpse.
Just as Brainiac 5 mentions how he’s “too late”, he suddenly gets captured within Shadow Lass’ shadow powers before Timber Wolf gets him in his grasp and Chemical King disables his belt-based device with some acid before he confiscates it. They then tell Kara that Brainiac 5 wasn’t being honest with them and that he planted a virus into their computer system in order to disable their communications with their Legionnaires. Not only that, but he also hacked his way into joining Legion Academy since no one voted for him to receive admission. From there, he plans on acquiring a dangerous weapon from their vault in order to unleash a diabolical scheme. While Brainiac 5 does admit to hacking into their computer system, he says that he didn’t murder Luornu since the true culprits are the Dark Circle and that they’re planning to infiltrate their base. However, the Legionnaires don’t believe him as they begin to send him into a holding cell and place the entire grounds on lockdown. Supergirl then realizes that Brainiac 5’s “plan” to go to the vault, slay Triplicate Girl, walk away and then return just to get caught doesn’t make sense, to which Timber Wolf says that Luornu initially surprised him and thus, he returned to “finish the job”. However, she doesn’t believe that Brainiac 5 would stoop to such a poorly thought-out plan and that he most likely told them the truth, since she feels like she’s heard of the Dark Circle before. Despite her notion, Brin doesn’t buy into it before he heads out.
Later, Kara breaks into the training room and asks the main computer to share all of its information about the Dark Circle from its library databanks. She proceeds to learn about the terrorist cult that’s gone by various names over several centuries and that they’ve consisted of fanatics who’re after “an unknown goal”. Over the years, they’ve taken part in loads of devious acts, but the key fact is that they sometimes act as “observers” before they vanish without any trace. Not only that, but it doesn’t know the identity of its leader or even how they were originally created.
From there, she reaches the holding cells and tells Brainiac 5 that she’s seen some Dark Circle agents from both her time period & also just recently in this one. As such, she wants to know what he was “too late” to stop. He proceeds to tell her of a contraption made by “the god-like controllers of Oa” called the Miracle Machine, which is capable of bending reality to the will of whomever operates it. Once its creators known as the Controllers disappeared, its original purpose vanished with them. From there, it was used as a “weapon of mass destruction” before the Legion captured it and placed it into their vault. Because he overheard his family members intending to swipe it for the Dark Circle’s leader, he had to intervene by joining Legion Academy and take it before they did. She then asks him why he didn’t just tell the Legion about it, to which he essentially says that his family’s infamous history would’ve gotten in the way of them believing him. Despite him thinking that she would’ve also seen him as a liar, she lets him out of his cell in order for them to break into the vault and take the machine before the Dark Circle gets to it first, especially since she believes him. When Brainiac 5 asks her how they’ll be able to get past Timber Wolf and his fellow Legionnaires on patrol without his belt, she soon reveals that she managed to retrieve it.
From there, they’re able to reach the vault via her self-flight. Once Supergirl notices that they’re able to approach the main safe door without opposition, Brainiac 5 begins to apologize to her for his recent actions.
Suddenly, they’re met upon by Mon-El as he mentions that he overheard the Legionnaires while heading back to his dorm. Because he’s aware of the situation, he offers to help them. From there, they begin their break-in as Brainiac 5 throws a special ball towards the vault door, where it proceeds to absorb enough of the opposing lasers before sending out an energy field to cancel them out.
Once they head inside, they’re met upon by their next challenge. Brainiac 5 informs his comrades that this is the second & last security protocol that stands between them and the Miracle Machine. However, he’s only going to have a short amount of time to crack the security code due to some drones emerging to engage them. With only 30 seconds to work with, he begins to put his 12th-level intelligence to the test in order to solve the puzzle and beat the security system. As he attempts to crack the code, he discovers that he’s dealing with a “holographic neural overlay” that’s “designed to cook the user’s brain” and make him stay focused on their objective in order to properly decrypt it. As such, he discovers that it’s going to take him a little longer to solve it. While Supergirl prepares to take on the opposing drones, Brainiac 5 warns her that if even one of them gets destroyed, then the whole room will get purged.
After reluctantly agreeing with him, she then uses her Freeze Breath to encase the drones in ice. However, more of them emerge and prepare to fire upon them. With the security code constantly resetting itself to Brainiac 5’s dismay, Kara then uses her Heat Vision to keep the recovered drones from approaching them. Ultimately, he’s able to solve the puzzle and defeat the security system as our group makes their way into the key chamber.
They ultimately discover the Miracle Machine before Mon-El suddenly turns on them as he takes out a Kryptonite dagger and stabs Kara in her gut while also revealing his allegiance to the Dark Circle. From there, he activates a device to signal the group into launching their takeover of the whole compound.
While Timber Wolf is able to defeat the initial batch of Circle soldiers, they ultimately overwhelm and surround him. From there, they also defeat his fellow Legionnaires & every single Legion Academy student as they imprison them within the holding cells, thus taking control over their base.
Back in the vault, Mon-El tells Supergirl not to move since it’ll allow the Kryptonite to swiftly spread from the dagger and into her body. She then asks him why he’s doing this, to which he says that he does respect Kryptonian culture for being “Orderly”, “Uniform” and “Pure”. However, he considers Earth to be rotten and that the Legion is behind it due to them encouraging lesser figures into becoming heroes. As such, he intends to help the Dark Circle bring the planet “to heights not seen since the Kryptonian empire”. During this explanation, Brainiac 5 manages to pull the Kryptonite dagger out of Kara. Afterwards, Mon-El learns of the Dark Circle’s completed takeover before he tells our heroes that the “leader” would like to meet with them.
While Supergirl still feels the painfully-lingering Kryptonite within her body, she and Brainiac 5 are met upon by the misshaped mass that’s actually the original Brainiac (also voiced by Darin De Paul). Brainiac 5 asks him how he’s still alive despite dying back in the 21st Century, to which Brainiac explains that his brain was struck by his own Kryptonite Bullet, but he had enough remaining material to rebuild himself. As his fellow soldiers come in, he says that he created the Dark Circle a whole millennium ago to order to properly forge his vision of “a new world”. As for how he managed to be saved, the group removed his brain from his original body and placed it into a new one that they grew over several centuries. However, he then tells Brainiac 5 that he was the key linchpin to his master plan. It turns out that him overhearing their intention to take the Miracle Machine was intentional and only his 12th-level intellect could help him & his group get past the vault’s security system.
However, Brainiac 5 tells him that his explanation mentioned about his prior clones only being 10th-level intellects and that he wants to know where they are. To his horror, he discovers that Vril Dox a.k.a. Brainiac 2 (also voiced by Bejamin Diskin), Lyrl Dox a.k.a. Brainiac 3 (also voiced by Zeno Robinson) and Kajz Dox a.k.a. Brainiac 4 (also voiced by Robbie Draymond) were actually built into Brainiac’s new body. He explains that once his brain finally regrew, his old body became useless. As such, the Dark Circle cloned him while allowing him to keep “the best parts” from his first three clones in order to build his current body. From there, he personally considered them unworthy of becoming the Dark Circle’s leader and that only he can truly purge the entire universe of “chaos and rot”, since he sees himself as “the most advanced mind that has ever existed”.
He then says that only Kara could’ve stopped him from creating his “pure and orderly future” that’s led by the “superior”. Through his solders’ constant observations, they were able to discover her weakness to Kryptonite, as well as her own need to help those that he deems “more pathetic” than her. Brainiac 5 rightfully calls him a monster, to which Brainiac says that he’s a hero who will be seen as a savior that protects them from upcoming threats once he’s able to bend reality to his will. He then tells Brainiac 5 that once Supergirl dies, his body will get added into his own twisted form. Fortunately, Brainiac 5 manages to escape with her as Brainiac tells his team to hunt them down while he acclimates himself to the Miracle Machine.
Meanwhile, Brainiac 5 takes the weakened Kara into their dorm room in order to purge her body of the remaining Kryptonite as he takes a device from his belt and places it over her wound. While the process gets underway, he proceeds to apologize to her for everything and admits that his plan to defeat the Dark Circle was just an attempt to prove that he’s not an evil clone. He then says that not only did he fail in proving that, but he’s nothing like her in terms of her heroic traits. Fortunately, she’s able to regain her consciousness as the device completely extracts the remaining Kryptonite from her. With the two of them having become completely smitten with each other, they begin to lean in for a kiss. Suddenly, the door opens as a pair of Dark Circle soldiers head in. Fortunately, our heroes get saved by Phantom Girl who’s able to phase them through the wall.
Not only that, but Luornu is also alive yet is only able to split into two versions of herself. She explains that she saw Mon-El meeting up with some Dark Circle agents. As such, she brought out her third self-figure right before she got to the vault and that it was ultimately the one that got killed. Afterwards, Invisible Kid makes his presence known by revealing that he’s fully-mastered his invisibility. He even explains that Phantom Girl had found Triplicate Girl before the attack and that he managed to turn invisible in time in order to escape. As such, all three of them have been in hiding ever since. With their teachers and their fellow students captured, Tinya tells them that it’s time for them to become heroes. From there, Brainiac 5 mentions that he has a plan to help them usurp control of Legion Academy from the Dark Circle, but they’ll need their Academy classmates to help them execute it.
From there, they set their plan in motion as Phantom Girl saves Dawnstar, Arms-Fall-Off Boy and Bouncing Boy. After Floyd uses his detachable limb to acquire a device, they regroup in their dorm as Brainiac 5 tries to discover where the core team of Legionnaires are located. When he’s unable to find anything, Dawnstar then uses her long-range tracking ability to search the cosmos before coming across a possible lead over in Quadrant Beta. From there, he encrypts their message for help before he ultimately sends it. Fortunately, they’re able to get a signal as it reaches its destination. From there, he says that it’s time for them to carry out the hardest part of his plan.
We then shift to the outside grounds of Legion Academy as Mon-El tells a pair of Dark Circle soldiers that they have to find their targets while Brainiac is syncing up with the Miracle Machine. Suddenly, they’re approached by Supergirl and Brainiac 5 as a fight breaks out between both sides. Kara proceeds to get chased by Mon-El, while Brainiac 5 is being pursued by the Dark Circle agents.
Eventually, Supergirl carries Brainiac 5 into the main building as they lead Mon-El around the facility. He ultimately catches up to them and throws a punch, but he discovers that they were holograms created from Brainiac 5’s belt. From there, the rest of their teammates arrive to collectively take Mon-El on while they head out to stop Brainiac.
They manage to return to the vault as Kara tells the fiend that his plan has been foiled. However, he says that it’s only begun as he makes out “the shape of all things”, to which he intends on enclosing his own dark circle around it and impose his own will. From there, he uses the Miracle Machine to cast out a powerful energy wave that spreads outwards and brings all of our heroes to their knees. Unfortunately for Mon-El, Brainiac doesn’t spare him from it as he also suffers from its overbearing force.
From there, the powerful energy wave continues to expand out into space and encompasses every planet in its path within its imprisoning might.
Brainiac then admires how much his plan has unfolded and even calls himself ” the supreme being”, but Brainiac 5 tells him that he’s only operating the Miracle Machine and that he’s always believed his clones to be superior to him. While Brainiac continues to gloat about his superiority, the three clones merged onto his body begin to argue and differ with him. During this somewhat-internal struggle, Brainiacs 2 through 4 disputes with both Brainiac and each other about who deserves to be the one that truly rules both the Dark Circle & all of reality.
From there, they manage to partially break free from Brainiac’s body and weaken him. Afterwards, Brainiac 3 wearily sees the Miracle Machine and uses his will to back Brainiac up towards it. With the three clones struggling to gain control of the devious device, Brainiac tells them they’ll all get vanquished. Brainiac 5 manages to tell his fellow clones that only one of them can truly be the absolute ruler, to which they forcibly try to rip themselves from the host body. In the end, Brainiac ultimately defeats himself as he forcibly rips his own body apart.
Despite this momentary victory, the Miracle Machine continues its devious operations as Brainiac 5 realizes that it won’t stop until it unravels the entirety of reality. Supergirl then tries to destroy it with a series of strikes, but to no avail. Suddenly, the contraption puts her in an out-of-body trance where she finds herself reunited with her mother. Kara then realizes that she could use the Miracle Machine to bring her back to life and even restore Krypton as well. However, Brainiac 5 tells her it won’t prevent all of reality from breaking up.
As such, she tells her mom that while she misses her, she has to let her go since she’s needed in her current time period. Fortunately, Alura assures her that she’s always been proud of her. Afterwards, Brainiac 5 tells her that the Miracle Machine will maintain its destructive operations as long as it continues to exist within their reality. As such, they’ll combine their willpower and force it into another plane of existence. From there, they carry out their plan as it causes the contraption to undo its imperialistic wave across the cosmos.
Supergirl then takes out her Military Guild badge and puts it on as a satisfied Alura and the Miracle Machine vanish from this reality. Afterwards, she tearfully hugs Brainiac 5 and thanks him.
Back with Mon-El, he wakes up to see the remaining Dark Circle agents get entirely defeated by the Legion Academy trainees. During this scuffle, Luornu even mentions to Bouncing Boy and her teammates that she’s going by a new codename: Duplicate Girl.
With this overwhelming defeat, Mon-El tells his fellow soldiers to retreat. Fortunately, Dawnstar and Phantom Girl manage to take out two enemy agents.
Not only that, but Supergirl and Brainiac 5 rejoin them as Kara tangles against the traitorous figure. As their fight takes to the skies, she manages to deliver some vicious strikes to his face. Mon-El then desperately tries to sway her to his side by offering her a spot in the Dark Circle in order for them to restore “the pride of Krypton”. Fortunately, Supergirl refuses before she delivers a few key hits and forces him onto the ground with a defeated thud.
From there, the rest of her teammates surround him before Duplicate Girl holds him up with a high-tech gun.
Later, they manage to place Mon-El and his Dark Circle soldiers into the holding cells. Suddenly, the entire Legion team has finally returned to Earth before the founding leaders named Imra Adreen a.k.a. Saturn Girl, Rokk Krinn a.k.a. Cosmic Boy (also voiced by Eric Lopez) & Garth Ranzz a.k.a. Lightning Lad meet up with Kara and her fellow trainees. Impressed with their accomplishment, Cosmic Boy declares all of them as official Legionnaires.
Afterwards, Brainiac 5 apologizes to Supergirl for them being unable to bring her mother and her home planet back. Though he does offer to replicate the Miracle Machine, she kisses him and says that Earth has its benefits. From there, they decide to add some additional points for their “research” as they share another kiss.
And so, the film ends on a post-credits scene as Kara contacts her cousin back in the 21st Century. After sharing her 31st Century experiences with him (even mentioning that Duplicate Girl had shot Mon-El with the high-tech gun), she mentions that Brainiac 5 managed to create some technical upgrades for the Legion, which even included improvements to the Time Bubble so that they can have more time-spanning conversations. She then introduces her boyfriend to Clark before they conclude their call.
Afterwards, Batman comes in as Superman tells him that he didn’t offer his cousin to return to their original time period, especially since there’s some trouble brewing for them. With a devastating and heated mark left within Metropolis, Bruce’s sensors begin to go off as Kal-El notices a bright light growing within the sky. Suddenly, a powerful beam shoots down and consumes them within it before they vanish.
Now that this time-spanning venture has concluded, let’s get to my character analysis. First up, we have the Woman of Tomorrow herself: Supergirl. When we first meet her, her life is fairly stable and she’s about to become a part of something bigger upon her home planet. However, Krypton’s destruction, the unintended amount of time that it took for her to reach Earth and her initial struggles of being a superhero has shaken her to her core, making her think that there’s no place for her. Not to mention, her months of attempted adjustment to her new world hasn’t been smooth at all and has made her long for the good days upon her prior planet. Thankfully, the acceptance of her cousin’s offer sees her on a futuristic Earth that resembles her original world a little better and training alongside potential figures who either come from Earth or are from other planets. Obviously, the Legion takes the place of the Kyptonian Military Guild as she trains herself in order to provide some protective service to others. Aside from the lessons that she learns while she’s within her regular training, she also discovers whom she can actually trust. While Mon-El was the good-looking and Krypton-admiring inspiration that convinced her to try out for the team, it’s Brainiac 5 that she ultimately relates to. For example, both of them have families that’re unable to properly support and mold them into becoming their better selves. While Brainiac 5’s situation is extremely rough due to him being the fourth (and only good-natured) clone to an infamous villain, Kara’s only support initially comes from Kal-El who means well, but isn’t equipped to give her the proper guidance that she needs. Not to mention, Batman’s signature distrust of others isn’t helping out her cause at all. Once Brainiac 5 gets framed for the supposed murder of Triplicate Girl, it forces her to learn about the Dark Circle before she learns of his actual intentions and breaks him out in order for them to avert the true disaster to come. By the end, she’s able to let go of her past and be with someone who helps her feel wanted while they work alongside their superpowered comrades & fight evil. If I had any criticism about her characterization, then it would be the need for more visual coverage of her initial Earth-based flaw. After all, Batman mentions about her superheroics causing some property damage. However, the most that I noticed from that was when she ripped a fire hydrant off of the ground in order to use it against Solomon Grundy. Aside from that, the massive fiend still caused the majority of damage upon Metropolis. Also, I would’ve liked it if she was placed into situations where she was forced to deal with some tense moments, but she accidentally caused some damage in order to get the job done. That way, it would’ve seen her work on her personal problem and her moment of dealing with the vault-based drones would’ve been a nice payoff. Aside from that, Supergirl is handled really well within her starring role. Meg Donnelly brought some youthful energy that nicely gelled with the character, allowing her to deliver some good emotional range throughout the whole proceedings. As such, it would be interesting to hear her in the role again should Kara gets some further development within this movie line. Other than that, she delivers her performance with ease and handles the lead role with flying colors.
Next up, we have our unlikely youthful genius in Brainiac 5. As he discovers throughout the course of the movie, he’ll unexpectedly find himself trading in one family for another that’s not only far-more stable, but it’ll also wind up with someone whom he initially didn’t have a good first impression. As the only good-natured clone and the lone Brainiac that managed to not fall to the dark side, he hoped to prevent his devious kins from taking the Miracle Machine for their own by sneaking his way into Legion Academy, unaware of it actually being the inaugural Brainiac’s intention. After hacking his way into the school, he most likely spent some time planning his eventual theft of the devious device while going to class in order to keep up his disguise. More than likely, he couldn’t come up with an efficient plan due to how air-tight the vault’s security system is. Because of how effective his own energy shields have become by the time that Kara joined, it’s possible that he intended on using those to help him and it simply took him that long to finally perfect them. As he displayed during the majority of his time within Legion Academy, he does have a similar arrogance towards his high-level intelligence like his original Brainiac. While it initially drives the other students away, his eventual bond with Kara slowly begins to take shape after they team-up to stop a rogue drone from harming their students. Eventually, his foiled solo attempt at swiping the Miracle Machine (as well as being framed for supposedly murdering Triplicate Girl) leads to his capture before Supergirl’s personal realization of certain events leads to her breaking him out to deal with this problem themselves. Through this whole humbling ordeal, he repays the favor when she gets weakened by the Kryptonite dagger and he has to save her while apologizing for his earlier behavior. After that and the overall climax, their partnership becomes much stronger and he’s able to return the personal humbleness he went through by being a supportive figure for both her and their team. As far as performances go, Harry Shum, Jr. brought an appropriate level of emotional monotone that suits the character. His age also brought a vital counterpoint to Donnelly’s delivery, allowing Brainiac 5 to ultimately come off as a somewhat-wise figure who can properly help her become the hero she’s meant to be and even repay him into becoming far-more accepted amongst their peers. As it stands, Harry was very effective throughout this whole ordeal.
Moving on to our villains, we now get to our featured foe in Brainiac. When we last saw him in “Justice Society: World War II”, he was fighting both Superman and Flash. Thanks to Barry’s unintended time-travelling venture, he was able to prevent the evil intellect from smiting Kal-El and redirect his own lethal shot right back at him. Given how he created the Dark Circle within his explanation, it’s possible that he formed his sinister and secretive group within a decent amount of time before his 21st Century tussle. After Allen puts him out of commission, he slowly bides his time to return while his group continues to restore him and also commit horrific acts upon the populace. With his first three clones being forcefully fused onto him in order for his new body to work and with his intent to rule over all sentient beings within the universe, he shows off his superiority complex by sharing his notion of being the most intelligent lifeform of all. Just like his prior appearance, we don’t see him too much throughout the proceedings. Through his Dark Circle, his looming presence is felt over Kara. As for his master plan, it’s not the most original scheme ever created. After all, it ultimately comes down to universal domination. As for how he attempts to do so while so bending the willpower of all lifeforms to his own, it does reach the devious ambition of another familiar DC baddie in Darkseid with his pursuit of the Anti-Life Equation. In terms of its execution, it’s actually done really well. After all, it combines a malicious machine originally created by high-end beings and Brainiac’s supreme intelligence in order to help the execution of his end goal feel somewhat fresh. As for how he’s ultimately defeated, it circles around back to his youngest clone and his attempt to exploit his own genius intellect in order to get what he wants. Due to how the Scarlet Speedster physically defeated him and also due to him seeing his clones as inferior by comparison, he had his Dark Circle take his first three clones and merge them with his new body since his original vessel was ultimately rendered damaged beyond repair. However, their sentience weren’t completely repressed as they manage to rebel and separate themselves just enough from him that he has to take himself out in order to stop them. Unlike Brainiac 5 who ultimately finds himself within a supportive group and fits with those who won’t take him for granted, Brainiac only uses his closest kin to achieve his own personal goal. As such, he dooms himself like a dysfunctional family due to making himself as the solo combined majority of his family, ultimately falling apart due to the poor care and abuse of his own clones. In terms of performance, Darin De Paul is right at home with his early 2020s string of villainous roles. For his second go-around on the character, he delivers a booming bass-like pitch that can be a little hard to make out what he’s saying at times yet has enough of a presence to present him as a physically weary, yet mentally towering foe over the proceedings. Despite not being present within his main antagonist role until the second half of the film, he still makes the most out of what he has to work with and gives enough of an opposing presence in order to make this role be neatly effective.
Finally, we have a Legionnaire who’s made a turn to the dark side with Mon-El. His backstory of admiring Krypton’s past does serve as one of two moments that foreshadow his potential betrayal to the Legion. He admires absolute order and it’s possible that his studies on the doomed planet may have given him a skewed and unrealistic series of thoughts on how that world actually worked with maintaining order. Because he fits in with Brainiac and the Dark Circle’s plans, he believes that only the strongest beings should be the ones who run the world. It’s possible that he also serves as an inside agent for the Dark Circle, but there’s not enough coverage in that area in order to make that notion definitive enough. As such, he mainly serves as a superpowered right-hand man who’s own desire happens to somehow sync up with Brainiac’s objective. Due to how the Miracle Machine takes him out of action in the same way that Kara, Brainiac 5 and their teammates briefly find themselves in, one would think that he would be given a way to resist the contraption’s powerful energetic output. Maybe there’s a certain level of mistrust that Brainiac has with him that could’ve been somehow explored, since the somewhat lack of coverage does leave Mon-El within a two-dimensional development space. While his motivation is clear, one does wonder how he came across the Dark Circle and what lead to him believing that they would help him achieve that toxic state-of-mind. Despite the faults that I’ve found with him, Yuri Lowenthal still makes this turncoat hero effective with some charming delivery combined with some effective experience behind his voice. Even though his character isn’t as effectively presented as I would’ve liked, he still helped in making his part properly stand out.
The story sees our main protagonists finding acceptance amongst themselves and with other figures. If I were to guess the theme for this movie, then it would be “Wholesomeness”. Through the Legion and Brainiac 5, Kara is able to properly belong within a place that somewhat feels like her home world while also joining a group that goes out to help people. Not only that, but she’s also found the most unlikely person who’s somewhat of a outcast like she is. As for Brainiac 5, his personal mission against his devious family members ultimately led him to becoming part of a noble group of heroes, which includes an unexpected girlfriend whom he can fight crime alongside. As for the story that sees them coming together, the events are presented in a fairly competent fashion. There are a few moments that dip into breaking the code of “Show, Don’t Tell”, since it would’ve helped if they were visually fleshed out. The narrative’s urgency kicks into high gear once Triplicate Girl’s supposed death happens and leads into Supergirl’s investigative efforts. This may be something of a pacing hiccup due to the length of the movie, since it leads to the attempted break-in at the vault followed by the surprising twists. Other than that, the pacing is mostly well-handled and effectively serves its story. The supporting cast all handled their roles to the best of their abilities with the biggest standouts amongst them being Dawnstar and Triplicate Girl, mainly due to how much interactions they have between Supergirl and the audience. As such, it’s a major compliment that Cynthia Hamidi & Daisy Lightfoot make the absolute most out of their minor roles through their own major presences and unique personalities. As for the notable figures who reside in the 21st Century, Superman & Batman serve as the positive and negative counterpoints to Kara’s key development since on a similar note to their own selves from “Superman/Batman: Apocalypse”, they’re both ill-equipped to give her all that she needs to properly strive. As for the Dark Knight’s own investigation that sees him personally cross paths with the Dark Circle agents at S.T.A.R. Labs, not much comes out of that scene other than it serving as the possible basis for the devious group eventually recovering Brainiac in order to slowly rebuild him for their eventual strike 1,000 years later. After all, we don’t catch up with our familiar 21st Century-based heroes again until the post-credits scene that sets up their next featured adventure. As such, maybe some sense of resolution from their end would’ve sufficed. Obviously, the narrative has some minor hiccups and doesn’t stand out on an impressive level. Despite its own setbacks, it’s still effective in presenting its story within a coherent fashion. Aside from Brainiac’s booming voice that makes it somewhat tough to make out his dialogue, the major beats are still nicely delivered and helps the primary plot feel as engaging as it can be. As for the action, they’re pretty thrilling throughout and leave a reasonable impact with its viewers afterwards. No matter the small or large scale of its fights, they help to push the narrative forward and all of them serve as effective scuffles. Finally, the animation continues to be stellar throughout. From movements that’re as smooth as ever to a color palette that ranges from bright and pleasant to moody and serious, it helps our main players stand out in order for its story to make as much of an impact as it can despite its own flaws. All-in-all, there wasn’t a serious stutter that I could make out and it helped to make the presentation as effective as it can be, warts and all.
Overall, this was a mostly effective futuristic tale for the Maid of Might, a 12-level intellect and the 31st Century’s finest. The main characters’ plights were understandably well-handled, the action was mainly effective and the story (while a bit flawed in its execution) still delivered with a coherent narrative. It ultimately continues to expand the TomorrowVerse across its own timestream to order to showcase a futuristic superhero team, while also allowing Kara to shine as the primary protagonist. While some parts of the film could’ve used some extra work, it’s ultimately a worthwhile entry that deserves a watch. As such, take a chronological chance on this movie if you’re interested.
Next Time: We will be taking a brief break from the TomorrowVerse in order to visit Gotham City during the Roaring ’20s. However, the Dark Knight will be combating against a kind of supernatural evil that he’s accidentally unleashed upon his bustling town. Come join me as I tackle the adaptation of an eerie Elseworlds tale called “Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham”.
Supergirl/Kara Zor-El (created by Otto Binder & Al Plastino), Legion of Super-Heroes (created by Otto Binder & Al Plastino) and all related characters are owned by DC Comics.
