Wednesday, June 26, 2019
DC Superhero Girls #SheMightBeGiant
I am a bit late but a couple of weeks ago, DC Superhero Girls released #SheMightBeGiant, a short on the Cartoon Network 'introducing' the character of Giganta to the universe.
The overall plot is a similar one with Bumblebee having to overcome some concerns for inferiority to save the day. It includes one of the classic DC Superhero Girls homages which has made this show delightful. Best of all, it involves Supergirl. And that riff is what prompted this post.
We meet Doris Zuel, a jock and bully in Metropolis High School. Zuel always picks on Karen (Bumblebee) to the point that our hero avoids her in the hallway. In an effort to increase her strength, Zuel pumps herself full of some Bane-like steroid that her father has created.
Heading to the mall to get some free weights to bulk up more, Doris runs into an sales man who has old fashioned ideas about women and exercise. He points Doris to the yoga mats and the 3lb. mini barbells.
This infuriates Zuel and with the formula in her veins, she flies into a rage. The results are rather Hulk-like. And if you don't believe me keep reading.
She actually Hulks out, becoming giant and angry, calling humans puny, and causing havoc. It is brilliant.
As luck would have it, Diana, Kara, and Karen are all at the mall. A skirmish breaks out. Diana is wrapped up in her own lasso of truth and incapacitated. Then Supergirl arrives from the food court and joins in.
Now one problem we have seen is that the power level of Supergirl needs to be dealt with in these stories.
Here, Giganta simply removes the problem. After Supergirl gets a few licks in, Giganta grabs our Kryptonian hero, swings her around like a ragdoll, and tosses her miles away. Giganta literally removes Supergirl from the equation.
Remember when I said Giganta was Hulk-like?
What does this gif remind you of?
Well, it looks like a bit of an homage to the Hulk similarly battering Loki in the first Avengers movie.
I mean, that can't be coincidence, can it?
Anyways, Karen ends up saving the day, tricking Doris into self-defeat.
Once more, this episode seems oddly placed since we met Giganta already in the other Bumblebee episode.
But I had to laugh and appreciate this. Giganta as a Hulk-analog is a great idea. And the homage to the Avengers was perfect.
"Neutralizing Supergirl" is the modern equivalent of the problems Gardner Fox had writing the Justice League back in the silver age, he had to furnish a reason why Superman couldn't overpower the captioned problem...a lot of kryptonite got invoked as I recall.
ReplyDeleteOf course, kudos to the producers for essentially meta-mocking the problem...
JF