I didn’t fall for Supercorp at first. And because Lena Luthor (aka KMcG) is incredibly sexy, I just thought that Kara was, like any other woman would be, amazed by the sweet creature she had just met.
I knew Supercorp long before watching Supergirl. In fact, I met the pair through the work of my fellows Supercorp shippers’ art — drawings, fanfictions, edits, videos… (shout out to you all btw I love you!!). Longing for more representation on screen, I jumped in what I thought would be a journey at the end of which Lena and Kara would be together.
I have lost hope before, an endless amount of times, but it never came to the point that I was mad at the show for not putting them together. I prevailed Kara’s happiness before all, and if she didn’t see Lena this way, I respected that. Because I knew they were the evidence, I knew, particularly after season 2 (and 3), that no one new could be introduced and become Kara’s love interest without having her character belittled.
So it was between Mon-El — who was now married and gone — and Lena.
And I was (SO) good with the latter. Because she was the one who always supported Kara Danvers, the one who always admired Supergirl and tried everything she could to make a friend out of the girl of Steel, Lena was the evidence.
She did what every partner supporting its endgame superhero ever did. Felicity Smoak, Iris West, Lois Lane… they all met their respective partners through their secret/human identity. They are all the link to the superheroes’ humanity; they keep them down-to-Earth and remind them who they are behind the mask/costume.
So it didn’t matter who Kara would date, because I was convinced, in the deepest part of my soul, that Lena was her endgame.
And, you know, I didn’t feel bad at the time, because no matter how much hope I had, no matter how convinced I was; as an LGBTQ+ member, I was used not to see my — what they like to call it — “fantasies” come to life on a TV show. So I was kind of detached from it, which is paradoxical. I was so convinced it would happen while being sure it would never. I decided to enjoy my endless list of fanfictions. Those would bring me joy and comfort in the hardest days, but also break my heart with angst and tears. However, I felt validated in every AU.
But this detachment had changed. It changed when the show sent signals that Supercorp could really happen. It was not just a ‘fantasy’ anymore.
Supercorp always felt like a slow burn. We would all hold on to parallels made between Supercorp and Olicity, Supercorp and WestAllen, Supercorp and Clois.
But now we don’t hold on crumbles anymore. It’s not just things that could be interpreted. Not just longing looks, unexplainable lip bitings, court signals, sighs, loving smiles…
Now there are songs, love songs; there are words and scenes that leave no space for misunderstanding.
And that’s why I am mad now; because it can’t be called a fantasy anymore. Producers, showrunners, actors all promised us a Supercorp-centered season; they all promised us a fight for Lena’s soul.
And this is why it hurts. And this is why now more than ever, I feel invalidated. Because for the first time, they acknowledged our rights to a Supercorp love story. And since they acknowledged it, it blatantly means we are being queerbaited.
And yes, we know it.
And yes, they know it.
And yes, it hurts, and a lot of us lost hope and left the ship, but we can’t afford to lose hope right now. Not after all that we’ve been through. Not after fighting tooth and nail with other fandoms who would drag us down for being delusional; not after having our hearts break by a cast mocking us; not after being established as one of the most powerful fandoms out there thanks to our commitment and our conviction towards our belief; because we are finally seen.
We have a place within the most influential fandoms, we are mentioned by papers who write about us, actors who share our arts and support us. It’s not about ‘just some fans’ anymore. It’s beyond us, beyond the producers, beyond the show. And that’s why we can’t lose hope.
Simply because they cannot sit on Supercorp’s potential;
Simply because they cannot ignore their chemistry.
And yes, they don’t deserve our hopes, our time, our trust and our mental health that is more fragile in these times. But I ask you to trust, not them, but ourselves.
We’ve come from being laughed at to being seen, we’ve achieved so much already.
Artists have provided us with the most amazing pieces of art, and we’ve achieved so much as a fandom — the Supercorp zine is an example.
It’s beyond the show, and the showrunners don’t have much power right now, because we have the ability to change things.
So I’m asking you, one more time, to trust our powers.
As a hero once said:
“They want us to be invisible because of their own fears. They want to erase us, so we need to shine even brighter.”
Yes, it hurts to see the showrunners introduce William with a romantic tone. But come on, let’s be honest for a second, they could never be a thing given their inexistent chemistry (no offense Willara shippers). Plus, haven’t we been there with Mon-El? Yes, we have, and we never lost hope, always in respect of Kara’s character, because the Mon-El back then wasn’t respectful enough, just like William hasn’t been, no matter his reasons.
The show can’t go backward. Now that they took a step forward, now that they acknowledged and paved the way for a possible romance between Supercorp, they can’t take it back from us. It may take some time for them to take the leap, but they will.
Remember Clois in Smallville being the slowest burn in history? It didn’t count when they would be together because we all knew they belonged to each other, we all knew that no matter how many people would get between the two, they were each other’s endgame. That’s what Supercorp represents. They are each other’s home, and they will find each other; because now we are the ones who make the rules.
We are the most active fans regarding the show, and we all perfectly know that Supergirl wouldn’t be here without us. We already changed the trajectory of the show when Katie became a regular. For that matter, Emily (Felicity Smoak), who was supposed to only guest star one episode, became a regular after fans expressed their love for her character (and she married the guy!). It was not a miracle, and we will do it again.
We don’t need the show; the show needs us. And they may not seem to understand it for now, but they will eventually. And very soon. Because we finally realized, at a high cost, that we, as a fandom, have infinite worth, and we, as people, are worth more than being treated like this.
But Supergirl is about hope, help, and compassion for all. And if the writers, the producers, the showrunners don’t remember this, we will remind them.
We will hope tirelessly so that our magic never dies, and more people can join the fight for us to become invincible.
We will help them remember what the show stands for, what it means to us, and what makes Lena Kara’s endgame by being loud.
We will have compassion for the ones that are blinded by hatred and try to invalidate us. The same ones who refuse to see the evidence because they cannot move on a ship they had the luck to see happen on screen, the same ones who call us delusional but cannot find the light and understand they are the ones stuck in their fantasy.
If the people who run the show cannot remember this, we will. Because we are the core of the show, and we are dedicated to it, and we don’t forget anything that happens in it (hi plot holes), and we know the characters like the back of our hands. And because we are powerful.
I will never lose hope, and I ask you to believe, as well.
Because this is not about the show anymore, this is about us and everything we are yet to achieve.
