In case you’ve missed the DC newsletter, or a good chunk of the Internet, the first fully-realized TV Superman in a generation made his debut on Supergirl in the form of Tyler Hoechlin this past week. And his portrayal was so unexpectedly favorably received that there are already calls for a spinoff show. I too am in this camp and these are seven reasons why CW should follow through on this scenario.

1) Tyler Hoechlin

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Image via The CW

There's really not much point in doing a countdown of the reasons and trying to bury the lead here.  As you've already seen, Tyler Hoechlin did a fair bit of idealizing of the Superman / Clark Kent role in his two-episode outing on Supergirl.  There was a lot of what we hoped for: a bright Superman, a Superman full of life and hope and love for friends and family, a Superman who is fulfilling his grand destiny, and one who is enjoying his work in the process. This Superman is approachable, even huggable. Yet when he needed to be, namely when disagreeing (which he did a lot) with J'onn, the boy scout took a powder and the guy whose cape you don't pull took over.  Good as Hoechlin's Superman was, it was the flip side of the coin, which really shone here.  His Clark Kent was refreshingly goofy and fun, highly reminiscent of the Christopher Reeve Kent, but with verbal and physical pratfalls dialed way down.  It was his calls with (an apparently gruff) Perry White that provided some of Kent’s best moments.  Overall this was a surprising - and surprisingly welcome - turn from Hoechlin, who, admittedly, doesn't fill out the suit quite as well as Henry Cavill.  But in Hoechlin's defense, guys who do equal about .0001% of known human population.  Yet if you thought that Hoechlin didn't or wouldn't present a suitable Superman at all, you probably have THIS PIC to blame (really, about the worst pic they could have chosen to intro him).  I'm sure your opinion changed when you saw him in action. The guy’s still plenty ripped enough to fill the bill.  Hoechlin's take on the dual role is also very balanced on both sides, with just the right amount of respect given to Reeve.

2) Superman Is Not a Supporting Character

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Image via The CW

That all being said, it’s akin to what Harley Quinn once said to Poison Ivy: “When did we become ‘The Gang’?” Such a question is not made for Kal-El. Superman’s not a part of the Justice League; he leads the Justice League. This goes back to the Super Friends. You think Superman is going to have any real trouble with Dr. Frankenstein or the fucking Capricorn Kid if kryptonite wasn’t available over the counter at the local drug store? I seem to recall Evil Universe Superman didn’t have any trouble whipping the Super Friends because they were too goody-goody to use kryptonite against him. Go back and check out Galactic Guardians (you know, when Darkseid was perving over Wonder Woman), Superman on numerous occasions was the difference maker, especially when he died. And it was Superman taking on Darkseid again numerous times in Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League, Justice League Unlimited. Superman wasn’t meant for the Best Supporting Actor, as much for his power as for his heroic heart.

Bottom line: If you’re going to introduce the most iconic superhero, you’re putting it out there that the door’s not only open for a new show to feature him, said door has been blown off the hinges.  You can bring in Vixen (two actually), Connor Hawke, Huntress, a few Canaries, a version of Suicide Squad, Killer Frost, the real Jay Garrick and his grandmother. None of those are Superman. Superman is kind of a big deal.

3) Fans Are Always Going to Show Up for a Well-Made Superman Show

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Image via The CW

Smallville ran for a decade. And there was nary a wisp of cape and red boot action going on all that time. Lois and Clark, which couldn’t find a decent villain to save its life outside of John Shea’s Luthor for three years lasted four seasons. Freaking Superboy (I can’t attest that it was any good because I never watched it) lasted 100 episodes through four seasons and a re-casting of the title character. And The Adventures of Superman remains an all-time great TV show. Superman is pretty much Field of Dreams: you build it, we’ll come.

4) Since the DC Movie and TV Universes Are Separate: Sky’s the Limit

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Image via Warner Bros.

There haven’t been two live action Supermen at the same time in the entire history of movies and TV till now. Yes there was Brandon Routh and Tom Welling in 2006. But only one of them was wearing the cape. Up until recently it was such a major deal that a show like Smallville couldn’t step on the toes of potential movie incarnations of major DC characters so much that the rumors of a young Bruce Wayne appearing on the show never came to fruition. Now that it’s been made clear by having two Flashes that the movies and TV shows are their own separate universes, there’s no longer that mandate. This means that damn near anything can go, and I hope so. The Arrowverse has become a juggernaut and if Superman is making an appearance in it, nothing is out of the realm of possibility anymore.

5) Successful Superman Show = Future Successful Batman Show?

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Image via DC

And if the sky is the limit, why not this? What does it say that we’re almost 50 years removed from the last live action Batman show? A modern Batman show can explore the Detective side of the Dark Knight so much more than the movies. I’d actually rather have a Batman show on Netflix but I’ll take what I can get (here's an argument for why Batman belongs on the CW). And if you want to interject about a certain prequel over on Fox, I made it through just about two episodes into Gotham before I ended up having other plans…for the duration. Fully realized Supes and Bats are lofty aspirations, but aren’t we supposed to be in some kind of Golden Age of TV or something? You think The CW wouldn’t heavily promote a well-made Batman and/or Superman show? Sure they would.

6) There Are Animated Superman Stories that Demand the Live-Action Treatment

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Image via Warner Bros. Animation

It’s my hope that we can finally get our first fully-realized TV Superman in terms of all kinds of Superman stories, even extra-dimensional and intergalactic adventures. Basically, I want like most of what we saw in Superman: TAS, Superman Unbound, Superman/Batman Public Enemies and Apocalypse and All-Star Superman (minus the death of course) in live action. I think of Unbound and I can see Hoechlin squarely owning that. Lois and Clark was about the romance. Smallville, the story before the story. I want a show that can explore every aspect of Superman’s existence as both a hero and a mild-mannered reporter. Also, when I say fully-realized, I mean Superman’s rogue’s gallery. It’s been three shows now: Lois and Clark, Smallville, and now Supergirl, and I’m still waiting for the first non-terrible interpretation of Metallo. If there’s ever a Bronson Pinchot sighting on any Superman show ever again someone will have to die. We have the technology, we have the Hoechlin. We have the capability to make the world’s first truly great Superman show.

7) No Origin Necessary

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Image via The CW

We don’t need the rocket to Earth (although we’ll undoubtedly get it in a flashback or time travel episode). We don’t need Smallville, Kansas. We don’t need Lois being the first to name her new “friend”. And we sure as hell don’t need her making a first date with Clark Kent and one with Superman for the same night. Go back and watch Superman. It happened. Hoechlin’s Superman has long been doing his thing. Besides, freaking Smallville was a ten-year origin story. How much more of that do you need? We open on Superman in the middle of a mission or a fight or Clark in the middle of a big story, with major villains conspiring against him and go from there. We’ll pick up the details along the way. Make no mistake, if the showrunners and the CW want it to be – the way we want it to be – what we saw on Supergirl was no less than a backdoor pilot. And considering how utterly terrible most of those turn out to be, it’d be a crime for The CW not to follow through on it.