When Supergirl debuted on CBS, the closest thing we got to seeing Superman in the flesh was a strong-jawed silhouette, plus a few anecdotes from Kara Danvers and James Olsen, and the occasional text. Now that the show is on The CW, Superman has stepped into the spotlight thanks to Tyler Hoechlin's performance. (Some are calling him the best Superman since Christopher Reeve.)

In the previous episode, "The Last Children of Krypton", Clark Kent/Superman ended up leaving National City for Metropolis, his home city, after a battle against Metallo(s). And while that's clearly a smart way to give Supergirl back the reins of her own show (and a budgetary move since Hoechlin isn't a series regular at this point), it might also signal an impending doom for the Man of Steel.

The move to The CW opened up a lot of opportunities for Supergirl: Not only does the show bring some serious firepower to the network's connected DC TV universe, it folds Supergirl's mythology and drama into that of The Flash, Arrow, and even Legends of Tomorrow. That's a big stage. But the bigger the stage, the bigger the comic book arcs the shows' writers can tackle; see the network's nods to "Flashpoint" and "Crisis on Infinite Earths." We'll see how they handle "The Dominators" later this season in an epic, ambitious, four-series crossover special. However, there are not many DC Comics stories bigger than "The Death of Superman", so that might be just where The CW is heading in the near future.

For those of you who haven't read the saga, or weren't alive when it was published, "The Death of Superman" saw the Man of Steel taking on the monstrous Doomsday in Metropolis. Spoiler alert: the fight claimed both of their lives, shattering the long-held belief by both comics readers and in-universe characters alike that Superman was immortal. It was a powerful arc packed full of unforgettable visuals, and the fallout from the title event had a huge impact on the rest of the DC Comics universe for years to come.

Read on to find out how this massive event might play out on The CW.

The Ruthless Writing of The CW

The CW is hands down the best traditional TV network for superheroes today. One of the reasons their shows are so strong is that they treat the source material with an earnest and fearless approach. Unfortunately, comic book stories have long been known to have a rotating cast of characters who can die, come back to life, and die again in a seemingly endless cycle. The CW has killed pretty much every major hero and villain at least once in their shows' runs: Arrow is built around the sometimes metaphorical and sometimes literal death and rebirth of Oliver Queen (or any number of Canaries, Queens, etc.); The Flash has killed just about everyone either on this Earth or the next thanks to its time-traveling and/or portal-hopping assists to the narrative; and the same can be said for Legends of Tomorrow. If The CW is willing to kill off all of their major title heroes, then what's to stop them from killing off a supporting one?

Perhaps the biggest hint that The CW is prepping for "The Death of Superman" is the introduction of Superman himself. Sure, it was a great way to pull attention to the new series' debut on its new network and a fantastic way to round out Kara's character and fill out the world she inhabits. The cousins' chemistry is endearing and the two Supers are an absolute delight on-screen. That's a blessing and a curse. The more we want to see Supergirl and Superman together in scenes, the more powerful Kal-El's eventual death will be for both the viewer and the cousin he left behind. The CW is all about drama, even if it cloaks it in super-heroic action.

We've already seen Superman clash with kryptonite, both in the battle with Metallo(s) and in his principled clash of philosophies with J'onn J'onzz; these feel like not-so-subtle hints that the Man of Steel does have vulnerabilities and they're becoming relatively well known among the villains who aim to harm him. The fact that he's returning to Metropolis--the site of his ultimate fight--offers up another clue that Doomsday may indeed be coming, even if it's off-screen. Getting to say, "Witness 'The Death of Superman'!" would be a huge get for the network and a wonderful opportunity to explore the arc's rich mythology.

But what about the DC Extended Universe?

DC TV vs DCEU

The good news about DC Entertainment and Warner Bros.' DCEU not connecting in any meaningful way to the DC TV universe is that each of them are free and clear to handle the DC Comics stories in any way they see fit. So what if Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice spoiler completely botched already brought Doomsday the death of Superman to the big screen? They jumped right from that powerful moment to the formation of the Justice League, skipping over quite a few events in the comics (except for Pa Kent's message from the afterlife...). But these worlds aren't mutually exclusive. DC TV has every right to bring "The Death of Superman" to the small screen now that there's a Superman who people seem to enjoy and a narrative structure that's set up to facilitate his death...or at least the events that come after it.

Because while the actual fight against Doomsday and Superman's resulting death was a major event in the DC Comics, what followed afterwards was a completely insane run that saw numerous heroes (and some entities who weren't so heroic) vying to fill in the power vacuum left by the death of Superman. If the event itself sounds like the kind of drama The CW is into--just imagine the epic funeral scene the network could stage, complete with costumed superheroes wearing black armbands with a silver S--the aftermath is even moreso.

Reign of the Supermen!

So after a three-month gap in "Superman" publications after the title character's funeral, four new heroes emerged to take the mantle of Superman for themselves. They were bonkers, some more than others. Here's a look at the characters who showed up during the "Reign of the Supermen!" storyline:

• The Man of Steel, a.k.a. Steel: John Henry Irons, an ironworker and an ex-military weapons designer dons a suit of armor and carries a big hammer. He doesn't claim to be Superman but rather that he's carrying on in honor the superhero's spirit.
• The Man of Tomorrow, a.k.a. Cyborg Superman: This robotic Superman outfitted with Kryptonian technology could have passed for the original except for his partially artificial composition. His amnesia left a lot of holes in his story but he was pretty convincing, until he was revealed to be former NASA astronaut, Hank Henshaw.
• The Metropolis Kid, a.k.a. Superboy: A reckless teenage clone of Superman who does not actually claim to be Superman despite his similar powers. He is the result of Cadmus' attempt to clone Superman.
• The Last Son of Krypton: An energy-powered alien who sported a visor and had a rather lethal way of handling criminals. His emotional distance from Lois Lane gives him away as a reformed Superman enemy known as the Eradicator.

If some of these characters sound familiar, that's because The CW has been name-dropping some related mythology and/or building up a plausible reason for their existence. This is where things get interesting!

Dr. John Henry Irons a.k.a. Steel

A mash-up of the American folk hero John Henry and the Man of Steel himself, John Henry Irons first appeared in "The Adventures of Superman" #500. He worked for the military weapons manufacturer AmerTek Industries up until the point where he saw his own creations falling into the wrong hands and killing innocents. After faking his death and moving to Metropolis, Irons was actually saved by Superman after he fell from a highrise where he was employed as a construction worker. The direct inspiration for Irons constructing an armored power suit and taking up a sledgehammer as a new Superman was his inability to aid the superhero against the monstrous Doomsday, leading to his death.

The CW has already name-dropped AmerTek on a number of shows: On Arrow, AmerTek Industries was first mentioned as an oil and gas company, but more recently, Mayor Oliver Queen enlisted the company's help in covering the expenses for a free medical clinic; it turned out that CEO Janet Carroll had been selling weapons to the crime lord, Tobias Church. (Whoops.) In The Flash, AmerTek was mentioned as the producer of a Phase 3 suppression door to keep the Kahndaq Dynasty Diamond at the Central City Museum.

This might not be enough to go on by itself, but it certainly lays the groundwork for an easy introduction of Steel should the DC TV-verse choose to do so. Just don't cast Shaq, please.

Project Cadmus

Self-made superheroes aside, one of the biggest plot points in Supergirl so far has been the antagonistic group, Project Cadmus, which just announced itself to the world (in creepy Mr. Robot fashion) in the latest episode by claiming to be a team of top-notch scientists tasked with taking down the super-powered aliens saving lives wreaking havoc across the country. They started by creating a pair of kryptonite-powered cyborgs with Promethium exoskeletons--a new take on the Metallo character--who were soundly defeated by Superman and Supergirl.

But elsewhere in the Supergirl mythology that has been established so far, Kara's adoptive father Jeremiah Danves (Dean Cain) was presumed to be dead, but has actually been revealed to be a prisoner of, you guessed it, Project Cadmus. But to what end? They've had him held captive for 12 years, so anything goes at this point. If he's been brainwashed and artificially powered up similar to how Cadmus modified assassin John Corben into Metallo, he could potentially fill in as one of the reigning Supermen, a "hero" created by Cadmus. (And he has played Superman before, so it'd be nice to see him get a chance to play another super-powered entity, be it heroic or villainous.) It's more likely the nefarious organization will simply use him to infiltrate the DEO.

While it remains to be seen how Cadmus will handle Jeremiah, there is some precedent for other Supermen that might come out of their meddling. In the comics, the Cyborg Superman turned out to be Hank Henshaw, a character who was rather villainous on Supergirl before his apparent death and assumption of his identity by J'onn J'onzz. However, we never saw Henshaw's body. It was also implied that he worked with Cadmus. If the scientists were able to reclaim his body, there's every possibility that they have kept him alive in stasis long enough to plunk his consciousness down into a super-powered android body. Comic books!

There's also the Cadmus' creation of the Superman clone, Superboy. I don't believe we've seen this iteration of Cadmus dabble in cloning just yet, but who knows what's going on behind the scenes since they've already got cybernetic enhancements and kryptonite-powered energy suits going on. Superboy's origins, genetic and otherwise, have been chopped up and changed around over the course of the character's history through a variety of media, so there's every chance we'll see another version on Supergirl. But will it be a product of Cadmus, or another origin story entirely?

Mon-El and Superboy

It's already been confirmed that Supergirl newcomer Chris Wood would be playing Mon-El, a super-powered alien from Krypton's sister planet Daxam. He crash-landed in the Season 2 premiere and has been kept in stasis since his arriving in his pod. On the most recent episode, some tests against kryptonite resulted in Mon-El's body responding by absorbing electrical energy from the DEO's grid in order to regenerate his cells. The end of that episode was quite foreboding as to the character's state of mind, and the preview for next week's hour doesn't bode well for Mon-El either.

However, the eventual transition into Superboy would be an easy fit for the character; he shares similar powers to the junior superhero in the comics. And while Mon-El and Kara will obviously get off to a rocky start, there's every chance that they'll be some sort of star-crossed lovers if The CW's history is any indication. Superboy's certainly a good fit for Mon-El, but there's also the possibility that he'll fill in the fourth of the Supermen as a version of the "Last Son of Krypton."

Now this has all been informed speculation and a little bit of wishful thinking, but the pieces are there if The CW wants to move ahead with "The Death of Superman" some time in the next year or so. Would you like to see that and the "Reign of the Supermen!" arc come to the small screen? How about Hoechlin returning in the infamous black Superman suit? Let us know in the comments below!