Meet Stargirl. The up-and-coming superhero, described as "the opposite of a reluctant hero," debuted in her own original series on DC Universe. Over the course of the first two episodes, she has bonded with the mythical Cosmic Staff and created her own superhero suit from the tattered remains of Starman's costume. She also just took out her first supervillain: Brainwave, "the most psychopathic" member of the Injustice Society.
Now, character and series creator Geoff Johns has offered CBR a preview of what's next for Courtney Whitmore and her sidekick S.T.R.I.P.E., who also happens to be her stepfather. He discussed building a new, different tone for Stargirl and what other pieces of pop culture inspired the series, as well as how a diverse writers room benefited the show's themes about legacy. He revealed why Starman and Stripesy's relationship is a cornerstone of the show and how Courtney's infectious enthusiasm helps the other characters grow. He also teased "some big twists and turns," when the new Justice Society of America will join the action, the Season 1 finale and more.
CBR: When compared to DC Universe originals like Titans, Swamp Thing and even Doom Patrol, Stargirl's tone feels radically different. For you, what sets Stargirl apart from the other shows?
Geoff Johns: It comes from the tone of the character and the JSA. You know, the tone that we all wanted to go for was something that was definitely more traditional but also forward-looking at the same time and it's a tricky balance. We did it in the books, when David Goyer and I started JSA, a long time ago now, but the tone of it was always supposed to come right from the comics. The JSA, it's got one foot planted in the past and one foot moving into the future. And it's a lighter character. It's more about tomorrow and carrying on legacies, with some respect and making it into something new and better for tomorrow.
This is far from Stargirl's first live-action appearance, between Smallville and Legends of Tomorrow. What lessons did you learn from those previous adaptations as you developed the DC Universe version of the character?
I mean, there are lessons from everything that you learn, but tonally, from this, it comes from casting -- you have Luke Wilson and Brec Bassinger and Amy Smart, they bring a tone to the show too, right? The cast brings its own tone. The storytelling, the way we told the stories, brings its own tone, but looking back at things like Smallville or Legends of Tomorrow or Doom Patrol or any of the other DC shows -- my favorite comic books have always had their own towns, like Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol is so specific, and we wanted to create something really, really specific here.
To do that, you do look at Smallville, like it's a small town setting [and] family-oriented. The humor of Legends of Tomorrow -- I love their humor. I think it's a really funny show, and they've kind of embraced the Saturday morning cartoon of it all. This is a different kind of humor and a different kind of small town. I guess you could say it's got some influences from a lot of different places, from Smallville to Shazam! to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's mostly to the comic books, to the comic books that were fun and bright and colorful, but it kind of comes from everywhere.
I don't know if there were lessons that were learned necessarily, more than influences and inspirations that came from everywhere, from film, TV, comics. Some of the stuff I'm talking about is Back to the Future and ET, but the reason I loved those movies growing up wasn't just because it was time travel or aliens but because they had an emotionally grounded, relatable story that had time travel as a massive main plot element, but it wasn't just for hardcore genre fans. It was for everybody.
I've been rereading Stars and STRIPE in anticipation for the series, and I couldn't help but notice the premiere episode adhered pretty closely to the comics. Is that something we'll see more of as the series continues, or will we start to see it diverge from the source material soon?
The Stars and STRIPE story, it's a huge obviously influence on Season 1. The comic books that the show takes note of is Stars and STRIPE, definitely. Plot-wise, yeah, there's a lot of similar elements throughout because that is the basis of the show.
It also takes a nod from JSA, from my work with David Goyer and all the artists on it and James Robinson's work, who's a producer and writer on the show. He was invaluable. He's one of my closest friends, but his passion and knowledge is invaluable with the entire process. And Infinity, Inc, certainly, there's a lot of inspirations that come from the comics. Stars and STRIPE is the main one for Season 1. If you read it, you'll know a lot about what's happening, but there's still some big twists and turns coming up.
Pat Dugan and Sylvester Pemberton's relationship is perhaps the biggest change so far, with Sylvester being a bit more antagonistic towards Pat. Why was it important to alter that key friendship for the show?
That relationship, to me, is really an interesting, complicated relationship. Even though we introduce it in the pilot, it's very sidekick and hero. Pat clearly takes that role seriously; even when he has discussions with Courtney, he takes it seriously. They've known each other for a long, long time, as he says. He's known Sylvester since he was a kid. Sylvester has always been, I think, very confident and proactive and Pat wanted to be there to support him and and was.
There's some fun humor in the end when Starman dies, but I think it's really important when Starman's last words are, "You're a good friend." I don't think he's ever said that to Pat and, ultimately, at the same time, I don't think he's ever given him much of a compliment. I think he really cared about Pat, genuinely cared about him and really respected him when he was in his role, as far as the role of sidekick and support, but I don't think he saw him as anything beyond that. I think, in turn, Pat didn't see himself as anything beyond that, and it's one of my favorite arcs.
As Courtney really -- just as she does with all these other kids -- seeing the potential within Pat and helping to unlock that for him, and not even really knowing the history of Pat, and Pat always feeling like he was a sidekick and being okay with it, like accepting it. He's just had some self confidence issues and that's just the way it is. I think it's a really interesting relationship.
We're going to be exploring that more, but there's a moment at the end of episode two... My favorite is at the end of the first two, where Courtney tells Pat, "You can do this" and Pat looks at her and you just see that look on his face -- when Luke played it perfectly -- where he's never heard that before. And she's saying that like it's a fact. She doesn't think it's a big deal. She's just saying this is what it is. I like that moment.
I think the real relationship between those two is really special, and Sylvester and Pat and then subsequently, obviously, the relationship between Courtney and Pat is a cornerstone to the entire series, and that growth and the stress between it and the ups and downs.
Their partnership is such a focal point for this series. How does the series continue to explore that? Will we get any flashbacks?
You'll hear a lot about it. There are some flashbacks here and there. There's a couple, but not a ton. But you'll hear about it and it definitely will play a role in everything, because everything is about legacy, and we'll learn more about these legacies. We're just scratching the surface.
You can only show so much in the first episode or two, but we're just scratching the surface of what these legacies mean to these characters and these heroes and, as you learn more about them and everyone takes on these roles, it'll become even more apparent. It's not just about the suits and the powers, but who these people were, why they did what they did and why these kids and Pat are going to do what they do now.
The fun of the show, a big piece of the fun of the show, is all the history behind it, because we're discovering it with our characters. As Courtney is discovering, we're discovering with her, and there's so many other stories to tell. Whenever we got in the writers room, James Robinson is in there, and so he and I know the lore really, really well. One of our writers, Paula Sevenbergen, she worked at DC, was a writer on that, and she, you know, knows the characters kind of well. Then we had a few other writers, like Melissa Carter and Colleen McGinnis and Taylor Streitz, who didn't know the characters at all. So we had this great balance of voices in the writers room that we're talking about the legacies.
We'd go into why we love the characters and then we'd add more to it and a lot of that just is infused into each one of the characters, is both the legacies of the old Wildcat and the new Wildcat and what motivates them and who are they and why -- like, why is Yolanda Montez carrying on Ted Grant's legacy? It's, again, not just about the name of the suit, but it's about the spirit of who Ted Grant was. We get into that, as the series goes, is what he faced himself during his career, not just as a superhero, but as a boxer -- what he faced and what Yolanda can relate to and seize inspiration in.
So it's much more than just putting on a costume, which anybody could do. It's really about why and it's about who Hourman was, who Starman was -- and who Starman was, Courtney has a very specific image of who Starman was in her head. That one, in particular, has got a lot more facets to it, a lot more reveals to it, coming up than maybe she thinks and even Pat knows.
Courtney is really caught up in this idea of Starman being her father and fulfilling his legacy. Can you offer a tease about how that continues to develop?
The thing that I love about her, and I think we all love writing for her, is she's so incredibly ready. She's so incredibly proactive. She's so eager and confident and willing. She's the opposite of a reluctant hero to the extreme. That, to me, makes her really fun and unpredictable, because she's grabbing this idea of Starman being her dad and the staff, running with it and really going in to embrace this, because she finally feels like she's got an identity. She's got a reason for why her dad wasn't with her and she's got a reason to try and get justice for the JSA and that's a huge part of her story, just in general and her season.
It's not as black and white as she thinks it is and or as easy or as mathematical, like, "We pick up the legacy and we stop the bad guys." It's much more complicated than that and much harder and she's gonna learn that as the season goes, but clearly there's a lot of questions behind who's Starman and Courtney's father and all of that and that'll be explored in the season, too.
This is Stargirl's story, of course, but how soon will we start to see the other young JSA up-and-comers start to get in on the action?
We wanted to take our time introducing the other characters and really making sure that you'd understand and get to know who they were before they took their mantles up. We have a lot to introduce: Courtney and Pat and the town and the antagonists within it. You'll start to meet the next generation. You'll see them throughout the first few episodes but they really come into focus starting with episode 4.
What made the Injustice Society the right villain for this series?
I mean, they are the JSA's ultimate enemy, right? That group of characters from Icicle and the Wizard, Solomon Grundy -- I love that cover, in old All-Star Comics, where they're carving up the country with knives, like "This is what I'm gonna own." They just felt like the right villains and, in the comics, Icicle and Solomon Grundy were some of the characters behind the death of Starman. But it just felt right, like one team takes on another.
It also gave us this really, cool interesting world to play in, almost like when the Nazis disappeared in Argentina, like these villains have disappeared into this small town and it's up to Courtney to find out and Pat to find out why, what they're doing here, find out who they are and stop them.
As you well know, I'm sure, a lot of superhero series will dedicate an episode or issue to the villain's point of view. Is that something we'll see in Stargirl season 1?
You'll definitely see more of the story behind the villains, particularly Icicle, who's the leader, and Brainwave. A lot of the villains you'll see, you'll get to know them, but the leader of the Justice Society is Icicle, and really -- when you watch episode three alone -- you'll see a lot more of who he is.
Episode 2 also saw the demise of Brainwave, at least for the moment. Why take him off the board so early?
I mean, Courtney did it. [laughs] She's got a victory, you know? If you want to break down and get on the writers room board, that's a different thing, but in story, she's going out there and her and Pat work together for the first time and that chemistry and that partnership works. It works against one of the more villainous -- if not the most psychopathic -- of the Injustice Society and it's a victory that gives her the confidence that is going to send her and propel her into the future and maybe overconfidence.
But if you're asking, as a writer, why we took him off the board in a writers room, it's different from the story, but also it's the same answer: you want Courtney and Pat to have a victory that shows they can do it and, those two characters coming together, they can do it.
Cindy Burman has been lurking in the background so far. What kind of a role does she take on as the series moves forward?
She is one of our main characters in the season, and her and Courtney will cross paths several times throughout the season. She's a pretty big character in the comics, too.
In episode 2, I couldn't help but notice that Sportsmaster and Tigress have a daughter. How closely should we be paying attention to her? Can you, perhaps, offer a tease as to whether or not we should expect her to lean good or bad?
I mean, you should pay attention to everybody. There's characters in there that are that will seem minor that aren't. And there's items! People are like, "There's so many Easter eggs," and I was like, "Absolutely," because this is being made by people who are neck-deep in the lore. Like, we love the JSA and Stargirl, and everyone working on it really delved in, from production to writers -- everybody. We put everything we could in here to make it feel -- I can't wait for you to watch episode 3, because I think you're really gonna like it.
But the idea of even characters like Artemis Crock, everything we put in here isn't just an Easter egg but it's a pathway to a story. The depth and breadth of the Golden Age of DC Comics, the Justice Society, the Seven Soldiers of Victory -- Stargirl and STRIPE have ties to so many different characters that stretch all the way back to the very first comics that DC ever published and up to the present that have been on tap.
There are a bunch of minor, obscure characters and stories and some that, to hardcore fans, aren't as obscure, but when you're talking about Johnny Thunder and Thunderbolt, for some people, that's obscure. But we have plans for if we get to tell more and more series of this. We have plans and ideas to explore every corner of the DC Universe from this point of view, just like we have in the comic books.
So characters like Artemis Crock or if you see a prop or something in the background, or they talk about somebody, it's not just -- I mean, there's this episode 9, where I'm really excited for people to see, that we do a pretty deep cut into the DC Universe and it's pretty fun for our super hardcore fans. It's a lot of fun. And then for fans who don't know any of these characters, the plan is just hopefully they fall in love with them.
We've been overwhelmed by the reaction to the first episode by the fans. It's overwhelming, because we all put everything we had into it, and Brec is so amazing as Courtney. It's been really nice to see people enjoy what we hoped they would.
I spied Justin the Janitor during that long hallway scene in the premiere. If you've read the comics, can you expect that tease to go a similar way in the show?
I don't want to spoil that, because clearly, the number of people that have watched the show or are watching the show way outnumbers the people who have read the comics. So I don't want to spoil it, but yeah, the comics, obviously, that's where we take our lead from.
At this point, it's kind of becoming a tradition to see comic book creators cameo alongside the characters they've created. Will we get to see you on screen?
Oh, me? No! No, I'm saying behind the camera. I might throw James Robinson in a scene somewhere if we do get a scene with Ted [Knight]. That'd be fun. I'll push him out in front of the camera, but no. No, I'm not. I prefer to let the professionals be the actors.
It seems almost silly to be talking about the end just as the series is getting started, but should we expect a solid conclusion with maybe a tease of what's to come, or does Season 1 end on more of a cliffhanger?
Season 1 definitely tells a story, but like every good comic book, it sets up what's next, you know? We finished shooting last year and we finished our post before the pandemic, so our 13 episodes are complete and we were lucky to get it all done. Yeah, it tells a complete story, but obviously that leads us to so many more and hopefully we'll get to tell them. I hope so. Again, the reaction has been so nice, so fingers crossed they tell us to do it again because everyone had so much fun.
Now that Stargirl is airing on The CW, what are the odds we'll see her cross over with the Arrowverse somewhere down the line?
We're completely open to it. There's so many possibilities. You know, clearly, we're set on Earth-2, so we're on our own Earth, much like the comic books. We're set on Earth-2, and it gives us the room to tell our history and story, but also the opportunity in the future to do anything in the comic books or to always cross over with other places. Conversations have been had, but it's all of matter of when it makes sense and if we have the best story.
DC Universe's Stargirl stars Brec Bassinger as Courtney Whitmore (Stargirl) and Luke Wilson as Pat Dugan (S.T.R.I.P.E.). The series airs Mondays on DC Universe and Tuesdays on The CW at 8 pm ET/PT.