The Supergirl series finale aired on Tuesday night and Melissa Benoist and Katie McGrath's Supergirl and Lena Luthor did not end up as a romantic pairing on the show itself, This left "shippers" of the possible couple (dubbed "Supercorp" because Lena was the head of L-Corp and Supergirl, you know, has "Super" in her name) frustrated, despite knowing that the odds were against it actually occurring in the episode.The Supercorp fan reaction on social media ranged from simply embracing the pairing as canon whether the show acknowledges it or not.RELATED: Supergirl Season 6, Episode 20, ‘Kara’ Recap & Spoilers
There were also "celebrations" of Supercorp being "the biggest queerbait in television sapphic history."
Finally, some just wanted to let other Supercorp fans know that they were seen.
Recent notable same-sex relationships in major series like HBO Max's Harley Quinn and Netflix's She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (as well as the groundbreaking, if relatively subtle, 2014 series finale of The Legend of Korra) have changed the game a bit in terms of possibilities for fans of same-sex ships, so fans were still frustrated that the series didn't make Supercorp canon in the finale.
"Shipping" has been a major part of fandom for as long as there has been popular fiction, and TV shows often rely heavily on fan interest in the romantic pairings on the series to drive fan interest. The only issue is that the "official" promotion of ships has tended to almost exclusively revolve around straight ships. Think Sam and Diane on Cheers, Ross and Rachel on Friends and Maddie and David on Moonlighting. When it comes to same-sex shipping, though, TV series tend to rely more on fan-driven movements than anything else.
That, of course, is what has led to some shippers feeling as though they were "queerbaited."
Queerbaiting is the practice of suggesting a same-sex relationship for the sake of driving the interest in said pairing, while never actually intending to have the relationship become canon. In the old days, this was a good deal more understandable, as creators literally couldn't make these relationships canon, so hints were the best that they could do, but the practice still occurs today, when clearly other shows are willing to do more than hint about same-sex relationships. After all, the wedding at the center of the finale of Supergirl was literally between two women.
Fans naturally feel that the Supergirl series queerbaited with Supercorp, as the Kara/Lena relationship has been heavily spotlighted in the series since Season 2. The series finale, for instance, gives the major emotional scene of the episode (where Kara decides to embrace herself as Supergirl, dropping her secret identity entirely) to Kara and Lena. Kara tells her, as she cries, “Of all the friends I have ever had, you have pushed me the most. Challenged me the most.†They then hug, and Lena whispers, “You’ve made me a better person. Thank you.â€
It is true that while Supergirl is over, the shared universe will continue to exist, so it is possible that Supercorp can make a comeback on another CW series. So there is always hope.
Source: Twitter