After writing us an email as feedback for our episode discussing “For Good”, Sam wrote in again this week to clarify points about Reign and the Worldkillers.
After listening to you discuss my email in your last podcast, I thought I would clarify a couple of things I wrote. When I said I thought Reign was capable of change, I did not mean change for the better. On it’s own without the human persona of Sam to combat it, I think the persona of Reign is pure villain. Utterly ruthless and lacking in compassion, she is completely mission-focused. Even if her end goals were good, she has no restraint in how she goes about achieving them.
When I suggested that Reign might turn on her creators, I was thinking more in terms of her deciding they weren’t any use to her any more and going her own way. Perhaps, by eliminating the holographic priestess that has been giving her instructions.
It seems like the Worldkillers were engineered so that their powers could be switched on and off. Quite probably as a means of controlling them. I’m thinking the crystal belonging to Purity like Reign’s is connected to how the Worldkillers are controlled. They aren’t just information crystals, but also controllers. I think at some point, Reign might destroy her Control Crystal in order to liberate herself. The only reason I even think this is a possibility was because of the scene a couple of episodes ago where the holographic priestess told Reign about the other Worldkillers and Reign asked “Why didn’t you tell me?” This questioning led me to believe that Reign is not a completely obedient puppet of the priestess, but is able to question what she is told.
Given that the Worldkillers seem to be genetically engineered so that their powers can be disabled, it’s possible Ruby inherited that genetic sequence and will never have powers. However, I’d like to think that since Ruby was an unexpected outcome, she will not inherit that limitation. Also, with being a hybrid, Ruby might not have the exact same powers of a Kryptonian. Whenever there has been a Kryptonian/Human hybrid in the comics, they have either had the full Kryptonian powerset, the Kryptonian powerset but at half or less strength or a brand new powerset such as Superboy from the 1990s, who had the power of tactile telekinesis as well as limited super strength and invulnerability, but no flight or vision powers. I think something like the 1990s Superboy route would be the most interesting for Ruby.
I mentioned Reign’s modus operandi and motives in my previous email and how people complain that they don’t understand them. However to me, they make sense when I think of a certain story from the Bible – specifically the Plagues of Egypt. The purpose of the plagues was to send a message. The final plague, of course, being the death of every firstborn son in Egypt in every house that didn’t have lamb’s blood above its doors. Now, I don’t know what the Bible itself says about that last plague, but in some versions of the story I’ve come across, it was one or more of God’s angels who carried out the task.
If we think of the Worldkillers as being somewhat like dark and twisted angels, then they aren’t purely conquerors out to dominate the world, but are messengers who are trying to send a message.
Of course, the Worldkillers weren’t created by Rao or any other Kryptonian deity, so far as we know. They were created by the priestesses of an ancient (and thought to be dead) religion. But essentially, they serve the same purpose. Another story parallel that comes to mind for me was a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode where the Klingon messiah, Kahless, returned as had been prophesied centuries ago. The crew of the Enterprise discovered that he wasn’t truly Kahless, but a clone of Kahless, created by the the priests who worshipped him. The priests felt that things had gotten so bad for the Klingon people that now was the time for Kahless to return so they made it happen. Interestingly, Worf, a Klingon crewmember of the Enterprise, ultimately decided that clone or not, this was Kahless and he would treat him as the real thing. A leap of faith, if you will.
As a final note on this topic, I would say that the Worldkillers are coming across as a mishmash of Angels and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
If Purity/Julia is anything to go by, then the Worldkillers do have access to their human memories, but obviously not the other way around. Unless they are forced to face the truth. I’d say Julia is aware of Purity now, while she wasn’t in the beginning of the episode. That was a pretty good performance by Krys Marshall as Purity/Julia. It will be interesting if Purity wins out over Julia and to see how the two Worldkillers will get along.
– Sam
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