After spending the early part of season 2 debating whether to reach out to his long-lost cousin, Clark activates a Kryptonian beacon in episode 4, “Two Lanes Diverged,” and an episode later, we’re introduced to Kara Zor-El, and immediately the “Dragon Ball Z” influences are apparent. For one, she wears an outfit identical to the one Android 18 wears when fighting Cell. Kara kind of acts like her, too, being initially cold and threatening before softening up once she meets the unlikeliest of human partners. Yes, I’m saying Jimmy Olsen is DC’s answer to Krillin.

Things take even more of a turn toward the Super Saiyan when Kara finally meets Superman … and immediately kicks his ass. Turns out, this Kara is not a loving cousin looking for a nice family reunion; she’s a “scion” of the Kryptonian Empire looking for a warrior to join her in her conquest of the universe, or die by her hand. That’s right! This show is doing its own Saiyan Saga from “Dragon Ball Z,” with Kryptonians being the new Saiyans (i.e. ancient evil conquerors who are now mostly extinct). This would make Kara this world’s Raditz, a family member of our protagonist who seeks our hero to recruit them into conquering planets.

Of course, Kara won’t stay evil forever, as it seems she is being indoctrinated and Brainiac manipulated her into thinking of him as a father figure — meaning, we’ll likely see Kara turn on Brainiac later in this season. When that happens and Kara becomes Supergirl, does this mean she’ll be the Vegeta to Superman’s Goku? This would be far from the first reference to that series on “My Adventures With Superman”; the whole Clark/Lois/Jimmy dynamic has shades of Gohan’s Saiyaman arc, with Superman getting all those Goku-like transformations.