As in the movie, Ruthye attempts to execute her enemy at the end of the Woman of Tomorrow comic. But on the page, Ruthye cannot do it, no matter how many times she tries to deliver the final blow. Supergirl arrives and confesses that she could not teach Ruthye to give up her thirst for vengeance, because she still burns with anger still about the destruction of Krypton. To spare Ruthye from the cost of vengeance, Supergirl decides to kill Krem herself, but Ruthye stops her.

Instead Supergirl ultimately takes Krem to the Phantom Zone, that ethereal dimension where Kryptonians send their worst criminals. The comic then jumps ahead centuries into the future where an eternally young Supergirl visits an elderly Ruthye. She brings Krem with her, who has has spent enough lifetimes in self-reflection to sincerely repent his crimes. With tears in his eyes, the old man begs for forgiveness.

Even though the older Ruthye ultimately whacks the defeated, emaciated Krem upside the head with her staff instead of offering her forgiveness, the comic’s ending is very different from the one in the movie. Clearly the film approaches the concept of goodness and revenge from another angle, complete with Kara slitting the villain’s throat with Ruthye’s sword. But it works because of the changes that director Craig Gillespie and screenwriter Ana Nogueira made to the source material.

Krem of the Darkest Nightmares

It takes no more than a glance to see that Schoenaerts plays a Krem of the Yellow Hills differently from his comic book counterpart. In the King and Evely story, Krem was a closer analogue to Tom Chaney from True Grit, a sniveling coward and opportunist. The comic book Krem killed Ruthye’s father because he was sucking up to the king. He bribes his way into the Brigands, here little more than space pirates, by offering to help attack a nearby town, hoping they’ll spare him in their genocidal plans and help fend off the pursuing Supergirl.

Conversely, Supergirl makes Krem into a superhuman marauder and sex trafficker. Krem of the comics shoots Krypto while hiding in the grass, a sneak attack. Krem of the movie shoots Krypto because he can, barely looking up from his cereal bowl when committing this act of cruelty. Throughout the movie, we see Krem kill others, even children, with equal disregard. He and his Brigands capture young girls and force them to appease the desires of his men, calling them “brides.” Furthermore, he possesses incredible strength, able to catch a falling tank with one arm.

In other words, Supergirl makes Krem more dangerous and more evil than the character from the comics. If Supergirl were to walk away from him at the end of the movie, he would surely just get a whole new band of Brigands and continue terrorizing women. Even if we accept that the DCU has Green Lanterns, Thanagarian Hawkpeople, and other intergalactic peacekeepers from the comics, Krem represents a threat that cannot be stopped through normal means, and one delights in his immunity to morality or rehabiliation.