DC’s Stargirl Reveals More Details About Starman’s Return From the Grave

The end of Season 2 of DC’s Stargirl delivered a big surprise to The CW series’ titular hero when Sylvester Pemberton — the long-dead hero known as Starman played by Joel McHale — showed up in Blue Valley very much alive. As Season 3 has unfolded, Sylvester has remained in town and even started sharing the Cosmic Staff with Courtney, though how he was resurrected has remained mostly a mystery. However, in this week’s episode, an old friend has a new theory about the hero’s return to life and it could have some interesting implications.

Warning: spoilers for the fourth episode of the third season of DC’s Stargirl, “Frenemies – Chapter Four: The Evidence”, beyond this point.

In the episode, Sylvester takes the Staff and goes to The Gambler’s trailer to do some investigating, but he’s attacked by an unseen assailant and left with serious injuries that land him in the hospital — after Courtney finds him, of course. However, while Sylvester is seriously injured, he’s also healing surprisingly quickly, something observed by Dr. Charles McNider who Pat brings in to help out. It’s Dr. McNider who makes an interesting suggestion: it seems that when Sylvester was killed originally, the Staff blasted him with energy in an attempt to save him. The theory is that the Staff’s energy has, over time, been slowly healing and repairing Sylvester, which is what brought him back to life and is contributing to his improved healing now.

It’s an interesting twist on something that Sylvester himself theorized in the Season 3 premiere. In that episode, Sylvester explains that he woke up in his own coffin and it is strongly implied that he had, until that point, indeed been dead. The only explanation he has for why he suddenly returned to life was that it has something to do with the connection to the staff and that when Courtney found her connection to it, his own reignited and brought him back as well, leading him to dig himself out of his own grave.

Of course, if this is indeed how Sylvester was restored to life, it adds another dimension to the situation of Courtney and Sylvester sharing the Staff.

“She looks up to Starman and technically it was his first so who is she to completely take it away from him and her just being the light that she is, she really does feel like that’s best for him,” Bassinger told ComicBook.com. “So, of course she’s going to turn it into a way that works for her, too, because she puts people before herself. That’s just who she is. And so, from her perspective, it keeps people safer because when she’s at school, he can still patrol and keep Blue Valley safe. And then also it gives her the ability to balance the work life a little bit better, which she’s always pushing people to do.”

Of course, two heroes sharing the staff could result in some clashes, particularly when it comes to differences between Stargirl and Starman. The season premiere already suggested at some differences between who the two heroes view their former foes and Bassinger says that she thinks there will be some backlash for Starman.

“I think people are going to give Starman some backlash because they’re like, you’re not forgiving. You’re holding grudges. Not very heroic of you. But technically speaking, the last time he was on the Earth, these people, Sportsmaster and Tigress killed all of his best friends, his team, put him in the ground, they killed him. So, I think it feels… there is so much there, so much history. You can’t really blame him for feeling the way he’s feeling.”

DC’s Stargirl airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.