Star Trek: Discovery's Superman 3 Burnham Reference Explained
Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery season 3 finale - "That Hope Is You, Part 2."
Star Trek: Discovery's season 3 finale featured a sly reference to a memorable moment in Superman III, and it could even have untold ramifications for Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) in season 4. Burnham's heroics in "That Hope Is You, Part 2" saved the United Federation of Planets from the Emerald Chain, and Michael was promoted to Captain and given command of the U.S.S. Discovery. But the episode's unexpected nod to Superman III didn't escape fans' notice, and it could be a clue to Burnham and Discovery's future.
Released in 1983, Superman III was a critical and financial disappointment that marked the downturn of the Superman movie franchise. Director Richard Lester's superhero farce saw Christopher Reeve's Man of Steel face Ross Webster (Robert Vaughn), a millionaire grasping for power who manipulated a genius programmer named Gus Gorman (Richard Pryor) to cause natural disasters that inflated Webster's bottom line. With Webster's money backing him, Gorman built a supercomputer that could conquer the world and destroy Superman. However, the supercomputer became self-aware and tried to defend itself against every threat, including the villains who built it. Perhaps the scariest moment in the film was when Webster's sister Vera (Annie Ross) was trapped by the computer, which swallowed her into its systems and rebuilt her into an inhuman cyborg. Eventually, Superman found a way to destroy the computer, round up the bad guys, and save Gus, who turned on Webster and helped fight his own creation.
In Star Trek: Discovery's season 3 finale, Michael Burnham fought her way into the U.S.S. Discovery-A's data core. Her goal was to reboot the ship to override the Emerald Chain's control. However, the Chain's leader, Osyraa (Janet Kidder), anticipated Burnham's plan and ambushed her in the data core. The two fierce females battled each other, but the Orion warlord overpowered the Starfleet Officer. Despite Michael's attempts to make Osyraa realize that "it doesn't have to be this way", the unrelenting Orion choked Burnham and pushed her into a wall of programmable matter in the data core. The data wall swallowed Michael whole, and it was eerily similar to Vera being absorbed by Superman III's evil computer.
However, unlike Vera Webster, Michael wasn't transformed into a robotic monster. Instead, Burnham, who was still armed with a phaser, opened fire from within the data wall and killed Osyraa. Michael then emerged from the programmable matter gasping for air, and she vomited out some data chips that she swallowed. Commander Burnham recovered quickly, regained control of Discovery's systems, and she put the rest of her plan into place: Michael and the bridge crew destroyed the Emerald Chain's flagship, the Viridian, jumped to the Verubin Nebula, and saved their stranded friends, including Captain Saru (Doug Jones).
In Superman III, the Kryptonian hero was also briefly swallowed by the supercomputer as he tried to release an acidic substance that could destroy the malevolent device. Like Vera, the computer tried to turn Superman into a super cyborg, but the Man of Steel's plan worked and the sentient machine began to explode when exposed to the acid, freeing Superman, who saved the day. There's also another fitting link between Star Trek: Discovery and Superman III: Janet Kidder, who plays Osyraa, is the niece of Margot Kidder, who was Lois Lane to Christopher Reeve's Clark Kent.
Like Superman and Gus Gorman's computer, defeating the Emerald Chain was a total victory for Burnham. After a time jump, Michael accepted a promotion and emerged as the new Captain of Discovery. However, the fact that Michael swallowed some programmable matter is a plot point that could factor into Star Trek: Discovery season 4. If Burnham didn't spit all of that tech out and some of Discovery's data was absorbed into Michael's physiology, it's possible that could somehow bond her to her starship. This could even affect the Sphere Data, which interfaced with Discovery's computer and will one day name herself Zora (Annabelle Wallis), becoming the ship's artificial intelligence. Captain Burnham swallowing Discovery's programmable matter may end up linking her to the future Zora, and it could be that Michael herself will comprise a part of the U.S.S. Discovery's evolving artificial intelligence in Star Trek: Discovery season 4.