Superman References Removed in The Sandman Season 2, Trans Storyline Changed

Changes will inevitably be made when adapting one work into another artistic medium. Certain things that work in comics do not work in live action, and vice versa. The second season of The Sandman made several changes to its trans character, Wanda Mann. The TV adaptation also removed several references to Superman that were part of Wanda’s backstory.

Wanda Mann was introduced in 1991’s The Sandman #32, the first chapter of “A Game of You.” Wanda read a lot of comics growing up in Kansas. She mentions her favorite character being a hero called Hyperman, who was also from Kansas. She also references the Weirdzo, a race of aliens who all resembled Hyperman and his love interest, Lila Lake. This sets up a later nightmare sequence, in which Wanda dreams that a group of Weirdzo are performing a gender affirming surgery.

Hyperman, Lila Lake, and the Weirdzo are clearly parodies of Superman, Lois Lane, and the Bizarros. The reason for the change is reportedly that DC Comics was reluctant to let their Vertigo Comics imprint make use of their biggest heroes at the time. This also meant it would be unlikely the Superman references would show up in the Netflix adaptation of The Sandman.

This seemed all but certain after it was decided The Sandman Season 2 would not adapt “A Game of You,” which barely involved the central character of Dream. Despite this, the series’ writers decided the show would still include Wanda, played by trans actor Indya Moore. They arranged this by switching Wanda out for a minor character named Ruby DeLonge, who acted as Dream and Delirium’s driver in the Waking World in “Brief Lives.”

What else was changed about The Sandman’s trans storyline?

Beyond changing Wanda’s occupation and placement in The Sandman, the Netflix series made two notable changes. First, Wanda’s last name in the show is Mannering. This was presumably changed to eliminate the rather tasteless pun of her dead name. The other change is that Wanda, rather than being a comic geek, is a big fan of L. Frank Baum’s Oz series. Indeed, her favorite character is Tip, a boy who discovers that he is truly Ozma, the lost Princess of Oz. As The Wizard of Oz was embraced in queer culture, Ozma’s story resonated with many trans people.

Another change comes in the fifth episode of The Sandman Season 2, “The Song of Orpheus.” This episode adapts Wanda’s funeral from “A Game of You.” However, the original comic had Wanda’s friend Barbie place a Hyperman comic at her grave and write her name across her tombstone in lipstick. The show has Dream attend the funeral and leave Wanda’s treasured copy of The Marvelous Land of Oz by her grave. He also magically changes her tombstone so it does not display her dead name.