Supergirl is a
fictional comic
book Superhero that is depicted as a
female counterpart to the DC Comics iconic
superhero Superman.
Created by
Otto Binder and
Al Plastino in 1959 and appearing in
Action Comics. The character first appeared in
comic books and later appeared
children's
cartoon animation, film, and
television.
As Supergirl, the
Kara
Zor-El character plays a supporting role in various DC
Comics publications, including
Action Comics,
Superman, and several other comic book series unrelated to
Superman. In 1969 Supergirl became lead feature in
Adventure Comics and later starred in
an
eponymous comic book series which debuted
in 1972 and ran until 1974, followed by a second monthly comic book
series titled
The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl,
which ran from 1982 to 1984.
An editorial mandate, the 1985
limited
series Crisis on
Infinite Earths depicts the death of Supergirl and DC
Comics subsequently
reboots the
fictional continuity of the
DC Comics Universe,
reestablishing Superman's character as the sole survivor of
Krypton's destruction. Following
the conclusion of
Crisis on Infinite Earths, several
different characters written as having no familial relationship to
Superman have assumed the role of Supergirl, including
Matrix,
Linda
Danvers, and
Cir-El.
Following the cancellation of the third
Supergirl comic
book series starring the Linda Danvers version of the character, a
modern version of Kara Zor-El is reintroduced into DC Comics
continuity in issue #8 of the
Superman/Batman comic book series
titled "The Supergirl from Krypton" (2004). The modern Kara Zor-El
stars as Supergirl in an eponymous comic book series, in addition
to playing a supporting role in various DC Comics publications. The
Supergirl character has been adapted into all media relating to the
Superman franchise including
merchandise,
television,
animation,
and
feature film.
Precursors
Many
Superman stories feature one-time
appearances of a female version of Superman as a story gimmick.
- Lois Lane (Superwoman) — The first comic to feature
a female counterpart to Superman is "Lois
Lane - Superwoman," a story published in Action Comics
#60 (May 1943), in which a hospitalized Lois Lane dreams she has
gained superpowers thanks to a blood transfusion from the Man of
Steel. She begins her own career as Superwoman, complete with
copycat costume. Similar stories with Lois Lane acquiring
superpowers and adopting the name "Superwoman" periodically appear
later. One such story appears in Action Comics #156 (May
1951), in which Lois accidentally gains superpowers, thanks to an
invention of Superman's arch-foe, Lex
Luthor. In the story, Lois employs a short blond wig in her
crime-fighting identity, giving Superwoman an almost identical look
to the later Kara Zor-El version of Supergirl.
- Queen Lucy, Super-Girl — In Superboy #5 (November-December 1949)
in a story titled 'Superboy Meets Supergirl' Superboy met Queen
Lucy of the fictional Latin American nation of Borgonia. She was a
stellar but not superhuman athlete and
scholar. Tired of her duties and wanting to enjoy a normal life
Queen Lucy traveled to Smallville where she met Superboy and
soon won his heart. Superboy put on a show with her where he used
his powers to make her seem superhuman, during this contest she was
called Super-Girl. As Super-Girl, Queen Lucy wore a tan dress with
a brown cape and Superboy's 'S' symbol. Superboy later saved her
from a scheming minister and she returned to the throne leaving
Superboy to wonder if she ever thought of him.
- Claire Kent — In the Superboy #78 story titled "Claire
Kent, Alias Super-Sister", Superboy saves the life of an alien
woman named Shar-La from crashing. After he ridicules her driving
for being a girl, Shar-La turns Superboy into a girl. In Smallville, Clark claims to be Claire
Kent, an out-of-town relative who is staying with the Kents. When
in costume, he appears as Superboy's sister, Super-Sister, and
claims the two have exchanged places. As a girl, he is ridiculed
and scorned by men, and wants to prove he's as good as he always
was. In the end, it is revealed that the situation is an illusion
created by Shar-La, and Superboy learns not to ridicule women.
- Super-Girl — In Superman #123 (August
1958), Jimmy Olsen uses a magic totem to
wish a "Super-Girl" into existence as a companion and aid to
Superman; however, the two frequently get in each other's way until
she is fatally injured protecting Superman from a Kryptonite
meteor. At her insistence, Jimmy wishes the dying girl out of
existence. DC used this story to gauge public response to the
concept of a completely new super-powered female counterpart to
Superman. In the original issue in which this Super-Girl story was
printed, she had blond hair and her costume was blue and red like
Superman's. Early reprints of this story showed her with red hair
and an orange and green costume, to prevent readers from confusing
her with the then current Supergirl character . Much later, the
story was again reprinted in its original form.
Pre-Crisis character biography
After positive fan reaction to Super-Girl, the first recurring and
most familiar version of Supergirl, Kara Zor-El, debuted in 1959.
Kara Zor-El first appeared in
Action Comics #252 (May
1959) written by Otto Binder who also created
Mary Marvel,
Captain Marvel's sister and
female spin-off. Like Supergirl, Mary Marvel was a teen-age female
version of an adult male super-hero, wearing a costume that was
identical to the older character other than substituting a short
skirt for tights. Binder also created
Miss America, a super-hero who
shared little other than the name with her sometimes co-star
Captain America.
Reaction at the D.C. Comics offices to Supergirl's first appearance
was tremendous, with thousands of positive letters-of-comment
pouring in. The first published letter-of-comment in the August
1959 issue of Action Comics was from a eleven-year-old reader from
Garland, Texas named David Mitchell.
The same Dave Mitchell would go on to become a
well-known Miami
radio
personality.
Kara Zor-El was the last survivor of
Argo
City of the planet
Krypton,
which had survived the explosion of the planet and had drifted
through space. When the inhabitants of the colony are slain by
Kryptonite, Kara is sent to Earth by her
father
Zor-El to be raised by her cousin
Kal-El, known as Superman. Fearing that she might not be recognized
by Superman, Kara's parents provide a costume based on the Man of
Steel's own.
On Earth, Kara acquires super-powers identical to Superman's and
adopts the secret identity of Linda Lee, an orphan at Midvale
Orphanage. She conceals her blonde hair beneath a brunette wig and
functions as Supergirl only in secret, at Superman's request, until
she can gain (in his opinion) sufficient control of her powers.
After being adopted by Fred and Edna Danvers, Superman decides his
cousin is ready to begin operating openly as Supergirl.
In her secret identity, Linda attends Midvale High School as Linda
Lee Danvers. In later years, after graduating from Stanhope
College, she changes careers several times, holding jobs in student
counseling, news reporting, and acting in a TV
soap opera titled
Secret Hearts. She
also attends college in Chicago. Kara has many boyfriends,
including Richard (Dick) Malverne, Jerro the merboy from Atlantis,
and member of the
Legion of
Super-Heroes,
Brainiac 5. She does,
however, shun serious commitments, putting her super-career
first.
Supergirl's secret identity is a closely held secret and is known
only to Superman, her foster parents, and the Legion of
Super-Heroes, of which she serves as a member for a time. Like all
Kryptonians, Supergirl is vulnerable to kryptonite.
Streaky, Linda Danvers's orange cat,
acquires temporary super-powers as a result of its exposure to
"X-Kryptonite".
Comet the
Superhorse, a former centaur, is Supergirl's equine
companion.
Supergirl's biological parents survived the radiation poisoning
that killed everyone else in Argo City by entering the Survival
Zone (a sort of
Phantom Zone). They
were eventually rescued from the Survival Zone by Supergirl and
decided to live in the bottle city of
Kandor.
(Supergirl story in Action Comics #309-310 Feb-Mar 1964, confirmed
in Action #370).
One way DC demonstrated the epic nature of its 12-issue
limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths
(April 1985-March 1986) was through the deaths of important
characters. In issue #7 (October 1985), Supergirl bravely
sacrifices her life to save her cousin and the
multiverse from destruction. When
Superman continuity rebooted after the
Crisis on Infinite
Earths, DC editorial felt that Superman should be the sole
survivor of Krypton, resulting in Kara being removed from
continuity. Unlike a number of other characters who are shown dying
in the Crisis, no one remembers Kara dying or even ever having
existed.
After the events of
Infinite
Crisis, many historical events from the Multiverse are now
being remembered.
Donna Troy, after her
rebirth and inheritance of
Harbinger's Orb, has recalled the
original Kara Zor-El and her sacrifice to save the Universe.
Post-Crisis character biography
DC Editorial wanted Superman to be the only surviving Kryptonian
following DC's post-Crisis reboot of Superman continuity. As a
result, when DC reintroduced Supergirl in the post-Crisis era, she
needed to have a non-Kryptonian origin. Afterwards, DC Comics tried
to revamp the Supergirl concept, introducing several more
non-Kryptonian Supergirls. Eventually, the rule that Superman
should be the only surviving Kryptonian was relaxed, allowing for a
return of Kara Zor-El as both Superman's cousin and a Kryptonian
survivor.
Matrix
After the post-Crisis reboot of Superman continuity in the late
1980s, Supergirl's origin was completely rewritten. No longer was
she Superman's cousin, or even Kryptonian. In
Superman v2,
#16 (April 1988), a new Supergirl debuted as a man-made life-form
(made of synthetic
protoplasm) created by
a heroic
Lex Luthor of a "
pocket universe". Lex implanted her with
Lana Lang's memories, and she could
shapeshift to resemble
Lana
Lang. Matrix even believed herself to be Lana for a time. She
wore a miniskirted version of Superman's costume, but Matrix did
not have Superman's exact powers. While she possessed flight and
super-strength (like Superman), she could also employ
telekinesis, shape-shifting and a
cloaking/
invisibility power (her
cloaking power made her undetectable even to Superman
himself).
Matrix's Supergirl form resembled the pre-Crisis Supergirl. She
lived in Smallville with the Kents, who treated "Mae" like their
own daughter. While new to Earth, Matrix began a romance with the
DC Universe's Lex Luthor until she realized Luthor's evil nature.
She left him to find her own way in the world, serving for a time
as a member of the
Teen Titans and a
hero in her own right.
Matrix/Linda Danvers
Beginning in September 1996, DC published a
Supergirl
title written by
Peter David. The 1996
Supergirl comic revamps the previous Matrix Supergirl by
merging her with a human being, resulting in a new Supergirl. Many
old elements of the pre-Crisis Supergirl are reintroduced in new
forms. The woman that Matrix merges with has the same name as
pre-Crisis Supergirl's secret identity, Linda Danvers. The series
is set in the town of Leesburg, named after pre-adoption secret
identity, Linda Lee. Linda's father is named Fred Danvers, the same
as pre-Crisis Supergirl's adopted father. Furthermore, new versions
of Dick Malverne and Comet appear as part of the supporting
cast.
As the series begins, Matrix sacrifices herself to save a dying
woman named Linda Danvers, and their bodies, minds, and souls merge
to become an "Earth-Born
Angel", a being that
is created when one being selflessly sacrifices him or herself to
save another who is, in every way, beyond saving. As the angel,
Supergirl loses some of her powers but gains others, including
fiery angel wings and a "shunt" ability that allows her to teleport
to any place she has been before.
The angelic aspect of Supergirl eventually falls from grace, and
Linda and Matrix are separated once more into two beings. Linda
retains some of Supergirl's super-strength and durability, and
although she can no longer fly, she can leap 1/8th of a mile. Linda
acts as Supergirl for a while, attempting to locate her angelic
aspect. After she is found in the
Garden
of Eden and freed from the Demon Mother, Matrix merges with a
woman named
Twilight and
becomes the new Earth-born angel of fire. Twilight uses her healing
powers to increase Linda's strength to Supergirl's levels and
restores her powers of flight and telekinesis. In
Supergirl #75 (December 2002), detoured on her way to
Earth, the pre-Crisis Supergirl, Kara Zor-El, arrives in
post-Crisis Leesburg. After learning that Kara is destined to die,
Linda travels to the pre-Crisis universe in her place, where she
marries Superman and bears a daughter named
Ariella. With the stipulation that her daughter
be the exception in the eradication of her alternate "life", Linda
ultimately allows history to unfold as it should have with Kara
assuming her rightful but tragic place in the time-stream. However,
finding no assurance that Ariella survived the restoration of
post-Crisis history, a dejected Linda relinquishes the role of
Supergirl, sends a farewell note to Superman, and leaves for points
unknown.
Peter David's creator-owned series
Fallen Angel, published by
DC Comics, features a character, Lee, who
is similar to Linda and explores the same themes as Peter David's
Supergirl series. Prior to
Fallen Angel moving to another
company, Lee was written in a manner such that she could have been
Linda.
Though David remained coy as to whether the two characters were one
and the same during the DC run of the title, after it moved to IDW,
David revealed Lee's origin, which clearly showed that Lee was not
Danvers. However,
Fallen Angel #14 introduced "Lin," who
was said to be Lee's "predecessor" in Bete Noire. Lin had recently
escaped
Limbo, an apparent metaphor for what
happened to Danvers after the cancellation of
Supergirl.
David was more explicit as to whether Lin was Linda Danvers in his
December 13, 2006 blog entry, in which
he stated:
However, since David could not explicitly claim that a character
owned by DC and a character that he owned were one and the same, he
admitted:
According to an interview with Newsarama, Matrix Supergirl is wiped
from existence by the events depicted in the 2005 limited series
Infinite Crisis, although
Infinite Crisis writer
Geoff
Johns has stated that Danvers is not. The debate was finally
settled in the 2008 mini-series REIGN IN HELL, where Shadowpact is
shown trying to apprehend Linda Danvers before Linda is "recalled"
to Hell.
Cir-El
A Supergirl named Cir-El appears in 2003's
Superman: The 10
Cent Adventure #1, claiming to be the future daughter of
Superman and
Lois Lane. Although she has
super-strength, speed, and hearing like Superman, she can only leap
great distances. She also possesses the ability to fire blasts of
red solar energy. Her alter ego is a street person named Mia. She
is later found to be a human girl who was altered by Brainiac on a
genetic level to appear Kryptonian; she dies thwarting a plot
involving
Brainiac 13.
Superman Vol. 2 #200
implies that when the timeline realigned itself, Cir-El was no
longer in continuity. Cir-El is unique among the various
incarnations of Supergirl; she is the only one who is not a
blonde.
Kara Zor-El
Issue #8 of the
Superman/Batman series originally
published in 2004 re-introduced
Kara Zor-El
into DC continuity. Like the pre-Crisis version, this Kara claims
to be the daughter of Superman's uncle Zor-El and aunt Alura In-Ze.
Unlike the traditional Supergirl origin, Kara was born before
Superman; she was a teenager when he was a baby. She had been sent
in a rocket in suspended animation to look after the infant Kal-El;
however, her rocket was caught in the explosion of Krypton, became
encased in a
kryptonite asteroid, and she arrived on Earth years after
Kal-El had grown up and became known as Superman. Due to this
extended period of suspended animation she is "younger" than her
cousin, relatively speaking (she is referenced to be about 16,
while Superman is portrayed to be about 35+ ). At the end of "The
Supergirl from Krypton" arc, her cousin Superman officially
introduces her to all the heroes of the , then she adopts the
Supergirl costume, and accepts the name.
Cover for Supergirl #1 (2005 series).
new
Supergirl series, written by Jeph Loeb, began
publication in August 2005. The storyline in the first arc of
Supergirl depicts a darker, evil version of Kara emerging
when Lex Luthor exposes her to
Black
Kryptonite. The evil Supergirl implies that Kara's family sent
her to earth to kill Kal-El as revenge for a family grudge; at the
time, Kara herself refuses to believe this, but later flashbacks
indicate that not only was this partly true but Kara had been
physically altered by her father as a child before being involved
in several murders on Krypton.
Supergirl also appears in
Supergirl and the Legion of
Super-Heroes, in which she is transported to the 31st
century, and, as a result of her disorientation, for a time
believes she is dreaming her surroundings into existence until
finally convinced otherwise. Although her memories of her time with
the Legion were erased before she returned to the present, the
mental blocks broke down upon encountering the pre-crisis versions
of Legionnaires
Karate Kid and
Triplicate Girl (Una).
Supergirl exhibits new powers, manifesting sunstone crystals from
her body; so far she has only done so while under great stress (for
example, when Cassandra Cain tries to kill her). Supergirl's father
implanted the crystals within his daughter's body to protect her
from malevolent beings from the Phantom Zone. The Zone-dwellers
were released when Jor-El made the Phantom Zone Projector and
exploited the Zone as a prison. Kara's father, believing that
Kal-El is a lure to the Zone-dwellers, has instructed Kara to
destroy him. More recent comics have cast this plotline as the
result of Kryptonite poisoning from the
kryptonite asteroid she
was trapped in for years.
A recently wrapped storyline focused on her promise to a little boy
that she would save him. She meant it in a more immediate sense,
since Reactron was damaging the city, but the boy meant, could she
save him from his cancer. She then tried to make good on her
promise, following different avenues searching for a cure. After he
died, she tracked down a villain with the ability to jump through
time, but decided not to use that solution as she would just be
doing the same thing as the villain. She's since accepted that
sometimes she can't save everyone.
Supporting characters
Even though Supergirl is a Superman supporting character, she is
also a Superman Family member, with her own set of supporting
characters.
- Zor-El and Alura — Kara
Zor-El's biological parents. Zor-El, the younger brother of Jor-El,
was a scientist who invented the dome over Argo City and oversaw
the placement of lead shielding over the ground of Argo City, thus
enabling the city's residents to survive after the explosion of
Krypton. The city drifted in space for about 15 years, the
residents clinging to a precarious existence. During that time, the
couple had a daughter, Kara, who grew to about the age of 10-12
when the city's existence was put in peril when its lead shielding
was punctured by meteors, releasing deadly kryptonite radiation. At
this point, Zor-El and Alura placed Kara in a rocket ship and sent
her to Earth, which Zor-El had observed using a powerful electronic
telescope. Observing a super-powered man resembling his brother
Jor-El, and wearing a uniform of Kryptonian styling, Zor-El (and
Alura) concluded the man was probably their nephew, Kal-El, sent
through space by Jor-El when Krypton exploded and now grown to
adulthood. In later Silver Age accounts, Zor-El and Alura survive
the death of Argo City when, shortly before the radiation reached
lethal levels, Zor-El projects them both into the immaterial
Phantom Zone; later they are released from the Zone and go to live
in the bottle city of Kandor preserved in microscopic size at
Superman's Fortress. Under the Silver Age version of the
continuity, Supergirl could regularly visit with both her adoptive
parents, the Danverses (see below), and her birth parents, in
Kandor.
- Streaky the
Supercat — Supergirl's pet cat. In Pre-Crisis
continuity he (male) was named after a jagged horizontal stripe of
lighter fur on his side, and acquires super-powers after exposure
to X-Kryptonite. In post crisis continuity she (female) is a normal
housecat Supergirl took in, whose name is taken from her inability
to understand the concept of a litterbox.
- Comet the
Super-Horse — Pre-Crisis Supergirl's horse who is a
centaur accidentally cursed by Circe
into being trapped in the form of a horse. In post-Crisis
continuity, Comet is a superhero who is a romantic interest of
Linda Danvers.
- Fred and Edna Danvers — The foster parents of
pre-Crisis Supergirl. Shortly after they adopt Linda Lee from the
Midvale orphanage, Superman reveals his cousin's identity to her
foster parents, so they are aware of her super-powers. Later, they
are also aware that Superman is secretly Clark Kent.
- Dick Malverne — An orphan at the Midvale
Orphanage who is one of Pre-Crisis Supergirl's romantic interests.
While living at the Midvale Orphanage as Linda Lee, Supergirl meets
and befriends fellow orphan, Dick Wilson. Dick suspects that Linda
is secretly Supergirl and is constantly trying to prove Linda has
super-powers. Later, Dick is adopted by a couple named Malverne,
and changes his name to Dick Malverne. In post-Crisis continuity,
Dick Malverne is a newly arrived resident to Leesburg who befriends
Linda Danvers.
- Jerro the Merboy — A merperson from Atlantis
who is another of Pre-Crisis Supergirl's romantic interests, much
like the relationship that Superman had with Lori Lemaris.
Other versions
Several different versions of Supergirl have appeared in
continuity.
- Power Girl (Kara
Zor-L)—An alternate version of Kara Zor-El from the parallel world,
Earth-Two, the cousin of Superman .
- Laurel Gand
(Andromeda)—Laurel Gand was the post-Crisis/Glorithverse
replacement for the pre-Crisis Supergirl in the Legion of Super-Heroes, after the
latter was removed from continuity following The Man of Steel reboot
of Superman. Originally, Laurel was simply
known by her given name. A younger version of Laurel took the
superhero code name "Andromeda" shortly before the Zero Hour reboot of the Legion; post-reboot, Laurel
remained Andromeda.
- Ariella
Kent—Supergirl of the 853rd century, later revealed to
be the daughter of post-Crisis Linda Danvers and Silver Age style
Superman from the Many Happy Returns story arc.
Adaptations into other media
A live action depiction of Supergirl first appears in the
eponymous 1984 film starring
Helen Slater as Supergirl. The film is a
spin-off from the
Superman film series
starring
Christopher Reeve, to
which it is connected by
Marc McClure's
character
Jimmy Olsen. The film was
poorly received and its plot concerns Supergirl, Superman's cousin,
leaving her isolated Kryptonian community of Argo City for Earth in
an effort to retrieve the unique 'Omegahedron'. The item falls into
the hands of evil witch Selena (
Faye
Dunaway), and havoc ensues.
Laura Vandervoort as Kara
In the
seventh season
(2007-2008) of the
CW's hit
show
Smallville, Kara is
introduced into the cast and is portrayed by
Laura Vandervoort.
Smallville
closely depicts her as Clark's (
Tom
Welling) cousin whose spaceship became trapped in stasis until
the events of the
sixth season
finale. Much of season seven is concerned with Kara's attempts to
adjust to life on Earth, especially after learning of Krypton's
destruction. Her storyline sees her simultaneously become the
object of Lex Luthor's (
Michael
Rosenbaum) obsessions and Jimmy Olsen's (
Aaron Ashmore) affections, suffer a bout of
amnesia, discover her father's (
Christopher Heyerdahl) sinister
motives and become a target of evil android
Brainiac (
James
Marsters). The season finale sees Kara become trapped in the
Phantom Zone, and Vandervoort is no
longer a regular in the show's
eighth season (2008-2009), but made
one guest appearance in the episode 'Bloodline'. Clark and Lois are
transported to the Phantom Zone and return with Kara. At the end of
the episode she leaves Smallville to search for
Kandor.
In animation, Supergirl is voiced by
Nicholle Tom in
Superman: The Animated
Series. She is depicted as Kara In-Ze, not Superman's
cousin as in the comic book but rather a near-Kryptonian from
Krypton's sister planet of Argos. As continued in
Justice League Unlimited, she
and Superman have grown very close, almost like siblings, but she
departs his company when shediscovers love for
Brainiac 5 of the
Legion of Super-Heroes in the distant
future.
Video Games
Supergirl has been confirmed as one of the Hero characters in
Sony's upcoming DC Universe Online game. She will feature as well
as Superman, Batman, Catwoman, Wonder Woman and many others.
See also
Notes and references
- Peter
Sanderson, Amazing Heroes #96, June 1986. "Superman
will be the only Kryptonian who survived the destruction of
Krypton" - John Byrne on The Man of Steel.
Excerpted here
- 52: Week Four and Week Five,
2006
- "Killing Supergirl was my idea, approved by DC in order to
make Superman the sole survivor of Krypton for his new relaunch.
Everyone was in agreement but I was the first to suggest it. --
Marv Wolfman, MarvWolfman.com: Q&A. Retrieved on14
September 2008.
- Supergirl #50
- Newsarama.com: Crisis Counseling: The
Finale
- The Comic Bloc Forums - Geoff, We need to talk -
Page 2
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