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Supergirl (Kara Zor-El)
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Kara Zor-El is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by DC Comics and related media, created by writer Otto Binder and designed by artist Al Plastino. As Supergirl, Kara Zor-El serves as the biological cousin and female counterpart to DC Comic's iconic superhero Superman, created by writer Jerome Siegel and designed by artist Joseph Shuster. The character first appeared in a story published in Action Comics #252 (May 1959) entitled "The Supergirl from Krypton." Since the character's comic book debut, Kara Zor-El's Supergirl has been adapted into various media relating to the Superman franchise including merchandise, television, and feature film, making her a cultural icon.
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Encyclopedia
Kara Zor-El is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by DC Comics and related media, created by writer Otto Binder and designed by artist Al Plastino. As Supergirl, Kara Zor-El serves as the biological cousin and female counterpart to DC Comic's iconic superhero Superman, created by writer Jerome Siegel and designed by artist Joseph Shuster. The character first appeared in a story published in Action Comics #252 (May 1959) entitled "The Supergirl from Krypton." Since the character's comic book debut, Kara Zor-El's Supergirl has been adapted into various media relating to the Superman franchise including merchandise, television, and feature film, making her a cultural icon. However, during the 1980’s and the revolution of the Modern Age of Comics, Superman editors believed the character’s history had become convoluted, and desired to reestablish Superman as "The Last Son of Krypton." To that end, Supergirl is killed during the 1985 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths, then retconned out of existence. Following the character's death in Crisis, several other characters unrelated to Superman have used the alias "Supergirl."
DC Comics Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Dan DiDio, along with Editor Eddie Berganza and comic book writer Jeph Loeb reintroduced Kara Zor-El into mainstream continuity in 2004 with the Superman/Batman storyline "The Supergirl from Krypton"; an homage to the character’s original debut. As the current Supergirl, Kara Zor-El stars in her own monthly comic book series.
Publication history
Creation
Although Kara Zor-El was the first character to use the name "Supergirl," DC Comics tested three different female versions of Superman prior to her debut.
The first story to feature a female counterpart to Superman was "Lois Lane – Superwoman," which was published in Action Comics #60 (May 1943). In the story, 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 a version of Superman's costume.
In the Superboy #78 story entitled "Claire Kent, Alias Super-Sister", Superboy saves the life of an alien woman named Shar-La, who turns Superboy into a girl, in retaliation for his disparaging thoughts about women drivers which she picked up telepathically. 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. Once Superboy has learned his lesson about feeling more respect for women, Shar-La reveals the episode to be a dream which she projected into Superboy's mind. This incident could be a reflection of the gender discrimination present against women at the time and the resent by women of the period.
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 her debut story in Action Comics #252 (May 1959), the definite Kara Zor-El is sent to Earth by her parents Zor-El and Alura to be raised by her cousin Kal-El, known as Superman. Following this debut appearance, Supergirl adopted the secret identity of an orphan "Linda Lee" and made Midvale Orphanage her base of operations. Supergirl acted for three years as Superman's "secret weapon", until she was at last introduced by her super-powered cousin to an unsuspecting world in Action Comics #285 in 1962. Supergirl shared Action Comics with Superman until transferring to the lead in Adventure Comics at the end of the 1960s. In this period "Linda Lee" was adopted to become "Linda Danvers," eventually moving to Stanhope College, and then to San Francisco. In 1972 she was finally moved to her own named magazine, but the move, which involved a change in creative staff, was not successful and the magazine was cancelled. Supergirl, along with Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen, whose magazines were cancelled at about the same time, was moved to Superman Family, of which she soon became the lead, before her magazine was relaunched some years later.
Death during Crisis on Infinite Earths
In 1985, the maxi-series Crisis on Infinite Earths was conceived as a way to reduce DC Comic continuity to a single universe in which all characters maintained a single history. Despite Supergirl’s continued popularity and status as a central member of the "Superman Family", it was determined by the editors at DC Comics and the creators of the maxi-series that Supergirl would die during the Crisis. According to Marv Wolfman, writer of Crisis on Infinite Earths:
Following Kara Zor-El's death, the character of Supergirl proved impossible to suppress, and several characters unrelated to Superman soon took on the Supergirl persona, including the Matrix, Linda Danvers and Cir-El.
In 1989, in the tale "Christmas with the Super-Heroes" the soul of Kara appears to Boston "Deadman" Brand and cheers him up, not appearing in continuity again until the Linda Danvers' Supergirl series issues 48 and 49 in 2001.
Revival
Prior to the post-Crisis introduction of Kara Zor-El into mainstream continuity, the pre-Crisis Kara Zor-El made an appearance in Peter David’s Supergirl: Many Happy Returns. The then-current Supergirl series, at the time starring Linda Danvers, was in danger of cancellation and Peter David thought a story arc involving Kara Zor-El would be enough to revitalize the series. In an interview with Cliff Biggers of Newsarama, David states:
While "Many Happy Returns" did not save the Supergirl series from cancellation, it did revitalize an interest in Kara Zor-El. After the launch of the Superman/Batman comic book series, Executive Editor Dan DiDio had been looking for a way to simplify the Supergirl character from her convoluted post-crisis history; the simplest version of course, was Superman’s cousin. Jeph Loeb and Editor Eddie Berganza found an opening to reintroduce the character following the conclusion of the first story arc of Superman/Batman. Loeb states:
The modern version of Kara Zor-El made her debut in Superman/Batman #8 (2004). Kara takes the mantle of Supergirl at the conclusion of the storyline. The Supergirl comic book series would later be relaunched, now starring Kara Zor-El as "The Girl of Steel". The first arc of the new series was written by Jeph Loeb and illustrated by Ian Churchill. Loeb would later describe the appeal of writing for Supergirl:
Fictional character biography
Silver age
In her debut story, Kara Zor-El is described as the last survivor of Argo City of the planet Krypton. Although Argo, which had survived the explosion of the planet, drifted through space as a self-sustaining environment, the soil of the colony eventually turned into Kryptonite. Though Kara's father Zor-El placed lead sheeting above the ground to protect the citizens from radiation, meteorites pierced the sheeting and the Kryptonians died of radiation poisoning.
In Supergirl's subsequent backup feature in Action Comics drawn by her quintessential Artist Jim Mooney for ten years until 1968, Supergirl adopts the identity of Linda Lee, an orphan at Midvale Orphanage. She disguises herself by hiding her blonde hair beneath a brunette wig. During this time, Supergirl interacts with humans on a person-to-person basis performing good deeds and saving the world by helping one person at a time. Supergirl also uses clever schemes in order to act as "Superman's Secret Weapon" saving him many times, while avoiding adoption before Superman can introduce her publicly.
While temporarily powerless due to the scheming of Kandorian scientist Lesla-Lar, who is out to supplant her on Earth, Linda allows herself to be adopted by engineer and rocket scientist Fred Danvers and his wife, Edna. In time, she reveals her secret identity to her adoptive parents on the same day her cousin Superman finally introduces her to the world in the finale of then-DC's longest playing series ever (eight chapters) aptly called "The World's Greatest Heroine".
When frequent dreams about her parents being alive turn out to be real, she builds a machine aided by her engineer father's talent, and brings them both back alive from the "Survival Zone" where they had both teleported during Argo City's final moments. Zor-El and Allura eventually end up living in Kandor, and when the city in the bottle is enlarged, they both go on to live in Rokyn/New Krypton, where they have the sad duty of receiving her mortal remains after "Crisis" for burial.
Graduating high school in 1965, Linda Lee goes to College on a scholarship and stays in Stanhope College until 1971, when she graduates there, too. During this era, she is helped by her pet cat Streaky, her Super-Horse pet Comet and befriends Lena Thorul, who had first appeared in Lois Lane series. Kara is also a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes where she develops a special friendship with its many-times leader Brainiac 5. In addition, Linda has boyfriends from the orphanage (Richard "Dick" Malverne) and from Atlantis (Jerro the merboy).
In 1967, Supergirl meets Batgirl for the first time in World's Finest Comics. Developing a strong friendship, the two characters teamed up many times again, as in Superman Family #171, or Adventure #381.
In 1969, Supergirl left Action Comics and became a featured character in Adventure Comics beginning with issue #381 (June 1969).
During the 1970s, Supergirl's costume changed frequently, as did her career in her civilian life. During this era, her most remembered outfit included a "V" necked blouse with a "S" in her heart, and red hot-pants. In her secret identity as Linda Lee Danvers, Kara Zor-El took a variety of jobs including graduate student in acting, television reporter, and student counselor, and finally became an actress on the TV soap "Secret Hearts."
Bronze Age
When DC Editor Mort Weisinger retired in 1971, under assistant editor Joe Orlando & artist Mike Sekowsky the character underwent revitalization. Wearing a series of new outfits, leaving her adopted foster home with the Danvers Family, Linda goes on to San Francisco where she works for KSF-TV and gets a new beau: her own boss, Geoff. These stories introduced Supergirl's most memorable villain from this period: Lex Luthor's niece Nasthalthia, or Nasty. The villain doggedly pursues Supergirl for two years, trying to determine her secret identity.
Supergirl starred in her first solo eponymous monthly series beginning in 1972 until October 1974, when her monthly title merged with Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane, and Superman's pal Jimmy Olsen to produce a new title: then-highest DC selling series called "The Superman Family", where she rotated lead stories with them until 1982. In 1982 Supergirl received a second monthly solo series titled The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl and later simply Supergirl again, which ran until a sudden cancellation in 1984; surprisingly enough, this happened just two months before her big budget Hollywood debut starring Helen Slater.
In 1985, in the Crisis on Infinite Earths, the greatest heroes from Earth-One, Earth-Two,Earth-Four,Earth-S and Earth-X joined forces in order to defeat the Anti-Monitor. When Superman comes face to face with the Anti-Monitor and is knocked unconscious, Supergirl rushes to save him before he is killed. She is able to fight him off long enough for Dr. Light to carry her cousin to a safe distance, but is killed by the Anti-Monitor.Batgirl gives her eulogy at a publicly held memorial service in Chicago. Batgirl states, "Kara is a hero, she will not be forgotten." Superman then gives his late cousin burial by taking her corpse to Rokyn/New Krypton to Zor-El and Allura. It is later revealed in a "Superman" title the following month, that Kara had been granted a premonition about her own passing. However, when the universe is rebooted, the timeline is altered and Kara Zor-El is erased from remembrance by everybody else.
The final chapter
After these events, the soul of Kara Zor-El made another appearance in continuity three years later in a story titled "Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot" in Christmas with the Super-Heroes #2 (1989). Within the story, Boston "Deadman" Brand tries to feel the warmth of Christmas by possessing revelers' bodies. Feeling guilty upon the realization that he has been stealing others' Christmases, he flies off feeling sorry for himself for being denied a reward after a year of helping people. A warmly-dressed blonde woman approaches Brand, startling him. Somehow seeing the normally invisible Brand, she converses with him, reminding him,
She reminds Brand that even though he is dead, he is still human, and he should rejoice because it means his spirit is still alive. As the woman leaves, Brand asks her who she is, to which she replies, "My name is Kara. Though I doubt that will mean anything to you." The story, written by Alan Brennert and penciled by Dick Giordano, is dedicated to Otto Binder and Jim Mooney, adding: "We still remember."
Finally, the soul of Kara Zor-El appeared twice during Peter David's run, specifically in issues #48 and #49 when she appears before a defeated and imprisoned then-Supergirl, Linda Danvers from Earth, and comforts her. Linda acknowledges she has been helped three times by her phantom-friend, and when she asks her name she is told by the smiling figure: "I have gone by many names, but the one I am most fond of is: Kara!"
Modern Age
In 2004, Jeph Loeb reintroduced Kara Zor-El into mainstream continuity in Superman/Batman: Supergirl. She is first discovered by Batman in Gotham City Bay. Similar to her Silver Age origin, the Modern Age Kara claims to be the biological cousin of Kal-El. Although chronologically older than Superman, the ship in which she traveled to Earth was caught in a large green kryptonite meteorite and held her in a state of suspended animation for an extended period of time. While Superman accepts her claims, Batman is distrustful of her. After training her newly manifested powers under the tutelage of Wonder Woman and the Amazons on the island of Themyscira, Kara Zor-El is captured by the extraterrestrial supervillain Darkseid and brainwashed into becoming the leader of his Female Furies. Following a rescue mission led by Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman, Kara Zor-El assumes the role of "Supergirl."
Following the conclusion of "The Supergirl from Krypton," DC Comics relaunched the Supergirl monthly comic series starring Kara Zor-El. Jeph Loeb's first arc on the series Supergirl: Power (2005) showcases Supergirl on a journey of self-discovery. Along her journey, she encounters Power Girl (Kara Zor-El's counterpart from another universe), the Teen Titans, The Outsiders, the Justice League of America and arch-villain Lex Luthor.
During the company wide crossover series Infinite Crisis (2005), a sequel to Crisis on Infinite Earths, Supergirl is recruited by Donna Troy to assist in the upcoming battle, however, Supergirl vanishes during their return from deep space. During this time, DC Comics renamed the monthly comic book series Legion of Super-Heroes to Supergirl and the Legion of Superheroes. Beginning with issue #16, Supergirl reappears in the 31st century finding she is revered as a member of the Superman family and joins the Legion of Super-Heroes. In the limited series 52, which chronicles the events that took place during the missing year after the end of Infinite Crisis, Donna Troy (after her rebirth and inheritance of Harbinger's Orb) recalls the original Kara Zor-El and her sacrifice to save the Universe.
One year after Infinite Crisis, during World War III of Week 50 of 52, Supergirl returns to the 21st century. After briefly filling in for a temporarily depowered Superman as guardian of Metropolis, she assumes the identity of Flamebird to fight crime in the bottle city of Kandor with Power Girl as Nightwing in Greg Rucka's arc Supergirl: Kandor. While in Kandor Kara is telpathically manipulated by an evil version of Saturn Girl named Saturn Queen into falling in love with Ultraman who has claimed to be Kal-El. After Ultraman is defeated, Saturn Queen tells Kara of Argo city's survival in exchange for her sparing the life of Ultraman.
In Joe Kelly's Supergirl: Identity (2006), Kara Zor-El attempts to create a secret identity under the name Claire Connors, pretending to be a teenage girl from Kansas. Supergirl also teams up with The Outsiders, engages in battle with Batgirl and begins a romantic relationship with Power Boy. Supergirl's relationship with Power Boy ends after she discovers his obsessive and violent nature and learns that he was born on Apokolips. Joe Kelly's following arc shows Supergirl learning the true origins of her past and apparently encountering her Silver Age counterpart. The defeat of Supergirl's counterpart in Supergirl #18 reveals that her recent ordeals, including the Phantom-infested Earth and Kara's direct encounter with her father, are part of a twisted "test" designed by Dark Angel, who also masqueraded as the pre-Crisis Supergirl. Four months later, yet another new origin is given the girl of steel, where her father is a Ranger and her mother a scientist.
During Will Pfeifer's six-part limited series Amazons Attack! (2007), Wonder Girl and Supergirl discover that the Amazons of Themyscira have invaded Washington, D.C. Because of the McCarran Internal Security Act, implemented by the US President, Wonder Girl's mother and a friend of Supergirl's, named Alison, are held at an internment camp. As they try to storm the camp and free the women, they are stopped by the Titans, and told by Robin that negotiation would be a better solution. Consequently, they fly to Washington D.C. and talk to Queen Hippolyta, who tells them that negotiations are impossible, since the President is safe on Air Force One. Agreeing to bring the US leader to the Amazon Queen, the two girls block the path of Air Force One and threaten to bring the plane down if the President does not come with them. After the Amazons then forcefully cause Air Force One to crash, Wonder Girl and Supergirl realize how foolish they are and aid the heroes battle against the Amazons.
Soon after the end of the Amazon War, Supergirl receives membership with the Teen Titans with Superman's approval. During her first mission as an official member of the team, she and the other Titans find themselves confronting the sinister "Titans of Tomorrow," and she finds herself battling against a re-cloned Conner Kent. After this, there is a big falling out between Wonder Girl and Supergirl, which leads to Supergirl leaving the Teen Titans.
Her lack of experience about humans and humanity causes further trouble later; unable to gauge her limits, she commits a long series of blunders, including promising a little boy she could save him without realizing that he had terminal cancer and causing significant damage across Metropolis during her battles against various villains and metahumans. This prompts Cat Grant, holding a grudge against the Girl of Steel, to start a campaign of libel in the Daily Planet, turning almost every citizen of Metropolis against her.
After conversations with other heroes who maintain secret identities, Supergirl realizes how badly she needs to get a deeper connection with human beings. She accepts Lana Lang's proposal to present her to the Daily Planet staff as Linda Lang, her teenaged niece.
In the New Krypton story arc, in which Superman discovers and frees the real Kandor, Supergirl is reunited with her father, Zor-El and mother, Allura. It seems that the Saturn Queen of the false Kandor was right and Argo City did survive Krypton's destruction. But Argo City's force field was on the verge of collapse. Zor-El, like his brother Jor-El, tries to warn the council on Argo of its eventual doom but they refuse to listen. Zor-El builds a spaceship in hopes of using it to discover a new planet to settle on. Before this can happen however, Brainiac attacks Argo. Zor-El rushes a young Kara to the spaceship and launches it into space towards Earth as her mother, Allura tells her to watch over her little cousin, Kal-El. Argo ends up being an added edition to a shrunken Kandor. This is all seen in Supergirl #35 as Zor-El is using a machine to purge Kara of the kryptonite poisoning she sustained after her ship had been trapped in a giant kryptonite asteroid. Zor-El and Allura inform Kara that the symptoms for this poisoning is mood swings, aggessiveness, crytalizing blood, memory loss and hallucinations--all of which Kara has exhibited since her arrival on Earth. Zor-El's machine succeeds in curing Kara and restoring all of her lost and distorted memories. Soon after, Metallo and Reactron are brought to Kandor by the Kryptonian military, having apparently surrendered. This is immediately revealed to be a ruse, and Reactron, using his newly implanted Gold Kryptonite heart, temporarily depowers several Kryptonians, and kills Zor-El. Allura blames Kara and Kal-El for Zor-El's death, berating them for failing to maintain order on earth, which causes Kara to fly off in response. Kara then encounters the new Superwoman, who helps her talk though her anger.
Powers and abilities
Like all Kryptonians under a yellow sun, the current version of Kara Zor-El possesses vast super strength, speed & stamina; various extra sensory and vision powers (including super hearing, x-ray vision, telescopic vision, microscopic vision, and heat vision); tremendous lung capacity and super breath (wind and ice); invulnerability, and flight. The modern day Kara Zor-El is also a capable martial artist, having trained with the Amazons.
Continued exposure to a yellow sun will cause the level of her abilities to slowly increase. Many characters in the DC Universe have noted that Supergirl appears at times to be even more powerful than Superman. However, as Superman himself explains, this is because he has spent a lifetime subconsciously suppressing his powers so that he doesn't hurt the people around him, while Kara, without such experience, simply uses her powers to the fullest without being as fearful of risks to others.
In 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.
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 returned for a guest appearance. The episode in which she stars shows her release from Phantom Zone and her departure from Smallville and her cousin's company, to search for Kandor, her birthplace, that is rumoured to have survived to Krypton's explosion.
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 Argo. As continued in Justice League Unlimited, she and Superman have grown very close, almost like siblings, but she departs his company when she discovers love for Brainiac 5 of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the distant future. This version is based on the original Silver Age concept of Supergirl according to writer Paul Dini ' We wanted to do the original version, which is Superman’s cousin from Krypton; [however], we ran into a wall with DC because they insisted that Superman be the last Kryptonian. So we did a compromise: she’s from a small planet in the neighboring system that was colonized by Kryptonians, but they’ve evolved slightly differently.' By the conclusion of the series Kara the kryptonian cousin had returned to the comics and the ban was lifted. In her final episode 'Far From Home' Superman talks about how he wanted her to be seen as more than his cousin.
See also
Bibliography
Pre-Crisis
- 1959 to 1969: Action Comics #252 to #376.
- 1969 to 1972: Adventure Comics #381 to #424.
- 1972 to 1974: Supergirl #1 to #10.
- 1974 to 1982: Her comic merges with Jimmy Olsen's and Lois Lane's to become Superman Family #164 to #222.
- 1982 to 1984: The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl #1 to #23.
Kara Zor-El appeared in over 750 stories published by DC from 1959 to 1985.
Post-Crisis
- 2004 to 2005: Superman/Batman #8 to #13 and #19
- 2005 to Present: Supergirl, Vol. 5 #0 to (ongoing)
- 2006 to 2008: Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes (Legion of Super-Heroes, Vol. 5) #16 to #37
- 2007: Action Comics #850
Kara Zor-El also appears as a supporting character in several issues of other DC Comics, including Superman, Action Comics, Teen Titans, Amazons Attack, World War III, and Wonder Girl.
Trade paperbacks and hardcover collections
| Title | Material collected |
|---|
| Original |
|---|
| Supergirl Archives Vol. 1 | Superman #123, Action Comics #252-268 | | Supergirl Archives Vol. 2 | Action Comics #269-285 | | Showcase Presents: Supergirl Vol. 1 | Action Comics #252-282,
Adventure Comics #278,
Superboy #80,
Superman #123, 139, 140, 144,
Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #14,
Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #40, 46, 51 | | Showcase Presents: Supergirl Vol. 2 | Action Comics #283-321
| | Supergirl Vol. 1: Power | Supergirl #1-5
Superman/Batman #19 | | Supergirl Vol. 2: Candor | Supergirl #6-9
Superman/Batman #27
Superman #223
JLA #122-123 | | Supergirl Vol. 3: Identity | Supergirl #10-19
Infinite Holiday Special #1 | | Supergirl Vol. 4: Beyond Good and Evil | Supergirl #23-27
Action Comics #850 |
Footnotes
External links
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