Supergirl

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After crash landing on Earth and briefly confronting Superman, Kara was captured by Simon Tyche. Afterwards she journeyed to Argo City, but discovered in ruins. While there she encountered Reign who informed who of the actions of the Worldkillers. After Kara returned to Earth, she was soon attacked by the entire group of the Worldkillers and it came to her to protect New York City. In so doing she began to associate with the denizens of Earth, and lacking a home of her own, decided on this one for herself.

Origin

Although her publication history reaches back to the late golden age, her origin story has remained mostly unchanged in this time (except when a completely different character, Linda Danvers, took on the name). Supergirl was a resident of the doomed planet Krypton, who at the time of its explosion was a teenager who was often left in charge of her infant cousin Kal-El (who would become Superman on Earth). She was sent in a separate spacecraft to Earth to look over her cousin while he reached maturity. Due to an error in the trajectory of the spacecraft (and because she was traveling close to the speed of light) she arrived many years later unaged while Kal-El had already grown to adulthood, reversing the intended role of child and guardian.

Creation

Supergirl (Kara Zor-El) was created by writer Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino. She first appeared in Action Comics #252 in Early May of 1959. With a young male version of Superman already created (Superboy) it was decided that a female version of the Superman character would be created as well

Character Evolution

Throughout her publication history Kara has generally been viewed as the less experienced but as powerful version of Superman. In so doing she has been the member of numerous teams aimed at developing younger heroes such as the Titans, though she has been depicted at various times as a member of more adult focused teams (for instance the Legion of Super Heroes and the Justice League of America although in different publishing eras). Her earliest series focused on her adventures as a costumed hero during her time in college and her subsequent employment by Lex Luthor as a photographer.

Major Story Arcs

Golden Age/Silver Age

The golden age and silver age often had a different format for its storytelling, in that most issues were self contained and possessed little character development. Thus apart from her origin Supergirl's exploits in the golden age produced relatively few notable stories. Her origin was slightly different at the time. As opposed to being a fellow escapee of Krypton as was her cousin, an entire piece of Krypton was blasted into space with her and a several hundred others surviving in this fashion. One of the survivors was Zor-El, the brother of Jor-El and another famous and accomplished scientist. The ability to live there was not possible in the long term though as the remaining fragment of the planet was slowly turning into Kryptonite. A temporary solution was found which made life livable there, although the plan still existed that everyone should someday evacuate the remainder of the planet. Some time later Zor-El married and his wife bore a single child, Kara. When she was in her teens disaster struck as an unexpected meteor shower destroyed large swaths of the small city they occupied threatening life once again. Her parents decided that she should be rescued and while her father built a spacecraft for her, her mother chose the planet where she would be safest, in this case the planet Earth with its protector, Superman. As her cousin had done she escaped just in time from the exploding remnants of the planet. After arriving on Earth Kara soon found her cousin and the two determined that they shared a familial bond and he vowed to protect her. After discovering her powers she agreed to keep her identity secret for a time, taking up residence in the Midvale Orphanage while attending Stanhope College. During her evenings she would fight crime as her alter ego, Supergirl. During this period as well she would travel to the 30th century to meet the Legion of Super Heroes though it took some time for her to be admitted as a member.

Despite her continued popularity and role as key member of the Superman family, an editorial decision was made during Crisis on Infinite Earths that she was to be one of the two major characters who died in stopping the plans of the Anti-Monitor (Barry Allen was the other major hero to die). She sacrificed herself to save her older cousin and following the events of the story arc the entire DC universe was rebooted and she was written out of existence.

Despite her removal from DC continuity she still did show up in various forms between being suggested to still being alive in the Legion of Super Heroes to appearing in alternate reality specials.

Modern Age

Following Crisis on Infinite Earths most of the major characters had a retold version of their origins told. With superman specifically it was decided that he would be the sole survivor of the exploding planet Krypton. Still when the character of Supergirl was reintroduced fans were shocked and surprised that the character was not in fact Kara but was instead different characters, either Matrix (a protoplasmic life form taking on the form of a young woman) or Linda Danvers (who Matrix would fuse with after she was sacrificed to a demon). Despite the reasonable amount of popularity of these characters, they never maintained the same level of fan support that Kara had (for instance the Supergirl in the Justice League Unlimited television series was Superman's cousin), and so eventually in 2002 it was decided to reboot the ongoing Supergirl series with the return of the Kryptonian Supergirl. The series ended soon after and Kara soon returned to take back her mantle in the pages of Superman/Batman in 2004. After about three years her origin was clarified once again as the inclusion of a separate Supergirl and the Crisis reboot led to some discrepancies. This defined a new version of her origin, which is the one which more or less remains canon to this day wherein she was sent to Earth by her parents (Zor-El and Alura) to look after the infant Kal-El but got misdirected on her route to Earth.

Following this retelling of her origin and her re-introduction into the mainstream DC universe, Kara is soon invited by Starfire to become a member of the Outsiders, to which she accepts. During her tenure on the team she becomes attracted to Nightwing though nothing comes of this attraction. During a battle with Lex Luthor she is unintentionally separated into two versions of herself one good and one evil.

During the Infinite Crisis, Supergirl joins the heroes that Donna Troy has recruited to operate in deep space during the crisis. However, Kara's return from deep space is disrupted by the zeta-beam malfunction which hits Donna's space team. While some incur grievous physical injuries and deformities ( Adam Strange loses his eyes; Hawkgirl grows to enormous size), Supergirl simply disappeared. It was revealed that prior to the crisis, it was because of Superman Prime's reality-altering ripple effect, which brought Kara Zor-El back to existence. Kara finds herself in the 31st century and she eventually thought that the 31st century was a dream she had created.

During the events of One Year After Supergirl returns to the contemporary DC setting and assumes the identity of Flamebird alongside Power Girl as Nightwing. They opposed a religious cult based around warped versions of Superman's earlier appearances in Kandor. Kara also believes the key to Argo City, her home town, lies somewhere in the city. Kara and Power Girl find themselves battling the Saturn Queen and Ultraman (posing as Superman), villains who have established themselves in Kandor. At the climax of the struggle, Supergirl unexpectedly leaves (with her comrade in tow). Since she did not consult with Power Girl about the timing of their exit, the two part on somewhat strained terms. Kara re-establishes herself on Earth, attaining financial independence after selling an item of Kryptonian technology that would completely "heal" anybody who uses it to Batman for his own personal use, at the price of one million dollars. With this money Kara has purchased her own apartment. After a short period trying to give up her superhero lifestyle she is offered to return to the Outsiders but eventually decides not to.

She later began dating Power Boy who had saved her, and also begun having nightmares about her father doing some kind of experiment on her. Meanwhile an unknown person has hired the League of Assassins to eliminate Kara and leading the League during the time was former Batgirl, Cassandra Cain, who is convinced she can accomplish this goal. When Supergirl fought against Batgirl, Kara is led into a trap being exposed to red light radiation and Kryptonite dust that stings her eyes giving Batgirl the advantage and after being cut and stabbed by a run sun sword, something her father did healed all her wounds causes crystals to sprout from her body and ends up seriously wounding Batgirl. Kara later accompanied Green Lantern Hal Jordan on a mission to another planet. During the mission, Kara flirts with Hal multiple times, forcing him to remind himself that she is only 17 years old. Back on Earth, Kara begins spending more time with Power Boy. However, when Kara decided to blow off one of their dates to visit Owen Mercer at the hospital, it irritated Power Boy. After she begins to leave, Power Boy stops her and forces her into a fight. He knocks her out and when she awakens Power Boy reveals he has a huge obsession with Supergirl since first seeing her at Darkseid's side back on Apocalypse.

The two fight and eventually Supergirl knocks him out of where she is being held. Power Boy pleads with Kara not to get angry as he does not want to hurt her but Kara crushes him using a huge rock. Power Boy teleports away from the battle using his father box. Kara catches up with him using her super speed and knees him in the groin. To prevent him from teleporting again, Kara crushes his Fatherbox which upon being broken begins to make a sound as if its about detonate. Kara attempts to throw the Fatherbox into the sun but was not fast enough and a huge explosion happens resulting in a bright light. Later, Kara begins having more visions of her father. Eventually, her father would reveal that the Phantom Zone had possessing demons that escapes when it is used. Zor-El also discovered a way to destroy it by implanting a sun stone in it. He implanted one in Kara to make her immune to them. Zor-El then shows her that they were sentenced to exile in the Phantom Zone by the Kryptonian Council. Kara then sees a memory when her Kryptonian classmates were possessed and attacking them at their home. Shortly after, Krypton's destruction occurred.

Kara then wakes up and flies back to Earth to discover the Phantom demons possessing people. Kara was attacked by Wonder Girl who forced her to reveal her dark secrets and released her when she was disgusted with her. She soon goes to the Batcave in an attempt to get help from Batman, but found him possessed and he had sealed himself in the cave. She is soon confronted by Robin who forces her to stab him with a sun stone, but instead of killing him it released the Phantom from his body.

Robin had been keeping track of Superman who has been using a batsuit that Batman gave him since the sun became red and he lost his powers. With Robin's help she was able to locate Superman and found that Phantoms were coming from his body. Kara admits everything to her cousin, however Clark was driven mad by the Phantoms and he wanted Kara to kill him and save Earth. However the pre-Crisis Supergirl showed up taunting her and calling her imperfect and inadequate. However it was revealed that everything that had happened including Batgirl's attack was all an illusion created by Dark Angel who was acting as the pre-Crisis Supergirl. Dark Angel had become obsessed with the idea that Supergirl was a threat to the Multiverse. However a Monitor appears informing Kara that she is this universe's Supergirl and he was sorry for all that Dark Angel had done. Supergirl is left in deep space where she meets Pariah who tells her about a "Great Disaster" that will be caused by her and she goes to Earth to patch up all the mistakes she made on Earth recently.

Kara first apologizes too Captain Boomerang for leading him on, to which he replies that she has nothing to apologize for and clearly forgives her. Kara then apologizes to Grace for letting her get seriously wounded in battle because Kara had failed to act. Grace agrees on the condition that she gets one free punch to which Kara allows only for Grace to end up hurting her hand again. Kara locates Power Girl who is still angry with her for being selfish and abandoning the citizens of Kandor for her own personal needs. Realizing that Karen needs more time Supergirl finally apologizes to Superman to which they go off together to have a friendly race. Kara soon after takes part in the events of Amazons Attack

After the Amazons retreat, Supergirl is given membership into the Teen Titans. During her time on the team, she attends Bart Allen's funeral and is also present during the private wake held at Titans Tower. Kara helps to reveal using her x-ray vision to Robin and Wonder Girl that the arrival of Kid Flash in the tower is actually Miss Martian who is unfamiliar with human customs tries to cheer them up. On one of her first missions with the Titans she helps them battle Lobo. She also battles against a clone of Superman (who at that time, was a clone of Kon-El/Conner Kent/Superboy) from the Titans Tomorrow storyline. The Titans of tomorrow have once again returned to help the present day titans battle Starro as if the outcome of the battle with Starro will heavily effect the future. Kara is left to tag with Wonder Girl in fighting a mind controlled Brimstone while the the future Connor and Cassie supervise them much to their dismay.

During the battle Kara is blasted by Brimstone and is sent away from the battle field. She lands in the woods only to be confronted by an enemy also possessed by Starro who uses magic against her and leaves her tied up in vines. She overcomes this problem with the help of the future Connor who tells her to leave Cassie alone. Kara flies back just in time to help Cassie defeat Brimstone. Kara leaves the Titans shortly after she and Wonder Girl get into a fight. Wonder Girl claims she wanted Kara's friendship because she reminded her of her former boyfriend Kon-El with the intention of getting Kara to leave the team. The decision was made by Cassie without consulting the rest of the team but Supergirl flies away hurt at her supposed best friends actions.

Upon the ending of the Brainiac arc, the bottled city of Kandor is stationed near the fortress of Solitude in the North Pole. Kal-El tries to help Earth and Krypton get used to one another but, the Kryptonians don't like the idea, including Zor-el and Alura, Kara's parents.The president of the United States and a delegate from Krypton, agreed to meet at a televised event however it was interrupted by Doomsday. Zor El and Alura, formed a group to find all enemies of Superman, who would cause a threat to Krypton, and toss them into the Phantom Zone. This failed because it ended the lives of human police officers, when Zor-El and Alura refused to hand over Parasite. Brainiac unleashes his army onto Kandor, all the while Metallo and Reactron enter the city containing Kryptonite, and kill Zor-el.

This enraged Alura who denounces all humanity, her scientists have found away to pick up Kandor and grow a new planet underneath it, they moved towards the other side of the sun, shut off from earth. She tells Superman he is not welcomed on "New Krypton" and she releases General Zod to lead her people. Eventually Kara goes with her. As her 18th birthday approaches her mother asks her to pick a guild. Kara chooses the Science Guild. Kara is trying to find out the mystery of this mysterious "Superwoman". When the two first met it was on rather good terms, however after the death of Zor-El Kara headed for earth and was halted by Superwoman. She claimed she was trying to help Kara but when Kara insisted on going she punched her.

Kara faked going with Superwoman and punched her back, afterwards a battle ensued, which saw Kara plummeting into a ocean. Kara returned to earth and was found by Reactron, his mission was to kill her, he stole her power with his Gold Kryptonite, but Kara remembered her training with Batman, she used her resources to beat him. After putting two and two together, Kara found Superwoman and attacked her, upon unmasking her she found out that she was Major Lane, Lois Lane's younger sister, the fight that follows between them shows Kara ripping Lane's uniform and her body apparently contorting and exploding, apparently killing her. Later on, she tells Lois Lane about everything that happened with Superwoman and Lois doesn't like what she hears and tells Kara to leave. She later talks to Lana Lang about Lucy Lane and feels better about herself after all the bad things that had been happening and tells Lana she can call her Linda. She then leaves to New Krypton happily deciding she'll tell her mother everything about Superwoman and also to tell her she's a big girl and can take care of herself now.

After Alura judges Reactron, Supergirl returns to Earth because of a problem she has to take care of: Thara ( Flamebird) told her her friend, Lana Lang, is ill. Supergirl returns to Earth and confronts her friend. She is furious that Lana kept something so important away from her but calms down when she hears Lana's explanation: Kara was so busy Lana didn't feel like bothering her. Supergirl scans Lana's body and sees the disease and what it's doing to her cells, but, before she can look for a cure, Inspector Mike Hendersoncontacts her to help him on a case: The Silver Banshee.

Supergirl talks with the inspector when the Silver Banshee arrives and wants to subdue one of her family heirlooms, the coin that is stuck in Henderson's hand. As Kara tries to save her friend, the Banshee deafens her, and Supergirl reads on Henderson's lips that she must touch the other heirlooms. As Kara grabs the box in which the heirlooms are kept, her body is possessed by the McDougal Clan ancestors. Kara eventually regains possession of her body and the Silver Banshee leaves in peace. As she discusses with Henderson about this, she hears some very scary words: "Stay with us, Lana!" Kara makes a run for it and goes to the hospital, where she can hear everything except for her friend's heartbeat, and Lana Lang is dead after all.

Kara describes this moment as the second time that day where she was deafened. She tells the doctor Lana was her only family, and is all alone now. She mourn quietly until she remembered that Lana had told her about "things" in her body that doctor's couldn't identify. She wants to see Lana's body one last time to check what happened to the "things" when she hears a scream from the nurse bringing the corpse to the morgue. As Kara bursts into the room, she sees Lana enveloped in a cocoon of insects, and the cocoon cracks open with some green light inside. Kara goes into a giant cocoon that had erected it's self in the city, she gets encased in a "Amber stone" of some sort where she rested, until Gang buster entered the cocoon and freed her. The two returned to S.T.A.R. labs, were Supergirl met up with Dr. Light (Jacob Finlay). The two came up with a plan to infiltrate the cocoon and rescue lost member of the science police. Gangbuster in Kara, venture into the huge cocoon, and they are attacked by the Insect Queen; she tells Kara that she had been infecting Lana for the past year. A fight ensues between Kara and The insect Queen, however Kara manged to strap her to the machine Dr. Light created. The explosion completely kills the virus that was infecting Lana, however it did not cure the lack of trust Kara felt Lana lacked for her. Kara told Lana that she was leaving her life, much to the dismay of Lana, who protested, in the end Kara flew away leaving Lana at the hospital.

Supergirl and Batgirl also teamed up recently to stop Toyman and Kryptonite Man. The two have become fast friends. Brainiac has attacked New Krypton and sent his robots out to kill the Kryptonians. The citizens fight back and General Zod fires cannons at Brainiac's ship but they only manage to kill innocent citizens. Furious at Zod for allowing innocent people to die, Kal-El changes into Superman. Meanwhile, Supergirl has just saved her mother from the probes and realizes Brainiac is targeting the Leaders of New Krypton. Supergirl sends Alura to Zod as she defends the city. Superman manages pass through Brainiac's force-field and enter the ship. Supergirl is rallying the troops while Zod and Ursa contemplate the next best step. Supergirl falls to a Brainiac drone after is blasts her with red sun radiation. She is saved by Superboy, Mon-El and the Legion of Superheroes. The Legion tell Zod he can't destroy Brainiac's ship until they save the other bottled cities inside. Zod sends Supergirl off and arrests the Legionnaires. Superman is about to face off against Brainiac when he is floored by a Kryptonite blast fired by Lex Luthor.

By Stanley (Artgerm) Lau

Supergirl and Mon-El are fighting with Brainiac probes. Mon-El gets a telepathic overload from Tellus who informs him of the Legions arrest and Superman being captured by Brainiac. Mon-El tells Kara she needs to rally the Kryptonian's to work together. Kara kisses him just for luck and Mon flies off to save Superman. But the differences between the guilds makes it difficult for them to work together. Supergirl rushes to her mother's aid but is shocked to find her fighting with Superboy. Alura says that Zod has branded Superboy and the Legion as outlaws. Assuming the worst Alura attacked him. Kara punches Superboy away from her mother but is saved by Superboy after being attacked by a Brainiac probe. Supergirl challenges Alura to stand up to Zod. Alura pardons the Legion and Superboy. Setting up a confrontation between Zod and Alura. Mon-El has managed to rescue Superman and the city of Lanothians. As Brainiac calls out his army to fight the Supermen, Lex Luthor slips away. Back on New Krypton Supergirl, Superboy and the Legion are attempting to get the guilds to work together. But their differences make it impossible. As the Kryptonian's fight for their life Supergirl, Superboy and the Legion go to the satellite.

Alura has confronted Zod about the Legion and said they are not terrorists but when Zod questions Alura about her daughter she says Kara is smart and not prone to misjudgment. Meanwhile, the Legion attempts to get into Brainiac's ship but fail. Finally, Brainiac 5 comes and helps them enter the ship . Superman and Mon-El are on the ship and are trying to free the trapped cities and break out. Brainiac suddenly re-energizes and fights Superman. Superman however is able to get hold of the Lanothians and Brainiac teleports away with the others. The Legion attempts to get the Lanothians to help unite the Kryptonian's but they cannot. Superman is taken down by Brainiac's defense system and declared dead. New Krypton has been re-bottled. But Zod says that Brainiac has lost. Before Superman can fall to his death he is grabbed by a Brainiac drone being powered by Quislet. Back on Brainiac's ship Superboy is separated by the Legion and is attacked by Lex Luthor. He awakens inside the bottled city. Zod and his soldiers have managed to escape and are ready to fight.

Meanwhile, Supergirl and Brainiac 5 have met and after a condescending comment Supergirl immediately thinks he is a jerk. Supergirl thinks Brainy does not like her but in a brief moment alone Brainy reveals how hard it is to be near Supergirl, how much he loves her, and how hard it was when she died. It is revealed that Brainy is looking back at Supergirl's life historically. Reactron is seen tied up. Alura faked his death to torture him for information. But he still has not given Commander Gor the information. Luthor finds him after killing Gor but instead of rescuing him says he has come for something. Brainy and Kara are fighting through Brainiac's satellite but Kara can't shake the feeling that she has met Brainy before. He tries to figure out if Kara has met him before but realizes Saturn Girl's memory blocks are masking her memories of the future. He continues to deny ever meeting her, even saying no records of her exist in the future. But he slips up and calls her Linda Lang. She realizes he is lying to her but before anything can be done he tells her she needs to destroy the reactor while he attempts to hold off the Phages. She smashes the satellites power core but hasn't forgotten what Brainy said and wants answers. He tells Kara to trust her friends and she needs to trust him. He can't tell her anything but that she needs to live her own life and decide her own future. Supergirl finds it and his brooding way's cute and Brainy knows this even if she does not say this.

With the force field of Brainiac's ship down, Superman is able to re-enter the ship. While on board, Luthor emerges from Kandor and grabs a bottle city for himself. As Zod fights Brainiac, Superman has gone off to rescue Kandor. Mon-El has been rescued by the Legion, who still need to complete their mission. Superman finds Kandor. He hands the city over to Supergirl. He tells her it is her home and he trusts she will keep is safe and enlarge it. The Legion advise Mon-El not to enter the fray saying his destiny is to save the future and the cities. He changes back to his old costume, feeling he is unworthy to wear the S shield. Brainiac 5 and Kara re-size Kandor and Superman fights Brainiac with Zod. Luthor who had stolen a city off Brainiac's ship previously, expands it inside of Brainiac's ship. Brainiac's ship is falling to the surface of New Krypton, the Legion and Mon having returned to the future after saving the bottled cities. Superman, Supergirl, Superboy, and all the Kryptonian's band together to slow down the ship. Although Kandor is still devastated with a huge crater in the middle of the city, most of the city is saved, . Supergirl attempts to hold back the expanding city. Brainiac 5 manages to stop it's growth and re-bottle it, but Superman has been skewered by the ship. Brainiac snaps Luthor's neck for his treachery but this is revealed to have been a robot. After a blood transfusion from Superboy, Superboy manages to stop Zod from killing Brainiac. Brainiac 5 teleports away with Brainiac but before he leaves he tells Kara to watch out for her mother. Luthor is reveled to be working with General Lane. With all the guild leader's dead from the attack except Alura, Zod is declared the leader of Krypton. He announces war on earth.

General Zod is holding Superman captive but he breaks free from Non's grasps. Desperate to save New Krypton, Alura is torturing Reactron for information. Kara sees this and is shocked to see Reactron alive. She is shocked and furious at her mother's actions. She tells Alura that Zor warned her to watch out for her mother and what she is capable of. Reactron tells Supergirl that Project 7734 wanted her to capture and bring him back to New Krypton. As he starts to glow brightly, Alura throws Kara into a radiation deck and seals it. Sacrificing herself and saving Kara. New Krypton explodes. Nearly all the citizens of New Krypton have been killed. All the guilds have been destroyed, except the military guild because they were not on the planet when it exploded. Superman finds Kara, she holds up part of Alura's shield. Alura was killed in the explosion. Furious at her mother and her planets death at the hands of Project 7734 and Luthor, Kara grabs the Kryptonian flag and races to Earth to join the battle.

Superman manages to stop Supergirl. She breaks down and admits that she feels responsible for New Krypton's destruction. She had brought Reactron there. They hug and say they love each other. Luthor uses the false Rao-corpse and time pool technology to turn Earth's sun red. Flamebird takes off into space and dives into the sun. She pushes herself and destroys the Rao bomb. In the process she is killed. The Kryptonian's regain their powers but thousands are dead. The race is down to a mere 7,000. Superman furious and sad takes off for Earth and meets Zod to fight. Supergirl fights Ursa.

Ursa manages to defeat Supergirl but is saved last minute by the Superman Family. They head towards Project 7734 and drop Ursa in the Phantom Zone. Superman fights Zod and Superboy goes around putting the Kryptonian's in the Phantom Zone. Supergirl defeats Superwoman and takes down General Lane. Lane refuses to become a prisoner and commits suicide. Superman ends the war after defeating Zod. Who along with all the other Kryptonian's are sent back to the Zone. Chris seals the Zone off permanently but in the process is reverted into a child. He and Mon-El explore the zone. Supergirl mourns the loss of her people and sets up a memorial in deep space. After the events of the War on Superman in Krypton. Supergirl joins and tries out for the Justice League of America. After fighting a big water wave in Gotham City with the new Batman. Batman welcomes her to the team. Supergirl is taking over her cousin [Superman] role on the team. Supergirl is the new member of the team with Starman, the new Batman, Congorilla, Jesse Quick, Donna Troy, Cyborg, Red Tornado, and Doctor Light.

When there was a massive death count in Suicide Slums, Supergirl went seeking for a Master Detective. Mainly Dick Grayson or Tim Drake. However, instead she found Damian Wayne in a situation against Killer Croc. When Damian told Supergirl that Dick Grayson was with the Justice League Of America and Tim was following his own adventure, Supergirl was going to just leave Damian with taking Killer Croc to jail. But unknown to her, Damian surprised her with talking about the killings in Suicide Slum. After grudgingly listening to Damian boast in himself, Supergirl knew that she needed to capture the killer, and allowed Damian to work with her. Later in the Metropolis city Morgue. Damain and Supergirl were studying the bodies of the victims that were killed in Suicide Slum.

When Damian's notes turned up the name " Lexcorp", he and Supergirl decided to check out Lex Luthor's company. When both arrived at Lex's building, Spalding (associate with Lex Luthor) told them both that Lex Luthor and his company, didn't have anything to do with the murders in Suicide Slum. While Supergirl was baffled, Damian was hacking through Lex's files. He found out that there was going to be a costume party for college freshman. Damian took up the disguise as the son of Matches Malone, calling himself Lil Matches, and Supergirl was a pink bunny. Damian told Supergirl to use her super hearing to see who was afraid. Everyone was afraid except one person. That one person was the guy that they were looking for. Supergirl blew her and Damian's cover, and went after the mystery man. That mystery man was none other than, Scarecrow. Scarecrow sprayed fear toxin on Supergirl, and she saw a black lantern Reactron!

After Damian convinced Supergirl that all it was is an illusion. The two quickly took down Scarecrow. Once everything was back to normal, Scarecrow told his story about using the Sinestro Corps Ring, and how Lex Luthor (as an Orange Lantern) stole the ring off of his finger. For once in Scarecrow's retched life he felt fear again, thanks to Sinestro's ring. However, he told the story of how only Batman could scare him back into his place. Supergirl and Damian took Scarecrow back to Arkham Asylum, and eventually Supergirl gave Damian a ride back to Wayne Tower. Dick was at the penthouse and was talking to Damian about having a crush on Supergirl. Damian denied everything that Dick said, and he ended the conversation by saying "...she was a fair and adequate partner... For an alien." Supergirl heard what Damian said and said "little jerk."

The New 52

Arriving on Earth

In the New 52, Supergirl is just arriving on earth from Krypton. As soon as she arrives on the planet in her pod, she is already fully dressed unlike in her post-Crisis origin where she arrives completely naked. As soon as she arrives, she thinks that she is within a dream and that nothing is real. She is soon greeted by mechs who were aware of her arrival on earth from space and were dispatched to apprehend her. She is then seen struggling with all of the mechs, but soon the sun comes up and her powers are seen to develop further and she dispatches the mechs with greater ease than she previously had shown. She is then seen trying to interrogate one of the people that was within the one of the mechs, asking where she was as Supergirl had understood that she actually wasn't in a dream. This interrogation, while completely innocent was unsuccessful because Supergirl cannot speak the same language as the human. At this precise moment, Superman arrives and order Kara to stop.

Meeting Superman

Supergirl and Superman, reconciling.

In a flashback, it is seen that from Kara's perspective, three days ago she was babysitting her younger cousin Kal-El (who unbeknownst to her has now grown into the role of Superman) awaiting to engage in her 'Final Trials'. In the present however, Superman is seen in front of her and asks her, in Kryptonian, who she is. Supergirl is seen irritated by this because she doesn't know who he is and why he is wearing the symbol of her house. She demands to know where she is and where her family are as well. When Superman convinces her to tell him who she is, she does so and then he tries to explain to her that he is her cousin. Kara refuses to believe this and punches Superman across the face, calling him a 'liar'. She reasons this, of course, because three days ago Kal-El was a baby in her arms. Superman continues to try and reason with her and attempts to take her away from the scene and the two end up going from Russia to China. Eventually, while fighting in the great wall of China Kara realizes that she is damaging people's lives and housing and thus she starts listening to Superman who tells her he will not fight her any longer. This is when Superman tells her that Krypton is gone. It is also revealed that some mysterious members stole some sort of crystal from Kara's pod and that they now have her belongings.

Deceived

Simon Tycho, a rich owner of the Corporation that takes an interest in spacial matters.

Kara doesn't however believe in anything that Superman tells her and decides to go back to her pod to find out the 'truth'. She goes back to her pod and is amazed by the fact that Superman is going to protect people in danger instead of helping her to find out if there is even a chance of Krypton being intact. However, Superman gives her a final warning telling her that she "is not prepared for" this world. When she arrives there she is greeted by a hologram of Simon Tycho. She doesn't understand anything that he is saying but she decides to follow the hologram when she sees a model of her belongings, thinking rightly that he would have them. When she arrives at the space station where Mr. Tycho and his operatives are situated, she is 'greeted' by insect like robots that shoot heat beams and here Supergirl demonstrates that she is able to heat her body temperature up to a greater degree than the robots can shoot. As a second test, Mr. Tycho sends The Brain to fight Supergirl, who she eventually defeats by leaving it in open space. She then finds her belongings with her X-Ray vision, but finds out it is a trap when they get there because she is being exposed to Kryptonite.

Kara Zor-El, escaping Simon Tycho's imprisonment.

She is then held in a tube, while Mr. Tycho and his team test her clothing, among other things. However, a reluctant employee who was actually controlling a mech during the fight and was earlier interrogated by confused Supergirl, tries to rescue her. However, he is unsuccessful because he is stomped midway by his employer, Mr. Tycho and shot dead. Supergirl however is now in contact with the sun and can fight back, however she comes to a standstill when Tycho shows her the sunstone in his hand, which Kara realizes probably has a message from her father within it. To combat this, Kara uses her vision to explode the satellite. With this she gets the sunstone and flies out of the satellite. She measures the amount of damage inaccurately and the Satellite ends up exploding almost completely, leaving Mr. Tycho without limbs and heavily burnt. His assistant put him in The Brain to help him recover. At the end however, he remains happy because he has Supergirl's blood sample on one of his employees, which was his aim in the first place.

Shortly thereafter, she encounters Superboy, whom she soon recognizes as a clone. This realization sends her into a rage and, calling him "Kon-El," an "Abomination in the House of El" she engages him in combat. Ultimately, however, the two are able to reconcile.

Powers and Abilities

The modern age Kara Zor-El's power is extremely vast. For a time it was believed by many that Kara was stronger then Superman himself. However, Superman explained that he holds back his powers so he does not hurt people, while Kara has less experience she is shown to be a little less then Wonder Woman in strength. Zatanna once clarified this saying that while Wonder Woman is stronger, Kara will surpass in the future. While Kara was in suspended animation, her rocket ship had a yellow sun inside, which she was exposed to throughout her journey to Earth. Kara was also trained by the Amazons and is now a well trained fighter. Even rivaling the famed Barbara Gordon's skills.

Flight

Like her Kryptonian cousin, Supergirl has the ability to fly at great speeds, it has been shown that is able to fly at the speed of light, on one such occasion she has been seen to fly through the moon.

Super Hearing

Supergirl has the ability to detect and interpret dissipating sound waves, this means that she is able to hear even the quietest of sounds from a large distance away, meaning that she can pinpoint a single person in the world just from their voice or heartbeat, this is done by filtering out every other sound in the world. Supergirl can also detect sound waves at a higher or lower frequency than a normal human ear can usually detect, this ranges from sub sonic wavelengths to radio waves.

Healing

Supergirl needs sufficient time to heal.

Heat Vision

Supergirl has the ability to generate intense heat from her eyes, this heat is then focused and projected in the form of beams of radiation, which can be used to melt steel structures or heat up cold coffee, meaning that she can control the temperature of these beams.

Invulnerability

In the New 52 it has been shown that Kyrptonians under the yellow sun aren't entirely invulnerable although bullets won't harm them sufficient amount of force and electric shock can. The costume that they wear is actually armor which itself is invincible.

Super Breath

In the New 52 her Super Breath has only been shown that she can hold her breath for a sufficient amount of time in space.

Super Strength

The exact magnitude of Supergirl's strength is unknown, she was easily able to knock down armored weaponized robots only with minimal strain. She can lift 100 tons with minimal effort.

Super–Intellect

Supergirl was born into a society hundreds of years ahead of Earth. She lived there for about 15 years and learned much of the technology. Krypton was ruled by the Science Council and it was a huge part of their daily lives. Though in the New 52 it not shown if she still poseses it.

X–Ray Vision

Can see through anything except lead.

Super Speed

As like Superman she can move unbelievably quickly albeit not as fast as other speedsters.

Alternate Version and Alternate Realities

Supergirl is a fairly common subject for alternate versions and alternate realities. One of the more famous ones was Elseworld's Finest. This story is an alternate Earth which came into existence after the Infinite Crisis. "In this world, Bruce Wayne, never became Batman and Kal-el never lived long enough to grow up; This series see's Barbra Gordon as the main Hero for

Supergirl of 'Elseworld's Finest'

Gotham and Kara as the "Girl of steel". After the destruction of Krypton, Kara is the only survivor and decides to travel to Earth. Knowing of the great heroic exploits of the Justice Society of America (JSA), she intends on joining them to protect Earth from evil dictators, super villains, and those whom would corrupt one another. Kara became Superwoman of Earth! Wonder Woman introduces, both Lex Luthor and Kara to the city of Gotham at a conference in which he states he plans on building a factory, which would employ hundreds of people; however As Lex leaves the arena, he gets attacked and kidnapped by Professor Hamilton and the Joker. Bat girl decides that since the problem happened in Gotham that she'd retrieve Luthor herself; This didn't sit well with Kara who entered Gotham, despite being told by Wonder Woman, that metahuman's entering Gotham was forbidden by Bat girl herself.

Batgirl quickly perceived Kara as a threat, but Kara was able to talk her into a partner ship. Hamilton planned to show Gotham how he and Luthor found so Solar crystals which ruined his life and his reputation. In turn for his help; Luthor ask Joker for his help in turn for a Mineral steroid he had been using to try and gain Bat girl's affection. As Supergirl and Bat girl begin to track down Luthor, Kara finds a test tube containing the body of baby Kal-el which he is using to power his solar battery, this makes Kara furious. Kara attacked Luthor, and then he came clean, claiming that Kal-el would become too dangerous; which is why he killed him. Kara rushes Luthor, but he is aided by a Kryptonite Powered Joker, Kara can't match his strength, so Batgirl has to rescue her, as Kara set in for the kill on Luthor, Batgirl saves him saying he must be brought to justice.

DC Comics tested three different female versions of Supergirl prior to Kara Zor-El's debut as the official Supergirl.

Lois Lane (Action Comics#60)

A hospitalized Lois Lane dreams she has gained superpowers while Superman gives her a blood transfusion to save her life. She begins her own career as "Superwoman"

Claire Kent (Superboy#8)

Superboy (Clark Kent) saves the life of Shar-La, an alien woman who turns Superboy into a girl in retaliation for his thoughts about women drivers which she picked up telepathically.

Supergirl (Superman#123)

Jimmy Olsen wishes upon a magic totem for a "Super-Girl" to be Superman's sidekick.

Cir-El

Cir-El is the alleged daughter of Superman. It is unknown whom is the mother since, human and Kryptonian DNA can't mix. While Cir-El has human DNA in her blood, Lois Lane is possibly not the mother. Cir-El appeared in Metropolis during a heated battle; not knowing her to be friend or foe, Superman took her in for questioning after the battle and asked her about her origins and why she was calling herself "Supergirl". She told him that she was his daughter from the future and genetic scan showed she was in fact Superman's child ... hearing this, Lois went berserk on Superman, accusing his him of having an affair. Cir-El then told Lois that she was her mother.

After a second genetic scan it was determined that while Superman was the father, Lois was not the mother. When Superman was declared public enemy #1 by President Lex Luthor Cir-El aided Nightwing, Robin, Superboy, and Krypto in trying to rescue Superman and Batman.

It was revealed that Cir-El was created by Brainiac to serve as a host for the 'YES' Virus. Superman was shown a future where he was attacking the human race for some reason, he was told that the death of Cir-El would prevent this future, Cir-El threw herself into a time portal, erasing the future and the 'YES' virus that created it, effectively making sure she was never born so she couldn't come back and alter history.

Cir-El was brought to the present by Bizarro to aid Kara Zor-El alongside several other Supergirls (Linda Danvers, Silver age Kara, and Power Girl).

Power Girl

Power Girl is actually Kara Zor-El from Earth 2. After the events of Crisis on Infinite Earth, Kara Zor-El decided to move on with her life and go to Earth 1(the main Earth). Supergirl and Powergirl are both considered to be cousins of Superman. While Powergirl is actually from Earth 2, she acts and communicates like she has lived on Earth 1 all her life. Power Girl is a member of the Justice Society of America (JSA) and owns her own company. Since Power Girl is a full grown woman, she has reached the max of her strength and has powers superior to Supergirl's.

Ariella Kent

For a more lengthy description about this alternate Supergirl go to her page: Ariella Kent. Here is a small description about Ariella. During the events of issue 80 of Supergirl, Linda Danvers went back in time to Earth-One (pre-Crisis Earth). She met Superman and they eventually were married and had a daughter named, Ariella. When The Spectre came to take her back to her original timeline, Linda made the ultimate sacrifice leaving her daughter and the man she loved so that Kara could come back to her time, even knowing that she would die during the Crisis On Infinite Earth's. Linda bargained with the Spectre agreeing only to go back to her original time if her daughter, Ariella, would be spared. Agreeing, the Spectre wiped all traces of Linda Danvers from history, altering Superman's memories of her so that he never remembered meeting her, let alone having a child with her.

Other Media

Film

Supergirl Movie

Helen Slater as Supergirl

In 1984, a Supergirl Movie was made by the same people who produced the Superman movie. Despite being produced by the same people, the movie did not do as well as they would have hoped. Playing the Role of Supergirl was Helen Slater, she won numerous awards for the role and received praise by the science fiction community.

Kara lives in Argo City, a city that had been sealed off from the rest of Krypton. She borrows an item from Zaltar called the Omegahedron and creates a dragon fly. The creature punctures the veil that had been serving as a protector for the city and the Omegahedron gets sucked to Earth. Kara then follows the item in hopes of saving her city. The Omegahedron lands in Metropolis and is found by a witch named Selena, who would finally have the tool she needed to make real spells. Superman left the city on a trip, so Kara arrived seemingly in time. She dawned the Supergirl uniform and took on the name as Linda Lee, claiming to be Superman's cousin. Selena and Kara both butt-heads when a man named Ethan is brought into the equation as both of them were in love with him. With the power of the Omegahedron, Selena makes herself princess of Earth and casts a spell on Ethan to make him her loyal servant, which Kara manages to break.

Selena finally dispels Kara to the Phantom Zone, however Zaltar gives his life to save Kara, Kara returns back to earth to defeat Selena, recover the Omegahedron and then returns to a dark argo city.

Supergirl in Superman?Batman: Apocalypse

Superman/Batman: Apocalypse In Superman/Batman: Apocalypse Kara had literally crashed landed on earth and had no control over her powers. Superman and Batman take care of her and Batman is scared that she might be a threat but, Superman is just happy he has family because he finds out that Kara is his cousin from Krypton. Clark wants to teach Kara everything but, Batman gets Wonder Woman to help and she brings Kara to Themyscira. She trains Kara in Themyscira to be a warrior. Kara makes a friend there who can see the future. Before the island goes under attack Kara goes for a swim and after the attack of the Doomsdays Kara is stolen by Darkseid and her friend is killed. Darkseid trains her to be evil and to be his servant. Superman comes and saves her and turn her back into his side. Darkseid comes back to the Kent farm where Clark wanted her to live under the watch of his parents. Darkseid goes after Clark but, they bring into the ends of space with his remote control. In the end Kara says she wants t o make her own decision for what to do with her life. She felt that it was not Wonder Woman,Superman, or Batman's decision to make. She decides to take her cousin symbol of the S and becomes Supergirl.

Television

Smallville

Laura Vanderoot as Kara Zor-El in Smallville

In the TV show Smallville, Kara landed in Season 7. She was portrayed Laura Vandervoort. Kara was sent from Krypton to protect and take care of her cousin, Kal-el. She does not realize that Clark is now older than her and has already grown up on Earth. Kara has all the same powers as Clark plus the ability to fly, they figure out upon meeting. Even though she has this advantage over Clark, he can control his powers and be near humans. In the episode "Blue", Kara losses her memory and ends up in Detroit as a waitress. Clark finds her and brings her back to Smallville. She still has no memories and Clark decides to tell her nothing about her powers and heritage. Kara feels that Clark is hiding something from her and forms a closer relationship to Lex Luthor. Before Kara does anything rash she gets her powers and memories restored by Jor-el in the Fortress of Solitude. Kara goes to destroy Brainiac and goes out of earth. She never comes back and Clark finds out that she is trapped in the Phantom Zone. She eventually comes out of the Phantom Zone but, does not stay in Smallville. Instead she goes in space to find Kandor because she has heard rumors there is life of Kryptonians there.

In Season 10, Kara returns as a Superhero in Metropolis, and tries to teach Clark how to face Darkseid. Later on in the season, Kara and Oliver Queen try to acquire the Bow of Orion. Jor-El Tells Kara that Clark needs to follow his destiny himself, so Kara uses Clark's Legion Ring to go to the future.

Batman: The Animated Series

Supergirl meets Batgirl for the first time

Supergirl appeared in one episode in the New Batman Adventures (also known as Batman the animated series season 4) in the episode "Girl's Night Out." Kara was at Clark's apartment in Metropolis while he was out of town. Batman calls Clark's apartment, Kara picks up the phone and he tells her to tell Clark that Livewire is in Gotham City. Kara decides to go after Livewire herself. When she arrives in Gotham City, she saves Oracle(Batman was out of town) aka Batgirl from Livewire when she short circuited the Batmobile. Kara and Barbara would become good friends as Supergirl shows Batgirl what it would be like if she could fly and both reveal that they envy each others lives. Batgirl also reveals her identity as Barbara Gordon to Supergirl quickly upon meeting her and her role assistant in data analysis at Gotham PD which allows her to gain information,soon after the two team up and later try to apprehend Livewire. However unknown to them, Livewire has teamed up with Harley Quinnand Poison Ivy who were previously staying out of trouble waiting to find an edge to use against Batman. The three of them were able to beat Supergirl and Batgirl, and escaped quickly afterwards as Supergirl chose save Batgirl from Ivy's toxins rather than pursue them. Later, Supergirl and Batgirl would fight Livewire, Ivy, and Quinn again at Ivy's place that they discovered by gaining the information from Penguin who is mad at Ivy and Livewire for trashing his Iceberg lounge. They eventually defeat the three of them by working together and sent them to jail. The episode ends with Supergirl and Batgirl eating ice cream while watching their arrest on tv.

Superman: The Animated Series

Supergirl in Superman:The Animated Series

Supergirl first appeared in the DC Animated Universe's Superman: The Animated Series in the season 2 two-part episode entitled "Little Lost Girl." This incarnation of Supergirl was not Superman's cousin, and not even Kryptonian. She was from Krypton's sister planet "Argo," which was destroyed after Krypton exploded. Kara In-Ze was a teenage girl who was put in suspended animation with her parents just before Argo was destroyed, in hopes that they would survive.

When Superman was searching around Krypton, looking to find anything from his home planet, he finds a heat signature at a nearby planet, which was Argo. Superman would find Kara, the only survivor in suspended animation. Due to Argo becoming a cold wasteland, Kara developed cheimatophobia, which is the fear of cold. Superman takes Kara back to Earth and arranges her to live with the Kents while she adjusts to Earth life.

Kara quickly develops her ability to fly, and eventually the rest of Superman's powers. Kara would visit Clark in Metropolis while wearing glasses and a brunette wig (a homage to the Silver Age Kara). Kara also made a costume similar to the one Linda Danvers wore, white top, blue skirt, and red cape. While in Metropolis, Kara would decide to help Jimmy Olsen investigate Intergang. The two would get into deep trouble when they discover Granny Goodness from Apokolips to be in cahoots with Intergang. Kara would change into Supergirl and battle against the Female Furies, Stompa, Mad Harriet, and Lashina. Superman would eventually arrive to help Supergirl, however the Female Furies were able to knock Superman unconscious and took him back to Apokalips. Supergirl would follow them to Apokalips and free Superman from Darkseid. They returned to Earth to stop two comets that Darkseid planned to hit Earth. Superman pushed one comet away and Supergirl injured herself destroying one that was too close to Metropolis. She eventually recovers.

Justice League Unlimited

Animated Supergirl

Supergirl was one of the elected heroes who were invited to the Initiation of the Justice League Unlimited. She wore the Linda Danvers costume and went on a few missions with the Justice League. On one mission, Supergirl, the Question, and Green Arrow helped investigate her recurring dreams. They discovered that Cadmus had created a clone of Supergirl while she was recovering at S.T.A.R. Labs after her battle against Darkseid in the Superman Animated Series. The clone was named Galatea and was designed after Power Girl (Short blonde hair, white tights, with a hole in the middle of her cleavage). Galatea was created to fight the Justice League if they went rogue.

However, she also began killing people and since she was a clone of Supergirl, Supergirl could see all the killings happening. Supergirl would battle against her and beat her badly the first time. Professor Hamilton would take her back to the lab for her to recover, while also making upgrades. Amanda Waller would order Galatea to lead an army to fight the Justice League. Supergirl would battle Galatea again and defeated her when she pushed her into an electrical cable in the Justice League Watchtower. Green Arrow also begins developing somewhat of a father/daughter relationship with Supergirl, and talks to Superman about her well being many times.

He also told Superman that he and Black Canary were going to take her out for her birthday. In the second season of Justice League Unlimited, Supergirl changes her outfit to the modern age blue top, red skirt and cape. Green Arrow and Superman were talking about how she wanted her costume to look more like Superman's. In the episode entitled "Far From Home," Supergirl, Green Lantern ( John Stewart), and Green Arrow were brought to the 31st century where they met the Legion Of Super-Heroes. They asked the three of them to help them defeat the Fatal Five, and just before the mission, Brainiac 5 reveals to Green Lantern and Green Arrow that Supergirl never returned from this mission. Supergirl would learn of her fate and decide to go through with it anyways. She was injured badly during the fight, but did not die. Kara began developing a relationship with Brainiac 5, she reveals that the reason she never returned from the mission is probably because she wants to stay there. Kara stays in the 31st century while Green Lantern and Green Arrow went home. Green Arrow told the news to Superman, who was sad but happy that she found a place to fit in.