Supergirl (Kara Zor-El)

Kara Zor-El (Supergirl) also known by her adoptive names of Linda Lee Danvers, Kara Kent, Linda Lang, and Kara Danvers, is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. She was created by Otto Binder and designed by Al Plastino. Danvers first appeared in ''Action Comics'' #252 (May 1959)'s "The Supergirl from Krypton" story. Kara is the biological cousin of Kal-El, who went on to adopt the name of Clark Kent and the superhero Superman. Her father, Zor-El, is the brother of Superman’s father, Jor-El. During the 1980s and the revolution of the Modern Age of Comics, ''Superman'' editors believed the character's history had become too convoluted, thus killing Supergirl during the 1985 ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'' event and retconning her out of existence.

DC Comics Senior Vice President Dan DiDio re-introduced the character in 2004 along with editor Eddie Berganza and writer Jeph Loeb, with her the ''Superman/Batman'' storyline "The Supergirl from Krypton". As the current Supergirl, Kara stars in her own monthly comic book series. With DC's The New 52 relaunch, Kara, like most of the DC Universe, was revamped. DC relaunched the ''Supergirl'' comic in August 2016 as part of their DC Rebirth initiative.

In live-action, Supergirl appeared in the 1984 film based on her character and was portrayed by Helen Slater. She also appeared in the series ''Smallville'', played by actress Laura Vandervoort. In 2015, the live-action Arrowverse series ''Supergirl'' debuted on CBS and then moved to The CW after the first season. Supergirl was portrayed by Melissa Benoist on the show and also appeared on other Arrowverse shows. Sasha Calle will appear as Supergirl in the upcoming DC Extended Universe film ''The Flash'' (2022).
Fictional characters from Chicago

Publication history

Early life

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.

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.

The Kara Zor-El version of Supergirl finally appeared in ''Action Comics'' #252 (May 1959). Otto Binder wrote and Al Plastino illustrated her début story, in which Kara was born and raised in Argo City (unnamed until later issues), a fragment of Krypton that survived destruction. When the city is doomed by a meteor shower, Kara is sent to Earth by her parents, Zor-El and Alura (the latter unnamed until later issues), to be raised by her cousin Kal-El, known as Superman. Supergirl adopted the secret identity of an orphan "Linda Lee", and made Midvale Orphanage her home. Supergirl promised Superman that she would keep her existence on Earth a secret, so that he may use her as a "secret weapon", but that didn't stop Supergirl from exploring her new powers covertly. Action Comics #255 published reader's letters-of-comment to Supergirl's first appearance; she had allegedly generated a sizeable and mostly positive reaction.

Supergirl, from her debut onwards, became a regular backup strip in ''Action Comics''. She joined the Legion of Super-Heroes, like her cousin had done as a teenager, and in ''Action Comics'' #279 (July 1961) she was adopted by Fred and Edna Danvers, becoming "Linda Lee Danvers". Supergirl acted for three years as Superman's secret weapon, and her adventures during that time have been compared to contemporary developments in feminist thinking in work such as Betty Friedan's ''The Feminine Mystique''. She was at last introduced by her super-powered cousin to an unsuspecting world in ''Action Comics'' #285 (February 1962).

During her first quarter of a century, Linda Danvers would have many professions, from student to student advisor, to actor, and even TV camera operator. She shared ''Action Comics'' with Superman until transferring to the lead in ''Adventure Comics'' at the end of the 1960s. In 1972 she finally moved to her own short-lived eponymous magazine, before DC merged its Supergirl, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen titles into a single anthology title named ''The Superman Family''. In 1982 Supergirl was relaunched into her own magazine.

Death during ''Crisis on Infinite Earths''

In 1985, the maxi-series ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'' was conceived as a way to reduce DC 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", the editors at DC Comics and the creators of the maxi-series decided to kill Supergirl off during the ''Crisis''. According to Marv Wolfman, writer of ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'':

The idea of killing Supergirl was first conceived by DC's vice president/executive editor Dick Giordano, who lobbied for the death to DC's publishers. He later said he has never had any regrets about this, explaining, "Supergirl was created initially to take advantage of the high Superman sales and not much thought was put into her creation. She was created essentially as a female Superman. With time, writers and artists improved upon her execution, but she never did ''really'' add anything to the Superman mythos—at least not for me." The poor initial reception of the 1984 film ''Supergirl'' was also blamed by some sources.

In 1989, in the tale "Christmas with the Super-Heroes" the soul of Kara appears to Boston "Deadman" Brand, cheers him up, and then disappears from continuity until 2001 (see below).

Several characters unrelated to Superman soon took on the Supergirl persona, including the Matrix (a shapeshifting genetically engineered life-form that 'defaulted' as Supergirl), Linda Danvers (the result of Matrix merging with the dying Linda Danvers and becoming an Earth-bound angel of fire), and Cir-El (Superman's apparent daughter from a possible future).

A heroine resembling the Pre-''Crisis'' Kara would later appear in '' Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds'' #5, along with an entire army of Legionnaires gathered from alternate worlds, times, and realities, to battle the Time Trapper.

Two Supergirls meet

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:

In the Linda Danvers' ''Supergirl'' series issues 49 and 50 (October and November 2000), the original dead Kara appears as Linda's "guardian angel". Then in issues 75 to 80, "Many Happy Returns", a young Kara appears from an earlier time long before the Crisis. The paradox becomes a moral crisis for Linda who tries to take her place as the Crisis sacrifice, living for years in a Silver Age universe where "no one swears, the villains are always easy to defeat, and everything's very, very clean", eventually marrying the Silver Age Superman and having a daughter with him, before she is forced to return to her universe by the Spectre when he reveals that her efforts to replace Kara as the sacrifice will not succeed. This run was illustrated by Ed Benes who had also illustrated Gail Simone's ''Birds of Prey'' which had a similar whimsical camaraderie between its female leads.

Linda's inability to ultimately save Kara, coupled with the loss of her daughter, is so devastating that it ends her own career as Supergirl, Linda leaving a note for Superman where she explains that she feels that she has failed to live up to the standards of a true Supergirl and choosing to go somewhere she cannot be found. This story arc is usually cited as one of the best Supergirl stories ever written. The series ended with issue 80.

Revival

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:

As the character continued to be reinvented, steps towards regarding the iconic character were some of the most prominent changes. Artist Jamal Igle