Supergirl

Art by Jim Mooney Color by Nightwing

Supergirl: The Girl of Steel!

A lovely blond super-heroine who functions periodically, from May 1959 onward, as Superman’s companion in super-heroic adventure. She is in reality Kara Zor-El, Superman’s first cousin, the daughter of the Kryptonian scientist Zor-El and his wife Alura. Born and raised on Argo City, a city of the planet Krypton which survived the death of its native planet when it was hurled into outer space, people and buildings alive and intact, by the force of the cataclysm that destroyed Krypton, she was, at the age of fifteen, launched toward Earth in a small rocket ship by her father Zor-El when the city faced extinction due to Kryptonite poisoning.

On Earth, where, like any Kryptonian survivor, she acquired super-powers identical to Superman’s, she assumed the secret alternate identity of Linda Lee, an orphan at the Midvale Orphanage, concealing her blond hair beneath a brunette wig and functioning as Supergirl only in secret, at Superman’s insistence, until such time as she could learn to use her super-powers properly. Adopted by Fred and Edna Danvers, she attended Midvale High School as Linda Lee Danvers, graduated in 1964, and then went on to attend Stanhope College on a scholarship, graduating in 1971. Presented to the world by Superman in 1962, she has since that time, performed super-heroic feats openly as Supergirl, while retaining the secrecy of her dual identity.

Supergirl’s alternate identity is a closely held secret, but it is known to Superman, to her foster parents the Danverses (Act No. 285, Feb 1962: “The World’s Greatest Heroine!”; and others), and to the Legion of Super-Heroes, of which she served as a member until resigning her membership at the age of twenty-one (S No. 152/1, Apr 1962: “The Robot Master!”; and others), Supergirl is fully aware that her cousin Superman is secretly Clark Kent. According to the Supergirl story in Action Comics No. 270, she has also been entrusted with the secret identities of Batman and Robin (Nov 1960: “Supergirl’s Busiest Day!”). Like all Kryptonian survivors, Supergirl is vulnerable to kryptonite. Comet The Super-Horse is Supergirl’s pet and equine companion. Streaky, the orange cat that acquires temporary super-powers as the result of its exposure to “X-kryptonite,” is Linda Lee Danvers’s pet cat. She also has a non-super cat by the name of Streaky II (DNAS No. 6, Apr 1983: "Battleground O'Hare"!). In her 30th-Century adventures, she also has a pet super-cat named Whizzy who is the telepathic 30th-Century descendant of Streaky, the Super-Cat.

In the texts, Supergirl is alternatively referred to as the Girl of Steel. Action Comics No. 285 describes Superman and Supergirl as “the two mightiest crusaders in the entire universe” (Feb 1962: “The World’s Greatest Heroine!”). Superman, who has dedicated a room to Supergirl in his Fortress of Solitude (S No. 1 Jan 1961: “Flame-Dragon from Krypton”), has described his cousin this way:

Physically, she’s the mightiest female of all time! But at heart, she’s as gentle and sweet and is [sic] quick to tears, as any ordinary girt! I guess that’s why everyone who meets her loves her! [ No. 285, Feb 1962: “The World’s Greatest Heroine!”].

Supergirl’s red, yellow, and blue costume, which was originally fashioned by her mother Alura prior to her flight from doomed Argo City, is a female counterpart of Superman’s own. Most of what is known concerning Supergirl’s origin is contained in the Supergirl story in Action Comics No. 252. In May 1959, a small rocket ship crash-lands on the outskirts of Metropolis and a teen-aged girl, clad in a costume clearly modeled after Superman’s, emerges smiling and unhurt from the wreckage. As Superman listens in amazement to her story, the girl explains that she too is Kryptonian, although she was born on floating Argo City long after the planet Krypton exploded. When, years later, after his young daughter had become a teen-ager, the scientist Zor-El realized that Argo City’s entire population would, within about one month’s time, succumb to deadly kryptonite poisoning, he began desperately racing against time to construct a rocket ship to carry his daughter to another world. It was while scanning the universe through a “super-space telescope” in search of a suitable world to which young Kara could be sent that Kara and her mother discovered Earth, became aware of Superman and his exploits, and realized that Earth’s greatest hero was a Kryptonian like them. Kara’s mother decided to send her teen-aged daughter to Earth, clad in a costume that would make her easily recognizable to Superman as a fellow native of Krypton. And so, soon afterward, Zor-El placed his young daughter inside his small rocket ship and launched her toward Earth, while behind her, on Argo City, virtually the entire population lay dead or dying of kryptonite poisoning.

It is only as the newly arrived orphan from space concludes her narrative that Superman realizes that she is his cousin, the daughter of Zor-El, his father’s brother (see Jor-El). Overjoyed at having encountered a kinswoman from his native planet, Superman advises her that she can use her super-powers to aid humanity, as he does, but that first she must undergo a prolonged period of training so that she may learn to use her powers wisely.

After exchanging her colorful Supergirl costume for ordinary Earth girls’ clothing and concealing her blond hair beneath a brown, pigtailed wig, Kara registers at the Midvale Orphanage in the Metropolis suburb of Midvale, employing the alias Linda Lee. Someday, promises Superman faithfully, the world will learn of her existence, but “for a long time to come,” he adds, “you’ll live here quietly as an “ordinary” girl until you get used to earthly things!” (Act No. 252: “The Supergirl from Krypton!”).

Among her boyfriends have been Brainiac 5, Jerro, the Merboy from Atlantis, Biron (in human form), and boy-next-door Richard "Dick" Malverne (see Dick Malverne). After her death, it was revealed that she had a secret husband named Salkor (S No. 415, Jan. 1986: "Supergirl: Bride of -- X?").

External Links

• superman.ws presents: The WORLD of SUPERGIRL!
• Supergirl: La prima de Superman
• Kara's entry at the LSH Clubhouse
• Supergirl Index by Mike

External Links to Online Comics

• "Meet the Supergirl From Krypton" from Action Comics No. 258
• Supergirl is revealed to the world in "The World's Greatest Heroine" Action Comics serial reprinted in 80 Page Giant Action Comics No. 360