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in: Ability to fly, Argosians, Justice League members, Legion of Super-Heroes members

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Revision as of 09:39, 13 September 2008

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"I don't believe it! A Super...girl?"
— Jimmy Olsen

Supergirl was the last Argosian, and Superman's foster cousin.

History

Early Adventures

Kara In-Ze was the only survivor from Krypton's sister planet, Argos. While exploring the sector of space once occupied by Krypton, Superman discovered a hidden cryogenic facility which had sustained heavy damage. Only one chamber was intact, containing the last survivor of Argos: Kara. Taking the young woman back to Earth, Superman introduced Kara to his adoptive parents. The Kents took her in under the guise of Jonathan Kent's teenaged niece.

Supergirl

Supergirl's early uniform.

Inspired by her "cousin" Clark, Kara made a costume similar to Superman's and occasionally joined on missions as Supergirl. Kara frequently visited Clark in Metropolis and, as Supergirl, she had full access to Superman's Fortress of Solitude. In Supergirl, Superman found a living link to his alien heritage, and someone he could talk to about his dual lives as Superman and Clark Kent. She became a frequent friendly ally who could be trusted with Superman's secret.

Justice League Recruitment

Missions

File:Superconfident.jpg

Supergirl exudes confidence.

Kara was living in Kansas for three years, under Clark's instructions, until she was finally recruited into the new Justice League. Her first assignment was to go to Asia, alongside the Green Lantern and Captain Atom (and Green Arrow, against his will), and deal with a possible radioactive accident. Supergirl's juvenile and playful spirit charmed Green Arrow and the two became friends. Her somewhat immature nature makes her act impetuously, which is frowned upon by some members of the League, especially John Stewart. However, despite her rushed judgment, she is goodhearted and well-intentioned.

When Amazo returned to Earth, Supergirl and Steel went after Lex Luthor to take him into protective custody. After Luthor escaped into a refuge of his own, Supergirl aided the League's second line of defense against the android. She bravely attacked Amazo, but his cosmic power knocked her out with one strong impact.

The Doppelganger Mystery

At one point, Supergirl started to have disturbing dreams in which she chased and incinerated men she had never seen before. She contemplated the possibility of those so-called dreams being in fact suppressed memories while she was under the government's custody. Supergirl, Green Arrow, and the Question set off to investigate this strange occurrence. They went to S.T.A.R. Labs, where Professor Hamilton assured her that she was under their care and vigilance the entire time, and that her dreams may be an expression of her traumatic experience. While leaving, the trio got attacked by robots and soldiers that linked them to the U.S. Army, and more specifically to General Hardcastle. They confronted him and he admitted to having being in charge of government experiments in metahuman and mutant studies, but he couldn't explain Supergirl's dreams. The Leaguers connected Hardcastle to Nuvo-Gen, so Supergirl and Green Arrow went there to investigate. They ascertained that Supergirl's DNA was used to create a clone, whom they trained to be a living weapon. Supergirl deduced that they shared some sort of psychic link that made her see her clone's actions. Supergirl and Green Arrow were lured into a hologram-training room, where the clone, referred to only as 'Tea', attempted to kill Supergirl and thus wipe out their psychic link, which was holding her back. Supergirl fought her off, until the entire facility blew up, seemingly destroying Galatea.

When Supergirl found out that it was Hamilton who cloned her under Cadmus's sanction, she was set to take them down. However, when trouble arose and the JL core members turned themselves over to the government, Supergirl was left in charge of the League. While the heroes where struggling to get the power back online, Galatea and an army of Ultimen invaded the Watchtower. Supergirl tried to stop Galatea from overloading the reactor, but she was overwhelmed by her clone's slightly superior strength. Supergirl stalled Galatea long enough for the reactor to reboot, whereupon she used one of its cables to electrocute her doppelganger, finally defeating her.

Acceptance and Popularity

Supergirl enjoyed of a huge popularity in Japan, which wasn't taken lightly by Stargirl. En route through the North Pole, Supergirl, Stargirl, S.T.R.I.P.E., and Green Lantern are sucked into a tunnel that led them to Skartaris, where the sun is red. Supergirl's powers were quickly drained, which left her somewhat impaired. However, this didn't hold her back; she joined the battle against Deimos' army, and engaged them in hand-to-hand sword fight. Then, despite her feeble powers, Supergirl intercepted Metallo when he was trying to attain the Great Stone. She bluffed, claiming to be immune to Metallo kryptonite's heart. However, Metallo engaged her and she attacked him with Stargirl's rod, and was forced to retreat. She attempted to thwart Metallo by all means available ― she tilted a giant statue over him, and tried to shot him down with a blaster. When Metallo finally grabbed a hold of Supergirl, she managed to cut out his battery with a dagger, leaving him immobilized. This display of bravery and endurance earned Supergirl the respect of Stargirl, who intervened in the nick of time to get rid of the chunk of kryptonite killing Supergirl.

30th Century

By her twenty-first birthday, Kara — now with a few years' League experience under her belt — was truly beginning to come in to her own despite the perception some might have had of her as being in her cousin's shadow. Even Stewart was forced to admit that there was little more he could teach her. Supergirl, along with Stewart and Green Arrow, was transported to the 30th Century by members of the Legion of Super-Heroes. The three Justice Leaguers aided Legionnaires Brainiac 5 and Bouncing Boy in freeing their teammates from the mental domination of the Fatal Five — a mission from which, historical records of the era claimed, Supergirl would not return. After teaming with Brainiac 5, Bouncing Boy, and Green Arrow to stop the Fatal Five, Supergirl elected to stay behind in the 30th Century as a Legionnaire--a position in which she could truly make a difference. Her decision was further influenced by a growing romantic attraction to Brainiac 5. Supergirl sent a final farewell message to her cousin Kal-El and presumably lived out the rest of her days in the 30th Century.

Powers and Abilities

Because Argosians and Kryptonians sprang from a common humanoid ancestor millions of years before, Supergirl's powers closely parallel Superman's. Kara was born 16 years before her Kryptonian "cousin" but remains younger due to her time in suspended animation.

As a result, Supergirl has powers that are similar to Superman's (flight, strength, heat vision, super-hearing, etc.), and she shares his vulnerability to Kryptonite. She is also weak to red sun radiation than Superman and presumably has the same problems with magic. Because Supergirl is much younger than Superman, her power is not yet equal to her cousin's. She is cocky, hip, and very independent; though these traits often hindered her in her early career, she has also found ways to use them to her advantage. She also had over time, obtained hand-to-hand combat skills.

Background information

With regards to her origin, Supergirl is based loosely on Kara Zor-El, the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths Supergirl and biological cousin of Kal-El. She was retconned out of existence following the Crisis, but was reintroduced in Superman/Batman, where (interestingly enough) she was targeted by Darkseid for leadership of the Female Furies.

Concerning her character design, this version of Supergirl was inspired by the post-Crisis Linda Danvers, who had herself become Supergirl after Matrix fused with her to save her from dying. This somewhat contradicts the whole character background itself (being her the surrogate cousin of Superman in this continuity), even though it makes Supergirl look effectively like a teenaged superheroine. It was not until "Chaos at the Earth's Core" that she would adopt a look more akin to classic Supergirl comics (without the tiara on her hair, and wearing an outfit looking more like a female version of Superman's own uniform), which looks like a blend between the modern-day Supergirl and the Supergirl persona adopted by Matrix shortly after the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Appearances

Superman: The Animated Series

The New Batman Adventures

Justice League

Justice League Unlimited


External links

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