Supergirl: Difference between revisions

Then somebody decided, in order to expand their product line, why not add in a [[Distaff Counterpart|young, female version]] of Superman? Hey, it worked for [[Shazam|Captain Marvel]]. [[Poorly -Disguised Pilot|As a test]], they released ''Superman'' #123 (August, 1958), a [[Jimmy Olsen]] story where he got three wishes. One wish was for a woman to keep Superman company, but though meaning well, this magical Super-Girl kept messing up her super-feats. Jimmy sadly wished her away when she sacrificed herself to save Superman from kryptonite, and was about to die anyway. (Note that in most later reprintings of this story, Super-Girl was intentionally miscolored to look different from Supergirl; originally, and as seen in DC Archives, she looks identical to Supergirl except that the skirt of her [[Mini Dress of Power]] is red.)

Eventually, the "angel" aspect and the "Linda" aspect separated, with Linda having the powers on her own. This came at the same time that Supergirl was introduced in ''[[Superman the Animated Series]]'', so in a bit of media property alignment, Linda was given the cartoon Supergirl's costume. She operated as Supergirl until the ''original'' [[Pre Crisis]] Supergirl showed up, her rocket somehow having detoured to the [[Post -Crisis]] universe. Linda, learning Kara was destined to die, traveled to the [[Pre Crisis]] universe in her place, marrying Superman and having a daughter. Eventually, Kara was restored to her place in the history of the multiverse, and Linda retired from superheroing. ''Supergirl'' vol. 4 lasted 74 issues, ending in November, 2002.

In the run-up to ''Infinite Crisis'', the surprisingly simple answer was revealed: she was... Kara Zor-L, the cousin of the Superman of Earth-2. As the Earths were being merged, she had somehow fallen through a crack in time, emerging in the [[Post -Crisis]] universe unchanged, and the inconsistencies in her powers and origins since then had been side effects of the universe trying to fit her in. (Note: She is specifically from the Earth-2 that existed prior to ''Crisis of the Infinite Earths.'' A new Earth-2 thats like the old one appeared after [[Infinite Crisis]] but it has its own Power Girl. Much to the original's dismay.)

Since then Supergirl's basic identity in the [[The DCU|DCU]] has held steady as Kara Zor-el. Confusion didn't end there though as her own named title was prone to retconning Kara's personal backstory on Krypton every three issues or so under a string of writers before ''finally'' settling down some 30 issues in. This roughly coincided with being brought into the extended [[Bat Family Crossover|New Krypton]] storyline with her cousin, dealing with the bottled city of Kandor being unshrunk releasing several hundred Kryptonians on planet Earth, led confusingly enough by Supergirl's parents. The book finally managed to become well regarded and is now a stable part of the Superman Family of comics. Supergirl also appeared in ''Supergirl and the [[Legion of Super-Heroes]]'', in which she was stuck a thousand years in the future with the LSH (having apparently made the [[Time Travel]] trip during a [[Time Skip]] in her own book, and then getting [[Laser -Guided Amnesia]] before she returned). To top it off, 2009 saw a toony-style miniseries aimed at kids, called ''Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures In the 8th Grade,'' which was [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin]]. [[Word of God|The original writer says]] [[What Could Have Been|he had plans to write sequels retelling her pre-Crisis story (her time in the Legion et al), taking her up to the 12th Grade]].

* [[Ret Gone]]: For a long while, Kara Zor-El was retconned out of existence by the [[Crisis On Infinite Earths]] - until a storyline with the Linda Danvers Supergirl had [[Pre Crisis]] Kara entering the [[Post -Crisis]] timestream by accident. Later, a [[Post -Crisis]] Kara was reintroduced, replacing Linda.