Supergirl (DC)

Kara Zor-El, also known as Kara Danvers on Earth, better known as , is a major character in the , specifically serving as one of the main characters of the Superman franchise and the titular main protagonist of the series of the same name. 
She is the cousin and female counterpart of Superman. While mostly known as Kara Danvers, she is also known as Linda Danvers, Linda Lang, or among other aliases on different continuities.
A Kryptonian from the planet's city Argo, Kara is the cousin of Superman, whom arrived to Earth years after Ka-El become a renowned superhero. Put into a similar position as her cousin, she would learn to adapt to Earth while becoming a true hero alongside her cousin, with both having similar power sets. While protecting the world from threats, she also became a member of the Justice League, the Teen Titans, and the Legion of Super Heroes.
Although there has been several heroines known as Supergirl through the history of DC Comics, Kara Zor-El, Superman's Kryptonian cousin and fellow survivor, is the best known version. Her eponymous backup strip ran from Action Comics #252-376 and Adventure Comics #381-424. Then she starred in an eponymous comic book series which debuted in 1972 and ran until 1974, followed by a run in the Superman Family magazine and a second monthly comic book series titled The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl, which ran from 1982 to 1984. The character was later killed in 1985 and was brought back in 2004, and has starred in her own book since. Two of her replacements got her own books in the interim.
Supergirl has branched out into animation, film, television, video games and merchandising. In 2013, Supergirl placed 17th on IGN's list of the greatest DC comics superheroes, stating "she was an early example of a female sidekick developing a large fanbase in her own right", and "Supergirl has been one of DC's most powerful heroes, and a standard to hold other female heroes against." Within numerous media, she was was portrayed by Helen Slater in the 1984 film Supergirl, Laura Vandervoort in the television series Smallville, and Melissa Benoist in the Arrowverse television series Supergirl.
She was was created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino, and first appeared in Action Comics #252 in May of 1959.
==Biography==
===Early Life===
Kara Zor-El was born in Argo City of Krypton to the scientists Zor-El and Alura In-Ze, and is the cousin to Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van's son Kal-El. Following Brainiac’s attack of Krypton and taking Kandor, the science council utilized one of his probes to place a force field around the city. Despite this, Brainiac returned to the planet to take Argo, forcing Zor-El and Alura to send their daughter to Earth via a rocket. However, the rocket was entrapped by a meteor, which resulted in Kara reaching Earth years after her cousin did. 
As she remained entrapped within the rocket, Kal-El would become a renowned superhero on Earth known as "Superman", and later became a member of the Justice League of America.
===Becoming Supergirl===
Arriving to Earth, Kara was found by Superman and Batman, whom decided to help her adjust to the planet while Wonder Woman trained her in the arts of combat. When the new god Darkseid noticed her, he decided to kidnap and brainwash the Kryptonian for his own use. Superman managed to save his cousin from Darkseid's grasp, and then faked her death to stop the new god's search. Returning to Earth, Kara took on the title of "Supergirl" with her cousin's guidance, but felt uneasy since she had to adapt to Earth, and was uncomfortable with Superman's protectiveness. 
However, she would find solace with Kal-El's clone Superboy and Power Girl, but couldn't remain with her counterpart since anytime their powers went out of control anytime they touched. She later came to terms with Earth after stopping Lex Luthor and her darker half, Dark Supergirl, which was created when Luthor used black Kryptonite to split Kara's good and evil side.
During the Infinite Crisis storyline, Supergirl and several heroes were contacted by Donna Troy to stop the upcoming threat, and the Krypton disappeared during the event when struck by a Zeta-Beam. The altered beam transported her to the thirty-first century, where she became affiliated with the Legion of Super-Heroes. While she awaited for the Legion to find a way to bring her home, Kara went on numerous adventures with the team. Supergirl participated in the Legion's fight against the Dominators, an alien race whom planned on take control of mankind. 
Afterward, Cosmic Boy and Brainiac 5 succeed in creating the Chronexus, which allowed Kara to return to the twenty-first century. However, Supergirl's memories of the future were erased by the Legion, and she was accidently sent to the thirtieth century on Earth-Prime.
Later on, Supergirl returned to the twenty-first century, discovering the metahuman conflict had grown as she was gone, as well as Kal-El powerless and Kon-El dead. Seeing that Metropolis needed a protector, Kara worked with Booster Gold and Supernova to fight against crime. She later turned her attention to Power Girl, working with her counterpart under the identity as "Flamebird" to protect Kandor. The heroines fought against Ultraman and Saturn Queen, but Kara left the battle, causing her friendship with Power Girl to strain. 
Following the Third World War, Kara returned to her previous mantle, and turned to re-establishing herself by adopting the name "Claire Connor" and attending high school.
===Prime Earth===
Kara origins in the New 52 differs from the original, with Zor-El placing Kara in a sleeping pod after realizing Jor-El's predictions of Krypton's destruction were correct. Launched from Krypton before it exploded, Kara remained asleep as the pod orbited over Earth for two decades as her cousin Kal-El become a superhero. However, in the DC Rebirth iteration, Argo City survived Krypton's destruction due to Zor-El's efforts, whom created shields to protect the citizens from the radiation that was coming from the soil. Needing all the manpower he could to protect the land, Kara participated in helping the shield's creation, being one of the five thousand to survive its completion. 
Following this, the bubble was ruptured by debris, resulting in Zor-El sending Kara to Earth via an escape pod as Argo perished. 
During Superman's early career, the pod reached Earth, and Kal-El initially placed Kara into an orphanage to keep her identity a secret. In the New 52, Kara's pod landed in Siberia, where she fought off robots attempting to study her before Superman arrived to the scene. Kal-El explained to Kara that he was her cousin, but she refused to believe him, thinking he was an imposter and attacked the Kryptonian across the planet. She eventually stopped and listened to him, and searched through her pod to find any clues about the situation. 
Returning to Siberia, Kara found a message from Symon Tycho, and traveled to his space station to speak with him, realizing too late that it was it trap. Though initially captured, Kara managed to escape via the help of one of Tycho's employees, and traveled to what remained of Argo City. 
While grieving over the loss of her home, she encountered the worldkiller Reign and her allies, whom she fought across New York City. Despite being defeated initially, Kara gathered the strength to defeat Reign, whom revealed that a fifth worldkiller would arrive and that she would return. Later on, Supergirl befriended Superman's clone Superboy despite attacking him upon learning this, and later foight a duplicate of her cousin.
==Incarnations==
===Kara Zor-El===
Before the Krypton's destruction, Jor-El's brother Zor-El developed a protective shield dome around a Kryptonian settlement known as Argo City. Said dome saved Argo City when Krypton exploded, but it couldn't prevent the soil from turning radioactive because of the explosion. The Argoans coated the ground in lead and prepared for surviving in space via food-replicating and oxygen-reciclating machines. During that time, Zor-El met and fell in love with a woman called Allura In-Ze -sometimes spelled as "Alura", and had a child whom they named Kara, after Kryptonian Goddess of Beauty.
Fifteen years later, a meteor storm struck the dome and shredded the shield coating, exposing Argoans to Kryptonite radiation. Zor-El attempted and was unable to save the Argoans, so he and Alura set out to save their daughter. In the past they had used a telescopic device to look for other worlds where their people could settle in, and they learned of the existence of Superman. Hurriedly, Zor-El built a rocket and sent Kara to Earth.
Kara met Kal-El shortly after landing and revealed she was his cousin. Even though Superman was overjoyed he couldn't take his teenager cousin in, so he took her to an orphanage in a town named Midvale and asked her to keep her existence a secret as he trained her. For many months, Kara lived in the Midvale Orphanage under the name "Linda Lee" as operating as Midvale's mysterious "guardian angel". Eventually, Linda was adopted by Fred and Edna Danvers shortly before Superman revealed her existence to the world.
In the subsequent years, Linda would graduate from school and Stanhope College. She constantly moved cities and changed jobs (photographer, student advisor, actress, etc.), joined the Legion of Superheroes and forged friendships with other heroes, mainly Batgirl. She was also romantically involved with fellow Legionnaire Brainiac 5.
Unfortunately, in 1985 Kara died in combat to save Superman's life and the entirety of the Multiverse from the Anti-Monitor In Chicago the supers held a memorial Service as she was laid to rest in the comics Crisis on Infinite Earths. At that time, DC Comics had decided Superman should be the sole survivor of Krypton's destruction, ergo Kara Zor-El wouldn't exist in the new universe, and unlike Barry Allen's sacrifice, her death wouldn't be remembered.
In the early 2000's, though, DC Comics went back on their decision, and Kara Zor-El was reintroduced into DC Comics continuity in The Supergirl from Krypton, a storyline narrated in the Superman/Batman book, which preceded her own title.
Post-Crisis Kara Zor-El was actually fifteen years older than Superman. When Argo City was attacked by Brainiac, Zor-El and Allura sent her to Earth to save her life, asking her taking care of her cousin. Unfortunately, her rocket got stuck into an asteroid field, and Kara was put in suspended animation until her rocket crashed into Gotham City Bay 35 years later. Kara was found by Superman and Batman, and even though her cousin wanted to take her in immediately, Wonder Woman talked Superman into letting her take Kara to Themyscira for a while to train her. 
Kara became an honorary Amazon, and joined the Legion of Super-Heroes, the Teen Titans, and the Justice League.
When the Flashpoint event recreated the DC Universe, Kara's history was changed again. In the new reality she was more insolated and angrier, to the point she joined the Red Lantern Corps in the Red Daughter of Krypton saga to learn how to overcome her psychological issues. Later she was adopted by Jeremiah and Eliza Danvers and became National City's protector.
==Love-Interests==
*Nightwing
*Brainiac 5
*Dick Malverne
*Jerro
==Portrayals==
===Films===
*In the titular 1984 film, she was portrayed by Helen Slater.
*In Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, she was voiced by Summer Glau.
*In Superman: Unbound, she was voiced by Molly Quinn.
*In Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League: Cosmic Clash, she was voiced by Jessica DiCicco, who also voiced Malina in The Emperor's New School, Flame Princess in Adventure Time, Selina in Winx Club, and Lynn and Lucy Loud in The Loud House.
*In the The Flash film, she was portrayed by Sasha Calle.
*Kara Zor-El appears in the Tomorrowverse, she was voiced by Meg Donnelly.
**She was the main protagonist of Legion of Super-Heroes
**At the end of Justice League: Warworld she appears under the appearance and role of Harbinger, which was not revealed until the subsequent Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part One. How she became the Monitor's Harbinger was not revealed within the film. As the Harbinger, she appears as a featureless figure (barring eyes and mouth of light, also had her head and limbs) with an aura and hair of fire; she can deactivate this shroud, appearing as her normal self, but in a black bodysuit. She could also travel between parallel dimensions, bringing heroes back to the Monitor's vessel seemingly instantly.
** Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part Two revealed that her escape ship from Krypton was damaged, and stopped against the window of Monitor's satellite. Monitor asked his computer to remove it, but instead, the computer took her damaged vessel inside. While irate, the Monitor allowed Kara to stay; Kara was amnesiac and mostly mute. Eventually, his computer convinced him to spend time with her, eating together and educating her about the multiverse. At some point, Kara found her own ship, and regained her memories, except for one, which was corrected when the ship told her of Krypton's destruction. Monitor chided her for being late to a lesson, but she angrily ranted at him for lying about her planet's end; while he tries to reason with her, Kara departs. After her time with the Legion, she returned to present day Earth to find the vanished Superman and Batman. Monitor teleports her to his satellite; upset at him, she asks if he abducted the two missing heroes, but he corrects her and asks for her help. Using a special machine, Monitor transfers some of his life force to Kara, which transforms her into the Harbinger.
*In the upcoming Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow film, she will be portrayed by Milly Alcock. The film will be set in the new DCU (DC Universe) multimedia franchise by James Gunn. It is also rumored that she will make her first appearance in Superman (2025), before appearing in her solo film.
===Television ===
*In Smallville, she was portrayed by Laura Vandervoort, who also played Elena Michaels in Bitten.
*In Super Best Friends Forever, she was voiced by Nicole Sullivan, who also voiced Franny Robinson in Meet the Robinsons.
**Sullivan reprised her voice for the character in 2019s DC Super Hero Girls and Teen Titans Go! & DC Super Hero Girls: Mayhem in the Multiverse.
*In DC Super Hero Girls, she was voiced by Anais Fairweather
*In the Arrowverse, she was portrayed by Melissa Benoist.
*In Justice League Action, she was voiced by Joanne Spracklen.
===Video Games===
*In DC Universe Online, she was voiced by Adriene Mishler.
* In Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, she was voiced by Bridget Hoffman, who also voiced young Flint Lockwood in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.
*In Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, she was voiced by Kari Wahlgren, who also voiced Starfire in Injustice 2, Kitana in Mortal Kombat 11, Invisible Woman in Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., Starfire in the DC Animated Film Universe, Chloe Carmichael in The Fairly OddParents, and Mina Monroe in Bunnicula.
**Wahlgren reprised her voice for the character in Lego Dimensions.
*In Infinite Crisis, she was voiced by Camilla Luddington, who also voiced Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider reboot trilogy.
*In Injustice 2, she was voiced by Laura Bailey, who also voiced Serana in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Helena Harper in Resident Evil 6, Nadine Ross in the Uncharted series, Kait Diaz in the Gears of War series, Catwoman in Telltale's Batman, Mary Jane Watson in Insomniac's Marvel's Spider-Man series, and Polina Petrova in Call of Duty: Vanguard.
==Quotes==
==Trivia ==
*Ranked 93th greatest comic book superhero by IGN.
*Ranked 17th greatest DC comic superhero by IGN in 2013.
*Ranked 153rd by Wizard magazine in the greatest comic book character of all time.
==External Links==
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