With so many universes, time periods, reboots, tv shows, etc., the stories of our favorite superheroes tend to morph and change to fit the needs of the time. Supergirl is one of those stories that change frequently, which makes it a little hard to keep up with. We still believe she deserves a synopsis, though, so here it is:
Origin Story
The earliest origin story for Supergirl doesn’t give us much to go off of at all. We know she was Superman’s cousin, and we know she also came from Krypton. We also know that she spent a part of her life in Argo City, but the rest of the details in the original story were pretty vague.
Over time, there have been several incarnations of Kara’s origin story, all a little different but including many of the same elements. Here’s one that’s widely spread and accepted:
Much like the Man of Steel, Kara Zor-El is sent on a spacecraft to Earth, but her story has some key differences. First and foremost, Kara lived in Argo City. Her parents, just like Kal-El’s, knew Argo City was coming to a fiery end, and they sent their daughter off into the universe hoping she’d be safe. She was a teenager at the time.
Unlike Superman, however, Supergirl's ship was lodged in a Kryptonite asteroid, and she landed on Earth much later than she was supposed to — thirty years later, to be exact. According to a DC wiki page, Kara’s pod landed in Gotham City’s bay, and she was found by (a most likely confused) Superman and Batman. And let’s just say teenage defiance isn’t just an Earth thing.
Wonder Woman wanted to take Kara in to train her, but Kara wasn’t sure that’s what she wanted. After the destruction of her family and her planet, we’d guess there were some issues that Kara needed to work out. Supergirl is tasked with trying to figure out her powers, navigate a new planet, and deal with all of the, er… hormones, that come along with adolescence. To be frank, the beginning wasn’t exactly pretty or graceful for Kara.
But that’s not where the turmoil ends for her. She is eventually abducted by Darkseid, but then rescued by Batman and Superman, and it’s at that point that she decides to take up her cape and become a superhero.
Now, that’s the comic book version, but Supergirl’s origin story changes quite a bit over time. Check out that wiki page above to learn more.
Villains
Just like her cousin, Supergirl has a high number of adversaries — too many to name for sure — but there are some notables worth mentioning. To start, there’s Darkseid. He just can’t seem to get enough of the supers, and he’s the one that kidnaps Kara not long after her arrival to earth.
Darkseid partakes in a little brainwashing and tries his hardest to recruit Kara as one of his own, but she’s rescued by Batman and Superman in the knick of time.
Brainiac is another villain that finds his way into the super-cousins lives as well. It’s a no brainer (haha) that Supergirl hates Brainiac. After all, he’s responsible (depending on the origin story you run with) for the destruction of her planet and the demise of her father.
We can’t talk about this superhero’s villains without mentioning Livewire. Though not Supergirl’s enemy in the comics per se, she’s definitely made a debut as Kara’s nemesis on the current television series.
Like many comic book villains, Livewire was just a regular old human turned evil as the result of a bit of an accident. We’ve heard this story before. Venom was the result of a science experiment gone wrong. And let’s not forget that The Joker and Two Faced were also ordinary men before accidents turned them both into villains we love to hate. The same is true with Livewire, who started out a vlogger, Leslie Willis. She was a bit of a prankster and devised a plan to display a dirty word that could be seen across the city and in space by manipulating the power grid.
Well, Superman caught onto her plans and removed the device she planted to accomplish her task. A little ticked-off and a lot stubborn, Leslie decided she was going to make it work anyway. Well, that didn’t exactly go as planned, and she got electrocuted instead. And thus, Livewire was born.
She’s only recently become one of our favorite superhero’s enemies, and we’re interested to see how the relationship plays out in the show.
Powers
Being a Kryptonian-turned-Argo-City transplant means Supergirl has all of the same powers as Superman. She can fly, and she has super speed. She can also engage the lasers through her eyes, and she can breathe ice cold breath. She’s also got the x-ray vision and the super hearing, and of course the invulnerability, which means she basically can’t die.
Love Interests
In the comics, Supergirl was a loner for much of the time. She was more focused on doing her superhero job and protecting the world than she was on getting into a relationship. There was, however, one great love in the comics, and that was Brainiac 5. Yes, we did reference Brainiac as one of our girl’s arch enemies, and yes, Brainiac 5 does claim to be the grandson of Brainiac, but he’s on the side of the heroes, we swear.
In fact, he wanted to join the Legion to make up for all the trouble his grandfather caused. Brainiac 5 had been in love with Supergirl since he first laid eyes on her, and their love story is a tragic one. In the comics, the two share a love story that ends in the death of one of them. Their relationship is different though, depending on the particular installment of the comics… or shows. Much like her origin story, her love story is a heap of confusion.
Well, we might not have eliminated any confusion, but we did the best we could on relaying the complicated world of Supergirl. We know you love her as much as we do anyway. But let us ask you a question: do you have anything expressing your love for Kara? If you don’t (or need something new) head over to our site and pick out one of these officially licensed graphic tees.