Supergirl
This article is about the comic book character. "Supergirl" is also a 1966 hit by British singer Graham Bonney (born 1943).
Supergirl is a fictional character who has been a major part of the Superman comic book series, published by DC Comics. In 1959 the character of Supergirl was introduced in Action Comics #252 as the last survivor of Argo City of the planet Krypton, which had somehow survived the explosion of the planet and drifted through space for about fifteen years. When the inhabitants of the colony were slain by Kryptonite, Supergirl (whose Kryptonian name was Kara Zor-El) was sent to Earth to be raised by her cousin, Superman. Fearing that she may not be recognised by Superman, Kara's parents provided a costume based closely on the Man of Steel's own. This uniform was to serve as her crime fighting attire for the first decade of her adventures in print.
Immediately upon discovery of the young Kara, Superman decides she will become his secret weapon, and explains that her presence on Earth must be kept secret. She adopts the identity of Linda Lee, an orphan at Midvale Orphanage, choosing to hide her short blonde locks beneath a brunette wig (surely as dubious a disguise as Clark Kent's glasses?). Her adventures often featured in supporting strips, accompanying the main Superman story in issues of Action Comics. They typically revolved around secretly helping fellow orphans, although occasionally she was allowed to play a small role along side her famous cousin. Finally in 1962 Supergirl was revealed to the world. And in the same story Linda was adopted by Fred and Edna Danvers, to whom she reveals her secret identity. Changing her name to Linda Lee Danvers (later known as just Linda Danvers) she became a student of Midvale High School.
Graduating in 1964, Linda left home to attend Stanhope College on a scholarship, finally graduating in 1971. At around this time Supergirl was given the lead slot in Adventure Comics, and this marks her move away from being just cute version of Superman, towards becoming a gritty, well rounded character in her own right. (This was reflected in a series of costume and hairstyle changes which mirrored the fashions of the time.) Although Superman became only an infrequent visitor in her adventures, she maintained close ties with her cousin, while pursuing her own career as a superhero. Her term at Adventure Comics ended when she was gifted her own title, which ran for only ten issues before being rolled into Superman Family, along side many other Superman-related strips. Throughout the 1970s twists and turns in her career as Supergirl ran parallel to changes in her life as Linda, from student, to tv reporter, to student councillor, to tv soap actress.
Finally in 1982 Supergirl was again given her own title, The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl (later issues dropping the lengthy prefix). She returned to her roots, becoming a mature university student, this time in Chicago. During its twenty three issues (during which Superman was barely mentioned) Supergirl adopted yet another costume and finally discarded the brunette wig, in favor of a magic comb which changed her hair color and style.
During the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Supergirl bravely sacrificed her life to save the multiverse from destruction. Her death is one of the most memorable moments of the Crisis story.
After the reboot of Superman in the late 1980s, Supergirl's origin was completely re-written. Unfortunately, it has since become very convoluted and hard to follow. To summarize:
"Supergirl" is an artificial life form created in a parallel dimension of Earth, originally sent to recruit Superman to return to her world and save it from destruction at the hands of three escaped criminals from the planet Krypton. When their mission failed and the world was destroyed, Superman brought the artificial creature to Earth. For a while the life form developed amnesia and thought it was Superman, though it later took on a female form and a new identity of "Supergirl." In this guise, she began a romance with Lex Luthor. When Luthor's evil nature was revealed to her, Supergirl left Luthor to find her own way in the world.
She gained her own comic, written by Peter David, in which she was merged with a troubled young woman named Linda Danvers, becoming an "Earth Angel". Linda eventually separated from the angelic part, and acted as Supergirl for a while with reduced powers, before regaining her abilities (but not her angelic aspect) and meeting the original Supergirl, who had apparently been detoured into the post-Crisis universe on her way to Earth, and was persued by a villain who was killing Supergirls from various universes. (This may have had something to do with Hypertime.)
Knowing Kara was destined to die, Linda travelled to the pre-Crisis universe in her place, where she married Superman and had a daughter, Ariel. However, she had to allow history to take its place in order to ensure one universe would survive the Crisis. She has since abandoned the role of Supergirl, and her current whereabouts is unknown, although there is speculation she may be the unsympathetic lead character of David's creator-owned series for DC, Fallen Angel
Since then another Supergirl has appeared, claiming to be the daughter of Superman and Lois Lane from the future. Her name is, apparently, Cir-El.
A movie adaptation of Supergirl was released in 1984, starring Helen Slater. The movie was a box-office dud, and it failed to impress critics or audiences.Post-Crisis history