Supergirl Questions

[sdp]

Ok, i know she dies during crisis, and even though confused about power girl i know everyone is as well.

But I have the death of Superman TPB, and she is there, and i also remember her being in her S:TAS costume in her own comic. What about the comic where she "meets" the original supergirl?

[ManicWebb]

Okay, here's the thing. For the longest time, Supergirl wasn't Superman's cousin. Supergirl was an artificial lifeform called Matrix.

Basically, she comes from another dimension. In her dimension, 3 evil Kryptonians were arbitarily killing people left and right on Earth. Since Superman wasn't around, that world's Lex (or Alex) Luthor created an artifical lifeform called Matrix to protect them. Matrix, who also had shapeshifting powers, took on the form of a young woman. Hence, Supergirl. Stuff happened, and she ended up leaving her universe and joining Superman.

It was this Matrix-Supergirl who was there when Superman died.

Then one day, Matrix (in the form of Supergirl) saw a girl named Linda Danvers dieing. Since Supergirl wasn't a real person, she fused with the near-death Linda so that they'd become one person, and Linda would live. Linda's conciousness took over, and suddenly this normal, everyday girl found out she could shape-shift into Supergirl. Linda decided to start wearing a new costume, which is the one from the animated series.

Then stuff happened, and Linda retired from fighting evil/crime.

Now here's why I hate The Crisis...

Just a few months ago, Superman found Kara Zor-El, his cousin and the classic Supergirl we all know and love. But there's one problem. Nobody ever remembers Kara being Supergirl. Nope. No one. It turns out that Kara never died during the Crisis, because she didn't exist in the comics until now. Her whole "death during the Crisis" thing has been retconned so that, as far as the characters themselves know, it never happened. She's just now meeting her cousin Superman, and she's technically the second (or is it 3rd?) person to call herself Supergirl.

So throughout the 1990s, Supergirl was an artificial lifeform, or an artificial lifeform fused with a normal girl named Linda. Now, we're in cousin zone.

[Anthonynotes]

Okay, here's the thing. For the longest time, Supergirl wasn't Superman's cousin. Supergirl was an artificial lifeform called Matrix.

Basically, she comes from another dimension. In her dimension, 3 evil Kryptonians were arbitarily killing people left and right on Earth. Since Superman wasn't around, that world's Lex (or Alex) Luthor created an artifical lifeform called Matrix to protect them. Matrix, who also had shapeshifting powers, took on the form of a young woman. Hence, Supergirl. Stuff happened, and she ended up leaving her universe and joining Superman.

It was this Matrix-Supergirl who was there when Superman died.

Then one day, Matrix (in the form of Supergirl) saw a girl named Linda Danvers dieing. Since Supergirl wasn't a real person, she fused with the near-death Linda so that they'd become one person, and Linda would live. Linda's conciousness took over, and suddenly this normal, everyday girl found out she could shape-shift into Supergirl. Linda decided to start wearing a new costume, which is the one from the animated series.

Then stuff happened, and Linda retired from fighting evil/crime.

Now here's why I hate The Crisis...

Just a few months ago, Superman found Kara Zor-El, his cousin and the classic Supergirl we all know and love. But there's one problem. Nobody ever remembers Kara being Supergirl. Nope. No one. It turns out that Kara never died during the Crisis, because she didn't exist in the comics until now. Her whole "death during the Crisis" thing has been retconned so that, as far as the characters themselves know, it never happened. She's just now meeting her cousin Superman, and she's technically the second (or is it 3rd?) person to call herself Supergirl.

So throughout the 1990s, Supergirl was an artificial lifeform, or an artificial lifeform fused with a normal girl named Linda. Now, we're in cousin zone.


Guess I'll add that the "Matrix" stuff came in the late 80's, several years after the original Supergirl (Kara Zor-El, Superman's cousin) died in "Crisis" and was retconned out of existence. Hence, when Supes met "Matrix," he was surprised, since as far as he was concerned, he'd never met a Supergirl before (nor had anyone else in the post-Crisis DCU).

As for Power Girl:

Pre-Crisis, she was the Earth-Two version of Supergirl----"Kara Zor-L," also from Krypton and the cousin of her world's Superman. It turned out her rocket ship took 60 years to get to Earth, despite being launched at the same time as the Earth-Two Superman's ship (her ship was designed to slow her aging rate and give her the experiences of a Kryptonian's life). She eventually landed on Earth, gained superpowers, and became Power Girl (not wanting to call herself "Supergirl"---to make her different from her cousin, who she felt was being a bit too overbearing).

After Crisis, DC apparently decided to keep *one* Kara around in the form of Power Girl, but they gave her a different origin---she learned she "really" wasn't Kryptonian, but came from ancient Atlantis, and was sent into the future in her ship by a wizard there. (I know, being from Atlantis doesn't make sense to *me* either---you'd think she'd have Aquaman's powers---but DC at the time was on their "Supes has to be unique/the sole survivor and nothing else from Krypton showing up" kick...). While she had Superman-style powers, Kara wasn't really Kryptonian (the wizard IIRC had seen images of Supes from the future and decided to give Kara Superman-style powers/fool her into thinking she was Kryptonian or something).

Recent comics have apparently decided that Kara's origins are in question once again (such as showing her possibly being affected by kryptonite).

-B.

[Arkangel]

After Crisis, DC apparently decided to keep *one* Kara around in the form of Power Girl, but they gave her a different origin---she learned she "really" wasn't Kryptonian, but came from ancient Atlantis, and was sent into the future in her ship by a wizard there. (I know, being from Atlantis doesn't make sense to *me* either---you'd think she'd have Aquaman's powers---but DC at the time was on their "Supes has to be unique/the sole survivor and nothing else from Krypton showing up" kick...).
The reason she doesn't have Aquaman's powers is because ancient Atlantis wasn't underwater. As seen in early issues of Crisis on Infinite Earths, it resembled a Medievel village, nestled in a valley. It was ruled by Arion, lord of Atlantis, a sorcerer.

[RAINMAN]

How did the original supergirl died? And she must have the most confusions backstory of all comic heroes.:sad:

[Anthonynotes]

>>The reason she doesn't have Aquaman's powers is because ancient Atlantis wasn't underwater. As seen in early issues of Crisis on Infinite Earths, it resembled a Medievel village, nestled in a valley. It was ruled by Arion, lord of Atlantis, a sorcerer.<<

Ah, OK. Still think it's stupid to link her to Atlantis, though (why didn't they just say she came from a different planet [or even Daxam, with an anti-lead-weakness excuse reason tossed in] or something?)...


How did the original supergirl died? And she must have the most confusions backstory of all comic heroes.:sad:

Kara died during "Crisis On Infinite Earths" protecting Superman from being killed by a weapon of the Anti-Monitor's.

[Jack Frenzy]

Ah, OK. Still think it's stupid to link her to Atlantis, though (why didn't they just say she came from a different planet [or even Daxam, with an anti-lead-weakness excuse reason tossed in] or something?)...

My guess is that Paul Kupperberg, who had written the 1980's, The New Adventures of Supergirl, series was tapped to write the new Power Girl origin in Secret Origins.

Paul Kupperberg had also been the writer of the 1980's mystical fantasy comic, Arion, Lord of Atlantis, which had tanked around the time of Crisis.

(Notably, Arion makes a quick publicity appearance at the start of Crisis, a crossover with his final -- and, I believe, ultimately unfinished -- story arc.)

I think Kupperberg wanted to show what finally happened to his Arion characters, so he used Power Girl's origin to tell the tale of their last days. Hence, she becomes his granddaughter.

He probably got away with it because in the Crisis era, tying together loose ends (such as Power Girl and Arion) was seen as building continuity.

[Somejerk]

what about the black haired supergirl that popped up a few months ago?

I didnt collect superman but I bought that 25 cent adventure.

Anyoneknow what happened to her?