“For you-- And I don't say this to hurt you-- for you, Krypton is theoretical and Earth is your home. You forget, cousin, that technically, I am older than you. I grew up on Krypton.”
―Supergirl to Superman
Supergirl (real name Kara Zor-El, also known as Kara Danvers) is a major protagonist in the DC Comics. She is the main protagonist of the series, Supergirl and a major protagonist in the Superman franchise. She is the cousin and female counterpart of Superman, the occasional crime fighting partner of Barbara Gordon and the best friend of Stephanie Brown. Like her cousin, she was sent to the planet Earth from their dying homeworld, Krypton, making her the last surviving member of the Kryptonian race from the original planet.
Kara Zor-El was born on the planet Krypton, a dying planet, to Alura In-Ze and Zor-El. She and her cousin, Kal-El were sent to Earth, unfortunately, her pod was knocked off course and stranded in an asteroid field, where Kara was sent into suspended animation for decades. Eventually, her pod reached Earth and she was going by her cousin, now a grownup. However, Kara was still a teenager when she arrived. In the original comics, Kara was taken in by Wonder Woman's mother, Hippolyta, who considered her honorary Amazon and a third daughter.
New Earth[]
Prime Earth[]
Powers and Abilities[]
Krypton Physiology[]
Superhuman Strength: When exposed to the light of yellow star Kara possesses tremendous superhuman strength, allowing her to carry more than a million tons and create shockwaves with her strikes.
Superhuman Speed: Kara can run and fly at speeds faster than military aircraft. She can move, think and react fast enough to almost match speedsters such as the Flash, who can move faster than humans can even perceive. Superman generally uses his super speed while flying.
Nigh-Invulnerability: Kara' bodies are nearly invulnerable, with missiles, explosions and bullets being unable to so much as break her skin. She can also survive unharmed in environments of intense temperatures, exposure to harmful chemicals or even the vacuum of space. However, beings who are more powerful can break though her extremely advanced durability.
Superhuman Stamina: Under a yellow sun, Kara has vastly increased stamina, giving her the ability to perform superhuman feats for extended periods of time and rarely having to sleep.
Regenerative Healing Factor: Kara is capable of recovering from non-fatal wounds at an accelerated rate. This is further enhanced when under direct sunlight, whereby she can heal all non-fatal wounds instantaneously. Even if fatally injured, a Kryptonian's cells are incapable of decay after clinical death, causing her bodies to be naturally preserved.
Super Vision: She also possesses a superior sensory arrangement of microscopic, telescopic, infrared and ultraviolet visual capabilities.
Telescopic Vision: Kara has the ability to focus her vision to see something at a great distance, without violating the laws of physics.
Microscopic Vision: The ability to see extremely small objects and images down to the sub-atomic level.
X-Ray Vision: Kara can see through almost anything, able to focus her vision past layers of matter, literally seeing "through" her. Because of this ability, Kara possesses a sight unparalleled by any other species, possibly perceiving x-rays, cosmic rays, or other forms of energy invisible on the spectrum of light which passes through Earth's atmosphere (and solid objects) after emission from stars. The only substance she cannot see through is lead.
Heat Vision: Kara has the ability to generate and project extremely high radiation or fiery beams of intense heat energy from the eyes. Visually, the power is typically depicted as two beams of fiery energy being shot from her eyes. These beams form can melt through solid metal and even destroy entire buildings with explosive force. However, prologued use of this power can lead to pain in her eyes though she can quickly recover.
Flight: When Kara not under the effects of a yellow star, Kara can manipulate the gravitational field within inches of her bodies such a degree that she can fly at supersonic speeds in any direction. Kara can only use this ability, however, when on planets with weaker gravity settings compared to that of Krypton. Due to Krypton's immensely powerful gravity, Kara isn't able to fly on her homeworld.
Superhuman Hearing: Due to her exposure to solar radiation, Kara has developed Incredible hearing, allowing her to hear extreme variances of sounds and frequencies, thus allowing her to pick up noises from across the globe. She has shown enough control to block out ambient sounds to focus on a specific source or frequency.
Super-Breath: Kara' capable of surviving without air far longer than humans, allowing her to hold her breath for lengthy periods of time without adverse effects. This includes the vacuum of space, where she can resist the intense cold without freezing.
Weaknesses[]
Kryptonian Physiology: Under the effects of a "yellow" sun, Kara possesses the same potential weaknesses as an average Kryptonian. These include:
Magic: Kara's powers are derived from natural/scientific physiology. This makes her vulnerable to magic based attacks and weaponry as humans. Even if solar powered and invulnerable, magic weapons can pierce her flesh and kill her.
Lead: While lead possesses no physical threat to Kara, it is the only known material for which her x-ray vision cannot penetrate. Ironically, it can also shield her from the particular radiation emitted by Kryptonite.
Red solar radiation: If exposed to the radiation of a red sun or a red solar cell, Kara loses all of her powers and is brought down to being a normal human.
Vulnerability to Sensory Overload: Supergirl's sensitive sense can be overpowered, such as when Lobo tossed a sonic grenade under her feet and knocked her unconscious.-
Solar Energy Dependency
Adaptations[]
Portrayals[]
Live-action[]
In live-action, Helen Slater portrayed the character in the 1984 film Supergirl 1984 and Laura Vandervoort in Smallville.
Arrowverse[]
The character was featured in the Arrowverse, where she was portrayed by Melissa Benoist. Her younger self was portrayed by Malina Weissman in the first two seasons, who also portrayed Violet Baudelaire in A Series of Unfortunate Events and Young April O'Neil from the live-action TMNT film series. In subsequent seasons, Izabela Vidovic took over the role as young Kara.
DC Extended Universe[]
Another version of the character will be portrayed by Sasha Calle in the DC Extended Universe.
Animation[]
In DC Super Best Friends & DC Super Hero Girls (2019), she was voiced by Nicole Sullivan, who also voiced Shego from Kim Possible and Marlene from The Penguins of Madagascar. Anais Fairweather voiced her in the original run of the show.
Joanne Spracklen voices the character in Justice League Action.
In Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, she is voiced by Summer Glau, who also had a role in the Arrowverse like Benoist, where she portrayed Isabel Rochev.
In Superman: Unbound, Kara is voiced by Molly Quinn, who portrayed Alexis Castle in Castle.
In the Tomorrowverse film, Legion of Super-Heroes, Meg Donnelly voiced the character, who also portrayed Addison Wells in the Zombies franchise.
In My Adventures with Superman Kara is voiced by Kiana Madeira
Trivia[]
While blue solar energy strengthens Superman, it presumably does the same to Kara. However, in the Arrowverse, it weakens Kara and blue suns can kill any living beings carrying a Y chromosome.
Kryptonite (Red • Silver • Blue • Black) • Toyman's inventions • Vigilante Suits • Oliver Queen's Bows • Phantom Zone Projector • Glasses • Legionnaire Rings • Yellow sun grenade • Myriad, Jarhanpurium, • Lexosuit • Book of Destiny • Book Of Ra • Staff of H'ronmeer • Sword of Juru • Antimatter • AllStone Totems
Species
Kryptonians • Metahumans • White Martians • Saturnians • Amazonians • Daxamite • Green Martians
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