Accessory - Dragon Magazine #111.pdf - Index of

Was Supergirl the most powerful female in the DC Universe? secret weapon against crime. Doubtlessly influenced by the other
Well, she could cruise to Alpha Centauri in an hour, or circle the “double-L" names of the women in his life, Superman gave Kara
world dozens of times a second. She could take a simultaneous hit the name of Linda Lee. He then placed her in Midvale, a town
from every nuclear weapon on planet Earth and fly away halfway between Smallville and Metropolis, in the Midvale
unscathed. Supergirl once kicked the Moon out of its orbit; if Orphanage. Supergirl’s career began in secret, a heroine unknown
really pressed, she could have kicked the Moon out of the Solar to the world.
System. She could live without food, water, or air, and was
immune to virtually every man-made toxin. Supergirl could punch
In the 30th Century
through the Empire State Building, battle a hurricane with her During this period of secrecy, Supergirl was visited by time trav-
Super Breath, and weld together an aircraft carrier from several elers, members of the Legion of Superheroes. The Legionnaires
thousand miles away. As for her mental abilities . . . in about the offered Supergirl a special membership, one which would allow
time you and I would spend reading this paragraph, Supergirl her to continue her life in the 20th century. Eager to be the hero
could, at peak efficiency, memorize every single volume in the Superman was, Kara accepted.
Library of Congress. Supergirl failed in her first attempt to join the Legion. Red
While other DC characters, such as Harbinger in the Crisis On Kryptonite, a rare mineral causing bizarre changes in
Infinite Earths, have had incredible powers, these powers are only Kryptonians, changed Supergirl from a girl of 15 into a woman of
used for a limited number of adventures. The character is then
“downgunned.” I have found the most consistently powerful
female in the DC Universe to have been Supergirl.
Beginnings
Supergirl’s real name was Kara Zor-el, the daughter of Zor-el and
Alura, who lived in Argo City. Argo City was the last surviving
settlement of Krypton. Kara’s parents discovered that Argo City
was as doomed as Krypton before it. Following the plan of Zor-el’s
brother Jor-el, they built a rocketship for the young Kara and sent
it into space. Zor-el knew that Jor-el’s son had been rocketed to
Earth and had grown into Superman. So, Kara’s parents put her in
a suit resembling Superman’s costume in the hopes that Superman
would find and care for the girl. Zor-el’s planning paid off.
Superman decided to hide the 15-year-old girl, saving her as a
considerably greater age. The Legion had an age limit of 18, so she
had to cool her invulnerable heels in the 20th century until the
next test.
At the next session, she and Brainiac 5 were admitted as members.
Brainiac 5 and Supergirl began a relationship which continually
fluxed between friendship and serious romance. The one
constant in their relationship was that it was more important to
Brainiac 5 than to Supergirl.
Supergirl eventually resigned from active membership in the
Legion of Superheroes. She continued to be available for emer-
gency duty, but her appearances with the Legion became quite
infrequent.
Saturn Girl implanted a post-hypnotic command in Supergirl in
order to avoid complications arising from Supergirl having knowl-
edge of the 30th century. The command made Supergirl forget the
information she had learned of her own future and of the future
of Metropolis. She would return from Legion adventures and live
a normal life in the 20th century.
The 20th Century
Supergirl’s arch-foe.
During this time, Fred Danvers became the head of a S.T.A.R.
After a short period in the Midvale Orphanage, Linda Lee was
adopted by Fred and Edna Danvers.
Linda Lee Danvers wore a brunette wig to disguise her blonde
hair. Fashioning herself after Superman’s Clark Kent, Linda wore
glasses. Linda Lee was meeker than Supergirl, but she was rarely
had the cowardly reactions which seemed to be Clark Kent’s stock
in trade. Linda Danvers molded only minimal portions of her
Supergirl personality. If adopting a “Linda” attitude differing from
Kara’s would protect the Supergirl identity, the attitude was
adopted. Otherwise, Kara and Linda were quite similar, in contrast
to the Batman/Bruce Wayne or Superman/Clark Kent identities.
After proving that she could be both Supergirl and Linda Lee
Danvers, Supergirl announced her secret identity to her foster
parents. Superman then announced the existence of Supergirl on
world-wide television.
Linda Danvers became a student at Midvale High School. Dick
Malverne, who had met Linda when the two of them were in the
orphanage, was Linda’s best friend. The couple had a steady, if not
sizzling, romance. Linda also befriended the sister of Lex Luthor,
Lena Thorul.
Supergirl moved around quite a bit, changing her base of opera-
tions as frequently as she changed costumes. She left Midvale High
School before graduating, taking several classes at Stanhope Cole
lege. She returned to Midvale to take a position as a counselor at
the New Athens Experimental College. The Enchantress also happened
to have a position at New Athens (see below). The Enchant-
ress was not always a villain. She tried to gain unlimited power
and eliminate evil from the Earth, but absorbing such power
would have destroyed the physical laws under which the world
Labs research facility, and Linda had the misfortune to keep fall-
ing in love with men who were the secret alter-egos of supervillains.
Generally, Kara was the one who broke off these
relationships, usually by physically breaking up the bad guy.
Supergirl soon moved to New York to take the choice role of
“Margo Hatton” in the hit soap opera, “Secret Hearts.” Her
acquaintances included Lena Colby (nee Thorul, who had moved
to New York from Stanhope), her producer Alan Ward, writer
Greg Gilbert, actors Hal Kyle and Cindy Walter, and Jeremy Kane,
the show’s director. Linda Danver’s life in Greenwich Village soon
became as convoluted as the scripts from her show. If a relationship
could be misunderstood, it was; dark pasts and shady motivations
touched everyone. Additionally, Kara discovered New York
was positively crawling with heroes and villains. These social
complications may have prompted her to make her next move.
She wanted to go somewhere where she was unique and a little
less harried.
Supergirl returned to Midvale and finally graduated from high
school. After a stint in San Francisco and SFTV, she enrolled at
Lake Shore University in Chicago. As Chicago’s only superhero,
she had her hands full with villains who had come to treat the
Windy City as their private game reserve. The Council was a constant
problem, causing troubles ranging from robot attacks on
O’Hare Airport to creating minature duplicates of Supergirl.
As Linda Danvers, Kara worked for a man who was the operational
definition of disorganization: Dr. Metzner. She also became
romantically involved with another mysterious man, Phillip
Decker, and weathered the return of Dick Malverne. Then came
the red rains and the storms of the Crisis On Infinite Earths.
operated. In order to prevent this, Supergirl kicked the Moon out
of its orbit so that the celestial objects would not have their
proper alignment. Thwarted in her attempt to become the ultimate
hero, the Enchantress turned to evil and became
Crisis On Infinite Earths
To be brief, the Monitor wanted the positive-matter universe to
survive, and the Anti-Monitor wished to destroy it. The Monitor
D RAGON 85