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KRYPTONSITE
COLUMNS: THE MANY FACES OF...
The
Many Faces Of... Supergirl! Column
by Russ Dimino
Here's
a little pop quiz for you. Name a superhero who defends
Metropolis while wearing red and blue tights, leaps tall
buildings in a single bound, outraces trains, planes and
bullets, and possesses amazing powers like heat vision,
freeze breath and invulnerability. Oh, and did we mention
that she's a girl? If you thought that Superman was the
sole survivor of the planet Krypton, you missed a branch
on the family tree. He has a cousin, known to the world
as Supergirl!
Superman's Kryptonian cousin, Kara Zor-El, first appeared
in Action Comics #252 in May of 1959. She was the
daughter of Zor-El (Jor-El's brother) and Alura. Apparently,
a group of Kryptonians had survived the destruction of
their planet, and had been floating around through space
on a chunk of it known as Argo City. However, a hailstorm
of meteors destroyed the lead shielding that was protecting
Argo from kryptonite radiation, and, much as Jor-El had
sent baby Kal-El to Earth to save his life, Zor-El followed
suit and rocketed his teenage daughter off to Earth as
well.
Upon arriving on Earth and meeting Superman, Kara's cousin
helped her establish a secret identity. By covering her
blonde hair with a brunette wig (hey, it beats a pair
of glasses), Kara would become Linda Lee, who took up
residence at the Midvale Orphanage. In many of the early
stories, Superman encouraged Kara to keep her existence
as Supergirl a secret until she learned to use her powers
responsibly.
In
1984, Supergirl appeared on the big screen in a live-action
movie of her very own. Produced by Alexander and Ilya
Salkind, the producers of the Christopher Reeve "Superman"
films, "Supergirl" starred newcomer Helen Slater
in the title role. The film also starred Faye Dunaway
as Selena, a witch with dreams of world domination, Peter
Cook as her companion Nigel, and Peter O'Toole as Kara's
Kryptonian mentor, Zaltar. The movie was directed by Jeannot
Szwarc, who would go on to direct several episodes of
Smallville some 20 years later (most notably the
fourth season episode "Spell," which also dealt
with witchcraft)!
Supergirl was intended as a direct tie-in to the
Christopher Reeve movies, with hopes that Reeve would
make an appearance in the film as Superman. He ultimately
chose not to be involved, and Superman appears in the
movie only on a dorm room poster. The film does tie into
the franchise in other ways, however. Marc McClure reprises
his role as Jimmy Olsen, and Lois Lane's sister Lucy is
introduced, who makes numerous references to Lois, Clark
Kent, and the Daily Planet. Also noteworthy - the film
provided fans with their first view inside The Phantom
Zone. In "Superman" and "Superman II,"
the Zone had been portrayed simply as a spinning pane
of glass... Supergirl revealed the inside of the
Zone to be a kind of volatile desert. A similar portrayal
was featured in the sixth season of Smallville.
It was hoped that the movie would launch a series
of Supergirl films. It didn't. The movie was met
with less than stellar reactions from both fans
and critics, mainly due to some campy performances
from Faye Dunaway and Peter Cook, and the more
fantastical elements of the witchcraft subplot.
Slater's performance as Supergirl, though, was
highly praised, having played the character with
a sense of innocence and wonder. In fact, Supergirl
earned Slater a Saturn Award nomination for
Best Actress in 1985.
Since
then, Slater has tangled with another caped crusader...
she provided the voice of Talia, Ra's Al Ghul's
daughter, on "Batman The Animated Series."
More recently, she has been seen in episodes of
"Crossing Jordan," "The New Adventures
of Old Christine" and "Grey's Anatomy."
She will soon return to the Superman mythology
once again, as she is slated to appear on Smallville
as Clark's birth mother, Lara, in season seven.
Supergirl
would not return to the screen until 1998, when the character
appeared on "Superman: The Animated Series."
Her voice was provided by Nicholle Tom, best known as
Maggie Sheffield on "The Nanny" and Ryce Newton
in the first two "Beethoven" movies.
The creators of the animated series wanted to keep the
emphasis on Superman being the last of his kind. As such,
in this version, Supergirl was not actually from Krypton!
Instead, Kara In-Ze (not Kara Zor-El) was from Krypton's
"sister planet," Argo, named after the floating
city from the original comics. Though the two were not
actually biologically related, while on Earth Kara posed
as Clark Kent's cousin.
In a special feature on the Superman:
The Animated Series Volume 3 DVD set, series writer/producer
Bruce Timm revealed that it was planned to have Kara eventually
develop some powers that were different from Superman's,
since they were from different planets. This never happened,
simply because they never got around to it. Though Superman
was more powerful than Supergirl, the two had all the
same powers.
This
version of Supergirl traded in her traditional costume
for some different threads, though... the animated Supergirl
sported a white baby tee with the "S" logo on
it and a short blue skirt. This look was eventually adopted
by the comics as well, temporarily.
In 2004, Cartoon Network launched "Justice League
Unlimited," a new incarnation of its previous "Justice
League" series. This time, more than 60 heroes had
joined up with the League, and Supergirl was among them.
Appearing in the series' first episode, "Initiation,"
Nicholle Tom reprised the role of the Girl of Steel.
Supergirl would become a prominent character in the "JLU"
series. In one story arc, a shadowy government organization
known as Cadmus attempts to take down the League. One
aspect of their plot involves cloning an adult version
of Supergirl. The clone, calling herself Galatea, leads
an invasion of the League's Watchtower. Galatea is also
voiced by Nicholle Tom.
In one of the later episodes, Supergirl finally updates
her threads... in the episode "Chaos at the Earth's
Core," she dons a new costume that is more reminiscent
of the traditional Supergirl outfit (it is also similar
to the current version of the costume in the comics, designed
by artist Michael Turner).
Smallville
gave fans a tease of Supergirl at the end of its third
season, with the episode "Covenant."
In that episode, a mysterious blonde girl named Kara arrives
in Smallville, with powers similar to Clark's. She claims
to be from Krypton, and tells him that it is his destiny
to return to Jor-El through the caves beneath the town.
There is no mention of the two being cousins here... in
fact, Kara implies that she and Clark are meant to procreate
to carry on the Kryptonian legacy.
In the end, "Kara" is revealed to be a girl
named Lindsey Harrison who was caught in the Smallville
meteor shower, and is under Jor-El's control. At the episode's
end, she is apparently killed. Kara/Lindsey is played
here by Adrianne Palicki.
With
the debut of the seventh season of "Smallville,"
the series promises to finally deliver their version of
Supergirl. Actress Laura Vandervoort will play the role
of Clark Kent's Kryptonian cousin. Sent to Earth at the
same time as baby Kal-El, Kara has been in a state of
suspended animation ever since her arrival, and awakens
to find that her "little" cousin is now older
than she is. Now, Clark finds himself in the position
of mentor to his cousin, trying to help her adapt to life
on Earth and her newfound abilities! Laura Vandervoort's
previous acting credits include "CSI", "Falcon
Beach" and "Instant Star." She also appeared
in an early episode of the series "Mutant X,"
which starred "Lois and Clark"'s Lex Luthor,
John Shea.
Though Superman has always been surrounded by close friends
like Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen, he has also always been
something of an outsider. An orphan from a dead world,
he would never know Krypton or his birth parents. With
the arrival of his cousin, Kara, that changed. Now, Superman
had a living connection to his family and his home planet,
and someone who could truly relate to him. It also cast
him in a new role - that of a "big brother"
figure. He had several advantages that Kara did not have...
growing up on Earth all his life, he was able to adapt
to his powers gradually as they emerged. He also had the
benefit of being raised by Jonathan and Martha Kent, who
taught him much about life. Kara, on the other hand, landed
on Earth as a teenager, and was thrust into a new world
with amazing new abilities that she was not used to. From
Clark, she would learn patience, understanding and control.
From Kara, Clark would learn a new definition of family,
as he got to pass on the wisdom and love that Jonathan
and Martha had shown to him.
Note:
The views of Russ Dimino don't necessarily represent the
thoughts and feelings of everyone at KryptonSite.
The
Many Faces Of... Supergirl!
This
version of Supergirl traded in her traditional costume
for some different threads, though... the animated Supergirl
sported a white baby tee with the "S" logo on
it and a short blue skirt. This look was eventually adopted
by the comics as well, temporarily.
