Everything Fans Need To Know

Summary

• Supergirl’s debut in 1959 marked the beginning of her career as one of DC’s most underrated heroes, sharing Superman’s powers and costume.
• Her first appearance in “Action Comics” #252 introduced her as Kara Zor-El, cousin to Superman, and set up intrigue around her true intentions.
• Supergirl’s character has evolved over the years, gaining more story potential and complexity, with her origin adjusted to reflect her experiences on Krypton.

The comic book debut of Supergirl deserves a deep dive. In 65 years, the Supergirl mythos has become as rich as that of her cousin’s, with the character’s popularity currently at an all-time high. DC Comics treats the character with enough respect to canonize that she’s even stronger than Superman, solidifying her as DC’s most overlooked character.

But to truly understand just how her popularity grew so vast over the years, one must analyze her original debut appearance in the DC Universe. Tracing the beginnings of Supergirl’s history will help audiences better understand how far she has come, and how the identity and nature of Kara Zor-El has evolved over the course of six decades.

Supergirl’s First Comic: ‘Action Comics’ #252 (1959)

“The Supergirl From Krypton!” by Otto Binder and Al Plastino

Knowing just how far ‘the female version of Superman’ has come to the modern day, the first appearance of Supergirl is inevtiably going to feel historic in retrospect. But even at the time of release, DC Comics wanted to make sure readers understood the debut of Supergirl should be viewed as a big deal. That fact is evident as the main selling point of the issue, as before readers even turn the page or pick up a copy, they see her front and center on the cover of Action Comics #252.

DC sets up intrigue immediately (“Great guns!”) not only by featuring her on the cover, but by making it clear that she not only shares Superman’s costumes: she shares all his powers. Donning the Man of Steel’s already-famous colors and establishing that she, too, is from Krypton, should have made it obvious to readers that she was an ally, but posing the question, “Is she friend or foe?” nonetheless offers another layer of intrigue. At this point, Superman had debuted 21 years beforehand, so his place as a pop culture iconc was well-established. Thus the prospect of a genderbent equivalent made for a fresh, fascinating proposition.

This comic not only marks the debut of Supergirl, but also the debut of a staple of the Superman Family’s rogues gallery, Metallo, in the issue’s other story “The Menace of Metallo” by Robert Bernstein and Al Plastino.

What Happened in Supergirl’s First Story?

The Original Origin Story of Kara Zor-El, Survivor of Krypton

In “The Supergirl from Krypton!” Clark Kent is picks up the far-off sound of a rocket ship crash-landing in the distance. He investigates the crash to find Kara Zor-El, claiming to be a Kryptonian survivor, and already sporting a replica of his Superman attire. Understandably, Superman is confused, so Supergirl proceeds to explain. In the destruction of their homeworld, miraculously, a large chunk of the planet Krypton remained intact, along with its streets and citizens. Among its survivors was a scientist named Zor-El.

In the coming years, Zor-El would use his second chance at life to father a child with his wife, naming her Kara. When kryptonite meteor strikes doomed this city of survivors, the scientist Zor-El built a rocket ship of his own to save his daughter Kara’s life. When looking for potential worlds where Kara could land, he discovers Earth and Superman’s impact upon it, discovering that Earth’s gravity would give Kryptonians superpowers. From there, Kara’s mother models a variation on Superman’s suit for her daughter to wear, sending her off to Earth.

Obviously Superman is stunned to be loaded with all of this information at once, but more than anything, he’s relieved to learn that he’s not the only Kryptonian anymore: he has a cousin. Explaining his own Kryptonian family history to Kara, the pair discover their fathers were brothers, making them cousins from the very start. To Kal-El’s dismay, though, he can’t allow his new relative to live with him, as it would jeopardize his secret identity. To compensate, he promises to train Supergirl on how to be a proper superhero, while helping her construct a secret identity for herself. For now, at issue’s end, Kara will be “Linda Lee,” a young resident of the Midvale Orphanage.

What Has Changed Since Supergirl’s Debut?

Kara has been given more story potential than Superman, not less

Since Supergirl first debuted, her character has evolved as often as her costumes, first emerging into Superman’s world as a peppy, enthusiastic, and incredibly optimistic teenager. While she retained much of that same optimism through the ensuing decades frozen as an early-twentysomething, more recent years have seen Supergirl mature as a result of experiences endured. She lacks the naivety she once had as a teenage girl, and expresses a newfound grit and awareness as an adult.

Kara’s classic backstory as depicted in her debut has been adjusted, for obvious reasons. While DC’s commitment to Argo City has wavered over the years, the popularization of time dilation allowed for a more compelling twist on the origin story. Instead of a young girl growing up to admire Superman, Kara was Kal-El’s older cousin, frozen in transit while he aged to adulthood on Earth. The result is similar, but primes Kara for internal drama, as much as external adventures.

In the modern DC world, Kara has amalgamated many of the strongest aspects of the different versions of Supergirl. This is no more evident than in the already classic Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, depicting a Last Daughter of Krypton who has suffered the pain of losing people, and especially losing her people from Krypton, but she remains tough as nails, empathetic, and optimistic (inspiringly so) despite everything.

The Forgotten Super-Girl, Who Was Technically The First

Superman #123 by Otto Binder, Dick Sprang, and Stan Kaye

While Kara Zor-El does make her DC Comics debut in Action Comics #252, it’s worth mentioning as a special bonus that there is an oft-forgotten Supergirl that pre-dates Supergirl by about a year. In 1958, one year before Kara’s debut, Super-Girl (not to be confused with Supergirl) makes her first and only appearance in Superman #123. This version is not Kryptonian, nor is she of true flesh and blood.

Instead, she is a work of the imagination of Jimmy Olsen, who wishes her into existence. After stumbling upon a magical totem, he’s granted three wishes. The first is to give his best friend, Superman, his own Super-Girl. The final product is extremely reminiscent of Kara’s final design that winds up in Action Comics #252. Jimmy hopes that Super-Girl would make the perfect sidekick, but her horrible timing manages to cause Supes more trouble than good. A brush with Kryptonite proves to be the end of her, as Jimmy wishes her out of existence to end her pain.

Supergirl, as a name, has become nearly as coveted, celebrated, and prestigious as that of her cousin. As a character, Kara has evolved in ways that are both drastic and subtle, but at her core in today’s current comics, Supergirl remains an all-powerful hero who maintains the purity that makes her heroic. She reflects every characteristic that makes Superman work as a character, with an added complexity based on her experiences on Krypton that makes Supergirl all the more intriguing.