If you only know Supergirl from secondhand info or the CW show, then you probably think she’s just a female version of Superman, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Kara Zor-El may share the same powers as Superman, but through and through she is her own character that very firmly distances herself from the Man of Steel. Many people were thrown off by Supergirl’s brief cameo in James Gunn’s Superman, however, her messy, party girl attitude is actually not out of character for her, and perfectly captures the way Tom King wrote her in his critically acclaimed Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, which is the comic Supergirl’s upcoming movie is based on. With that in mind, there’s no better time to dig into who Supergirl is as a character, and how she’s so different from Superman.
Supergirl Is a Survivor
The biggest difference between Superman and Supergirl is that while he was launched from Krypton as a baby, Kara grew up on the planet. She was a teenager when she watched her world fall apart around her, saw neighbors and loved ones be swallowed by the earthquakes and explosions. The ruling Science Council refused to acknowledge the dangers the planet faced, so bit by bit Krypton fell apart, and nobody did anything to save it. Kara’s father refused to accept that, and by the time Krypton exploded, he managed to build a barrier around Argo City to protect it from the explosion. The city was launched into the depths of space, and the scant remnants of Krypton’s population thought they were safe, but more tragedy was to follow. The ground beneath their feet turned to Kryptonite, the radiation killing even more of them. They managed to cover the ground with a protective layer of lead, but even that soon failed because of a meteor storm. With no way left to stop the radiation, Kara’s father used the last of their resources to build a ship to ferry her to safety, and she became the sole survivor of the final city of Krypton. She lost her world twice. The day Krypton exploded, and then when she was forced to leave her family behind to die.
Clark grew up on Earth and didn’t learn about the tragedy of his origin until much later. This isn’t to say that Clark didn’t face challenges or sadness, but Kara lived through a planetary destruction and watched the final hope of her people shrivel away. With all of that pain and trauma, it only makes sense that she is far more damaged than her cousin. Supergirl is a symbol of hope, of always standing up and doing the right thing, but while Clark stands for that because of his ideals, Kara stands for it because of the grief that clings to her. She mourns her people and home every day, and yet she still chooses to fight for Earth and all the innocents of the universe. She knows the pain of loss more deeply than anyone, and she chooses to spread kindness in spite of every reason she’s been given to hate, and that is exactly what Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow focuses on.
Supergirl’s Revenge Odyssey
The story of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow starts with Supergirl going to a planet with a red sun and getting drunk to celebrate her birthday. However, tragedy strikes when a young girl named Ruthye’s father is killed by Krem of the Yellow Hills, a member of an intergalactic group of brigands that lay waste to entire planets. In his escape, Krem shoots the depowered Krypto with a poisoned arrow, and Ruthye asks Supergirl to bring her to Krem so she may kill him and get revenge. Supergirl agrees to guide the girl to him, and the two take a journey across the universe to track down Krem. Their vengeful adventure takes them across planets that have been devastated by Krem and his army, and along the way as Supergirl gets angrier and angrier, Ruthye learns more about her.
Ruthye sees Supergirl track Krem and his brigands across world after devastated world, and at every turn, Supergirl chooses to be kind. She would listen to a bedridden old man and help feed him. She fought a monster about to consume a ship even before she got her powers back. She went on this whole journey with Ruthye, saying she would help her kill Krem, just to show the young woman that revenge wasn’t the way, to teach her how to let go of her hate. And then Ruthye pulled Supergirl back from killing Krem, telling her she proved there is still goodness in the universe. Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow is a story of a universe that tells you every day how cruel and uncaring it is, and yet how much kindness there is all the same. As Ruthye says, Supergirl is a raging storm. Superman speeds up and roars fire from his eyes when he has to fight, he changes himself to do that, but Supergirl is the opposite, needing to slow herself down and cool her fury to live normally.
Kara Zor-El is a messy, living storm of trauma and pain, yet every day she stands up for what’s right. She carries a planet’s worth of grief, but she chooses to be an inspiration. Clark is idealistic because he’s always seen hope, but Kara has lived in the darkness and chooses hope. She is a fantastic character who is very different from Superman, and that’s not a bad thing. I am more than excited to see her headline her own movie, especially if it’s based on such a fantastic story.
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