Many of you know the story of how baby Kal-El came to Earth from Krypton to become Superman, but what about his cousin Kara Zor-El? Like Superman, Supergirl came to Earth from Krypton. Or was it from a floating colony called Argo City? Is she Kal-El’s younger cousin, or did she hold him as a baby? The story of Supergirl’s origin has fluctuated over the years and with Milly Alcock now poised to bring us a new version of the character, it’s the perfect time to take a deep dive into her origin’s evolution.
1959 – Action Comics #252
Kara made her first appearance in 1959’s Action Comics #252. When Superman investigates a crashed rocket, a teenage girl wearing a similar outfit to his emerges and introduces herself as Kara Zor-El from Krypton.
Kara explains that when Krypton exploded, a piece of the planet survived and a group of Kryptonian refugees were able to build a stable environment. Kara was born in this colony years later, which explains how she could be Kryptonian despite being younger than Superman. According to Kara, her father used lead to protect the colony from Kryptonite poisoning, but when a meteor shower shattered the sheet metal, the colony was doomed.
Kara was then sent to Earth, which her parents had seen using their telescope. They dressed her in a costume similar to Superman’s, believing it would help endear her to the fellow Kryptonian. Kara and Kal are initially unaware of their familial relationship until they compare family trees and realize that they’re cousins. Superman then places Kara in Midvale Orphanage under the name Linda Lee and tells her to keep her existence a secret for the time being.
The story is only eight pages long, but it laid the foundation for every version of Kara’s origin that’s come since. Some aspects haven’t aged well, like Superman sending Kara to the orphanage (something multiple retellings have pointed out). Argo City and Supergirl’s mother Alura are also unnamed, but future retellings would expand on the backstory and add these details.
1984 – Supergirl
Supergirl’s film debut opens with Argo City, a piece of Krypton that survived the destruction of the planet by placing itself in another dimension. Argo City is powered by a device called the Omegahedron, and when it’s accidentally sent to Earth, Kara (played by Helen Slater) steals a small pod to retrieve it. Her pod crashes into a lake, and Kara emerges in a full Supergirl costume.
Yeah, it’s weird, but it’s important to remember that this film is set in the same universe as the Christopher Reeve Superman films, where sometimes Kryptonian powers bordered on magic.
1995 – Superman/Aliens
After the reality altering events of Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC wanted to simplify Superman lore by making him the only surviving Kryptonian. This rule was relaxed over time, but for a while it meant there was no place for Kara Zor-El in the comics. However, several creators found loopholes that allowed them to use different versions of the character.
In the Superman/Aliens crossover comic, Clark receives a distress call from a space colony called Argo City, which he believes might be a piece of Krypton that survived the planet’s destruction. When Superman arrives on Argo, he meets a 16-year-old girl named Kara, whom he comes to regard as a surrogate little sister. Superman eventually learns that Kara isn’t a Kryptonian, and that her version of Argo City came from a planet that was inspired by Kryptonian culture.
1998 – Superman: The Animated Series
Supergirl was introduced on Superman: The Animated Series during a time when DC was still trying to limit the number of surviving Kryptonians. As a result, the version of Kara that we meet in season two’s “Little Girl Lost, Part 1” is named Kara In-Ze and is no longer Superman’s blood relative.
Instead of coming from Krypton, she’s from a planet called Argo, which is another world in Krypton’s solar system. Krypton’s destruction knocks Argo out of orbit, causing it to drift farther away from the sun and blanketing the planet in an eternal winter. Kara In-Ze and her family are placed in suspended animation while awaiting rescue, but Kara is the only survivor by the time Superman arrives. Clark then takes her back to Earth, where she becomes his adopted cousin in her human identity.
2004 – Superman/Batman #8-13, “The Supergirl from Krypton”
After years of introducing alternate Supergirls, DC finally brought the Kara Zor-El version of the character to modern continuity in 2004. The concept of Argo City surviving Krypton’s destruction is dropped (for now), with this version of Kara escaping Krypton’s destruction at the same time as Superman. Their age difference is explained by Kara being placed in suspended animation on her journey to Earth.
Most notably, this version of the origin introduces the concept of Kara being sent to Earth to look after baby Kal-El, an idea that has been used in many retellings since. Kara lands in Gotham City and emerges from her pod naked and disoriented. Batman finds her (after she’s found a modesty trenchcoat) and takes her to the Batcave, where she meets Superman and discovers he’s her long-lost cousin.
(Kara would struggle to regain her memories of Krypton for years, and she had a few brainwashed origins before learning the truth about her past in 2008’s Supergirl #35.)
2004 – Smallville
A young blonde woman arrives at the Kent farm in season three of the Superman prequel series, claiming to be Kara from Krypton. She tells Clark she’s there to help him fulfill his destiny and even alludes to creating a new generation of Kryptonians (this version never claimed to be his cousin, but still—yikes!). However, it turns out that this Kara is actually a human girl named Lindsay Harrison who had been brainwashed by Jor-El’s AI program, which means Clark was catfished by his own father. Once the ruse is revealed, Lindsay disappears (literally) and is never seen again.
Okay, yes, this is technically a fake-out origin. But Smallville would introduce the real Kara Zor-El eventually.
2007 – Smallville…for real this time
Smallville introduced the actual Kara a few years later in season seven. This version of the character was sent to Earth to watch over her baby cousin Kal-El. Although she landed in Smallville in 1989, her ship crashed into a reservoir and Kara remained in suspended animation for eighteen years. She awoke to find that Kal-El had already grown up without her. Kara, played by Laura Vandervoort, became a regular cast member for the season.
2011 – Supergirl #1
After the reality altering events of Flashpoint, Kara would get a new origin story for DC’s New 52. This time around, her ship crashes in Siberia and Kara emerges in a full Supergirl costume with no memory of the past few days. Other than that, it uses the basic beats from the 2004 origin, such as Kara being older than Kal-El and being placed in suspended animation. This version of Supergirl also gave Superman a hard time when he found her, as she didn’t believe he was who he said he was.
2015 – Supergirl
The 2015 Supergirl TV series also took its cues from Kara’s 2004 comic book origin. Supergirl is 13 years old when Krypton explodes, and she’s sent to Earth in order to look after her baby cousin Kal-El. Her ship takes a detour into the Phantom Zone, and when she arrives on Earth, she’s still 13, but Kal-El has already grown up to become Superman.
Unlike other versions of the character, Kara (played to perfection by Melissa Benoist) doesn’t become Supergirl until adulthood.
2021 – Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow
Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow features a flashback retelling Kara’s origin, with Tom King and Bilquis Evely drawing their inspiration from the character’s 1959 backstory. The concept of Argo as a floating city in a dome, the lead shielding and the radiation poisoning return, but they’re told through a more dramatic lens for 2021, showcasing just how horrifying Kara’s Silver Age origin truly is. We see Kara’s heartbreak as she’s forced to watch her mother die of radiation poisoning and the trauma of saying goodbye to her father as a rocket blasts her away from the only home she’s ever known.
2023 – The Flash
This version of Kara, played by Sasha Calle, was sent to Earth to protect her baby cousin Kal-El, but upon arriving, she was captured by Siberian mercenaries, who imprisoned her for years until she’s saved by Batman and two versions of the Flash. She then becomes Supergirl and helps the other heroes take on General Zod. However, this is all set in a corrupted version of the Earth’s timeline that’s created by Barry Allen messing with time travel. The film ends with the Flash fixing the timeline and it’s unknown what happens to Kara after that.
2024 – My Adventures with Superman
Kara is introduced in My Adventures with Superman’s second season (after a brief tease in season one), but with a twist. This version of Kara is the same age as Superman when Krypton explodes, and both of them are placed into their respective rockets as infants. Brainiac finds Kara, brainwashes her and uses her as his enforcer for a while. Superman is eventually able to help his cousin break free of Brainiac’s control, and she’s able to begin a new life on Earth as Supergirl.
2025 – The New History of the DC Universe
Barry Allen chronicles the history of the DC Universe, reconciling some of the contradictions between the Pre-Crisis, Post-Crisis and Post-Flashpoint timelines. The new version of Kara’s history mixes elements of her Silver Age origin with her Modern Age backstory.
Kara was sent to Earth as a teenager in order to protect her baby cousin Kal-El (keeping elements of the 2004 origin), but her ship gets stuck in a time warp and she doesn’t land on Earth until Kal-El is already grown. This version of the story places Kara’s arrival earlier in the timeline, giving her a history closer to her Pre-Crisis counterpart. Kara then dies in Crisis on Infinite Earths and is revived years later. The implication is that Superman/Batman #8-13 is rewritten to be a story about her revival.
As you can see Kara’s backstory has evolved over the years, and this doesn’t even cover Power Girl, Matrix, or the Post-Crisis version of Linda Danvers. It’s fun to see how Kara’s arrival on Earth has shifted over the years. Whether she was raised on Krypton or in a dome, whether she’s older than Superman or younger, it’s Supergirl’s world and we’re all living in it.
Supergirl, directed by Craig Gillespie and starring Milly Alcock and Jason Momoa, is in theaters July 26.
Joshua Lapin-Bertone writes about TV, movies and comics for DC.com, is a regular contributor to the Couch Club and writes our monthly Batman column, "Gotham Gazette." Follow him on Bluesky at @joshualapinbertone and on X at @TBUJosh.
NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Joshua Lapin-Bertone and do not necessarily reflect those of DC or Warner Bros. Discovery, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.
