DCU’s Supergirl: The Famous Kara Zor-El

Supergirl: A DCU Character

The character of Supergirl is not one unknown to many, I believe. Kara Zor-El (which is the name she was born with) started of as just being known as Superman’s younger niece; however, she made quite a name for herself, too. Being born on Krypton, but later coming to Earth and taking on the identity of Kara Danvers - becoming the protector of National City.

Supergirl: A History?

Normally, I might give you a full history on who Kara Danvers/Kara Zor-El/Supergirl is; but one, I believe most of you already know the basics of who Kara is in the DC Universe; and two, there is a lot to cover from a lot of different comics and shows - we would be sitting here for hours if we actually tried to cover it all. Let’s stick to the basics - the origins of Supergirl.

Supergirl: Origins

Right after birth in Argo City as the daughter of Zor-El and Alura In-Ze, Kara had her own naming ceremony - as they do on Krypton. That naming ceremony is where things already started going wrong. Kara had two uncles, Jor-El (Superman’s dad) and Kru-El. Kru-El was a bit cruel… (I wonder if that name was an accident or not…) As he wanted all power for himself. The plan to get that, fortunately, failed and he was put in the Phantom Zone. After that, it took a bit longer for issues to arrive in Kara’s life - she just grew up and became a great student with a specific interest in history.

It was only at the destruction of Krypton that Kara’s life became less great. Her father was a scientist and thus fairly good at keeping people alive - but the city was slowly dying. While Kara survived, many others did not. The city’s air bubble fell down and asteroids fell on Argo. Kara’s father built a singular rocket, which could transport only one person to another place. Kara was that one passenger. She was sent to Earth as the sole known survivor of the city of Argo - where she met up with her cousin, Superman, and quickly became Supergirl.

Supergirl’s Powers & Abilities

Most of Kara’s abilities are the same as any other Kryptonian in the DCU. Kara has solar energy absorption, heat vision, super-hearing, enhanced vision, flight, invulnerability, super-breath, and sound manipulation. Oh, and as a superhero she also has superhuman stamina, speed, strength, and agility. Yeah, it is safe to say that Kara can do a lot. However, she doesn’t just have superpowers. Supergirl also has quite some abilities to be used in battle and on missions. She is quite well trained in any form of combat (hand-to-hand, mostly) and has the rare ability of chi manipulation.

Supergirl’s Weaknesses

With that many powers and abilities, it only makes sense that Kara has some weaknesses as well. As a Kryptonian, she is vulnerable when coming near Kryptonite or magic. She is also someone who can easily be overpowered by a lot of senses as well as that she is rather dependant on the sunlight.

Supergirl: The DCU TV-Series

Supergirl is quite an important character in many of the DC media - comic books, movies, games, and so on. However, she also even got her own TV show! One in the Arrowverse of DC (which Arrow, Batwoman, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, and many more shows). Guess what it was called? Yes, Supergirl, of course.

Melisa Benoist as Supergirl

In this TV series, the role of Supergirl (usually referred to as Kara Danvers in this show) was given to Melisa Benoist, who did an excellent job in portraying Kara according to many of the fans. She appeared in almost every episodes (there are a few when the show focusses on a younger Kara, meaning that another actors portrayed this younger version) and is the main character, obviously.

Other Actors in Supergirl

The other two most important actors of the show were Chyler Leigh portraying Alex Danvers and David Harewood portraying J’onn J’onzz (Martian Manhunter). Then we also have some other noteworthy actors; Mehcad Brooks as Alex Danvers, Katie McGrath as Lena Luthor, Jeremy Jordan as Winn Schott, Chris Wood as Mon-El, and many others!

Supergirl Trivia

To not spoiler anything for you (or well, for the ones who have not seen this show yet), I shall only give you Metahumans some general information about the show! Such as that it began airing on October 26th in 2015, starting with season one (duh). From there on out it continued for 5 more seasons up until January 7th, 2020, when season six was released. There have been a total of 126 episodes of this series, meaning it has quite a lot of different plots and storylines. The show also had five showrunners, the names of which are: Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, Ali Adler, Jessica Queller, and Robert Rovner - who all kind of switched between seasons.

Have you seen the DCU Supergirl TV-Show? Or have you read any (comic) book containing her character? Let us know in the comments and you’ll receive a small gift.