If you have never read Sterling Gates amazing ode to Supergirl and her importance before, you really should. https://twitter.com/sterlinggates/status/843860997127393281
And maybe send him some love on twitter!
Best Quotes if you find the thread hard to read:
#Supergirl’s motto is “Hope, help, & compassion for all.” I wrote that because we need a character to advocate/stand for those ideals.
For me, #Supergirl is the most important character in DC’s canon. (And your mileage may vary…especially you Batman fans!)
#Supergirl is an alien refugee, sent to this planet to follow in her cousin Superman’s footsteps. That makes her a wholly unique character. At the time of #Supergirl’s creation, there were few characters like her, and few with her story.
They gave #Supergirl the Super-S and made her “Superman’s Secret Weapon.” Some of those initial stories are extreeemely dated now, BUT #Supergirl was always treated as someone as powerful (or moreso in a couple cases!) as Superman.
People point to #Supergirl’s death in “Crisis on Infinite Earths” as a low point for the character. I think it’s one of her most important. In that story, #Supergirl goes toe-to-toe with the Anti-Monitor, then the most powerful DC villain of all-time. This dude DESTROYED UNIVERSES. #Supergirl wipes the floor with him, even as she makes sure Superman and Dr. Light are safe.
Even as she fights the greatest threat the DC Universe has ever known in COIE, #Supergirl saves others…which seals her tragic fate. Obviously, that issue had a huge impact on me as a kid. It’s one of the stories I turn to again and again to help me understand #Supergirl.
#Supergirl has grown past that issue in the last thirty years (as has her meaning to the world), but that story always strikes me. I always felt COIE underscored #Supergirl’s strengths: her compassion, her self-sacrificial nature, her abilities.
Which brings us back to her importance to the DCU: #Supergirl started as a distaff character aimed at “kid sisters.” She’s since grown to become a symbol for hope, a symbol reminding us to offer a helping hand to those in need, and a symbol encouraging us to act with compassion. #Supergirl reflects those ideals back at us, because when she arrived on Earth THAT was what she saw…that was what she experienced. And that’s why #Supergirl’s motto became “hope, help, and compassion for all.”
One of the things that I like so much about #Supergirl is how universal her story can be. (“But she’s an alien who can fly!” you say.) And yes, that’s true. But #Supergirl’s also someone who migrated to this world and was immediately hidden away by Superman. There is a LOT of subtext to those early #Supergirl stories, where Superman quickly throws a wig on her and says “don’t use your powers.”
In fact, most of the times Superman is okay with #Supergirl using her powers in those stories is when he’s in a BAAAAAD spot.
How many people – especially young women – are told over and over again “just be normal and/or quiet” by someone until they’re needed?
#Supergirl has these amazing gifts and the first few years of her appearances, she’s stuck in an orphanage. It’s THIRTY ISSUES before Superman is like “uhhh, I probably should tell the world about you, huh?” And #Supergirl gets a crazy coming out issue. (JFK shows up!) The immigrant who’s told to hide their gifts unless they’re needed for work? WAY more relevant story to people than, say, Batman. #Supergirl
And I’m not picking on Batman here, honestly. I just think #Supergirl’s more important a message to people than the billionaire ninja.
(And before BC runs the headline “Sterling Gates Hates Batman,” please note that Batman is one of my favorite characters. But still.)
In a lot of ways, #Supergirl’s more relatable to so many because her story is about her natural gifts. (Yes, including flight. But still.) #Supergirl didn’t spend millions on going to Ninja School or building trick arrows, she got to Earth and discovered she could DO things. Again, I think that’s so, so relatable. #Supergirl’s powers are internal. Yes, they need sunlight to access, but they come from inside.
Our friend in Batman @Ssnyder1835 has weighed in to point out that Batman is about overcoming fears. I have said it before, but I think it’s powerful that Bruce Wayne lost his parents. It’s an incredible motivator for that character. He overcomes that loss and swears no other kid in Gotham will ever lose their parents like he did, and that’s why he does what he does. #Supergirl actually lost more.
In the original stories, #Supergirl lost her world completely. The Argo City inhabitants watched their planet die. THEN they discovered their Space Life Raft was sinking. Zor-El and Alura scrambled and discovered they could only save Kara. In the span of a few months, Kara loses her world, her people, and her parents. THEN she gets sent to a planet she’s never heard of and gets hidden in an orphanage by Superman and told not to use her powers. At all. Ever….unless he gives her a call.
Look at how many different origin stories that is. Orphan, Lost World, Hidden Hero, Legacy Character. #Supergirl is many, many things.
As such, #Supergirl now represents many, many things to many different people.
#Supergirl is now an empowering story for young women in a way that she was not in the 1950s. She’s become a new symbol for the 2010s.
#Supergirl represents the immigrant experience in America at its best: she came here and flourished using her natural gifts. (Side note: I’ve actually always wanted to do a Silver Age story that would go deeper into why Superman kept her hidden in that orphanage.) For many in the LGBTQ+ community, the #Supergirl tv show offers an incredible narrative in Alex’s journey. That’s so valuable.
When you have the privilege of writing for a character you love for so long in your career, you spend a LOT of time thinking about how they were created and what makes them work for you. I’ve been honored to create #Supergirl stories for almost a decade now.
For me, it speaks to #Supergirl’s strength that she’s come so far in her personal journey. I lost a parent as a teen and crumbled. She lost EVERYTHING and still managed to become one of Earth’s most hopeful heroes. There’s unlimited power in that narrative.
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