PORTRAYAL NOTES: inspo & characterization taken from various sources i've read but overall my own interpretation. this is my primary verse and is absolutely flexible to fit with comic-based muses, but i do have alt, more comic-based verses if that is your preference. please note that some things are also prone to adjustment as i delve further into comics and the dcu expands.
ON KRYPTON. KARA ZOR-EL WAS FOURTEEN YEARS OLD WHEN KRYPTON'S CORE COLLAPSED FROM WITHIN ITSELF. while her baby cousin was rocketed off to earth, her father zor-el managed to bubble enough atmosphere to save the chunk of argo city that had broken off the planet. eighteen thousand citizens survived on that asteroid, but within a couple years, thirteen thousand died of the eventual radiation poisoning that took hold of the ground under their feet due to approaching yellow suns -- including kara’s mother. kara helped build the lead shield her father came up with to block the radiation, and finished it alone when many of her fellow survivors fell into sorrow. it worked for a time, but it was not made to withstand the elements of space, and eventually a meteor shower penetrated the shield and people grew sick again. desperate to save his daughter, zor-el found his brother's blueprints for kal-el's escape pod and spent months recreating it to carry kara before the cancer took him as well. KARA DID NOT WANT TO GO. this was her home, what was left of it -- she wanted to be buried in that toxic dirt next to her parents when the time came. but her father begged her, because she was his life and her mother's and he could not bear to let her die this way, and so she went. rocketed off like her baby cousin all those years ago, nothing but a small dog cradled in her arms.
ON EARTH, THE DANVERS’ & MIDVALE. BE GOOD, HER MOTHER HAD SAID. THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE, HER FATHER HAD SAID. kara's shuttle was knocked off course and ended up trapped in the phantom zone for over two decades until something shook her loose. she was nearly eighteen when she landed on earth, just a couple years before her younger cousin announced himself to the world as superman. they could not understand one another when he found her and the fortress of solitude, though bearing pieces of familiarity, was no place to live. clark took her to his apartment in metropolis at first where he gave up his bedroom and took the couch for a few weeks, but the sounds of the city were overwhelming and the apartment was lonely -- and no place to raise a superdog. the kents were kind enough but still strange ( everything on this planet was strange ), and they were clark kent's parents, not kara zor-el's. eventually, family friends of the kents ( jeremiah and eliza danvers ) from the next town over offered to take her in on account of her foreign exchange student program, and their empty nesting syndrome after their own daughter had left for her junior year of college. the danvers’ seemed kind and welcoming, but a little too oblivious -- or too willing to turn a blind eye. it was revealed a few months down the line that they were retired agents of the D.E.O. and that despite their sincere wish to caretake for her, they had also been trying to study kara’s kryptonian physiology. soon after, the D.E.O. tried to capture kara ( mostly unrelated to the danvers’ samples, as she had gone for a night flight or two when she felt overwhelmingly lonely and accidentally got tagged by the agency’s cameras ) but she escaped, and in a guilt - ridden extension of an olive branch, the danvers’ destroyed all data they had collected of her so that the D.E.O. couldn’t find her or others through her, and swore they’d protect her if she chose to stay. kara felt at odds and their relationship is a little rocky to this day, though she did end up donning the family name danvers as her human alias and tried to forge a life in midvale, or something that looked like one. a small part of her also cringed from the idea of placing herself at clark’s feet as a burden yet again, and did not want to reveal to him what had occurred. she needed to find her own way.
ON THE CREST OF EL & SPACE TRAVEL. BE TOUGH. BE GOOD. kara was twenty when clark publicly bore the mantle of superman, and still sought her own purpose and place on earth. at some point, her cousin came into possession of a spaceship through one of his adventures and she jumped at the opportunity for a test flight. departing from earth felt like a chance to finally break free from the heaviness that weighed her down, but it never seemed to let up no matter how far she traveled. no matter how long she searched. another thing that remained consistent was no matter where kara went, she always found a way to help: a natural disaster here, a parent missing their fleet-footed child there, an elderly person no longer able to care for their property -- kara could not help but to lend a hand. on one of her trips back to midvale, there was an explosion at a local factory and she was there, working alongside the emergency personnel to care for those pulled out of the rubble even before superman rushed in to save the others. afterwards, clark gifted kara a suit of a similar make to his own, offering her a purpose to put her powers to if she accepted. while it felt good to help people, she hesitated to operate in her cousin’s shadow. another thing that did not feel entirely her own. but when she accepted the suit, the house of el's crest emblazoned on it, it did feel right. one of the few things in her life that did. her career as supergirl has had a somewhat clumsy beginning while she balanced it and tried to discover who kara danvers was at the same time, and she still traveled off planet somewhat often to explore. she eventually sought systems with red suns, because there she felt like just a girl again. the weight of the world on her shoulders, but not a superpowered alien who could carry it in one hand. her most recent exploration was an intended week-long trip to celebrate her twenty-third birthday with krypto, where she unintentionally ran into some trouble with the brigands and embarked on a several weeks-long trip to recover the cure for krypto’s poison, as well as accompany the young girl who sought revenge on krem of the yellow hills for killing her father in cold blood. where kara found ruin and disaster on every trail they followed, reminders of krypton and argo city that made her blood still in her veins, she tried to aid in what ways she could. digging mass burial graves was nothing new to her. finally, kara and ruthye pinned down the brigand and put an end to his raze of terror -- as well as his entire ship and crewmates. when kara returned to earth, it was with the steady-beating reminder that she could not run from her pain but only try to help others from experiencing the same. nothing quite feels like home just yet, but she wants to believe that earth can be, some day. she'd also like to get to know her cousin more.
ON SUPERGIRL (2026): heavy spoilers for the movie below, avoid reading if you do not wish to see them!
