It’s been about 18 months since I started the Supergirl in the Multiverse project and I have no intention of stopping. So far I’ve touched on 75 separate Supergirls and while some of the universes have since shown more than one Supergirl per universe, this week is the first time I’m revisiting the same Supergirl that I’ve already covered. Earth-24 is home to the Bombshells who I covered more thoroughly in the initial post for this Supergirl, but in short the WWII era universe is protected by a handful of female super heroes that have become know to the public as the Bombshells.
The reason for this Supergirl to make a return trip is because of my coverage of canonically queer Supergirls as part of all the June 2026 Supergirl in the Multiverse entries. Kara Starikov never specifically identifies her sexuality but it is certainly sapphic leaning with her prominent relationship with this universe’s Lois Lane. Eloisa “Lois” Lane first shows up in Bombshells Chapter 37 (collected as issue 13) where she would have a handful of adventures until she would eventually track down Hugo Strange and his Super Weapons where she would meet Supergirl in Chapter 87 (collected as issue 29) and their attraction becomes immediately noticable. The later chapters of Bombshells would show Kara’s Kryptonian mother, Faora Hu-Ul, coming to prominence as a fiend and eventually turning into the monster Doomsday before being overpowered and imprisoned in the Swamp Thing. After this brutal battle, Kara and Lois seemed to grow closer and in Bombshells United Chapter 33 we can see the confirmation of their relationship when they kiss before Supergirl goes off to fight parademons and whatnot. This chapter also shows Kara with a shorter haircut which I used as inspiration for this Supergirl in the Multiverse drawing.
As with all my Supergirl in the Multiverse posts, this is my own artwork. Bombshells Supergirl is floating and waving with her scarf billowing behind her. There are flower fields in front of and around her and a blue sky with a rainbow in the background. There is a motif of Supergirl’s S symbol with a 24 on it in the top right corner.
Since the Supergirl movie is coming out at the end of this month, I knew I wanted to cover an issue of Woman of Tomorrow for this month’s Supergirl Surprise. For those unaware, Supergirl Surprise is a monthly look at a random Supergirl comic from my collection. Normally all my Supergirl comics are fair game but because I wanted to confirm a WoT issue this month, I instead picked a random issue exclusively from that series. The randomizer landed on Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow chapter 5 “The Lake, the Trees, and the Monster” written by Tom King, art by Bilquis Evely, colors by Mat Lopes, and letters by Clayton Cowles. For the most part the issue takes place on Barenton, a planet with a green sun which causes Supergirl to be powerless. Also there’s dinosaurs. Shenanigans ensue.
Supergirl and Ruthye do not start on Barenton, actually they start hot on the heels of Krem of the Yellow Hills who they’ve been chasing for the past few issues. Instead of finally catching the fiend that murdered Ruthye’s father and poisoning Supergirl’s dog, Krem instead hits the heroines with a Mordru Globe which launches them across the galaxy via magic and whatnot. The Mordru Globe exposition is a good way to set the girls back after catching up to Krem (which lets the story last a few more issues) as well as helping Krem seem even more awful since to use the Mordru Globe, Krem must’ve purposefully slain thousands of innocents.
After being subjected to the globe, the pair find themselves on a wastland of a world and Supergirl is immediately showing that her powers are dwindling before Supergirl looks up and reveals to Ruthye (and the reader) that the sun is green. As we all know, the color of the sun affects Kryptonian’s powers with yellow suns giving them spectacular powers, red suns making them powerless and human, and green suns weakening them. This specific planet, Barenton, was specifically made to weaken Superman and while I’ve always just taken that at face value, I figure now is as good a time as any to actually look into this planet and see if this is a specific reference to an earlier comic.
Turns out Barenton first appeared in a story titled “Superman Under the Green Sun!” from Superman #155. While this story doesn’t specifically name the planet as Barenton, it is generally sited as the green sun planet in reference to this issue of Woman of Tomorrow because of the planet also having a green sun. I will counter that however because, after reading, the facts don’t seem to line up. One of the main things that people seem to draw from this book, often from fans that don’t love Supergirl’s depiction in this story, is the “Superman’s a Bitch” line and that of course comes from this issue. As told here by Kara to Ruthye, when Superman was stranded on this planet with a green sun he only lasted for 45 minutes before being saved by the Justice League. These facts don’t line up with how Superman #155 plays out. Superman was there for days suffering under the green rays of the sun and was blind for most of it but still worked hard to free the planet from slavery which makes Supergirl sleeping for 10 hours a bit less impressive. With this new knowledge, this reference to Superman here feels like it’s just an invented scenario to put Superman down.
In general I do think I prefer the Woman of Tomorrow version of a green sun planet mostly because of the antagonistic threat that’s presented here. Dinosaurs. The Superman story just has him facing off against a benevolent dictator, but the dinosaurs make a much more exciting and thrilling feat for Supergirl and Ruthye to overcome without super powers.
Dinosaurs are just cool in anything, that is an indisputable fact. I played through the original Tomb Raider game a few years ago (as part of the remastered trilogy collection I think) and at one point you’re in some sort of abandoned subterranean city when suddenly you’re assaulted by a velociraptor and of course being a badass babe with 2 pistols there is nothing else to do but shoot down a previously extinct animal. It was just a crazy sequence to experience blind. This issue of Woman of Tomorrow is equally as exciting in regards to dinosaur killing with Ruthye successfully fends off the beasts to protect the otherwise helpless girl of steel and even Supergirl in her weakened state is able to get the hoard of not quite birds away from her and her compatriot.
Eventually the green sun sets, and Supergirl gets her powers back and the pair are back on their way to track down the menace of Krem. I’ve gone into my overall thoughts of the story in a dedicated post to Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow but this issue specifically seems like a lower point in the mini-series that only gets bonus points for having dinosaurs, and the absolutely exquisite Bilquis Evely art. I guess my main issue with this specific story is that there wasn’t much interaction between the 2 leads since Supergirl is rather unconscious for the majority of these 24 pages.
The story is published without any ad breaks which is nice, and after that there’s a 5 page preview of the new (at the time) Batgirls comic which was a lot of fun. The rest of the ad space is filled with advertisements for some of the DC television shows at the time like Doom Patrol, Legend’s of Tomorrow and Batwoman. There’s also an interview with Kelly Sue DeConnick and Phil Jimenez on the last page about Wonder Woman Historia which really got me interested in the book, especially DeConnick saying it’s a “history book for a young Amazon where she learns the history of her people, from the perspective of her people.” As always this month’s entry has been a fun experience and the episodic nature of the Woman of Tomorrow series definitely helps when reading in isolation.
As we continue on in the 2026 Pride Month coverage on Supergirl in the Multiverse, we take another look at the gender-swap universe of Earth-11. We did take a look at Eath-11 quite a while ago when covering Superlad as part of my initial dive into the Multiverse. With that entry, I went into the history of the universe but this time I’ll instead look at the most recent iteration of the universe. The team that would eventually become known as Teen Justice would be introduced in DC’s Very Merry Multiverse special where they faced off against Starrla and would then go on to star in a miniseries called Multiversity: Teen Justice with the young heroes working together against Sister Blood and HIVE. Teen Justice is the Earth-11 version of the Teen Titans or Young Justice and has members including Kid Quick, Aquagirl, Donald Troy, Klarienne, Robin, and Supergirl.
Supergirl, as presented in Teen Justice, is Laurel Kent the daughter of Superwoman and the Earth-11 counterpart to Lois Lane (Probably Lewis Lane if I had to guess). As such she is obviously meant to be the Earth-11 counterpart to Jon Kent, further confirmed by her friendship with her universe’s Robin Talia Kane. Her name seems to come from the Pre-Crisis Laurel Kent who was a Legionnaire and 30th century descendant of Superman before she was later retconned into being Laurel Gand, Andromeda, a Daxamite and relative of Mon-El. I will say, in terms of the canonically queer Supergirls I am stretching just a touch. My reasoning here is that the Earth-0 Jon Kent is canonically bisexual so it is reasonable to assume that his Earth-11 counterpart would have a similar identity.
As with all my Supergirl in the Multiverse posts, this is my own artwork. Laurel Kent Supergirl is sat on the roof of the Daily Planet building drinking a shake that is pink, blue, and purple colored with a smile on her face. Laurel’s scarf is billowing in the wind. An expansive cityscape is spread out across the background. A motif of Supergirl’s S symbol with an 11 on it is in the top right corner.
With a brand new Supergirl movie coming out later this month, I figured now was as good of a time as any to take a look at the girl of steel’s first movie. I won’t be going into a full synopsis of this movie and will instead mostly be covering my thoughts on the film while also referencing some of the special features included in the Blu-Ray set including the commentary with Jeannot Szwarc and Scott Michael Bosco as well as The Making of Supergirl documentary. Generally I try to stay away from right out reviewing works but for this I do plan to convince you to check out the movie if you’ve not already or convince you to give it another chance if you’re not a fan.
I have long been a supporter of the 1984 Supergirl movie and I can’t see myself ever hating it. This movie was released in 1984 to what can politely be called poor reception. The movie had a $35 Million budget and only managed a $14.3 Million box office easily giving it a status of being a box office flop. I’ve seen this movie quite a few times at this point (heck I watched it twice in the past week) and I still think its a fantastic time. It was probably after the 4th or 5th time watching when I finally took a look at the Rotten Tomato scores and it baffled me. I will admit that this is by no means a perfect movie, but the Rotten Tomato scores are entirely too harsh and I’m sure there is some amount of review bombing that went into the poor score on that review site.
While there are a lot of things I love about this film, I do have issues and distastes for parts of it. Ethan is probably the biggest problem I have with the storyline, I feel like his inclusion is unnecessary to the Supergirl/Selena conflict, forcing a romance plot into the story didn’t make sense, and the exact sequence of events that lead to the pair falling for each other seems a tad dicey. That being said, there are quite a few pre-crisis Supergirl romance stories that play out exactly like this plot and I could easily see it being a comic story. There is a bit of absurdity to this movie and sometimes the camp goes a bit past what I personally go for, part of that is seen in Selena’s house/abandoned amusement park. It feels just a touch too much for me and it just seems goofy for the sake of being goofy. The last thing that kind of puts me off is Marc McClure’s portrayal of Jimmy Olsen. I don’t mind Jimmy’s inclusion and the connective tissue that it creates between this and the Chris Reeve Superman movies is important, however I just don’t care for how passive he’s portrayed. Jimmy in this movie just doesn’t do much more than act opposite Lucy Lane and his initial lines when he’s introduced just make him seem rather non-heroic talking about how he doesn’t want to help the obviously dazed Ethan wandering in the streets.
There are 3 things in this film that are undeniably fantastic, Faye Dunaway’s performance as Selena, Helen Slater’s performance as Supergirl, and the brilliant “Aerial Gymnastics”. Faye Dunaway gets top billing in the movie and she definitely pulls her weight. Dunaway has fantastic line delivery and screen presence throughout the entire movie while never trying to overshadow Slater’s performance as Supergirl. This is Slater’s first leading theatrical role and she was just 19 and right out of a performing arts high school when she landed the role. Helen’s acting is even more impressive when considering that she’s in some ways playing 3 characters, Supergirl, Kara Zor-El, and Linda Lee (who Helen didn’t realize was Supergirl’s secret identity until her 4th audition).
Lastly the Aerial Gymnastics, the flying sequences, which according to Szwarc was a different and new process to what was seen in the Chris Reeve films and it really shows. Durring the documentary Szwarc said “Superman is more power and strength and Supergirl [is] elegance, grace, and style” and the way that the flying differs between the 2 super cousins in these films really shows this. Supergirl’s flying sequences in this movie (and there’s a lot!) are brilliant and show a grace and excitement in Supergirl’s portrayal that help explore the character as a fun-loving teenager that suddenly has a new world to explore and new super-powers to try out.
There is something that comes up a lot in the commentary and documentary about this movie taking a more fantasy approach as opposed to the sci-fi approach that Superman took. There’s a lot of easy comparisons to Snow White particularly especially Selena’s mirror, similar to the Magic Mirror, however the commentary also brought to my mind the young/old parallel here that both Snow White had with the old witch and Supergirl has with Selena. This fantasy inspiration is further expanded upon in the commentary with Szwarc’s mention of The Wizard of Oz. The Oz connection is much less obvious but you can definitely make comparisons after knowing this fact.
With the fantasy elements we also get the ability to show off a new threat to Kryptonians. At this point, the public had been exposed to 3 Superman movies where he faces off against a criminal mastermind, aliens, and super computers so letting Supergirl face off against magic, which had long been a threat to Kryptonians in the comics. I think this was a brilliant choice by the creators to help set Supergirl apart from her cousin and give the audiences another look at what can take on a Kryptonian without resorting to Kryptonite.
Speaking of, Kryptonite isn’t in this movie at all, not even a mention of it. However, the Omegahedron is similarly affected by lead like Kryptonite would be. Lead of course blocks the radiation of Kryptonite and is often used in Superman stories to block the Kryptonite from harming the man of steel. In this movie, the Omegahedron is kept in a dragon box that is made out of lead when Selena is not using it and being in this lead box prevents the signal of it from being noticed by Supergirl’s bracelet.
I have long since know that there was a early version of this story that included Chris Reeve as Superman, but it was in the commentary that Szwarc expanded upon his inclusion. Apparently it would’ve replaced the scene at the corm where Supergirl faces off against the Shadow Monster which is one of the cooler scenes of the movie. According to Szwarc, there would’ve been events that happened that caused Superman to loose his powers and become old. It’s possible Szwarc’s description of the scene just wasn’t very good or that it would’ve played out much better if it was actually filmed, but to me it just doesn’t seem very good and I think the movie is better off without that scene, especially if it would’ve replaced the Shadow Monster scene.
Part of what makes this movie so impressive to me is the honestly fantastic effects. I’ve already touched on the wirework that was done for all of Helen’s flying scenes but the effects throughout are really spectacular. The film relies a lot on practical effects which helps the movie stand up 40+ years later. One of the craziest parts of the documentary was learning that the town of Midvale was built from scratch as a massive set. I’m sure having a full city built as opposed to filming on location helped a lot in the extensive destruction done by the bulldozer, which in itself is a fantastic sequence. The only effect that, in my opinion, aged poorly was near the end when the Shadow Monster has Supergirl in its hands and is pulling and twisting the girl of steel. This is accomplished in the movie with green screens and stretching some elements but it comes off as cheap and ineffective. In the commentary there is mention that if it were to be done in modern times it would’ve been much more successful with CGI.
Somewhat related, is the stunning set pieces presented here. There are 3 major sets that all have drastically different environments. The aforementioned Midvale quite successfully presents a mid-west American town complete with a Popeye’s fast food chain. Argo City, a staple of Supergirl lore, makes it’s film debut here and it’s quite an interesting presentation. The city is full abstract shapes and open rooms that sets it apart from the cold crystalline Krypton that was shown in the Superman movies. The most impressive location however is the Phantom Zone. Not only is the Zone fantastically rendered as a desolate helpless place, it also has some great scenes where Slater is able to stretch her acting a bit where she is able to act devastated and hopeful in such drastic and extreme directions.
I’d also like to talk about Zaltar. An original character created for this movie who hasn’t shown up in comics since (for what seems to be legal issues). Zaltar is the creator of Argo and the reason that this section of the doomed planet was able to survive into inner space. It’s weird that Zaltar is shown as the creator/founder of Argo in this movie when Kara’s father, Zor-El, normally fills this role. Perhaps they didn’t want to show Supergirl’s father sentenced to the Phantom Zone, but it still feels odd. The opening of the movie has a sequence of events where Zaltar is telling Kara about exploring past inner space and into outer space and eventually visiting planets like Saturn and Venus and Earth. When he mentions his plans to Kara and how the events played out, it seems like Zaltar’s actual plan was to explore the Phantom Zone. Between him so easily showing Kara how to use the Omegahedron and his willingness to be sentenced to the Zone really makes me think that was the unknown he wanted to explore as opposed outer-space.
I could probably go on and on about this movie for much longer talking about all the things I love about it (like how thoroughly Supergirl’s powers are shown even including Super-Intelligence), but I think I’ll keep it here for right now. Before totally signing off, listening to the commentary of the film let me know that the film had a drastically reduced run-time when initially shown domestically from it’s initial International theatrical run. I think to some extent this could’ve contributed to the general poor reception that this film has. Since the International Release is the main feature on the Blu-Ray set that’s the version I generally watch and what my love of the film is based on. This is by no means the last time I’ll talk about this movie, I have the comic, novel, and storybook adaptations of the movie that will probably each get their own post in the future. I’d also love to take a look at the Director’s cut that’s included with the Blu-Ray as well as taking a look at the shorter American theatrical version if I can find a nice way to watch it. I might also take deeper dives into specific scenes of the movie like the Phantom Zone. I also already covered something of the movie last year when looking at the Supergirl (1984) Press Packet. If you’ve gotten this far into me rambling about this movie and you haven’t seen it, please give it a shot, don’t let the hate keep you from checking it out.
We have so far in the series covered a couple other Earth-0 entries so I won’t go too far into what this universe is. Earth-0 is the main universe of the DC Multiverse and has at various points been called Earth-1, New-Earth, Earth-Prime, and Earth-0 but in short its what most of the comics published every week take place in. This entry is the start to another theme month like we did for Black History Month earlier in the month. For June we’re celebrating Pride Month by looking at 5 canonically queer Supergirls throughout the Multiverse.
Our first Supergirl for Pride Month comes in the form of Natasha Irons, Steel. Natasha first appeared as John Henry Irons’ niece in his own title with Steel #1 in 1994. She is the super genius and would go on to become a hero in her own right as Steel in the storyline Supergirls told through a few issues of Action Comics. Natasha also had a brief stint as a meta-human under the Everyman Project using code-names Starlight and Vaporlock mostly during the events of 52 and Infinity Inc. (vol. 2). Her meta abilities have since been swept under the rug. In regards to Natasha’s sexuality, her pre-Flashpoint appearances, she was for the most part written as heterosexual having a few romances. It was in the New-52/Rebirth eras where she began appearing as a queer hero and is generally, at this point, seen as a lesbian. Her on-again-off-again relationship with Traci 13 is her most prominent relationship and from what I could tell that relationship first showed up in the pages of Superwoman, although the pair did meet for the first time (along with Cir-El) in the aforementioned Supergirls story.
As with all my Supergirl in the Multiverse posts, this is my own artwork. Natasha Irons, as Steel, is shown casually floating in the air. She has a hammer draped across her shoulders and is flashing a peace sign with her right hand. Her boots are blasting rocket boosters. The background shows clouds in orange and purple and a motif of Steel’s logo is in the top right with a 0 on top of it.
The Daring New Blog of Supergirl 