Tag: Supergirl in the Multiverse

Earth-D is the first of the Multiverse that I’ve covered thus far with a letter designation as opposed to a number, although universes 5 (S), 10 (X), and 26 (C) all had Letter designations before the Crisis obliterated them. Earth-D was a universe envisioned by Marv Wolfman as an intended reboot of the DC Universe with a more racially diverse cast of heroes than what was currently in comics. My understanding is that this universe was Wolfman’s pitch as to what would come after Crisis on Infinite Earths and has been compared to the jump from the Golden Age (JSA and the like) to the Silver Age (JLA and others). However, this radical change to the mainstream continuity was not implemented and it would be another decade and a half before this universe came to be seen in a published comic. Legends of the DC Universe: Crisis on Infinite Earths from 1999. This one-shot special was an additional chapter in the Crisis on Infinite Earths event and told of Barry Allen Flash winding up on this earth and helping it face the coming Crisis sweeping the Multiverse. There are minor differences from the Earth-0 we know but its fairly recognizable and well explored in the 48 pages of the special, one change is the prominent super-team is neither the JSA nor the JLA, but the JAA or the Justice Alliance of America. Aside from this one-shot, the universe has yet to show up again, but a similar universe (also called Earth-D) in the Justice League Infinity miniseries. This appearance does have some fairly major differences from the Earth-D proper and with its adjacent nature to the Timmverse, I am choosing to dub this variation Earth-12-D that I may revisit in the future.

As mentioned above, this universe’s main defining trait is its racially diverse cast. This can be seen in Supergirl and Superman’s darker complexion giving them the appearance of African Americans, although they’re not from Africa or America but rather Krypton. Another major difference is in the relationships of major heroes, Hawkman and Hawkgirl aren’t reincarnated soul-mates but rather siblings and likewise Superman and Supergirl aren’t cousins but a married couple. Superman and Supergirl are from Krypton, but they lived very full lives before the planet’s destruction and were even heroes on the planet, leading them to be the chosen representatives to be saved from the planet’s destruction. Aside from their altered origin and relationship status, they seem very similar to their Earth-0 counterparts in personality, powers, and morality.

As with all my Supergirl in the Multiverse posts, this is my own artwork. Supergirl of Earth-D is standing in the lower left corner with her hands on her hips and looking up. Behind her is the meeting table of the JAA and in the top right corner is a motif of Supergirl’s S symbol with a D on top of it.

After Cyborg accidentally unleashed a techno-virus upon Earth the world and all it’s super heroes. This virus, initially thought to just be the anti-life equation, would later be revealed to be the product of a eldritch being from an adjacent dimension who sought to destroy the universe. All that is just to say this is the zombie universe. The DC answer to Marvel vs. Zombies that came out about a decade after the pop culture zombie craze, and in my opinion it’s one of the best zombie stories I’ve read. The series was told in 3 parts and a couple spin-offs and by the end of it pretty much all the DC universe has been exposed to the virus and there are quite a lot of interesting story moments that show characters in wildly different roles than they take in the normal DC universe as well as intense stakes where characters you don’t expect to fall, fall.

For the most part, many hero’s share their origins with their respective earth-0 counterparts and this Elseworld’s tale seems to present this as a story spinning out from the current day earth-0. Supergirl is a bit different however, not showing up until part 3: War of the Undead Gods, we see that Kara Zor-El wasn’t sent to earth but instead sent to New Genesis. Zor-El, Alura, and Kara all lived in Kandor and when the planet was meeting with destruction Zor-El had a similar idea to his brother but instead of sending his child to live with Earth primitives, he chose to send his child to live with other powerful beings on the planet of the New Gods. Unfortunately for Kara, when she landed on New Genesis it had already fallen to the techno-virus and she soon fell as well and became a fierce foe with both Kryptonian powers and zombie rage. I will also mention that a Supergirl shows up in issue 5 of the original miniseries but because of the origin shown in War of the Undead Gods this could not have been the same Supergirl. More than likely this was an editorial oversight since she just showed up in an wider hero shot, but it could be read as that was the Matrix Supergirl who perhaps fell in the initial zombie attack and that’s why she never showed up again in later stories.

As with all my Supergirl in the Multiverse posts, this is my own artwork. The zombified Supergirl of Earth-55 is reaching towards the viewer witha crazed look on her face. The overall design has rough and aggressive pencil lines throughout. The top right features a motif of the Supergirl S with a 55 on it.

The space faring adventurer by the name of Tommy Tomorrow is a member of the Planeteers in the far off future of 2054. The Planeteers are a peace keeping operation that travels the galaxy helping those in need. Colonel Thomas Tomorrow and his compatriot Captain Brent Wood travel in their spaceship called the Space Ace. Tommy Tomorrow had many adventures as a backup feature in Action Comics starting with Action Comics #149. Tommy Tomorrow has shown up in various forms across different continuities but him being a part of DC ‘s science fiction corner and being a Planeteer is pretty consistent.

I was not able to read the entirety of Tommy Tomorrow’s appearances, but in what I could read (the stories collected in DC Finest: Science Fiction) the only Planeteers shown were Tommy, Brent and their un-named commander. It was implied that the Planeteers were a fairly wide organization and it’s safe to assume there are plenty other Planeteers. My idea for this additional Planeteer, Tori Tomorrow, is someone who looks up to Tommy, possibly a niece or cousin of either Tommy or Brent, who later in life joins the Planeteers and takes up the moniker of Tori Tomorrow after her idol.

As with all my Supergirl in the Multiverse posts, this is my own artwork. Tori Tomorrow is on the left side of the panel with a ray-gun held aloft. The bottom part of the panel has text reading “Join the Planeteers” in front of and behind Tori’s legs. The background features a space scene including space ships (one being the Space Ace). The top right corner has a purple and yellow circle representing the Planeteers with a 54 on top of it.

Earth-53 has made a few brief appearances in the recent DC Comics lore in comics like The Green Lantern #11 and Dark Crisis: The Dark Army #1 where we have met a universe that seems much like our own but slightly different with all of mankind being apes. When this universe first showed up it was referred to as “Earth-53” but is most often referred to as “The 53rd Earth”. More recent mentions of the universe have taken to calling it Earth-52, although I think Earth-52 is much better represented as a continuation of the New 52 as I mentioned last week in my Supergirl in the Multiverse post (found here). As I was reading the DC Finest Science Fiction collection for unrelated research I came across a story initially published in Strange Adventures #45 titled “The Gorilla World” that had humans Albert and Cora Dawson transported to an adjacent world where the inhabitants were all gorillas. It is stated here that Gorillas evolved to be the dominate species as opposed to Humans who remained savages and eventually went extinct. I don’t think this story is followed up on ever and I don’t believe it served as inspiration for the later Earth-53, but it was a cool coincidence that I wanted to mention.

Earth-53 is home to the Primate Legion which is only shown to include Ape versions of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Atom, and Aquaman, but the idea of instead of humans we have apes can easily be applied to any resident of the DC Universe. Super-Ape is named as Titano the Super-Ape, obviously a reference to the Superman foe (who is currently mini sized and showing up in the current Supergirl comic). Continuing on with this theme, I’m going to call this universe’s Supergirl Tee-Nah the Super-Ape after Tee-Nah the new gorilla staff member at the Daily Planet that first appeared in Superman Unlimited #2. With this universe being fairly unmapped, it’s hard to say exactly how the super-heroes differ from their Earth-0 counterparts but until it is more defined I will just assume Tee-Nah is from a very ape-like Krypton and shares the same origin as Supergirl but if she was instead an ape.

As with all my Supergirl in the Multiverse posts, this is my own artwork. Tee-Nah the Super-Ape is diving down towards the viewer. Tee-Nah is a blonde ape wearing a Supergirl costume. There are a few buildings shown behind her and a building that looks like a version of Lex-Corp has a shattered window that it seems the Super-Ape is jumping out of. The top right corner features a motif of Super-Ape’s symbol with a 53 on top of it.

Earth-52, from what I can gather, has about one panel of existence. That statement however comes with a pretty big asterisk. Near the end of issue 12 of Doomsday Clock, Doctor Manhattan says something along the lines of “Earth-52 is out there” and while saying this images of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman can be seen. These depictions of the Trinity bear striking resemblance to their New 52 counterparts. From this we can imply that Earth-52 shares some similarities with the New 52 continuity or perhaps Earth-52 is a universe where the New 52 continued on without Rebirth happening. I choose to believe the latter. I do want to note that sometimes Earth-52 is called “the 53rd Earth” (since the local 52 universes are 0-51, that would make 52 the 53rd Earth). The “53rd Earth” usually shows a gorilla version of the Justice League but Earth-52 makes more sense to me being a New 52 expansion, and the gorilla stuff seems like a great choice for Earth-53 (see more on that next week!).

Supergirl in the New 52 era has a bit of a different origin to what we normally see of Supergirl. Instead of landing near Metropolis or even in the United States at all, Kara’s rocket shows up in Siberia. Kara then spends a lot of her early life on Earth not speaking any human languages, not believing Superman is her baby cousin, and generally being very mad. After meeting Siobhan Smythe, who can instantly learn any language, Kara now has someone to communicate with and a later encounter with H’el lets her speak English. Kara eventually comes around to trusting Superman as well and an encounter with the Red Lanterns helps her with her anger issues a bit. Supergirl’s life as shown in the New 52 era ends with her powerless and with Jeremiah and Eliza Danvers from the DEO working to help figure out a solution to getting er powers back.

As with all my Supergirl in the Multiverse posts, this is my own artwork. New 52 era Supergirl is floating in the air with a large metal object held aloft in her hands. There are blue skies and clouds all around an her cape is billowing around her. The top right corner has a motif of Supergirl’s S symbol with a 52 on top of it.