Director Craig Gillespie’s Supergirl, starring Milly Alcock as the Maid of Might, is not taking off at the global box office. The film grossed about $37.1 million domestically in its opening weekend. It has made about $74 million globally so far. The film is underperforming financially and critically; Deadline recently reported that Supergirl could lose WB $125 million. There are numerous reasons why this film was a failure, but the most prominent is that the comic book stories of Supergirl are not that popular.
The 1987 – 2004 DC Comic Book Stories of Supergirl Feature Impostors
In fact, the original Supergirl was absent from DC Comics continuity from 1987 through 2004. The comic book stories of Supergirl would feature an imposter, a synthetic being who thought she was Supergirl, and then successive variants of that synthetic Supergirl being, for 17 years.
It’s a confusing history of erasure, clones, and variants that took two decades of tragic comic book sagas to bring the real Kara Zor-El back to DC Comics. The confusing backstory of Supergirl, niche popularity with comic book fans, and muted popularity with casual fans are not small contributing factors to the failure of 2026’s Supergirl.
The best way to explain this issue is to start from the beginning. Get ready, because this will be an epic, exciting, tragic, but convoluted ride through the erasure, lost years, and reemergence of Supergirl in DC Comics.
Supergirl’s 1959 Origin
Kara Zor-El made her debut in Action Comics #252 in May 1959. A city fragment of Krypton, under the protection of a force shield, survived the destruction of the planet. This city would be known as Argo City later. A teenage Kara is put in a rocket ship by her parents to go to Earth to be with her cousin, Kal-El, now operating as Superman.
Supergirl would go on zany adventures with the Legion of Super-Heroes in the future. An older couple would adopt Kara, and she would use the alias “Linda Danvers.” Still, the comic book stories of Supergirl were never that popular. She was more of a sidekick character. Kara would usually star in backup stories in Superman comics.
Kara got her first solo series in 1972, but it would last for 10 issues. Her first major comic book storyline would not occur until 1985, with her death in Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985)
By the early 1980s, DC editors were wrestling with the convolution of infinite universes and worlds in DC comics continuity. The comic book stories of Supergirl were then seen as redundant. DC editorial would decide that Superman would be the only survivor of Krypton to eradicate story confusion. So, derivative characters like Krypto, Superboy, and Supergirl should no longer exist.
The 1985 comics event Crisis on Infinite Earths was a way to simplify decades of over-complicated storytelling as much as telling a great story. In issue #7 of the story, Kara tries to stop the villain, the Anti-Monitor, from merging various multiverse Earths into one Earth. The Anti-Monitor shoots Kara with a blast of antimatter. Kara dies in Superman’s arms.
An impostor who mistakenly believes they are the real Supergirl would emerge two years later.
Kara’s Return as a Variant and Non-Living Clone (1987 – 1992)
Artist, writer, and creator John Byrne would modernize Superman in his 1986 series Man of Steel. In 1987, Byrne would bring back both Superboy and Supergirl in creatively unorthodox ways, even though the DC mandate demanded Kal-El be the last Kryptonian only 2 years earlier.
In Superman #21, Byrne created a micro-universe, a pocket universe, with a good Lex Luthor with red hair. The only superhero in this micro-universe was Superboy, who is now in the main DC universe with Superman. Lex decides to make a new superhero. So, he grants Kryptonian powers to the Lana Lang of that micro-universe.
Lana Lang Supergirl is Lana Lang with the powers of Supergirl. Three evil Kryptonians invade the micro-universe to destroy it and kill Lana. Lex Luthor then merges Lana’s DNA with experimental protoplasm material to create “Matrix Supergirl.” Matrix is a purple, clay-like synthetic being with shape-shifting powers, energy blasts, the ability to control her mass, and the memories of Lana Lang’s Supergirl.
Various versions of Matrix Supergirl will exist in DC Comics from 1987 through 2004, but not the actual Kara Zor-El, who died in Crisis on Infinite Earths #7. Also, Matrix does not know that she is a synthetic entity. Matrix would assume the form of Superman, go insane, and go on many traumatic adventures. She would exile herself into space until 1992.
Matrix Supergirl Returns to Earth (1992 – 1994)
While in exile, Matrix assumes the original aesthetic of Kara-Zor-El. She comes back to Earth and meets the real Lex Luthor. During this era, Lex Luthor is a clone of himself, pretending to be his own son, and has red hair. Matrix, who still has the memories of Lana Lang from the micro-universe, who was in love with the good Lex, who died, thinks she found good Lex again.
Matrix falls in love with Lex and acts as his bodyguard for a while. She finds out Lex is using her DNA to create a Supergirl army. She tries to kill him, but Superman stops her. Matrix fights with the New Titans for a while, but is aimless.
The comic book stories of Supergirl would only become more confusing.
Linda Danvers Supergirl (1996)
In 1996, the late writer Peter David would merge Matrix Supergirl with a new character, Linda Danvers. (Remember, the original 1959 Kara Zor-El used the “Linda Danvers” alias back in 1959 and the 1960s.) Linda Danvers was a cult member who was killed by her own cult. As she dies, Matrix Supergirl merges with the dying Linda.
This new Supergirl has the mind of Linda Danvers and the body of Matrix. The comic book stories of Linda Danvers’ Supergirl are aesthetically distinct because she wears a white, crop-top t-shirt with the Superman emblem and a blue mini-skirt. Linda Danvers was the Supergirl in the Justice League animated series of the era.
In this run, Linda and Matrix would separate again, but Linda would retain the superpowers she gained. Matrix would exile herself into space again. This series would last from 1996 to 2003, and DC would not use Matrix or Linda Danvers again.
Kara Zor-El’s Return (2004)
The original Kara Zor-El would return in Batman/ Superman #8 in 2004. This is an older Kara who arrives on a rocket ship, like in her classic Silver Age debut in Action Comics #252 in 1959. In this modern retelling of Kara’s Silver Age origin, her rocket ship sustains damage in the blast waves of Krypton’s destruction.
Her ship becomes fully covered in kryptonite and becomes an asteroid that hits Earth decades later than her original plan. This is the real Kara Zor-El, in a new continuity, who has not been seen since 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Matrix Supergirl, Lana Lang Supergirl, Linda Danvers Supergirl, and the micro-universe that was the start of all this story confusion are barely mentioned anymore.
Did DC Fail Supergirl in the Comics and Live-Action?
Supergirl 2026 fails in its characterization of Kara Zor-El because Milly Alcock’s portrayal does not have much character. She is young, drunk, aimless, with no purpose, who barhops across the galaxy and tries to help a young girl get revenge.
We don’t get to know who Kara is in this film, and readers never got to know the real Kara in the comic books from 1987 to 2004. Even then, 2021’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, the miniseries that is the creative inspiration for 2026’s Supergirl, is, in my opinion, the best Supergirl story in decades.
Considering how few great Supergirl stories there are, that is not saying much.
It was probably a mistake for DC to make the second DCU film about a derivative, female Superman analogue. Supergirl is not as popular in comic books or popular culture as her cousin Kal-El. Until DC gives her more iconic stories and definitively fleshes out her character after decades of trying to erase her, she may never be.
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