15 Mind-Blowing Facts About Supergirl You Need To Know

2. A Bizarre Origin Story

Like many heroes created in the 50s and 60s, Supergirl's origin story is more than a little strange. In a bid to see if readers would be interested in a character like this, a number of stories were released to test the waters featuring the character. One saw Jimmy Olsen wish a statue of Supergirl to life, only for her to become infected with a lethal dose of Kryptonite (after saving Superman's life) leading to the young Daily Planet photographer being forced to wish her out of existence. However, as bizarre as that tale was, it proved that there was an interest from readers to see more Supergirl, so she ended up making her official debut shortly after in Action Comics #252. Unfortunately the creative team failed to come up with a secret identity as interesting as Clark Kent, as she originally took on the name of Linda Lee until she was adopted years later by Fred and Edna Danvers and renamed Linda Lee Danvers (this is vaguely similar to what the new TV show has done with the character). Linda was pretty much just a regular teenager, but the whole concept of a female Superman counterpart could have ended up playing out a lot differently. Another idea DC Comics tried before introducing Supergirl was turning Lois Lane into Superwoman, something which thankfully didn't stick, especially as she gained her powers after receiving a blood transfusion from Superman, though that's something Marvel arguably ripped off years later when they introduced She-Hulk!