As a comics character, DC’sSupergirlis a pretty simple pitch - she’s Superman’s cousin, with the same Kryptonian powers and aneven bigger helping of traumafrom seeing her homeworld destroyed. However, when you dig beneath the surface, almost every element of Kara Zor-El’s lore is bizarre, right down to her"first kiss."
In 2004, DC reinvented Supergirl, essentially reintroducing her to official lore. Around this time,Supergirlstories had two constants, with DC taking every opportunity to A) differentiate her powers from Superman’s and B) sexualize the character wherever possible. These two trends converged inSupergirl’s first kiss with Poison Ivy.
InSupergirl Volume 5 #0- from Jeph Loeb, Ian Churchill, Norm Rapmund, Christina Strain and Richard Starkings - Supergirl takes on a group of villains directed by the villainous Calculator, with Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy and Clayface teaming up against her. However, when Poison Ivy attempts to control Supergirl with a kiss, she discovers a whole new ability…
Supergirl Kissing Poison Ivy Revealed Her Kryptonite Immunity
Kara Discovered a Power Even Superman Doesn’t Have
In DC lore,Kryptonians are famously vulnerable to Kryptonite, with the different colors poisoning them, stripping them of their powers, and even turning them evil. However, when Poison Ivy kissed Supergirl, Kara discovered that she’s immune to synthetic Kryptonite - the most common version that Lex Luthor uses to harm her cousin Superman.
While Supergirl states that the encounter was especially weird for"my first kiss", Batgirl (actually Clayface in disguise) notes that Kara somehow avoided Poison Ivy’s pheromone control, despite the same trick working on Superman (during the events of the iconicBatman: Hush.) This is the first confirmation that lab-grown Kryptonite doesn’t affect Supergirl, making her immune to Superman’s most common weakness.
While this over-sexualized era of Supergirl (which introduced her with a nude brawl against Batman and Superman) is remembered less than fondly in some ways, differentiating Kara’s powers from Superman’s was a good idea that successfully captured fan interest. It’s also worth noting that as weird as it is for Supergirl’s"first kiss"to be with a supervillain, that’s far from the oddest thing about her love life.
Supergirl’s Love Life Has Always Been Messed Up
Kara’s Love Life Has Been a Disaster for Decades
Introduced in 1959’sAction Comics #252, Supergirl’s early stories mark her out as the product of a different time. In particular,undertones of attraction between Superman and Supergirl are guaranteed to discomfort modern fans, with Superman’s dialogue inAction Comics #289seemingly confirming that theonlyreason he doesn’t marry his cousin is because Krypton’s laws forbid it.
However, Supergirl’s weirdest love connection wasn’t with her cousin…it was with her horse. In Supergirl’s original lore, her super-powered horse Comet was a former centaur gifted superpowers by the mythic witch Circe. It was a running plot line that Comet secretly loved and pined for Supergirl, with various plotlines bringing them together while Comet was in human form. Surprisingly, Tom King and Bilquis Evely’sSupergirl: Woman of Tomorrow(the basis for her upcoming DCU movie) confirmed that Supergirl’s steed is still so in love with her, he’ll sacrifice his life to keep her safe.
Other Supergirl love interests include Lex Luthor in a clone body, a Merboy named Jerro and the villainous Captain Boomerang (though not all of these apply to Kara, as there have been multiple versions of Supergirl.) Meanwhile, the recentBatman/Superman: World’s Finest #12(from Mark Waid and Emanuela Lupacchino) revealed an early date between Robin and Supergirl that went so badly, Dick Grayson came up with his ‘Nightwing’ identity for the first time just to be able to dodge Kara the next time they met.
It seems that when it comes to comics,Supergirl’s love life is destined to be truly bizarre, though at least in the case of being kissed by Poison Ivy, she got a new superpower out of it.
