Super Girl is Stronger Than Superman:
First coming into the scene in Action Comics #252, Super Girl was the creation of artist Al Plastino and writer Otto Binder. Her story is simple – She is the cousin of Kal-El and is a resident of the Krytpon city of Kandor. While all her relatives were captured by Brainiac, Super Girl managed to escape to Earth, where she became the superhero Girl of Steel. Superman, the original Kryptonian Superhero, has always managed to out shadow Super Girl in terms of sheer strength, speed and popularity. But in the pages of pop culture, a different story is yet to be told. Turns out, Super Girl is actually stronger than Superman. And these comic book events prove our point.
1. Superman/Batman: Apocalypse
Superman/Batman: Apocalypse is a dark retelling of the advent of Super Girl as a superhero of Planet Earth within an animated premise. Kara has just crash-landed on Earth and is still confused as to what to do with her new-found superpowers. Wonder Woman is tasked by Superman and Batman to train Kara in the art of combat. Since Kara was an angry teenager then, manipulating her was even easier for Darkseid, who wanted to turn her into one of his military stooges and attack Superman. The fight that took place was completely one-sided. Super Girl had the upper hand throughout the duration of the fight. It did not look like Superman was trying to hold back. Kara did not even give him a chance to counter.
2. Super Girl says N.O
Superman is always seen as a mentor to Super Girl even though Super Girl is actually the older of the two. People tend to forget that. And sometimes, even Superman!! In Curt Swan’s Superman #376, Superman realizes that he has to let Super Girl go because she is not her protégé anymore. She is a grown woman and strong enough to make her own decisions now. That hits him hard. Even still, Superman pleads her to stay by his side. But Super Girl, now a headstrong woman, refuses to agree to that deal and leaves Superman for a bigger and brighter future, exploring the world and doing some good in the process.
3. The Super Girl vs. Superman fight in Season 2
Season 2 of Super Girl of The CW Network shows one epic fight between Super Girl and Super Man. A mind-controlled Superman goes berserk and starts destroying all life and property in Super Girl’s home town. Kara has to do something to stop him. The only way she knows of to get Clark Kent out of that trance is to beat him to a pulp. But it is Superman she is fighting with. So there has to be some form of resistance from her opponent. Daxam’s Queen Rhea really did a number on Superman’s mind. Super Girl had to go all out to get Superman back to his normal self. The punches shook the Earth and craters lay all over the city from the fight. In the end, not even Superman could fight Kara, who beat the former to an inch of his life.
4. Super Girl – Red Lantern
The New 52 set of comic books was a total revamp of the DC Superhero storylines. In the modern retelling of the classic superhero tales, Super Girl now finds herself being a worthy candidate for the Red Lantern Power Ring. She was abandoned by her family, betrayed by Brainiac and lost her home. She was the very few of her kind still alive in the universe. Naturally, she was angry at the bad hand fate had dealt her. The Red Lantern Power Ring, once worn by Super Girl, only amplified her powers to the point that she became a force of nature. Superman tries stopping her from wreaking more damage with her fury but her combined Kryptonian and Lantern powers are too much for him to handle.
5. Act of God
Why are we only comparing Super Girl’s powers to Superman’s?!?! Even when it comes to sheer character and courage, Super Girl is miles ahead of Superman. In one Else Worlds storyline called JLA: Act of God, all the superheroes of Earth suddenly lose access to all their powers. Nobody knows what led to this predicament but a vacuum is left by the superheroes not being able to stop the bad guys from doing their thing. Superman is also one of the de-powered heroes. So is Super Girl. But unlike her cousin, Super Girl does not lament herself with guilt and regret for being worthless. She joins the Police Force and becomes a cop. Even without powers, she is dedicated to saving lives and bettering society.
6. Crisis on Infinite Earths
In this epic Crisis storyline, The Anti-Monitor looks to erase all reality and get domain over the cradle of creation by destroying the Multi-Verse. Since the Anti-Monitor is a cosmic entity of epic proportions, literally no one has the power, not even Superman, to confront him head-on. So the best the heroes could do is trying and escape the Anti-Monitor’s wrath. Superman also does the same thing. But Super Girl proves she is the better Kryptonian by charging towards the supervillain instead of running away from him. Super Girl’s objective was to stall the villain long enough for the others to escape. But she ended up dying in the process when the Anti-Monitor’s Anti-Matter rays hit her point-blank, killing her instantly.
7. Else-world – A World without Superman
In a terribly premised What-If story arc, an alternate reality DC Universe exists where there is literally no Superman. When Clark Kent was but a kid, Lex Luthor had the alien child murdered and now keeps the baby’s remains in a jar. He also uses Superman’s dead remains to clone him and make a superhuman henchman for him-self. Nobody in the world knows that Lex Luthor, the most powerful man on Earth, who everyone thinks is a highly benevolent being, is actually a supervillain. Batgirl and Super Girl team up and manage to expose Luthor for the bad guy he is to the whole world. Super Girl even manages to defeat the Joker with a single punch!! Take that Batman!!
8. Hell hath no fury as a woman scorned
The popular saying by Shakespeare is all the more true for Super Girl. Many do not know but there was a time when Super Girl’s role was fulfilled by an alternate reality version of her hailing from Earth Zero. Her real name was Matrix and she was just as powerful as the mainstream Girl of Steel. In one issue, it is revealed that she fell in love with Lex Luthor’s son. But when she finds out that Lex Luthor had double-crossed her by cloning himself and trying to use her DNA to create an army of Super Girls to fight Superman, she got really pissed. Superman could only look in awe and horror as Super Girl chased Lex Luthor to certain death and thrashed his labs with such strength that could put even Superman to shame.
9. Enter the Super Woman
In JLA: Created Equal, a mysterious cosmic storm ends up giving a disease to the male population. Almost all of the males die. Superman, who now believes himself to a carrier of the virus, banishes himself from Earth. Now in a world that does not have Superman in it, Super Girl steps up to take over that mantle. She trains herself hard and gains new skills and abilities that help her become even stronger than Man of Steel, effectively transitioning from Super Girl to Super Woman.
10. Chain Breaker
Nothing can kill Superman. Okay maybe some people can but that list is very short indeed. And that short list also has Super Girl’s name in it. That is right!! Super Girl also has the distinction of killing Superman. In Super Girl: Breaking the Chain, Super Girl contracts acute Kryptonite poisoning. The negative effects of her ordeal lead to encountering violent hallucinations. She is also captured and planted with fake memories. Those memories make her think that it is her life-long mission to kill Superman. Super Girl soon fights Superman to a standstill. The end of the issue shows Super Girl standing atop Superman’s dead body, her fists drenched in his blood.
