In his inception, Superman was the only super-hero in existence. Although eventually more super-heroes showed up (some members of his supporting cast - usually Lois Lane - gained temporary super-powers and he first teamed up with the Batman Family
Something bad happened, but I survived. And because of it I know there's a bigger reckoning on the horizon. One I'll need the entire Super-Family for...Superman
The Superman Family is an unofficial informal name given to Superman and his various allies. Team Superman is another unofficial name for the group.
History
The Golden Age
In his inception, Superman was the only super-hero in existence. Although eventually more super-heroes showed up (some members of his supporting cast - usually Lois Lane - gained temporary super-powers and he first teamed up with the Batman Family in 1941),[1] he was a lone hero for many years.
In 1945 Jerry Siegel and Don C. Cameron created Superboy, [2] retconning Superman's initial origin where Kal-L started out his super-hero career after moving to Metropolis.
The Silver Age
The Silver Age saw the birth and growth of the Superman Family. It was revealed that Krypto the Superdog, Kal-El's pet dog, had survived the destruction of Krypton.[3] Shortly after that Kal-El found out that his cousin, Kara Zor-El, had also survived.[4] Kara took the name Supergirl and became Superman's apprentice and later partner.
Eventually, Superman and Supergirl found more super-powered and sentient animals - Streaky the Supercat, Comet the Super-Horse, and Beppo the Super-Monkey - which made up the Legion of Super-Pets alongside Krypto and Proty II. The Legion of Super-Pets was an infrequent ally to the Super-Cousins and the Legion of Super-Heroes, but eventually they faded out.
Before meeting Supergirl, Superman rescued Kandor, a Kryptonian city that was stolen and bottled by Brainiac.[5] One of the rescued Kandorians was Van-Zee, another of Superman's long-lost relatives.[6]
When Kandorian scientist Than-Ol convinced the people of the Bottle City of Kandor to declare Superman an enemy of Kandor, Superman and Jimmy Olsen shrunk themselves, entered Kandor, and first assumed the secret identities of Nightwing and Flamebird to help them in their quest to prove Superman's innocence.[7] From that time on, the aliases of Nightwing and Flamebird would be adopted by different members of the Superman and Batman Families.
The Bronze Age
In 1971 DC published "Superman: Sandman Saga", getting Superman's Bronze Age underway. At the beginning of the era, the Legion of Super-Pets disappeared and only Krypto remained.
Several years after Superman and Jimmy's Kandorian adventure, Van-Zee and his niece's husband, Ak-Var, took on the identities of Nightwing and Flamebird and fought crime in Kandor.[8]
In 1976, Gerry Conway, Ric Estrada and Wally Wood created Power Girl, cousin of Earth-Two's Superman, who was intended to be a bolder and more brash version of Supergirl.[9]
In 1985, DC published Crisis on Infinite Earths. The death of Supergirl during that conflict and the editorial mandate which established Superman's status as the sole survivor of Krypton meant the end of the Superman Family for many years.
The Modern Age
In 1986, DC rebooted Superman. In the new reality, Superman was never Superboy and never joined the Legion of Super-Heroes, neither Kara Zor-El nor Krypto existed, Power Girl was retconned to be an Atlantean and there were no Kryptonian survivors other than Kal-El. Superman was alone again.
In 1988, John Byrne introduced the Matrix to replace Supergirl.[10] The new Supergirl was a protoplasmic, shape-shifting artificial lifeform that hailed from a destroyed pocket dimension and took the shape of a female Superman. Although she was taken in by Jonathan and Martha Kent, she had few ties to Superman, if any.
Ironically, it was after the "Death of Superman" storyline in 1992 when the Superman Family started rebuilding itself in the two sequel storylines "Funeral for a Friend" and "Reign of the Supermen". After spending years as Brainiac's pawn and later Lex Luthor's dupe, the Matrix stepped up to the plate to become the protector of Metropolis. A new Superboy and a new hero named Steel plus his niece, Natasha Irons, rose to fill the vacuum left by Superman's death. Several Superman impostors also showed up, including the Eradicator, an alien lifeform that was designed to preserve Kryptonian culture.
In 1995, the Alpha Centurion returned to Earth after 2,000 years and took up residence in Metropolis. He regularly assisted Superman in combating threats to the city and recruited the Superman Family into the "Superman Rescue Squad" to rescue Superman when he was put on trial by the Tribunal. The Centurion continued assisting Superman after returning with him to Earth, but decided to leave Metropolis after rogue Team Luthor armors, operated by men under his command as the "Centurions", fired on civilians while their operators were also killed. He would continue assisting the Superman Family, however.
In 1996, the Matrix merged with a human girl called Linda Danvers in order to save her life. The resulting individual became an Earth Angel with fire powers. Linda took up the Supergirl moniker and had a number of adventures protecting her hometown until she came upon the Earth-One Kara Zor-El in "Supergirl: Many Happy Returns". Linda looked after and mentored the reality-displaced original Supergirl and also attempted to prevent her death at the hands of the Anti-Monitor. She failed, which led to her retirement. Before that, though, both Linda and Kara joined Superman and the rest of the Superman Family to fight Darkseid for Steel's life.[11]
After Linda's retirement, a new Supergirl named Cir-El, who believed herself to be Superman and Lois Lane's daughter from a possible future, turned up.[12] Shortly afterward, she forfeited her life and erased herself from existence in order to prevent an awful future from coming to pass.[13]
During that time, a new Krypto was reintroduced.
After Cir-El's removal, Kara Zor-El returned in "Superman/Batman: The Supergirl from Krypton". After meeting her cousin, Kara took up the Supergirl mantle and eventually proved to be worthy of her place in the ranks of the Superman Family, joining both the Legion of Super-Heroes and the Justice League. Subsequently, Kara filled in for her temporarily de-powered or absent cousin as the guardian of Metropolis in "Superman: Up, Up and Away!" and "Superman: Grounded", during which she saved the Bizarro World in "Supergirl: Bizarrogirl" and stopped a plot to destroy the newest generations of super-heroes in "Supergirl: Good-Looking Corpse".
At the same time, Power Girl's original Kryptonian background was restored in "Power Girl: Power Trip" and Infinite Crisis. Kara Zor-L was now once again a full-fledged member of the Superman Family.
Several 2008 Superman storylines changed the Superman Family's status quo altogether: in "Superman: Last Son", Clark Kent and Lois Lane adopted a Kryptonian boy, naming him Chris Kent. Chris turned out to be the son of the Kryptonian criminals Dru-Zod and Ursa, but he disowned his birth parents. In Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes, Superman reestablished his bonds with the Legion of Super-Heroes. In "Superman: Brainiac", Superman and Supergirl fought Brainiac and rescued the Bottle City of Kandor.
Kandor being enlarged on Earth led to several multi-issue story arcs, including "New Krypton", "World of New Krypton", "Codename: Patriot", "Last Stand of New Krypton" and "War of the Supermen", which dealt with the ramifications caused by the presence of several thousands of Kryptonians on Earth. During that time, Chris Kent and his girlfriend and Kara's friend, Thara Ak-Var, became the new Nightwing and Flamebird. Unfortunately, Nightwing got stuck in the Phantom Zone and Flamebird died during the final battle to save both Earth and New Krypton.
Although Superman and Supergirl ultimately failed to save New Krypton, they and the remaining members of the Superman Family faced their next challenge soon afterward when Lex Luthor used Doomsday as a pawn to keep them busy in "Reign of Doomsday".
Post-Flashpoint
Due to the reality-changing events of Flashpoint, the members of the Superman Family had their memories altered and their history re-written so that they forgot about their bonds. Although Superman, Supergirl, Superboy and the other team members have worked together since, their relationship became more strained and distant for a while until it was restored: Superman and Supergirl patched things up after her Red Lantern stint, and Supergirl defended Superboy from her own teammates, apologizing for mistreating him in the past.
In "Superman: The Final Days of Superman", the Prime Earth Superman faced his own mortality and saw that Supergirl was ready to replace him if need be.
After the events of "Superman: Reborn", Superman was made aware that reality had been tampered with by someone massively powerful and he needed the whole Superman Family to fight him, so he visited each member - Supergirl, Steel, Super-Man, and Superwoman - and asked them to fight at his side when the time came.
In "Superman: Revenge", the Superman Family had their first test when a new Superman Revenge Squad was put together by the Cyborg Superman in order to destroy Superman once and for all.
Trivia
- A comic book series titled The Superman Family ran from 1974 to 1982. The series included the adventures of Kara Zor-El; Kal-L with his wife, Lois Lane Kent; Jimmy Olsen; the first Krypto's adventures and Clark Kent's life outside of being Superman.
See Also
Links
- None.
Footnotes
- ↑ World's Best Comics #1
- ↑ More Fun Comics #101
- ↑ Adventure Comics #210
- ↑ Action Comics #252
- ↑ Action Comics #242
- ↑ Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #15
- ↑ Superman #158
- ↑ Superman Family #183
- ↑ All-Star Comics #58
- ↑ Superman (Volume 2) #16
- ↑ Superman Versus Darkseid: Apokolips Now #1
- ↑ Superman: The 10¢ Adventure #1
- ↑ Superman (Volume 2) #200
- ↑ Action Comics #1046