Superwoman
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| Superwoman | |
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 Lois Lane as Superwoman, from All-Star Superman. Art by Frank Quitely. |
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Lois Lane of
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Kristin Wells
Laurel Kent Dana Deardon |
Superwoman is the name given to several fictional characters published over the years by DC Comics, most of them being, much like the more popular Supergirl, a woman with powers similar to those of Superman.
In an effort to prevent the use of a similar name to one of its premier heroes, the very popular Superman, the name "Superwoman" was originally copyrighted by Detective Comics in January 1942. As was the practice, an ashcan was created with the title of Superwoman to secure copyright for the title. The cover was a reproduction of More Fun Comics #73, with the interior content reprinting Action Comics #3. [1] The first true appearance of Superwoman, which is usually thought to have been one of many trial runs for the future introduction of Kara Zor-El as Supergirl years later, was printed in Action Comics #60 (1943).
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[edit] Versions
[edit] Lois Lane
The first appearance of the name "Superwoman" in a DC comic was a story in Action Comics #60 (from May 1943), where Lois Lane dreams that she has gained superpowers from a blood transfusion from Superman and launches a career as Superwoman.
The theme would be revisited in Superman #45 (Mar/Apr 1947) in a story titled "Lois Lane, Superwoman!", in which a pair of fraudulent magicians cast a "spell" on Lane, making her believe she has superpowers. Superman is forced to play along with the ruse for a time, using super-speed to invisibly intervene in Lane's adventures, supporting the illusion. She briefly sports a costume modeled on Superman's before the spell is "broken". A story from Action Comics #156 in May 1951 has Lois actually gaining superpowers thanks to one of Luthor's inventions, and launches a short-lived career as "Superwoman."
Later stories would sporadically feature tales in which Lois gained superpowers and functioned as a "Superwoman" of sorts, but all of these were, like the 1951 tale above, only temporary, with the powers wearing off by the end of the story. A typical example of this is "The Turnabout Powers" from Superman Family #207 (May-June 1981) where the Earth-Two Lois Lane gained powers from her husband (the Earth-Two Superman) through the unexpected effect of an exotic extraterrestrial plant Superman had brought into their home. The plant's death reversed the effect. Another example would be in the Batman/Superman: World's Finest mini-series where Mr. Mxyzptlk briefly transformed Lois into a "Superwoman" with costume and powers.
At the end of All-Star Superman #2, Lois Lane is presented with a formula called "Exo-Genes" created by Superman that allows her to have his powers for 24 hours, and she became Superwoman. During her adventures with her new Kryptonian powers in All-Star Superman #3, she was wooed by two superhumans named "Samson" and "Atlas", and was captured by a time-Ultrasphinx. Her powers faded away at the end of the day.
[edit] Crime Syndicate of America
In 1964, an evil counterpart of Wonder Woman from a parallel universe named "Superwoman" was introduced. This Superwoman was a member of the Crime Syndicate of America, a villainous counterpart of the Justice League of America from the parallel world of "Earth-Three" (vs. the Justice League's world of "Earth-One"). Superwoman, like Wonder Woman, was an Amazon, and possessed similar powers of super-strength and flight, had the use of a magic lasso, only hers could change shape into any form she desired.
The Pre-Crisis version of Superwoman was killed in Crisis on Infinite Earths #1 as she was trying to save Earth-Three from being destroyed by the Anti-Monitor's antimatter wave.
In current Post-Crisis continuity, as established in the 1998 graphic novel JLA: Earth 2, Superwoman (and the rest of the Crime Syndicate) comes from a parallel world similar to Earth, but located in an antimatter universe.
Superwoman continues to make occasional appearances as a member of the Crime Syndicate, most recently appearing in storylines in the Justice League and Superman comics. Unlike her pre-Crisis counterpart, her magic lasso doesn't change shape, but releases the inhibitions of anyone tied with it (just as Wonder Woman's compels victims to tell the truth). She also possesses heat vision, as Superman does.
Taking the alias Lois Lane, Superwoman is an Amazon by birth, and has risen through the ranks to become the chief editor of the Daily Planet in 'Patriarch's World'. In appearance she resembles Wonder Woman's secret identity of Diana Prince. Superwoman irks her colleagues and ticks them off. For instance, Catherine Grant once responded to Earth-1 Superman's enquiry as to her whereabouts, "probably popping little Jimmy Olsen's zits"; Cat Grant also refers to Superwoman as "Queen Bitch".[issue # needed]
The only civilian who knows of Superwoman's secret identity is Jimmy Olsen, who, as a pervert, does what she tells him in exchange for the favour of watching when she changes her outfit. He is so besotted that he ignores her gibes and insults, even when she taunts, "Superwoman's Snitch, Jimmy Olsen. That's what your own Newspaper calls you." -- a reference to his mainstream title of "Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen".
On Earth-2, Ultraman forced Superwoman into marrying him, and hates her frigidity towards him. Meanwhile, she is carrying on a torrid affair with Owlman, and they sneak trysts whenever they feel Ultraman is not watching. However, from his floating fortress (The antimatter counterpart to the fortress of solitude), Ultraman never avoids firing warning laser beams towards them whenever he catches them making out.
[edit] Superman's female counterpart
In Superman (volume 1) #349 (in a story entitled "The Turnabout Trap!"), Superman returns from an interstellar mission to find that everyone on Earth are of opposite sex. Among them are Penny White (a female Perry White), Jenny Olsen (a female Jimmy Olsen), Louis Lane (a male Lois Lane), Batwoman (a female Batman, rather than the actual character), Wonder Warrior (a male Wonder Woman), Black Condor (a male Black Canary), and Superwoman (his female counterpart) herself. Believing he crossed into a parallel universe, Superman flies back to space to find a dimensional portal, but is blocked by an invisible barrier. He notices the parallelism fails when he sees Superwoman and Clara Kent (Superwoman's presumed secret identity) are two separate people.
After a battle with Superwoman, Superlad (a male Supergirl), and Wonder Warrior, Superman figures out that his foe Mr. Mxyzptlk is behind this gender-reversed world; Superman discovers as well as that he was never in a parallel universe, but rather on Earth, which Mxyzptlk had altered with his magic. After making Mxyzptlk say his name backwards and thus returning to his native dimension, the effects of Mxyzptlk's magic (including the existence of Superwoman) vanish, returning the Earth to normal.
A new Superwoman named "Laurel", apparently a female version of Superman from a parallel Earth, appeared for the first time in Superman/Batman #23 (November 2005), and was featured in issue #24. In this Universe, much like in the one featured in "The Turnabout Trap!"), it appears everybody is the same except for reverse gender: there is a Batwoman (female Batman), Superlad (male Supergirl), and a Darkseid known as the "Dark Queen". (It is notable that in pre-Crisis continuity, "Laurel Kent" was the name of a 30th century descendant of Superman who occasionally appeared in stories featuring the Legion of Super-Heroes, and was replaced in continuity by Laurel Gand.)
[edit] Kristin Wells
Another version of Superwoman, this one a heroic character, came about in the form of Kristin Wells, who was created by Superman comic writer Elliot S! Maggin. Kristin first appeared in Maggin's Superman novel Miracle Monday, but he later introduced her in the pages of DC Comics Presents as Superwoman.
Kristin is a descendant of Jimmy Olsen who lived in the 29th century (like Jimmy, Kristin is a freckled redhead). She was a journalism student whose graduation thesis was the successful investigation of the origins of the holiday known as Miracle Monday, using a form of time travel technology that had just began to be used by the public in her era. She then became a teacher, but became interested in finding out the identity of Superwoman, the last superhero from the 20th century whose identity was never found out. She managed to convince the authorities of her time to send her again to the present, at the moment when Superwoman was supposed to debut, helping Superman fight a villain called King Kosmos. Kristin soon deduced that SHE was supposed to become Superwoman, and, using some of the technology she had brought from the future which (conveniently enough) allowed her to pretend to have super powers (including flight, teleportation, empathy, precognition, and telekinesis), she disguised herself and helped Superman defeat Kosmos. She revealed the truth to Superman, then returned to the future to make the information public. Kristin realized she would have to periodically return to the 20th century to ensure that all the historical events Superwoman was part of were fulfilled.
However, during one of those trips, a malfunction of the time travel process---which was still imperfect---left Kristin trapped in the past, suffering amnesia. This caused her boyfriend to lead a movement against time travel that eventually resulted in it being banned. Years later, Kristin returned home, apparently having recovered her memories, and was reunited with him. The details of her later activities in the present (and of her return to the future) remained unrevealed. Kristin's last appearance to date was in the non-canonical story Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? in 1986 and later seen briefly as a one panel ghost in the non-canon "The Kingdom: Planet Krypton" in 1999; her character has yet to reappear in the current (post-Crisis on Infinite Earths) continuity of DC Comics.
[edit] Dana Dearden
Obsessed Superman fan Dana Dearden stole mystic artifacts which granted her the strength of Hercules, the speed (and flight) of Hermes, the thunderbolts of Zeus, and the sight of Heimdall. In Adventures of Superman # 538 (September 1996) Dana donned a green-and-purple uniform with "Superwoman" written down the leggings, and called herself Superwoman, and tried to get Superman to fall in love with her (by kidnapping Jimmy Olsen to get his signal watch). He rejected her advances, and Jimmy called her Obsession. She vanished attempting to help Superman rescue people from a burning ship. In Superman: The Man of Tomorrow #10, when Superman was split into his Red and Blue energy forms, Superwoman returned hoping that one of the Supermen would return her feelings, but Maxima intervened, and used her telepathy to convince Superwoman that she would destroy Superman with her love. Later, in Adventures of Superman # 574 (January 2000) the telepathic illusion wore off, and she would try to win Superman over again, this time in a red-and blue costume very similar to his, and claimed to be his wife. She died trying to protect him from demons, since she knew he was vulnerable to magic.
[edit] Other uses
Various comic stories, pre- and post-Crisis, have offered glimpses of possible futures assuming that one of the various incarnations of Supergirl would eventually change her codename to Superwoman. One example is Superman Family #200 (April 1980) in which all the stories are set in the then-futuristic 1999 or 2000 (the timeframe is cited only as "the turn of the century") with the characters aged appropriately, including an older Linda Danvers (Kara Zor-El) who divides her time between adventuring as Superwoman and serving as governor of Florida. Alternately, some stories assume one of Superman's female descendants would assume the name "Superwoman", like his great-granddaughter Lara from Superman/Batman: Generations III.
[edit] External links
- Maggin on Superwoman's origins
- Supermanica: Superwoman Supermanica entry on several pre-Crisis Superwomen
Categories: Comics articles needing issue citations | DC Comics characters who can fly | DC Comics characters who can move at superhuman speeds | DC Comics characters with superhuman strength | DC Comics superheroes | DC Comics supervillains | DC Comics supporting characters | Fictional doppelgängers | Fictional Amazons | Spin-off comic book superheroes
