Superwoman Clues Reviewed Part One - Superwoman Scenes

So we now know that Lucy Lane is Superwoman.

The question is .... should we have known all along? A couple of other sites have posts that make it seem as if the Lucy reveal was obvious. I have to say I didn't feel that way to me. So I thought I would take a look back at the clues and try to add some commentary as to whether or not I missed anything.

In retrospect, a lot of things work. But it is the Lucy's motivation that eludes me right now. So let's take a look back at Superwoman scenes to see if it all makes sense. I hope to do a part 2, looking at Lucy Lane scenes to see if there was anything there that could have also helped.

As with most 'Superwoman clues' posts, this one will be pretty long so bear with me.

First the clues that fit:

Humanity:





With any number of Kryptonians as suspects, Superwoman tells us herself she is not Kryptonian in Supergirl #38. If anything should have pointed us away from Alura and steered us towards Lucy Lane it was this scene where Superwoman is both immune to Gold K and tell us outright that she is not from Krypton.


Powers:


The easiest thing to explain away are Superwoman's powers. In comics, people getting super-powers seems to be a fairly common event. Given the crackles and sputters and 'vzzt' that are evident in almost every scene Superwoman is in, my guess is her powers are at least partly derived from the suit she is wearing. Super-speed, super-hearing, super-strength all can be explained by the suit. We have even see some form of ice powers (maybe super-breath). And if the powers are tech-derived, Lucy would be a prime candidate to be Superwoman. With the Kryptonian knowledge in Brainiac's database, Lucy would have access to the necessary technology.




Here she says that it was the suit which protected her from Reactron's blasts. She even says she hopes not to learn what would happen if the suit failed. If her powers are not natural and instead technology based, that would not only eliminate Kryptonians but also Linda Danvers, Maxima, and other outliers.


All that said, I don't think that the suit alone explains all her powers. Here Lucy survives in open space. She also shoot eyebeams without goggles. So there may be some biologic basis for her powers as well. Maybe some sort of Kryptonian gene-splicing.

My other problem here is that if such technology existed, wouldn't General Lane be churning out similarly powered soldiers?



Military training and outlook:

Major Lane is a starched and polished military woman who follows orders without a second thought. Superwoman looks about the same.



So when Superwoman says things like 'intruder alert' ...

or 'stand down', it should have clued us in that she was a military woman like Lucy.


And when she gets orders and drops whatever else she is doing, that should also have clued us in to the regimented mindset of someone in the military.

Now the clues/things I need to be explained to me:

Kryptonian knowledge and lair:

At least twice we are shown Superwoman padding around a Kryptonian domicile and getting into her suit. Here is our first look at Superwoman from Supergirl #35.



Just how did Lucy establish herself and a room to ready herself on Kandor so shortly after it was enlarged? And just how did she keep her humanity hidden from 100,000 Kryptonians who were becoming more and more suspicious and angry at humanity?


Here we see Superwoman speak fluent Kryptonese. Okay, if the suit is Brainiac based and Brainiac has total knowledge of all things Kryptonian, then maybe Kryptonese could be downloaded into Lucy somehow.




And not only was Lucy able to fly around unmolested in Kandor but here we see her flying around New Krypton with Kara. New Krypton was established after Alura took her more xenophobic stance against Earth. How could Lucy so easily move back and forth from Earth without being seen by the Kryptonians?


Motivation:

This is perhaps the biggest question in my mind. Why the heck is Lucy doing all this? Why wear the S-shield? Why single out Kara?

Let's look at some scenes. First the opening scene from Supergirl #37, the Faces of Evil issue.


Here is another scene from a Kryptonian room. Now when I first read this scene, I thought when she said 'my people' she meant Kryptonians. But knowing she is Lucy Lane, she is probably talking about humans.

So how does becoming Superwoman help humans?


And the stroking of the S-shield when she says 'my family' now seems like a red herring.

So maybe she means she wants to help the Lanes, specifically her father. In that case, why the deception ... why the mask?

If she means the Kent/Lane family then she means she wants to help Superman and Supergirl which also seems unlikely given her actions.

So what motivates her to wear a 'S shield'? Why that costume? Why the character of Superwoman?


Here she states she Superman 'inspired' her. Even if I read these lines as complete lies now, even if I think that her saying that the super-family made her want to fight for what's right is a falsehood, I still don't understand the 'why'. Why become Superwoman ... unless it is simply to disgrace the House of El.


And what is the motivation behind all of her Kryptonian political talk here?

Is it to spread unrest on New Krypton? Maybe try to plant the seeds of rebellion against Alura to try to weaken the Kryptonian resolve? Become closer to Supergirl?

By why want to get closer to Kara?


Is it to try to keep Supergirl off Earth so that Daddy's dream of a Kryptonian free Earth is achieved?

I need to hear the 'whys' about all of this. Why did Lucy do all this? Unlike her powers, I don't have an easy explanation in my mind here.

Deferring to Daddy:

And then this scene.

Why the worried look as General Lane says 'I know who you are?' Isn't she all about helping Daddy dearest? And in that case why hide her identity around him at all? Unless General Lane has guessed wrong and thinks someone else is wearing the cloak.

More than any other scene, these two panels made me think Lucy was less likely a candidate. I need to hear why she looks so concerned and how General Lane figured it out.



But even though Lucy has already shown her complete loyalty to General Lane, I just find it hard to believe that she would so easily descend into evil such as killing this innocent woman.

Why would Lucy obey such reprehensible orders?

I know that there are a lot of possibilities still out there - the Lucy reveal is another red herring, Lucy has a split personality, etc.

I am confident that all will be explained next issue.