Supergirl and Stargirl In JLU

I know I am exactly one week late to join the on-line commentary about Smallville:Absolute Justice. But man-o-man, did I really like the episode. There was almost too much to love in the show but there were things that really stuck out for me.

We saw Ma Hunkle, the Jay Garrick Flash helmet, Hawkman wielding a mace angrily, the resurrection of the Green Arrow/Hawkman prickly relationship. We saw a live action Dr. Fate shooting ankh beams. We saw the Martian Manhunter in all his green glory for a split second. We saw Amanda Waller and Checkmate. It was almost too much to digest!

My favorite part was when Fate touched Clark and for a second we saw the red fluttering cape. And then Fate said something like 'You will usher in a Silver Age of heroism!'. That was the moment for me. Isn't it time for us to finally see 'flights and tights'?

Anyways, Stargirl had a nice role in the episode and blog friend Adam Smasher recommended a review of the JLU Season Two episode 'Chaos At Earth's Core', the biggest Stargirl/Supergirl tean-up I am aware of. Apologies for the lousy images, pulled off of the internet. The episode itself is available in its entirety on YouTube.


The show starts off with John Stewart, Stargirl, and STRIPES trying to capture a Gamora style monster from flattening Tokyo.

While the three heroes work hard to corral the flaming turtle, it is Supergirl who suddenly shows up and finishes the monster off. When the heroes land on the street, it is Supergirl who is surrounded by adoring fans. Look at the school-girl Supergirl wannabes!

This cold shoulder and lack of appreciation irks Stargirl. She thinks that Supergirl is pampered, too perfect, and maybe a bit conceited. It is sort of recurring theme we see every so often - other young heroes thinking that Supergirl's life is easy when readers of her adventures know it is far from it.

The heroes pile up into the javelin and start to fly home.

As I have said in the past, the Bruce Timm cartoons always had small flourishes that let me know the crew cared about making three dimensional characters. Here we see a personality quirk they put in animated character ... she likes to stick her tongue out at people when aggravated.

Unfortunately it is a short flight. The javelin is pulled through a tunnel/dimension door into Skartaris. There it becomes pretty apparent that a war is ongoing. Also, it seems that, for some unknown reason, Kara is slowly losing her powers in this environment. The sun is shown to be pinkish but it definitely is not red.

But her lack of powers makes Supergirl the physically weakest of the group of heroes. In fact, she needs to be saved by some demonic troops by Stargirl who takes great joy in lauding the fact over Kara. Courtney acts like this is a comeuppance that is owed Supergirl.

The heroes eventually run into The Warlord and his troops who have been at war with the armies of his enemy Deimos. Deimos has better weapons and has been storming Skartaris to get his hands on a mystic rock. It is later revealed that both Metallo and The Silver Banshee are working with Deimos. They will help him conquer Skartaris in exchange for the rock.

The 'mystic rock' turns out to be a massive boulder of Kryptonite. In Skartaris it can heal.

Since she is depowered (and again for some unexplained reason), Kryptonite has less of an efect on Supergirl. A rock this size can still floor her. But the effects of Kryptonite on her here seem to take longer to take effect.

Before the heroes can puzzle the whole thing out, Deimos' armies attack.



Green Lantern, Stargirl, and STRIPES all wade into battle using their weapons.

Stargirl does notice that despite having no power, Supergirl doesn't shy away from doing the right thing. Here we see Supergirl out with the infantry, wielding a sword.

And here we see her using Stargirl's cosmic rod as a spear to attack Metallo. Stargirl had been defeated by Metallo a few moments earlier.

It is a nice little scene. While Kryptonite works slower on her here, it still hurts. Still Supergirl bluffs Metallo telling him that she is immune to Kryptonite here. (That is another recurring story in the Silver Age ... Supergirl becoming immune to Kryptonite, in essence becoming stronger than Superman.)


But it becomes pretty clear to Metallo that Supergirl is both powerless and still effected by Kryptonite. He cruelly stalks her around the castle as she staggers weaker and weaker.

He finally grabs her by the throat to finish her off. He derides her telling her that she has 'none of her cousin's strength'. Supergirl smiles slyly responding that she 'has brains'. Being that close to Metallo allows her to cram a dagger into his chest popping the Kryptonite power source out of him.

Both frozen ( him from being suddenly powerless, her from weakness and being in his grasp), Metallo says that Supergirl will still die from the proximity to the removed Green K.

Luckily, Stargirl shows up. Courtney seems to finally recognize that Supergirl isn't a pampered primadonna; she's a true hero, bloodied and unbowed. Stargirl throws the Kryptonite away.


In the meantime, the other heroes mop up the infantry and The Warlord defeats Deimos.

The show does a good job of showcasing The Warlord and his little corner of the DCU. We see Machiste, Deimos, and his daughter.

The heroes decide to leave the Kryptonite in Skartaris where it seems to be able to do some good. But GL seals the passage to Skartaris forever so the villains can't try to get at it again.

The heroes return to Earth and the two young girls realize that they probably have more in common than they thought. Stargirl complains about her curfew; Supergirl complains about her time spent on the farm.

I have nothing but good things to say about the JLU cartoon. The show was fabulous, treating the characters and their universe seriously (except for episodes intentionally played for humor). In particular, they always treated the character of Supergirl wonderfully. She was strong, confident, a bit of a hot-head, but always heroic. She didn't always kowtow to her brother. She was her own person.

This episode was a nice little look at what other young heroes might think of Supergirl. It was interesting to see Supergirl played up as a role model of heroism for the younger generation.

Thanks again to Adam Smasher for the idea!