Supergirl - The Student Becomes the Teacher

The announcement that Supergirl will be joining the recurring cast of Smallville is intriguing for a number of reasons. First off, like the Daily Planet, Lois Lane and a variety of other elements from the DC universe, it's being introduced out of continuity and "tweaked" to more appropriately fit the Superman universe as established by the series. Based on some recent comments by executive producer Al Gough,it would seem that Kara Zor-El, who already has the power to fly, will play an important role in Clark Kent's continuing evolution toward his destiny as Superman. If that's the case, it's a reverse of the character's lore in that in the comics Kara arrived on on Earth well after Clark had become Superman, and he's the one who mentored and prepared her for life as a Kryptonian on earth. To date, Supergirl has appeared on film in the 1984 movie starring Helen Slater as the Girl of Steel, and as a part of DC's animated universe. Additionally, in season three of Smallville, Adrianne Palicki played a character claiming to be Kara, but she turned out to be a pawn of Jor-El's manipulation of his son. And besides all of those, scour the Internet and you'll find a wide variety of Supergirl fans who have decided to don her costume themselves.