In the past I've introduced you loyal readers to Matrix, to Indigo, and to Natasha Irons, all of whom are teenaged female members of The Superman Family. It may seem like a trend with the DC Comics characters I talk about, but there is a reason these "Super girls" pop up every now and again. While The Batman Family has been kept mostly intact-even through The New 52 which cast out a few female sidekicks and ruined the relationships with male sidekicks-the Superman Family is only recovering now with Supergirl and Bizarro and Superman's new son Jon becoming more prominent. So with the Superman Family gaining members again I'd like to shove another former member of the family in your face with the hopes that DC remembers her too. Before there was the son of Superman, there was his daughter Cir-El, this Week's Z-Lister.
Cir-El was created by Steve Seagle (not related to Jerry Siegel) and Scott McDaniel in 2003's "Superman: The 10 Cent Adventure". Cir-El is a character wrapped in misdirection, when she first appeared to defeat a villain named Radion she claimed to be the daughter of Superman. Given her powers and similar appearance, Superman's wife Lois Lane believed her and accused Superman of having an affair. According to Cir-El she's the daughter of Superman and Lois from the future and while DNA tests show she has Superman's DNA a test done by Superman's robot Kelex reveals Lois is not her mother, but she is still partly human. Superman confronts time-traveling robots called The Futuresmiths who had sent Cir-El back in time so it would be easier to kill her. The Futuresmiths show Superman an apocalyptic future where anyone who isn't dead is a mindless cyborg. No offense to Victor Stone, I'm sure that term really bothers him despite him calling himself that. There's a obvious racial joke there somewhere. Superman is told the only way to prevent that future is to kill his daughter, but he doesn't allow that. This only pisses Lois off more, but she knows and loves Superman enough to accept that he'd never let anyone die for the sake of the future.
Cir-El uses the Supergirl name and becomes a member of the Superman Family, often teaming up with members like Natasha Irons, Girl 13, and Superboy. It is later revealed the true origin of Cir-El. In the future, Superman's villain Brainiac uses a new brand of coffee called "Yes" to implant pieces of himself into everyone on Earth. With the aid of a nano-virus the infection of the coffee would turn the people of Earth into Brainiac's puppets. In order to start this apocalypse sooner Brainiac kidnaps a human girl named Mia and grafts Superman's DNA onto her and implants her with false memories. Mia becomes subconsciously trapped in her own body while on the surface she believes herself to be the half Kryptonian daughter of Superman. Brainiac sends her back in time and the nano-virus with her so that she would unknowingly spread Brainiac's virus and not be stopped by Superman because he would never kill "his daughter". When Superman and Cir-El learned all this, Cir-El ignored the horrifying truth of her existence and used Brainiac's time travel technology to go back in time and prevent her own birth. This dismantled the possibility of Brainiac taking over the world and Superman-heartbroken-was forced to forget Cir-El's existence along with the rest of the world.
Like most Superman characters Cir-El has a defining story feature that sets her apart. Kara Zor-El is Superman's cousin who saw her planet die when she was a teenager and therefor has more tragedy to her than Superman. Kon-El is a clone made from both Superman and Lex Luthor's DNA giving him the fear of becoming more like one father figure than the other. John Henry Irons was a hard working family man who was inspired to use his genius for the greater good when Superman saved his life. Krypto is a dog. Cir-El is a girl who believed she was the daughter of Earth's greatest superhero only to find out she was a brainwashed pawn in the game of the world's worst threat. That-ladies and gentlemen-is heavy. For a while Cir-El seemed like a cool concept, the first official child of Superman and overall an enjoyable character. Part of me suspects her story was to end when Superman said no to killing her and from there Superman would have a daughter. But that part of me is also cynical and might think DC Editorial didn't want Superman to have a kid because it makes him "old and unattractive and ties him down to Lois" and they went out of their way to write Cir-El out of Superman history. I mean she didn't just get killed off she got wiped from everyone's memory as if DC wanted all of us to forget her too! It's the Spider-Man Marriage all over again, people. With the current Superman run having him be older, married to Lois, living on a farm and raising a son I'm really excited to see a Superman who's allowed to be a grown man. The kind of man we all see Superman as, he's the father of comic books. And now DC Comics is letting him be who he's always meant to be. All I'm saying is this: If Superman is allowed to have a son, why can't he have a daughter?
Thanks for reading!
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