Who Is Bizarro Supergirl? Kara Zor-El’s Clone Explained

Every superhero ever created has its own rogue gallery, which features countless supervillains that provide a great match for the good guys. Thanks to interesting superheroes, we have all become fans of the comics, but it didn’t take us long to realize that the villains and anti-heroes can be equally, and maybe even more interesting. Many of those are also based on the superhero associated with them, sharing similar features and abilities. One of those characters is Bizarro, and we’ll tell you all there is to know about this specific character in this article.

Bizarro Supergirl is the Bizarro version of Girl of Steel. In the DC Comics canon, Bizarros are imperfect and deformed clones of certain superheroes that are described as their polar opposites: “Good is bad, yes is no, and ugly is beautiful.” The original Bizarro was created as the clone of Superboy, debuting in October 1958. Bizarro Superman first appeared in July 1959, and Bizarro Supergirl first appeared in October 1960. Bizarros are created using the Duplicator Ray, and in The New 52 continuity, they were relocated to Earth-29, commonly known as the Bizarroverse.

The character of Bizarro was originally created by Otto Binder and artist George Papp, who wanted to create a “mirror image” of Superman that served as both the villain and anti-hero, depending on the situation. In 1960, Binder and Wayne Boring created the Supergirl version of Bizarro. Bizarros have a long history with Kryptonians in the source material and appeared in other adapted media. In the following paragraphs, we’ll explain the original Bizarro and those that followed, including Bizarro Supergirl.

The history of Bizarro started with Superboy!

To understand the character of Bizarro Supergirl, we’ll need to go back to when Bizarros were originally created in DC comics, which was during the Silver Age of Comic Books, in the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity. The first story important for this article was published in ‘Superboy’ #68 in October 1958. Symbolically, the issue was titled “The Boy of Steel vs. the Thing of Steel.”

Written by Otto Binder and illustrated by George Rapp, ‘Superboy’ #68 depicted Professor Dalton, who created a duplicating ray in Smallville, leading to the creation of an imperfect duplicate of Superboy, which was ugly and stupid, but it wasn’t affected by the Green Kryptonite. When Superboy meets his clone, he says that the creature is “bizarre,” to which the clone replies: “Call me Bizarro!”

Bizarro Superboy was essentially good-hearted, but he couldn’t control his powers, and everyone in Smallville ran away from him due to his appearance. Expect a blind girl named Melissa, who Bizarro Superboy befriends. Bizarro Superboy didn’t last long since he destroyed himself in the same issue he was introduced to, but when he destroyed himself, he restored Melissa’s sight. That was the character’s single appearance in the Silver Age of Comic Books.

The second Bizarro created a whole new world!

According to the lore, fifteen years after the events involving Bizarro Superboy, Lex Luthor found Professor Dalton’s plans and created his own Duplicator Ray. After using it on Superman, he created the first adult Bizarro. This was depicted in ‘Action Comics’ #254, which was published in July 1959. Otto Binder once again served as the writer, but the artist this time was Al Plastino.

Lex Luthor’s plan foiled after Bizarro didn’t turn out to be evil as he hoped he’d be. But even though he helped Superman defeat Lex, Bizarro later kidnapped Lois Lane in search of someone close to him.

In the end, Lois came up with the idea to use Duplicator Ray to create a Bizarro version of herself. Bizarro Lois Lane and Bizarro Superman fell in love and decided to leave Earth to make their own world. That world would eventually become a cube-shaped planet known as Htrae (Earth spelled backward), which these two populated with additional Bizarro versions of themselves. Bizarro Superman was named Bizarro No. 1 to distinguish himself from the others.

Bizarro Superman and Bizarro Lois Lane eventually had a child named Bizarro Jr., but to their shock, the child wasn’t deformed and bad-looking like the other Bizarros. Because of that, he was regarded as an outcast, forcing his father to get him off the planet by putting him into a satellite orbiting the atmosphere. The satellite eventually crash-landed on Earth, and Linda Lee Danvers, aka Supergirl, found Bizarro Jr. and brought him to Midvale Orphanage.

Upon learning that Bizarro Jr. has the same superpowers, Supergirl contacted Superman, who took Bizarro Jr. to the Fortress of Solitude, where Bizarro Jr.’s skin crystallized and started looking more like the regular Bizarro. When his father learned that, he decided to take his son back to Htrae. When he flew around the Fortress of Solitude, Junior accidentally activated the Duplicator Ray, which hit Supergirl and therefore created Bizarro Supergirl. This occurred in ‘Superman’ #140, which was published in October 1960. Otto Binder was once again the writer, and Wayne Boring was an artist.

The history of Bizarro Supergirl in the comics

The original Bizarro Supergirl, commonly known as Bizarro-Girl, was created by Binder and Boring in October 1960. This incarnation of the character had only four appearances, with the last one in ‘DC Comics Presents’ #71 in July 1984. The ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ wiped out countless parallel universes and set up a new continuity known as New Earth.

In the New Earth continuity, Bizarro Supergirl debuted in November 2001 in ‘Supergirl’ Volume 4 #62, where the frontrunner was Linda Danvers. This incarnation of Bizarro Supergirl was created by Doctor Max Tuefeld after Two-Face and Gaius Marcus, aka Buzz, kidnapped and forced him to create a Supergirl clone using a stolen sample of her blood. The character made ten appearances until November 2002, when Hurmizah killed her.

The latest version of Bizarro Supergirl, officially known as Bizarro-Girl, debuted in August 2010 in ‘Supergirl’ Volume 5 #53. This version of the character was created by New Earth’s Bizarro Superman, who was created by the Joker when he had Mr. Mxyzptlk’s reality-altering powers in ‘Superman’ Volume 2 #160 in September 2000. Bizarro Superman created Bizarro-Girl on Htrae to help him defeat Ash’Ka’Phageous, but he loved her too much to risk her life, so he sent her to Earth, where she eventually met the original Supergirl.

Did Bizarro Supergirl appear in any other media?

Bizarros are often associated with the Kryptonian characters in the source material. Although we haven’t seen Bizarros in live-action movies, they were featured in other live-action adaptations, such as ‘Smallville,’ ‘Supergirl’ and ‘Superman & Lois’ TV shows.

The Bizarro version of Supergirl appeared in the first season of ‘Supergirl,’ depicted as a brain trauma patient who was transformed into a Supergirl clone by Maxwell Lord. The woman’s real name is unknown, and Kara Danvers’ boss Cat Grant named this clone “Bizarro.” The character appeared in four episodes of the first season of the series. The woman who was transformed into a Bizarro was played by Hope Lauren, and in her Supergirl form, the character was portrayed by the title star Melissa Benoist.

It’s going to be interesting to see if Superman or Supergirl will get their Bizarro versions in James Gunn’s DCU. Would you like to see Bizarros on the big screen? Let us know in the comments.

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