DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow brings some of the strangest heroes and villains to ever appear on the comic book page to television. Taking characters that only devoted comic book fans would ever recognize and trying to make mainstream audiences understand who they are isn’t easy, but LoT has managed to pull it off with Captain Cold, Firestorm, The Atom and many more.
In the second season of Legends of Tomorrow we get are getting our first look at Stargirl in live action . She’s appeared on Batman: The Brave and The Bold and the 90s Justice League cartoon , but never as a real person in star-spangled spandex. Who exactly is Stargirl and why is she such a big component of the Legends of Tomorrow universe?
Courtney Whitmore, aka Stargirl, was the stepdaughter of the Golden Age superhero Stripesy , who fought Nazis in the 1940s as the sidekick to the Star-Spangled Kid. The Star-Spangled Kid , who later became Starman, wielded a cosmic power which could give him increased strength, flight and the ability to shoot beams of light. Courtney finds his old cosmic converter belt and costume and starts fighting crime, mostly out of spite for her step-father. At this point, she’s just a teenage girl with braces who just happens to have immense power.
Stripesy worries about a 14-year-old girl with nearly unlimited power, so he builds a suit of power armor called S.T.R.I.P.E. For 19 issues, Stargirl and S.T.R.I.P.E fought all sorts of late-90’s villains, including a guy named Paintball in the comic Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E.S written by Geoff Johns, who is one of the most successful writers to ever come out of DC. Before he created the modern Green Lantern universe or was editor-in-chief of DC comics, he wrote about a girl and her robot step-dad.
In case you didn’t know, DC loved taking their old superheroes and giving them modern personas. The Flash, Green Lantern and Hawkman were all “remakes” of classic 1940’s and 1950’s superheros. Stargirl marked the start of a movement to bring the rest of the Justice Society of America, the original Justice League, to modern-day audiences. After Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E.S was cancelled, Geoff Johns moved on to the JSA comic book and brought Stargirl with him.
JSA skyrocketed Johns to comic book superstardom; if you haven’t had a chance just read the first omnibus . JSA brought Golden Age staples like Wildcat and Hourman to a modern audience, who fell in love with them. The comic lasted for six years, with Stargirl fighting alongside the whole way. She received a staff, like Starman’s, which allowed her to concentrate her blasts and increase her power level. She fought some of DC’s baddest villains including Solomon Grundy, Lex Luthor and even Darkseid.
When the New 52 launched, Stargirl joined the Justice League of America, a seedy supergroup that included the likes of Martian Manhunter and Catwoman. After JLA was cancelled, she joined another group called Justice League United , which also didn’t last very long. Now she’s in comic book limbo, waiting for the right time to fight evil again.
Stargirl has been a staple in the DC universe since her invention and I’m so happy she’s fighting with the Legends of Tomorrow. Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E.S and JSA are two of my favorite comic book series because they don’t take themselves too seriously, but still manage to tell a deep and compelling story.
Legends of Tomorrow can benefit from a female character who’s just a normal, down-to-earth girl who isn’t a violent assassin.
Legends of Tomorrow returns to The CW on Thursday, Oct. 13.
