Fans of the CW’s Supergirl television series know that although Kara appears younger than Superman, she’s technically older. Kara was born before Kal-El (and even joked that she used to change his diapers). However, thanks to being stuck in suspended animation during her trip to Earth, Kara found that Kal-El had grown up during her lost years and was now an established superhero unlike herself.
Since Kara had originally been sent to Earth to take care of Kal-El, many fans have wondered: what would have happened if the original plan had worked, and Kara had raised Kal herself? As it turns out, one old Silver Age comic book answers that question, and the results… are pretty disturbing.
Oddly enough, during the Silver Age, Kara actually was younger than Kal-El. Shortly before Krypton exploded, Jor-El’s brother Zor-El created a protective shield over Krypton’s Argo City, which allowed it to survive adrift in space for many years. Kara was born in this domed community and grew up among Kryptonians. However, when deadly Kryptonite radiation began seeping into the city, Kara is sent to Earth where she takes on the dual identity Linda Lee/Supergirl under the care of her cousin, Superman.
Rather than let her function in the open, however, Superman spends years having Kara act as his “secret weapon” and forbids her from publicly revealing herself to the world until he decides she’s ready. While she’s frequently frustrated by this treatment, Kara still uses her powers covertly to help others and eventually establishes herself as one of the DC Universe’s most powerful heroes.
In the two-part Imaginary Story, “How Superwoman Trained Superboy” which ran in Action Comics #332-333, however, writers decided to switch the dynamic by creating an Imaginary Story where Kara was born before Kal-El. In this world, it was Kara’s father Zor-El who predicted the destruction of Krypton. Meanwhile, Zor-El’s brother Jor-El decides to move to Argo City and build a protective dome over it.
Zor-El goes on to build a prototype spaceship to save his toddler-age daughter Kara from Krypton’s doom. At the last minute, however, Zor-El remembers he has an “enlarging ray” just lying around his workshop that he uses to increase the size of his escape craft. Because of this, Kara’s entire family is able to make the trip with her to Earth. (Sadly, the Jor-El of the mainstream universe apparently had such a lousy memory that he basically doomed his wife and himself to death by not remembering a quick and easy way to make his ship bigger).
Imbued with superpowers upon their arrival to their new planet, the Kryptonians take to calling themselves “The Zorelles” and rename their daughter “Carole.” While Zor-El and his wife use their powers to help humanity in secret, they later lose their abilities when they’re accidentally exposed to Gold Kryptonite. Kara, however, retains her abilities and goes on to reveal herself to the world, first as Supergirl and later as Superwoman. To keep her identity a secret, Kara decides to wear a pair of glasses which somehow manages to fool everyone – even her friend Lex Luthor who doesn’t lose his hair and become evil in this Imaginary Story. Unfortunately, without their superpowers, Kara’s parents fall victim to an epidemic and “Carole Zorelle” moves to Metropolis – not to become a reporter but a private eye. She also hires Jimmy Olsen as her assistant and continues with her work as “Superwoman.”
Meanwhile, Jor-El and his teenage son Kal-El observe Kara’s activities from Argo City. When meteors threaten to destroy the city by exposing the Kryptonians to deadly Kryptonite radiation, however, Jor-El sends Kal-El to Earth in a rocket ship. Superwoman finds her younger cousin and decides to make him live at Midvale Orphanage under the alias “Cal Ellis” (forcing him to also wear a blonde wig to hide his identity).
However, this doesn’t sit well at all with Kal-El, who proves more impatient and disobedient than Supergirl when it comes to using his powers. He ends up using his superspeed to gain an advantage over his classmates and screws around with the machines in Kara’s Fortress of Solitude. When Kara reprimands him for his “childish behavior,” a vindictive Superboy decides to take matters into his own hands.
First, he builds himself a lab out of junkyard materials – and then tricks Supergirl into believing his experiments with Gold Kryptonite robbed him of his powers. With Kara now believing her cousin is an ordinary mortal, Superboy plots to escape his orphanage… by getting adopted. First, he sabotages all the other orphans’ chances of adoption by planting false evidence that makes their adoptive parents believe they’re all thieves and slobs. He then uses his super-intelligence to get a wealthy doctor to adopt him and give him access to a penthouse and fully stocked laboratory.
But Kal-El isn’t done yet. He uses his step-father’s lab to create a device capable of releasing the prisoners from the Phantom Zone so they can help him take over the Earth. Rather than take Kal-El into custody, Kara tells him a story of some of the worst Phantom Zone prisoners (giving Kal an idea of who he wants to free first). She then flies off tearfully as a group of Phantom Zone prisoners contacts Superboy telepathically. Superboy frees the “prisoners” but learns it’s actually a ploy by Superwoman to expose him to Red Kryptonite which causes him to lose his powers temporarily.
Kara then tries to send Kal-El to the Phantom Zone, but he destroys the projector before she can. She then decides to… go and stop another disaster, leaving her assistant Jimmy Olsen to beat up a powerless Superboy for her (clearly, Supergirl’s parenting skills need a lot of work). Superboy’s powers begin to return, but before he can give Jimmy a terrible beating, a chance piece of Gold Kryptonite erases his powers permanently. Seeing no other option, Superwoman brainwashes her cousin with “super hypnosis” and dumps him off at another orphanage so he can be someone else’s problem.
“Imaginary Stories” often allowed DC writers and artists to take their characters in creative, unforeseen directions. In this case, however, having Kal-El decide to become a supervillain because he didn’t like being bossed around by Superwoman seems wildly out of character. Likewise, Kara showcases a remarkable lack of compassion throughout the story (although, to be honest, that’s actually standard behavior for Silver Age Superman comics).
It’s an interesting take on how the Superman/Supergirl dynamic could be flipped, but it would be fun to see a more modern interpretation.