Spoilers for Future State: Kara Zor-El, Superwoman #1 ahead!
In DC’s Future State, many heroes have brand new status quos, and Supergirl is one of them. Now calling herself Superwoman, Kara Zor-El has left Earth for good and now resides in a colony on a distant world, and in the first issue of Future State: Kara Zor-El, Superwoman it is revealed why she left Earth in the first place. Written by Marguerite Bennett with art by Marguerite Sauvage, the issue is in stores now.
Supergirl first appeared in Action Comics #252 and was created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino. She was Superman’s cousin, and in the most current version of her origin, she was a teenager when Superman was a baby; she was put into suspended animation and sent to watch over the infant Kal-El. Her ship did not reach Earth until after Kal-El had grown to maturity and become Superman. She adopted the name Supergirl and had a heroic career of her own; yet, she has lived continually in her cousin’s shadow and with the feeling of being redundant, and this is what ultimately led her to leave Earth.
In the world of Future State, Jon Kent, the son of Lois Lane and Clark Kent, has inherited the mantle of Superman, and this seems to be the straw that broke the camel’s back for Kara. She mentions a fight with Jon and leaving Earth after that. A newcomer to Superwoman’s colony, Lynari, asks her how she feels being cheated out of her “birthright” of protecting Kal-El and Earth, and she informs Lynari that birthrights are nothing compared to what she chose "to make and build for ourselves." She has come to peace with not being Earth’s protector, and she has learned to deal with her rage, quoting the proverb “if you go out for revenge, dig two graves.”
Future State has painted a bleak picture of the DC Universe. Superwoman’s old stomping grounds of Metropolis has degenerated into a war zone and Gotham City is ruled by a fascist government—it is a dark world and with her already present rage issues, it was probably for the best Superwoman left Earth. The world did not appreciate her, so it makes sense she would leave it.
Superwoman has lived in her younger cousin’s shadow since her arrival on Earth, and she has handled it gracefully. But with an ungrateful world that was growing worse by the day, she forsook her adopted homeworld and went to find a new destiny in the stars. She has found it, but how much longer will it last?