Red Daughter of Krypton is a 2014 crossover storyline starring Supergirl and the Red Lantern Corps.
Synopsis
After traveling across the galaxy and fighting Cyborg Superman and H'el in space, Supergirl goes back to Earth. However, several months of endless battles have exacted a huge toll. Kara feels her life has been defined by loss, pain, betrayal, and conflict since she woke up from suspended animation and found that her planet was gone, her family and friends have been dead for decades, and she was stranded on an alien world. She doesn't appear to manage to fit in with humans, she doesn't get along with her only living relative, her first crush turned out to be a genocidal madman, she barely has any friends and she has no place she can call "home". For all these reasons Kara is downcast, very angry and on the brink of a serious breakdown.
Kara heads for Siobhan's place, but she finds her only friend has a new roommate. Thinking she has no place left and telling herself Siobhan is better off without her, Kara goes back to the research facility known as the Block in order to verify she is physically healthy and talk to Dr. Shay Veritas. Kara pours her heart out to Veritas and weighs Shay's offer to move in the Block.
All of a sudden, Lobo storms the Block. When he faces up to Supergirl, he does everything he can to press Kara's buttons and drive her so mad that she cannot fight effectively.
After taunting and egging Kara on, Lobo takes the fight to New York, in where he states that Veritas thinks of Supergirl as a ticking bomb and offers the young Kryptonian a partnership. Feeling betrayed by yet another person she trusted, identifying Lobo's attempt to manipulate her for what it is, and being sick of people letting her down or using her, Kara completely flies off the handle and brutally beats down Lobo. Supergirl is so overwhelmingly angry that her long-repressed, unleashed fury acts like a magnet to a Red Lantern Ring.
Meanwhile, Siobhan is looking for Kara after seeing her and Lobo brawling out of her window, and she meets her right after her transformation into a snarling, barely coherent Red Lantern. Siobhan tries to reach her out, but she fails because of the interference of a third party. Siobhan reluctantly unleashes her Silver Banshee side to keep Kara contained while she tries to talk her down from going on a rampage. During her scuffle, Supergirl struggles against the influence of the Ring but she cannot manage to stop it, so Siobhan tells her that whatever she is raging against isn't on Earth, prompting Kara to streak into space.
As Kara flies crazily in space, she runs into two Green Lanterns and briefly fights them before passing out from exhaustion. They take advantage of her unconscious state to handcuff her and transport her to Mogo, where they bring her before Hal Jordan.
After a quick analysis, Hal concludes that she is Kryptonian, ergo, that situation needs to be dealt with quickly. So, Hal assembles a squad of Green Lanterns and flies to Ysmault to dunk her into the Blood Ocean so her mind can be healed, and at the same time questioning Guy about that new Red Lantern.
Both groups of Lanterns meet in Ysmault, and as they argue and bicker, Kara -who had been subdued until then- blows up when one of them mentions Superman. Kara fights them all, forcing all Lanterns to work together until they manage to hold her down and dunk her into the Lake. After a while Kara emerges, feeling awake and coherent, but too extremely confused.
Kara joins the Red Lanterns but Guy is extremely concerned about her psychological issues, doubting his ability to handle a teenage Kryptonian Red Lantern, and afraid of Superman's reaction when the Last Son of Krypton finds out what his cousin is now a Red Lantern. Guy tries to sneak out to talk to Superman privately, but Kara finds them. Superman is not happy to find out what has happened to Kara, and Kara is even less happy to find out that she is a Red Lantern forever, since she will die if she takes off her ring. A piece of information that neither of her so-called partners considered she would want be told about.
Kara calls her team out on keeping things from her and claims nobody understands what she is going through. Dryly, her cousin reminds her that he always wanted to help her, be her family and be there for her, but she turned down every attempt to reach her out. Superman points out that she has clung to her grief and anger and rejected acceptance for so long that she has become anger. Then he turns to Guy to say he cannot keep her with him and help her if she doesn't want to stay, and he trusts Guy to look after his family for the present time. After warning him he will be watching anyway, Kal says goodbye to Kara and flies off.
Back on Ysmault, the Red Lanterns find Bleez badly wounded and sprawled on the ground by the Blood Lake. Bleez mumbles that Atrocitus is still alive before fainting. Quickly, she is carried to the medical bay.
While they wait for Bleez to regain consciousness, Guy sends Kara, Zilius Zox and Skallox off to planet Grax to fight off a genocidal alien species called the Diasporans, who consider it their duty to reinforce alien races by culling the weak. The trio of Red Lanterns clashes with the Diasporan army and Kara nearly single-handedly drives their armada off the planet. Kara is happy about saving the Graxians, but knowing the Diasporans are still out there somewhere, ready to strike again and wipe more alien races out, upset her.
After returning to Ysmault, Kara and Guy have a heart-to-heart talk. She tells him about her life and explains how the Diasporans remind her of the Worldkillers whom she fought several months ago, monsters whose genocidal urges are an abomination to an orphan from a dead planet. Kara caps her story by stating that she has now the power, the ring and the mission to stop their kind from hurting anyone else. Guy asks her to wait for a bit until they have dealt with Atrocitus, after which they will take care of the Diasporans. Kara feels frustrated but she promises to be patient, reiterating she needs to stop them badly because that world-killing stuff hits a nerve.
Unbeknownst to Kara, she has gotten the attention of the Diasporan king, who deems the Red Lantern Kryptonian as the epitome of his beliefs, and wants to turn her into his tool.
Finally, Bleez comes around. She tells Guy Atrocitus found her and Rankorr and nearly killed them both. Rankorr stayed to hold Atrocitus back so Bleez could run away (a fact she is ashamed about) and warn the Corps. Guy deduces Atrocitus is preparing for war, recruiting new Reds, and they need to find at least one of them lest Atrocitus gets them all, stomps his Red Lantern Corps flat and places himself in charge of Sector 2814, where Earth is located.
Bleez isn't happy at all, and she wants to go off now to find Rankorr, injured or not injured. Kara stops her, though, and while their teammates go about searching another Red Lantern, both women talk and open up to each other a bit. Bleez has come to consider that Red Lanterns exist to ensure that there are no more Red Lanterns, and Kara asks for her to be her friend.
Meanwhile, Zillius' scanners have picked up a signature and Guy mobilizes his entire Corps to intercept. The team stashes blood from the Lake in the Kalvaar cargo hold and they take off for Primeen. Kara goes with them because Guy needs her but he is worried about the Kryptonian teenager being too impetuous and reckless.
It turns out that the newest Red Lantern is a judge called Sheko. She found the Primeen Crown Prince guilty of heinous crimes and got shot for it because she stood up for her principles and tried to prove her world's justice wasn't dead. She was so furious she became a Red Lantern and went on a rampage through her planet's capital city.
When the Red Lantern Corps arrive at the place, the planet's army fires on them, believing them to be allied with the monster burning their city down. Kara almost blasts them away but Bleez stops her, reminding her those soldiers are not their enemies yet and they will not fight unless they have to. Guy talks to the commanding officer and finds out that Atrocitus and Dex-Starr are also there.
Guy splits his team to cover more land and find the Judge before Atrocitus does. Kara searches the place at super-speed and is the first Red to run into the Judge. Not long ago, Kara would have punched first and asked questions later, but now she knows first-hand Reds aren't really in control of themselves, so she tries to reach the Judge out, explain she is there to help.
Still, the Judge brushes Kara's gesture of friendship off and invades her mind psychically to see her memories and judge her. She is about to incinerate Supergirl when Alura's memory interferes and expels Sheko from her daughter's mind. Troubled, Sheko finds Kara flawed and dangerous but innocent. Kara realizes the Judge can think and talk but deep-down is as full of uncontrollable rage as any new Red and comes up with a plan to save her.
Meanwhile, the Diasporan army approaches Earth, and it is revealed that their king is the first Worldkiller.
Back on Ysmault, Atrocitus meets the Judge and tries to get her to join him. Sheko appears to listen to his pitch but then she invades his mind, scans his memories and decides she cannot judge him because his moral standards are completely different from her kind's.
While Atrocitus tries to entice her into coming with him, Kara goes ahead with her plan: she takes the tank of lake blood and rips it open over the city. Blood rains down and douses Sheko, who collapses. Unfortunately, Atrocitus is able to control the blood and makes it into a maelstrom which proceeds to ravage the city further.
The Red Lanterns are appalled at the destruction, but before Guy can figure out a plan, Kara -who hates Atrocitus and wants him to pay for creating the Reds- says she can fix it. So she ignites the blood tornado with heat vision... which unfortunately sets the city on fire instead of evaporating the blood.
Bleez slaps Kara and tells her she needs to grow up: wearing a Red Ring is a struggle and she cannot give in to every impulse. For his part, Guy adds that being a Red isn't about being angry all the time but being angry for the right reasons and doing something about it. Then he points out that if Kara doesn't want to be called a kid then she mustn't become trouble they have to solve. He knows she is better than that. Grudgingly, Kara agrees that her teammates are right.
Once finished that argument, Skallox comes up with a plan to deal with the ignited blood tornado. Using blood magic, the team manages to will the maelstrom away. However, most of the city has been leveled and burnt to the ground. Kara feels horribly guilty, but Guy disagrees. It's everybody's fault and they'll do what they can to help the Primeen people after dealing with Atrocitus.
The Reds fly down and confront their former leader. Guy wants to "kick his ass again", but Atrocitus reminds them that he has Rankorr, and informs that a new Red called Klarn has been instructed to kill him unless Atrocitus and Dex-Starr return soon. Reluctantly, the Reds let him go. Before flying away, Atrocitus gloats over his revenge plans, and Guy retorts that worse than Atrocitus have tried and failed to take him down.
The battle over, the Primeen citizens begs the Reds to leave. Kara wants to stay and help, but they reiterate that they only want the Reds gone, making Kara feel disappointed and devastated because she wanted to be a hero and only added to the chaos instead.
The Reds look for Rankorr's ring signature and find their teammate on another planet. However, he is chained and mindless. Atrocitus made him go crazy again. Kara is aghast at it, wondering if any of them can be changed back and what kind of being Atrocitus is to do something like that to a person.
Bleez releases Rankorr but he cannot be reasoned with and fights them all. The Reds manage to take Rankorr down and look to take him back to Ysmault, hoping the lake will help bring him back. When they return, though, they find the place in ruins. Atrocitus came over, poisoned the Lake, and razed the place to the ground as they were away.
Guy realizes Atrocitus has formally declared war, and he decides to draw Kara aside. He tells her she must leave the Reds and find her way rather than staying there and getting killed while fighting Atrocitus. His words make Kara angry, but she also feels torn. Her teammates have helped her deal with her anger issues and she likes them. She doesn't want to go... but she doesn't truly want to stay and be a Red forever. Guy insists that she is strong enough to find her way alone and be better than all of them. He manages to talk Kara into leaving, giving her the coordinates for Mogo and telling her to go to Hal Jordan in order to find a way to remove her ring.
Kara heads to Mogo but she has second thoughts and changes course, heading to Earth instead. After a short side trip during which she tried to help her cousin to deal with his transformation into a Doomsday-like beast, Kara enters the solar system and is ambushed by the Diasporans. Kara beats them, destroys the armada and faces down the Diasporan ruler.
During the battle, he reveals that he is the last Worldkiller and wants to turn her into his instrument to empower people by destroying their planets. His words enrage Kara further, and she fights on, blasting him with her fully-powered heat vision. His body seems to crumble away, leaving his armor and a strange, inky blackness leaking from it. Then the inky substance takes a humanoid shape, and Kara discovers the real Worldkiller-1 is an armored parasite that possesses bodies. And now he wants to possess a Power Ring-wearing Kryptonian.
Worldkiller-1 charges Kara and both plummet to Earth wrestling with each other. But Earth is currently engulfed in a Kryptonite cloud, which weakens Kara. However, Kara's anger fuels her ring. Kara manages to get Worldkiller-1 off her, but he takes the battle to a city and threatens to possess humans and consume their bodies unless Kara gives in and bonds with him. Getting progressively sicker and weaker because of Kryptonite poisoning, Kara cannot appear to stop him. Then she comes up with a plan.
Kara agrees to surrender if Worldkiller-1 lets his current human host go. Worldkiller-1 agrees to do so and latches on to her. Kara suddenly takes off and flies directly into the Kryptonite cloud. Since she and the Worldkiller are linked, the pain weakens both of them, but with the ring, she is able to grab him and warp into the Sun.
Unfortunately, the Worldkiller is still incredibly powerful. The only way Kara can think of stopping him is removing her ring. Worldkiller-1 leaves her body and dumps her in the Sun, already planning to take over Superman.
However, Kara's plan works: the sudden influx of solar energy restarts her heart, heals her injuries and powers her up. She rushes at Worldkiller-1 and defeats him easily, tossing him into the Sun where he gets vaporized.
Then Kara realizes several things: she vented her pent-up rage and grief when she blew up and went off on Lobo. Since then she has made friends who have taught her how to deal with and harness her anger and impulsiveness. She is free of her anger-fueling ring. For the first time in months, her mind is free of all the rage and confusion and she can think clearly again. And she realizes she can reach other people out and make friends, and if she just did the impossible (removing a Red Ring and surviving) maybe she can make a life and place for herself on planet Earth.
Kara heads to Earth, ready to start a new life.
Issues
- Supergirl (Volume 6) #26 (Survivors)
- Supergirl (Volume 6) #27 (The Beast in the Block)
- Supergirl (Volume 6) #28 (Rage Quit)
- Supergirl (Volume 6) #29 (Red Daughter Of Krypton: Part 1: Inner Demons)
- Green Lantern (Volume 5) #28 (Red Alert: Part 1...)
- Red Lanterns #28 (Red Alert: Part 2...)
- Red Lanterns #29 (Forever)
- Supergirl (Volume 6) #30 (Red Daughter of Krypton: Part 2: Red Remembrance)
- Red Lanterns #30 (Judgement Day: Part 1 of 3)
- Supergirl (Volume 6) #31 (Red Daughter of Krypton: Part 2: Judgement Day)
- Red Lanterns #31 (Judgement Day: Part 3 of 3)
- Red Lanterns #32 (Atrocities, Part 1 of 4: Cry Havoc)
- Supergirl (Volume 6) #32 (Red Daughter of Krypton: Part 4: Homecoming)
- Supergirl (Volume 6) #33 (Red Daughter of Krypton: Conclusion)
- Red Lanterns #33 (Atrocities, Part 2 of 4: Old Battles)
- Red Lanterns Annual #1 (Atrocities, Part 3 of 4)
- Red Lanterns #34 (Atrocities, Part 4 of 4: Redsend)
Notes
- This storyline crosses over into the "Red Lanterns: Atrocities" story arc.
- This storyline takes place concurrently with the "Superman: Doomed" storyline.
Trivia
- Supergirl is the first member of the Red Lantern Corps who has managed to destroy her own ring and survive without one, and without having any help from a Blue Lantern Ring, although only because she was able to absorb enough yellow sunlight due to being at Earth's sun when it happened.
- Although Kara was kicked out of the Red Lanterns and took off her Ring, she helped her ex-team out when Atrocitus invaded Earth.
Recommended Reading
Links and References
  This event or storyline is specifically related to the character of Supergirl and/or her supporting cast. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the Supergirl Storylines category. |
  This event or storyline is specifically related to Superman, or to members of the Superman Family. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the Superman Storylines category. |
 This event or storyline specifically revolves around the Green Lantern of Earth, or the Green Lantern Corps as a whole. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the Green Lantern Storylines category. |