Galatea

Galatea, also known as Tea,^[1] was Supergirl's clone and Cadmus's product/asset.

History[]

When Supergirl attempted to stop Superman — who was attacking Earth while under Darkseid's control — they were caught in the blast radius of General Hardcastle's Kryptonite missile.^[2] Supergirl was taken to STAR Labs to be cared for by Professor Emil Hamilton,^[3][4] who secretly took some of her DNA.^[4]

Cadmus, guided by fear of rogue Metahumans, had Nuvo-Gen use Supergirl's DNA to create a cloned version of her in order to have a Kryptonian under government control. The clone was named "Galatea" and artificially aged to her physical prime. Indoctrinated in Cadmus's philosophy as their personal weapon and rigorously trained to develop her abilities to the pinnacle of her potential, she was also more ruthless and deadly with none of the moral conscience that made Supergirl hold back from killing people.

However, Galatea shared a psychic link with Supergirl, who, while asleep, saw herself undertaking strenuous training and missions. These included Supergirl carrying out the murder of Nuvo-Gen scientist Gilbert Halstrom, who had objected to Galatea's creation — a killing actually committed by Galatea.

Finding these "dreams" all too real, Supergirl investigated with the help of Green Arrow and The Question. Galatea sent troops to attack the trio and equipment left behind by the soldiers led them to General Hardcastle, who told them about a secret organization which saw even heroic metahumans as a potential threat to mankind. Galatea later murdered Hardcastle.

Galatea was already having a romantic affair with TV reporter Lasser. She told him about the disappearance of Gilbert Halstrom, which he reported on the TV network, along with giving him pictures of Halstrom. Supergirl, recognizing Halstrom from one of her dreams, went to Nuvo-Gen where she was ambushed by Galatea.

Galatea had lured Supergirl into a trap because the latter's dreams were leading her to uncover the truth. She had also been troubled by Supergirl's moral conscience which often caused her sleepless nights (as mentioned by Lasser) and sometimes interfered with her work, though she remained ruthless enough to kill people, such as Halstrom and Hardcastle, whom she perceived as enemies. In battle, Galatea and Supergirl proved more than a match for each other, which led a Cadmus operative to destroy the building in a major explosion. Supergirl escaped the explosion, but Galatea was left seriously injured.

She was taken to STAR Labs to recover under the care of Professor Hamilton who, by order of Waller, also artificially accelerated her aging process up to her physical prime, granting much greater power. Hamilton and Galatea developed something of a father/daughter bond, as they did care for each other's well-being on some level. Galatea even once addressed him affectionately as "Daddy".

The Justice League soon discovered the existence of Project Cadmus. When the feud between the two organizations reached its height, Lex Luthor hacked into and fired the Watchtower's Binary Fusion Generator at Cadmus's headquarters. In retaliation, Cadmus unleashed Galatea on the Watchtower with an army of Ultimen clones at her command to destroy the League.

Although the odds seemed overwhelming, the Justice League, even with its powerful founders in custody, was able to hold its own in the battle with the clones. However, this was primarily a diversion while Galatea made her way to the station's reactor to cause an explosion powerful enough to destroy it. She was confronted by Supergirl and Steel and Galatea relished the opportunity to kill her counterpart so much that she ignored a recall order from Cadmus leader Amanda Waller, who had discovered that both sides had been manipulated by Luthor.

In the end, the entire attack was thwarted, and Galatea was overcome when Supergirl attacked her with a power coupling which was hooked up to the Watchtower's generator. Following the massive surge of electricity, she was left twitching and catatonic.

Powers and abilities[]

Galatea shared the same powers as Supergirl yet, due to her accelerated growth and the specialized training she received at Cadmus, she possessed superior strength and skill to her counterpart. Akin with her sadistic nature, Galatea seemed to favor heat vision as a primary offensive ability and used it with great skill and accuracy. Her heat vision also seemed to exert far more concussive force than Supergirl's.

As an Argoan clone, Galatea was presumably vulnerable to Kryptonite,^[5]red sun radiation, and magic.

Background information[]

• Galatea's appearance bears a resemblance to that of Power Girl, the Earth-Two counterpart of Supergirl in DC Comics, with the white outfit and noticeably more mature physique than Supergirl, but sans the cape and blue gloves and boots. This is likely intentional, as she is seen with a red towel around her neck in the same manner as Power Girl's cape in one episode. Ironically, Power Girl herself would later get a clone named Divine, who shares a similar backstory and personality to Galatea. Her background is also reminiscent to that of the Superboy introduced by DC Comics in 1993, who is also a clone (of Superman) created by Project Cadmus.

• In Greek mythology, Galatea was a marble statue of the love goddess Aphrodite, made by the sculptor Pygmalion and brought to life by Aphrodite to be his wife.

Appearances[]

Justice League Unlimited

• "Fearful Symmetry"
• "The Doomsday Sanction" ^{(Mentioned Only)}
• "Question Authority" ^{(Mentioned Only)}
• "Flashpoint"
• "Panic in the Sky"

References[]