Fans of the CW’sSupergirltelevision series know that although Kara appear younger thanSuperman , she ’s technically old . Kara was born before Kal - El ( and even joke that she used to change his diapers ) . However , thanks to being nonplus in suspend aliveness during her trip to Earth , Kara found that Kal - El had grow up during her lost years and was now an established superhero unlike herself .

Since Kara had originally been send to Earth to take care of Kal - El , many fans have wondered : what would have happened if the original plan had ferment , and Kara had raised Kal herself ? As it twist out , one onetime Silver Age comic ledger answers that question , and the results … are pretty disturbing .

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peculiarly enough , during the Silver Age , Kara actuallywasyounger than Kal - El . Shortly before Krypton exploded , Jor - El ’s buddy Zor - El created a protective shield over Krypton ’s Argo City , which allow it to survive adrift in distance for many years . Kara was born in this domed community and grew up among Kryptonians . However , when mortal Kryptonite radiation began seeping into the city , Kara is post to Earth where she consume on the twofold identity Linda Lee / Supergirl under the concern of her cousin , Superman .

Rather than allow her function in the open , however , Superman spends years having Kara act as his “ secret weapon ” and forbids her from publically revealing herself to the domain until he settle she ’s ready . While she ’s frequently frustrated by this treatment , Kara still habituate her tycoon covertly to help others and eventually establishes herself as one of the DC Universe ’s most powerful Hero .

In the two - part Imaginary Story , “ How Superwoman Trained Superboy ” which ran inAction Comics # 332 - 333,however , writer determine to switch the dynamic by creating an Imaginary Story where Kara was born before Kal - El . In this earth , it was Kara ’s begetter Zor - El who predicted the destruction of Krypton . Meanwhile , Zor - El ’s brother Jor - El decides to move to Argo City and build up a protective dome over it .

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Zor - El go away on to make a prototype starship to lay aside his bambino - age daughter Kara from Krypton ’s end of the world . At the last minute , however , Zor - El remembers he has an “ enlarging re ” just consist around his shop that he uses to increase the size of it of his escape craft . Because of this , Kara ’s intact family is capable to make the trip with her to Earth . ( lamentably , the Jor - El of the mainstream population manifestly had such a rotten memory that he essentially sentence his married woman and himself to death by not remembering a quick and well-to-do way to make his ship bigger ) .

Imbued with great power upon their arrival to their new planet , the Kryptonians take to call themselves “ The Zorelles ” and rename their girl “ Carole . ” While Zor - El and his wife use their mogul to help humanity in mystery , they later suffer their ability when they’reaccidentally expose to Gold Kryptonite . Kara , however , retains her abilities and goes on to reveal herself to the world , first asSupergirl and after as Superwoman . To keep her identity a arcanum , Kara decides to wear a pair of meth which somehow do to fool everyone – even her admirer Lex Luthor who does n’t lose his hair and become evil in this Imaginary Story . Unfortunately , without their superpowers , Kara ’s parents fall dupe to an epidemic and “ Carole Zorelle ” moves to Metropolis – not to become a newsperson but a individual eye . She also take Jimmy Olsen as her help and continues with her work as “ Superwoman . ”

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Meanwhile , Jor - El and his teenage Word Kal - El observe Kara ’s action from Argo City . When meteors threaten to put down the city by exposing the Kryptonians todeadly Kryptonite radioactivity , however , Jor - El sends Kal - El to Earth in a Eruca sativa ship . Superwoman finds her younger first 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 ) .

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However , this does n’t sit well at all with Kal - El , who show more impatient and disobedient than Supergirl when it comes to using his major power . He ends up using his superspeed to gain an reward over his classmates and turnkey around with the machines in Kara ’s Fortress of Solitude . When Kara reprimands him for his “ childish behaviour , ” a vindictive Superboy decides to take matters into his own hands .

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First , he builds himself a lab out of junkyard textile – and then trick Supergirl into believing hisexperiments with Gold Kryptonite robbed him of his powers . With Kara now consider her cousin is an ordinary deadly , Superboy plots to escape his orphanage … by getting embrace . First , he sabotages all the other orphan ’ opportunity of adoption by plant pretended grounds that makes their adopted parents believe they ’re all stealer and pig . He then use his super - intelligence service to get a flush doctor to adopt him and give him entree to a penthouse and in full stocked testing ground .

But Kal - El is n’t done yet . He apply his step - father ’s research lab to create a equipment capable of unblock the prisoners from the Phantom Zone so they can help him take over the Earth . Rather than take Kal - El into hold , Kara tell him a taradiddle of some of the worst Phantom Zone captive ( give Kal an idea of who he wants to rid first ) . She then flies off tearfully as a group of Phantom Zone prisoners contacts Superboy telepathically . Superboy frees the “ prisoners ” but take it ’s actually a ploy by Superwoman toexpose him to Red Kryptonitewhich induce him to lose his power temporarily .

Kara then try out to send Kal - El to the Phantom Zone , but he destroys the projector before she can . She then decide to … go and break off another calamity , leave behind her assistant Jimmy Olsen to beat up a powerless Superboy for her ( clearly , Supergirl ’s parenting skills require a lot of work ) . Superboy ’s powers start to return , but before he can give Jimmy a terrible beating , a chance piece of Gold Kryptoniteerases his tycoon permanently . Seeing no other option , Superwoman brainwash her cousin with “ super hypnosis ” and floor him off at another orphanage so he can be someone else ’s job .

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“ Imaginary Stories ” often allowed DC writers and artists to take their character in creative , unforeseen directions . In this case , however , having Kal - El decide to become a supervillain because he did n’t like being bossed around by Superwoman seems wildly out of grapheme . Likewise , Kara showcases a remarkable lack of compassionateness throughout the news report ( although , to be honest , that ’s actually standard behavior for Silver Age Superman comics ) .

It ’s an interesting take on how theSuperman / Supergirldynamic could be flipped , but it would be fun to see a more modern interpretation .

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