Supergirl / Tropes I To J

Tropes A to B | Tropes C to D | Tropes E to F | Tropes G to H | Tropes I To J | Tropes K To L | Tropes M To N | Tropes O To P | Tropes R To S | Tropes T To U | Tropes V To W | Tropes X To Z

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Tropes found in Supergirl

• I Am Not Left-Handed:
  • When DC brought Kara Zor-El back after her death in the Crisis, it was rumoured that she was more powerful than Superman. Then Superman told she seemed more powerful because she hadn't learned yet how to hold back, unlike him, who is always holding back.
  • In Red Daughter of Krypton, one dozen of Green and Red Lanterns manage to restrain a mad Supergirl. Afterwards Kara reveals that she was holding back because she was scared of killing them all if she let loose. Guy believes her.
• I Am X, Son of Y: In Adventure Comics #420 Supergirl visits another planet. When she meets one of the local inhabitants, the man says: "Welcome, traveler! I am Togran, son of Vorko!"
• I Believe I Can Fly: When Kara Zor-El was introduced in the Superman books several years later after her cousin's debut, she could fly since the beginning. Most of her enemies also can fly using magic (Nightflame), technology (Reactron), psychic powers (several mutants) or mad science (Blackstarr).
• I Broke a Nail: When a small team of different Supergirl incarnations break Superman out of the Source Wall in Superman/Batman #25, Power Girl mutters this, then quickly adds she was kidding.
• Iconic Sequel Character: Supergirl was created in 1959, twenty-one years after Superman’s creation, and she’s one of the most important members of his supporting cast.
• Iconic Outfit: Her costume has an iconic, easily and instantly recognizable look: Superman's costume minus the pants plus a blue or -usually- red skirt. She has worn many different outfits since 1958, but most of them are variations of her first gendered costume. Her most famous and most popular uniforms are: Original◊, "Hot pants"◊, "Headband"◊, Supergirl Matrix◊ and Post Crisis Supergirl Kara◊.
• Ideal Hero: Kara is usually torn between her desire to become the same kind of selfess, responsible and brave hero than her cousin is, her responsibilities given by her incredible powers and her need to live a normal life like a normal girl/woman. Although she always makes mistakes and missteps, she eventually develops into this.
• Identical Stranger: Supergirl's first nemesis, Lesla-Lar was identical to Kara; to the point Lesla posed as Supergirl for several days and neither Superman nor Supergirl's adoptive parents suspected anything. In The Girl with the X-Ray Mind, she also poses as Lena Thorul. Later, Lesla became -more- unhinged and convinced herself that she and Supergirl were twins. In Strangers at the Heart's Core, Supergirl replied it was impossible they were sisters and their similarity was due to some kind of "cosmic coincidence".
• I Did What I Had to Do: In Supergirl Rebirth #3 Cyborg Superman defends his actions stating that he did what he needed to do to guarantee Kara's happiness.
  Cyborg Superman: I heard you, Kara. You longed to return to Argo City. I did only what needed to be done to give you that.
• If I Had a Nickel...: In Batgirl 2009 #14, Kara and Stephanie are about to fight a sobbing Dracula (long story).
  Batgirl: Nothing sadder than a crying Dracula.
  Supergirl: If I had a nickel for every time I've heard that...
  Batgirl: You'd have a nickel?
  Supergirl: I'd have a nickel.
• I Hate Past Me: In Supergirl Vol 6 #20, Power Girl gets mad with the eponymous heroine because Kara called her "old". Supergirl apologizes, explaining she didn't meant anything by it, but she is prone to say stupid things when she gets upset. Power Girl admits that she used to be like that, too.
• I Have No Son!: Invoked in story arc New Krypton. When Superman and his aunt Alura are on the brink of fighting, Supergirl tries to calm her mother down... but Alura threatens to disown her daughter if Kara doesn't stand with her.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Pre-Crisis Supergirl often expressed this desire during the Bronze Age. Unlike her cousin, Kara remembers having a normal life back on Argo City, when she was a normal teenager. After growing into adulthood, she was torn between her desire to have the life of a normal woman and the responsibilities that come with her powers. In Superman vol 1 #282 she explains her cousin◊ that she is thinking of giving up her Supergirl identity because she wants a normal life:
  Superman: Still thinking about giving up your Supergirl identity, Kara?
  Supergirl: I don't know, cousin Kal-El — Maybe! This life of a super-heroine takes up too much of my time... sets me apart from everybody else! I want an ordinary life — with a husband and children some day — free to do what I choose!
• I Kiss Your Hand:
  • Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl: Lex Luthor kissed Barbara Gordon's hand during a ceremony. As soon as he turned around, Barbara wiped her hand, disgusted.
  • In Supergirl Volume 5 #14, Power Boy kisses Supergirl’s hand. Kara gets pretty puzzled about the gesture.
• I Know Karate: In most of continuities, Supergirl knows Klurkor. She has also been trained by Wonder Woman, Batman and Batgirl. In Who is Superwoman? she warns Reactron she is a Klurkor practitioner before proceeding to kick his butt.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Supergirl has done this or this has been done to her several times during her career:
  • In Supergirl vol. 5 #50, super-villain Insect Queen took over Supergirl's friend Lana Lang's body. While Kara beat her up, she tried to reach out to Lana.
    Supergirl: : Lana, if you can hear me— SAY something! Lana! I KNOW you're IN there! Let her body Go, you insect FREAK! Get OUT!
  • In Red Daughter Of Krypton Shioban runs into Supergirl right after her transformation when Kara is overwhelmed with rage. Shioban wonders what turned her best friend into that rage monster (she suspects drugs or poison) and she tries to reach her out.
    Shioban: Kara...? I'm your friend, remember? Whatever's happened, you don't have to hurt anyone.
  • In Demon Spawn as Nightflame and her minions try to take over Supergirl's mind and body, Geoff cradles her lifeless body, trying to wake her up.
    Underlying: What... What's this? Her helper is far stronger than I thought! Attuned to her thoughts! He's locked into certain parts of her mind! I can't dispel him!
    Supergirl: Whoever you are, keep it up! I can feel your influence growing stronger and stronger! Breaking through all the pain and torment!
• I Know You're Watching Me: In Supergirl #0, the Calculator is monitoring Kara under Lex Luthor's orders. At one point, she glares straight in the direction of the camera the Calculator is using to watch her, which is enough for him to freak out in a Spit Take.
• I Let You Win:
  • In The Brave and the Bold story arc The Lords Of Luck, Supergirl lets Lobo win an arm wrestling match just so that the alien bar's patrons don't spread all across the galaxy that Lobo was beaten by a girl.
  • In The Unknown Supergirl, Linda Danvers lets Dick Malverne win a swimming race out of kindness towards his fragile ego.
• ILLKILLYOU: In Adventure Comics #420, Supergirl sees an alien world's protector getting killed and his lands being ravaged by an invading army. Already angry and upset, Kara is hit by an emotion-altering mental attack and utterly loses it:
  Supergirl: All right, you madmen! You want war? You want death...? Then I'll give it back to you! I'll kill you myself— I'll KILL YOU ALL! Kill!! KILL!!
• Immune to Bullets: Supergirl is, unsurprisingly, immune to bullets. Unsurprisingly, mooks are completely oblivious to this fact.
  • In The Death of Superman (1961), Supergirl breaks into the Luthor's lair while he and other criminals are celebrating her cousin's death. Several of them shoot her -even though she has just informed them that she is Superman's cousin- and she suggests that they stop wasting bullets◊.
  • One comic had the situation plays out as normal, right until the mook throws the gun at her — the gun hits Supergirl in the head, and she collapses. Then, she gets back up in the next panel.
    Supergirl: Just kidding!
  • Kara lampshades it in The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl #12:
    Supergirl: I hate thinking of the fortune in ammunition thugs like you have wasted on me over the years!
• Impact Silhouette: In Action Comics issue #308, Supergirl takes care of a little girl who has gained powers for a short while. At a point, the child -Candy- trips over a toy and plunges through the wall of the house, leaving a Candy-shaped hole.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Thanks to her telescopic vision, Supergirl has literal super-aim. In Action Comics issue #258, she hits her target from space.
• I'm Standing Right Here:
  • In The Supergirl from Krypton (2004), Superman and Wonder Woman argue because Clark wants to take his cousin back home whereas Diana argues that she must remain in Themyscira. Kara breaks in to remind them that she is standing there.
    Supergirl: Hey. Can I say something? Not that I mind you two talking about me like I'm not here... Well, actually, I do...
  • Red Daughter Of Krypton, when Superman talks to Guy Gardner about his cousin, he preemptively says: "And yes, Kara, I know you're behind me and listening to this."
  • Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl And Batgirl: The Joker doesn't like when someone does that. When Lex Luthor asks Hamilton who he is, Joker threatens him in a... not quite veiled way.
    The Joker: Don't talk about me like I'm not right here. It makes feel so... petty and vindictive.
  • In Smallville episode Kara, Kara insults Chloe by saying she is "just a human" condescendingly when she is standing right there; Clark defends her by saying Chloe is smarter than both of them put together.
• I'm Taking Her Home with Me!: Kara does this in Action Comics issue #308 when she finds a missing little girl and decides to take her home with her until she finds her parents.
• In a Single Bound: Supergirl can do this, although she nearly always sticks to flying.
• Inconsistent Coloring: Supergirl's skirt was colored inconsistently during the first two years of her existence. Depending on the comic, it was red or blue until DC finally settled on blue. Back then, the in-universe reason is Kara had different suits and she enjoyed trying new clothes.
• Inconsistent Spelling: In Pre-Crisis comics, the name of Kara's mother was Allura In-Ze. In later continuities, though, most of writers spell it Alura.
• Incredible Shrinking Man: The entire city of Kandor was shrunk to microscopic size so as to preserve it when Krypton exploded. Superman kept it in what appeared to be a five gallon water bottle. Whenever Superman and Supergirl wanted to go in there, they had to shrink their bodies.
• Incurable Cough of Death: In the "New Krypton" arc, Lana Lang often coughed or vomited blood. Later on, Kara found out that Lana had been keeping her illness from her.
• Informed Attractiveness: Kara is usually described by male characters as stunningly beautiful and incredibly alluring even though she does not look more attractive than your run-of-the-mill DC heroine.
• Inner Monologue: Supergirl does this a lot. A lot. Often it's because she's trying to figure out her weird new homeworld or dwelling upon her life and her troubles:
  • In the first issue of her 80's solo title Linda spends the first pages reminiscing and reminding herself she needs a change of scene to rediscovering herself:
    Supergirl: Besides, I could do with the time to myself... to sit back and think. It's selfish, I know, but I deserve... Whoa! There you go again, Linda! There's nothing selfish about wanting to get into yourself for a while instead of thinking about the whole blasted world! I do enough of that as Supergirl — and wasn't the whole reason for this move... to give myself space to be just plain Linda Danvers?
  • In Red Daughter of Krypton Kara's inner voice is as reflective as snarky.
    Supergirl: Thanks to the K-poisoning, my natural powers are fading. My only hope now is channeling my rage to charge my ring. And there is no shortage of things that make me furious.
• Innocent Innuendo: In Supergirl vol 4, #77, Kara and Linda are in the school lockers talking about stuff, and Linda notices that Kara is fixing her eyes on a wall. Kara explains she's looking through the wall and she's amazed at all the equipment she is seeing. Said equipment being sporting stuff.
  Kara Zor-El: I'm looking through it. It's amazing. All the equipment I'm seeing. So many sizes and shapes...
  Linda Danvers: All the ...? Kara! Just where are you looking?!
  Kara: The equipment room, where they keep all the sporting stuff, why?
  Linda: Oh, I thought you were peeping in at the guy's lock— Forget it. My own dirty mind.
• In Spite of a Nail: In Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl, Lex Luthor finds Kal-El's rocket instead of the Kents and kills the baby before he grows into Superman, and later hires a hitman to assassinate the Waynes. The hitman fails and murders the Gordons instead, prompting Barbara Gordon to become Batgirl. Several years later Kara Zor-El's parents send her to Earth because, even though they don't know their nephew's fate, they know about the Earth's heroes. Kara is mentored by Wonder Woman, becomes Supergirl, joins a super-team and makes friends with Barbara, just like in the mainstream universe.
• Instant Costume Change:
  • Pre-Crisis Supergirl often took advantage of her Super-Speed to do this. In Supergirl vol 1 #1 she changes clothes in a split-second when someone opens her dorm's door. In Supergirl vol 2 #20 she again instantly strips off her costume and puts her civilians clothes on when her friend Joan knocks on her door.
  • Being a shapeshifter, Matrix could transform from regular clothes into her Supergirl uniform by altering her clothes telekinetically.
  • Post-Crisis Kara also used her Super-Speed to change clothes instantly. In Batgirl (2009) she comes to visit her friend Stephanie Brown -alias Batgirl III- and does this to avoid to be caught by Steph's mother.
• Internal Reveal:
  • In The Unknown Supergirl, Lesla-Lar kidnaps and brainwashes Supergirl, but Kara does not find out about it until The Girl with the X-Ray Mind, published one year later. However, she only learns Lesla made dealings with Lex Luthor as pretending to be Supergirl in later storyline Strangers at the Heart's Core.
  • In The Strange Revenge of Lena Luthor, Lena finally discovers she is Lex Luthor's little sister, a fact readers had known for twenty years.
• Interspecies Adoption: Supergirl is usually adopted by a human family, usually the Danvers or Lana Lang.
• Interspecies Friendship: Most of friendships developed by Supergirl are necessarily with non-Kryptonians. Kara's best friend is Batgirl (human), and depending on the continuity, she has befriended humans like Lena Luthor or Cassandra Sandsmark, and she loves dearly her sentient pet cat Streaky. She and Krypto are also very close.
• Intimate Marks: As per her Gendered Outfit, her "S" symbol is typically placed right over her breasts. Unlike most examples of the trope, though, she's fully covered. But Most Common Superpower doesn't make that count for much. Her Seventies costume, however, exploited the trope outright with a low neckline.
• Intrepid Reporter: For a short while in the early 70's Linda Danvers worked as a junior photographer and reporter for San Francisco news station KSF-TV. She quit in Adventure Comics's last story.
• Invulnerable Knuckles:
  • A plot point in Last Daughter of Krypton: Supergirl has just arrived on Earth when she is attacked by an armored squad. Instinctively, she punches one Powered Armour-clad soldier far away, and is stunned to see she has not crushed her own hand or bruised her knuckles. That is her first clue that she has become invulnerable.
  • Subverted in The Killers of Krypton. Supergirl gets into a bar brawl, and since she is running low on power, she winces and feels her hand hurting and her knuckles bruised after punching someone.
• Incest Subtext:
  • Superman and his cousin Supergirl had some of this in the Silver Age. According several long-time Superman and Supergirl fans, "There is a LOT of subtext to the olde SG stories if you know where to look".
  • In Action Comics #260 Clark has Kara disguise herself as a superheroine from another dimension, and she and Superman◊ proceed to have make-outs (in front of Lois), all to fool some dim alien invaders. They even get married
  • The infamous Action Comics #289 where Superman falls in love with a woman identical to an adult version of his cousin. The really crazy part? Supergirl set the two up because her cousn told her that if he ever got married, it would be to someone just like her. Discussed here and here.
  • In Action Comics #270, Superman asks his sixteen-year-old cousin to take off her clothes◊. In context, he wants Kara to put on her civilian clothes because he is going to give her a costume-compressing device and he needs to show her how it works. Taken out of context... well...
    Superman: Take off that Supergirl costume right now! And remove those boots, too!
  • In Superboy #80, Kara travels to the past to meet Superboy, and Clark looks a tad smitten of his cousin. And then you have this scene◊. In the words of a reviewer "The rather phallic look of the alien ships added a little bit to my 'Clark hopes they could be kissing cousins' theory. I mean ... those ships could have been drawn any shape in the world."
  • Krypton No More has this scene◊ in which Gerry Conway seems completely unaware of the tone he is setting. Superman drying off after taking a shower, Supergirl's long legs highlighted, her face in the shadows... Even the line 'hope you don't mind me waiting for you' sounds suggestive. At the very least, she is an adult in that story.
  • Also, from the same source as Lex Luthor stealing forty cakes^note That's as many as four tens. And That's Terrible. comes Kara and Clark deserving a rest◊. Maybe it's just hard to make her look unsexy, but... that looks far from innocent, and the repetition, though intended to drill the definition into a kid's mind, really makes it sound like she is saying "We deserve a rest, nudge nudge wink wink," and the big blue boy scout just isn't getting it yet.
  • In Many Happy Returns, Kara and Superboy -Superman's clone- meet and are eyeing each other right away. Kara is blatantly smitten with him.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Kara has blue eyes. And she's -originally or after Character Development- a nice, kind and compassionate young woman. Her original, Pre-Crisis self was pretty innocent, optimistic and dangerously naive when she arrived on Earth.
• In-Series Nickname: Guy Gardner usually called Kara "Kid" during her Red Lantern phase. Kara was not happy about it.
• Insignia Rip-Off Ritual:
  • In a Superboy (90s clone version) story, Supergirl (90s Matrix version) tries to persuade him to come with her and sort out why he's currently a wanted fugitive. When he refuses, she uses her telekinesis to pull the S-shields off his chest and the back of his jacket.
  • In Supergirl vol 5 #41, Kara rips the "S"-shield off Superwoman's clothes screaming she is a murderer and she doesn't deserve to wear her family's crest.
  • In Supergirl vol 6 #23 Supergirl rips the "S"-crest off a decoy of her cousin, shouting he is a fake and he doesn't deserve to wear it.
• Interspecies Romance:
  • Among the first Supergirl's boyfriends were human boy Dick Malverne, Coluan alien Brainiac 5, and Atlantean merboy Jerro.
  • "The Super-Steed of Steel" introduces Comet the Superhorse, a centaur turned into horse who developed an unrequited crush on Supergirl (who never found out about Comet's feelings).
  • Post Crisis Kara had a quasi-romantic friendship with Captain Boomerang (human) and an actual romance with Apokolips native Power Boy. And had a crush on Dick Grayson, but that hardly counts.
  • In the Red Daughter of Krypton story arc, Red Lanterns Rankorr -an human- and Bleez -a winged, blue-skinned alien-.
• Is This Thing Still On?: In Action Comics #319, Donna Storm frames Linda Danvers -the eponymous heroine- for stealing. Donna gloats over framing Linda, without realizing her words are being broadcast through the school's P. A. system.
• It Has Only Just Begun:
  • Several Silver Age Supergirl's enemies uttered this sentence or some variant after being defeated for first time.
  • In Adventure Comics #397 Kara gives 'Nasty' Luthor and her bullying squad a lesson, after which she warns that she will get tougher the next time she catches them hurting someone. 'Nasty' mutters Supergirl can count on there being a next time.
  • Starfire's Revenge: After Supergirl captures Starfire (no relation to the female Teen Titan), and her gang, the villainess assures "This is only the beginning". Ironically, Starfire would never be seen again.
  • Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #24:
    Jeyra Entinn: You won this round, Legionnaries... But this is only the beginning...!
    Cosmic Boy: Wow. Is there some super-villain book of quotes they all work off of?
• "It" Is Dehumanizing:
  • Red Daughter Of Krypton: Shay alternates between using "her" and "it" to talk about Blaze because she doesn't know how to refer to other-dimensional demons.
    Soldier: "Her"...? I thought we were hunting for an "it".
    Shay: She looks female, but who really knows if gender even applies to a demon from another dimension?
  • Many Happy Returns: Super-villain Xenon will only refer to the Supergirl who defeated him as "She," with every other woman to wear the shield he refers to as "It."
• It Only Works Once: In The Last Days of Superman, Supergirl uses a piece of Red Kryptonite, which restores a Kryptonian's powers on planets with a red sun (found by Superboy in Superboy (1949) #81), to keep her powers when she time-travels to pre-destruction Krypton. As all fragments of Red Kryptonite, though, it only has effect on each Kryptonian once; so neither Kara nor Kal were able to use it again.
• It's All About Me: In Reign of Doomsday, Cyborg Superman feels thrilled when he thinks he can beat Doomsday and prove he is better than Superman. Then Doomsday started beating him up, he is saved by Supergirl... and he tries to kill her because she is winning, and he cannot stand the idea of being inferior to her.
• It's All Junk: In Gotham City Garage, Barbara Gordon is tricked into believing her sister Kara murdered their father. At one point she rips up her sister's comics. Then she remembers they were their father's and feels even worse.
  Barbara: I tried hating you. On one particularly bad night, I tore up your illegal comics. It was only afterward I remembered they were Dad's. I tried hating him, too. That didn't work either.
• It's All My Fault:
  • In Many Happy Returns, Kara believes -mistakenly- her X-Ray Vision disrupted a woman's pacemaker. She feels so guilty she lets Rebel pummel her only because she wants to be punished.
    Supergirl: A woman collapsed while I was using my X-Ray Vision. I think it disrupted her pacemaker. She suffered and it's... It's my fault.
  • In Crucible, Maxima blames herself for taking Kon to Crucible, where he was captured by Korstus. When she apologizes to Kara, though, her friend replies she could not know what would happen.
    Maxima: "This is all my fault, Kara. I led Kon right into a trap!"
    Kara: "You can't blame yourself, Max. We all thought Korstus was on our side."
  • In Bizarrogirl, Kara blames herself for New Krypton's destruction and her people's genocide schemed by Lex Luthor and General Lane and carried out by her arch-enemy Reactron.
    Kara: "Gifts"? These "gifts" make a target, Lana. They make me dangerous to everyone around me. And as you'll recall, the last time I tried to help someone, I got a planet full of my people blown up —
    Lana: That wasn't your fault and you know it —
    Kara: It doesn't matter whose fault you think it was, Lana! 80,000 people were put in danger because of something I did... and then Supergirl couldn't save any of them.
• It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Non-romantic variant. When Superman first met Kara back in the Silver Age, she wanted to live with him, but he sent her to an orphanage because he was afraid that his enemies would target her if they found out about his cousin (he was proved right in the Post-Crisis universe: as soon as Kara arrived on Earth, people began attacking her and Darkseid kidnapped her).
• It's Personal:
  • In the New Krypton storyline, post-Crisis Supergirl has a feud with Reactron after he kills her father. It doesn't end well, and he eventually blows up her mother and almost every surviving member of her race. She also takes her enmity with Doomsday this way, knowing that he once killed her cousin.
  • In the Red Daughter of Krypton arc, Supergirl explains that she hates the Worldkillers (sentient, genetically-engineered biological weapons) and the Diasporan alien race because they kill planets, and she's an orphan of a dead world. She's very committed to stop them all.
    Supergirl: How could anyone make it their mission in life to murder whole worlds? Can you imagine what an abomination that is to an orphan from a dead planet? [...] This world-killing stuff... it hits a nerve. It makes me furious, and the ring just fans the flame!
• It Was with You All Along: In The Superman Adventures issue #52, Superman needs an element that does not exist on Earth to save Supergirl's life. Once he eventually loses all hope, he sheds a tear and it's shown to contain the element. One of his friends even comments "you've been carrying element x around all the time!".
• I Was Beaten by a Girl: In Superboy (1949) #80, Supergirl time-travels to the past to meet her teen cousin. Superboy is happy to have someone to play with, but when his cousin wins their first game he's surprised that "a mere girl" can best him. Kara states he'll have to get used to the idea that a Supergirl can be a match for him.
• Jack of All Stats: Supergirl has all powers of Superman. However she has an edge on speed whereas he is somewhat stronger. She isn't stronger than Superman, faster than Flash, smarter than Batman, better fighter than Wonder Woman and she has not as many powers as Martian Manhunter... but she is one of the strongest, fastest and toughest heroes, she has been trained by Batman and Wonder Woman and is intelligent and resourceful, besides having several useful complementary powers such as flight and super-senses. Her combination of raw power, training, cleverness, determination and hot-bloodness makes her one of the most powerful heroes of the planet.
• Jailbait Taboo: In Justice League United, when an older super-villain hits on Kara, she hits him, shouting "I'm sixteen, you creep!"
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Supergirl's modern versions tend to put an emphasis on her being a teenager who has seen her family dying and her home exploding before being trapped in a strange, -comparatively speaking- primitive world and gifted with powers beyond understanding. So, she's moody, snappy, inmature, rude and short-tempered for a while until she outgrows her loneliness and anger management issues. However, even at her worst she's a good girl deep-down who tries to help people and doesn't want anybody to get hurt.
• Jet Pack: In Supergirl Rebirth #3 Cyborg Superman equips all Argonian zombies with jet packs.
• The Joy of First Flight: In The Supergirl From Krypton (1959), Supergirl sports a radiant smile when she takes off and soars through the skies for the first time. Later origin stories subverted this, though, making Kara look more shocked and scared than joyous.
• Judge, Jury, and Executioner: In Adventure Comics #394: Heartbreak Prison", Supergirl is captured by an alien tyrant called Tyrox, who acts in the role of plaintiff, prosecutor, jury and then judge, one after the other, to sentence her to life prison. Kara lampshades Tyrox has made sure he'll never lose a case.
• Jumping on a Grenade:
  • In Gotham City Garage, Kara Gordon saves Jason Todd's life by throwing herself on top of a bomb. Her body bore the brunt of the blast, but since it was a solar-powered bomb she came out unscathed (not that a normal bomb would damage her either, but she didn't know about her invulnerability in the time).
  • In Adventure Comics #424, Linda Danvers is having a date with an ex-crook she's trying to get information out of, when a gangster suddenly tosses a grenade in the restaurant to silence his former partner. Linda instantly jumps on the grenade and takes the explosion. Good thing she is invulnerable.
    Bartender 1: She... She jumped on the grenade! She's not breathing!
    Bartender 2: ...S-Saved us by taking the explosion herself!
• Junior Counterpart: Supergirl is this to Superman in continuities where she's physically younger than her cousin.
• Just Before the End: When Argo City's population was getting killed by Kryptonite radiation, Zor-El and Allura managed to build a single-passenger rocket and send their daughter to Earth, and then they set up a disaster headquarters -as seen in The Untold Story of Argo City-. Unfortunately, there was no way to cure the Kryptonite poisoning or escape the space city, so all they could do was to monitor the plague, knowing Argo and its citizens have weeks left, at best.
• Just Between You and Me: In Action Comics #319, Donna Storm frames Linda for stealing. When they are left alone, Linda prods Donna into confessing to framing her, which Donna does because she can't help to gloat over it.
• Just Following Orders: When Reactron is taken down in The Hunt for Reactron, he claims he was just following orders when he mass-slaughtered Kryptonians, and shifts all the blame to his superior General Lane. Aware that he carried out every order gleefully, neither Flamebird nor Supergirl are impressed.
• Just in Time:
  • In Bizarrogirl, Jimmy Olsen saves a boy who was seconds away from getting squashed by a car.
  • In Judgment In Infinity, one tank animated by the Horseman of War is about to trample over one little girl when Supergirl swoops down and smashes the war machine apart with a single punch.
  • In The Attack of the Annihilator, Batgirl falls to her death after being blasted out of the sky by the eponymous villain, but she is promptly saved by Supergirl's timely arrival.
• "Just So" Story: In the Superman: Secret Files (2009) one-shot, Thara Ak-Var tells Kara that, according to the myth, Krypton's Fire Falls were created when the god Rao cried tears of flame for a hundred nights after being tricked into imprisoning the goddess Cythonna.
• Just Toying with Them: In 2008 story arc "Way of the World", Kara runs into Clayface. She lets the mud monster hit her for a bit before disabusing him of any notion he's a match for her (Kara freezes him solid, flies him way, WAY up and lets him drop).
  Supergirl: I'm sorry, but you seem confused. Just 'cuz I let you land a few easy blows— that doesn't mean we're having a fair fight!
  Clayface: Wh— What are you... d-doing...?
  Supergirl: To call you "lame" and "ever so slightly beneath me" would be the understatement of the century. But it's been a bad few weeks. A shame you just happened to be the whipping boy I was looking for.

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