What if Kara was Kal's literal sister instead of cousin?

[daBronzeBomma]

Would anything be lost by such a status change? Or gained?

What would be the pros and cons of a move like that?

The biggest con I see is a ret. Another retcon (see what I did there?) would be a headache, but if the pros outweigh it, I'd be all for it the next time Supes gets a hard reboot.

Any worthwhile qualities of Zor-El and Alura In-Ze could be folded into Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van. And Streaky sucks compared to Krypto.

Pitch: Kara as the firstborn child of Jor and Lara, who accidentally left Krypton as a young teen, years before Kal was evenborn, in an experimental rocket only to get stuck in the timeless phantom zone until being freed by adult Kal.

He becomes her full-time mentor while living with the Kents in Smallville at night and going to high school in Metropolis in the day time (make her and Jimmy Olsen about the same age as Dick and Babs in Gotham).

She becomes his primary link to his homeworld, language, customs, and bio-parents. They only speak Kryptonian to each other, and Kara still laughs at his Terrestrial accent.

I'm uninterested in any contrary reasoning that basically says it can't ever be done because "that's the way it's always been".

Which is the biggest and only reason that this idea couldn't happen in the future.

What do you think? Is Cousin to Sister an upgrade? Should it be done the next time around? Why or why not?

[Adekis]

I have a very close relationship with my cousins compared to a lot of people and a relatively distant relationship with my sister compared to folks who hang out with theirs all the time, and so taking those two things together I think I'm basically as close to my cousins as I am to my sister. What I'm saying is, in terms of Kara and Kal's relationship, I don't think anything would really change or improve in the slightest. Kara's already Kal's closest connection to his birthworld, to his culture, to his birth parents. I quite like the idea that they could primarily speak Kryptonese to each other when they're alone, that's a really good idea in fact, but there's no reason at all they couldn't do that as cousins.

My concern is emphatically not "it's never been this way," but "so what's the difference again, exactly?" All your good ideas - Kara going to high school or college in Metropolis, being the same age as teenage Batgirl or Robin, and especially putting more emphasis on the way she tangibly connects her cousin to Krypton - absolutely none of those concepts require her being his sister, and it only needlessly complicates the backstory to have Jor's test rocket contain her rather than Kal, much like in the Silver Age when Krypto was the one in the test rocket.

[Last Son of Krypton]

I would find it an unnecessary change. DC has already messed up enough Supergirl during post-Crisis.

[Adekis]

I would find it an unnecessary change. DC has already messed up enough Supergirl during post-Crisis.

Hey, you take that back, Matrix was underrated! Hehehe!

[Last Son of Krypton]

Hey, you take that back, Matrix was underrated! Hehehe!

[Jackalope89]

It doesn't really change a whole lot, overall. Outside of Jon calling her Aunt Kara, and a few minor things like that, I don't see much changing. Supes already sees her as a sister of sorts, being his only Kryptonian family. Just, now that Clark is the older one, he treats her like the younger sibling.