Do you prefer Supergirl as a teenager or a young adult?

[Robanker]

Junior year of High school - Freshman in college is the age range for Kara I prefer.

Wrap the thread up because it's done. Same here.

[Jabare]

young adult she's been around too long (too many stories) for her to remain a teen. Especially when you've got Demian and other younger heroes running around.

She should be younger then Dick Grayson but older then Jason Todd

[Shamrock Holmes]

young adult she's been around too long (too many stories) for her to remain a teen. Especially when you've got Demian and other younger heroes running around.

Agreed.

She should be younger then Dick Grayson but older then Jason Todd[/QUOTE]

I'm not sure about that... while there's certainly a case to vary the duration of the amount of time the "verse" has run, IMO the relative age of characters should remain consistent.

Kara Zor-El was in her mid-teens when she arrived on Earth at minimum -- some sources suggest as old as 22 for Kara Zor-L -- versus 21-25 years old for Earth-1/New Earth/Rebirth Kal and about 40ish for the Golden Age Superman.

As far as Dick goes that doesn't really work. Working backwards from his age at founding of the Teen Titans then when Dick became Robin (at age 12) then Kara had already been Supergirl for a year or two (Midvale first appears in Adventure Comics #233 in 1959), whereas Dick wouldn't have been more than 14 until after 1964.

Unless you're using the Golden Age Dick vs Power Girl or more modern takes like the DCAU (1998 to 2006) or the New Earth version 2004 and 2010. In that case, she and Jason are probably about the same age.

[Tzigone]

I'm not sure about that... while there's certainly a case to vary the duration of the amount of time the "verse" has run, IMO the relative age of characters should remain consistent.

I completely agree.

As far as Dick goes that doesn't really work. Working backwards from his age at founding of the Teen Titans then when Dick became Robin (at age 12) then Kara had already been Supergirl for a year or two (Midvale first appears in Adventure Comics #233 in 1959), whereas Dick wouldn't have been more than 14 until after 1964.

That's a total retcon for Dick, though. He was already 15 in the 1950s (and in high school in 1947 in Star Spangled Comics #70), and Wally was in ninth grade when he got his powers in 1960, and absolutely none of the Teen Titans acted 12. Heck, even in the NTT, which retconned them younger in their Titans days, didn't Dick and Donna say they'd known each other since 13? For my money, I go with them all 15+ when Teen Titans began. Now, I don't separate out Golden and Silver Age Dick - to me they flow into each other in the same continuity(they were only retconned separate when Earth Two was created).

I know you are using the 1964 for 14, but all the earlier references count, IMO, and that was a minimum age, not a maximum. Unless there is another reference I've missed, which is entirely possible. So for my money, 15 years old is Dick's first "endless year", going from 1951 to the mid-1960s. 18ish-20th birthday is his second endless year(well, year+, but not two full years) from 1969 to well into the 1980s. Tim has one too (since he already had his permit in Robin #1 and didn't turn 16 until the 2000s, and I kinda have to ignore Steph had an entire pregnancy and birth, leaving less than 3 months for the rest of it). Though really, of course, they did end, so they're actually just really long years.

[jwatson]

I prefer teenager because it presents an interesting set of stories. The best supergirl i have ever read and wish they went with that take is Supergirl:Being Super.

[Tom Kalbfus]

I prefer teenager because it presents an interesting set of stories. The best supergirl i have ever read and wish they went with that take is Supergirl:Being Super.

I like a teenage Supergirl too, I think they should start her at 14 as a freshman in high school, that way you have 4 years of high school experience. I think a secret identity is helpful, otherwise she either ends up going to a high school for superheroes or no high school at all.

As for what she would learn in high school, this is mainly to maintain her secret identity, though she may learn more in a social studies or English Lit class than she would in a science or math class.

Also being a high school student works better with being a superhero, than holding a 9 to 5 job. Supergirl is probably going to skip a few classes to fight some bad guys that were so inconsiderate as to commit their crimes during school hours, but that can't be helped, it would be nice if she had a sibling that could pick up her work for her if she suddenly got "sick" and had to fight bad guys. But high schools typically let out at 2:30, so that gives her the rest of the afternoon to fight bad guys.

[jwatson]

I like a teenage Supergirl too, I think they should start her at 14 as a freshman in high school, that way you have 4 years of high school experience. I think a secret identity is helpful, otherwise she either ends up going to a high school for superheroes or no high school at all.

As for what she would learn in high school, this is mainly to maintain her secret identity, though she may learn more in a social studies or English Lit class than she would in a science or math class.

Also being a high school student works better with being a superhero, than holding a 9 to 5 job. Supergirl is probably going to skip a few classes to fight some bad guys that were so inconsiderate as to commit their crimes during school hours, but that can't be helped, it would be nice if she had a sibling that could pick up her work for her if she suddenly got "sick" and had to fight bad guys. But high schools typically let out at 2:30, so that gives her the rest of the afternoon to fight bad guys.

Beyond that, where better to learn about the many shades of humanity. Supergirl isn't like superman in that he was basically raised human, sort of like Goku and Vegeta. Vegeta had to learn to care for humanity and find out what made it so special to Goku and he could only do that tthrough experience.Supergirl in Highschool is going to get a much better understanding of that than she would dealing with Adults who are already more set in their ways and not a real representation of how context and experience changes people into what they eventually become.

[Shamrock Holmes]

I completely agree.

That's a total retcon for Dick, though. He was already 15 in the 1950s (and in high school in 1947 in Star Spangled Comics #70), and Wally was in ninth grade when he got his powers in 1960, and absolutely none of the Teen Titans acted 12. Heck, even in the NTT, which retconned them younger in their Titans days, didn't Dick and Donna say they'd known each other since 13? For my money, I go with them all 15+ when Teen Titans began. Now, I don't separate out Golden and Silver Age Dick - to me they flow into each other in the same continuity(they were only retconned separate when Earth Two was created).

"Flash of Two Worlds" established the Multiverse in 1961, three years before the debut of the Teen Titans (although admittedly the two Robins didn't share "screen time until 1967).

I know you are using the 1964 for 14, but all the earlier references count, IMO, and that was a minimum age, not a maximum.

That's true I suppose.

I use 12-13 as his age at debut because that is AFAIK the best benchmark that anchors to a specific, typically (middle school/7th Grade) of the multitude of conflicting datapoints, sometimes within the same issue.

Unless there is another reference I've missed, which is entirely possible. So for my money, 15 years old is Dick's first "endless year", going from 1951 to the mid-1960s. 18ish-20th birthday is his second endless year(well, year+, but not two full years) from 1969 to well into the 1980s. Tim has one too (since he already had his permit in Robin #1 and didn't turn 16 until the 2000s, and I kinda have to ignore Steph had an entire pregnancy and birth, leaving less than 3 months for the rest of it). Though really, of course, they did end, so they're actually just really long years.

Don't get me started about "Tiny Tim", please don't. Even the Bat editorial team can't keep him straight compared to the rest of the Family. For instance at one point he goes from being about the same as Cass to her being IIRC two years older.

Either age one of them, or neither. I'm not overly bothered which, just be consistent.

[Tzigone]

"Flash of Two Worlds" established the Multiverse in 1961, three years before the debut of the Teen Titans (although admittedly the two Robins didn't share "screen time until 1967).

Oh, definitely. But I'd had years of issues of regarding them as the same character before that retcon said they weren't. Also, golden age and Earth Two aren't the same to me, either, as details are definitely different between them.

Don't get me started about "Tiny Tim", please don't. Even the Bat editorial team can't keep him straight compared to the rest of the Family. For instance at one point he goes from being about the same as Cass to her being IIRC two years older.

I didn't know he was ever her age (I read him up through issue 113 of Robin, but less of her), but I do realize that Jason was in 7th grade in the annual right before his death, so should have been the same age as (or slightly younger than) Tim. I wondered if they wanted him the villain, they didn't want him a minor when they brought him back - didn't fit the look/vibe they were going for. I understand they said Cass was Jason's age, and that was two years older than Tim at some point before Jason's return, but am unsure when. But that adult look for Jason was back when it was Clayface and before he was really back, so I don't know if that reasoning makes sense. Anyway, de-aging irritates me. And I really hate versions (or fanfics) that make Jason more of a peer to Dick and Tim way younger and am almost as irritated at Jason equally between them, because it is very important to me that Dick was already grown when Jason was introduced and Dick became Nightwing.

Of course, Supergirl is screwy anyway, since she never did age consistently, as I feel Roy, Wally, and Dick mostly did up until the 1990s, at least (retcons might annoyingly rewrite them as younger in the past, but they at least stayed on the same page together). Garth to me seemed to have an age jump between his introduction and the Teen Titans. Dick also went from junior to graduated in a eyeblink. But Supergirl was seemingly their age at first, then she graduated college before Wally even graduated highschool (even if you don't count Dick the same age, Wally was explicitly a ninth-grader when he premiered not long after Kara, and she definitely wasn't 18/19 by then).

Reboots make her younger again (I kinda feel like Jimmy Olsen suffers from the same, and don't get me started on poor Raven and Gar who have gone from Dick's peers to Tim's to Damian's, and then aged again).

[Tom Kalbfus]

Beyond that, where better to learn about the many shades of humanity. Supergirl isn't like superman in that he was basically raised human, sort of like Goku and Vegeta. Vegeta had to learn to care for humanity and find out what made it so special to Goku and he could only do that tthrough experience.Supergirl in Highschool is going to get a much better understanding of that than she would dealing with Adults who are already more set in their ways and not a real representation of how context and experience changes people into what they eventually become.

Kara would do best posing as a foreigner from Eastern Europe, from some country most of the students in the high school are unfamiliar with so they don't try to speak to her in her "native language," that would work best to explain her unfamiliarity of with many things, she would probably be deemed a gifted student in the areas of math and science, because on Krypton her family was bred for that and her father was a scientist, but maybe not to the same extent that Lex Luthor is, Kara is not an inventor, but she probably understands much of the science Lex Luthor gets into. Fortunately this cuts into her homework quite a bit, and doesn't spend a lot of time doing her math and science homework, though she does put some thought into history and English, her adoptive brother helps her with those two subjects and he is a better chess player.

Kara is a kind of quiet student, she doesn't do much after school activity, takes too much time out of her superhero work, her friends think she is sort of a geek, and they aren't wrong, Kara doesn't play the "dumb blonde" role very well. Kara's friends encourage her to join the cheerleader squad, but she politely declines, saying she needs to focus on her school work being a foreign student and all. I think Kara would join a Boy Scout troop since her adoptive brother is a Boy Scout, and it recently went coed. Kara is fond of nature, she can enjoy a good hike even if it doesn't physically challenge her, and anyway someone out in the woods might be in need of rescuing, you never can tell.

[PCN24454]

I like for her to be the same age/generation as Dick.

[Blue22]

I like for her to be the same age/generation as Dick.

Same. I've always been a bigger fan of her being a young adult than a teenager. In a perfect world, we could have had a super to cover just about every range at the same time. Jon as a kid, Conner as a teenager, Kara as a college aged adult, and Clark for everything after that.

[Frontier]

I kind of liked a younger Kara crushing on an older Dick...

[Tzigone]

I like for her to be the same age/generation as Dick.

Same. I've always been a bigger fan of her being a young adult than a teenager. In a perfect world, we could have had a super to cover just about every range at the same time. Jon as a kid, Conner as a teenager, Kara as a college aged adult, and Clark for everything after that.

See, that doesn't work for me, because I do like progression. I know it has to end at some point to keep Clark, etc. active, but I don't want to pigeon-hole them ages, and certain relative age differences matter to me. If Kara is Dick's age, then by time Jon is 10, Kon is 21 (Tim was 17 when Damian was introduced, I think, and that's even saying Damian was 10 then, so Jon would have been 7 if he existed), and Dick/Kara would be at least 29, possibly early 30s (post-COIE, Dick seems to have been 19 to Jason's 11, but Jason and Tim's age gap changed along the way).

[Blue22]

See, that doesn't work for me, because I do like progression. I know it has to end at some point to keep Clark, etc. active, but I don't want to pigeon-hole them ages, and certain relative age differences matter to me. If Kara is Dick's age, then by time Jon is 10, Kon is 21 (Tim was 17 when Damian was introduced, I think, and that's even saying Damian was 10 then, so Jon would have been 7 if he existed), and Dick/Kara would be at least 29, possibly early 30s (post-COIE, Dick seems to have been 19 to Jason's 11, but Jason and Tim's age gap changed along the way).

I like progression as well (that's one of the biggest reasons I've disliked things like Jon aging up the way that he did, or Raven and Beast Boy not being allowed to age up for so long). I don't think that necessarily stops progression (at least not any more than comics already naturally do). It just...gives them each a generation they belong to. Like how Kon has always been firmly in Tim's. Of course they'd all eventually age out of their respective categories, but I wouldn't mind what I suggested being a definitive starting point for all of them going forward.

That said, do we actually have an official age for Dick? I've heard everything ranging from early to late 20s but he honestly doesn't seem like he's any older than like...24 or 25 to me.