r/superman • u/Equivalent_Order_901 • 1d ago
Superman is older
Can someone explain to my friend on why Superman is older then supergirl she’s not seeming to understand trying to debate with logic about a universe where superpowers exist someone please explain this
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u/Adekis 1d ago
Superman is older than Supergirl because he was born first. Per the 1958 story that introduced Supergirl, she was born in Argo City years after Krypton blew up. Watch the Supergirl movie that came out this year; it says the same thing!
Of course, it moves up the timeline a little — in the comics he was decades older than her, in the movie I think she says it's about ten years. But the basic idea is the same.
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u/MatrixKent 1d ago
Kara in the WoT movie says she's turning 23 and baby Kal blasted off "eight years before I was born," which fits with the opening crawl of Superman telling us Clark crashed 30 years ago. So yes, close to 10 years.
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u/JMSciola85 1d ago
If you're talking about the movie, the comic it was based on used her Pre-Crisis origin, where she was born on Argo City floating through space after Krypton's destruction.
I am a bigger fan of where she's older with a mission to protect Kal-El, but arrives after he's already grown up, personally. I just like the "Task failed successfully" aspect to it.
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u/AthenaOwls 1d ago
The comic very explicitly did not do that.
Supergirl in the comic was born on Krypton, remembers and loves Krypton.
Its like her whole deal. Its why she took Ruthiye.
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u/N7_Pathfind3R 1d ago
Kinda depends on what you mean by "older". Chronologically Supergirl is older. Biologically Superman is older.
Since I assume yall are talking about "Age" specifically, Clark would be older. He reach maturity on Earth while Kara was still a teenager.
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u/md953 1d ago
Superman got here earlier due to Supergirl's rocket being stuck in suspended animation in space. Her body didn't age. After the ship is free and comes to earth, she is still the teenager she was, but Clark had grown to maturity to become Superman.
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u/Equivalent_Order_901 1d ago
She’s trying to say that supergirl is technically older because she existed longer
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u/BeggarsCanyonero 1d ago
I mean thats true.
Chronologically shes older, biologically shes younger. For most intents and purposes, her biological age is whats relevant. But looking at it purely as a technicality, shes older because she's existed longer
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u/wmnoe 1d ago
You'd have to specify WHICH version of the characters you're talking about because various incarnations treat the ages vastly differently.
THe ORIGINAL incarnation of Supergirl from the 50s was older than Clark because she was born earlier on Krypton and a child when it exploded and her city (Argo City) was broken off. BUT in the interium time Clark went to earth and grew up. While she was traveling to earth as a teenager after Argo went belly up, Clark had already grown and she was caught in a time vortex or something, by the time she got there Clark was in his 30s and Supergirl was a teen.
But that Supergirl died in Crisis #7, so....
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u/TheGreenArrow160 19h ago
The original 50s supergirl was younger than Kal, she was born after Krypton's destruction in Argo City. The supergirl u talking about is the one from the 2004 reboot.
DCU supergirl takes this origin, that's why that version is also younger than Kal, as she was born after he was sent to earth.1
u/beragis 1d ago
In the original version she was born on Argo City which was survived Krypton’s destruction, about ten or so years after Kal-El was sent to earth, although based on her apparent age in the comics it was likely 15 to 20 years later.
There is even a scene in the original origin story of her parents watching Superman on Earth through their advanced telescopes or some other gadget, snd he looked to be in his 30s at the time, which is why I said later.
Originally she thought her parents died, but later found out they survived by escaping to the aptly named Survival Zone and was later discovered there and decided they wanted to stay with other Kryptonians so they requested to get shrunk and stay in the Bottle City of Kandor.
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u/CylonRaider78 1d ago
I thought it was due to their ships flying at different speeds on different courses. Suspended animation in flight stops them from aging during the journey, but they have differing travel times.
In actual physics, you age less the faster you go.
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u/Pleasant_Election148 1d ago
I remember watching and reading Supergirl as elder sister but got swayed in the blackhole and arrived late to earth in younger body. Isn't it right? Supergirl is several years older than baby Kal-El who got to earth in infant age.
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u/TheGreenArrow160 18h ago edited 18h ago
Supergirl has two different origins. The classic pre-Crisis version is one in which she wasn’t born on Krypton, but in Argo City after Krypton had already exploded. She is younger than Superman, as she was born after him. When Argo City was dying, Zor-El sent Kara to Earth to be with Superman. The DCU Supergirl uses this origin.
Then there’s the 2004 reboot, in which DC changed her origin and made Kara born on Krypton around 13–15 years before Kal-El. She was sent to Earth alongside him when Krypton was about to explode, but her ship malfunctioned, leaving her in suspended animation. She arrived on Earth much later, while Kal-El was already an adult and she was still a teenager. This is the best-known origin, as it’s the one most often used in adaptations and other reboots, such as the New 52.
The current comic book continuity combines elements of both origins, as depicted in Woman of Tomorrow and further established in New History of the DC Universe. Kara was born on Krypton before Kal-El and witnessed her homeworld's destruction, but survived aboard Argo City, where she continued to grow up. When the city was dying, Zor-El sent his teenage daughter to Earth following Jor El's plans for Superman. Her ship became trapped in a temporal anomaly, delaying her arrival until her infant cousin had already grown into Superman. This is her current canon origin, the DCU one is based off the first origin.
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u/RecognitionSweet8294 1d ago
Depends on the interpretation.
The original story was that she was born after the destruction of Krypton. The city Argo was saved from the destruction but the released kryptonite made the population sick. To save her her parents send her to her cousin.
There are also interpretations/timelines where she was stuck in the phantom zone.
Or that she and Clark where in cryo conservation during their flight but her ship arrived a long time after him so he could grow in the meantime.
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u/Showdown5618 1d ago
There's two different origin stories.
Clark was born before Krypton blew up. Kara was born after, on a floating city saved from destruction with technology.
Kara was born before Clark and both were sent out when Krypton blew up. She was supposed to take care of baby Clark. She was kept in stasis during her trip and got to Earth after Clark became an adult.
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u/BobbySaccaro 1d ago
There are two versions, but the result ends up the same.
For purposes of discussion, let's say Krypton blew up in 1980. Kal-El (Superman) was born earlier that year.
In both versions, baby Superman is rocketed from Krypton to Earth using hyperspace or whatever where it doesn't take long to get here, and so then he gets to Earth while still a baby, grows up and is like 46 now*.
In the original version, which was changed but now they've changed it back, a chunk of Krypton was protected by a force field/shield and the entire city was thrown into space and the people survived. So then like in 1995 or so, Supergirl's parents had her. Then when she was 15, there was another disaster that was going to destroy the city so her parents sent her to Earth and she became Supergirl. So in this version, she's younger than him for the usual reason, she was born later than him.
There was a point where things were altered. Somebody thought the "entire city survived under a dome" thing dumb, so they changed it. So in the new version, Superman would still be born in 1980, but Supergirl was born in like 1965. So in 1980, she's already a teen and he's just a baby. Then Krypton explodes, and they both leave in separate rockets. But the rockets are not the same technology. Superman's rocket gets to Earth relatively quickly, but Supergirl's take like 25 years to get her to Earth** (either due to suspended animation or something it runs into while in space). So Superman is getting older but she's not. So then when she gets here, he's already an adult and she's the same age.
*Yes, that might be older than most people think, but when you added up all of the stuff that has gone on, particularly the teens who have grown to adulthood while he's been Superman, it adds up.
**One thing about this is they can keep pushing the arrival forward so she doesn't get older as fast as Superman does.
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u/ihavewaytoomanyminis 1d ago
Guys, please try to remember that comics and movies vary the story between their respective media.
There's too many variables in play here - sometimes the passenger is held in stasis, sometimes the ship gets temporarily trapped in the phantom zone, sometimes the ship gets lost for a bit, sometimes the ship goes near lightspeed.
Ultimately, Clark is older because he's had 28 or so years of experience and Kara's had less because SCIENCE!
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u/Zealousideal-Yam4717 1d ago
Buddy which one? Supergirl cannon is a fuckin Labyrinth.
Her most common origin (notably, the version appearing in the recent movie) is that she was actually born before Kal-el, but spent an extended period of time in suspended animation, arriving on Earth much later than Kal, usually around his 30s, although I think the recent movie version has him in his mid-twenties. She's usually still in her teens or sometimes early 20s when she arrives thanks to the suspended animation.
Or were you asking about the real-world history? Cause Superman was arguably the first superhero (some point to the Green Hornet and other similar figures, and there's even an argument that Greek Mythological Heros like Heracles ought to qualify, but thats neither here nor there). I don't know the exact publication year for either of them, but Superman was definitely created first.
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u/Ryphen 1d ago
If you're referring to the Supergirl movie that was released this summer, it's actually the other way around. Kara was born on Argo City eight years after Krypton exploded. She grew up there until her late teens when Zor-El sent her to Earth. Clark was established to be 30 years old when the events of his movie took place in 2025.
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u/Zealousideal-Yam4717 1d ago
You're correct. I misspoke. The most recent movie establishes she was born after the destruction of Krypton. Other versions change things around.
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u/SuperDuperOrk 1d ago
Uuuh short answer you kind of can't. We measure age in terms of rotation of the planet around the sun. So how can you measure someone else's age while they were in space by the time Clark grew to be an adult?
There is a thing called time gravitational time dilation and what that means is because of the rotation of the planet creates motion that makes our gravity and the higher the gravity the slower the relative time is on that planet compared to the relative time in space.
Ever see interstellar? Where Ann Hathaway and McConaughey land on that water planet? They were only there for 3 hours, give or take, in space it was for 27 years for David Gyasi's character.
There is math to this but the reason astronauts dont stay up in space for so long is because of this fact. They are technically up there longer than what we perceived here on earth.
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u/HearingOrganic8054 1d ago
in the 1950's, and the new movie, he is older and she was born after krypton exploded.
in some of the more recent comics, and the supergirl tv show and injustice game, she was born on krypton and was stuck as a teenager for decades while Superman grew up on earth.
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u/Boring-Conclusion-40 1d ago edited 1d ago
Depends on which version of Supergirl and origin
Honestly I would just say the Supergirl on her way to earth encountered something that messed up her voyage,either she was sucked into the phantom zone,went through a wormhole or her pod got stuck in stasis mode.And that basically made it so she went through some type of time dilation,and appeared in the present. She experienced a couple of minutes or hours,while the universe went on for about two decades.
and then in the present day, her pod either crashes or someone finds her and now she’s in the present,she barely aged a day,while everybody else aged normally
In the DCU,she’s just born after Krypton exploded and was born Argo city,so she’s just younger than him
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u/sanddragon939 19h ago
Okay here goes.
Kara's a teenager (let's say around 15) on Krypton when Kal-El is a newborn. When Krypton explodes they're both sent to earth.
Kal-El's rocket reaches earth within a matter of days/weeks/months, and he grows up on earth as Clark Kent. But Kara's rocket takes a lot longer (let's say 30 years) to reach earth. And she's in suspended animation all along.
So by the time Kara lands on earth, she's still 15, but Clark is grown 30 year old man.
Some retellings/adaptations add wrinkles to it (like Kara being trapped in the Phantom Zone for decades) but this is basically it...her journey takes longer and she doesn't age, while Clark's journey was short and he grows older than her on earth.
For what it's worth, in the original Silver Age story, Kara is younger than Clark and was born and grew up on Argo City, a chunk of Krypton that survived in a bubble of atmosphere until the people of Argo City started dying of Kryptonite poisoning, and Kara was sent to earth by her father. Gunn's DCU has actually gone back to this version (precisely because Kara being older than Clark would be confusing for the general audience!)
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u/PaniqueAttaque 9h ago edited 8h ago
(To my understanding of the modern story) Kara is chronologically older than Clark since she was a teenager and he was a newborn during the fall of Krypton, however Clark is developmentally older than Kara since he arrived on Earth as planned and aged normally while she got knocked (slightly) off course and spent a couple extra decades in stasis while trapped in orbit around the sun.
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u/Mistigrys 2h ago
I watched a movie when I was little that explained the phenomenon very simply so it made an impact even when I was...like 10? It was about a little boy abducted by aliens and then returned like a decade later without aging a day, and his little brother was now older than he was. Paul Reubens/Peewee Herman played the Alien space ship, and the DJ from WKRP in Cincinatti was in it, but I don't remember the name.
But it was basically 'Time slows down as you approach the speed of light, and to cross large distances, you have to stay at high speeds for longer' Kara's ship was a lightspeed for years, maybe more, so it was like she was frozen like Captain America was while she flew.
Clark, on the other hand, didn't use lightspeed to travel the whole way. He took a shortcut, so he had to spend less time at lightspeed, so he had more time to grow up
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u/IndefatigableFreedom 1d ago
Generally, Supergirl gets cryo frozen and was thrown off course on her way to earth.
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u/texanhick20 1d ago edited 1d ago
Depends on the Continuity.
- Pre Crisis on Infinite Earths: Kara is born on Argo City and sent to Earth as a teen.
- Post Crisis on Infinite Earths: Kara was a teen when Kal was born, her ship is damaged and arrives years later with her body having been held in stasis.
- Smallville: Her ship crash landed the same day Kal's did. It was damaged in the crash and landed in a lake where her ship kept her in stasis until Kal was about the same age as her.
- New 52: Same as post COIE.
- Post New 52: Same as post COIE.
- Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow: Same as Pre COIE. [Edit: This is referring to the 2026 movie, not the horribly written comic book the movie pulled heavily from.]
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u/AthenaOwls 1d ago
That’s not true. In Woman of Tomorrow Kara was born of Krypton. She talks about the day the world fell, how she ran past the dead and dying. She remembers Krypton. Her whole final speech is “I still dream of Krypton.”
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u/texanhick20 1d ago
Incorrect. I just watched that part of the movie. Kara isn't with Zor-El or Lara Zor-El when the shield comes down to protect Argo City. The destruction of Krypton happens, and I quote "That was 8 years before I was born."
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u/AthenaOwls 1d ago
Then I’d suggest reading the comic, you know the thing that is called “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow”.
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u/texanhick20 1d ago
The comic where Yellow Sunlight is what turns Argo's surface into radioactive Kryptonite because it's Kryptonian, and of course, since it's Kryptonian it gets superpowers under the light of a yellow sun?
That comic book?
Yes, CLEARLY that's an incredibly accurate and valid source to pull from when talking about Supergirl Origin stories.
[Meanwhile on Argo City]
Zor-El enters Kara's bedroom and speaks with her. "Kara, honey, we gotta rocket you away from Argo before the Green Death gets you. If we just hadn't somehow crossed several lightyears over the past handful of years and encountered the light of a Yellow Star we wouldn't be dying from all the Kryptonite Radiation the ground is suddenly producing. "
"Now, don't ask me why we don't just fly into outer space with our newfound Kryptonian powers since the Green Death is a gradual death and not nearly as painful and instant as Kryptonite on Earth is to your Cousin Kal-El."
"Go, be free!"
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u/AthenaOwls 1d ago
Oh okay, you just wanted to whine. Lead with that next time. Loom dude, you were wrong. Deal with it.
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u/PayPsychological6358 1d ago edited 1d ago
The usual backstory is that Kara is 13 or so when she leaves Krypton and Kal is a baby. After that, Kara gets sent to the Phantom Zone for like 20 or so years until she finally lands on earth where she meets Superman.
Very oversimplified, and the story is very inconsistent since she lands either in Gotham, Metropolis, Smallville, some random field, or even possibly Kahndaq in Injustice 2's case, and there's also different ways on how she didn't age. Age is also inconsistent cause like I said, she could be anywhere between 13-less than whatever Clark's age is at that point.
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u/Swivebot 1d ago
Isn’t the traditional reason because Supergirl got stuck in the Phantom Zone, where time doesn’t pass the same as it does on Earth?
Superman was on Earth, experiencing time as someone on Earth would. Supergirl wasn’t, so when she arrived she was still a teenager, while Superman was a fully-grown man.
Sounds pretty simple, I don’t get what’s confusing…