Sorry, the old Supergirl can’t come to the phone right now. Why? Oh, because she’s dead. Well, not really, but the “new” Supergirl is actually “Overgirl,” the Nazi-powered “Supergirl” of Earth-10 who will appear in the upcoming Arrowverse crossover “Crisis on Earth-X.” As new photos for the epic crossover have surfaced online, many of you may be curious as to what the heck the deal is with Supergirl’s Nazi glam makeover. So here’s what you need to know about Overgirl, the Mädchen of Steel.
Last year, aliens known as the Dominators invaded Earth, which required the combined might of virtually all the known heroes of the Arrowverse. This year, in the four-part crossover “Crisis on Earth-X,” once again everyone from all the DC CW shows — Supergirl (starring Melissa Benoist), The Flash, Arrow, and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow — are needed when super beings from Earth-10 bleed into Earth-1 on the day Barry Allen (Grant Gustin), aka the Flash, and Iris West (Candice Patton) get married. Hey, at least everyone is in the same room, right?
What’s scary is the one thing that defines Earth-10: Nazis rule with an iron fist. This means that the Supergirl of Earth-10, who goes by the name Overgirl, is a superpowered Kryptonian who uses her powers for an authoritarian evil.
Goodbye Supergirl, hello Overgirl.
On Earth-10, which was originally imagined by Grant Morrison in the 2007 DC series 52, the Nazis won World War II thanks to the Kryptonian child Kal-L, who landed in Czechoslovakia and was raised by Adolf Hitler and given the name “Overman.” (A similar Nazi Earth, “Earth-X,” appeared in 1973 in Justice League of America, but that version did not have Overman land on Earth. Instead, FDR died of a heart attack, which left the Allies vulnerable.)
In 2009’s Final Crisis, Morrison introduced Overgirl, an ordinary girl who received genetic material from Overman and inherited his powers, essentially becoming Overman’s “cousin.” So, not everything is exactly parallel in these parallel worlds, but it’s pretty close.
In a mirror image of Supergirl’s sacrifice from 1984’s Crisis on Infinite Earths, Overgirl’s death (again, by Morrison) popped up in 2015’s The Multiversity.
Supergirl's death, revisited in 'Mastermen' #1, a one-shot from 2015's 'The Multiversity.'
While not a direct adaptation of 52 or Final Crisis, “Crisis on Earth-X” is borrowing a heck of a lot of elements from those comics to imagine a bleak world where Nazis are still alive and rule in positions of authority. (Hmm.) And in the superhero comics world, the concept of “superhero Nazis” have seen a curious resurgence in recent years.
Last year, in the lead-up to Marvel’s controversial series Secret Empire, Nick Spencer revealed in the pages of Captain America: Steve Rogers that the Sentinel of Liberty was, in fact, a sleeper double-agent for Hydra, the occult Nazi sect led by the Red Skull. For various reasons, many fans didn’t receive the take on Captain America very well.
However, Overgirl in “Crisis on Earth-X” will probably be less offensive, given that Overgirl is definitively not the same Supergirl that Benoist plays, and fans have come to know and love, in her starring TV series Supergirl.
The saga will also feature the live-action debut of The Ray, an energy-powered meta-human played by Russell Tovey (Quantico), who will also voice the character in the animated series Freedom Fighters: The Ray, which will air exclusively on the CW Seed.
Supergirl airs Mondays at 8 p.m. Eastern on The CW. Supergirl will air the first part of “Crisis on Earth-X” on Monday, November 27.
