DC’s Stargirl: 10 Things You Need To Know About Her Comics Before Watching The Show

The show Stargirl is set to premiere on May 19th, on DC Universe. The teaser trailer dropped in December, boasting some strong visuals and explosive action, and big names including Joel McHale, Luke Wilson, and Amy Smart. The show is based on the DC Comics superhero created by Geoff Johns and Lee Moder.

The best screen adaptations of comics often take a lot of creative license with the source material, and if the show does its job, it should tell you everything you need to know without requiring any homework, but there are a few aspects of the comics that might be worth knowing going in that will give you an idea what to expect.

10 Character Inspiration

Stargirl’s real name is Courtney Whitmore. The name ‘Courtney’ and several aspects of the character’s look and personality were modeled after creator Geoff Johns’ sister of the same name, who tragically died in the TWA Flight 800 disaster of 1996, at only 18 years old.

Johns says of the character: “Stargirl was, obviously, named after and inspired by my sister, Courtney. It is her spirit and optimistic energy that I wanted to put back in the world with Stargirl. It is celebratory, forward-looking and positive. And I hope that comes through when you watch these episodes.”

9 The Star-Spangled Kid

In the comics, before she becomes Stargirl, Courtney Whitmore’s first foray into the heroical comes when she takes up the mantle of The Star-Spangled Kid. The original Star-Spangled Kid was named Sylvester Pemberton and made a name for himself fighting nazis in WWII.

Whitmore finds Pemberton’s Star-Spangled Kid suit and cosmic belt while snooping through Pat Dugan’s – a.k.a her step-dad’s – belongings. She then steals and dons these items and calls herself ‘The 2nd Star-Spangled Kid” exclusively to annoy Dugan, and get back at him for marrying her mother.

8 The Staff

It is only after Jack Knight a.k.a Starman gives Courtney his cosmic staff that she becomes Stargirl and joins the Justice Society of America. Jack is the son of original Starman Ted Knight, who is the staff’s inventor. The device is capable of manipulating gravity and energy, giving whoever wields it a multitude of powers including levitation, flight, and telekinesis.

It can also absorb stellar energy, which can be wielded in the form of forcefields or devastating beams of energy. The staff creates a bond with its user and can receive and act on mental demands from a great distance. This bond is strong enough that it took Stargirl a while to overcome the staff’s previous affiliation.

7 Starman

The TV show seems to have merged the origin stories of Stargirl and The 2nd Star-Spangled Kid, as Joel Mchale plays “Sylvester Pemberton / Starman”. This should make for a much cleaner origin story, replacing the Star-Spangled Kid with Starman, whilst honoring the hero’s role in Stargirl’s origin with the name change.

Instead of a Nazi-hunter, the show’s Sylvester Pemberton will probably have a lot of Jack Knight’s attributes: An intelligent and independent soul with a passion for collecting antiques who, like Stargirl, had a complicated relationship with his father.

6 The JSA

The Justice Society of America was DC’s Golden Age iteration of what would later become The Justice League of America during the Silver Age renovations. The original line-up consisted of The Flash(Jay Garrick), Green Lantern (Alan Scott), The Atom, Hawkman, The Spectre, The Sandman, Hour-Man and Doctor Fate. Both Starman and Stargirl would later join the JSA for the majority of their adventures.

The TV show features and revolves around the JSA, and also features rival organization The Injustice Society of America. Many of the show’s listed cast are fun retro versions of both organizations’ classic comic book line-ups.

5 Shiv and The Dragon King

During Whitmore’s days as The “2nd Star-Spangled Kid”, her chief nemesis was Cindy Burman a.k.a Shiv, daughter of a fascinating supervillain known as The Dragon King. The Dragon King was an agent for the Japanese government during WWII, during which time he discovered the Holy Grail!

He then began to antagonize The Star-Spangled Kid, utilizing strategies such as using the Spear of Destiny to make an army of supersoldiers, and at one point splicing his DNA with that of a lizard to become a reptilian humanoid. The Dragon King is a recurring character in the show, and his daughter makes an appearance, but their back story will probably be toned down a little.

4 Solomon Grundy

The rivalry between Solomon Grundy and Stargirl is personal. After being driven mad by The Joker’s latest chemicals, it is Solomon Grundy who ultimately kills Stargirl’s mentor and predecessor Jack Knight. He later attacks the JSA headquarters using the head of the statue of liberty.

With the aid of Jakeem Thunder, Stargirl battles the insane revenant into the streets, then into the sewers, then just barely to victory. Grundy would later become obsessed with Stargirl, who it’s fair to say probably still held a grudge. Solomon Grundy isn’t listed among the show’s characters, but this relationship and storyline may be given to someone else.

3 Face of the JLA

In 2011, DC rebooted many of their comics during what is known as The New 52. We were presented with a new timeline as well as a new Stargirl, who was a member of the government-sanctioned Justice League of America. Shady government agent Amanda Waller then chose Stargirl to front the JLA’s PR campaign and was the public face of the organization.

But after the Forever Evil crossover event in 2013, the JLA was forced to disband by a collection of DC villains known as The Crime Syndicate. Stargirl would then join Justice League United back in a less pivotal role.

2 Shazam

During her time in the JLA, Stargirl had a brief romantic relationship with none other than DC’s Captain Marvel a.k.a Shazam. Shazaam’s secret identity Billy Batson may have been the same age as the young Courtney, but to everyone else in the group, he was clearly a grown man, causing some controversy, with Jakeem Thunder and Jay Garrick a.k.a The (original) Flash in particular.

Garrick then confronts Shazaam, and due to being physically unable to fess up to his secret identity Shazaam simply leaves both Stargirl and the JSA. There was probably a weird atmosphere in the office for a while after that.

1 Not-So-Secret Identity

Stargirl is renowned for being consistently careless with her secret identity. She admitted out loud in Identity Crisis that a lot of her school friends and even some of her villains are aware of who she is. She set this precedent by blabbing to her pal Mary before she knew she would become a superhero, and it soon became a staple of her character, with some amusing results.

In Justice Society of America #26, the entire JSA show up at her house, and also accompany her on a trip to the dentist in full costume, much to her embarrassment. Just how similar TV’s Stargirl is to her comic counterpart remains to be seen, so the show might give the character a little more credit.