Superman & Lois: 10 Things Only Comic Book Fans Know About Leslie Larr

When Stacey Farber was cast in Superman & Lois, her character’s name gave a lot of comic book fans pause. “Leslie Larr” sounded suspiciously like “Lesla-Lar.” Though the character hasn’t had a ton of screen time, she has appeared often enough for fans to recognize that Leslie is, in fact, inspired by Lesla.

Lesla-Lar isn’t a particularly well-known character for modern fans. Like a lot of classic characters associated with the Super-family, she was created by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney. With only a handful of appearances in DC comic books, she made her debut in a 1961 issue of Action Comics. Fans of classic comic books will know these things about her, and fans of Superman & Lois might find some interesting nods to the character in the show.

10 Lelsa-Lar Lived In A Bottle City

Superman and Supergirl fans know that, despite Krypton being destroyed, these two superheroes aren’t actually the last of their kind. Kryptonians frequently make their way to Earth from other parts of the universe, from time stuck in the Phantom Zone, or courtesy of time travel. Like the heroes, she’s a Kryptonian, not getting her powers from X-Kryptonite like she does in the TV series adaptation.

She’s from the trading city of Kandor on Krypton. That city, however, doesn’t stay on Krypton. Instead, it’s shrunk down at one point by Brainiac and stored in a bottle. Until a suitable place can be found to resize the city, it’s stored in the Fortress Of Solitude.

9 Her Parents Are Unknown

Both Clark Kent and Kara Danvers (or Linda Lee Danvers in some comics) know who their birth parents are. In some storylines, their parents even survive the destruction of Krypton. In others, like the CW’s television series, they have access to artificial intelligence that resembles their parents. Lesla-Lar has neither of those things.

She grows up as an orphan, never knowing her real family. In fact, “Lar” isn’t even her family name. She uses her best friend’s surname to give herself a connection to a family.

8 Lesla-Lar’s Best Friend Is A Kryptonian Criminal

Lesla meets her best friend while growing up in Kandor. Zora Vi-Lar is a bit of a troublemaker and a thief. She takes on the identity of Black Flame, wearing a mask to hide her identity while she commits her crimes. Zora Vi-Lar has a soft spot for Lesla though and shares her name with her before she ends up trapped in the Phantom Zone for years.

When Zora Vi-Lar reemerges from the Phantom Zone and returns to Kandor though, she leaves her life of crime behind. She even apologizes for the conflicts she had with Supergirl.

7 Lesla-Lar Was A Scientist

Her love for mechanical and electrical engineering means that Lesla-Lar is incredibly smart. She spends a lot of her time creating new devices to help her in her schemes.

That scientific background is probably part of the inspiration behind Superman & Lois’ Leslie Larr being the character to work on making X-Kryptonite work on humans. She’s the only character the audience has seen actually use the equipment to give humans Kryptonian abilities.

6 She Was Originally A Supergirl Villain

Like all of the Arrowverse shows, Superman & Lois borrows some of its comic book characters from other properties. While Arrow, and later Batwoman, borrow a lot from Batman, and Supergirl actually borrows quite a bit from Superman, while Superman & Lois is borrowing from Supergirl. It keeps fans of the comics surprised as stories and characters get adapted.

Lesla-Lar doesn’t go up against Superman in the comics. Instead, she grows jealous of just how much humanity admires Supergirl and targets her. All of her plots are focused on taking on Supergirl.

5 She Once Traded Places With Supergirl

Lesla-Lar is such an impressive scientist in the comics that she actually found a way to trade places with Supergirl. She creates a device that allowed her to make Supergirl believe herself Lesla so she could take over the other woman’s life.

Kara lived out Lesla’s life in Kandor without any knowledge of her real life. Lesla almost succeeded in making the swap permanent. It’s Krypto the dog who actually realizes the swap occurs.

4 Lesla-Lar Also Took Over Lena Luthor’s Life

When Lena Luthor is introduced in the comics, she doesn’t always use her family name, preferring to separate herself from her brother, much like Lena’s attempt to do good despite her family in CW’s Supergirl. She and Lesla-Lar also look a lot alike.

When she has the opportunity, after being released from a prison on Kandor, Lesla-Lar takes over the life of “Lena Thorul,” hoping to scheme her way into using Luthor technology as she allied herself with a group of Kryptonians who had been trapped in the Phantom Zone. It doesn’t work out well for her.

3 She Was Murdered

The Kryptonians that Lesla-Lar frees from the Phantom Zone, planning on allying with them, are criminals. They don’t agree with her idea about starting an alliance and immediately murder her.

That’s not the end of her though. While her body was destroyed, her consciousness lived on. Lesla-Lar spends years as essentially a ghost. During that time, her jealousy of Supergirl only grows and she still looks for a way to connect with Kara.

2 Her Ghost Possessed Supergirl

If swapping lives with Kara isn’t enough, she also possesses Supergirl. So obsessed with Kara in her ghostly form, Lesla-Lar deludes herself into believing the two are long-lost sister and finds a way to put her disembodied consciousness in Kara’s body.

Of course, like all of her other schemes, Lesla-Lar doesn’t succeed for long. Kara’s own parents, who in the Silver Age are still alive, realize that their daughter isn’t herself and call out the imposter. Kara is able to expel Lesla-Lar from her body completely when they do.

1 Lesla-Lar Hasn’t Appeared In Comics Since The Crisis

The storyline that sees Kara expel Lesla-Lar’s consciousness from her body is seemingly her last. That happens in an issue of Superman Family in 1981. Just five years later, the entire DC comic book universe rebooted as a result of Crisis On Infinite Earths.

Though many characters had their stories retconned when the world started over, Lesla-Lar wasn’t one of them. Leslie Larr being inspired by her – and emerging in the Arrowverse after its own Crisis – in Superman & Lois is her first appearance since.

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