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Linda Danvers

Real Name: Linda Lee Danvers
Nicknames: None
Former Aliases: Earth Angel, Matrix, Mae, Twilight
Other Current Aliases: No other known current aliases

Status

Occupation: Teacher
Legal Status: Legal status unknown
Identity: Secret
Marital Status: Marital status unknown
Group Affiliation: no known group affiliation
Base of Operations: Leesburg, Virginia

Origin

Matrix bonded itself to Linda, making her Supergirl.

Place of Birth: Virginia
Known Relatives: Fred and Sylvia Danvers (parents)
First Appearance: SUPERMAN Vol. 2 #16 (April, 1988) (Matrix); SUPERGIRL Vol. 3 #1 [1996] (combined with Linda)

History

Matrix in the Lead

Linda Danvers began her life in a less than heroic fashion. Lured into a world of darkness by her boyfriend Buzz, Linda was involved in many illicit and illegal activities. Little did she know that she was intended to be a sacrifice for a demonic cult Buzz worked for. Buzz slashed her with a dagger, to use her blood to release a demon into the world. But Matrix, the protoplasmic Supergirl, intervened. She used her shape-shifting powers to try to plug the gaping wounds on Linda, but instead became fused with Linda. Linda and Matrix became a new Supergirl. Armed with superhuman strength, speed, flight, invulnerablity, and telekinesis, and the power to change from ordinary brunette Linda Danvers into tall, blonde (and self admitted bustier) Supergirl, Linda began to fight crime and demonic activity, and redeem her darkened soul. Initially, the Matrix was the dominant personality, with Linda being all but submerged.

Becoming merged with Linda had some unexpected side effects for Matrix. She lost her ability to turn invisible, or to change her shape into any other form but between Linda and Matrix. For the first time, she began to feel truly human, a point that was made when Gorilla Grodd attempted to take over Leesburg during the Final Night. She settled into Leesburg to be its defender, battling initially against Chemo and an enraged Barrage.

Matrix grappled with her dual identity, especially given the past of Linda. She was harassed by Buzz, who was under orders to "bring her to the dark side" so to speak by having her kill someone. Supergirl refused, however, resulting in Buzz being "reclaimed" by his demonic oversears. About this time, Supergirl also met a young man named Dick Malverne and the two instantly became attracted to one another.

Supergirl next battled the likes of the Silver Banshee and a demonic incubus.

During the Genesis storyline, Supergirl revealed herself as both Matrix and Linda to Linda's parents. At first, they were not accepting, thinking that their daughter was gone forever and Matrix was just pretending to be her. Linda's mother took it especially hard, losing her faith that had been such an important part of her life.

Supergirl had to join with Power Girl to fight a resurrected band of the Extremists being led by Twilight. After fighting the Extremists, Supergirl fought against Despero where she manifested the new abilities of flame wings and flame vision.

Supergirl began to question what it was she was turning into. After talking with a young boy named Wally (who claimed to be God Himself), she learned that she was the Earth Born Angel of Fire, one of three Earth angels created when two beings are merged together at the point of death when one is "beyond all hope", in this case being Linda. This was the explanation for her wings of flame, and flame vision. She also discovered that she could teleport in a S-shaped burst of flame. At this point she encountered a being named Comet, whom she instantly fell for.

Supergirl nearly came to blows with Steel during student protests at a local university. A controversial speaker who had some racist comments to give was opposed by Steel and some of the students, but Supergirl and Cutter thought he had the right to speak, even if what he had to say was unpopular. She then went on to help Resurrection Man.

After another talk with Wally the God-boy, Supergirl learned the secret identity of Comet. She asked Wally to help her mother get her faith back, which Wally agreed to do but warned her that he would not be able to help her against the Carnivore when he comes for Linda. Linda divulged to Comet that he/she was really the Earth Born Angel of Love and Linda's mother did indeed get her faith back after a visit from Wally himself.

The Female Furies arrived in Leesburg looking for Twilight. They quickly overcame her and dragged her back to Apokolips. Supergirl, using her "shunting" ability, followed them there and managed to rescue Twilight, though she was unrepentant and ran off as soon as they were back on Earth.

When Matrix merged with Supergirl, some of her protoplasmic form was lost. Slowly, the residue of protoplasm managed to rebuild itself, becoming a twisted doppleganger of Supergirl. After murdering a few people in the city, the doppleganger confronted Supergirl herself, feeding her fear and paranoia. With a little help from Superman, the creature was defeated. It was then that Superman learned of the now dual life of Matrix/Linda. She had been hesistant to reveal her situation of adoptive "brother" Superman (fearing his reaction to her co-opting a human life), but he accepted her.

As Linda, she began to have some success as a sculptor. A woman named Elizabeth Penske agreed to exhibit some of her work at a museum in Paris. After pausing for a fight with a demon named Murmur, who was later revealed to be a servant of the Carnivore, Linda and her friends headed off to Paris. The art show was a success, despite being attacked by Parasite. Her affect on him would alter his powers, causing him to hear the voices of all future victims.

Upon returning from Paris, Supergirl was involved with a brief adventure with Young Justice. Unbeknownst to her at the time, Comet was captured at this point by the third Earth Born Angel, the Angel of Light, also known as Blithe. Blithe would use her own powers to psychically torture and brainwash Comet in order to eventually use her against Supergirl.

Shortly thereafter, the crisis known as Day of Judgment would see demons walking the Earth. Supergirl was paired up with Zauriel, which allowed her to ask a real angel some questions about herself. Zauriel explained that the Presence created the angels from his own tears after weaping over creation...but the Earth Born were drawn from shechina (the female aspect of God) that was in the earth itself. In other words, Zauriel and his fellow angels were creations of the Presence, but the Earth Born were part of Him. Unfortunately, Zauriel also revealed that no human can contain the power of an earth born forever, for the incredible power begins to corrupt them. As proof of this happening already, Supergirl's flame wings began to change form angelic "feathery" looking to more demonic, bat-like wings.

Supergirl began to investigate the repurcussions of her angelic nature. During the investigation, she experienced in part the life of one of the former hosts for the Angel of Fire, a young black woman from the colonial American era named Ember. The two actually got to meet and Ember helped Supergirl fight off a ghost from the past called Satan Girl.

Supergirl's life began to get all the more complicated at this point. In addition to Cutter running "Supergirl Enterprises", intended to install good publicity (with limited success) Supergirl learned that an evangelical preacher had begun a new church with Supergirl as its lead centerpiece. Her relationship with Dick began to get strained over her dual life. She managed to compensate, however, but just before the two could consummate their relationship, Supergirl discovered a terrible secret--Dick had been possessed by Buzz all along! Buzz revealed that when he had been taken at the beginning of the series, he had managed to break off a small part of his essense and put it in Dick. He threatened to do great harm to Dick unless Supergirl could retrieve the remainder of his body and essesne from an icy meteor hurtling through the solar system, one that was used as a prison for all manner of demons. Supergirl, having no choice, went to the meteor and battled a creature called the Unholy, blinding him during the battle. She managed to recover Buzz and take him back to Earth, where the rest of his essense was reunited with him. Unfortunately, without Buzz's spirit in him any longer, Dick had his cancer come back with a vengeance.

Supergirl attempted to deter some of the attention she was gaining because of her "church," but a mob gathered to worship her. The mob was deterred by the presence of a being called Judah, who declared himself to be a true servant of God and that Supergirl was a fraud. Judah turned out to be an agent of Lex Luthor who was working alongside the Carnivore in his guise as Carl Carnivean. Strangely enough, in his human form, the Carnivore resembled an adult version of Wally. After Supergirl was knocked out, she was contacted by Buzz, who told her more about the Carnivore. He showed her the Carnivore's city, which he said was a haven for demons who left Heaven voluntarily (as opposed to beign cast down and ending up in Hell). Buzz also revealed where the Carnivore was holding Comet. She shunted there and managed to sucker punch Blithe. Unfortunately, Comet had been brainwashed completely and attacked Supergirl. Not only had the Carnivore corrupted her, but he had managed to fully awaken her angelic powers. An intense battle ensued, one during which Blithe joined up with Comet. Supergirl managed to hold her own until the Carnivore pulled Comet out of the fray.

Supergirl pursued the others to the "between city." Unfortunately, the Carnivore could sense her coming and cast her into a state of limbo. There he created "shadows" of every villain she had battled in the series so far and an all out brawl ensued. Supergirl managed to hold her own until God Himself intervened to rescue her, thanks to the prayers of Linda's mother (who was prompted to do so by none other than Buzz).

Nothing but grief would follow thereafter. Linda found Dick Malverne dead in his apartment. He had foregone proper treatment in favor of appealing to the Church of Supergirl. Enraged, Supergirl attacked the church. The sham preacher was so terrified that suffered a heart attack as Supergirl was leaving. Lex Luthor turned up, alerting Supergirl to his deal with the Carnivore--and that he was breaking it. He also told Supergirl that the reverand had died. Overwhelmed with grief over Dick's death and now blaming herself for the reverand's, she surreneded to the Carnivore without a fight. The Carnviore came to Blithe, who had been paralyzed in her battle with Supergirl, and revealed that he had no intention of healing her. He also revealed to Comet that he was the first vampire. Now in control of all three Earth Born Angels, the Carnivore blackmailed the Presence into turning over the keys of heaven to him--if God did not, then the Carnivore would destroy the angels, and with them the Female aspect of God. The Presence did indeed surrender the godhead to Carnivore, causing a shift in perceptions across the world--what was "good" before, now was regarded with contempt. The three angels all managed to make peace and get over their despair with a little help: Blithe with a visit from Buzz, Comet with a trip to her family, and Supergirl from an angelic figure, simply called "Kara".

Supergirl broke out of her imprisonment. Blithe, bonding with what was left of the Matrix residue, healed herself. Then she, Comet, and Supergirl combined forces to assault the Carnivore at his home. The battle destroyed most of the city, but in the end the Carnivore was defeated and his newfound status lost. Unfortunately, the Earth Born Angel was ripped from Linda, taking the Matrix with her and leaving her just Linda Danvers.

Linda's Quest

Linda decided that she had to find out what happened to Matrix. One last tip from Wally told her to follow the Chaos Stream and that it would lead her in the right direction. She would need help, however, and for that she had to join with Buzz--who had been stripped of all his demonic nature and power and was a mere human again. Buzz begrudgingly agreed to help (though in secret he was falling in love with Linda). Linda retained a portion of the abilities she had when fused with Matrix (she had half of her super-strength and most of her invulnerabilty, and could no longer fly, but could leap 1/8th of a mile), and using some items from a costume shop, created a white, blue, and red Supergirl costume, and continued her role as Supergirl, while searching for Matrix. Her first stop was Metropolis where she battled Prankster and Riot. While in Metropolis, she met up with Superman and gave him the story, asking him to explain to the rest of the superhero community that she really was the one and only Supergirl.

While on the trail, Buzz was captured in New Orleans by the family of one of his victims--sixty years earlier, Buzz had tricked a girl into running out on her true love and sleeping with him. Unbeknownst to Buzz at the time, he impregnated the woman, who gave birth to a horrific demonic monster named Dominique. The family kept the "daughter" for all those years, always on the lookout for Buzz. Dominique attacked her father, and even though Supergirl drove her off, Buzz was poisoned. Luckily, a visit with Dr. Fate healed him and they continued on their way.

Supergirl's quest was put on hiatus during the Our Worlds at War! crossover. She helped defend Leesburg against one of Imperiex's probes. She left Buzz to be thrown in jail during the crisis after he was accused of assaulting a young girl. Buzz protested his innocence, but she did not believe him. While in prison, Buzz was severely beaten and ran off, angry at Supergirl.

Supergirl tracked Buzz to Gotham City and found Buzz working with Two-Face. Together, the two of them created a Bizarro Supergirl. With some help from Batgirl, Bizarro Supergirl was defeated. Buzz repented, admitting that he had been crushed by what he saw as her betrayal, but that he wanted to go forward.

Linda's quest continued to take her across the country. During a stop in Las Vegas, she encountered the remnants of the cult that Buzz had led back in Leesburg. The cultists were ecstatic to see Buzz back, but he wanted nothing to do with them. Unfortunately, they used a spell to bond The Demon, Etrigan, to Buzz. Supergirl managed to restore the Demon to Jason Blood and in the process learned that a villain known as the Demon Mother was involved with the missing Matrix.

The Demon Mother was revealed to be none other than Lilith, the mother of the Carnivore and one of the rulers of Hell. She was forcing the Fae Queen Mab and Twilight to help her. Twilight approached Buzz with a deal to betray Linda in exchange for Matrix. Meanwhile, Bizarro Supergirl of all people managed to locate Matrix. Supergirl joined up with Mary Marvel after a brief altercation against her (and CM3) that arose through Lilith's machinations.

Supergirl, Buzz, and Mary Marvel continued to follow the Chaos Stream through the southwest. They were attacked by the demon Hurmizah, one of Lilith's allies and another co-ruler of Hell. The chaos stream began to affect time as well as space as the trio came closer to their goal: the long lost Garden of Eden.

Lilith had taken control of the Garden, transforming the angelic guardian Metatron into stone. Matrix (and her Earth Born essense) were trapped in a kind of stasis. Lilith planned on causing the Chaos Stream to explode forth in a surge of energy strong enough to crack open the lowest pit of Perdition and free her son. Disguising the Bizarro Supergirl, Lilith commanded the creature to attack Linda. Linda, her mind nearly torn apart by the stream of emotions that were infecting it, fought a useless battle against her double, ignoring Mary's cries for help until it was too late--she was stabbed in the chest by Hurmizah and left for dead. The Chaos stream exploded forth in all the places Linda had recently visited, causing chaos and terror everywhere. The effect was enough to release the Carnivore from Perdition into the Garden. A badly injured Supergirl was joined by Bizzaro Supergirl, Twilight, and Queen Mab, all of whom used the opportunity to betray their hated mistress. Hurmizah killed Bizarro while Lilith fatally injured Twilight, but Matrix was now free to join the fight. It was Buzz who saved the day, however, by retrieving Hurmizah's fallen knife and plunging it into Lilith before fading away. Linda and Matrix then sent Carnivore, Lilith, and Hurmizah back into Perdition, sealing the Chaos stream as they did. Linda insisted tha Matrix merge with Twilight instead of her--this proved very sound advice, for the new Twilight/Matrix could then restore Linda and Mary to life and health. Linda's powers were even restored to their previous levels (TK blasts, flight, etc) with the exception of the angel powers. She and Mary left the Garden and the new Angel of Fire struck out on her own.

Many Happy Returns

Linda continued as Supergirl, with her powers back to their original (non-angel) levels, and encountered a rocketship which contained a young, vibrant Kara Zor-El from the Pre-Crisis timeline. After a rocky start, the two became close, Linda teaching the younger Supergirl how to be a hero. But Kara's presence in the Post-Crisis era was going to destabilize time. The Spectre appeared and said that Kara was destined to die. Linda secretly took Kara's place, and was sent to the Pre-Crisis era, where she posed as "Kara Zor-El", until the Pre-Crisis Superman uncovered her ruse, and admitted he was in love with her. The two married, and had a daughter, Ariella. But this altered the timelime, and Spectre made her return home, and send frightened young Kara back to her universe, knowing Kara would die. Her daughter was spared from being erased from the timeline by the Spectre, but Linda was heartbroken over her actions. She learned that her parents had just had a second child, named "Wally" ironically. Linda had one last reunion with her family, before leaving everyone to be on her own. Her whereabouts are unknown.

Characteristics

As Supergirl (Matrix) Height: 5'11"
Weight: 150 lbs (xxx kg)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blonde
Unusual Features: No unusual features

As Linda Height: 5'5"
Weight: 120 lbs (xxx kg)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Brown
Unusual Features: No unusual features

Powers

Known Powers:

• super strength
• superspeed and flight
• Limited shapeshifting. She seems only able able to switch between being Linda and Supergirl
• Psychokinetic blasts and shields
• Invisibility
• As the Earth Angel, Linda could manifest fiery wings and shoot blasts of flame.
  

Known Abilities: No known abilities.
Strength Level: Strength level unknown

Miscellaneous

Equipment: No known equipment.
Transportation: No known transportation.
Weapons: No known weapons.

Notes

• Matrix was created by John Byrne
• Earth Angel was created by Peter David; his "Fallen Angel" series has a character that also seems similar.

Recommended Readings

• Supergirl: Many Happy Returns

Related Articles

• Supergirl (Matrix)
• Buzz
• Fred Danvers
• Sylvia Danvers
• Wally the God-Boy
• Dick Malverne
• Comet
• Matty Harcourt
• Cutter Sharp
• Leesburg

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