Supergirl has had a rich and vibrant history, but so far, the TV show has pulled villains more from her cousin's life instead of Supergirl's.
Let's take a look at the first few....the villains called Vartox, Hellgrammite and Reactron!
Vartox
Vartox got his start in
Superman #281 (November, 1974 by
Cary Bates and
Curt Swan, with a look based on
Sean Connery's
Zardoz character), as the hero of Valeron, which he protected with his hyper-powers (powers with a psychic base, that include flight, invulnerability, strength, speed, disguise, phasing, energy projection....just to name a few). Vartox lived in relative happiness protecting his home world until his wife, Elyra, mysteriously died. Vartox, using his hyper-senses, found out that she was a "bionic twin" with an Earth woman who was shot and killed in a robbery on Earth by Frank Sykes, and that killed Elyra as well. This led Vartox to come to Earth, where he had a confrontation with Superman (who wouldn't let Vartox just take Frank Sykes off Earth), yet eventually both heroes won, and Frank Sykes paid for his crime.
Vartox returns to Earth to recharge his waning hyper-powers in
Action Comics #475 and
#476 (September and October, 1977, both by
Cary Bates and Kurt Schaffenberger), where he uses the alien Karb-Brak to do so...
...along the way triggering Karb-Brak's allergy to super powers, and being turned evil and fighting Superman for a time....
Vartox returned again, in
Action Comics #498 and
#499 (August and September, 1979 by
Cary Bates and
Curt Swan), this time, as a refugee, as Valeron had exploded, and Vartox was looking for a new home, with Superman getting him a job as a security officer at Morgan Edge's WGBS as Vernon O'Valeron. But, tragedy seems to follow Vartox, as Earth then seemed set to explode until stopped by Superman and Vartox, with Superman's ex-girlfriend, Lana Lang, falling for the newly relocated hero (who leaves Earth).
Vartox returns again, in
Superman #356 and
#357 (February and March, 1981, by
Cary Bates and
Curt Swan), with Vartox relocated to a new planet, but the race on that world, the Tynolans, plan to sacrifice Vartox to their god, Moxumbra...
...with Vartox needing Superman's help to escape the plans and survive...
Vartox did survive and continue on, finding a way for his love, Lana Lang, to survive the poisonous atmosphere of his new homeworld, and join him there as his bride, in
Superman #373 (July, 1982 by
Cary Bates and
Curt Swan), but there are also plans afoot by Syreena (an ex-lover and foe of Vartox's, who also survived the destruction of Valeron). While Vartox and Lana make wedding plans in
Superman #374 (August, 1982 by
Cary Bates and
Curt Swan), Syreena tricks Vartox into thinking Superman wants Lana back, and a fight ensues between Superman and Vartox. The battle between Superman and Vartox continues in
Superman #375 (September, 1982 by
Cary Bates and
Curt Swan), at least until Syreena turns Lana Lang into stone, but eventually the heroes prevail and save Lana, and Syreena meets her end with the petrification being transferred to her.
Vartox's tale gets more epic, starting in
Superman #389 (November, 1983, by
Cary Bates,
Paul Kupperberg and
Curt Swan), starting by returning to Earth while Clark Kent was undergoing some turmoil...but as Vartox arrives on Earth in
Superman #390 (December, 1983 by
Cary Bates,
Eliot S! Maggin and
Curt Swan), finds himself attacking Superman!
The battle between Superman continues into
Superman #391 (January, 1984 by
Cary Bates,
Eliot S! Maggin and
Curt Swan), with Vartox kidnapping Lana Lang, and then in
Superman #392 (February, 1984 by Cary Bates), it is revealed that Vartox is being controlled by Srakka, an amoebic lifeform, and Superman throws down with it to save Lana Lang and Vartox!
Vartox briefly appeared in
Action Comics #583 (September, 1986) with
Alan Moore and
Curt Swan's "Whatever Happened To the Man of Tomorrow?", a tale that might have been the end of the Silver Age Superman, and, like Superman, Vartox was revived with a new history (that tied to Brainiac) in
Superman #148 (September, 1999 by
Dan Jurgens and
Steve Epting) and
Superman #150 (November, 1999, by
Dan Jurgens and
Steve Epting), and returned looking a little more like his classic version, facing Power Girl in
Power Girl #7 and
#8 (February and March, 2010 by
Justin Gray,
Jimmy Palmiotti and
Amanda Conner), and Vartox continues to vex Power Girl to this day.
Hellgrammite
Hellgrammite got his start in
Brave and the Bold #80 (October-November, 1968) in the tale "And Hellgrammite Is His Name!" by
Bob Haney and
Neal Adams, with entomologist Roderick Rose trying to turn Gotham mob bosses into insects like himself, with only Batman and relatively new at the time hero, the Creeper, around to stop him.
Hellgrammite then briefly fought Green Arrow and Black Canary in
World's Finest Comics #248 and
#249 (mostly 1978) in an odd pair of stories that will get coverage later (mostly because they also dealt with Green Arrow dressing as Batman....).
Hellgrammite didn't return again until
Action Comics #673 (January, 1992) by
Roger Stern and
Bob McLeod, with "Friends In Need", and the Hellgrammite as a pawn of Lex Luthor, to clear the streets of Metropolis...
...which he continued to do in
Action Comics #674 (February, 1992, by
Roger Stern and
Bob McLeod).
Hellgrammite then met the current Supergirl, as Luthor recruited her to be his bodyguard after Hellgrammite attempted to kill him in
Action Comics #676 (April, 1992 by
Roger Stern and
Jackson Guice), and breaking into S.T.A.R. Labs in
Action Comics #681 (September, 1992, by
Roger Stern and
Jackson Guice), taking a bit of a backseat to all the other Superman action going on....
Hellgrammite continued to bug Supergirl and Luthor in the
Lex Luthor/Supergirl Special #1 of April 1993 by
Roger Stern,
June Brigman and
Jackson Guice, with Luthor manipulating Supergirl to get the world to believe that George Markham was the man who hired Hellgrammite to kill him. Hellgrammite was one of many of Earth's super-villains to be recruited by the demon, Neron, in
Underworld Unleashed #1 (November, 1995 by
Mark Waid and
Howard Porter), becoming more bug-like and the ability to make others into larvae, and attacking the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit (Metropolis S.C.U.) in
Adventures of Superman #530 (December, 1995) while Superman and Supergirl were off-planet.
Hellgrammite returned with groups of villains in
Green Lantern #79 (October, 1996) and
JLA #18 (May, 1998), as well as being one of the villains affected by the morphing Joker gas in
Joker's Last Laugh of 2001, spilling over into
Birds of Prey #36 (December, 2001, battling Black Canary along with Copperhead) and
Robin #95 (December, 2001, mostly featuring Killer Croc).
Hellgrammite was one of many foes in
Adventures of Superman #608 (November, 2002), returned again with
Superman #652 (July, 2006) and
Action Comics #839 (July, 2006) with villains like the Puzzler, Live Wire and Silver Banshee, all as part of groups of attackers, and needing to be rounded up by Atom, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Shazam! and Supergirl in
Justice League: Cry For Justice #2 and
#3 of October and November, 2009 as an ally of Prometheus and finally being caught by Donna Troy in
Justice League of America #43 (May, 2010).
Reactron
All these villains, and really no focus yet on villains that started as Supergirl foes. That changes now, with Reactron (though the TV show labeled him as a previous Superman foe, he was all Supergirl's in the comics!). Ben Krullen started his battle against Supergirl and the new Doom Patrol (Robotman, Celsius, Tempest and Negative Woman) in the
Daring New Adventures of Supergirl #8 (June, 1983 by
Paul Kupperberg and
Carmine Infantino, though hinted at in the previous issue), who was fighting Negative Woman, and trying to draw power from a local reactor to power his own atomic powers.
In the next issue, it is revealed that Reactron was contemporary of Tempest's (and Krullen's attack on a Vietnamese village triggered the powers of Joshua Clay, resulting in him becoming Tempest). Supergirl defeated Reactron, but absorbed too much radiation, with the Doom Patrol taking her for help in the
Daring New Adventures of Supergirl #10 (August, 1983, also by
Kupperberg and
Infantino).
When Reactron next returns, he is treated as a Power Girl foe (thanks to the
Crisis On Infinite Earths wiping out Supergirl...
...explained a bit in
Secret Origins Annual #1 of 1987), and fights the Doom Patrol in
Doom Patrol #10 and
#11 (July and August, 1988 by
Paul Kupperberg and
Erik Larsen; and oddly guesting Superman and the matrix Supergirl as Lana Lang in the first issue, with Superman and the Doom Patrol going to face Metallo in
Superman #20 of August, 1988), with Larry Trainor trying to use Reactron to get the Negative Being back from Negative Woman (with Reactron being assumed to be dead again...and his history being slightly altered, with his name now being Benjamin Martin Krull).
Dying this many times made Reactron a great candidate for the villainous Suicide Squad, and he served during
Suicide Squad #6 through
#8 (April to June, 2002 by
Keith Giffen and
Medina) along with Major Disaster,
Deadshot, the second Killer Frost and Blackstarr..
...with Reactron being shot to end his association with the Suicide Squad!
Reactron returned next in
Crisis Aftermath: The Battle For Bludhaven #1 (Early June 2006) as a member of the Nuclear Legion (a group of radioactive villains like Neutron, Professor Radium, Geiger, Nuclear and Mister Nitro), but didn't stay long, going to fight Supergirl in
Supergirl #25 and
#26 (March and April, 2008 by
Kelley Puckett and
Drew Johnson).
Reactron returned again, popping up next to fight Supergirl in
Supergirl #35 (January, 2009 by
Sterling Gates and
Jamal Igle) as part of a larger battle, with Kryptonians battling to take Earth, running as a part of Supergirl's title, as well as issues of
Action Comics like
Action Comics #872 and
#880 in 2009, working with
Metallo, and getting a new power source, that of a variation of Gold Kryptonite, that only removes Kryptonians' powers for 15 seconds, resolving in
Superman: War of the Superman #1 in July, 2010 (and his history being slightly altered, with his name now being Benjamin Martin Krull).
That battle also featured
General Zod (and others from the Phantom Zone), who will come to menace Supergirl in the future....
