DC Finally Brings Iron Man-Level Tech to Marvel’s Biggest Rivals

Thanks to an armor that’s practically Iron Man-level, worrying about kryptonite is a thing of the past for Supergirl. While the DC Universe has a lot of incredibly bright minds like Mr. Terrific and Batman, most comic book readers tend to think about Iron Man when it comes to fancy gadgets. After all, there’s no limit to some of the cool gizmos that Tony Stark has made, from his iconic armor to more outrageous things like his pocket disintegrator (just look it up). But as wild as his inventions are, there are other equally cool and innovative comic characters.

Case in point, Lena Luthor, daughter of Superman’s iconic nemesis, Lex Luthor. Ever since she came back, she’s been showing just how creative and intelligent she is. She’s become a huge part of the current Supergirl series, where Lena has assisted (and sometimes, caused huge trouble) with her inventions. While Supergirl is a powerful enough hero to handle trouble in Midvale by herself, Lena’s creations have proven to be incredibly useful. But with her latest gizmo, the Gen Z Luthor is going above and beyond with something that could help every Kryptonian when it comes to their greatest weakness.

DC Debuts New Kryptonite Armor (And Tony Stark Would Be Proud)

In Supergirl #10 by Sophie Campbell, Joe Quinones, and Dave Sharpe, Lena wants to make up with Kara after her last invention, a formula to allow Kryptonians to get drunk, ended up ruining a party. However, Kara is unavailable, as she’s out on a date. It’s going swimmingly, but what Kara doesn’t know is that she’s actually under the spell of her date’s earring, which contains a rare form of kryptonite. As such, Supergirl is falling hard and fast for her new beau. Thankfully, Lena and her friend Luma are keeping an eye out.

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Just as Kara’s date reveals that he knows she’s Supergirl, Lena intrudes and scans the earring and confirms it’s a rare pink kryptonite. With no other choice, Lena yanks the earring out of Kara’s date’s ear and tosses it to Luma. But as it turns out, this is no ordinary kryptonite, as it’s been possessed by a Kryptonian named Nela-Nar. Nela-Nar is obsessed with love and wishes to help other Kryptonians find love (whether they want it or not). Lena provides cover for Kara to change into Supergirl and also hands over Lena’s latest invention.

Lena describes it as an anti-kryptonite suit. It’s designed to protect its wearer from any form of kryptonite, but only for about three minutes due to its rapid consumption of power. But the coolest feature of the suit is that it comes with a dial that allows the user to choose which variant they want protection from, since the suit can only prioritize one shade at a time. Kara sets it to pink and faces off against Nela-Nar. While it takes assistance from Luma and Lena, the suit holds out long enough for the trio to capture the love-obsessed villain.

Supergirl’s Armor is a Cool Spin on Superman’s Newest Power

If immunity to kryptonite that lasts about three minutes sounds familiar, that’s because Superman recently developed that as a new power over in Superman Unlimited. However, Clark is the only person in his family with that kind of ability. But that’s what makes Lena’s invention so cool. It grants Supergirl, or whoever wears it, the same power. And unlike Superman’s ability, which we’ve only seen activate in the presence of standard green kryptonite, we know that Lena’s armor works against the entire kryptonite spectrum. Seriously, she somehow factored in pink kryptonite despite never seeing it.

I know armors aren’t something we usually think of when it comes to the Super-Family, but I honestly like this kind of addition. The family has a lot of villains that use varying shades of the irradiated rocks, such as Metallo, Reactron, the Krytponite Man, etc. Plus, ever since kryptonite became more ubiquitous on Earth (again, in Superman Unlimited), anyone can get their hands on the toxic rocks, making even average, everyday criminals a threat to Kryptonians. Honestly, it just makes good sense for Supergirl to have something to protect herself, especially against weird villains like Nela-Nar.

With Tony Stark strangely absent in all the Marvel/DC crossovers as of late, the jury’s out on whether or not Iron Man will ever grace the DCU’s heroes with his presence. But at least Kara has Lena, who has given her something that, frankly, I think Stark probably would have come up with had he had the time and resources. I hope we get to see more of this armor in the future, because the DC Universe can be a dangerous place, even for Kryptonians like Supergirl.

What do you think about Supergirl’s new armor? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts on the ComicBook Forum!