DC’s Most Forgotten Kryptonian Villain Is Back and More Evil Than Ever

Superman has always been touted as the Last Son of Krypton. He was the only child to escape the planet’s destruction, but as the decades following his debut have revealed, he was actually far from the only survivor. There’s his cousin, his dog, several warlords, and even an entire shrunken city of his Kryptonian compatriots. However, while DC has always been quick to showcase the other villains that can give Superman a run for his money, they’ve overlooked this one Kryptonian villain for decades after her debut. Now, over sixty years later, Black Flame is back and deadlier than ever.

Black Flame originated all the way back in Action Comics #304. Instead of being a Superman villain, the Maid of Menace was actually a rival to Supergirl. The reason that she doesn’t get nearly as much attention as Zod or even Lesla-Lar is that she only had one appearance as a supervillain, and only two cameos after that. Now, after so long, she’s back and ready to wreak havoc once more. Supergirl (2025) #9 reintroduced Black Flame and restarted the most dangerous friendship this side of Midvale. 

Who Is Black Flame?

Black Flame was the supervillain identity of Zora Vi-Lar. She made her debut by tricking Comet the Super-Horse into destroying Monument Mountain in Gold Stone National Park. When Supergirl arrived on the scene, Black Flame announced that she was Supergirl’s descendant from the year 4000. She taunted her supposed ancestor with the knowledge that she ruled over a pirate planet in her own time, but chose to use her incredible abilities for evil instead of good. Supergirl was naturally distraught over the news of what her lineage had become and, after Black Flame fled, decided to test that truth.

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Supergirl time-traveled to the year 4000, but found no trace of the supposed pirate queen. The Woman of Tomorrow realized she’d been duped, and concluded that Black Flame must actually have been from the Bottle City of Kandor. Kara investigated the city and found her perfect suspect. Zora Vi-Lar was a brilliant scientist and a close friend of the deceased Supergirl villain, Lesla-Lar. The only problem was that Zora was in her lab at the time of Black Flame’s attack. With only one way to prove that Black Flame and Zora were the same, Kara set up a trap.

Supergirl found Black Flame and said that she would rather live powerless than let her descendants run wild with evil intent. She exposed herself to Gold Kryptonite, permanently stripping her powers away. Thinking she won, Black Flame revealed that she actually was Zora, and the one in her lab was a robot. She went for her final revenge, but Supergirl had only pretended to expose herself to Gold-K and used the real stuff to turn Zora into a normal woman for good. That was the end of Black Flame’s incredibly short and petty villain career.

Back and Deadlier Than Ever

Supergirl #9 saw Kara and Lesla’s friendship fall apart. Their friend group went to Clarissa’s alcohol-free New Year’s Eve party, but Lesla wanted to experience getting drunk for the first time. Kara warned her about the dangers of an out-of-control Kryptonian and forbade it, but the girl wouldn’t take no for an answer. Lena Luthor whipped up a cocktail that was supposed to mildly buzz Kryptonians, but wound up getting Lesla absolutely plastered. Things only got worse when Kara sipped Lesla’s drink, leading to two drunk women who could rip through mountains like tissue paper. 

Supergirl had to knock Lelsa out to keep her from levelling Clarissa’s house, but put the protege hero in the doghouse. Then it was revealed that Lesla’s Kandorian physiology meant she would keep shrinking until she vanished if she didn’t return to the Bottle City, so Kara shunted her back off and cut ties with the girl, feeling like she failed them both. With Lesla alone and at her lowest point, her old friend Zora found her. She said to call her Black Flame, and asked if Lesla wanted to cause trouble.

This new Black Flame is a totally different threat than the previous one. For starters, since this is a separate continuity, this Black Flame likely has never been exposed to Gold Kryptonite, meaning she still has all her powers. By the looks of things, she’s a troublemaker or criminal in Kandor, and unlike before, she’s not operating alone. With Lesla feeling like a total failure, Black Flame will likely manipulate her into some kind of revenge scheme on Supergirl. While Supergirl could handle either threat on her own, two Kryptonian enemies at once might be too much even for her. Things are about to get very, very bad for the Maiden of Might, and it’ll be Black Flame’s fault.

Supergirl #9 is on sale now!

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