With its small town setting and fresh-faced young lead,
DC's "Stargirl" is probably the sweetest superhero show ever made — which is why
her dark history of murdered family members, older boyfriends and more might surprise you.
Since she was first introduced as the new "Star Spangled Kid" in 1999's "Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E.
#0," Courtney Whitmore has been treated with great affection by her comic book creators.
This is due to the fact that her writer Geoff Johns based Courtney's personality,
appearance and name after his sister Courtney Johns. In several interviews about Stargirl,
Johns spoke of the real-life Courtney's, quote,
"spirit and optimistic energy that I wanted to put back in the world with Stargirl."
Tragically, Courtney Johns died in the TWA Flight
800 disaster of 1996. Her comic book counterpart became a tribute to her real-world inspiration,
and Courtney Johns was even memorialized in the pilot episode of "Stargirl" by
placing an edited image of her in a photo alongside "Stargirl" actress Brec Bassinger.
In the "Stargirl" TV show, Pat Dugan, played by Luke Wilson, is Courtney Whitmore's stepfather
and the former sidekick to the superhero Starman, played by Joel McHale. Together, the two fought
crime in the early twenty-first century before Starman was killed and Dugan semi-retired.
In the comics, Dugan served as the sidekick "Stripesy" to the Star-Spangled Kid during
World War II. The pair eventually joined The Seven Soldiers of Victory, who were
scattered throughout time after a battle with Nebula-Man. Dugan wound up in Ancient
Egypt where he was enslaved and forced to work on the pyramids until members
of the Justice League of America rescued him and brought him back to the present.
Dugan eventually found love with Courtney's mother Barbara and took on the mantle of the armored hero
S.T.R.I.P.E. when his adopted daughter decided to become a new Star-Spangled Kid. While his new life
came with plenty of challenges, he's probably glad he didn't have to die in Ancient Egypt.
While most people accept that Courtney Whitmore is a smart and capable young woman eager to help
others embrace the best sides of themselves, she didn't start out that way. In fact,
in her early appearances, she came across as an entitled brat who gets into the superhero
life for the most selfish of reasons — to screw with her step-father's life.
In the original "Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E." series, Courtney discovers the original
Star-Spangled Kid's gear in her step-father's belongings and uses it to create her own
version of the Star-Spangled Kid's costume and promptly starts getting into trouble.
Courtney even attempts to use her knowledge of Dugan's superhero past to get her mother
to leave him. Luckily, Dugan and Courtney gradually form a closer
relationship and Courtney's experiences as Stargirl help her mature. Eventually,
she admits that she became a superhero for the wrong reasons, and that her stepfather
was born with a moral compass that she had to learn how to develop for herself.
Superheroes need to know how to take care of themselves on the battlefield.
This is particularly true of young superheroes whose inexperience might get them killed.
However, Courtney Whitmore often displays such a violent streak in her fights
that readers are left feeling almost sorry for her enemies.
In "Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E." #1, Courtney meets a school bully on the first day at
her new high school and decides to kick him in the face when he starts mouthing off.
Another issue actually shows Courtney kicking a bad guy in the crotch during a battle
and relishing the opportunity to use such dirty fighting tactics.
To be fair, many of the foes Stargirl faces off against are homicidal and Courtney probably
does need to use such extreme force in certain fights. Still, her hair-trigger temper does drive
her to fight nastily in her early appearances, making her seem like a super-powered delinquent.
"Hey! Somebody's messing with your car!"
Family relationships can be tough for superheroes, and Stargirl is no exception.
In fact, Courtney Whitmore's birth father Sam Kurtis just gets worse in each of his appearances.
In a scene from "Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E." #14 that was adapted for the TV show,
Sam shows up at Courtney's house on her birthday and cons her out of a valuable locket,
claiming he needs to help a non-existent brother. While Courtney sees through the con,
she hands over the locket anyway, crushed by her dad's selfish cruelty.
Later, Courtney discovers Sam has joined the supervillain group the Royal Flush
Gang under the alias "Two of Clubs." During the "Infinite Crisis" storyline,
she's informed that Sam is dead, and decides she doesn't want to waste her
time hating a dead man who never reformed. Instead, she accepts that Pat Dugan is the
real father figure in her life and chooses to identify as his daughter.
Courtney Whitmore met her original arch-nemesis Cindy Burman, aka Shiv,
in high school during the "Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E." series. In fact,
Cindy was the captain of the cheerleading squad and a variation of the popular "mean girl" trope.
Sounds like a fun way to explore high school rivalries in a superhero setting, right?
Well ... not so much. Turns out, Cindy was the daughter of the Dragon King, a crime boss
who tortured and experimented on her to make her a living weapon. Despite Cindy's pleas,
the Dragon King regularly had cybernetic implants installed in her — often without any anesthesia.
Choosing to focus all of her anger and pain on Courtney, Cindy attacked her superhero
counterpart with a homicidal rage born from a life of constant abuse. Her tragic story is
so intriguing that the "Stargirl" television series made it a major plotline in Season 1.
As portrayed by Meg DeLacy, Cindy/Shiv is frightening and truly abhorrent,
but you can't help feeling sorry for her at the same time.
Superheroes and supervillains tend to be connected by shared tragedy,
and these two are no different. In "Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E." issues 12 and 13,
the Dragon King used mind-control to turn the youth of Blue Valley against the adults.
The brainwashing even worked on Courtney until she managed to shake off its effects — distracting the
Dragon King long enough for the superhero Shining Knight to battle the villain.
During the fight, the Dragon King fell off his flying dragon and died in an explosion.
Shiv — who was still obsessed with making her father "proud" — blamed Courtney for
the Dragon King's death and swore to kill Courtney and everyone she cared about.
Although Courtney's actions were only indirectly responsible for the Dragon King's fall — Shiv's
interpretation of the events earned the future Stargirl an arch enemy. Ironically, in the
"Stargirl" TV series, Cindy stabs her father in the back in retaliation for locking her up.
Nevertheless, she continues to see Stargirl as her enemy and continues looking to take her down.
The path of true love never runs smoothly for superheroes — and that's definitely
true for Stargirl, who found herself falling for Billy Batson, a sixteen-year-old boy who
worked alongside her with the Justice Society of America. Nothing wrong with that, right?
“No. Way.”
Well ... not quite. As fans of the movie "Shazam!" know,
Billy Batson is the teenage alter-ego of the superhero Shazam, or Captain Marvel
as he was known at the time, who looks like he's in his late twenties or early thirties.
This made it look like Captain Marvel was flirting with an underage girl when they
were hanging out with the Justice Society of America. Although the two only actually dated
when Billy was in his teenage form, the rest of the JSA, who were unaware of Captain Marvel's
true identity, called him out on the seemingly inappropriate nature of their relationship.
Stargirl's first major romance might have been rough, but her second was downright tragic.
Following Billy Batson's departure, Courtney found herself developing feelings for Albert Rothstein,
aka Atom Smasher. Al eventually reciprocated, but he later fell under the influence of Black Adam,
who convinced him to invade the oppressed country of Khandaq
and kill it's dictator president, putting him in direct conflict with the JSA.
In the ensuing battle, Al sacrifices himself to save the people of Khandaq from the Spectre,
but a distraught Black Adam is able to revive him almost immediately. Back home,
Al is put on trial for his actions and pleads guilty,
but Courtney, never one to give up, promises she'll be there for him when he gets out.
Making matters more difficult, there's an actual age difference between Courtney and Albert,
although that doesn't seem to matter in a possible future where an adult Courtney
is married to Albert. Audiences can also look forward to seeing Noah Centineo play Atom Smasher
in the 2022 "Black Adam" movie alongside Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as Black Adam ... although
considering their comic book history, this might not be so great for Atom Smasher.
At the core of Stargirl's appeal is her amazing family dynamic. Few sidekicks are older than
the main hero, but S.T.R.I.P.E.'s relationship with Stargirl is made special by the fact that
Pat Dugan is Courtney's stepfather and became a superhero to support and look out for her.
In fact, Courtney regularly sees her family as the inspiration for her superhero activities ... which
is why it was so traumatizing for her to see them all murdered before her eyes.
This happened in "JSA" #68 when the Red Morgue went back in time and
slaughtered Courtney's entire family as they were all having breakfast.
Luckily, Time Master Rip Hunter arrived soon after to save Courtney.
Rip helped assemble a team of JSA members to travel to different points in time to erase the
events leading up to the Dugan-Whitmore family's murder and set things right.
Saving the universe and leading a double life can be tough on a person's mental health,
but one adventure saw Stargirl literally land in an insane asylum.
During the events of the "Black Vengeance" JSA storyline,
Courtney traveled back in time to erase the events leading to her family's murder.
Courtney's mission was to travel to the year 1951 and recruit Ted Knight, the original Starman,
but unfortunately he was committed to an insane asylum at that point in time.
Before she could convince him that she wasn't a drug-induced hallucination, the asylum orderlies
spotted her and drugged her. Courtney was strapped into a straitjacket and tossed into a padded cell.
Luckily, by "JSA" #70, Courtney's time-traveling sister Patricia managed
to free her. While her time as a mental patient was brief, it likely remains a
dark spot in Courtney's memory of how superheroes are viewed by some people.
Despite the fact that she wears a mask, a lot of people know that Courtney Whitmore and
Stargirl are one and the same. Her family, the entire Justice Society of America,
and even several of her villains know Stargirl's true identity.
As it turns out, a lot of this is due to Courtney's carelessness — she once exposed her
secret identity to her friend Mary on the night of her first adventure as the Star-Spangled Kid.
Sometimes, the fact that practically everyone knows Courtney is Stargirl
is used for comedic effect — like when the JSA visits Courtney during a dentist's appointment.
Other times, however, writers remind readers that the reason for the secret identity was so villains
wouldn't come after the hero's loved ones ... something that tragically happens to Stargirl.
"I put all of us in so much danger, because I believed in some fairy tale."
In "Justice League of America" issues 10 through 12, Courtney gets on the supervillain
Shadow Thief's radar. A few issues later, Shadow Thief tracks down Courtney's family,
wounds her mom, and kills her little brother. Although the experience helps motivate Courtney
to be a better superhero, the cost is extremely high ... and extremely dark.
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