It's hilarious she was so furious that Supergirl *would* become more popular than her *once she revealed herself to the real world*! Imagine watching someone in India through a telescope and saying, "Once she goes on a TV show and reveals her true voice, she will become far more popular than I am, with my super mathematical abilities here in South America!"
Wow. Everyone in Kandor is stuck in the Fortress of Solitude because they were shrunk down. This chick INVENTS A WAY TO UNDO THIS, but decides the best use for it would be to take over Supergirl's life! That's a level of petty that Doctor Doom would approve of!
Yep, Lesla's the only Kandorian that I know of who found a permanent way to resize without Brainiac's tech (in second place, her friend Zora could only find a way to resize herself for 24/48 hours, at least in her first story, I forget what happened in the second one). If either Super knew she existed before her death they'd have been begging for her help. Meanwhile the Kandorians arrested her for her genius. EDIT: El Gar Kur actually did something similar by switching places with Jimmy Olsen. Seems swapping places is a reliable resizing method.
So... Lesla has the perfect solution to the "forever unsolvable" problem of the miniaturized city in a bottle and she just uses it to bother Supergirl? A True Legend.
Now THAT’S a romance subplot as off the rails as Lesla herself. 1960’s READERS: Eeeeeeeewwwwwwww…!!! TODAYS READERS: Eeeeeeeewwwwwwwww…!!! But yet, we kinda saw it coming….
People think the "L.L." thing is some weird fetish on Superman's part, but it really comes down to you know how hard it is to tattoo Kryptonian skin? And get it *removed*?! He went hard in college and is going to get all the mileage he can.
If he can use a piece of Kryptonian metal as a reflective surface for his heat vision to shave his Kryptonian beard stubble he can remove or add a tattoo.
Here's a somewhat-unconventional thought for how to reintroduce her: she should team up with Hugo Strange. Why not? They both have very similar motivations - extreme, obsessive envy/fascination with a hero - and the Batman and Superman 'families' have always had some crossover between them. And for that matter, you don't even need to revamp the character - if anyone would have survived multiple different Crises with her memory basically intact, it would be an energy creature hovering on the fringes of reality. Have Lesla affect invade Strange's dreams, and make him a proposition: if he'll help her regain her physical form (via her sending him schematics and such, natch), they will form an alliance, her helping him replace Batman, and him helping her replace Supergirl - and it works! They replace them, and kick both Bats and Kara into the Phantom Zone! But, of course, they both have rather twisted visions of their respective nemeses, so all of a sudden you've got a Batman who is not so much concerned with fighting crime as going going on mad power-trips and psychologically manipulating his foes, and a Supergirl who, rather than being anything close to the current incarnation, is instead essentially Silver/Bronze-Age Kara (since that version, of course, is the one Lesla knows best) with thinly-veiled evil intentions. Eventually, of course, they start backstabbing each other, and the real heroes come back and take them down. Practically writes itself.
Ok, if I had to do Lesla Lar, this is how I would: Lesla Lar is still a superscientist, and she's always doing stuff for Kandor. So she's not just like a scientist but a pillar of the community. I don't know enough about Kandor but maybe she had a hand in preventing them all dying. Something like that, something that you can see she's like important to them. But she sees the way they look at Supergirl and she hates the celebrity worship aspect of it. She's like "She's out there saving other people, I'm in here saving YOU. Why aren't *I* on the screen?" You know at that point it's not super villain serious...until she gets arrested for doing the bad science. Maybe one of her well intentioned experiments backfires or something. Possibly trying to like emulate something Supergirl did like "aha, see you don't need Supergirl". She's now not only as beloved as Supergirl but now she's kinda hated. Now she's got nothing left except Supergirl. Now she can start zapping people's brains or whatever. See now her beef is not just exclusively with Supergirl, but also with her world and her own inadequacies.
I would lean into Lesla-Lar's lower class background. IIRC, a letters column explained she was an orphan and took the house name of her friend Zora Vi-Lar (the Black Flame), explaining her lack of patronym. She had nothing and worked for everything she had in an oligarchical society. This would make her a foil for Kara, a scion of one of Krypton's most prominent families. Her biggest resentment being that Kara got everything handed to her, her own survival being because of who her family is and not what she did. As you said, she would be arrested for performing unauthorized experiments with forbidden materials. Forcing her to escape with an experimental device. Lesla would resent Kandor for restricting her dangerous experiments, her own freedom being proof in her mind of her own righteousness. If they had just let her do what she wanted and recognized her brilliance they'd be out of the bottle. I never thought of her being a pillar of the community. It's interesting and points out her greed right away. Though, I think it would be more interesting to have her be clearly underappreciated. Have her resentments start with legitimate grievances stretched out by entitlement. This way people might feel sorry for her at first and agree with her on some level but the longer they get to know her the more they realize she's just an unpleasant person to be around. I wouldn't have Lesla look like Kara at first, she'd be older and less athletic fitting her background. She would have access to technology to rewrite her own DNA, which she used to impersonate Kandorian Councilors to access the forbidden materials. She would turn her body into Kara's to access the Fortress of Solitude to steal some technology but the device would be destroyed in a later confrontation, trapping her in Kara's form. A later story arc could focus on Lesla impersonating Kara on another planet, getting her arrested by intergalactic law enforcement. Being in Kara's form for so long could be the catalyst for Lesla's madness. I would also include Zora in these storylines, since their friendship was only talked about in the original comics. She could start as Lesla's lacky before they're separated (playing a prominent role in Lesla's escape from Kandorian police and using her own scientific knowledge to help Lesla battle Supergirl), then she can become a criminal mastermind in her own right before reforming (based on Zora's revolving-door reformation in the original comics). By the time they reunite, she would act as Lesla's conscience, trying to convince her to use her knowledge to help others. But Lesla, for all her talk of bettering the world, only cares about her own glory and refuses to help those who imprisoned her (but she does give Zora a hint on how to solve their current problem because she does have a soft spot for her only friend). I'm split on whether this storyline would end with Zora realizing her friendship with Lesla is toxic (with Lesla bringing out the worst in her during Zora's attempts to redeem her) and leaving (providing a catalyst for Lesla to go further off the deep end) or if Lesla would make some legitimate progress in her personal development but never fully reform (perhaps becoming an antagonist Kara can occasionally team up with but is still actively antagonizing her the rest of the time, or they can part with an understanding of each other but keep their mutual hatred). In terms of abilities, given Lesla was arrested for ray experiments, I'd give her a specialty in radiation studies, so by the time she meets Kara she has full knowledge of the effects of different types of kryptonite and star colors on Kryptonian physiology. This gives us a chance to explore cool new effects or bring back old gimmicks from the Silver Age. Given that Zora creates a biological robot double of herself in her first story, I'd give her a biology specialty. She could be like a Power Rangers villain, creating and upgrading monster henchmen. Their two specialties would complement each other while they're still working together while being serious threats on their own and avoiding the pitfalls of becoming just another strong Kryptonian enemy. They'd be threats that use their brains because they're scientists and can't beat an experienced superhero in a fair fight. The conflicts would be solved by Kara outsmarting them.
@@BrandonVout Have Lesla become Kara's Catwoman? But a Catwoman who's basically her identical, but non-powered, twin? Who also gets to have the kind of social life that Kara doesn't because she doesn't have to worry about saving the world? There are some interesting character interactions possible.
As evil as Lesla is, I’m green with envy with her outfit. Hmm, I might do a similar plan to steal her own look. I’m a being who can switch from being energy to physical so possession a thing and isn’t the mad up science on my abilities.
Lesla could really have the scene-chewing spotlight-stealing fabulously petty energy that Mr Sinister's been oozing for the last few years and given that he's been one of my favourite characters to read recently I would definitely be on-board for her reappearance.
I could totally see a better written version of this team up where Lesla acts as Zod's techie. Sure, Lesla is greedy and stuff, but she's not the "I want to rule the world" type. She'd actually be willing to be Zod's science advisor.
I'm not into the surveillance state, but the people of Kandor do have a right to see what Kal-El is doing rather than returning them to full size. Speaking of which, Lesla Lar already know how to do that???? You would think the person that restored Kandor and released a city of Supermen would make her pretty popular.
Kandor had the ability to grow and shrink a small number of people just not enough power to grow all of them and their city to full-size. Forget if they figured out how to do that or if Superman came up with the growth/shrink ray.
If you think about Joker's arcade tower ending for Injustice 2, you can't just plant alient cities places on earth Willy nilly. You're talking about an entire city of Kryptonians.
Hey! I remember reading through her few appearances (I'm a fan of obscure villains). It actually surprises me that this character is so obscure. She was clearly designed to be Kara's Luthor standin but was forgotten immediately then brought back a couple years later just to be killed pointlessly. Supergirl needs more villains of her own and Lesla Lar would be an obvious choice. I really don't know why they never did any re-imaginings after a reboot, or during any of the Supergirl solo series. Maybe some writers will see this video.
Yeah she has a lot going for her so it's really disappointing that she never caught on. 🤷 I could really see her being a mainstay going in a lot of story directions. Fingers crossed we can see more of her soon.
Hrm... I'd definitely have her be an event villain. Like, she should be behind some long ass mystery being behind something that starts at the lowest level of the DCU, like Creeper and Azrael finding a dead body, and ending up at the highest, where guess what it was Granny Goodness's body and Lar has taken over Apocalypse and is sitting on Darkseid's couch.
If DC were to revive Lesla Lar, I'd like to see her return under the Satan Girl moniker. I'd also like to see an Earth-3 version of her become a heroic version of Ultragirl, possibly alongside an Earth-3 Ar Val becoming a heroic Ultraman.
I really wish DC Super Hero Girls was still in production because they could have taken this concept and ran with it considering they already used Bizarro Supergirl but having another long running villain to Kara who can easily go back and forth between mimicking her and being herself would have been great.
If Lesla did return, I bet they actually do go with she was Kara’s sister. Then DC would tease that maybe Lesla was really Kara and Kara was Lar all along.
@@Vegadra AND Divine! :D One thought that occurred to me a while back... what's Lesla's family tree? Lar is presumably her father's family, much like how Kara Zor-El's mother(Alura In-Ze) was actually from the Ze clan. Was Lesla's mother an El?
I love this. What an interesting villain. We could use her back. DC does have a shortage of straight up evil female villains. I only have one question...how does one think laughing?
Way back, many years ago when Turner brought back Supergirl, DC did Action Figures of the Turner Supergirl, one in her new outfit, another of 'Corrupted Supergirl'. I use the 'Corrupted' version as Lesla Lars in my collection. Considering DC was always horrible about giving us Villains I figured that was as close as I was ever going to get.
I wouldn’t have put together the Leslie Larr connection without this video! Cool. I love how deranged this character is, especially all her evil laughing in her own head! Amazing! So evil! I love it!😂❤
I wonder how long until we get a Lena Luthor deep dive now that you've mentioned her. I suspect it'll take longer, given that there are more comic storylines and three live action adaptations with her to go through, compared to Lori and Lesla. Or Nasthalthia "Nasty" Luthor, Kara's civilian nemesis.
I heard that plastic Lex Luthor doll became disturbingly popular in prison 🤔🤷♂️… And Looking forward to the issue where Superman romances Lyle Lovett ❤️😀✌️- “Stand by Your Man (of Steel)” Indeed!
I was taking dinner out of the fridge when you were reading krypto’s limes and I thought the really had those dog sounds in there. Now I’m bummed that they didn’t go hard on the pupper sounds.
I was just going to ask for a deep dive on Lesla-Lar (as well as a Black Flame video) and her role in one of the earliest multi-issue story arcs that shook up Kara's status quo for years to come. There needs to be more pushback to the idea that Supergirl doesn't have her own villains.
The interesting thing is Lesla just seems to be shoved aside when the action is getting good. She could've been easily as iconic as the reverse flash, or the Joker or any one of those iconic, if heavily used villains, but I wonder if they just didn't have the patience for unapologetic villain women back in the day her story was made. I mean, a super character who is willing to work with and manipulate other villains, but has a particular hatred for someone whom she feels has a better life then her is really fascinating. Yet can easily be much more then that, as she would legitimately have beef with other hero organisations that want to keep the peace. Alas, she is always stopped the moment the action gets interesting, even having her doing much of the leg work before disintegrating her. It's pretty weird.
23:44 *Lesla:* "When I take over your physical body, I shall demand to know why our parents *abandoned me in favour of you!"* *Kara:* _(after long pause)_ "Ummm... maybe because you're _completely _*_INSANE?!?"_* *Lesla:* _(thinking)_ "Hmmm... yeah, actually, that tracks. Okay, that's my sole motivation for evil gone. Bye-ee!"
I recall Lesla, and was amused when Leslie showed uo on Superman And Lois; it was heartening to see an actually clever villain with a truly, genuinely evil plot. BTW, I'm gonna do my usual plea fo a certain young Merboy with a penchant for yellow tunics, since you teased me with a brief reference...
what would be a interesting team up i think is her and The 2nd Cyborg Superman who's Kara's dad be interesting like she pretends she's Kara again and convinces him she's her daughter I mean he's already kind of insane given what he tired to do in Supergirl's rebirth comics
I think the Contempo Cut is best. Maybe its the way its drawn, but out of them all its the best. Runner up to the "winner" the Campus Cuddle Bun, and distant third to the Lemaris Special (which sounds like either a seafood dinner, or a fancy race car, vroom vroom). ;)
Same... which leads me to think that it is well named indeed, for through todays eyes it is more appealing. For those that voted way back when, perhaps it was not as attractive as we see it.
I remember that Superman Family, but had no idea she had so much backstory. I'd bought it purely for the Mr and Mrs Superman story. I'm surprised they never did a switcharoo with having Supergirl die and it end up being her instead. I'd also have loved to have seen a Silver Age story with her or the Phantom Zone villains try and take over the Earth but for once face the Justice League or any number of other heroes; they never seemed to even acknowledge anyone other than the Supers and maybe the LSH as obstacles. I mean, come on; GL? The most power weapon in the universe. And Martian Manhunters not exactly a 98-pound weakling.
I think the classic DC ComicBook villain (Lesla Lar) who is an enemy of SuperGirl, she should be allowed to be placed in a realm within the MultiVerse, and I think it would be great to have the supervillain appear in a cartoon show series someday. Now I think this evil minded villainess LESLA LAR, who is an escape villain from the planet:KANDOR, she would be a great villain to introduce in a cartoon series, and I imagine she might exist in the dimensional realm of EARTH-50. In addition I imagine a version of this prideful mad scientist villainess LESLA LAR, she develops a scientific formula that gives her the ability to look like anyone she wants to look like, and I imagine that one day she decides to make a new formula that gives her the appearance of SuperGirl.
She could join a special sub section of the Legion of Doom. The 'we just can't let it go squad.' Alongside Lex Luthor, Hush, Black Manta, Veronica Cale, and Eobard Thawne. All of whom just hate their hero in the same way
Lesla-Lar has the ability to escape Kandor and re-big-ify herself (and probably the city itself). Would this not be the top priority of Kandor, and anyone who could achieve this be regarded as the ultimate hero for the city and the remaining Kryptonians?! Yet she's jealous that people on Earth will, one day when she is finally revealed to the world, love Kara.
My personal guess... is that Lesla's technique was actually very limited in scope. IE, she can't use it for something building sized. also, she probably has to replace the batteries every time she uses it.
OH MAN, The Writers Blew It !!! , I know they where Expanding Kara’s Rogues Gallery, but they should have had Lesla Lar focus on getting Clark too release Her from Kandor, I mean Resistance Would Be Futile for Silver Age Clark once He learned Her Name 🥰 A Beautiful Woman with the initials LL ,& She’s Kryptonion 👀 He’d be after Her like Pepe Le Pew after Penelope Pussycat 😎 Thank You for Introducing Her to those of us that had never heard of Her, & Keep Up The Outstanding Work Sasha 🖖🏾
Lesla all the way!!! A great character to have now. The being energy makes you mad thing doesn't work because Wildfire of the Legion of Super Heroes is energy and I don't remember him having a break down. Your Mon El thought was one I had been speaking on for years. He should be very mad at Super Man for just basically abandoning him there in the Phantom Zone dealing with criminals alone. Keep up the great work.
hey, I think you should do a video on Superman: Earth One. Its a pretty interesting reimagining of superman that keeps his LL fetish. Speaking of which, Lesla Lar could be a good superman suitor.
I'll admit that, when the energy blob/being showed up in 'Family', I didn't know who Lesla was, and had a different candidate for a disembodied spirit of vengeance against Kara, that being - the original Super-Girl, who you also covered. Created and undone by a wish, I saw her as a Supergirl-Prime (way before Prime's debut or heel turn, but still) resenting the life Kara got to lead and striking back from her 'unreality'. It didn't help that, back when I bought the book, there were no comic book stores (or not very many, certainly not by me) and 7-11 was my source. I guess that as 'Family' fell in sales (it was cancelled only 16 issues after Lesla's final story) the stores stopped racking it, because my last issue was 212 or so before it just vanished. I mourned a bit, because I really liked the 'Adam' storyline and Earth-2's married Lois and Clark in 'Mr. & Mrs. Superman'.
I also thought of this: She is forgotten because she operated almost entirely in stealth mode. Yeah, her actions rate her near a Palpatine in planning, but Lex never knew she wasn't Kara, Kal never really encountered her when he didn't think she was Kara, and Kara herself had minimal direct contact before she basically died/not died. BUT - you know where a hidden agenda villain like her would shine like no one's business? Young Justice! Give her to Weisman, and she'll be up there with Demona! Hell, have Queen Bee mentor her until she turns on her. I don't know Kara's status in that universe, but they could say she's been away somewhere if that's a problem.
What's the deal with Jax-Ur? In Superman TAS he was basically Zod, and that's all I really know aboot him. I assumed he was just Zod with a different name for weird reasons.
Jax-Ur is a scientist and was the first Kryptonian sent to the Phantom Zone (for accidentally blowing up the moon). He was mostly used in this era to show Phantom Zone villains watching events unfold but he had more backstory and present day plots than Zod, appearing the most of the three early on. In the Animated Series, he was basically Zod with a different name, they wanted to use Zod and Ursa (even had concept art drawn looking like their Superman II selves) but weren't allowed to. General Zod was actually a bit character in this era (this was about his 4th appearance and the first in the present day instead of a Superboy story), mostly only appearing when they needed to show some villains watching from the Phantom Zone, never really standing out and rarely being a focus of the story. It wasn't until Superman II that he became high profile, and even then it took years for the comics to actually take advantage of his name recognition and make him a major enemy of Superman. This was Kru-El's first appearance but he went on to be the most prominent of the three, Pre-Crisis, having numerous escapes and flashback stories about his rivalry with his cousin, Jor-El. Post-Crisis, Zod eventually took Kru-El's place as Jor-El's archenemy. Kru-El fell the farthest, rarely appearing in newer stories, and usually only as a lacky of Zod (Faora had a similar fate, going from a man-hating serial killer to being Zod's lacky and sometimes wife).
Just so you know Superman and Lois takes place in the future now not an alternate earth anymore. They had a flashpoint season finale type ending a couple seasons ago. Flash, arrow, supergirl and bat woman are all one earth now. Only different earth is star girl
I also wonder if she is the inspiration for post-crisis Matrix Supergirl, who was actually created by Lex as his own personal 'Supergirl.' Since they do look so much alike, might they not actually be twins? Or at least Lasla, a clone? Such possibilities are within the scope of Kryptonian science.
Hi. This has nothing to do with the video but I can't remember if I have ever told you this before. If I have, then, mea maximus culpa. But, if not, here goes: you saved me from quarantine nightmares during Covid. I was having the super scary ones where you dream you wake up but are still asleep and it feels like you will die if you don't wake up. But, then, I started listening to your channel and instead of nightmare scenarios, just your video would be incorporated into the dream/fake wake up cycle. So, thanks for the soothing voice. Cheers.
I think I’ve seen this movie. Single White Female, starring Bridgette Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh. The roommate who wreaks havoc on your life, because she wants to BE YOU. Also, if only she had her own wig, Lesla~Lar might’ve been more chill… ALSO, also: did Krypto inspire future Paw Patrol the way that Superboy inspired the Legion? And if he noticed something wrong about Supergirl, but did nothing to alert Superman, is he really a good boy? Is there an evil Krypto? Is that why Streaky is conspicuously absent? All this, and more, can be added to the list of reasons Lesla~Lar MUST RETURN!!!!!!
1.) Shouldn't Lesla have powers, too, outside the bottle? Wait, she does! -- she didn't need to steal Kara's power, just teleport her into the bottle! (Similarly, it's well established that Kal loses powers inside the bottle.) 2.) HOW COULD YOU STAND THAT WIG CONSTANTLY STABBING YOUR EYES AAAHHHH!
It's hilarious she was so furious that Supergirl *would* become more popular than her *once she revealed herself to the real world*! Imagine watching someone in India through a telescope and saying, "Once she goes on a TV show and reveals her true voice, she will become far more popular than I am, with my super mathematical abilities here in South America!"
If I had the LL initials on the DC Universe, I'd constantly be on edge about getting dragged into Super fam adventures on accident.
Wow. Everyone in Kandor is stuck in the Fortress of Solitude because they were shrunk down. This chick INVENTS A WAY TO UNDO THIS, but decides the best use for it would be to take over Supergirl's life! That's a level of petty that Doctor Doom would approve of!
Yep, Lesla's the only Kandorian that I know of who found a permanent way to resize without Brainiac's tech (in second place, her friend Zora could only find a way to resize herself for 24/48 hours, at least in her first story, I forget what happened in the second one). If either Super knew she existed before her death they'd have been begging for her help. Meanwhile the Kandorians arrested her for her genius.
EDIT: El Gar Kur actually did something similar by switching places with Jimmy Olsen. Seems swapping places is a reliable resizing method.
@@BrandonVout that's what I figured, that it's related to taking someone's place somehow.
Or Reed Richards, who *Could* cure cancer BUT
Her and Thawte would be buddies
There is a difference between a single Kandorian being able to enlarge his or herself and being able to scale that up to a whole city.
So... Lesla has the perfect solution to the "forever unsolvable" problem of the miniaturized city in a bottle and she just uses it to bother Supergirl?
A True Legend.
Oh no…another L.L. and she looks like Kara! Sorry Lois, Lana, Lori, and Lex, I think we found Clark’s dream girl.
LEX SKDJDJJSJSJSJS
Now THAT’S a romance subplot as off the rails as Lesla herself.
1960’s READERS: Eeeeeeeewwwwwwww…!!!
TODAYS READERS: Eeeeeeeewwwwwwwww…!!! But yet, we kinda saw it coming….
what about lisa lasalle?
@@ProjektTaku I don’t know about her. Is she a Silver Age character?
@@encyclogeekia1865 no. She's from Superman: Earth One as clark's main love interest. And she's pretty cool.
People think the "L.L." thing is some weird fetish on Superman's part, but it really comes down to you know how hard it is to tattoo Kryptonian skin? And get it *removed*?! He went hard in college and is going to get all the mileage he can.
This is cannon and nothing can change my mind
If he can use a piece of Kryptonian metal as a reflective surface for his heat vision to shave his Kryptonian beard stubble he can remove or add a tattoo.
Here's a somewhat-unconventional thought for how to reintroduce her: she should team up with Hugo Strange.
Why not? They both have very similar motivations - extreme, obsessive envy/fascination with a hero - and the Batman and Superman 'families' have always had some crossover between them. And for that matter, you don't even need to revamp the character - if anyone would have survived multiple different Crises with her memory basically intact, it would be an energy creature hovering on the fringes of reality.
Have Lesla affect invade Strange's dreams, and make him a proposition: if he'll help her regain her physical form (via her sending him schematics and such, natch), they will form an alliance, her helping him replace Batman, and him helping her replace Supergirl - and it works! They replace them, and kick both Bats and Kara into the Phantom Zone! But, of course, they both have rather twisted visions of their respective nemeses, so all of a sudden you've got a Batman who is not so much concerned with fighting crime as going going on mad power-trips and psychologically manipulating his foes, and a Supergirl who, rather than being anything close to the current incarnation, is instead essentially Silver/Bronze-Age Kara (since that version, of course, is the one Lesla knows best) with thinly-veiled evil intentions. Eventually, of course, they start backstabbing each other, and the real heroes come back and take them down. Practically writes itself.
Interesting
I love her sass at Luthor. She sounds like she'd be a fun villain to see in the future.
3:40 That Lesla Lar cackle is comedy gold.
"Mainlining Copium" 😆😆😆
That really was a thing of psychotic joy
There are so many silver and bronze age characters that can be used and revamped in interesting ways!
honestly, post crisis could've just been a way to reimagine silver/bronze age characters in a more serious way.
Ok, if I had to do Lesla Lar, this is how I would:
Lesla Lar is still a superscientist, and she's always doing stuff for Kandor. So she's not just like a scientist but a pillar of the community. I don't know enough about Kandor but maybe she had a hand in preventing them all dying. Something like that, something that you can see she's like important to them.
But she sees the way they look at Supergirl and she hates the celebrity worship aspect of it. She's like "She's out there saving other people, I'm in here saving YOU. Why aren't *I* on the screen?"
You know at that point it's not super villain serious...until she gets arrested for doing the bad science. Maybe one of her well intentioned experiments backfires or something. Possibly trying to like emulate something Supergirl did like "aha, see you don't need Supergirl". She's now not only as beloved as Supergirl but now she's kinda hated. Now she's got nothing left except Supergirl. Now she can start zapping people's brains or whatever.
See now her beef is not just exclusively with Supergirl, but also with her world and her own inadequacies.
I would lean into Lesla-Lar's lower class background. IIRC, a letters column explained she was an orphan and took the house name of her friend Zora Vi-Lar (the Black Flame), explaining her lack of patronym. She had nothing and worked for everything she had in an oligarchical society. This would make her a foil for Kara, a scion of one of Krypton's most prominent families. Her biggest resentment being that Kara got everything handed to her, her own survival being because of who her family is and not what she did.
As you said, she would be arrested for performing unauthorized experiments with forbidden materials. Forcing her to escape with an experimental device. Lesla would resent Kandor for restricting her dangerous experiments, her own freedom being proof in her mind of her own righteousness. If they had just let her do what she wanted and recognized her brilliance they'd be out of the bottle.
I never thought of her being a pillar of the community. It's interesting and points out her greed right away. Though, I think it would be more interesting to have her be clearly underappreciated. Have her resentments start with legitimate grievances stretched out by entitlement. This way people might feel sorry for her at first and agree with her on some level but the longer they get to know her the more they realize she's just an unpleasant person to be around.
I wouldn't have Lesla look like Kara at first, she'd be older and less athletic fitting her background. She would have access to technology to rewrite her own DNA, which she used to impersonate Kandorian Councilors to access the forbidden materials. She would turn her body into Kara's to access the Fortress of Solitude to steal some technology but the device would be destroyed in a later confrontation, trapping her in Kara's form.
A later story arc could focus on Lesla impersonating Kara on another planet, getting her arrested by intergalactic law enforcement.
Being in Kara's form for so long could be the catalyst for Lesla's madness.
I would also include Zora in these storylines, since their friendship was only talked about in the original comics. She could start as Lesla's lacky before they're separated (playing a prominent role in Lesla's escape from Kandorian police and using her own scientific knowledge to help Lesla battle Supergirl), then she can become a criminal mastermind in her own right before reforming (based on Zora's revolving-door reformation in the original comics). By the time they reunite, she would act as Lesla's conscience, trying to convince her to use her knowledge to help others. But Lesla, for all her talk of bettering the world, only cares about her own glory and refuses to help those who imprisoned her (but she does give Zora a hint on how to solve their current problem because she does have a soft spot for her only friend).
I'm split on whether this storyline would end with Zora realizing her friendship with Lesla is toxic (with Lesla bringing out the worst in her during Zora's attempts to redeem her) and leaving (providing a catalyst for Lesla to go further off the deep end) or if Lesla would make some legitimate progress in her personal development but never fully reform (perhaps becoming an antagonist Kara can occasionally team up with but is still actively antagonizing her the rest of the time, or they can part with an understanding of each other but keep their mutual hatred).
In terms of abilities, given Lesla was arrested for ray experiments, I'd give her a specialty in radiation studies, so by the time she meets Kara she has full knowledge of the effects of different types of kryptonite and star colors on Kryptonian physiology. This gives us a chance to explore cool new effects or bring back old gimmicks from the Silver Age. Given that Zora creates a biological robot double of herself in her first story, I'd give her a biology specialty. She could be like a Power Rangers villain, creating and upgrading monster henchmen. Their two specialties would complement each other while they're still working together while being serious threats on their own and avoiding the pitfalls of becoming just another strong Kryptonian enemy. They'd be threats that use their brains because they're scientists and can't beat an experienced superhero in a fair fight. The conflicts would be solved by Kara outsmarting them.
Nah I like that she is respected but still petty and vain.
Alternatively, all krpytonians aree similar and she's basically a normal worker.
@@BrandonVout
Have Lesla become Kara's Catwoman? But a Catwoman who's basically her identical, but non-powered, twin?
Who also gets to have the kind of social life that Kara doesn't because she doesn't have to worry about saving the world?
There are some interesting character interactions possible.
As evil as Lesla is, I’m green with envy with her outfit.
Hmm, I might do a similar plan to steal her own look.
I’m a being who can switch from being energy to physical so possession a thing and isn’t the mad up science on my abilities.
Lesla could really have the scene-chewing spotlight-stealing fabulously petty energy that Mr Sinister's been oozing for the last few years and given that he's been one of my favourite characters to read recently I would definitely be on-board for her reappearance.
I could totally see a better written version of this team up where Lesla acts as Zod's techie. Sure, Lesla is greedy and stuff, but she's not the "I want to rule the world" type. She'd actually be willing to be Zod's science advisor.
I'm not into the surveillance state, but the people of Kandor do have a right to see what Kal-El is doing rather than returning them to full size. Speaking of which, Lesla Lar already know how to do that???? You would think the person that restored Kandor and released a city of Supermen would make her pretty popular.
True but that's not petty enough for her
Kandor had the ability to grow and shrink a small number of people just not enough power to grow all of them and their city to full-size. Forget if they figured out how to do that or if Superman came up with the growth/shrink ray.
If you think about Joker's arcade tower ending for Injustice 2, you can't just plant alient cities places on earth Willy nilly. You're talking about an entire city of Kryptonians.
Lesla-Lar just seems like the ultimate mean girl.
Hey! I remember reading through her few appearances (I'm a fan of obscure villains). It actually surprises me that this character is so obscure. She was clearly designed to be Kara's Luthor standin but was forgotten immediately then brought back a couple years later just to be killed pointlessly. Supergirl needs more villains of her own and Lesla Lar would be an obvious choice. I really don't know why they never did any re-imaginings after a reboot, or during any of the Supergirl solo series. Maybe some writers will see this video.
She must have never caught on with fans or writers.
You familiar with the Challengers of the Unknown rogues gallery?
@@davrosdaleks1 They had one?
Yeah she has a lot going for her so it's really disappointing that she never caught on. 🤷 I could really see her being a mainstay going in a lot of story directions.
Fingers crossed we can see more of her soon.
You should check out The League of Regrettable Supervillans by John Morris. If you like obscure villains, that is your book.
"I have been watching too much PAW PATROL! Not by choice!" 🐶😂🤣
Chase is my favourite.
Hrm... I'd definitely have her be an event villain. Like, she should be behind some long ass mystery being behind something that starts at the lowest level of the DCU, like Creeper and Azrael finding a dead body, and ending up at the highest, where guess what it was Granny Goodness's body and Lar has taken over Apocalypse and is sitting on Darkseid's couch.
Not his throne, but his couch. 🤣🤣🤣
I loved Lesla's maniacal laughter in the voice over. Just a live, laugh, conquer kind of girl
If DC were to revive Lesla Lar, I'd like to see her return under the Satan Girl moniker. I'd also like to see an Earth-3 version of her become a heroic version of Ultragirl, possibly alongside an Earth-3 Ar Val becoming a heroic Ultraman.
I really wish DC Super Hero Girls was still in production because they could have taken this concept and ran with it considering they already used Bizarro Supergirl but having another long running villain to Kara who can easily go back and forth between mimicking her and being herself would have been great.
Based on her electrical engineering skills, Ms. Lar is the Nikola Te-Lesla of Kandor lol
I like when Kara is telling Superman about Lex, adding "back when he was fat." How _did_ he lose that weight anyway?
If Lesla did return, I bet they actually do go with she was Kara’s sister. Then DC would tease that maybe Lesla was really Kara and Kara was Lar all along.
A Supergirl Clone Saga.
@@BrandonVout With Powergirl and Bizarro Girl
@@Vegadra AND Divine! :D
One thought that occurred to me a while back... what's Lesla's family tree? Lar is presumably her father's family, much like how Kara Zor-El's mother(Alura In-Ze) was actually from the Ze clan. Was Lesla's mother an El?
I love the Silver Age. Also, do the people in Kandor enjoy watching Clark Kent being a klutz and a nerd?
Lex Luthor upon learning Lesla dismissing him, "Bah! How many cakes does she have?"
Superman ain’t taking no L’s especially not two together.
I love this. What an interesting villain. We could use her back. DC does have a shortage of straight up evil female villains. I only have one question...how does one think laughing?
They really arrested her for *Dark Science.*
Way back, many years ago when Turner brought back Supergirl, DC did Action Figures of the Turner Supergirl, one in her new outfit, another of 'Corrupted Supergirl'. I use the 'Corrupted' version as Lesla Lars in my collection. Considering DC was always horrible about giving us Villains I figured that was as close as I was ever going to get.
8:03 Is there a preserved brain in Kandor that just keeps writing the words, "Bury Me", over and over again?
I wouldn’t have put together the Leslie Larr connection without this video! Cool. I love how deranged this character is, especially all her evil laughing in her own head! Amazing! So evil! I love it!😂❤
wow you know I thought the whole suspened animation thing was a recent addition to kandor lore in the exxeclent batman/superman 2011 seiries, but nope
Very sad that we glossed over 1:14...... I need another addition to the "Lois Lane marries everyone but Superman" playlist. Also great vid so far
I wonder how long until we get a Lena Luthor deep dive now that you've mentioned her. I suspect it'll take longer, given that there are more comic storylines and three live action adaptations with her to go through, compared to Lori and Lesla.
Or Nasthalthia "Nasty" Luthor, Kara's civilian nemesis.
I LOVE THEM CONTEMPO CUT TOO! I was like, why didn’t that win? Isn’t (and correct me if I’m wrong) Supergirl TV series over?
I heard that plastic Lex Luthor doll became disturbingly popular in prison 🤔🤷♂️…
And Looking forward to the issue where Superman romances Lyle Lovett ❤️😀✌️-
“Stand by Your Man (of Steel)” Indeed!
I was taking dinner out of the fridge when you were reading krypto’s limes and I thought the really had those dog sounds in there. Now I’m bummed that they didn’t go hard on the pupper sounds.
If we can have choke in a thought balloon we should also be able to have bark lol
I was just going to ask for a deep dive on Lesla-Lar (as well as a Black Flame video) and her role in one of the earliest multi-issue story arcs that shook up Kara's status quo for years to come. There needs to be more pushback to the idea that Supergirl doesn't have her own villains.
So in a lot of ways, Lesla is the somewhere between the Walugi of the Superman mythos and the Bowsette.
If she would just reveal all of the things she has invented Lesla would be famous beyond her wildest dreams
The interesting thing is Lesla just seems to be shoved aside when the action is getting good. She could've been easily as iconic as the reverse flash, or the Joker or any one of those iconic, if heavily used villains, but I wonder if they just didn't have the patience for unapologetic villain women back in the day her story was made. I mean, a super character who is willing to work with and manipulate other villains, but has a particular hatred for someone whom she feels has a better life then her is really fascinating. Yet can easily be much more then that, as she would legitimately have beef with other hero organisations that want to keep the peace.
Alas, she is always stopped the moment the action gets interesting, even having her doing much of the leg work before disintegrating her. It's pretty weird.
23:44 *Lesla:* "When I take over your physical body, I shall demand to know why our parents *abandoned me in favour of you!"*
*Kara:* _(after long pause)_ "Ummm... maybe because you're _completely _*_INSANE?!?"_*
*Lesla:* _(thinking)_ "Hmmm... yeah, actually, that tracks. Okay, that's my sole motivation for evil gone. Bye-ee!"
I recall Lesla, and was amused when Leslie showed uo on Superman And Lois; it was heartening to see an actually clever villain with a truly, genuinely evil plot. BTW, I'm gonna do my usual plea fo a certain young Merboy with a penchant for yellow tunics, since you teased me with a brief reference...
Who doesn’t love an evil duplicate, I’m even a bit of an evil and good duplicate. I mean look at my hair it’s pointy.
Lesso Lar huh. *Takes Super Villain Notes*
So is the Matrix version of Supergirl intended to be a version of Lesla-Lar?
what would be a interesting team up i think is her and The 2nd Cyborg Superman who's Kara's dad be interesting like she pretends she's Kara again and convinces him she's her daughter I mean he's already kind of insane given what he tired to do in Supergirl's rebirth comics
I think the Contempo Cut is best. Maybe its the way its drawn, but out of them all its the best. Runner up to the "winner" the Campus Cuddle Bun, and distant third to the Lemaris Special (which sounds like either a seafood dinner, or a fancy race car, vroom vroom). ;)
Same... which leads me to think that it is well named indeed, for through todays eyes it is more appealing. For those that voted way back when, perhaps it was not as attractive as we see it.
On Kandor TV, it's always a bottle episode.
She can challenge Doctor Manhattan. She's a disintegrated scientist who is reassembling herself...
3:43 that laugh was GOLD.
Man they went really hard with the LL theme for the ladies in Clark's life LOL
▪︎Favorite Sasha Quote: "I added those barks. Been watching too much Paw Patrol, not by choice."
I remember that Superman Family, but had no idea she had so much backstory. I'd bought it purely for the Mr and Mrs Superman story. I'm surprised they never did a switcharoo with having Supergirl die and it end up being her instead. I'd also have loved to have seen a Silver Age story with her or the Phantom Zone villains try and take over the Earth but for once face the Justice League or any number of other heroes; they never seemed to even acknowledge anyone other than the Supers and maybe the LSH as obstacles. I mean, come on; GL? The most power weapon in the universe. And Martian Manhunters not exactly a 98-pound weakling.
A female kandorian has a plastic Luther doll? I’d say there was a story there all in itself…
The ray is a menace to all Kandorians on the other side of the screen.
I think the classic DC ComicBook villain (Lesla Lar) who is an enemy of SuperGirl, she should be allowed to be placed in a realm within the MultiVerse, and I think it would be great to have the supervillain appear in a cartoon show series someday.
Now I think this evil minded villainess LESLA LAR, who is an escape villain from the planet:KANDOR, she would be a great villain to introduce in a cartoon series, and I imagine she might exist in the dimensional realm of EARTH-50.
In addition I imagine a version of this prideful mad scientist villainess LESLA LAR, she develops a scientific formula that gives her the ability to look like anyone she wants to look like, and I imagine that one day she decides to make a new formula that gives her the appearance of SuperGirl.
She could join a special sub section of the Legion of Doom. The 'we just can't let it go squad.' Alongside Lex Luthor, Hush, Black Manta, Veronica Cale, and Eobard Thawne. All of whom just hate their hero in the same way
you forgot her eye brows... you can also tell she's a baddie by those eye brows!
Lesla-Lar has the ability to escape Kandor and re-big-ify herself (and probably the city itself).
Would this not be the top priority of Kandor, and anyone who could achieve this be regarded as the ultimate hero for the city and the remaining Kryptonians?!
Yet she's jealous that people on Earth will, one day when she is finally revealed to the world, love Kara.
My personal guess... is that Lesla's technique was actually very limited in scope. IE, she can't use it for something building sized. also, she probably has to replace the batteries every time she uses it.
"Deep Dive" and "Lori Lemaris" in the same sentence!! :)
I dig Lesla's purple outfit.
Some ideas of Lesla-Lar seemed to have been re-used for Justice League Unlimited and Galatea.
OH MAN, The Writers Blew It !!! , I know they where Expanding Kara’s Rogues Gallery, but they should have had Lesla Lar focus on getting Clark too release Her from Kandor, I mean Resistance Would Be Futile for Silver Age Clark once He learned Her Name 🥰 A Beautiful Woman with the initials LL ,& She’s Kryptonion 👀 He’d be after Her like Pepe Le Pew after Penelope Pussycat 😎 Thank You for Introducing Her to those of us that had never heard of Her, & Keep Up The Outstanding Work Sasha 🖖🏾
Kryptonian , Not Kryptonion I guess 🤦🏾♂️ sorry 🖖🏾
"Embiggens herself" LOL!!!!
Supergirl, living the Wig-Life!
The panel where Supergirl loses her powers,I really wish that Superman said Lesla’s first sentence.😊
You have my full sympathies with the perils of over exposure to Paw Patrol ...
Lesla all the way!!! A great character to have now. The being energy makes you mad thing doesn't work because Wildfire of the Legion of Super Heroes is energy and I don't remember him having a break down. Your Mon El thought was one I had been speaking on for years. He should be very mad at Super Man for just basically abandoning him there in the Phantom Zone dealing with criminals alone. Keep up the great work.
Loving the luscious Lori Lemaris locks.It should have gotten more votes.
hey, I think you should do a video on Superman: Earth One. Its a pretty interesting reimagining of superman that keeps his LL fetish. Speaking of which, Lesla Lar could be a good superman suitor.
I'll admit that, when the energy blob/being showed up in 'Family', I didn't know who Lesla was, and had a different candidate for a disembodied spirit of vengeance against Kara, that being - the original Super-Girl, who you also covered. Created and undone by a wish, I saw her as a Supergirl-Prime (way before Prime's debut or heel turn, but still) resenting the life Kara got to lead and striking back from her 'unreality'. It didn't help that, back when I bought the book, there were no comic book stores (or not very many, certainly not by me) and 7-11 was my source. I guess that as 'Family' fell in sales (it was cancelled only 16 issues after Lesla's final story) the stores stopped racking it, because my last issue was 212 or so before it just vanished. I mourned a bit, because I really liked the 'Adam' storyline and Earth-2's married Lois and Clark in 'Mr. & Mrs. Superman'.
I also thought of this: She is forgotten because she operated almost entirely in stealth mode. Yeah, her actions rate her near a Palpatine in planning, but Lex never knew she wasn't Kara, Kal never really encountered her when he didn't think she was Kara, and Kara herself had minimal direct contact before she basically died/not died. BUT - you know where a hidden agenda villain like her would shine like no one's business? Young Justice! Give her to Weisman, and she'll be up there with Demona! Hell, have Queen Bee mentor her until she turns on her. I don't know Kara's status in that universe, but they could say she's been away somewhere if that's a problem.
....and they have since enacted 'Dark Kara' to go with 'Dark Mary Marvel' slated for an S5 if it comes. So maybe Lesla?
We saw those "feelie" movies in a Jimmy Olsen comic, too.
10:20 As an uncle for two small kids...Relatable.
What's the deal with Jax-Ur? In Superman TAS he was basically Zod, and that's all I really know aboot him. I assumed he was just Zod with a different name for weird reasons.
Jax-Ur is a scientist and was the first Kryptonian sent to the Phantom Zone (for accidentally blowing up the moon). He was mostly used in this era to show Phantom Zone villains watching events unfold but he had more backstory and present day plots than Zod, appearing the most of the three early on.
In the Animated Series, he was basically Zod with a different name, they wanted to use Zod and Ursa (even had concept art drawn looking like their Superman II selves) but weren't allowed to.
General Zod was actually a bit character in this era (this was about his 4th appearance and the first in the present day instead of a Superboy story), mostly only appearing when they needed to show some villains watching from the Phantom Zone, never really standing out and rarely being a focus of the story. It wasn't until Superman II that he became high profile, and even then it took years for the comics to actually take advantage of his name recognition and make him a major enemy of Superman.
This was Kru-El's first appearance but he went on to be the most prominent of the three, Pre-Crisis, having numerous escapes and flashback stories about his rivalry with his cousin, Jor-El. Post-Crisis, Zod eventually took Kru-El's place as Jor-El's archenemy. Kru-El fell the farthest, rarely appearing in newer stories, and usually only as a lacky of Zod (Faora had a similar fate, going from a man-hating serial killer to being Zod's lacky and sometimes wife).
The closest the super girl series got to a lesla larr type character was the red daughter arc
Two uploads within a few days? Damn you're on it lol. I love your content and hope your family is doing well.
Just so you know Superman and Lois takes place in the future now not an alternate earth anymore. They had a flashpoint season finale type ending a couple seasons ago. Flash, arrow, supergirl and bat woman are all one earth now. Only different earth is star girl
Sounds like Lesla Lar and Eobard Thawne could be the ultimate petty pairing if she ever returns
I think we need that mind control device to remind everyone there’s no such thing as too many comics to read, only too little time!
10:12 I love that mexican super dog voice
Silver Age definitely is the best. Simple but entertaining plots with beautiful artwork.
god, curt swan is amazing at illustrating superman.
@@ProjektTaku
Even more amazing Supergirl!
@@browngreen933 I've always wondered what the 90s superboy would look like if curt swan drew him.
@@ProjektTaku
I'll have to look up 90s Superboy.
@@browngreen933 okay!
Some one needs to do a graphic novel called “The Madness of Lesla “
"Lesla disguises herself as Supergirl"
The Spy-Team Fortress 2 (2007)
At 3:40 Yo go, Sasha! Some of the best diabolical laughter to ever hit these ears!
I totally understand Papa troll is the new superhero show in more ways than one.
I also wonder if she is the inspiration for post-crisis Matrix Supergirl, who was actually created by Lex as his own personal 'Supergirl.'
Since they do look so much alike, might they not actually be twins? Or at least Lasla, a clone? Such possibilities are within the scope of Kryptonian science.
I like the evil laugh goes from line reading to genuine evil laughter.
They should give Lesla a mini-series! She's so cool, and smart, and EVIL (thunder sound-effect)
On Superman & Lois, Leslie Lar is played by my Degrassi crush. Talk about “unhinged.”
Her hair kept moving wen she blinked. It was funny but distracting 👀🤣
Hi. This has nothing to do with the video but I can't remember if I have ever told you this before. If I have, then, mea maximus culpa. But, if not, here goes: you saved me from quarantine nightmares during Covid. I was having the super scary ones where you dream you wake up but are still asleep and it feels like you will die if you don't wake up. But, then, I started listening to your channel and instead of nightmare scenarios, just your video would be incorporated into the dream/fake wake up cycle. So, thanks for the soothing voice. Cheers.
When Superman was more simple and funny. Remember the Superman clone who wear a purple power armor?
"Embiggens herself" ?? What is this? Ms. Marvel 40 odd years before that particular version of Ms. Marvel existed? I don't think so lady! *sarcasm*
Don't forget to take breaks and drink a few cups of water a day.
3:38 BEST READ EVER!!! Before I looked at the speech bubble I thought you just burst out laughing because of the writing 🤣 I needed that laugh!
I think I’ve seen this movie. Single White Female, starring Bridgette Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh. The roommate who wreaks havoc on your life, because she wants to BE YOU.
Also, if only she had her own wig, Lesla~Lar might’ve been more chill…
ALSO, also: did Krypto inspire future Paw Patrol the way that Superboy inspired the Legion? And if he noticed something wrong about Supergirl, but did nothing to alert Superman, is he really a good boy? Is there an evil Krypto? Is that why Streaky is conspicuously absent?
All this, and more, can be added to the list of reasons Lesla~Lar MUST RETURN!!!!!!
1.) Shouldn't Lesla have powers, too, outside the bottle? Wait, she does! -- she didn't need to steal Kara's power, just teleport her into the bottle! (Similarly, it's well established that Kal loses powers inside the bottle.)
2.) HOW COULD YOU STAND THAT WIG CONSTANTLY STABBING YOUR EYES AAAHHHH!
I need to see Superman finding himself in the Simpsons universe so he can date Lurleen Lumpkin.