Superman/Supergirl: Maelstrom (November 2008-January 2009) is a DC Comics five-issue limited series co-written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, with art by Phil Noto.
Supergirl is keeping watch over Metropolis while Superman is away when a soldier of Darkseid called Maelstrom suddenly attacks the city. Supergirl is defeated, but Superman arrives before Maelstrom can kill her. As fighting the aspiring Female Fury, Superman learns Maelstrom wants to kill him because she hopes to impress Darkseid into loving her. Feeling completely unimpressed by her motive, Superman throws Maelstrom back into Apokolips using her own teleporting device, and then he gets to look after the wounded.
Nonetheless, one of the consequences of the battle is Kara's fragile self-confidence has been shattered. Since his cousin is feeling awful because of her failure to stop Maelstrom from killing innocent people, Clark decides they need go on a vacation to another planet so he can train her and help her rebuild her self-confidence.
In the meantime, Maelstrom's unauthorized raid has gotten her noticed by Darkseid, who does not appreciate her stalkerish obsession. However, the tyrannical ruler of Apokolips decides to humor her delusions by allowing her to go back to Earth to attempt to kill Superman again. If she succeeds, he will consider making her his personal slave; if she fails -as he expects-, he will banish her from Apokolips forever.
So, Maelstrom travels to Metropolis, backed by the Female Furies, and starts wreaking havoc to lure Superman out, unaware that the protectors of Metropolis are one galaxy away.
Tropes:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Maelstrom is obsessed with Darkseid, even though he makes -literally- painfully clear that he has no interest in her or anybody.Maelstrom: "Mine is not the trivial longing of a small child for her master's favor. I shall gladly face any and all challenges set before me to prove my worth!"
Darkseid: "I am bored now. Throw her in the slave pits!" - Abnormal Ammo:
- One of the Gladiortrons is armed with twin arm cannons which shoot flaming skulls.
- Gladiortron Cyberpak can detach the fleshy bumps growing all over his forearms and using them like exploding projectiles (which he calls flesh grenades).
- Alien Blood: In the beginning of the second chapter, both Super-cousins fight two alien monsters who bleed green.
- Alien Sky: When Superman takes his cousin to an alien world, a red star can be seen glowing in the sky, its crimson light dyeing the woods indigo and purple.
- Always a Bigger Fish: Kal and Kara are fending off a group of hominid-like predators who have ambushed them in the middle of the jungle, when a humongous newt rushes out of the shrubbery and gobbles one of them down, prompting the rest of the pack to flee in terror.
- Always Someone Better: Kara is feeling devastated after losing to Maelstrom because innocent people paid her total defeat's prize. Superman tries to encourage her by pointing out that everybody inevitably meets their match sooner or later.
- Maelstrom herself learns this lesson the hard way. She easily bests Supergirl, and is then easily bested by Superman.
Superman: "There's something Batman told me a long time ago and it stuck with me. No matter how good a fighter you are, there's always someone better out there." - Amphibian at Large: As exploring an alien jungle and fending off predators, Superman and Supergirl run into a car-sized, brown-skinned amphibian -similar to the prehistoric Mastodonsaurus
-. Although it is definitely a meat-eater, Superman shoos it away easily. - Antagonist Title: The mini-series is named after the Female Fury who wants to kill Superman to earn her master's favor.
- Arm Cannon: One of the Gladiortrons has gotten both arms replaced with huge, glowing cannons.
- Bathe Her and Bring Her to Me: Subversion. After Maelstrom has been tortured in punishment for trying to start a slave revolt, Darkseid orders she is bathed, cleaned and brought to his chambers... so he can tell her personally her obsessive crush on him is unhealthy and unrequited.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Darkseid paying notice to Maelstrom's obsession like she wanted got her tortured, humiliated, defeated and finally banished from her home.
- Bears Are Bad News: As wading through a river, Superman is ambushed by a leaping blue bear-like creature and shoved into the running waters.
- Being Watched:
- After an argument with her cousin over lunch, Kara walks away from the camp and into the night jungle to cool off. After taking several steps, she realizes several monsters are stalking her.
- After dismissing Maelstrom, Darkseid says out loud he knows Desaad is watching, and he will not brook to be spied on his own private chambers.Darkseid: "I can smell your foul stench, Desaad. I will not tolerate lurking about my chambers."
- Big Bad: Maelstrom, an Apokoliptan warrior-woman whose obsessive love for Darkseid drives her to repeatedly challenge Superman and Supergirl to prove herself.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Ultimately, Maelstrom is this. She has grand dreams of killing Superman and becoming Darkseid's queen, but she's really just a Stalker with a Crush that neither Darkseid nor Superman take remotely seriously.
- Big Damn Heroes: Maelstrom has knocked Supergirl out and is about to crush her head when she is blasted away by twin heat beams. Superman has just arrived, and as hovering in the air, he calmly states she will not kill anybody else.
- Bridal Carry: Superman carries his unconscious cousin in his arms when he flies her away from the battleground where she fought Maelstrom.
- Bullying a Dragon: Even after Superman gets rid of her with insulting ease, and even though everybody warns she is out of a Kryptonian's league, Maelstrom keeps believing she can cut his head off, and she happily agrees to go back to Earth to antagonize him again.
- Bus Full of Innocents: Maelstrom expects to get Superman's attention by flinging cars full of innocent people high in the air.
- By the Hair: Maelstrom takes advantage of Supergirl's charging attack to grab her hair and slam her into the ground.
- By the Lights of Their Eyes: As Supergirl wanders deeper into the night jungle, she is being followed by growing numbers of threatening, glowing green eyes whose owners are lurking in the shadows.
- Car Fu: When Stompa flings a car at Kara, Supergirl's eye beams bisect the car. Then she sandwiches Stompa between both halves.
- Carnivore Confusion: Subverted. Kal and Kara are accosted by different predatory species which tend to run off when their would-be prey proves to be too troublesome.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: In order to punish her theft of a Boom Tube device, Granny Goodness gets Maelstrom strapped to a table and put through neurological torture.
- Covered in Gunge: Supergirl manages to kill an alien giant squid which is trying to eat her. Unfortunately, she falls because they were fighting in midair. Fortunately, Kara manages land on top of the dead calamari, and its soft body cushions the impact. Unfortunately, said soft body explodes, drenching Supergirl with disgusting, yellow goo.
- CPR: Clean, Pretty, Reliable: Supergirl drags her cousin out of a river and quickly gets to blow air into his mouth and press his chest until he comes around, spitting water out.
- Crazy-Prepared: As trying to repair their broken starship, Supergirl finds schematics. Superman comments it was Batman's idea.Supergirl: "Finally, I started rooting through the ship for something to help me repair. I found schematics. Not that I'm any kind of mechanic, but..."
Superman: "Batman."
Supergirl: "Huh? He's like a billion miles away. Are you hallucinating again?"
Superman: "It was Batman's idea to have schematics onboard the ship in case something happened."
Supergirl: "That man is always prepared for the worst." - Curb-Stomp Battle:
- Supergirl and Maelstrom's first battle ends up with Kara knocked out after managing to land only one punch.
- When Maelstrom engages Superman, the latter puts the former in a chokehold and shoves her into a Boom Tube.
- Supergirl defeats three Furies simultaneously by slamming their faces into a mountainside.
- Dark Action Girl: Maelstrom is a skillful, powerful female warrior who serves the god of tyranny faithfully and obsessively.
- Decapitation Presentation: Maelstrom is convinced that she will become Darkseid's s bride if she brings him Superman's head on a platter.
- De-Power Zone: In order to train Supergirl, Superman takes Kara to a planet under a red sun where their powers do not work, hence they must use other skills to survive.
- Disappointed by the Motive: When Superman finds out that Maelstrom raided Metropolis, brought one hospital down, injured hundreds and hurt his cousin just because she wants to be loved by Darkseid, he calls her a very sad and disturbed person before throwing her back to Apokolips. Later, Supergirl has a similar "You MUST be joking" reaction.Superman: Do you mind telling me why it is you want to kill me?
Maelstrom: I intend to become the Queen of Apokolips! Darkseid will see the extent of my devotion to him.
Superman: How demented and sad, but I suppose that's par for the course on Apokolips. I'm not sorry to say that I'm sending you home empty-handed, Maelstrom. You seem like a very disturbed woman. - Don't Go in the Woods: Kal-El takes his cousin on a camping trip in an alien jungle, assuring it is not dangerous...despite of being full of hostile humanoids, ferocious giant predators, weird monsters and poisonous flora.
- Everything Trying to Kill You: In the unnamed alien planet, most of animal lifeforms try to eat to both cousins. And over ninety-eight percent of the plant life is toxic or causes hallucinations.
- Evil Is Petty: Darkseid raises Maelstrom's hopes by entertaining her delusions so he can destroy them utterly.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Cyberpak's flesh grenades are explosive fleshy lumps growing on his arms.
- Extra Eyes: Gerbil-like, four-eyed critters can be seen scampering around the jungle as Kal and Kara are camping on an alien world.
- Facepalm Of Doom: After Hadrok hands over a stolen Boom Tube to her, Maelstrom grabs her minion's head and shoots an energy blast through his skull.
- Fainting: Kara faints in exhaustion after being manhandled by Maelstrom.
- Feed It a Bomb: Maelstrom gets rid of Cyberpak by picking one of his own flesh grenades and shoving it into his mouth.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: No Apokoliptian likes or takes Maelstrom seriously. Darkseid considers her an arrogant annoyance, Granny Goodness regards her as a disappointment, Desaad thinks she is amusing, the Female Furies would eviscerate her in a blink if ordered, and Darkseid's foot soldiers would rather throw her into an acid pit than deal with her.
- Giant Flyer: When Supergirl climbs a mountain, she is attacked by a giant, flying squid-like monster.
- Giant Squid: Supergirl runs into a flying alien squid. Its green body is several times larger than her, thorns protrude from its long tentacles, and unlike Earth cephalopods, its mouth has several rows of sharp teeth instead of a beak.
- Gladiator Games: Maelstrom's punishment for stealing a Boom Tube and launching an unsanctioned attack against Earth is to fight a duel to the death against four super-soldiers called Gladiortrons in a Colosseum-like arena called Terrorium. For bonus points, she is fighting for her ruler's entertainment.Granny Goodness: "Kneel, lowly dog! You are in the presence of Darkseid! You exist only for his amusement and today you will fight for your life... in the Terrorium! Your killers are among the foulest creations in all of Apokolips! Grown in the Gestatron Labs, fed only the flesh of infant children stolen from the streets and back alleys of Armagetto. Prepare to die at the hands of the Gladiortrons!"
- Greater-Scope Villain: Darkseid. Maelstrom's love for him drives the plot, and she wouldn't have been able to challenge Superman and Supergirl again in the climax if Darkseid hadn't allowed her to.
- Hand Stomp: Done accidentally. On a planet where their powers don't work, Kara is fighting two beasts next to a ravine as her cousin is clinging onto the side of the cliff. As trying to drive the monsters away, Kara steps back and unintentionally stomps Kal's hand. Upon hearing her cousin yelling, Kara swiftly removes her foot and apologizes.
- Hanging by the Fingers: In the beginning of their camping trip, as Kara is fending off two giant carnivores, Kal is clinging to a cliff's wall and trying to climb back up.
- Hates Being Touched: When discussing matters with Darkseid, Maelstrom makes the mistake to touch his face in seductive fashion. Angrily, Darkseid shoves her away, warning her against touching him again.
- Heroes Gone Fishing: Clark deems his cousin is severely distressed and on the verge of a breakdown, so he takes Kara on a vacation to a deserted jungle planet so she can chill out and clear her head.
- Heroic BSoD: Maelstrom knocks Supergirl out after bringing one hospital down on her head. When she comes around, Kara ignores her own wounds and exhaustion and begins searching for injured people frantically, unwilling to hear her cousin saying it is useless. Finally, she passes out again. Three days later, she is still sobbing and blaming herself for being unable to save people.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Maelstrom, who destroyed one hospital, injuring and killing people, is tortured several times for stealing a teleporting device and boring Darkseid.
- Hoist Hero over Head: In the cover of the first issue, Maelstrom is lifting a panicked Kara over her head.
- Hope Crusher: Since Maelstrom is so certain that she can kill Superman, Darkseid makes the next proposal: he will consider making her his private slave if she succeeds, but he will banish her forever if she fails. Afterwards, Desaad asks Darkseid why he is entertaining Maelstrom's delusions, Darkseid explains he cannot properly destroy her hopes if she is not hoping for anything.Desaad: "I apologize, master, but my curiosity is piqued, and I cannot fathom why you would entertain that woman's desires."
Darkseid: "I wouldn't expect a lowly dog as yourself to comprehend my reasons for doing anything."
Desaad: "I beg for enlightenment on this particular matter. To give her false hope..."
Darkseid: "Only to see it crushed? Maelstrom will fail in her quest and that will cause her more pain and suffering than any torture device you could imagine." - Hungry Jungle: Although Superman assures the unnamed world's jungle is a safe place, every animal is a dangerous predator prone to attack him and his cousin, and nearly all plant life is poisonous.
- I'm a Humanitarian:
- Granny Goodness' Gladiortrons were fed with babies.
- When the Female Furies raid Metropolis and find Lois and Jimmy, Mad Harriet wonders if they are edible.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Supergirl drives her wooden spear into the head of a giant calamari which is trying to eat her.
- Improvised Weapon: When fighting in the Terrorium, Maelstrom steals one Gladiortron's energy whip and uses it to kill her two remaining adversaries.
- In Love with Your Carnage: Subverted. Maelstrom thinks she can catch Darkseid's eye by killing her gladiatorial adversaries in spectacularly brutal and bloody ways. Instead, Darkseid declares he has grown bored, and orders she is dumped into the slave pits.
- Insectoid Aliens: During their space trip, Kal and Kara run into a group of humanoid aliens with crayfish head, pincers and legs. They were twice taller than a human, and their rudimentary stone-and-wood weapons suggested they were sapient.* Laser Cutter: Supergirl uses her heat vision to cut in half a car flung by Stompa.
- Latex Space Suit: During their space camping trip, Kal and Kara wear skintight, light-blue space suits with their crest emblazoned on the frontside.
- Leave Me Alone!: Three days after Maelstrom's rampage, Superman finds his cousin sitting on the Moon, visibly extraordinarily upset. Superman says they are going on a vacation to another planet so she can clear her head and he can train her properly, but Supergirl says she only wants to be left alone. Resignedly, Superman states attendance is not optional.
- Leotard of Power: Maelstrom wears an armored grey leotard.
- Lightning Lash: One of the Gladiortrons uses a whip which is made of pure electrical energy.
- Longing Look: Every so often Maelstrom threw soulful looks at Darkseid while working in the pits. Fortunately for her, Darkseid never noticed his insignificant minion's pining.
- Metronomic Man Mashing: When Maelstrom manages to grab Supergirl by the hair, she slams the Kryptonian girl into a car and the roadside successively.
- More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Supergirl fights a giant alien squid whose mouth, instead of a beak, has at least sixteen sets of sharp teeth.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The main antagonist is called "Maelstrom".
- Neck Lift:
- When Maelstrom invades his personal space and touches his face, Darkseid at once grabs her neck with one hand and warns her against doing so again.
- Later, Maelstrom neck-lifts Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen simultaneously.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: When Superman and Supergirl discover several aliens messing up with their ship, Supergirl throws one rock to scare them off. Though, one of them retaliates by shooting a venomous dart which hits Superman in the chest.
- No Endor Holocaust: Subverted. Supergirl was unable to stop Maelstrom from bringing a hospital down, causing the death of many people and injuring 265.
- No Honor Among Thieves: Although the Female Furies are supposed to be Maelstrom's backup, they despise her and would love being ordered to gut her; and they are not willing to stand aside and let Maelstrom have the opportunity to please Darkseid by killing Superman single-handedly.
- Noodle Incident: After Kara prevents her cousin from drowning, they see a tribe of crustacean humanoids silently passing by. Why were they armed? Where were they going to? Why did they ignore Kal and Kara? Did they even notice their presence? Who knows? Whatever it was, both cousins found the incident extremely strange.
- Off with His Head!:
- Maelstrom intends to cut Superman's head off to please Darkseid.
- While fighting one Gladiortron, Maelstrom uses her energy whip to detach his head from his shoulders.
- Offscreen Inertia: After defeating Maelstrom, Supergirl punishes her with a one-way trip to the unnamed, faraway alien world. Given that Maelstrom was never seen again, Darkseid decreed she would be banished from Apokolips forever if she failed, and he died in Final Crisis shortly after, it is easy to believe that Maelstrom was never retrieved and remained marooned in the planet.
- Older Than They Look: At one point, Kara complains that her adult cousin treats her as a baby only because she looks like a teenager, even though she is older than he is due to suspended animation.
- Our Monsters Are Weird: On the alien world, Superman and Supergirl are attacked by a pair of monsters which look like an elephant-sized, grey-maned, grey-scaled, green-blooded mix between a wolf and a lizard.
- Pet the Dog: Darkseid takes time to explain Maelstrom personally he doesn't and won't reciprocate her feelings. By his standards, he is being practically kind and straightforward.
- Pietà Plagiarism: When Superman collapses after getting hit by a poisoned dart, Supergirl catches him and supports his head on her lap.
- Planetary Romance: One of the two main subplots has Kal and Kara exploring a remote, strange and dangerous planet.
- Poisoned Weapons: When Kara tries to scare the humanoid crayfishes away from the ship, one of them stretches its claw forward and shoots a tiny, poisoned barb which strikes Superman in the chest.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Stompa does not let Mad Harriet eat Lois and Jimmy because human flesh might be toxic, and they have one mission to fulfill.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: When Maelstrom finally gets to face Superman, she throws a chunk of street at him, shouting she will have his head. Superman easily smashes the boulder to rubble and replies calmly she will need something better than that.Maelstrom: "My problem will be easily solved…with the removal of your head!"
Superman: "You're going to have to do better." - Punched Across the Room: When they first battle, Maelstrom kicks Kara across the street and into a building.
- Robinsonade: Implied in the ending, when Supergirl gets Maelstrom stranded in an alien planet with no way out, and never has to deal with her again.
- Series Continuity Error: Kara is constantly complaining about being a city girl who is not used to spend time outdoors. Later, she has to try to repair the ship, and she remarks than she is no mechanic at all. The Hunt for Reactron, published less than one year later, showed Kara enjoyed go camping and tinkering with machines. Possibly justifiable, since Supergirl (2005) #34, published between both storylines, established that Kara's memories and emotional stability had been messed up by undiagnosed Kryptonite poisoning.
- Slave Liberation: Subverted. After being thrown into the slave mining pits, Maelstrom tries to lead an uprising, but no slave joins her revolt out of reasonable fear of being brutally punished.
- Snipe Hunt: Darkseid orders Maelstrom to go and behead Superman, so he has an excuse to banish her forever when she inevitably fails.
- Stalker with a Crush: Darkseid punishing Maelstrom for daring to speak to him, pointing out that she is unhealthily obsessed, or bluntly saying he is not interested in anybody do nothing to dissuade her from wanting to become his bride.Darkseid: "Your obsession is unhealthy, Maelstrom."
Maelstrom: "Such is my love of the great Darkseid."
Darkseid: "I have no interest in taking a concubine. I've learned that women cannot be trusted. Besides, I doubt you'd survive the initiation process."
Maelstrom: "I would consider a death such as that to be a great honor." - Take My Hand!: When Kal and Kara are pushed off a cliff by a couple of giant predators, the former manages to cling to a dangling root and catch the latter's hand.
- A Taste of the Lash: Proclaiming her love towards Darkseid gets Maelstrom tortured and whipped.
- Tastes Like Chicken: As camping in an unnamed planet, Kal and Kara hunt an avian critter for dinner. As chewing a piece of meat, Supergirl comments that it "Tastes like...I dunno...Space chicken?"
- Tempting Fate: While flying over Metropolis, Supergirl notes that it's been a very quiet week and she thought she'd have more action when her cousin asked her to keep an eye on Metropolis while he was away. Cue a Darkseid's minion arriving on town and flinging cars away.Supergirl: "This has to be the quietest week in Metropolis's history. When Kal asked me to keep an eye on things while he was away I thought I'd have more... Trouble? Oh no... The second I think good thoughts..."
- That Wasn't a Request: Since Kara is feeling upset after being beaten up, Superman suggests a camp trip to another planet so she can get over her defeat and he can train her properly. When Kara refuses, Kal says he was only "asking" out of politeness.Superman: "Let's head back to Earth and get you packed. What do you say?"
Supergirl: "I don't think so, Kal. Just leave me alone."
Superman: "I was only asking to be polite, Kara. You're going whether you want or not."'' - Unbroken Vigil: Subverted. When Superman is poisoned, Supergirl spends two days and one half by his side as he is suffering hallucinations and struggling against the poison. Eventually, though, she runs out of food supplies and must go out to hunt something.Superman: "How long was I out?"
Supergirl: "The first time? Thirty-six hours. The time before this? Another twenty-four."
Superman: "Really?"
Supergirl: Would I lie about sitting here hoping you weren't going to die on me? I've been going crazy!"'' - Underestimating Badassery:
- Maelstrom is convinced that she can kill Superman, even though everybody tells her she is out of her mind to believe she can take on any Kryptonian.
- When Supergirl is ambushed by a pack of hominid-like predators, Superman tries to warn her that one of them is about to attack her from behind. Kara clobbers the monster, without even turning around, and reminds her cousin that she has been trained by Amazons.
- Unknown Rival: When Superman appears to stop Maelstrom's rampage and asks why she wants to kill him so badly -since he had never seen her before-, Maelstrom declares she expects to win Darkseid's over by beheading him. Superman calmly states she must be a very troubled person before using her own teleporting device to toss her back into Apokolips.
- Villain Has a Point: At one point, Darkseid flatly tells Maelstrom that her obsession with him is unhealthy. Given that she's willing to murder Superman just to be Darkseid's Sex Slave, it's hard to argue.
- Villain Respect: When Maelstrom complains that she was only defeated because Superman is a coward who needed Supergirl's help, Darkseid retorts Superman is no coward, and she is completely out of her mind if she believes she can kill either of the Kryptonian heroes.Darkseid: "The attempt to make a gift of Superman's head failed. Why?"
Maelstrom: "There was another Kryptonian, a female. When I was about to kill her, he attacked. Such is his cowardice."
Darkseid: "Cowardice? Superman is no coward. You are a fool to believe yourself a match for either Superman or Supergirl." - What Happened to the Mouse?: Superman said he had asked Power Girl to watch over Metropolis while they were away, but she fails to show up when the Female Furies start their rampage.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Supergirl repeatedly points out how stupid it was for Superman to take her camping on a dangerous alien world with a Red Sun nullifying their superpowers. Considering that both of them are nearly killed several times by the dangerous wildlife, Superman quickly admits she has a point.
- You Have Failed Me: Darkseid gives Maelstrom the mission to kill Superman, threatening to banish her from Apokolips forever if she fails…fully aware that she cannot succeed.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Supergirl says the line verbatim when she is attacked by a giant, flying green squid while stealing one egg from a nest.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Maelstrom ruthlessly kills Hadrok after her unlucky minion steals a Boom Tube for her.
- Your Head A-Splode: Cyberpak dies when Maelstrom shoves one grenade into his mouth.
