As well as the wife of Non and the commander of their army. Astra was born on the planet Krypton several decades before its destruction. She and her sister, Alura, were one of the rare cases of twin birth recorded on the planet. When they were children, they took pleasure in confusing their parents, due to their almost identical appearance. As an adult, Astra become a military general and fell in love with one of her subordinates, Non, whom later she married, although he was not always faithful to her, secretly having an affair with Indigo.
Publication Information
- Supergirl : Astra
- Multiverse : Earth Thirty-Eight
- Version : Supergirl Series
- Spieces : Krytonians
- Known As : Kryptonian criminal, warlord
- Type :
- Formerly Warlord
- Formerly Criminal
- Formerly Military general
- Relative :
- Affiliation : Krypton
- Gender : Female
- Origin : Krypton
- Season : Supergirl
- First Appeareance : Supergirl Season 1 Episod 1 : Pilot
- Last Appeareance :
- Number of Appeareance :
- Potrayer : Laura Benanti
- Main View : Full Episod
Rebellion and imprisonment
Astra was very close to her niece Kara, who she taught the names of the stars to on various nights. However, after she learned that Krypton was dying because of it's resources being too heavily exploited, Astra tried to prevent it for both Krypton's sake and Kara's. However, when she couldn't gain support from the government, she and Non took matters into their own hands along with several followers. They committed several extreme crimes, eventually culminating in Non killing a guard while under Astra's orders.
Escape to Earth
After Fort Rozz crashed in a field on Earth, releasing Astra and all of the prisoners, she led various of them through her subordinate, The Commander, in the hopes of seeking revenge on her sister, Alura. A week after her niece Kara decided to take up the mantle of Supergirl, Astra confronted the Hellgrammite prisoner from Fort Rozz at a warehouse about his acting independently and stealing from chemical manufacturers; telling the Hellgrammite that they were all stronger together, she commanded him to act as bait to help her capture Kara. After the Hellgrammite abducted Alex Danvers, he take her to Astra.
Death
As the Kryptonians prepared for the next phase of their mission - "Myriad", Non revealed to Astra that he had incapacitated Kara with "Black Mercy", thus technically did not disobey Astra's order for her to be unharmed, but she was displeased regardless so she came to Alex and told her how to help Kara. Non and Astra briefed their soldiers, armed with anti-kryptonite suits, about their campaign they fought for on Krypton, now to be completed on Earth. After they left, Non questions Astra's whereabouts prior and her dedication to their war, Astra tensely affirmed it, so he apologized and left.
Astra's funeral
The following day Non came to Kara's apartment to ask her to come with him on behalf of Astra, which she agreed despite Alex's protests. Up in the sky, the funeral for Astra was held; then Non told Kara he would hold a period for mourning, and vowed to kill her after it was over.
Abilities
Kryptonian physiology : Normally, like all Kryptonians, Astra's capabilities were no greater than a normal human of her physical conditioning. However, once charged by the energy of a blue or yellow sun and metabolized into her body, she becomes able to perform various inhuman feats. While generic for her race, being an highly trained military have allowed her to use these abilities with far greater control and a equally greater levels of raw power compared to other Kryptonians.
- Solar energy absorption : While Astra's powers were dependent on the energy spectrum from a blue or yellow sun, her body was able to constantly and passively absorb such energy while exposed to it, essentially keeping her reserves fully charged near-constantly. Direct exposure to sunlight also accelerated her recovery from any injuries she does managed to sustain.
- Accelerated healing factor : Astra's solar charged metabolism accelerated her healing and allowed her to burn calories at a fast rate, making her resilient to weight gain. Upon being stabbed with a Kryptonite dagger which penetrated the skin of her shoulder, when the piece was removed she healed instantly.
- Contaminant immunity : Astra had an immunity to all forms of disease and contaminants on Earth.
- Flight : Astra was able to manipulate her own gravitational field to generate thrust and propel herself through the air, often at supersonic speeds, much faster than she could travel by foot. As such, she was able to levitate and fly past Earth's atmosphere and near the planet's orbit.
- Super leaping : Astra was able to jump several stories in a single bound without having to fly, despite she rarely used this ability.
- Heat vision : By concentrating every solar energy reserve she had in her body, Astra could emit blue energy beams of variable intensity and temperature from her eyes. Due to her control over the beams, she has demonstrated being capable of burning though stone and welding metal, causing small explosions and fires, and physically repelling or potentially damaging enemies with similar durability, making it useful in combat.
- Invulnerability : Astra had nearly impenetrable flesh and bones, making her essentially immune to all Earthly weapons, with bullets simply ricocheting whenever they come in to contact with her skin. This allowed her to take far more damage than a normal human and have a higher resistance to pain.
- Longevity : As a Kryptonian, Astra's life span was considerably longer than a normal human and likewise aged much slower. In the twelve years she spended on Earth, she didn't show any physical change
- Super breath : Astra was able to exhale powerful gusts of air from her mouth, which are similar to force winds. She could also cause the temperature of her breath to drop, therefore able to freeze nearly anything.
- Super hearing : Astra had super-sensitive ears that could perfectly pick up sounds from miles away and even through structures.
- Super speed : Astra possessed the ability to move at super-sonic speeds, both through flight and on foot. She notably used twice while fighting her niece, Kara, dashing across several feet in a blur of motion almost instantaneously.
- Super strength : Astra's strength was enhanced under a yellow sun, enough to easily kill a normal human if she were to attack them directly. Allowing her to overpower and almost kill J'onn J'onzz in their brief fight, as well as kicking a car flying several feet away during a fight with her niece, Kara
- Telepathy immunity : Astra was immune to most forms of telepathic powers, even from someone as powerful as J'onn J'onzz.
- X-ray vision : Astra was able to see through all solid objects, except for lead.
- Expert hand-to-hand combatant : As a former Kryptonian general, Astra was an expert in unarmed combat, easily beating her inexperienced niece, Kara Zor-El in their first confrontation, she even managed to defeat J'onn J'onzz, a Green Martian who is 317 years old and is an expert unarmed fighter in his own right, in their brief confrontation.
- Expert tactician : As a former Kryptonian general, Astra was an expert tactician.
- Multilingual : Astra was capable of fluently speaking English and Kryptonese.
- Kryptonite : Like all Kryptonians, even while empowered, Astra is vulnerable to the exposure of Kryptonite, a radioactive mineral from her home planet Krypton. Depending on the nature of the said Kryptonite, it will cause a different adverse affect on her:
- Green Kryptonite : Green Kryptonite not only physically hurts Astra and weakens her physical attributes, leaving her vulnerable to weapons and anything in general that can kill a normal human, but if she is exposed to it for too long, it will kill her.
- Red Kryptonite : If exposed to Red Kryptonite, it gradually destroys Astra's inhibitions and turns her into a corrupt version of herself. Left without morality, compassion, rationality, or any cares whatsoever, Astra will become malevolent and prone to hostility and aggression, making her a danger to everyone around her.
- Silver Kryptonite : If exposed to Silver Kryptonite, it will cause Astra to go in a deep and frightful hallucination where nothing from the outside world can stir her out of it until it leaves her system.
- Extreme energy : Extreme amounts of energy, could be enough to kill Astra.
- Red sun energy : Like all Kryptonians, exposure to the Red Sun will make Astra the equivalent of a human being on Earth.
- Solar energy depletion : Using her powers to its maximum for an extended period could significantly drain her solar energy to the point where Astra losed all of her powers and was rendered more human like for at least a day. This would have rendered her as weak as a human, allowing Astra to get injured and killed as easy as killing a human.
- Solar energy overload : If Astra had absorbed too much solar energy, it would act as a poison and kill her.
- Lead : Even with her X-ray vision, Astra could not see through lead.
- Magic : Like all Kryptonians and humans, Astra could be affected by supernatural forces or powers. This is because her powers were due to her natural physiology and not from the supernatural.
- High-frequencies : Though considered a strength, Astra's hearing did had its disadvantages. Since her hearing was more sensitive than a normal human's, higher pitch noises could disorient her and cause pain in her ears, leaving her vulnerable in a fight.
- Sound-dampening technology : The D.E.O. designed frequencies to block super-hearing and caused Astra slight pain when trying to use it in areas protected by the technology.
