Astra In-Ze: Kara's aunt and the Fort Rozz escapees

Astra In-Ze, a general born with the Supergirl series

Astra In-Ze has no comic book past. Whereas Non comes from the 1978 movie, she was created directly for the Supergirl series. Executive producer Andrew Kreisberg confirmed it to Entertainment Weekly on the very night of the pilot, October 26, 2015: the first season's main villain had no model in the comics. She was created by Greg Berlanti, Ali Adler and Andrew Kreisberg.

The general shows up at the very end of the pilot, “Pilot” (1x01), which aired on October 26, 2015 on CBS in the United States and was titled “Une nouvelle héroïne” in France. That's when you learn she is Vartox's superior, and she already calls Kara her niece. Laura Benanti, originally hired to play Kara's mother (Deadline, February 20, 2015), ends up playing both twins, Alura and Astra: the heroine, played by Melissa Benoist, thus faces an enemy who wears her own mother's face.

Among the Superman series, Supergirl went through two American networks: CBS for season 1 alone, which aired from October 26, 2015 to April 18, 2016, then The CW starting with season 2. In France, TF1 launched that first season on July 10, 2017.

Astra In-Ze, Kara's aunt but not Superman's

On the show, Astra is the twin sister of Alura, the biological mother of Kara Zor-El, which makes her the heroine's maternal aunt. She is also Non's wife and the sister-in-law of Zor-El, Kara's father. Between aunt and niece, the war remains a family affair.

With Superman, on the other hand, Astra has no blood tie at all. Andrew Kreisberg made it clear: she is not Lara, the mother of Kal-El, and her glyph is not the S of the House of El. Of the two twins, only Alura joined that house, through marriage; Astra remains an In-Ze. In the comics, by the way, Alura is Superman's aunt by marriage, as the wife of Zor-El, the brother of Jor-El.

Alura, for her part, really does come from the comics. She appears in a flashback in Action Comics #252, cover-dated May 1959, by Otto Binder and Al Plastino, without being named; in the Silver Age, her name is spelled “Allura.” Mia Farrow plays her on the big screen in Supergirl (1984). None of these versions gives her a twin sister who is a general.

So the name “Astra Zor-El,” which sometimes makes the rounds, doesn't hold up. Watch out for namesakes, too: Astra Logue, seen in Legends of Tomorrow, and Queen Astra of Infanta, who turns up in the Wonder Woman comics, are different characters.

Fort Rozz, a prison that fell from the sky

To understand where Astra's soldiers come from, you have to go back to Fort Rozz. On the show, it's a maximum-security prison locked away in the Phantom Zone. Kara's pod drifted there for twenty-four years. When the pod comes back out, it drags the prison along with it, and Fort Rozz's journey ends in a crash on Earth. The inmates end up free because their prison crashed, not as the result of a planned escape. The series begins twelve years after that crash.

So the nickname “Fort Rozz escapees,” which the French term copies word for word, describes an outcome rather than an action. In “Solitude” (1x15), which aired on February 29, 2016 in the United States, you also learn that Indigo helped the pod get out of the Zone, which made the fort's expulsion easier.

One irony hangs over the whole storyline: some of these prisoners had been sentenced by Alura, who sat as a judge on Krypton. So when she arrives on Earth, Kara drags her mother's convicts behind her, including her own aunt.

Fort Rozz in the Superman comics

The name Fort Rozz wasn't invented for Supergirl: it comes from the Superman comics. In Action Comics #851, cover-dated August 2007, the fourth part of the “Last Son” arc, Superman finds himself trapped in the Phantom Zone. Mon-El leads him to Fort Rozz, an old Kryptonian prison, where Superman fights Dev-Em.

The place may even go back to Krypton Chronicles #1, cover-dated September 1981, by E. Nelson Bridwell and Curt Swan, where Fort Rozz reportedly refers to an old military installation, not yet a prison; this first trace remains poorly documented. The Phantom Zone, for its part, appears as early as Adventure Comics #283, dated April 1961, in a Superboy story written by Robert Bernstein and drawn by George Papp.

What the series adds is the fall. The prison's crash on Earth, in the wake of Kara's pod, only exists in Supergirl. If you open “Last Son,” you'll find the Fort Rozz setting there, but not Astra: the Non of those comics serves Zod, not the general.

Non, Mur, Gor and Vartox: the general's soldiers

On screen, Astra doesn't command all of Fort Rozz. She leads her own troop among the freed inmates: Vartox, her subordinate, shows up as early as the pilot, and Mur and Gor are among her Kryptonian soldiers. In “Stronger Together” (1x02), a Hellgrammite who escaped from the prison also serves her plans. Not every escapee follows her: Indigo despises Astra and only teams up with Non after the general's death.

Front and center in this troop stands Non, her husband on the show. The character was born on the big screen, in the 1978 film Superman, where Jack O'Halloran plays the mute accomplice of Zod. The comics only welcomed him much later, in Action Comics #845, cover-dated January 2007, as part of the “Last Son” arc by Geoff Johns and Richard Donner, drawn by Adam Kubert.

On the show, Chris Vance plays Non; his casting was announced by The Hollywood Reporter on October 12, 2015, two weeks before the pilot. The marriage to Astra is an invention of Supergirl, and it's this couple that drives the Myriad project.

Aunt vs. niece: the season 1 showdowns

The first real duel comes in “Stronger Together” (1x02), which aired on November 2, 2015 on CBS in the United States and was titled “Période d'essais” in France. Astra uses Alex Danvers as bait, with the help of the Hellgrammite. During the fight against Kara, “Hank Henshaw,” who is actually J'onn J'onzz, wounds the general with a kryptonite dagger.

Astra returns in “Human for a Day” (1x07), on December 7, 2015 in the United States, to ambush Kara with her soldiers Mur and Gor. Astra and her men now wear devices that protect them from kryptonite. A week later, in “Hostile Takeover” (1x08, December 14, 2015, US broadcast; “L'Importance des secrets” in the French version), Kara beats her and brings her back to the DEO. The victory is misleading: Astra let herself be captured to create a diversion while Non attacked Lord Technologies.

In “Blood Bonds” (1x09, January 4, 2016 in the United States; “L'Instant de vérité” in the French version), Astra is still a prisoner, and the show's version of General Sam Lane tortures her with kryptonite to force Non's location out of her. She is eventually traded for Hank Henshaw, and she's the one who orders Non to honor the exchange.

Why Alura sentenced her own twin

Episodes 1x08 and 1x09 lift the veil on the two sisters' past. On Krypton, Astra was a general. She wanted to save the planet, but by means the law did not allow. A troubling detail: Alura also believed Krypton's end was near, so the twins shared the diagnosis and parted ways over the method.

To stop her sister, Alura used Kara, along with the beacon Astra had given her niece. She then sentenced Astra to Fort Rozz, the very same prison that would later follow Kara's pod all the way to Earth.

On the exact charge, the sources disagree. Some put the Myriad project at the heart of the life sentence handed to Astra and Non. Others point to a string of crimes, including the murder of a guard, committed by Non on Astra's orders. One thing is clear, though: Jor-El plays no part in this trial. It's a matter between the two In-Ze twins, the judge against the general.

The death of Astra In-Ze, run through by Alex's sword

Astra dies in “For the Girl Who Has Everything” (1x13), which aired on February 8, 2016 on CBS in the United States and was titled “Un monde parfait” in France. The episode borrows its name from “For the Man Who Has Everything,” the story by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons published in Superman Annual #11, cover-dated September 1985, which had created the Black Mercy. In the episode, it's Kara whom this plant traps in a dream.

In that dream, Kara is back on Krypton, where you see Kal-El as a child, played by Daniel DiMaggio. Along the way, the series flips how the plant works: the illusion grows stronger over time, whereas in the comic it gets weaker.

The general falls in the same episode. She gets the upper hand over J'onn, and it's Alex Danvers who runs her through with a kryptonite sword. J'onn takes the blame and tells Kara that he killed her aunt. Alex keeps the secret until “Solitude” (1x15), where she confesses the truth.

The funeral takes place in “Truth, Justice and the American Way” (1x14, February 22, 2016 in the United States; “La Rivale” in the French version), a title that borrows Superman's motto. Kara and Non pay tribute to Astra there, and Non swears to kill Kara once his mourning is over.

Myriad, Superman and what remains of Astra after her death

Astra's plan outlives her. Myriad, the mind-control project she was spearheading with Non, is launched by her husband after her death. In “Myriad” (1x19), which aired on April 11, 2016 in the United States, Superman himself falls under its sway. In the finale, “Better Angels” (1x20, April 18, 2016, US broadcast), Kara defeats Non and sends Fort Rozz, which powers Myriad, off into space.

So Astra never faces Superman on screen. When Tyler Hoechlin puts on the suit, starting with the first episode of season 2, which aired on October 10, 2016 in the United States on The CW, the general is nothing more than a name. In “The Last Children of Krypton” (2x02, October 17, 2016, US broadcast), Alex even tells Lillian Luthor that Astra belonged to the House of El: that's a mistake, since Astra is tied to that house only through her sister and her niece. The digital comic Adventures of Supergirl #6, by Sterling Gates and Emanuela Lupacchino and released in April 2016, also mentions her.

In season 3, Erica Durance, the Lois Lane of Smallville, takes over the role of Alura, without ever playing Astra. In “Fort Rozz” (3x11), which aired on January 22, 2018 in the United States, Sarah Douglas, the Ursa of Superman (1978) and Superman II, plays the priestess Jindah Kol Rozz: a nod to the Superman movies rather than a return of Astra.

Conclusion

Astra In-Ze dies as early as the thirteenth episode of season 1, but she gives Supergirl its first great adversary: an aunt with a mother's face, a general ready to break the law to save Krypton, and the leader of a troop that emerged from a prison that fell from the sky. Even in death, she weighs on the end of the season through Myriad.

To go further, follow the niece: the story of Kara Zor-El and what sets her apart from Kal-El pick up where the story of the In-Ze general leaves off.