One of the biggest comic book events in DC history is "The Death of Superman," which was launched in 1992 with the rotating team of writers and artists throughout all of DC's Superman comic book series at the time. With the Man of Steel's demise at the hands of Doomsday would send shockwaves throughout the DC Universe for months to follow, many heroes would step up to fill the void that the fallen icon had left behind. And while there would be four figures that directly attempted to carry on the legacy of Superman in their own way, the most unsung hero from the storyline was its incarnation of Supergirl.
In the immediate aftermath of Crisis on Infinite Earths, Kal-El was retconned as the only apparent survivor from his home planet's destruction, truly living up his nickname as the Last Son of Krypton. Different iterations of past Kryptonian characters, including Superboy and General Zod, were reimagined to have come from pocket universes rather than the main DC Universe's Krypton. Among the revised characters in the lead-up to "The Death of Superman" was Supergirl. Reimagined by John Byrne in 1988's Superman #16, the first post-Crisis version of Supergirl was created from a protoplasmic matrix by an incarnation of Lex Luthor from the same pocket universe as the Post-Crisis Zod, modeled after Lana Lang and Superman.
Rescued from her dying universe by Superman, the protoplasmic Supergirl was taken in by the Kents and displayed powerful shapeshifting abilities. Taking on the moniker Mae Kent, Supergirl began a relationship with a man she believed to be Luthor's secret, Australian son, not knowing it was the true Luthor who had transferred his consciousness into a younger clone of himself after his original body contracted cancer. After moving in with Lex, Supergirl defied his requests by deciding to help Superman with Doomsday when their battle moved to Metropolis. After rescuing civilians caught in the crossfire, Supergirl took on the hulking villain, however, despite putting forward a valiant effort, Supergirl was defeated in a single, mighty punch, briefly reverting to her true protoplasmic form until she eventually recovered.
After Superman's eventual resurrection, Supergirl helped explain Clark Kent's lengthy absence by using her shapeshifting powers to take on his form as he was publicly "rescued" by Superman from the rubble caused by the Man of Tomorrow's fight with Doomsday in Metropolis. Following this, Supergirl mentored the cloned Superboy as he took up his own superhero legacy before rebelling against Lex when she discovered he had secretly created his own army of clones based on her protoplasmic matrix.
Eventually, Mae took on the identity of Linda Danvers before being recalled to Hell after a supernatural confrontation with Shadowpact, leaving a returned Kara as the sole remaining Supergirl active on Earth.
Of all the heroes to wear the mantle of Supergirl, Mae Kent certainly has one of the most convoluted histories, involving alternate, pocket universes and her status as a protoplasmic being rather than a Kryptonian in keeping with DC's edicts at the time of her creation. Despite this, Mae still played pivotal role in "The Death of Superman" and its aftermath, saving civilians and engaging Doomsday directly, even if their actual skirmish was all-too brief. And in helping Clark reintegrate back into society while maintaining his secret identity, Mae's unique power set became an invaluable part of the Superman Family, which was underscored by her taking Kon-El under her wing to show him the ropes on becoming his own superhero. Mae Kent may have been off the grid since Flashpoint, but she ushered in the Supergirl legacy for a new generation for much of the 1990s.