One of the newest DC heroes to hit it big in both the comics and in other media is Naomi McDuffie. A young heroine named after an iconic comic book creator, Naomi's story in many ways connects to and reflects that of Superman's. This has seen her interacting with the Man of Steel in her own stories, something which she's set to also do in a new live-action TV series.
Coming from an alternate dimension inundated with radiation, Naomi is the last daughter of her now moribund world. Upon discovering her innate superpowers, she comes a young heroine with ties to both Young Justice and the Justice League. Her biggest ticket into the latter, however, has been Superman, who's something of a secondary father figure to her. Before her show premieres on the CW, here's what fans should know about Naomi McDuffie and her ties to the Last Son of Krypton.
Who Is DC's Naomi?
Naomi first appeared in the first issue of her eponymous book of the same name. Created by Brian Michael Bendis, David F. Walker and Jamal Campbell, Naomi's last name McDuffie was given in honor of deceased Milestone Comics founder Dwayne McDuffie. Her story began years before in an alternate universe where exposure to radiation gave people incredible powers. This led to a war between these new metahumans, many of whom were evil and killed off their supposed rivals.
Naomi was the daughter of two of these metahumans, and her birth brought the attention of the metahuman criminal Zumbado. To save their daughter's life, Naomi's parents sent her away to the Prime DC Universe, though they wouldn't survive their encounter with Zumbado. Upon arrival, Naomi would be found by a Rannian posing as a human named Greg McDuffie, who along with his wife adopted the girl.
How Is Naomi Connected to Superman?
Naomi's life would from then on be pretty normal until Superman crashed into her Oregon town in a battle against the villainous Mongul. This made rumors and old stories begin to circulate around town about a similar battle between powerful beings that supposedly took place on the same day as Naomi was adopted. Naomi looked further into the events, figuring she was connected to superheroes in some way, Superman in particular. Eventually, Greg told Naomi everything that he knew about her before giving her a device that activated her superpowers. Given that they involved superhuman strength, dexterity and flight, her powers logically made her quite a bit like Superman himself. Her other powers included energy projection and the ability to create a black and gold armored costume around herself.
The device also attracted Zumbado, who attacked Naomi and took her to her now doomed home dimension. Narrowly defeating him, Naomi returned to her true home of Prime Earth, where she coincidentally ran into Superman. Obliged for his help, Naomi was taken to the headquarters of the Justice League, resulting in several tests being run on her. Though their time fighting alongside each other would initially be brief, Superman was something of a mentor toward Naomi as well as her liaison into her future team of the Justice League.
After joining, she would eventually gain the title of Powerhouse, reflecting that she had powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men and women. Though her relationship with Superman hasn't been incredibly close since they've met, their obvious parallels with each other remain a firm part of Naomi's origin story.