Saturn Girl

Saturn Girl
Saturn Girl in her second silver age uniform. Art by Gary Frank.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Adventure Comics #247 (April 1958)
Created by	Otto Binder Al Plastino
In-story information
Alter ego	Imra Ardeen
Species	Titanian
Place of origin	Titan, moon of Saturn
Team affiliations	Legion of Super-Heroes
Abilities	Telepathy

Saturn Girl (Imra Ardeen) is a fictional character appearing in DC comic books. A talented telepath from the 30th century, Imra first appeared in Adventure Comics #247 (April 1958) as a founding member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Imra's "Saturn Girl" title refers to her homeworld of Titan, the largest moon of the planet Saturn. She was ranked 50th in Comics Buyer's Guide's 100 Sexiest Women in Comics list.

There have been three versions of Imra since her original debut, separated by the events of both the Zero Hour and Infinite Crisis limited series.

During the Silver Age of comics, 30th century Earth is a member of the United Planets and home to its military branch, the Science Police. The most talented telepath among a race of powerful mentalists, Imra left her homeworld of Titan to join the Science Police as a teenager. However, during her flight to Earth, an assassination attempt was made on the life of fellow passenger and billionaire R.J. Brande. Using her powers of telepathy, Imra discovered the plot, and, with the help of two other teenagers on board, Lightning Lad and Cosmic Boy, caught the assassin and saved Brande's life. At Brande's urging, she adopted the persona of Saturn Girl, and joined Lightning Lad and Cosmic Boy in founding the Legion of Super-Heroes - an organization of teenage heroes formed to honor the legacy of Superboy. They traveled back to the 20th century and gave him a place on the team after he passed their tests. When Lex Luthor and the Legion of Super-Villains were about to kill Superman, Saturn Girl offered to die in his place, although a trick by Superman made Saturn Queen save her.

As a Legionnaire, Imra gained a reputation for self-sacrifice; just prior to the leadership elections of 2975, she learned that a Legionnaire would die during an attack on Earth and decided to take on that responsibility herself. Using her telepathy, Imra forced the other Legionnaires to vote her leader and then ordered them not to use their powers during the attack. However, Lightning Lad defied her orders and took her place in death. Distraught over his selfless act of devotion, Imra vowed to do all in her power to bring him back. A method was soon developed which could revive Lightning Lad, but only at the cost of another member's life. Imra again interfered in the process to ensure hers was the life taken, but her plan was foiled by Proty, the telepathic shape-shifting pet of Chameleon Boy. Proty admired Imra and tricked her so that it could take her place. Upon Proty's death, Lightning Lad was restored. Despite this series of events, Imra's leadership was highly valued in the Legion, and her position as leader, despite its means of acquisition, was allowed to stand. She earned a second term the following year. As leader of the Legion, Saturn Girl was the first female comic book character to head a group of superheroes.