Born into the House of El, Kara is the daughter of Zor-El and an unknown Kryptonian woman, thereby Clark Kent's paternal cousin. She was sent away by her father in the last moments before Krypton fell, the same day when her cousin was sent away. When she was a baby, Brainiac kidnapped Kara and indoctrinated her to be his loyal puppet, regularly using brainwashing and mind control to convince her that their conquests and destruction of other worlds were successful efforts to genuinely help them.