Origin
Born in a distant future era, Indigo teleported back in time to Austin, Texas in the 21st century in a severely damaged condition. Seeking to repair herself, she scanned for other artificial beings and found the Metal Men. Teleporting to them, she tried unsuccessfully to interface with them and left the Metal Men in a damaged state. Scanning for the next artificial being, she found Cyborg of the Teen Titans. At the time, both the Titans and Young Justice were being propositioned for funding as a tax write off for a large American corporation. She immediately interface with Cyborg upon arrival. To most of the inexperienced hero’s assembled, this appeared to be an attack. Impulse vibrated himself into her at super speeds with disastrous results. An explosion left Cyborg with the lower half of his body gone. Nightwing tried to assess the situation with Robin and call off the attack, but soon realized that Indigo was dangerous. Indigo went into a defense state after Impulse attacked her and both teams battled her till she escaped.
Running out of options she fled to a S.T.A.R. Labs facility in Silicon Valley, California. Designated SJ-1, this facility housed an artificial life form created by Superman himself, in his image. Upon breaking into the facility with brute force, Indigo had enough power left to free an android Superman before she shut down. The android, now free picked up Indigo and blasted his way into a mall, where he started to work on her electronics. The Young Justice and the Teen Titans watched the news from the hospital where their injured were being treated. They assumed incorrectly that the android was indeed Superman himself, and that he was dealing with her. Cyborg, in a shocked state told them that she meant no harm, though Nightwing was unsure what to believe. Leaving their wounded, the two teams teamed up to go help what they thought was Superman. The android Superman attacked with deadly results. Both teams suffered casualties in the battle, and in the end Indigo convinced Arsenal and Robin to repair her to defeat the android Superman. Repaired, to a certain extent, she was able to shut down the android Superman, before shutting down herself. The Teen Titans disbanded, however Arsenal was hopeful to start a new team.
Creation
Indigo was created by Judd Winick and Alé Garza for use in DC Comics. The characters first appearance came in Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day #1 which was released in July of 2003.
Major Story Arcs
The Outsiders
Arsenal supervised S.T.A.R. Labs repairs of Indigo and convinced Nightwing to lead a new team. The team would be named the Outsiders. When the team was formed, Arsenal did not tell Nightwing of Indigo, and he assumed she had been destroyed. So when she entered the Outsiders headquarters he attacked her. Arsenal then calmed Nightwing, but was unable to convince him that Indigo was an asset to the team. She had been rebuilt, with her memory erased. Indigo, knowing that she had committed horrible acts, wished to repent for what she did by helping people. Nightwing was not convinced. Their debate for her right to be on the team was interrupted by an attack on New York harbor. Putting things aside, the Outsiders went into action.
Slowly she was accepted into the team. Indigo useful both as a powerhouse fighter, and a logistics expert. She and the team went on to battle such villains as Brother Blood, Gorilla Grodd, the Joker, and many more. Indigo developed personality traits, even though she claims she cannot feel. Her work desk was littered with stuffed animals, and when not in combat she wears girly girl attire. A relationship developed between Indigo and and what she thought was Metamorpho. When the real Metamorpho showed up to reclaim the lost part of himself, Indigo defended him with her life. Later Indigo came up with the name ” Shift” for the Metamorpho clone. Shift and Indigo became an item. Just before one of their dates, Shrapnel infiltrated the base and interrupted the two love birds. A battle ensued and Indigo terminated Shrapnel when he threatened Shift, stating that she did not feel emotions, and would feel no guilt in ending his existence. Fellow Outsiders describe their sex life as a scene out of John Carpenters “The Thing”.
The Truth
All too soon the Outsiders realized there was a traitor in their mists. Arsenal sealed the base and began to test the integrity of the teams loyalty. In the end he came to the conclusion it was Shift that was the traitor. In fact it was Indigo. Her personality reverted back into that of Brainiac 8, her true identity. Being a member of the Colu, a synthetic empire, she was sent back in time to end Donna Troy‘s life. Indigo was a sleeper identity she took on until the time was right. She joined forces with Lex Luthor, Superboy and an older Brainiac version. A battle followed, involving these villains, the Outsiders, and the Teen Titans. Both Superboy and Indigo were brought back from their darker sides by their respected loved ones. Indigo however realized that she could not hold her personality and Brainiac 8 would soon regain control of her. She pleaded with Shift to end her life. Heart broken he turned her into the one thing she always wanted, an organic human. This of course ended her life.
Post-Flashpoint
Indigo makes her first post-Flashpoint appearance in the pages of Supergirl #10, where she is recruited by Emerald Empress to join the Fatal Five – along with Magog, Selena , and eventually Solomon Grundy. Presenting herself to the citizens of National City as “the Woman of Tomorrow”, Indigo explains that she is from the future, where Supergirl’s mayhem has “grown beyond imagination”.
She says that she can calculate the consequences of her actions instantly, and that this allows her to be a better, safer hero than Supergirl could ever be. She demands that Supergirl step aside so that the wary citizens of National City can have a hero they can trust; this, along with the property damage caused by the fight between a power-fluctuating Supergirl and a giant Grundy, as well as the revelation that the Cyborg-Superman Zor-El was actually Supergirl’s father, causes the people of National City to be sympathetic to Indigo’s argument – ultimately part of Emerald Empress’s plot to discredit Supergirl at her origin and destroy her.
After defeating Grundy, Indigo joins forces with Emerald Empress and attacks Supergirl, proclaiming that the people of National City want her gone. Supergirl manages to destroy the Emerald Eye of Ekron and banish Emerald Empress back to her time, but Indigo overpowers her and comes to the verge of killing Supergirl – until Zor-El awakens from his D.E.O. suspension chamber and kills Indigo with a blast of his heat vision.
Powers, Abilities, and Personality
Being a living computer, Indigo is able to interface with most any technology in the 21st century. Indigo stands 5’2″ and weighs 105 lb. Her eyes are red and hair is pink. Flight, force fields, energy blasts, super strength, regeneration, time travel and teleportation is all within her capabilities. She is able to mimic human emotions and feelings by observations and calculations. She enjoys dance clubs, stuffed animals, old silent films, water color painting, bowling and doing laundry in her spare time. She was in a relationship with Shift before she died.
As Brainiac 8, she retains all her physical abilities and displayed the ability to transform parts of her body into weapons. Also being Braniac 8, she is an agent of the Colu empire and despises her Indigo personality, and hates organic life forms.
Other Media
Live Action
Supergirl
Indigo makes her debut in “Supergirl” in the episode “Solitude”, played by Laura Vandervoort (Who played Kara/Supergirl in Smallville)