Courtney Whitmore (Earth-2: Post-Crisis)

"People can be bad, but people can be good too, and kind and compassionate. Behind the pain and the fear, it's all about love. People want to love and be loved."

- Courtney Whitmore to Henry King Jr.

Courtney Elizabeth Whitmore is a student at Blue Valley High School, the vigilante known as Stargirl, and the leader of the Justice Society of America.

Early Life
Courtney Elizabeth Whitmore was born in 2004 in Valley Village, California to Barbara Whitmore and Sam Kurtis. During her childhood, she lived in an apartment with her mother and had limited contact with her father.

On December 25, 2009, Courtney was visited by her father for Christmas, and they spent the day together singing Christmas carols, such as "Frosty the Snowman", and making a snowman out of styrofoam. He then gave her a locket, previously belonging to his mother, with a picture of himself inside so that she would always remember him. At some point, Whitmore also became best friends with Mary Kramer.

On December 24, 2010, Barbara and Courtney waited for hours for her father to arrive at their apartment so that Barbara could go to work, with Courtney intending to give him a mug reading "World's Best Dad". However, he never arrived and so Courtney was looked after by their neighbor, Maggie Kramer, until her mother returned home. After this, Courtney did not see her father again for almost a decade.

At some point during her childhood, Whitmore also became a blue belt in karate and began attending Sherman High School, where she joined the gymnastics team and won several awards.

Moving to Blue Valley
After Barbara married Pat Dugan, the two decided to move their family to her hometown of Blue Valley. In 2020, Courtney was packing her belongings when she came across the present that she had intended to give to her father years prior, dusting it off before quickly placing it in a box. She then said goodbye to Mary, brought the last of her belongings down to the moving van, and got in the car before the family began their long drive to Blue Valley. Upon arriving, the family briefly looked at their new home, before deciding to go to Ritchie Rock's Diner for something to eat.

The next morning, Pat drove Courtney to her first day at Blue Valley High School and attempted to strike up a conversation, but she ignored him and kept texting. After entering the school, Whitmore went to see one of the guidance counselor's to have her picture taken for her student ID and to enquire about joining the gymnastics team. However, she was told that the gymnastics team no longer exists due to American Dream's recalibration of the school's extracurricular activities and that she should join the cheerleading team instead. After being given her student ID, Whitmore went out into the hallway and was approached by Cindy Burman and Jenny Williams, who also insisted that she join the cheerleading team, though she politely declined.

During her lunch period, Whitmore was looking for a seat in the cafeteria when she was directed to the "losers table" by Paula Brooks. She then introduced herself to fellow students Beth Chapel, Rick Harris, and Yolanda Montez and attempted to start a conversation, but was interrupted by Henry King Jr., who had come to harass Montez about nude pictures she had sent him when she was his girlfriend. Whitmore attempted to defend Montez and had her phone taken by King as a result, prompting her to push him back, accidentally knocking him into a cafeteria lady. This resulted in her being taken to detention by Principle Bowin and her subsequently missing the bus home.

Discovering the Cosmic Staff
While walking home, Whitmore passed by Ritchie's and briefly looked inside, seeing a young girl and her father ordering something to eat. Once home, she ate dinner with her family until Pat asked what she had planned that for that evening, causing her to tell him to stop acting like her father. She then stormed off to the basement, where she kicked over a box of Pat's items, revealing an image of him dressed as Stripesy and an image of the Justice Society of America. She then discovered a glowing object in a nearby crate, opening it to reveal the Cosmic Staff. After examining the staff, she grabbed it whilst it was in mid-air, and it took her to American Dream Tower for training. After a brief gymnastics routine, the staff flew her to the Blue Valley Drive-In, where she witnessed Henry King Jr. and two of his friends harassing Josh Hamman by vandalizing his mother's car. Deciding to teach them a lesson, she went to let the air out of King's father's car tires, but was spotted by one of his friends, resulting in a fight that ended with the staff blowing the car up.

Whitmore then ran home to put the staff back, but was confronted by Pat, who explained that it was too dangerous to be let out of its crate. He then explained that the staff belonged to his partner Starman until he died alongside the rest of the Justice Society ten years prior on Christmas Eve, and that the staff was only supposed to work for him. This made Whitmore believe that Pemberton was her father as he had also vanished that night, and it was the only plausible explanation for why the staff also worked for her. Despite Dugan trying to convince her otherwise, Whitmore went upstairs to ask her mother whether her father was a superhero, but was told that he was not and that he had abandoned them. Later that day, Whitmore met Dugan on the porch, where he told her more about his former identity as Stripesy and his association with Starman and the Justice Society, before asking her to keep this a secret from her mother, which she did. She then went to bed, but was soon awoken by the Cosmic Staff flying into her room. As this caused her to scream, Barbara came to her room to check on her, and they then had a conversation about Courtney giving Pat a chance before saying goodnight.

First Encounter
Once Barbara had left, the staff flew out the window and Courtney attempted to bring it back inside, but she was instead flow to a building near American Dream Tower, where she practiced with it further. After a while, she jumped from the building and rode the staff through town and into the sky, but was knocked off by a group of flying tires, landing at the Blue Valley Tire Factory. While attempting to understand what had just happened, she was thrown against a fence and telekinetically dragged towards the building. Running inside in search of help, she was instead dragged into the air and mentally interrogated by Brainwave, who asked a series of questions, including why she attacked his son. After begging the Cosmic Staff for help, it responded by striking Brainwave in the face, though he landed on his feet and proceeded to telekinetically throw tires at her. After dodging his incoming attacks, she blasted an energy beam towards him, allowing her to escape. Running outside, she was confronted by a large robot and was prepared to fight, until Pat revealed that he was controlling it.

Defeating Brainwave
After she realizes it is Dugan, Whitmore does not trust him, telling him to stay away from her. Dugan convinces her to trust her, and she lets him get her out of there and somewhere safe. Once back at Dugan's garage, Whitmore's hands are shaking and tells the staff to just give her a minute. After Whitmore calms down a bit, Dugan asks who attacked her, Whitmore gives her description, and says he threw tires at her with his eyes. Dugan explains it was with his mind, and that his name was Brainwave, and he was a member of the group that killed the JSA, the ISA. Whitmore asks if he killed her dad. Dugan tells her Starman was not her dad, and that brainwave killed many JSA members that night, but that it was their leader, Icicle, who killed Starman. Dugan later explains he built the robot out of old car parts

After Dugan inadvertently inspired Whitmore to get a suit for herself as Stargirl, Whitmore took Starman's suit to school. Once at school, she re-purposed it to fit herself, and in the process destroyed the sewing lab.

At Blue Valley High's open house, Whitmore and Dugan know that Brainwave will undoubtedly show up there. They search for him during the open house, while at the same time, Brainwave is searching for them. Once Whitmore sees Brainwave, and thinks about it, Brainwave hears her thoughts and is able to find her. During their confrontation at the open house, Brainwave reads Whitmore's made and discovers she believes Starman is her father. He also discovers her real name, and about her mother. He threatens to kill her mother unless Whitmore meets him at midnight with the cosmic staff. Once Brainwave leaves Whitmore, she races to find Dugan, and tells him what Brainwave said. Dugan makes up an excuse to tell Barbara, and gets her to leave the open house, and go home.

Once back home, Dugan instructs Whitmore not to go to face Brainwave, that he would, and if he was not home in the morning to get her mother and Mike, and leave Blue Valley forever. After Dugan goes to face Brainwave, Whitmore has a talk with her mother, who mentions how much she cares for Dugan, which convinces Whitmore to go and face Brainwave and protect Pat. Once she makes this decision, she puts on her suit for the first time, and jumps off onto the staff. As Dugan is quickly losing the battle with Brainwave, Whitmore arrives, and knocks Brainwave back with an energy wave from the staff. After dodging multiple attacks from Brainwave, Whitmore gets hit by one, and loose reach of her staff. When Dugan turns on his headlights, and temporarily blind Brainwave, Whitmore uses the staff against Brainwave's mind, which ends up frying his mind and putting him into a coma.

After the battle with brainwave, Dugan and Whitmore return to the garage, where Dugan expresses that he lost confidence in himself, and that he was of no help, that she save him. Whitmore then tells him that the staff chose her, and she chooses him. She then comes up with a better code name for Dugan then "Stripesy", she comes up with "S.T.R.I.P.E.", an acronym standing for "Subatomic Technical Robot Internet Dugan Enhancer".

Looking Out for Trouble
Five months after Christmas, Whitmore led her team and went on patrol for 7 days a week. However, her team attempted to take a break as they thought they were protecting a town that did not need protection at the time. Whitmore then returned to home, reading through Golden Age JSA files. Unfortunately, she was found by Pat and was questioned over staying up all night.

Before leaving school, Dugan and Barbara revealed their upcoming trip to Yellowstone National Park, with Whitmore refusing to go as she persisted in protecting Blue Valley. On the way to school, Whitmore talked to Yolanda about the latter's murder of Brainwave, telling her that she did not witness the incident and should not give her opinion.

She then went to school and had lunch while listening to Artemis' conversation with her friends. Out of fear, Whitmore assaulted Artemis and nearly injured her, with the latter showing that she was merely returning the stick to Jerome. Principal Sherman quickly entered the cafeteria and brought her away to his office. Whitmore then sat with her parents and understood that she failed history and English final exams, assigned to summer school and no longer able to go on a trip. Dugan talked to her and reminded her of finding a balance on being a superhero and a civilian, grounding her of being Stargirl for 2 weeks.

Later that night, Whitmore heard noises on the lower level and took the Cosmic Staff to check out the source. A green light glowed in the dark, revealing a person stealing the Power Battery. They then fought each other, using their respective artifacts and causing damage all over the house. Dugan, Barbara and Mike entered the room, with Whitmore telling them that it was merely a misunderstanding, which she encountered for the second time in the day.

Powers

 * Powers via the Cosmic Staff: When wielding the Cosmic Staff, Whitmore is granted several superhuman powers.
 * Coma Induction: When holding the Cosmic Staff to someone's head for an extended period of time, Whitmore is able to put someone into a coma.
 * Flight: Whitmore can grip or sit on top of the Cosmic Staff in order to fly or levitate.
 * Forcefield Generation: Whitmore can use the Cosmic Staff to generate an energy forcefield powerful enough to negate gravity.
 * Stellarkinesis: When in possession of the Cosmic Staff, Whitmore can create stellar energy, which can then be expelled in an energy blast towards her opponents.
 * Hallucination Negation: Whitmore was able to use the light energy produced by the Cosmic Staff to negate hallucinations and visions created by Eclipso.
 * Photokinesis: Whitmore can use the Cosmic Staff to generate light energy, which she can use to temporarily blind or distract people.

Abilities

 * Peak Physical Condition: As a vigilante and a former gymnast, Whitmore is in peak physical condition and can therefore preform many complicated maneuvers, such as flips and aerials, with ease.
 * Acrobatics: Whitmore is a highly skilled acrobat, having won several awards while part of Sherman High School's gymnastics team.
 * Hand-to-Hand Combat: Whitmore is a trained martial artist, having won a blue belt in karate as a child, and so is able to effectively fight much more experienced opponents.
 * Staff Fighting: After acquiring the Cosmic Staff, Whitmore quickly learned how to use it, and other similar objects, as a staff during battle.
 * Tailoring: Whitmore knows how to sew, using this ability to create the Stargirl Suit from Starman's suit.

Current Equipment

 * Cosmic Staff: Whitmore uses the Cosmic Staff whilst operating as Stargirl, a device created by Ted Knight to grant its user energy-based abilities.
 * Stargirl Suit: Whitmore wears a protective suit whilst operating as Stargirl.