Origin
Katie Power is the daughter and fourth child of Margaret Power and James Power, an inventor who once made a device witch (unbeknown to him) could destroy large parts of the universe. The alien race known as the Snarks came looking for the device and thus came into conflict with the Power kids, whom moments before had received amazing powers from Whitey, an alien who died trying to warn the Power family of the nearing danger of the Snarks. Katie was given the power of disintegrating objects, and firing that energy through fireballs. Her older siblings also gained super powers: Alex could control gravity, Julie could fly and Jack could manipulate his body density. Katie adopted the code-name Energizer. Although they four of them now had amazing powers, they could not stop the Snarks from kidnapping their parents and taking them of into space for further study of the humans. All seemed lost until the smart-ship (named Friday) of the now dead alien Whitey told the Power kids he could follow the Snarks and try helping them rescue their parents. The foursome went of to outer space, in hot pursuit of the Snarks. After an intense battle the Power kids found their parents on the Snarks mother-ship, where able to save them and flee the forces of the Snarks. After-wards, Katie’s parents didn’t have any memory of the Snarks or their kidnapping. The four siblings decided to keep their powers a secret to their parents and the world, and thus Power Pack was born, world’s youngest superhero team.
Creation
Katie Power was created by writer Louise Simonson and artist June Brigman and first appeared in Power Pack #1 (1984).
Major Story Arcs
Power Pack
Power Pack soon established itself as a young superheroes team. They had their own costumes and often teamed-up with other heroes, working with larger superhero teams, like the X-men and the Fantastic Four and they even became a trusted sight for the amazing Spider-man. Katie herself had an adventure alongside X-man Wolverine. She helped him to get away from the dangerous Lady Deathstrike and her Reavers. After this adventure Wolverine always had a soft spot in his heart for Katie. Early in their careers, the team befriended Franklin Richards, who came looking for the team after he had precognitive dreams of Power Pack getting attacked by the Snark prince Jackal. These dreams turned out to be a reality when the team was in fact attacked by the Jackal. Power Pack, aided by Franklin, fought the Jackal in a lengthy battle and won. After this, the team accepted Franklin as a member of the team, codenamed Tattletale.
While Power Pack was doing battle after being abducted to Snarkworld, the team went through their first ‘power switch’. Team members could ‘trade’ their own power for one of their brother’s or sister’s. Katie gained Julie’s old power, the power of ‘rainbow’ flight. She could fly leaving a rainbow like trail in her wake. She gained good control of this power, using it to even confront Pestilence of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. But this power wasn’t completely good … when Katie accidentally fell into Elsewhere (a special dimension for Power Pack) the light that streamed behind her as she flew was solid (this only lasted while in Elsewhere) and as a result, she and her friend nearly got eaten by Pterodactyls. When the Snark queen Maraud stole their powers, they went through yet again another power switch. Katie gained a gravity control power, and mastered it straight away, allowing her to lift any object and create explosions of gravitational energy. After this the team switched powers a few times more at will, and the team found out that they could heal injuries, like Kymellians can (Katie’s older sister Julie used this power subconsciously early in the series when she broke her arm, it healed in about three days). The last time the team switched powers, Katie got her disintegrating power back. She and her brother’s and sister went on to battle many more menaces like the supernatural Bogeyman, but also more earthly subjects as drugs-dealers and robbers.
In between and the 2000 mini-series
After many, many adventures the Power Pack team decided to take it more easy and start living their normal lives again. This worked out for most of the time, except when Katie’s oldest brother Alex briefly returned to the superhero life, aiding the New Warriors. He borrowed all of the team’s powers, making Alex stronger then ever. Soon after this, peace returned to the Power’s house. Katie was attending school and had a big fight with a bully whom she first didn’t dare to take on, but later on she and her brothers and sister managed to play him like a fool and thus making him leave Katie alone. To protect their identities Katie and her brothers and sister now wore masks whenever they appeared as Power Pack. The team had to return to their old alter-ego’s again when the Snarks attacked their home. A battle was fought but the kids managed to defeat them once again and save the day.
LEGACY
Although Katie has not been seen in quite some time in the 616 continuity, it is known she still lives happily at her home with her brothers and returned sister Julie. More recently she mentoined that she missed her older brother Alex, whom is away with the Future Foundation, and her older sister Julie, but that nothing will ever make her forget all the adventures they have had together.
Powers
Katie is an empowered human who generally has the ability to disintegrate matter (solid, liquid or gas) and transfer the absorbed energy into a destructive force blast that erupts out of her chest.
Her and her sibling have the ability to switch powers at will but have usually swapped due to unsuccessful power transfers. At the first one, Katie gained the flight power and during the second one she got the gravity power.
Like her other siblings, she has a subconscious healing factor.
Explanation of powers
Katie can disintegrate matter (solid, liquid or gaseous) and warp its energy so she can blast it out as destructive ‘power balls’ which are capable of smashing through anything, maybe even adamantium if she powered up enough.
When she has the flight power, Katie doesn’t actually fly at light speed like many people have been mislead to think, she just leaves a trail of light behind her, though she can break the sound barrier if she tries. Her maximum speed is unknown.
With the gravity power, Katie actually develops her own personal gravity field, allowing her to degravitize herself and float and lift objects of an unlimited weight. By suddenly switching gravity forces, she can create energy explosions. Like the rest of her siblings, she has a subconscious healing factor.
Alternate Realities
MC2
Katie appears in the MC2 universe as an energy expert, and a member of A-Next.
She is later depicted as a genius who has skipped several grades of school and can program supercomputers. Now a young adult, Kate left the super hero life for a while like the rest of her siblings but following an assault on Earth by Sylene, the daughter of Loki to turn Earth into the “new” Asgard. She joined the Avengers in stopping her.
New Mutants Future
In a vision once laid down to her, Katie found she was the only surviving member of Power Pack. She was rebelling against the White House in Washington, DC. Also, the New Mutants met a version of her from a possible future. She also met up with an older version of herself who had mastered the energy power further. She could disintegrate masses of matter and aim the destructive bolts better. It has also been foreshadowed many times that Katie ends up dating Franklin Richards in the future.