Power Girl

Origin

Kara Zor-L was born on the Earth-Two version of the doomed planet of Krypton just before it was destroyed, and her origin story mirrors those of her famous Kryptonian relatives, Superman and her counterpart, Supergirl.

When Kara’s father, Zor-L, realized that Krypton was about to explode, he placed his infant daughter on a spaceship and shot it towards Earth. This occurred at the same time that the infant Kal-L (Kara’s cousin and the Superman of Earth-Two) had also been launched on a ship towards Earth. However, Kara’s ship traveled far more slowly than Kal-L’s ship and resulted in Kara arriving on Earth decades later than her cousin. Kara’s ship was called the Symbioship and it was designed to keep her in a stasis mode during her flight to Earth. To ensure that Kara’s mental development kept pace with her physical growth, the ship provided her with a virtual reality that gave her life experiences and education as if she had grown up on Krypton rather than in stasis. During her long journey through space, she was able to interact with virtual copies of her parents and friends in her home city of Kandor.

When Kara’s ship finally arrived on Earth, she was in her early twenties (though in her Modern Age retconned origin, she arrived on Earth at eighteen years of age). She then met her cousin Kal-L, who had grown up on Earth-Two as the heroic Superman. Kal-L, who in this reality had married his longtime sweetheart Lois Lane, adopted Kara so she could have a family and a period of adjustment to life on Earth. Shortly afterward, Kara set forth on Earth-Two to become the heroine known as Power Girl.

During the Bronze Age of the seventies through the early eighties, Power Girl played the role of the Supergirl of Earth-Two, adventuring with the Justice Society of America and adopting the secret identity of Karen Starr, computer programmer. When the aging Superman of Earth-Two retired, Power Girl took his place as an official member of the JSA. Her closest friend was the Huntress, who on Earth-Two was the daughter of Batman and Catwoman (mirroring the friendship between Supergirl and Batgirl (Barbara Gordon). Power Girl first encountered Earth-One in Justice League of America #147 and found that in many ways she actually preferred that reality to her own.

Due to the destruction of Earth-Two during 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths, Power Girl’s existence on Earth-One became problematic. Therefore, her character underwent major changes in the Modern Age, initially transforming her heritage from Kryptonian to Atlantean. Her retconned origin made her a direct descendant of the sorcerer Arion of Atlantis, and she had been frozen in suspended animation for a thousand years before being released in the present day. In 2005 the events of Infinite Crisis revealed this origin to be false, and Power Girl once again became one of the last Kryptonian survivors of Earth-Two. During the Modern Age she continued to operate with the retconned Justice Society of America and also joined the Justice League of America.

After Flashpoint, in DC’s New 52, Kara’s origin remained very similar to her original origin story, with the very notable exception that she was previously her world’s Supergirl. Her future partner, Helena, likewise served as Earth-2’s first Robin. To protect her from Earth-2’s war with Apokolips, Kara lived mostly a life of isolation before meeting Helena. Kara and Helena then wound up traveling between dimensions to Earth 0, where she established the superhero identity Power Girl.

Creation

Power Girl was created in 1976, when a powerful new heroine was needed to join Earth-Two’s premiere super-team, the Justice Society of America, as all the other active members were male (and had all lived through WWII, making DC fear that the readers wouldn’t identify with them). The name “Power Girl” was a nod to a Lois Lane story, told in Superman #125, 18 years earlier. Fellow creator Roy Thomas later expressed disappointment about Conway’s choice to have Power Girl be another cousin of the Man of Steel, as opposed to a daughter (which would have kept her separate from the already existing Supergirl). Conway never gave Power Girl a real name, either as a human or Kryptonian, since he left the book a couple of months after her introduction. During this time, she was merely called “girl” or “kid” by her teammates. Writer Paul Levitz finally gave her actual names two years later (in DC Showcase #98), with “Kara Zor-L” becoming her Kryptonian title and “Karen Starr” her civilian identity. Levitz also wrote Power Girl’s first origin story.

History

Earth-Two

All Star Comics

When Kal-L first discovered Kara on Earth-Two, she was not introduced to the public right away. Instead, Clark and his wife Lois Lane decided to adopt Kara and provided her a family to help her adjust to life on Earth. She began her superhero career soon after, but instead of becoming Supergirl, Kara sought to distance herself from her overbearing and overprotective cousin. To do this, Kara adopted the code name “Power Girl,” and wore a white costume that was clearly different from Superman’s iconic blue uniform. Though she was essentially the Supergirl of Earth-Two, the only thing in common between them was their blonde hair color and powerset. Other than that, Power Girl was completely her own character.

Power Girl began her very first adventure when she assisted the Justice Society members Flash and Wildcat by helping them stop a volcanic eruption in China. She later became a full-time member of the Justice Society upon the retirement of Superman, and the Huntress (who on Earth-Two was the daughter of Batman and Catwoman) became her best friend.

Early in her JSA career, Power Girl attracted the attention of a newspaper reporter named Andrew Vinson, who wanted to know her full history. Power Girl was not receptive and told him to stay away. Later, while battling a group of criminals in Gotham City, Power Girl was attacked by Vinson, who was encased in what appeared to be bulky Kryptonian armor. The armor turned out to be Power Girl’s own Symbioship, which had captured Vinson and used him to locate Power Girl. She freed the reporter from the Symbioship and apologized for its behavior. Undaunted, Vinson demanded an explanation and Power Girl finally revealed her origin story (Showcase #98).

However, the Symbioship was not done with Power Girl. It came to life again and imprisoned her inside, putting her back into stasis. She was force-fed two more years of the Symbioship’s virtual reality, during which she graduated from college on Kandor, fell in love with a Kryptonian man, and even married and had a child with him. But since Power Girl had now experienced true reality on Earth, she fought the temptation of the happy illusion, regaining consciousness and breaking out of the ship.

She grabbed Vinson and fled to the Superman Museum, but the relentless Symbioship caught up with Power Girl in the museum and trapped her in stasis again. Thinking fast, Vinson asked the museum curator to project scenes of Krypton at the Symbioship. Tricked into believing that it was back on its home planet and its mission therefore accomplished, the ship shut down. Power Girl burst free from the ship and smashed it to pieces, preventing it from ever reclaiming her again (for some reason, it rebuilt itself, as evidenced in Secret Origins #11.

Power Girl and Andrew Vinson became friends after the Symbioship incident, and Vinson helped her establish the new secret identity of Karen Starr. Power Girl then borrowed Wonder Woman‘s Purple Ray of the Amazons so that she could instantly assimilate the knowledge necessary to become a top computer programmer. Afterward, Vinson recommended ‘Karen Starr’ to Gotham’s Ultimate Computer Corporation (UCC), and she was hired to be their computer specialist.

Infinity, Inc.

Power Girl was one of the founding members of Infinity, Inc., a new team that was formed on Earth 2 when the Justice Society of America refused to let some of its young proteges join their ranks. Power Girl and her partner Huntress, who were then members of the Society, resigned their memberships to join the new team out of protest, and also to look out for the other members of this new team as they faced the dangers they would face. The others on the team were Jade, Obsidian, Silver Scarab, Fury, Nuklon, Northwind, Star-Spangled Kid, and Brainwave Jr. Power Girl and Huntress remained members for the first 12 issues of the series, then left the team, returning at times when their help was needed.

Post-Crisis Earth

Justice League

In 1985, after DC’s universe-changing Crisis on Infinite Earths essentially erased Earth-Two from existence, major revisions were made to Power Girl’s history. Her retconned origin supposedly made her a descendant of the Atlantean sorcerer named Arion, while she had been in frozen in suspended animation for thousands of years. When the Justice Society of America disbanded, Power Girl eventually became a member of the Justice League of America.

During her time as a member of the Justice League Europe, she suffered a serious injury in battle against a mystical being. Using his heat vision, Superman was able to perform surgery on Power Girl, cutting through her otherwise invulnerable flesh. Upon recovery, Power Girl found that she was significantly weaker, having lost her super-senses and the ability to fly. Eventually these powers would return.

During the Zero Hour event, Power Girl became impregnated by magical means. She gave birth to a son named Equinox, who aged rapidly and disappeared. He has not been mentioned since.

Sovereign Seven

Kara was somehow possessed by the Greek goddess of victory, Nike, an entity who had previously possessed Cascade of the Sovereign Seven. In Sovereign Seven #25, she was subsequently rescued and returned to herself by Cascade and her teammates Network, Indigo, Rampart, Reflex, Cruiser, and Molly Savoy. After that, she returned with them to the Crossroads Inn and helped them fight first Hitman then The Female Furies of Apokolips. Next, she tried to reclaim her ownership of her company, Starrware, with the help of Impulse and Cascade but failed to do so. It turns out, she’d been replaced by a nefarious doppelgänger who appeared to be a shapeshifter. Who the doppelgänger was and what she was up to was never revealed however, presumably because the Sovereign Seven series was later cancelled. She returned to Crossroads with Cascade where Rampart was subsequently murdered. In the wake of his death, she ended up taking his place and formally joining the team. Following that she had a fight with Guy Gardner and and helped the Sovereigns fight against the War Boys and the soldiers of The Rapture.

Birds of Prey

Power Girl became one of the very first members of the Birds of Prey, working as a field agent for Oracle. However, due to a failed mission that resulted in the deaths of dozens of bystanders, Power Girl refused to ever work with Oracle again. Despite this vow, the two women have since worked together when absolutely necessary, but there is significant friction between them.

Justice Society of America

When the Justice Society re-formed in the late 1990’s, Power Girl became a key member of the team. During one of her adventures with the JLA, Kara finally met her supposed ancestor Arion. To Kara’s shock, Arion revealed to her that her Atlantean heritage was in fact a lie.

Prior to the events of Infinite Crisis, Power Girl (who was now having an identity crisis because of Arion’s revelation) came under attack by various illusions created by the Psycho-Pirate, who was trying to drive her insane by showing her different origins she would have. However, he finally reveals that her original origin as a refugee from Krypton was actually her true history, and that she was not only a survivor of another planet, but of the original multiverse, making her one of the survivors of the Crisis on Infinite Earths. It still has yet to be revealed how she survived the Crisis on Infinite Earths and how she was able to retain her Pre-Crisis origin. (Every other character had their origins rewritten or adjusted after the Crisis except for Power Girl.) It has been hinted that Power Girl’s survival after Crisis on Infinite Earths is connected to Earth-Two’s Kal-L and his survival by remaining in a different dimension. It is later revealed that it had been her foster mother, Lois Lane Kent, who created the false Atlantean origin for Kara to help protect her.

Infinite Crisis

During Infinite Crisis, Kal-L had broken down the walls of the paradise dimension he had been living in with Lois, Alexander Luthor Jr., and Superboy-Prime since the end of Crisis on Infinite Earths. They had become disappointed with where Earth-One had been heading and all the corruption in that Earth. They devised a plan in which they would replace Earth-One with Earth-Two. Kal-L’s first priority was to find Kara and explain her true history to her as his cousin. Later Kara accidentally touches Lois, and it restores Power Girl’s entire memory of Earth-Two.

Later, Kara is assaulted by Superboy Prime, and he beats her unconscious and attached her to Alex Luthor‘s “cosmic turning fork” in order to bring back the multiple Earths. Luthor Jr. was able to trick Black Adam into saying “SHAZAM” and as a result, his magical lightning hit the tower. This resulted in the reappearance of Earth-Two and everyone that was from that Earth, was transported there.

However, Power Girl was not transported there because of her location next to the tower. Later Power Girl was freed by Wonder Girl and Kon-El and they went into battle against Superboy-Prime and Luthor Jr. Superboy’s fight was taken to Mogo where Superboy-Prime beats Kal-L to death. Later Superboy-Prime would kill Kon-El and Power Girl was brought to Mogo by the Green Lanterns just in time to see her cousin die.

One Year Later: Nightwing and Flamebird

Supergirl and Power Girl traveled to Power Girl’s birthplace, the bottled city of Kandor, to rescue Kandor’s citizens from Ultraman, who was posing as Superman. He made everyone believe that they were actually on Krypton, and that if they didn’t have Kryptonian blood they were not one of the true Kryptonians. On Kandor, Power Girl and Supergirl wore armor that hid their identities and changed their code names to Nightwing and Flamebird, respectively. Power Girl acted as the governing figure over Supergirl, who was dealing with her own inner struggles. Ultraman appealed to Supergirl and convinced her to marry him. As a result of this, Power Girl was tossed in jail and set to be executed. When the time came for her execution, Supergirl turned on Ultraman and set Power Girl free, but when the battle was nearing its conclusion, Supergirl abruptly quit. This didn’t sit well with Power Girl, and she resented Supergirl as a result.

A New Beginning

Power Girl decided to reopen Starrware labs in New York as a means of getting a fresh start. Unfortunately, the city soon came under attack by robots of the Ultra-Humanite, who aimed to place his brain in Power Girl’s body, which he believed to be ideal mix of brain, brawn, and longevity. The Ultra-Humanite lifted all of Manhattan into the air as an ultimatum, offering its safety to Power Girl in exchange for her body. When she refused, Ultra-Humanite masked her in goggles that reflect her heat vision and bound her with gravity restraints that held her by the full force of the Earth’s gravity. She managed to escape by breaking the machine with freezing breath. The ensuing fight burned Ultra-Humanite severely, but he still refused to lower Manhattan. Because the ship’s controls were a giant organ, Power Girl did not even try to play it. With the help of Atlee, she cut the suspension cables keeping the city afloat so Atlee could safely lower the island.

With Ultra-Humanite locked away, Power Girl went back to assimilating Atlee to human life and trying to fit in herself. This was interrupted by Diane Dorst, who used a magic book to attack the city with plants and sea monsters, and then again by an unknown photographer who threatened her with photos of her secret identity, and again by the children of an emperor from Vega 7 who battle with their caretaker. In exchange for her help, the space travelers gave Power Girl their technology to be analyzed and hopefully utilized by Starrware for inventions to help the world.

Satanna, who had a previous relationship with Ultra-Humanite and still had feelings for him, attacked Power Girl for revenge. Armed with a Sonic Boom Hammer, she came close to killing her, but Power Girl broke it. Unfortunately, she had a plan B, and placed a Gravity Well device on Power Girl’s chest, hoping to crush her internal organs. Atlee intervened and threatened to torture Satanna if she did not remove the device. Satanna gave her the code to deactivate the device and while Atlee was punching it in, fled the scene.

She later met Vartox, a stud-like alien who came to her in order to allow his people to be fertile again after they were hit with a contraceptive bomb. In order to accomplish this Vartox used a series of schemes to impress Power Girl that ended in disaster. His first attempt failed when he knocked out Doctor Mid-Nite. His backup plan was to unleash a IX Negaspike, a beast of unsatisfying hunger that could eat an entire planet. Power Girl froze and killed the Negaspike with her cooling breath only to find out that the creature could multiply. While facing a horde of new IX Negaspike’s she realized the creatures were a lot dumber than the original, so she and Vartox froze and shattered them all, forming a new horde that was the equivalent of a space cow. Then they sent all the IX Negaspikes to space in a frozen ball. Afterward, Power Girl convinced Vartox to slow down and explain his planet’s plight. Taking her up to his ship for a date, he explained he only wanted to use a pregno-ray (Power Girl giggled every time he said this) that channeled their spiritual energies to Vartox’s people and allowed them to be reborn instead of having physical contact. Comfortable with the plan, Power Girl finally agreed to his request and cured Vartox’s people.

Ultra-Humanite would again attack her, this time using Atlee’s body after Satanna swapped their brains. She proceeded to knock out Ultra-Humanite, track down Satanna and when she refused to swap their brains, Power Girl cut off Satanna’s arm using her heat vision. She then took Atlee and Ultra-Humanite to Strata where Aurla swapped their brains and cloned Ultra-Humanite into his original body using the DNA contained in his brain, also curing him of his genetic disease. Later, Kara offered him a job, but he felt it would be too awkward and refused. Before having his memories erased, he revealed that he was still evil, and swore vengeance on Power Girl before having his memories of his time as a villain erased.

After staying for a while in Strata with Atlee, she returned to the surface. She would meet Vartox again, this time having a dispute with an alien over having caused the alien’s wife to be unfaithful. After forcing the two apart, Power Girl sent both the alien and Vartox away from Earth. Later the Vega children she had befriended gave 20 million dollars to Starrware Industries as appreciation for what she had done for them.

Justice League: Generation Lost

Power Girl returned to duty with the Justice League in order to hunt down the resurrected Maxwell Lord. While in Moscow, Booster Gold ends up making a mistake that blows up the Justice League International embassy, greatly upsetting Power Girl. She flew off to investigate the next lead provided by Batman, only to encounter OMACs. She fought them, but they shut down after Maxwell Lord activated a device that erased his identity from the minds of everyone on Earth, including Power Girl. When she returned home, she found out that her financial officer, Donna Anderson, whom she trusted as a friend, fled with all of her company’s money, leaving Starrware in bankruptcy. The bank and Kara’s rival companies began taking everything from Starrware, despite the best efforts of her staff to slow them down.

She later encountered a mysterious cyborg called C.R.A.S.H that, while fighting realized his mission was to destroy New York City. She managed to stop the cyborg, but before she was able to turn him in, Maxwell appeared and took C.R.A.S.H with him. It was also during this time that Nicholas Cho, an employer of Starrware, figured out Power Girl and Karren Starr were one and the same and threatened to expose her. Power Girl manages to convince him otherwise and he decides to become her tech support. Power Girl then went to Batman to investigate both Maxwell Lord and where Donna could be, but due to Maxwell’s powers, they soon forgot about him once again, and instead focused on the latter. After learning about what happened to Donna Anderson, they learn that C.R.A.S.H was located in Antarctica. When Power Girl arrived, she fought Divine, a clone of her created by both Maxwell Lord and Dr. Sivana. When Power Girl had the advantage, Maxwell appeared, stunning her and taking Divine with him. After the encounter, Power Girl remembered who Maxwell Lord was.

Power Girl then called a meeting with the JSA and Batman to talk about Maxwell Lord. However, during the conversation, another mind wipe causes them to forget about him once again. Power Girl then goes to Professor Ivo’s new lab in Vietnam where he’s revived the Project Cadmus. Before she could shut it down, Maxwell Lord stopped her and using his powers, told her to kill the Justice League International.

The Justice League International managed to snap her out of Maxwell’s mind control and decides to join them in stopping him. She then goes to dig up the corpse of Ted Kord to prove that he was murdered. When she takes the body to Batman to examine it, he initially refused, but after some convincing with Batman (Bruce Wayne) who also remembered Maxwell Lord due to wearing the White Lantern Ring, the two examined the body to learn that Ted Kord was indeed killed by Lord instead of committing suicide. Power Girl then joins Batman (Bruce) to join up with the JLI to stop Maxwell Lord.

New 52: Earth 2

Mr. Terrific

Michael Holt (Mr. Terrific) invited Karen Starr, the head of Starr Enterprises, to a fundraiser in Los Angeles for Senator Gonzalez’s presidential campaign. The two had a romantic relationship, which she used to get Holt to let his guard down and steal data on dimensional tunneling from his company.

Huntress

In the 6-issue Huntress series “Crossbow At A Crossroads”, Kara makes an appearance in the final issue, providing Helena an exclusive personal flight out of Italy at the end of her adventure there. This served as a lead-in to the forthcoming Worlds’ Finest: Huntress/Power Girl series.

Worlds’ Finest

In a battle against Darkseid’s forces in Earth 2 #1, she and Huntress accidentally crossed into the main DC Universe (Earth 0). During their earliest days on Prime Earth, the two manage to create lives for themselves thanks to Huntress stealing money from Wayne Enterprises. Because they disagreed on whether they should try to return home, the two decide to live independent of each other but remain best friends and allies. While Helena constantly moves around under false identities, Kara decides to establish a public identity. Using her powers to mine for rare metals and minerals, she uses her findings to amass a fortune and generate Starrware Labs. Living a life of fame of fortune as CEO Karen Starr, she uses her company to gather scientists and resources in the hopes of creating a way to return to Earth 2.

Five years after arriving on Prime Earth, Kara and Helena battle a menace called Hakkou in Japan after he destroyed the dimensional tunneling device Kara had built from the stolen Holt data. After his radiation causes her to pass out, Hakkou proceeds to rampage across Tokyo. With some quick thinking from Huntress, Kara defeats him by feeding him a live nuclear warhead. Kara suspects Hakkou of having a connection to Darkseid or Apokolips. She then expands her search for other ways to travel between dimensions after that. However, her efforts are secretly sabotaged by Desaad, who was stranded on Prime Earth with them. One day, she sees Supergirl after her battle with H’el, and begins feeling strange after being near her alternate universe counterpart.

After a failed attempt to capture her, Kara and Helena discover Desaad’s existence and resolve to take him down. However, Desaad escalated their conflict after disguising himself as Michael Holt (who had recently disappeared). Using his Apokoliptan troops, he attacks various Starrware locations around the world to torment Kara, then initiates a hostile takeover of Starrware. Eventually, Desaad’s actions are uncovered. allowing Kara to later retake her company. At the same time, Kara successfully found a way to return Helena and herself to their native Earth. After selling her company and leaving her money and title of Power Girl to Tanya Spears, Huntress and Power Girl return home. However, Desaad manages to follow them as well.

World’s End

After the defeat of the impostor Superman, Power Girl and Huntress explore the ruins of their world. Along the way, they see footage of the new Batman, Superman, and Red Tornado. Infuriated that someone has taken up the mantles of their parents, the duo tracks the new Wonders down and confront them while they are saving people from an Apokoliptan fire pit in Geneva. Once they do, Batman recognizes Huntress and reveals himself to be her grandfather, Thomas Wayne. At the same time, Red Tornado reveals herself to be Lois Lane, and Kara calms down when she realizes that her “mama” is still alive. She embraces her adoptive mom. but before anything else can happen, four Female Furies emerge from the fire pits, including the one they are at.

Out of the pit in Geneva comes K’li, the Fury of War. Everyone present engages her, but she is strong enough and skilled enough to bring down everyone effortlessly, even Kara. While everyone continues to battle K’li, they get nowhere. K’li then unveils a strange blade that brainwashes anyone cut by it. Power Girl is one to fall victim, and she turns on her old friend Val-Zod as K’li leaves for other things. Lois, being an android, is able to beat the mind control when her systems reset in response to, and she is able to beat Kara and Helena back to their senses. Now that K’li is gone, Batman comes up with a new plan: venture into a fire pit and cut them all off at the source.

After acquiring suits to allow Huntress and Batman to survive the pits, they prepare to dive in, but Desaad attacks them and takes Huntress hostage. Kara and the others try to save her, but Desaad leaps into the hottest section of the pit carrying Helena, and no one is able to follow. Kara is enraged at the loss of her best friend, but Batman motivates her and everyone present to suck it up so they can finish the mission. Finding a safer section to traverse, the team enters the pit and discovers a far more shocking secret than a way to shut the pits down. It is revealed that Earth-2’s original Superman is alive.

Reverse Suicide Squad

She also joined The Thinker’s Reverse Suicide Squad, along with heroes Steel and Warrant. Their first mission is to extract OMAC, and deal with Amanda Waller’s Suicide Squad if necessary.

Doomsday Clock

At the conclusion of DoomsDay Clock, the DC Universe has once again been rewritten and as such, both the original Earth 2 and the Justice Society have returned to the main continuity, bringing Power Girl back to the main Earth as well.

Elseworlds

JLA: Created Equal (2000)

All the men in the world, except Superman and Lex Luthor, die. Wonder Woman creates a new Justice League, and Power Girl is one of the members.

JLA: Justice League of Amazons (2001)

Wonder Woman, Power Girl, Supergirl (the post-Matrix Linda Danvers version), Zatanna, Black Orchid (the Vertigo version), Big Barda, and Huntress made up the roster for the Justice League of Amazons. Their base is on Wonder Woman’s home island of Themyscira. They fought against a group of greedy loggers out to destroy the environment. Power Girl was also featured in the subsequent Part II of the “Justice Leagues” series, JLA: Justice League of Atlantis.

Justice League: Another Nail (2004)

In Another Nail, Kara, along with Black Orchid and Star Sapphire, who seem to have had a past history of working together as a team, first kidnapped The Chief from the Doom Patrol, then stole an inanimate Amazo from The Metal Men. While the group had the reputation for being criminals of some sort (the specifics of that were never explained), in this case they were working with Black Canary to save a dying Oliver Queen’s life by getting the Chief to implant his brain into Amazo. By the end of the story, Kara, Orchid, and Sapphire all ended up joining the Justice League.

Ame-Comi Girls (2012)

Power Girl had a 3 issue Ame-Comi series of her own where she fought The Silver Banshees, Lex Luthor, and The Manhunters. It’s worth noting that nearly all the main characters in these Ame-Comi series are female, including Flash, The Manhunters, and Brainiac. In issue 3, she discovered a sleeping Supergirl and the two teamed up to fight The Manhunters. Her and Supergirl’s team-up continued into Supergirl’s own 3 issue Ame-Comi series, where their battle with The Manhunters continued. They then teamed up with Ame-Comi Girls Catwoman, Steel, Robin, and Flash to battle Brainiac, who had Poison Ivy, Harlequin, and The Joker’s Daughter helping her. Power Girl has to leave to destroy the core of Brainiac’s machines, while Supergirl confronts Brainiac and is turned into Dark Supergirl. Wonder Woman shows up to help. This leads into the 24 issue Ame-Comi Girls series where Power Girl, Supergirl, Wonder Woman, Catwoman, Flash, Steel, Robin, and Batgirl form a team together.

Powers and Abilities

Strengths

As a Kryptonian of the Earth-Two universe, Power Girl has all of the powers of the Pre-Crisis Earth-Two Superman.

Kryptonian Abilities

• Flight: Like her Kryptonian cousin, Power Girl has the ability to fly at great speeds, it has been shown that is able to fly close to the speed of light. on one such occasion, she has been seen to fly through the moon.
• Super Vision Power Girl can extend the power of her visual sight to see tremendous distances, as well as perceive microscopic items and entities.
• Super Hearing: Power Girl has the ability to detect and interpret dissipating sound waves, this means that she is able to hear even the quietest of sounds from a large distance away, meaning that she can pinpoint a single person in the world just from their voice or heartbeat. Powergirl can also detect sound waves at a higher or lower frequency than a normal human ear can usually detect, this ranges from subsonic wavelengths to radio waves.
• Healing: Powergirl has an exceptionally fast healing factor that serves her in the rare instances where a tremendously powerful attack does injure her.
• Heat Vision: Power Girl has the ability to generate intense heat from her eyes, this heat is then focused and projected in the form of beams of radiation, which can be used to melt steel structures or heat up cold coffee, meaning that she can control the temperature of these beams.
• Invulnerability: In the New 52 it has been shown that Kryptonians under the yellow sun aren’t entirely invulnerable. Although bullets won’t harm them, sufficient amount of force and a sufficiently powerful electric shock can.
• Super Breath: Kara can generate wind bursts of phenomenal power and velocity, as well as adding a freezing, polar effect to those bursts.
• Super Strength: The exact magnitude of Power Girl’s strength is unknown, she was easily able to knock down armored weaponized robots only with minimal strain and when she hits Superman, it actually hurts him and he notes that he’s never been hit that hard before. She can lift well over 1,000,000 tons with minimal effort.
• X-Ray Vision: Can see through anything except lead.
• Super Speed: As like her cousin, Superman she can move unbelievably quickly (From MACH 10 to at least MACH 500), albeit not as fast as other speedsters, or those that possess the speed force.

One of her most notable feats includes stopping Ultra-Humanite’s massive starship from hitting Manhattan; she then hurled the ship into the Atlantic Ocean. When Supergirl of Earth-One arrived, the powers of the two women seemed to go haywire whenever they touched each other. They battled briefly and appeared to be evenly matched. She has also faced off against Wonder Woman, and though the battle was close and hard-fought, Power Girl eventually prevailed and knocked Wonder Woman clear into Canada. In a battle against Terra, while Terra was controlled by Ultra-Humanite, Power Girl was victorious even with him using the full extent of Terra’s powers, which are capable of shifting tectonic plates.

Weaknesses

Power Girl has the same Kryptonite weakness as Superman, except that she is immune to certain types of Kryptonite. The reason for this is because she is from Earth-Two. It was revealed in Infinite Crisis that she and other Earth-Two Kryptonians could only be affected by Kryptonite from Earth-Two and not Earth-One. Like Superman, Power Girl is also vulnerable to magical and psionic attacks.

Characteristics

• Height: 6’1″
• Weight: 160 lbs
• Hair: Light Blonde (Red wig as Karren Starr)
• Eyes: Blue
• Race: Kryptonian
• Citizenship: American
• Place of Birth: Kandor, planet Krypton (Earth-Two)
• Marital Status: Single
• Education: Educated via Kryptonian Symbioship
• Occupations: Adventurer, Justice Society of America member, entrepreneur, CEO of Starrware Industries
• Known Relatives: Zor-L (father, deceased), Alura In-Z (mother, deceased), Jor-L (uncle, deceased), Lora (aunt, deceased), In-Z (grandfather, deceased), Kal-L (Superman, first cousin/in New 52: “dad,” deceased/resurrected), Lois Lane-Kent (wife of cousin/in New 52: “mom,” deceased/resurrected as Red Tornado)

Physical Appearance and Costumes

Power Girl has a highly athletic and slender physique but throughout the years, she is consistently depicted as a well-endowed young woman – to the extent that various writers have acknowledged it in both serious and humorous ways. Many fans have since associated Power Girl with her big cleavage and curvy body – turning her into a sex symbol, a pinup girl and a popular choice in cosplay. Since her debut, Power Girl’s costume has been consistent over the years with a white bodysuit, blue gloves and boots, and a red cape, until recently she is shown wearing a different costume in the New 52 initiative. In JSA: Classified #1 (2005), Green Lantern once asked Power Girl why she never wore a mask and she replied, “…it’s because most of the time, they ain’t looking at my face.”

Power Girl was not originally intended to be a sex symbol. It was not until the early 2000’s when artists like Amanda Conner and Adam Hughes designed her to be a buxom babe with a large opening in the chest area of the costume. Power Girl explained to Superman as to why she wears a costume with a big cleavage-window:

“People always asked me why I have this hole right here. They think I’m showing off…or just being lewd. But the first time I made this costume, I wanted to have a symbol like you. I just…I couldn’t think of anything. I thought, eventually I’d figure it out and close the hole. But I haven’t.”

Urban legend has it that artist Wally Wood joked about drawing Power Girl with bigger chest each issue, just to see how far he could go until his editor reacted.

In the Superman/Batman: Public Enemies animated film, Power Girl smashed Hiro Okamura (aka Toyman)’s X-ray goggles when he used the goggles on her. Later, when Hiro was explaining to Batman and Superman about a giant robot he built, he attempted to make a reference to Power Girl’s breast size but Batman cut him off.

Other Media

Television

Justice League Unlimited (2004-2006)

The animated JLU version of Power Girl was a character known as Galatea and was a fully matured clone of Supergirl. She was created by Professor Hamilton for Project Cadmus and was designed to defeat Supergirl and Superman if they were to go rogue (again, in Superman’s case). Hamilton acquired Kara’s DNA when she was brought to STAR Labs after she was injured when Superman was under Darkseid‘s control. Even though Galatea was cloned from Supergirl, her age, mental state, and appearance made them quite different. Galatea was emotionally unstable and villainous. Due to the fact that they shared identical DNA, Galatea and Supergirl were psionically linked, and the two became aware of each other’s memories while they slept. Galatea’s weakness was her ego since she was constantly trying to prove she was better than the original Supergirl. Supergirl defeated Galatea by electrocuting her after she used the Ultimen to invade the watchtower. It was never shown if she survived or not.

The name Galatea comes from classical Greek myth. Aphrodite allowed a sculptor to create a statue in her perfect image while he was searching for a wife. He fell in love with the statue, which he named Galatea. Galatea was voiced by actress Nicolle Tom, who also voiced Supergirl.

Smallville

While she never appeared on the show, the episodes “Extinction” and “Fade” references her company, Starrware. Furthermore, in the episode “Supergirl”, Lois Lane suggests “Power Girl” as a possible superhero name for Kara Zor-El. The name “Power Girl” had previously been used for the character Tina Greer in the episode “Visage”.

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (2009)

Power Girl’s actual animated debut was in the DC direct-to-video film Superman/ Batman: Public Enemies. She and several other heroes became fully sanctioned heroes of President Lex Luthor’s administration. Luthor sanctioned them to keep them from working against him. She was sent with Captain Atom and Major Force to try and recruit Superman, though this failed.

As a result, President Luthor placed a bounty on Superman’s head, and Power Girl was asked to team with Starfire, Black Lightning, Katana, Captain Atom, and Major Force to take him into custody. Power Girl warned Superman moments before he would have been attacked by a member of her team (she did this reflexively) and then joined with Superman and Batman in opposing her teammates. She caused a breach in Major Force’s containment suit during their fight. She was also instrumental in subduing Captain Marvel and Hawkman when they tried to bring in the two ‘public enemies.’

Power Girl was then sent to Japan to deal with Toyman but ended up staying far away when the 13-year-old boy tried to check her out with his X-ray goggles. She was later defeated by a Kryptonite-powered Luthor in a battlesuit but was present after Batman stopped an asteroid threatening the world. Power Girl was voiced by actress Allison Mack, who also played Chloe Sullivan on Smallville.

Teen Titans Go! To The Movies

Powergirl seems to exists in the Teen Titans Go Universe alongside Supergirl. She can be seen in the Teen Titans Go Movie attending Batman’s movie premier sitting next to Aquaman in the theater. Later, she is seen in Robin’s dream. After his defeat from Slade, Robin goes home and falls asleep. That night, he dreams being introduced by Batman to the other heroes with Powergirl being one among them.

Video Games

DC Universe Online (2011)

Power Girl appears as a non-player hero character in Sony Online Entertainment’s online roleplaying game, DC Universe Online. In the game, players design their own characters to operate within the DC universe. Like most existing DC heroes appearing in the game, Power Girl usually assists hero-aligned players while opposing players aligned with the game’s villains. She is voiced by Adrienne Mischler.

Alternate Future: As one of the last of Earth’s heroes following the war between Earth’s heroes and villains, Power Girl is forced to ally with Lex Luthor to combat Brainiac’s invading forces.

While eventually discovering that Luthor had killed Superman, which had lead to Brainiac’s arrival, she was still forced to work in his resistance due to Brainiac’s greater threat. However, Power Girl and the rest of the resistance were eventually killed following a bungled attempt by Luthor to use the power rings of the Sinestro Corps to defeat Brainiac. As Brainiac had previously defeated the Green Lantern Corps and obtained their power rings, he easily defeated the small group despite the destruction of his Skull Ship.

Injustice 2

Though not her own character, Powergirl is in Injustice 2 as a premier skin for Supergirl. She is voiced by Sara Cravens.

Popular Recognition

Power Girl was ranked 9th in Comic Buyer’s Guide’s 100 Sexiest Women in Comics. She was the third highest DC character on the list, after Zatanna (#4) and Wonder Woman (#6).