Origin
When the planet Aranta was invaded by the Overlords of Azaar over a century ago, the native Arantans (who resemble purple-haired humans) fought back but were defeated. Aranta has existed under the oppression of the Overlords ever since.
Rana, a brilliant and headstrong young Arantan woman, managed to steal an Azaarian spacecraft and escape the planet.
While studying the spacecraft’s databases, Rana determined that her home planet might have been able to defeat the Overlords if they had a population of superheroes like those of Earth.
She grew obsessed with gaining super-powers for herself and focused on Power Girl as the super-heroine she would most like to become. This set the stage for Rana’s infiltration of Earth in order to steal Power Girl’s powers.
Creation
Rana was created in 2011 by writer Matthew Sturges and artist Hendry Prasetyo to serve as a new villainess that crashes Power Girl’s first annual fan convention.
Character Evolution
With her long purple hair, reliance on technology and gadgets, and intense jealousy of a super-strong heroine, Rana may have been inspired by the anime villainess B-Ko (from the Project A-Ko series), who shares all of the same characteristics.
Major Story Arcs
First Annual Power Girl Fan Convention
When Power Girl attended the first annual fan convention in her honor, she met numerous female admirers dressed in Power Girl costumes. One of the “fans” was a young woman who introduced herself as Rana Aranta, and who claimed to be a Stanford graduate student researching Power Girl’s strength level compared to that of other superpowered women. Rana asked Power Girl to verify data that showed that she was the strongest of Earth’s heroines, but Power Girl politely declined. An angry Rana left the room, and moments later the entire convention building was lifted into space by an alien spacecraft.
Rana then reappeared, wearing a high-tech flight harness and accompanied by a formidable group of magically-powered golems. She announced that she was from the planet Aranta, and that her people had been oppressed by the Overlords of Azaar for over a century. The planet lacked the superheroes necessary to fight off the Overlords, so Rana stole an Azaarian spacecraft and discovered that Earth harbored many powerful superheroes. Deciding that Power Girl was the strongest of Earth’s super-powered women, Rana had arrived with the intention of stealing Power Girl’s powers for her own, using technology she had stolen from the Overlords.
Power Girl resisted, but was overcome and captured by the magically-powered golems under Rana’s control. Rana then proceeded to use a high-tech Azaarian device to siphon Power Girl’s powers from her. But she failed to account for several of Power Girl’s most loyal fans, who got past the golems and freed Power Girl from the device, though not in time to prevent it from giving Rana super-powers equivalent to those of Power Girl. The two women fought and Power Girl pulled off Rana’s brown wig, revealing that the alien woman’s actual hair color was purple. With some help from her fans, Power Girl eventually defeated Rana after a pitched battle. It was not revealed what became of Rana afterward, or if she still retained any of Power Girl’s super-powers.