Power Girl
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Power Girl (real name Kara Zor-L, also known as Karen Starr) is a DC Comics superhero. Created by writer Gerry Conway and artist Wally Wood, she first appeared in All-Star Comics #58 (January-February 1976)
Power Girl is the cousin of Superman in the Earth-Two continuity, the universe that DC’s Golden Age heroes were deemed to exist in when the company reinvented many of its heroes in the 1950s. (Supergirl is her equivalent in most other continuities.) Possessing her cousin’s superhuman strength and ability to fly, she took her place in that world’s all-star team, the Justice Society of America, and has been an important member of that group ever since.
A sex symbol amongst comic book fans, Power Girl was originally conceived as voluptuous, with a bob of blonde hair and a form-fitting white costume. Artist Wally Wood told friends that he intended to draw her chest larger in each issue until the editors noticed.[link] After Wood left All-Star Comics, his successor Joe Staton was more restrained.
Power Girl was written as a feminist, often resenting the attitude of both older and younger men towards her. She exhibits a very aggressive fighting style, similar to Earth-Two’s Superman.
DC rewrote its continuity in the 1986 maxi-series Crisis on Infinite Earths, eliminating Earth-Two and rewriting Power Girl’s origin as the descendent of the Atlantean sorcerer Arion. Further rewrites of the DC "multiverse" have disproved this and she has been revealed a refugee from Earth-Two in the current mainstream DC continuity.
History
Journey from Krypton-Two
As originally created, Power Girl was Kara Zor-L, the cousin of the Superman of the parallel world of Earth-Two (and thus, she was her Earth's counterpart of Supergirl). When the Earth-Two universe's Krypton was about to explode, Kara's father Zor-L launched her as an infant to Earth in a ship at the same time that Kal-L's ship was launched; however, Kara's ship took a much longer journey, resulting in her arriving on Earth in the 1970s, decades after her cousin. Unlike Kal-L's ship, Zor-L constructed her ship (or "Symbioship", as it was called) to hold Kara in stasis through the longer journey. In addition, the ship's artificial intelligence carried the life experiences and education of a Kryptonian in the form of a virtual reality wherein she interacted with virtual copies of her parents and fellow Kryptonians. By the time she landed on Earth, Kara had aged into her early 20's (post-Crisis, as referenced in JSA Classified, her initial age has been revised to about eighteen).
Debut of Power Girl
Unlike her counterpart Supergirl, Power Girl's existence was not revealed to the general public until much later, as her cousin Clark and his wife Lois provided her a family environment to assist her transition towards real life relationships. Her first recorded case was assisting the Justice Society members Flash and Wildcat in containing an artificially induced volcano which had erupted in China. She then joined them and other younger heroes Robin and Star-Spangled Kid to form a Super Squad along with then active members of the Justice Society to defeat Brainwave and Per Degaton's scheme for world domination. She was later provided full membership when she took over the vacated spot on the team's roster left when Superman retired from active membership.Having been raised by the Symbioship with artificial Kryptonian life experiences Power Girl had trouble fitting into life on Earth, but with the help of reporter Andrew Vinson, eventually adopted the secret identity of computer programmer Karen Starr. She obtained her knowledge in this field from treatment under Wonder Woman's purple ray on Paradise Island. She never wore a mask or other disguise between her two identities and, at some point, her identity was revealed to the public.
Power Girl's best friend was Huntress, Helena Wayne, the daughter of the Earth-2 Batman and Catwoman.
Post-Crisis Origin(s)
The 1985 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths retroactively erased the existence of the Earth-Two Superman, and Power Girl's continuity was thus substantially disrupted. Following the series, her background was retconned; she became the descendant of the Atlantean sorcerer Arion, having been frozen in suspended animation for millennia until the present day.
In the late 1980s Power Girl joined the Justice League (the Justice Society having been disbanded in the interim). Later, while a member of Justice League Europe, she was badly injured by a mystical being. Superman assisted in her medical treatment, using his heat-vision to enable surgery to be performed on her otherwise-invulnerable tissues (without his intervention, Power Girl would have perished). Although she recovered, she was significantly weaker, lost all of her vision powers, and could not fly for a time.
Later, she mystically became pregnant and gave birth to a son (Equinox) during the Zero Hour crisis. Her son was subsequently artificially aged, became a superhero, and disappeared.
Power Girl was established as being the first member of Oracle's covert team in Birds of Prey. The partnership ended when a mission failed disastrously, resulting in a large loss of life. Power Girl believes that bad orders from Oracle were to blame for the tragedy, and dislikes Oracle intensely as a result (although she has worked with her again on a few occasions when needed).
Power Girl's costume has varied significantly over the years. During her time with Justice League Europe/America it transitioned to a capeless yellow and white bodysuit, followed by a blue and white costume with a short mini-cape, headband, with a diamond shaped opening on her chest. In the late 1990s Power Girl's original costume design was restored: a white bodysuit, red cape, blue gloves and boots, with the presence of "round window" on her chest depending on the artist depicting her. In her guest appearance in Green Lantern, Kara is seen in her large wardrobe closet with every costume design she's ever worn in DC continuity, deciding which costume to wear for that mission.
During the miniseries that established her ancient Atlantean origin, Power Girl was portrayed with a highly athletic but slender physique. In the limited series Kingdom Come, artist Alex Ross restored Power Girl's extremely busty shape, rendering her as heavily muscled (as if an ardent bodybuilder). This approach has been carried forward by most other artists. The character's appearance and costume have become somewhat controversial, as Power Girl's voluptuous figure has been made light of in several recent appearances.
When the Justice Society re-formed in the late 1990s, Power Girl joined as a key member.
Infinite Crisis
JSA Classified: Power Trip
Power Girl's backstory as a descendant of Arion was called into question when Arion himself admitted that her origin as an Atlantean was a story that he had created for her own protection at her foster mother's request (the Lois Lane of Earth-Two).The Psycho Pirate, the source of Kara's multiple origins in an effort to drive her insane, revealed to her that the Kryptonian origin was her true origin: Power Girl was a survivor of the Krypton of Earth-Two. It is still unclear why she survived the Crisis, even retaining her pre-Crisis origin, when other Earth-Two figures, such as the Huntress and Robin, did not. It seems likely that Power Girl's survival has something to do with the fact that the remaining relative from her old life was Kal-L, who was also still alive.JSA: Classified #1-4
The Other Survivors
In the pages of Infinite Crisis, Kal-L himself returned to the post-Crisis DC Universe after breaking down the walls of the paradise dimensionInfinite Crisis #1, 2006 in which he, Lois Lane, Alexander Luthor, and Superboy-Prime had been living since the end of Crisis on Infinite Earths.Infinite Crisis Secret Files & Origins 2006 Appalled by the rapidly-deteriorating state of affairs on the contemporary Earth, their goal was to replace the post-Crisis planet with a recreated Earth-Two. Kal-L tracked down Power Girl, explaining the events of the original Crisis to her. He also revealed her pre-Crisis history as his cousin. A touch from the ailing Lois Lane-Kent served to restore Power Girl's Earth-Two memories.Infinite Crisis #2, JSA #82 (2006)Soon after this revelation, she was confronted by Superboy-Prime, who rendered her unconscious.Infinite Crisis #3, 2006 Power Girl was attached to a ”tuning fork,” a device controlled by Alex Luthor whose purpose was to bring back the multiple Earths. Alex Luthor and Psycho Pirate coerced Black Adam (also attached to the machine) into saying "SHAZAM!," and used the now-raw magical energy to power the tower.Infinite Crisis #4, 2006 Initially, only Earth-Two was restored, and everyone associated with that Earth was transported to it. (However, Power Girl remained on Earth-One because of her proximity to the tower.)
The Lois Lane of Earth-Two died moments after her arrival there with Kal-L. This led to a violent confrontation between the two Supermen, at the end of which Kal-L came to the realization that Earth-Two had not been a perfect world since "a perfect earth doesn't need a Superman."Infinite Crisis #5, 2006
Kara was freed by Wonder Girl and Kon-El and joined them in fighting Superboy-Prime and Alex Luthor. Left on Earth during the savage battle on Mogo between Superboy-Prime and the Supermen Kal-L and Kal-El, she was brought to Mogo by the Green Lantern Corps just in time to bid a tearful farewell to her dying cousin.Infinite Crisis #7, 2006
A year afterwards, she has apparently recovered from her traumatic ordeal, and taken her place once again in the Justice Society of America.JSA #85, 2006 Interestingly, she has also become Nightwing in the city of Kandor, fighting a cult that worships Kal-El, with Kara Zor-El as her sidekick, Flamebird.Supergirl #8, 2006
The current JSA series will end with issue #87 and will be relaunched with Power Girl as a predominant member of the new team.
Powers
Power Girl originally had powers similar to those of the original Superman: super-strength, flight, invulnerability, X-ray vision, heat vision, and super-hearing. However, after sustaining severe injuries early in her JLE days, she was left significantly weaker, could not fly and lost all of her vision powers and enhanced senses. She eventually recovered her ability to fly and remains a powerhouse nonetheless.In 2005 issues of JSA, she has also been shown using her super-hearing to listen through walls, heat vision against Black Adam in Kandhaq, the latter temporarily blinding her.
Her powers appear to be exactly the same as Kal-L's as of Infinite Crisis #6. In magnitude, she appears to be as strong as Kara Zor-El (Supergirl) as shown when they fought briefly, and Kara in turn has comparable strength to her cousin Kal-El (Superman) as tested by Batman. Power Girl also has an occasional weakness to kryptonite, which may well be explained by her newly (re)established Earth-Two origins. In pre-Crisis times, kryptonite from one dimension did not work on a Kryptonian from another dimension; this limited immunity may therefore be a result of the merging of dimensions during the Crisis. As of Infinite Crisis #7, it has been positively shown that the Kryptonite available in the mainstream DCU doesn't affect Kryptonians from other universes, such as Power Girl, Kal-L, or Superboy-Prime.
Other media
Power Girl, not famous enough in her own right to overcome the inevitable handicap of being too similar to Supergirl, has been overlooked when it comes to movie/television adaptations.- The closest Power Girl has come to a television appearance was in several episodes of the 2000s Justice League Unlimited animated series, in which scientists from Project Cadmus created Galatea, a clone of Supergirl, for nefarious purposes. Grown into a slightly more mature physical state, and wearing a form-fitting white costume, the clone resembles Power Girl. She has appeared in the Justice League Unlimited comic book series.
- In the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Killed By Death", Buffy says that as a child, she fantasized about being Power Girl. At the end of the episode, a child she saved draws a picture of Buffy dressed as Power Girl.
- A girl named Kara appeared in an episode of the Smallville TV series believing to be from Krypton. This Kara did not claim to be Kal-El's cousin (although Martha Kent did so for her, to protect her secret) and she seemed to be interested in him in a sexual way. She was not, however, an actual Kryptonian, but an innocent girl kidnapped, brainwashed, and given superpowers by the artificial intelligence that claims to be based on the mind of Jor-El. She was recruited by the A.I. to bring the teenage Clark Kent face to face with his Kryptonian heritage and to persuade him to follow his destiny, which is as yet not disclosed. She took Kal-El to an ancient Indian cave which contained Kryptonian technology. In the end she vanished, "Jor-El" saying she'd "served her purpose". It is not known whether she survived this or whether she will ever return in the series.http://www.supermanhomepage.com/tv/tv.php?topic=episode-guides/t-smallville-eps3#22 She also wore a white dress.
- Chris .R. Notarile's Blinky Productions made a fan film titled Power Girl: The Classifieds starring Tawnya Manion as Power Girl.
See also
References
External links
- [Power Girl Online]
- [Pre-Crisis biography about Power Girl]
- Alan Kistler's [Profile of Power Girl] — A comic book historian traces the various changes to her origin story.
- [A Brief History of Power Girl] written in 2006 for Infinite Crisis
- [The Complete Power Girl Chronology] (through JSA #38)
- [Power Girl - Huntress' Best Friend] — Basic content and pictorial references
- [Power Girl: The Classifieds] — A fan film by Blinky Productions.
- [Power Struggle, the Rise and fall and Rise Again of DC's Power Girl] Movie PoopShoot Article
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