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Power Girl
Alter-ego: Kara Zor-L
Residence: Metropolis
Occupation: Software Specialist at the Ultimate Computer Company
Notable aliases: Karen
Affiliations: Justice Society of America, Justice League, Infinity, Inc., Sovereign Seven, Oracle Suicide Squad
Power Girl is a DC Comics super-heroine created by Gerry Conway and artist Wally Wood. Her first appearance was in All-Star Comics #58 (January/February 1976). She is a member of the Justice Society of America and has her own aggressive fighting style. Throughout her early appearances in All Star Comics, Power Girl was frequently at odds with Wildcat, who had a penchant for uttering sexist comments that she found offensive.
Power Girl is the Earth-Two version of Supergirl; she was the Kryptonian cousin of the Earth-Two/Golden Age Superman. Her real name is Kara Zor-L also known as Karen Starr. After Crisis, there was only one Superman and it was decided that he would be the lone survivor of Krypton. However, later revisions have restored her status as a refugee from Krypton.
Power Girl's History
Power Girl was born Kara, daughter of the
scientist Zor-L and his wife Allura, in the city of Kandor on Krypton. Superman's father, Jor-L,
confided to his brother his concerns about Krypton's geological instability and
his plans for an escape ship. As the planet's days dwindled, it became clear to
Zor-L that he and Allura would not survive Krypton's destruction, but a small
ship sufficient to carry Kara to safety could still be built. Zor-L constructed
a ship similar to the ship that would carry the infant Kal-L, but designed to
provide a much greater array of sensory stimulation. As Krypton exploded, the
two ships were launched. Kal-L's ship took a more direct path to Earth,
arriving while he was still an infant. Kara's ship took a different longer course.
As such, she spent sixty years in that craft, which her father named the
"Symbioship". This ship had within its two unique devices: a
suspended animation stasis field, which allowed her to age to her early
twenties and kept her that way, and a mental-simulation device. This
device raised her in a dream-world based on Krypton itself and provided her
unconscious mind with a full Kryptonian education, simulating the life
experiences of a child growing to maturity. It
also allows her to interact with virtual copies of her parents and fellow
Kryptonians. By the time she arrives on Earth Kara is in her early 20's.
Upon reaching Earth, she was found and instructed in the ways of the real world by Superman. At a certain point, she broke off from Superman’s protective care, striking off on her own and becoming a renowned member of the greatest heroes of all time, the Justice Society of America. Kara took a costumed identity known as Power Girl. She became part of the Justice Society of America's newly-created youth auxiliary, the Super Squad and was quickly promoted to full membership in the JSA. Six years ago, Power Girl also helped found Infinity, Inc. but soon left in deference to her JSA duties. Her JSA membership ceased when nearly all of its members were trapped in another dimension.
After joining the JSA, Power Girl made an effort to establish a life for herself outside of Superman and the JSA. However, with the help of reporter Andrew Vinson, she adopts the secret identity of computer programmer Karen Starr and started her own computer software business, StarrWare. Afterward, Power Girl and Vinson became lovers. When the Huntress, daughter of Batman, joined the JSA, she found a friend and confidante among the younger super-hero set on Earth-Two.
The 1985 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths erased the existence of the Earth-Two Superman, and Power Girl's continuity was thus substantially cut off. Following the series, her background was retconned; Power Girl was not a refugee from Krypton as she had always believed, but was actually the descendant of the Atlantean sorcerer Arion, born 45,000 years in the past. Kara learned form the spirit of her grandfather Arion, that she had been threatened by Arion’s evil brother as an infant and sent forward into the future for her own safety, aging to young adulthood along the way and having been given amazing powers.
After the Justice Society disbands, Power Girl returned to group activity as a charter member of Justice League Europe. Early in her JLE tenure, Power Girl was struck and gravely injured by a mystical entity known as the Grey Man. Superman was called in to perform life-saving surgery because his heat vision being necessary to make the surgical incisions to save her life, which resulted in dramatically lowering her power levels. While still retaining her superhuman strength, speed and toughness, she was no longer at Superman-class power levels, and her vision and flight powers were gone.
In JLE #40, Doctor Light diagnosed Power Girl's frequent bursts of bad temper as the result of artificial additives in the diet soda she drank. Soon after, Power Girl shared a kiss with Aquaman, then estranged from his wife Mera. He immediately backed away from the prospect of a relationship, regarding a romance with a teammate as inappropriate.
During the 1994 event, Zero Hour, Power Girl experiences a mystical pregnancy, and gives birth to a son, Equinox, who aged rapidly. He disappeared, and has never been mentioned again.
Power Girl was one of Oracle’s first agents. Oracle called in Power Girl to investigate the disappearance of Black Canary and a train of convicts. Then a disastrous mission came explaining how Power Girl found herself forced to choose between saving the lives of a ship of refugees or protecting a political leader from assassination. The tragic consequences had a profound effect on Kara, who severed her ties with Oracle immediately although she has worked with her again on a few occasions when needed
Power Girl is shocked to learn from Arion that her Atlantean origin is a lie. Her foster mother, Lois Lane of Earth-Two, created the story for Power Girl's own protection. The Psycho Pirate shows Kara multiple origins in an effort to drive her insane. He reveals that the Kryptonian origin is her true origin: Power Girl is not only a survivor of Krypton, she is the only person from Earth-Two to have survived the Crisis on Infinite Earths. How she survived and retained her pre-Crisis origin is unclear, since other Earth-Two figures, such as the Huntress and Robin, did not. Power Girl's survival is undoubtedly connected to the fact that the surviving relative from her Earth-Two existence is Kal-L, who also remains alive (though in another dimension).
Today, Power Girl is a member of the Justice Society once more, having returned at the request of the departing Black Canary. As Karen, she began selling shares in StarrWare on the Stock Market and sold the company for a small fortune soon after. Today, with her civilian identity now public knowledge, she oversees the Starr Foundation, an organization intended to help orphaned "children who fall through the cracks" of the bureaucratic system. She has also taken up the mantle of Nightwing in an attempt to free the natives of the city of Kandor. Ultraman, masquerading as Kal-El and working in concert with the Saturn Queen, has taken control of the bottle city. Kara Zor-El is the city's Flamebird; she saves Power Girl's life and prevents her execution when captured by Ultraman's forces.
Power Girl's Powers and Abilities
Power
Girl has powers similar to that of her cousin Superman. Like his, her powers
are derived of her Kryptonian birth. These are super-strength,
flight, super-speed,
invulnerability to bullets and lesser projectiles, X-ray vision, heat vision, and super-hearing.
Power Girl's Weaknesses and Limitation
Power Girl could be poisoned and ultimately
slain by exposure to Kryptonite, a radioactive derivative of Krypton's
explosion. She also displayed a heightened susceptibility to magic.
Kara was also vulnerable to “raw, unprocessed natural material” like clunking with a rock or jabbing her with a pointed stick.
Power Girl's Costumes
Power Girl's costume has varied
significantly over the years. Her original wardrobe was a white one-piece
that ended high on her hips, plus a red cape, tied in the royal manner above
her chest, and a red belt, laid on the bias around her with a circular yellow
belt buckle. She also had large oval cut out of her white uniform just above
her breasts and show her cleavage.
During her time with Justice League Europe 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: red cape, blue gloves and boots, and a white bodysuit sporting again the distinctive cleavage window on her chest.
Comic Appearance
Photoshoot Appearance
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