The OTHER Last Daughter of Krypton, the Last Daughter of Earth-2 and quite possibly Most Common Superpower incarnate.
The '70s version of All-Star Comics, starring the Justice Society of America, featured the original versions of many of DC Comics' superheroes and their families, living in a parallel universe known as Earth-2. In issue #58 (January-February, 1976) a new character debuted, created by Gerry Conway, Ric Estrada, and Wally Wood. Power Girl was introduced as the counterpart of Supergirl- she was the cousin of Earth-2's Superman (Kal-L). It was decided to make her as different as possible from Supergirl - including a different costume, code-name, personality and (most notably) a sexier body.
Karen Starr, the name she adopted, proved a hit with readers. She received solo stories in "Showcase" #97-99 (February-April, 1978). DC was considering launching a Power Girl series. But in 1978, the DC Implosion struck, with the cancellation of over 24 ongoing titles. There was no room for new titles. Karen did however become a founding member of Infinity, Inc.. Regularly appearing in the 12 first issues of said series, and occasionally turning up in subsequent ones.
And then Crisis on Infinite Earths hit and not only wasn't there an Earth-2 anymore, but Superman was now again the last Kryptonian. Power Girl still existed, but she was given a new origin as an Atlantean. After some silly retcons, including one period where she was vulnerable to "natural, unprocessed materials," Infinite Crisis and a Power Girl mini-series finally cleared up her origin by having her be... the cousin of the Earth-2 Superman (after reality got Cosmic Retconned again).
She was a member of the Justice Society of America and had her own comic book, started in 2009, originally written by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti and beautifully drawn by Amanda Conner. After issue #12 the original creative team left the series, replaced by Judd Winick and Sami Basri, and the series shifted both its visual and writing style. In her series, she reestablished her Secret Identity of Karen Starr and established the company Starrware, all the while mentoring Atlee, the new Terra, and trying to stop the Ultra-Humanite or really hot aliens from destroying New York. The series took a Lighter and Softer approach to the character and the DC Universe at large, at first focusing on Power Girl's attempts to reintegrate into living a normal life and forming a stable relationship with Terra. After the creative team change, the book focused less on Power Girl's personal life, instead revolving around her heroic activities and how they affected her personal life, and also dealt with the reappearance of Maxwell Lord. The story was heavily tied into the Brightest Day event, though not published under the Brightest Day banner, and had interweaving plotlines with Justice League: Generation Lost.
After the "New 52" DC Universe reboot, a young-adult Power Girl reappeared as Karen Starr, at first in a supporting role for Mister Terrific, and later in an ongoing series with the Huntress, a new volume of ''World's Finest''
, where she is revealed to be... the cousin of the Earth-2 Superman. This time, however, she has been explicitly described as the Supergirl of Earth-2, having started her superhero career as Supergirl when she was younger, before coming to Prime Earth together with Huntress (who served as the Robin of Earth-2). Controversially, the New 52 version of Power Girl lacked her iconic costume for the year or so, but before long the writers (either because they planned it all along or because of public demand) had her sporting the famous Cleavage Window again.
With the launch of DC YOU, both she and Helena Wayne returned to Earth-2 in Earth 2 Society and her costume has the "S" shield in place of the Cleavage Window. Her name hasn't disappeared from Prime Earth, however, as Tanya Spears officially inherited the "Power Girl" name after Karen's departure.
In 2015's Harley Quinn & Power Girl series, Harley finds and teams up with an older and amnesiac Power Girl with the two having various misadventures and fighting various D-list villains and Vartox, who still tries to seduce Power Girl in order to repopulate his race. It's later revealed that this Power Girl is from the Pre-Flashpoint Prime Earth (the same one from the 2009's comic series) with the second Terra; Atlee, also reappearing. However, both ends up disappearing from the universe and only reappears after the Dark Nights: Metal event following the fall of the source wall keeping the universe separated, but kept in the background.
In 2020-2022, the events of Doomsday Clock, Dark Crisis and Flashpoint Beyond meant that the JSA was back in continuity, and a Power Girl very close to the pre-Flashpoint version was part of that. Shortly after she was reestablished, however, the Mass Empowering Event in Lazarus Planet gave her telepathic powers. She then had an Action Comics back-up strip in which she used these powers as a superhuman shrink, with the help of Omen. She also took the name "Paige" in this strip (representing a "new page" in her life and also playing on "PG"), feeling disconnected from both "Kara Zor-L" and "Karen Starr". She then got a one-shot where she burned through those powers to defeat Johnny Sorrow, leading to another ongoing series.
Power Girl has appeared in:
- (1976-1978) All-Star Comics Vol 1
- (1980-1983) Wonder Woman Vol 1 Huntress back-up feature
- (1982) Judgment In Infinity
- (1984-1988) Infinity, Inc. Vol 1
- (1988-1988) Power Girl Vol 1
- (1988-1992) Starman Vol 1 intermittent appearances
- (1989-1993) Justice League Europe Vol 1
- (1989-1996) Justice League America Vol 1 intermittent appearances
- (1992-1993) Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt Vol 1
- (1993-1994) Justice League International Vol 2
- (1994) Zero Hour: Crisis in Time!
- (1999-2006) JSA Vol 1
- (1999-2007) Birds of Prey Vol 1 intermittent appearances
- (2005-2008) JSA Classified Vol 1 "Power Trip"
- (2005-2011) Supergirl Vol 5 intermitterend appearances
- (2006-2010) Wonder Woman Vol 3 intermittent appearances
- (2007-2011) Justice Society of America Vol 3
- (2006) Infinite Crisis
- (2009-2011) Power Girl Vol 2
- (2009-2009) Terra Vol 1
- (2010-2011) JSA All-Stars Vol 1
- (2012-2015) Earth 2 Vol 1 intermittent appearances
- (2012-2015) Worlds' Finest Vol 1
- (2014-2015) Earth 2: Worlds End Vol 1
- (2015-2017) Earth 2: Society Vol 1
- (2014-2015) Harley Quinn Vol 2 intermittent appearances
- (2015-2016) Harley Quinn & Power Girl miniseries
- (2016-2017) Harley Quinn Vol 3 intermittent appearances
- (2021-2022) One-Star Squadron
- (2022) Dark Crisis
- (2022- ) Justice Society of America Vol 4
- (2023) Lazarus Planet: Assault on Krypton
- (2023- ) Action Comics (Dawn of DC) back-up strip and intermittent appearances
- (2023) Knight Terrors: Action Comics
- (2023) Power Girl Special
- (2023- ) Power Girl Vol 3
Elseworlds
- DC Universe Online: One of the many Hero characters that can mentor players, voiced by Adriene Mischler.
- Injustice 2: She appears as alternate skin for Supergirl with her own unique intros and dialogue. She is voiced by Sara Cravens.
- Justice League: While Power Girl herself doesn't appear, a character inspired by her called Galatea is introduced in Unlimited. She is a evil clone of Supergirl created by Cadmus to act as their enforcer, and despite resembling Power Girl very closely down to her looks and the uniform, she is a villain. That said, the Superbabes scene in Batman and Harley Quinn does suggest an actual version of Power Girl exists. Much like Supergirl, Galatea was voiced by Nicholle Tom.
- Superman/Batman: Public Enemies: Her animated debut, where she is voiced by Allison Mack.
- Teen Titans Go! To the Movies: She has some appearances in crowd shots throughout the film, though she's not voiced.
- DC Super Hero Girls (2019 version): Voiced by Nicole Sullivan, the series's version of Supergirl has a similar personality, muscular build, and haircut to Power Girl — and the episode "#PowerSurge" even sees this version of Kara take up the costume and codename of Power Girl. Barring the haircut, a similar fusion of Power Girl's personality and build with Supergirl (even complete with Sullivan voicing her) first appeared in Super Best Friends Forever.
