Tragedy has always drenched the history of Kryptonians. Superman was famously rocketed away from his planet moments before it exploded, destined to be its last son and grow up with no connection to his past. Supergirl watched the last remnants of her people slowly succumb to Kyrponite poisoning as their haven became their prison. Even General Zod emerged from his imprisonment to find everything he knew obliterated, which he has never moved past, even in his evil heart. Even though DC’s Kryptonian heroes are greater bastions of hope than anyone else in the universe, their history is knee-deep in loss. Yet even they can’t compare to the most tragic hero of all, Power Girl.
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The older, even more traumatized version of Kara Zor-L didn’t just lose her planet; she lost her entire universe. She has been through more personal tragedy than most DC characters could dream of, but through it all, she’s been determined to remain one of the staunchest heroes that the multiverse has ever seen. Today, we’re going to honor that heroic drive by celebrating Power Girl’s 50th anniversary. She originally debuted in All-Star Comics #58 in 1976, and we’re going to take a brief look at where she started, where she is today, and how the DCU would be vastly improved by her presence. Without further ado, let’s ponder Power Girl’s past.
A Woman Morooned by Realities
Much like her cousin, Power Girl was rocketed from the dying Krypton as a baby. However, while Clark’s ship was outfitted for the fastest travel possible, Kara’s was a Symbioship, meant to keep her in stasis. The ship kept her in a dreamworld where she was raised by lifelike copies of her family for the next twenty years. By the time she finally arrived on Earth, she was a fully grown woman, ready to live alongside her heroic cousin. Earth-2’s Clark and Lois raised Power Girl like their own daughter, and she grew into a great hero in the Justice Society of America, but then the Great Crisis struck.
Crisis on Infinite Earths wiped out Power Girl’s reality, leaving her stranded on New Earth with a falsified backstory. Her memories were restored during Infinite Crisis with the return of the only other survivors of Earth-2: Superman and Lois. Unfortunately, both died before the event was out, leaving her an orphan once again. Power Girl lost her homeworld, grew up in a fake world, found a new home on Earth, then lost that Earth, forgot it existed, only to remember it and her family right before the last remnants of it died. She is the sole remainder of that original world and has lost her entire life at least three separate times. And yet, through it all, she’s still standing.
All Power, All Heart
Power Girl’s repeated tragedies have given her more of an edge than her Kryptonian cousins. She stands on the outside of the Superman Family, not feeling like she fits in or that they want her. This is especially complicated by her estranged relationship with her Prime Earth counterpart, Supergirl. Power Girl is a whole lot more abrasive than the others, but she’s no less a hero. Today, while she’s not an A-List hero, she stands as one of the most consistent heroes called when the A-Listers aren’t available. Power Girl is always there and ready to fight. She’s faced tragedies that would ruin most people, but she keeps going, and that attitude is what makes her perfect for the DCU.
The DCU is already establishing Superman and Supergirl as two different types of heroes. Where Superman is endlessly optimistic, Supergirl is constantly swallowed in darkness but chooses to do the right thing regardless. This Supergirl is a partygirl who is constantly trying to distract herself from her pain and grief, but can’t escape it and insteaduses it to push her to save others from a similar fate. Power Girl, being an older and wiser version of Supergirl who has faced even more tragedy, could be the perfect middle ground between these two. She shows how Supergirl can grow from her trauma, while also providing the perfect connection to adapt some of DC’s best events.
An underrated hero with a chip on her shoulder and an attitude, but still good at heart, sounds exactly like the type of character James Gunn would turn into a superstar. Or maybe a power star? Either way, Power Girl is one of DC’s most interesting and heroic characters. No matter her tragedy, she keeps saving the day, and nothing’s more heroic than that. She might just be a relic of a lost universe, but she’s going to make sure that never happens to anyone else. Here’s hoping to 50 more years of awesome stories!
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