Wonder Woman in Action

Power Woman... A Beginning

Name: Power Woman
Birthname: Kara Zor-L
Alias: Karen Starr (civilian identity), Power Girl (Former codename) 
First Appearance: All Star Comics #58 (Jan/Feb 1976)

Power Woman is the Earth-Two counterpart of Supergirl and the first cousin of Kal-L, Superman of the pre-Crisis Earth-Two. Much like Supergirl, Power Woman's parents enabled her to escape the destruction of Krypton. Although she left the planet at the same time that Superman did, her ship took much longer to reach Earth-Two (and after the first Crisis, Earth 1).

Possessing superhuman strength and the ability to fly, she has been amember of the the Justice League and Justice Society of America and was the JSA's first chairwoman. Power Girl sports a bob of blond hair; wears a distinctive white, red, and blue costume; and has an aggressive fighting style. Throughout her early appearances in All Star Comics, Power Girl was frequently at odds with Wildcat, who had a penchant for talking to her as if she were an ordinary human female rather than a superpowered Kryptonian, which she found annoying.

The 1985 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths eliminated Earth-Two, causing her origin to change; she became the granddaughter of the Atlantean sorcerer Arion. However, story events culminating in the 2005-2006 Infinite Crisis limited series restored her status as a refugee from the Krypton of the destroyed pre-Crisis Earth-Two universe.

Karen has recently started living under her secret identity of Karen Starr and running Starrware Labs again.

At some point in the future, Karen/Kara will change her name from Power Girl to Power Woman (as shown in  Kingdom Come).