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Kara Zor-L was the superheroine known as Power Woman, the cousin of Superman.

Immediately following the disaster in Kansas, she returned to active duty, initially helping Superman subdue Americommando and the Minutemen as they engaged in a battle with Red, White, and Blue on Ellis Island with innocent citizens in the crossfire. Kara remained loyal to Superman's team, though her dis-temperance required Superman's intervention when the Flash pulled Norman McCay out of the spectral dimension while he and the Spectre were watching events unfolding on board the Green Lantern's satellite.

Although she seemed to perish during the meta-human battle at the site of the Gulag when a nuclear weapon had detonated on the warring crowd, she later showed up at the birth of Superman and Wonder Woman's child to protect him from Gog, who arrived from a Hypertime reality in the future to kidnap the child and to cause the Kansas incident to happen years earlier so that Superman could be framed for allowing the event to take place.

Powers

  • Kryptonian Physiology: Under the effects of a "yellow" sun, Kara possesses the same potential powers as an average Kryptonian. These include:
    • Solar Energy Absorption: Under optimal conditions, this is the main source of Kara's super powers as they are contingent upon exposure to solar radiation from a yellow sun star system. Her biological make up includes a number of organs which lack analogues in humans and whose functions are unknown. It is believed that between one or more of these and her bio-cellular matrix, "yellow" solar energy is stored for later use. This allows for the use of these powers to fade when yellow solar radiation is not available instead of immediate failure.
    • Heat Vision: Kara can, as a conscious act, fire beams of intense heat at a target by looking at it. She can vary the heat and area affected.
    • Super-Hearing: Kara's hearing is sensitive enough to hear any sound at any volume or pitch. With skill and concentration, she can block out ambient sounds to focus on a specific source or frequency.
    • Enhanced Vision: Kara's vision processes the entire electromagnetic spectrum as well as allowing vast control over selective perception and focus.
      This umbrella ability includes the following:
      • Electromagnetic Spectrum Vision: Kara can see well into most of the electromagnetic spectrum. She can see and identify radio and television signals as well as all other broadcast or transmitted frequencies. Using this ability, she can avoid detection by radar or satellite monitoring methods. This also allows her to see the aura generated by living thing.
      • Telescopic Vision: This is the ability to see something at a great distance, without violating the laws of physics. Though limited, the exact extent of the ability is undetermined. In function, it is similar to the zoom lens on a camera.
      • X-Ray Vision: This is the ability to see through any volume of matter except lead. Karas can see things behind a solid, opaque object as if it were not there. She can focus this ability to "peel back" layers of an object, allowing hidden image or inner workings to be observed. The exact type of energy perceived—such as x-rays, cosmic rays, or some other energy invisible to normal humans—is unclear. This ability perceives an ambient energy source though, it does not involve the eye projecting a concentrated, possibly toxic, beam to be reflected back from objects.
      • Microscopic Vision: This is the ability to see extremely small objects and images down to the atomic level.
      • Infrared Vision: Kara can see with better acuity in darkness, and to a degree in total darkness.
    • Flight: Kara is able to manipulate graviton particles to defy the forces of gravity and achieve flight. This ranges from hovering to moving in any posture, in any direction.
    • Invulnerability: Due to the interaction of her dense molecular structure and supercharged bio-electric aura, Kara is nigh-invulnerable to extreme energy forces. In addition, her extends this protection against toxins and diseases.
    • Superhuman Stamina: Kara is able to maintain continuous strenuous physical action for an indefinite period of time. This based on her body converting yellow solar radiation directly to energy, but is limited by physiological and psychological needs to eat, drink, and sleep.
    • Superhuman Strength: Kara's strength is augmented by yellow solar radiation interacting with the greater than human density, resilience and biological efficiency of her musculature. Her strength is more an act of conscious will on energy fields than actual physical strength. It is this act of conscious will that enables her to perform physical feats that are beyond the mere application force, such as moving a mountain top without said rock crumbling under its own mass.
    • Superhuman Speed: Kara is able to move at incredible speed by sheer force of will. This extends to her perceptions and allows for feats such as catching bullets in mid flight as well as covering vast distances in little or no time.
      This also confers:
    • Super-Breath: Kara is able to create hurricane force winds by exhaling air from her lungs. She can chill the air as it leaves her lungs to freeze targets. She can also reverse the process to pull large volumes of air or vapor into her lungs.
    • Longevity: Kara can live longer than regular humans, remaining at her prime as long as she was under the exposure of the "yellow" sun.

Weaknesses


  • Power Woman had a meal item at the Planet Krypton restaurant named after her called the Power Girl Chicken Sandwich, where the cut is breast -- a suggestive in-joke referring to her physical appearance.
  • Alex Ross designed this version of Power Girl to be older and with a bodybuilder-like physique to represent the most aggressive superhuman attitudes on the female side.


Related

Footnotes




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