On Earth, as with other Kryptonians, Power Girl discovered she possessed abilities like super strength, flight, and heat vision, using which she became a protector of innocents and a hero for humanity.

Though the specifics of how vary over subsequent retellings, Power Girl is later stranded on another Earth when a cosmic crisis affects her home of Earth-Two, and later carves out a separate identity for herself from her dimensional counterpart Supergirl once they are forced to coexist.

The 1985 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths eliminated Earth-Two from history, causing her to be retconned as the granddaughter of an Atlantean sorcerer known as Arion.

"[4] Ironically, Marvel had previously published Thor #207, written by Power Girl co-creator Gerry Conway, in which Len Wein's character says, "Whoever heard of Powergirl, anyhow?

Due in part to her being one of the more popular characters in All Star Comics at the time,[6] she was given a solo tryout in Showcase issues 97–99, which expanded on her pre-Crisis origin.

Power Girl's existence is not revealed to the general public until much later; her cousin Clark and his wife Lois Lane provide her a family environment to assist her transition towards real life relationships.

In her first recorded adventure, Kara assists Justice Society members Flash and Wildcat with containing an artificially induced volcanic eruption in China.

She then joins Robin and Star-Spangled Kid to form a Super Squad to assist the Justice Society in defeating Brainwave and Per Degaton, who were causing disasters around the world.

However, with the help of reporter Andrew Vinson, she adopts the secret identity of computer programmer Karen Starr (she obtains her knowledge in this field from exposure to Wonder Woman's Purple Ray on Paradise Island).

The first contact between Power Girl and Earth-One's universe was on the crossover Justice League of America #147, written by Paul Levitz & Martin Pasko, where the character shows her attraction to that reality saying, "It has a much nicer brand of Superman, y'know?".

[15] The 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths limited series erased the existence of the Earth-Two Superman, and Power Girl's continuity was thus substantially disrupted.

[19] During the 1994 Zero Hour event, Power Girl experiences a mystical pregnancy[20] and gives birth to a son (supposedly named Equinox),[21] who ages rapidly.

[26] While attempting to save her teammate Ted Grant from the new female Crimson Avenger, Power Girl is severely wounded by supernatural bullets fired from the vigilante's cursed handguns.

Despite being saved by Doctor Mid-Nite, Power Girl comments that her near-death experience has shown her that she needs to make more personal connections outside of the superhero community.

This causes another rift to grow between the two women, as Power Girl feels Supergirl left an entire city of people to suffer, all because of her own selfish desires.

[45] Power Girl briefly appears in the Final Crisis crossover event, battling the forces of Darkseid after he conquers the Earth using the Anti-Life Equation.

Using her ice breath to destroy her gravity enhanced shackles and gag, Power Girl easily defeats the villain and saves New York.

Several of the team members examine the corpses of Kal-L and Psycho Pirate, both of whom had been reanimated as Black Lanterns only to be killed again during a battle with Superboy and Superman.

Tanya Spears tries to free her using an etheric transponder that allows her to travel there in an incorporeal state, but her physical body was disconnected from the machine by an unaware Kid Flash (Wallace West), so both women remain trapped as a result.

[60] In Doomsday Clock, the "original" Power Girl[61] returns to the DC Universe when Doctor Manhattan, inspired by Superman, undoes the changes that he made to the New 52 timeline that erased the Justice Society and the Legion of Super-Heroes.

In issue #12, the newspaper's editor-in-chief, Lois Lane, who is privy to Paige's dual identity, offers her a field-reporter position to enable her to both write longer-form stories from the scene of crises and act as Power Girl to resolve them.

[65] In the pages of "The New Golden Age", Power Girl was with the Justice Society when they fought Angle Man and an army of Bizarros when a Huntress from a possible future arrived.

Power Girl tells Deadman, Detective Chimp, Madame Xanadu, and the rest of the Justice Society that Huntress is heading to Gotham City.

[69] Power Girl accompanied Mister Terrific and Jakeem Thunder in visiting Icicle II in Belle Reve Penitentiary to offer him a second chance by joining the JSA.

[75] Power Girl's original Wally Wood artwork (1976) showed her as relatively busty but otherwise her figure and build conformed in appearance to other contemporary comic book women.

3) #34 (2009), written by Gail Simone, Dinah Lance, the Black Canary, mentions Power Girl as having the top bosom of DCU, describing her assets as a "national treasure".

The character is consistently depicted as a large-breasted young woman, and her physique is one of her most recognizable attributes – to the extent that various writers have acknowledged it in both serious and humorous ways.

"[81] Conversely, in JSA: Classified #2 (2005), writer Geoff Johns has Power Girl explain her cleavage-window to Superman, revealing that "the first time I made this costume, I wanted to have a symbol, like you.

"[82] A similar treatment of the character can be seen in Superman/Batman #4 (written by Jeph Loeb), in which the heroes need to distract the Toyman while Batman and Superman battle Captain Marvel and Hawkman.

Her classic costume design from All-Star Comics #58 is that which is in use today: a red cape and belt, blue gloves and boots, and a white bodysuit sporting a circular cleavage-exposing cut-out on her chest (its variable size and shape determined by the artist depicting her).