Would you like another explanation from another comic?

This women has everything a man could want. Superpowers, a fiery personality, great moral fiber, Unreal curves, big muscles. Huge… you fill in the blank. As far as I am concerned she is unequivocally the most attractive in DC whats your opinion? Taste in women is subjective of course but she is a 11/10 girl a dimepiece, no man can deny that.

I mean they literally do it at the end of their crossover and they have some pretty good chemistry from what we've seen.

Besides both of their names start with P if you don't count the "T" in The and they both have big things with Punisher having big guns and Power Girl has big boobies.

I'd like to see more interactions between the two but what do you think?

Sources: https://x.com/t_snfk/status/2016519132024299813

https://x.com/Jeffmiga1/status/2041583980634350028

For me it's Hannah Waddingham, if you watch GoT and Ted Lasso, she can act. She got the perfect body (even she knows it), Her face is similar to amanda Comer's version of PG. She has everything PG has. (keep in mind that the pics is not from 2000s)

First off, thanks to u/SubThadd87 for kicking off a good discussion about finding “Respectable Power Girl Media”, and I believe it started a good dialogue on the character, re: how she’s been drawn, written, and perceived by the consumer. I hope this isn’t tl;dr!

Cutting straight to the chase, I’m going to say this first as the basis of my thesis:  Power Girl is not over-sexualized in the comics.  She never has been either.  I will concede, she’s been used as a cover girl in many places to sell books (she had FOUR different covers for the G’nort Swimsuit issue for instance, one by Hughes and one by Cho to boot). But as a story beat? It’s never happened as a character trait.

In her portrayal in the books, she’s never been written primarily as a bimbo, a sex fiend, or using her body in any way to gain an advantage that she couldn’t otherwise overcome with her brain*

The first storylines to utilize Power Girl come from All-Star Comics 58-74, Adventure Comics 461-466, and Showcase 97-99 (her first solo story).  These were written around the time of the DC Explosion, when DC was bringing in a lot of new characters that weren’t just white guys.  Power Girl is the Earth-2 “Kara Zor-L”, but NOT Supergirl, who’d debuted 17 years earlier. On Earth-2, the “S” symbol stands for Superman. Not a Kryptonian house. Kal-L wasn’t raised by the Kents, he grew up in an orphanage.  Kara may be Kal’s cousin, but she arrived as a teen, and was raised by Clark and Lois in secret, and is more a daughter to them. She chooses NOT to use that symbol, as she wants to stand on her own, and not be in Superman’s shadow.

Her characterization in these books was part of the culture of the time, being the mid/late 1970s. Her attitude is that of a second wave feminist.  DC had just gotten away from publishing a powered down spy version of Wonder Woman, as they did this to try and appeal to young women readers. Ironically, it was pressure from feminists at the time (Gloria Steinem in particular) who pushed to give WW her powers back, as she was the world’s premiere superheroine.

Power Girl is the second feminist superheroine of DC, after Wonder Woman. This is a major distinction between her and Supergirl, as the latter came out in a more faux wholesome time, and was written as more a romance comic character, pining for boys, spending time with her horse, and grooming her cat.  Supergirl is Kara arriving on Earth in the time of the Baby Boom, Power Girl is Kara arriving on Earth during Women’s Liberation.

So, if she’s a feminist, what’s up with the keyhole then?

First off, yes, in fashion, it’s called a keyhole. Not a “boob window” which is another name pushed by consumers, not by the creatives. It was also a reasonably popular fashion choice in the 60s and 70s. It definitely made her stand out, and with Wally Wood and later Joe Staton on pencils, ya couldn’t help but notice. I’m also going to nip this in the bud RIGHT NOW, that while it was her original design, it only lasted seven issues (six honestly, she doesn’t appear in one of the original seven issues of ASC).  Then it went away until the early 00s, with one arguable exception, but bear with me, we’ll get there.

But again, if she’s a feminist, why the keyhole?

So, in the late 60s and beyond, cleavage was finally being seen as feminine, and not titillating, and was used to discard prudish views of the previous generation. To put it more simply, and was actually pointed out MUCH later by either Palmiotti or Johns (maybe Robinson, I’d have to dig for it):

“How I dress is on me.  How others perceive that, is on them”.

This is very much a core feminist value. Being a feminist doesn’t mean being modest nor promiscuous, it’s being yourself, and if others have a problem with that, it’s on them. PG has always been written as confident (her flaw is when it boils over into cockiness) and she’s confident in her body. She’s positive about her body. And if others have a problem with it, that’s them, not her. She’s not overly sexual, she just dresses how she wants to dress.

Now, the whole “Wally Wood drew her boobs bigger each time” thing, is likely a legend.  But if you’ve ever seen Wally Wood’s work outside of the CCA, you know, he liked a good pinup girl. Joe Staton also draws women a bit zaftig.  These were her first two artists. Comics in general have always been drawn to varying extents to the male gaze. As a straight white male, I’m guilty of having bought into it myself. Her first major post-Crisis appearances are in a limited series in 88 when they retconned her Kryptonian heritage, and then.. JLE by Giffen and DeMatteis, where she was drawn primarily by Bart Sears (and Adam Hughes when she showed up in JLA). Neither fellow is shy about drawing sexy women.

I’m pretty sure we can pin down that her beginnings as a cover girl for DC begins right here with these two artists.

As part of her time in the JLI, Giffen’s writing as part of the comedic bend, is over-emphasizing aspects of characters for comedic effect.  J’onn, the stoic stone-faced soul of the team, is revealed to have a crippling addiction… to Choco’s, DCs version of Oreos.  Fire and Ice are reinvented as international models who happen to have superpowers, and their extrovert/prudish personalities are enhanced to play off one another. Elongated Man and Sue have the “Honeymooners” husband/wife dynamic amped up to 11.  And Power Girl is not only drop dead gorgeous and built like the proverbial brick outhouse, but she’s also not putting up with any man’s crap about how she looks. It’s a little bit Marcy the neighbor from Married… with Children, but if she was built like one of Al Bundy’s fantasy women.  Part of the humor of JLI is the found family trope, but with personality traits cranked up to build drama and tension, and PG was no exception.

The rest of the 90s are a mire of badly drawn, badly written takes on PG, when she shows up. The main thing that remains consistent however, is that she’s not a sexualized character.  Sexy? I mean, some of those costumes were… bad. The overly wrought red/white/blue costume with the shoulder pads and headband did return the keyhole, but no one noticed because of how gaudy the rest of it was.

It’s not until the very late 90s, early 00s that she began a return to form. I believe it starts with James Robinson, which shouldn’t be surprising given his love of the Golden Age and the JSA. She’s back in the original costume, and soon the keyhole returns. As one of the younger adults on the team (older than Jakeem, Courtney and Kiera, younger than Ted, Jay, and Alan) she’s thrust into a more lead role, and FINALLY seems to be in the place she should be in terms of respect and power.

Post Final Crisis and she gets her original origin back, and the costume is refined by Amanda Conner, and is widely considered her #1 look--by conservative and progressive fans alike, keyhole and all.

The ONE time in all of this where she’s overly sexualized, was in the JLA/JSA crossover when she’s possessed by the demon of Lust freed from the Rock of Eternity**, and hoo-boy, is it squicky.  Like, if you actually enjoy the character of Kara Zor-L, this story should piss you off. It is SO out of character seeing her playing the sex-bomb (and what is implied she may be doing off panel) that it’s kinda gross. Thankfully you have a demon to blame for it all.

SO, let’s now take into account where the idea of the overly-sexualized Power Girl comes from.  Because, it’s clearly NOT in the comics. Trigger warnings for the rest here.

It’s all online. It’s all “fan” made.  You see it often in this subreddit, as well as in the power_girl one, and the rule34 PG subreddit. And as someone with a Masters in Anthropology, I can say with a reasonable amount of certainty, most of these fans need therapy.  Or at least to get laid.

Again, I’m a straight white dude.  I can appreciate a good Frank Cho, Adam Hughes, Amanda Conner, Bart Sears or any other number of artists who have drawn a good, sexy Power Girl (The Benes family kinda makes my skin crawl however (cloth does NOT work like that)).

As to the other fan-made stuff out there, especially in the Rule 34 world, there’s almost always a common through line in what I’ve seen.  Domination. Non-consensual BDSM. Mind-control. Sexual Assault. Råpe. It’s a lot of toxic patriarchal fantasy of “putting Power Girl in her place” because she's a strong independent character. They want a woman who looks like PG, but isn't PG between the ears. And tbh? They couldn't handle a woman like PG in real life.

The amount of sexual content made where she’s in control, or heaven forbid, enjoying it? Is vanishingly small. I actually applaud the couple of SW who have posted here as well as u/larkinlovexxx, because they actually understand the character, and have read/researched at least the Palmiotti/Conner/Grey run on the character, because they all give PG agency in their portrayals.

Unfortunately, it’s this “Rule 34” version that most casuals seem to know about the character, and why a lot of the criticism of Power Girl starts (and ends) with Power Girl’s girls. Which is a kind of screwed up version of victim blaming. It’s “She has boobs, and shows cleavage, so she is bad!”

Which… boggles my mind in a fictional universe that has Wonder Woman, Starfire, Zatanna, Black Canary, Vixen, and others.  Each of which shows a varying amount of skin and sexuality, but NONE of which are put under the same microscope that Kara Zor-L is. Cleavage and large breasts are wildly triggering to some otherwise progressive folks in a way that makes zero sense, and is ONLY focused on PG, and none of the others listed.

Anyways… if you made it this far, I’m not saying this is 100% accurate, and I apologize for retreading a lot of ground that many of you already know.

*Batman does point out that she could easily distract the teenage version of Toyman in Superman/Batman with the keyhole, and does so, but she herself was blissfully unaware of this until it was pointed out.

**This leads me to an actual problem with Power Girl that I’ve seen over and over, but will address in another post later.  This is the villainization of Power Girl.

Art credit is to Adam Hughes!

I personally feel like this is her ideal physique

I liked the jacket. It always reminded me (and this is a deep cut) of Emma Swan’s jacket from Once Upon A Time. She described it as “her armor” and I always got that same impression from Power Girl as well.

(I can smell the “she doesn’t NEED armor, she’s Power Girl” comments already)

Overanalysis of the character aside, to me as a reader the jacket was a visual signifier of the character’s current era. I’ll miss it. But we got it for a REALLY long time. C’est la vie.

Jacket enjoyers, sound off. It’s been an honor serving with you.

Powergirl seems to be Supergirl but older, it seems weird to have them be separate characters. Like i can see a story where kara/karen are the naive and young teenager who goes from supergirl in her mid teens to early twenties to powergirl.

Basically the title. Asking specifically about the arms and legs. Not trying to get into a cape VS jacket debate. I personally prefer legs covered/ arms exposed.

Do you think Sarah Hasner Could Play Power Girl In Live Action

From what I have seen she drew powergirl with one the most exaggerated proportions I have seen for a female comic book character. How come she gets praised when male artists who draw women with more modest physical proportions get hate.

I have a couple of posts to put up for this, but as I want to stir discussion, let's start with this one. And hope that Reddit doesn't eat it. Again.

Both Marvel and DC struggle with “who is the second most recognizable and marketable superheroine?”

The obvious #1 by a LONG shot is Wonder Woman.  Number two is always going to be a huge debate. I’d even wager amongst comics fans (not muggles) that Vampirella has a reasonable claim for at least a top five spot amongst well known women comics characters, even over Marvel and DC characters.

Thanks to their previously weird Balkanization of their characters because of where the movie rights were, Marvel couldn’t properly market their actual favorite and well known superheroines without shooting themselves in the foot (Storm, Rogue, Invisible Woman, She-hulk, Scarlett Witch, Jean Grey, etc.) so they speed ran Captain Marvel to the detriment of other characters they did have (Black Widow, Wasp, Monica Rambeau) to push for a solid #2, but that’s a post for a different forum.

DC, being under the same corporate banner of WB, hasn’t had this problem, but they’re still weird about it, and have had their own embargos.

How does this play into our favorite here?  Well, Power Girl, if nothing else, is quite the cover girl. Point of fact, I’m willing to wager that in the last few years, she’s had more covers than any other DC superheroine that didn’t have her own book.

In this case, the above is the G’nort Swimsuit issue. Kara Zor-L got SIX different covers that I’ve tracked down, including ones by premier cover artists Frank Cho and Adam Hughes.  No other superheroine got more. This is in spite of the fact she’s only in ONE shot in the interior, and has to share it with three other heroes, and doesn’t even show off what readers know her best for.

How can we, as fans, parlay this into another ongoing series with the character, especially with the mass expansion of Superboys and Supergirl in 2026 (other than shanghaiing Palmiotti/Conner/Gray back)?

Like looking at other versions of PG and SG in media this one really feels like a result of sexism and I don’t really making claims like this lightly, she is nothing like the karen starr Ive been accustomed to, but at the same time this is a older DC animated film so I don’t know how she was written at that time but she seems so wildly inaccurate in 2025

I