Do you have a favourite version of Power Girl?

Power Girl, Black Canary, Hawkman and Donna Troy should form a club of superheroes with complicated histories

If nothing else I think we can safely assume that this particular version of Power Girl is without a doubt a version of Power Girl.

As confusing as her continuity is now, you know there are going to be many more revisions and reboots in the future. I am looking forward to watching Sasha's next Power Girl retrospective in 2028, explaining all the bizarre changes to come.

*Power Girl pets Beast Boy* Karen: Oh Garfield, you sweet little veal cutlet you lol

I'm just glad she's back. Power Girl is a severely under appreciate character

This is the reason why I think the distinction of Earth 1 and Earth 2 should come back again in the comics, it really is not that complicated to say that yes, there are multiple universes, but those two earths are the most important ones and Power Girl comes from Earth 2, she's just an alternate grown up version of Supergirl. That's it, I really feel it's not that complicated, but DC keeps trying to merge all earths into a single universe and that ultimately makes retcons and backstories even more confusing

Power Girl is going to be forever trapped in the tension of "she's a totally unique character" or "she's a leftover burp from another universe." It could be worse. She could have just been killed by shadow demons like her buddy, Helena Wayne.

I feel like this is one of those stories to add to Power Girls Legacy that in the future we will look back on fondly; "hey remember that one time Power girl punched peoples mental problems out of them with physical therapy? wasn't that wacky?"

“Commissioner Gordon Bunny McBatman” is the best description I have ever heard for that strange era of Batman 🤣

I'm definitely in the "just happy to see her back" with Power Girl. I feel most are gonna pull from the more popular pre-N52 version with the void maybe getting wrapped up or referenced as an Easter egg. As for the direction the fish-out-of-water approach without knowing idioms feels unnecessary.

"For a while, things were stable" DC editorial: Allow us to introduce ourselves

While I am glad she's back in a general sense. I never truly realized how convoluted the continuity got when it came to the different versions and which one was which. Hearing it explained so thoroughly made me feel like I was in the exploding head scene from Scanners lol.

at first I was a bit confused by Power Girl becoming psychic but once I starting thinking about it it makes sense, it helps distinguish her from Supergirl and leans into the mystic aspects of past retcons

It would be funny if it was three Powergirls the whole time overlapped into one person, being lead by another's thoughts like every run of comics. Later splitting to new bodies for all the confusion and chaos, to run in our minds.

If they don't reveal Tanya is stuck in Power Girl's mind and possibly that is why she doesn't remember that as a result and maybe even the real source of the new powers (allowing Tanya to return and have a role distinct from her) I will be disappointed. It seems a natural progression to a story about a character going into people's minds to deal with stuff in there. Have that person have something in their head that someone needs to go in to deal with.

Maybe the "not understanding basic phrases" thing is foreshadowing that she'd not actually Power Girl at all, but some kind of impostor infiltrating her life.

Off topic but that is by far my favorite wig you have ever worn. Oh and good Power Girl is back.

Convergence was silly but under rated... I loved it. I am down for any and all Power Girls and if she leans pre-crisis I'm giddy.

Yeah Deathstroke annual from rebirth left me with so many questions, because I remember seeing power girl during Green lanterns as a background character helping other super heroes. I still wanted to know what happened after that annual.

Yeah, idk why Power Girl is acting a bit weird in the newer stuff, but I’m just glad she’s back on the mainline comics. I hope they have her meet Harley again. That dynamic was fun.

"Maybe she'd rather be in the void" Yeah...that is likely how awkward and traumatizing things went in that issue but everyone including Slade was feeling remorse thinking she truly did check herself out. It looked like Tanya came back in Future State Shazam as a member of the Justice Leaguge with a new hairstyle and name Powerhouse but yes it is Future State. There was also a Dark Crisis 7 variant that showed her and other heroes (including Billy Batson who should have been imprisoned in the Rock of Eternity at thr time iirc) fighting Pariah but she did not appear at all in said issue but it seemed couple Dark Crisis variants were misleading. Not to mention whether or not if Tanya came back in time for Shadow War were everyone who stood too close to Slade Wilson was going to be killed because Talia believed he killed her father. Maybe she did have a comeback planned at some point but like so much else at DC ditched or pushed back.

As usual Sasha, Great Job, This whole Power Girl Origin story reminds me to say Oh how I wish the Tuning Forks would have worked and stopped the Earths mergers in COIE.

I am probably the only one who was more excited to see Lilith than Power Girl. Now SHE has a weird and wacky history, the first Teen Titan with her own solo series in the back of the book! Plus, she was a go-go dancer, and had a van and a motorcycle, and an air of mystery. Until someone decided she was Mr. Jupiter's daughter, and had to be a Raven-lite named "Omen", FFS. Anyway, if she was going to mind-link with a super female with a complicated history and have psychotherapy adventures, why did they NOT use Donna Troy, who she actually KNEW, rather than PG, with whom she never had any connection? And why do Dick and Gar not act friendly toward Lil? Aaargghh! Anyway, good video!

If we assume that this is the Power Girl trapped between worlds and that she escaped/was rescued at some point, that can mean that Tonya can be back as well.

The timing on this video is relevant for me, I'm about halfway through the 2009-2011 Power Girl run and this video provided a nice roadmap for what to read next

DC writer:"Which continuity are we working with here?" Editor:"Yes".

I loved the Conner/Palmiotti pre Nu 52 PG series. I would love to see them return to her.

Loved her and Huntress in Worlds' Finest. It was a wonderfully upbeat change to the dour and unnecessarily edgy New 52.

DC is definitely playing fast and loose with their continuity. In Dark Crisis young justice, they make a reference to Cassie being Zeus's daughter again, even though since New 52 she has been his granddaughter. Also the made a reference to Diana being a "Child of Clay" in the Lazarus Island : Once We Were God's one-shot.

i think the current status was definitively answered in the Infinite Frontier series - Psycho Pirate kidnapped a bunch of people, including her, who were JUST restored into existence following Death Metal re-continuiting everything. She also then references their history together that same issue, so it's pretty clear she is the pre-crisis Kara who stopped existing and then started existing again like everyone else who Psycho kidnapped for Darkseid.

Sasha: _"Power Girl, she has a more convoluted story than most"_ Donna Troy: *"Allow me to introduce myself"*

You need to do a follow up around Geoff Johns'JSA series having her around in the 1970s and 30 years into the future!

Never mind Kara, this whole Lazarus volcano and it randomly affecting everyone differently - when we've never seen Lazarus do that previously (to my knowledge anyways - is confusing me beyond belief. 🙃🙃

Yes I want to see Tanya again. I did like her. When she showed up in the future state Shazam book I thought it was their way of hinting that she was coming back. But she hasn't yet. I'm guessing we're going to get a better idea of which Karen this is in the Justice Society book.

"Also what happened to Tanya? Time will tell." Or it won't, and she'll be forgotten forever, lost in the void with Power Girl. Heck, maybe she's just stuck in the void alone, now, if that was the original PG and Manhattan freed her when fixing everything.

Personally, my Power Girl is everything Pre-New 52, with the exception of Convergence since that uses a Pre-Crisis version of the character.

Pre-Flashpoint, chairwoman of the JSA, ex-member of Infinity Inc, crush on Hawkman, Powergirl. That's MY Power Girl.

I think "Therapist Powergirl" is a Transparent Attempt to Get Her Out of Supergirl's Shadow Where She has Languished as a "Legacy's Legacy" since 1976 :) Given that she is usually depicted as having impulse control issues...not sure how long this'll last. But since Action Comics is pretty readable these days, I will see where it leads :)

0:43 DC continuity is a pit of scorpions best left to its own devices

Power Girl is my all time favorite DC character. Amanda and Jimmy’s run with her was just amazing. Since we saw psycho pirate, I’m of the belief this is pre-crisis Karen. But whichever she is, I’m just happy to see her again.

Could the real Power Girl please stand up?

I'm excited with the Legacy and character-centric focus DC is taking, but I wish they had more of a standardized idea of characterization and character backstory. But that's comics for you :P I'm still excited to see where this character goes and I'll check it out!

Your wardrobe choice is spot on for power girl! 🤣

In the New Golden Age: JSA,an one shot and the main series, there is the Pre-Crisis Power-Girl who has anger issue; unfortunately she was killed by time manipulating villain by the first issue

I think it's cool she's back. Who knows we might eventually get a new variation of Val-Zod and the two could eventually pair up.

1. In my experience, anyone who says "Let's do this. Yeah, why not!" never actually asks themselves why not. 2. Like DC continuity reboots every five years. Can you imagine if the Simpsons or SVU or some other long running tv show rebooted itself every five years with different characters and origins and story-lines? 3. Loving that hair, Sasha, tho now I'm worried you'll be as clumsy as Hal. But I LOVE it anyway!

Lilith AND Powergirl? IN ONE COMIC?! This is gonna be a good year.

So pleased power girl is back I always preferred power girl to supergirl she seemed angry but a fair superhero from 2010 to 2018 I thought different versions of power girl lost their way she was written and did not seem the proper character but it seems the original has returned now. I did like her part in one star squadron with red tornado though. I think between her hawkman and Donna troy these three have the most origins and changes over years would the real hero stand up please

I don't know what version of Tanya Spears I read in Future State Shazam#1 2021, but she made an appearance with the code name Power House in that series.

Tragic 40% of her bust remains trapped in the space between worlds. So sad.

I confessed Jim Lee signed my X-men comic and I address that DC no more crisis. He listen to my idea of injustice (I said kill Lois) and said no for more Crisis. Still my favorite Geek moment.

This wig is giving Tornado from One Punch Man and I love it 😍

I'm really glad that Power Girl is back. I hope she never leaves again.

(pushes up glasses) ACKtually, the main DC earth is Earth 0 and has been since before the New 52 (some earths got renumbered, but this wasn't one of them). Earth 1 is where the "Earth One" graphic novels take place.

Man I miss pre flashpoint dcu so much everything now is so confusing it drives my anxiety up the wall

Literally this week i was reading Deathstroke and saw Power Girl in between dimensions and Tanya got stuck with her. So yes, I was just wondering what happened to them. Thank you for the perfectly timed video

I remember enjoying The Cell a lot when I watched it long ago, like Silence of the Lambs creepy but with spectacular visuals.

Trying to understand DC's convoluted, confusing, and often rebooted timeline is exactly why I don't read DC anymore.

I remember picking up that All-Star Comics Power Girl first appeared in off the stands. I never could've foreseen that the character would become this convoluted... As another note: Anyone else think Sasha's look in this video would work well for Polaris? Just a thought...

Thanks for spotlighting the confusing history of my favorite character. I'm just glad she's back, but it would be nice to have some things clarified

I think this is Pre Crisis Earth 2 Power Girl she did have some touble earth social skills her earlier apperences, plus with all trauma she been thougth it would not be a surprise if she forgot how to interact with people.

The Cell! I think you inspired me to dig out this DVD and rewatch this film. The visuals in that film are amazing. And when JLo is in the dreamscape and turns around and sees dreamscape-d'Onofrio roar at her - that is some scary stuff!

Left floating like Donna Troy’s origin to date- saved orphan by Diana, raised by the Titans of Myth, mirror image of Diana come to life of her own, or a young woman emerged from spell of clay from Hippolyta merged with sacrificed baby who somehow also was a teen in a forgotten Teen Titans history. I want to know the true origin of both Donna and Karen of today.

I mean, the Justice Society book shows her being active in the 70s

Waking up in the middle of the night screaming "what about Tanya?????"

Pre-Crisis would be the easiest best choice. New 52 would would just be that Earth 2 version of Kara...or stick with for a moment...we could make a new NEW version of the character!

New 52 power girl and New 52 superboy just being stuck in limbo forever just hurts

Oh hey, you DO reference the Deathstroke Annual! Hardcore story. I fell in love with Tanya in that run. I asked Priest what was up with that ending, and he said DC wouldn't let him do his six issue miniseries about the two Power Girls that he wanted to do to bring them both back.

She has lots of origins Even one of them is exactly like "Future Trunks'"

OMG. That was glorious. Hearing you rapid-fire trace timelines and universes reminded me of the '80s era "cosmic events" which was my comic collecting heydays.

"Which continuity is this? And the answer is "yes." haha That should be DCs new marketing slogan. "DC Comics...yes." lol

Pretty weird that post-Crisis Power Girl couldn't be an alternate universe version of Supergirl, but 2 years later they introduced a Pocket Universe version of Supergirl. We got an amazing story out of it (with Pocket Bruce, Ollie & Hal dying on one page), but still...

It has gotten confusing. I miss old school Power Girl.

Last time I saw Powergirl was in the Earth 2 Society run, but idk if that’s this Powergirl. Because she says her home no longer exists, but we see Val Zod at the tail end of action comics 1050 (I believe). All that to say, it’s me, I’m one of the people who NEEDS to know which PG this is 😅

I STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND WHERE SHE FITS INTO THE DCU!!!! I mean, Kara Zor-El is there and is Supergirl. So who is Power Girl??? And they seem to be trying to restore the mystical aspects (re: Arion) but not. And her new uniform has the SuperFamily logo - but it's clear you don't have to actually be an El for that. Worse, from what I can tell, the new Earth 2 ALSO has its own Power Girl. AUGHHH.

SO im gonna just say there's 3 Power Girl's Old Timeline, New52 Timeline, BOTH are MIA currently. This Power Girl is a psychic creation. Like Tidus from FFX a dream that lives in reality yet most likely will *poof* when the next universe ending event rolls around...

As usual, nicely done... and a treat to watch. Have a good day.

Sasha, you may be the Emerald Power Girl, but you make an excellent Tatsumaki! ❤ Excellent coverage on my favorite Kryptonian from a fave Comic-Tuber!

Power Girl looks like she would be DC´s response to She-Hulk from the 90s: Eye Candy, action and comedy. However I don´t know if that truly applies as older comics are not available anymore.

Your explanations of all the changing status quos made me think of Horrible Histories "but not for long!"

I really despise how DC is treating it's characters or continuity but I love Powergirl, her 2 big reasons, her arc on Infinite Crisis wich is an awesome and sad good bye to the Golden Age Superman, and the idea of how every single time she as a fictional character can divide writers and readers, they don't make characters like her anymore ( I know they do, but she is a character from a time this was controversial only for how she looks and everyone had their 2 cents on the moral police, you can pick the Powergirl of any time and see how the controversy of the boob window always developed, I simply love it). Thanks for the video!

Power Girl is my Favorite DC Comics character. I bought some All-Star Comics in the late 70's and that was my introduction. I've read most of the Power Girl comics since then with the exception of "One-Star Squadron" and "Dark Crisis". For awhile I wondered how Power Girl got out of the void, as she kept being drawn in the background art of different comic series. They delayed ending of "Doomsday Clock" finally gave us Power Girl back. I'm hoping that the "Lazarus Planet" and "Action Comics" stories don't ruin Power Girl. I'm reading the "Justice Society of America" 12 issue series to see how much of the JSA timeline will be changed by Per Degaton. We've seen one future version of Power Girl there and hopefully her fate can be changed.

Yay! Thank you for this! Love powergirl!

1 - If Psycho-Pirate did that mind-continuity trip to Donna Troy, he is the one who would break. 2 - Thank God when she was 'Atlantean' they never had her in a romance with Clark. The end of Peter David's run aside, that is an outcome we never need, even at a remove. "We were cousins, but that was removed - no, not like second cousins." I get enough grief defending Elfen Lied. 3 - I'm not certain, but I think Karen Starr is the very first Crisis refugee, even before the Hawkman debacle. She is the very first example of "Let's find something for them to do, even though they shouldn't really exist anymore." Those set-asides have always been a headache. 4 - Someday, when Donna Troy is a settled-history, well-origined character, DC will still be messing up Power Girl. Someone somewhere always seems to have a new idea that blows everything else out of the water.

Power Girl, Raven, Donna Troy, Starfire are extremely unique, awesome, and strong characters but for some reason we have 10 different Batman titles :c ALSO I really LOVE this video lol I have always LOVED this character and can't stand DC for not knowing what they got.

Thanks for this video. I remember that movie. Not sure how I feel about Power Girl. I'm glad that she is back but apprehensive about what they will do to the character.

“Well, what about the Baeblefish? It’s a dead giveaway!” And God said, “I hadn’t really thought of that.”, and promptly disappeared in a puff of non~existence. Sure, I’m being snarky today, but my overall point to this, is that there was no point to this! But I’m glad for Sasha’s overview . THAT was some next level homework! It made ALL the sense!

The wig outfit combo gives me more Madam Hydra vibes more than Power Girl. I like it though. Great video.

Your videos always give me a laugh and smile when I need it. Keep up the awesome work.

I feel like “doesn’t understand figures of speech” is a character trait that gets tossed at aliens a bit too easily. It’s meant to remind you they’re not native to the planet but sometimes you have aliens that have been on Earth a long time that it doesn’t make sense that they don’t understand it.

It is amusing DC started their massive crossover events with the hope of simplifying their universe and to resolve the problems created by that and subsequent course corrections have now ended up creating a multiverse even more confused than the one they set out to clean up in 85.

Looking back at "DC You" those were some good stories that I end up enjoying. We are Robins, "Bat Chappie", Powergirl and Harley Quinn

And you know that I agree with you on that. None of us PG fans really like the idea of her living in Clark's shadow, even as a new arrival on her native universe's earth. But I'm just thinking about this from a business standpoint, and how the DCU structures itself, it's hierarchy, and what gets editorial attention. I think some people don't get how Karen fits into the picture or how to use her, and perhaps if we could draw parallels to guys like Nightwing, it'd make Karen easier for these people to understand, and thus more likely that they'd green light her usage. Yes, people will boil a character down to an elevator pitch if you let them and Karen was never the "legacy" type so this is a small betrayal of who she is. I know. Come on man, you know that I know. But elevator pitches are for execs, not consumers. As long as the creators understand her character and handle Karen the way she's supposed to be, who cares what the executives think? And you're right that Nightwing will never get past "the first Robin" but he's done just fine despite that. Treated properly, being the first Robin is his launch pad, not the ceiling, and he outsells almost every other DC comic on the stands. If telling DC execs that Karen is the Super version of Nightwing is what it takes for them to use her? There's far worse fates out there. Like the limbo she currently inhabits. She's attached to the JSA, which means she doesn't show up when they don't. And right now that means she doesn't show up at all. All this attention and effort with the multiverse, where Karen should have been front and center...but there's no JSA, so no Karen. But if all we had to do is say "In her youth, in another universe, Karen was briefly called Supergirl before carving her own path as Power Girl" and that got DC to see how she fits into the Super-verse and actually use her? We're talking a largely inconsequential amendment in her early history, something that would rarely matter, or even be referenced in the modern day. I can't bring myself to discard the notion out of hand. Not if it meant quality appearances instead of limbo or poor treatment like One-Star Squadron. Sometimes the creative side has to bend around the business side. Maybe this is one of those times. I don't like it, but if it got DC to use her again, and use her well? Bottom line, Karen is gonna be attached to one franchise or another. Her choices are mostly Superman or the JSA. Better to attach her firmly to the Super-verse, given how the Society is ignored. Of course, Karen *should* be able to stand on her own as her own character, but DC doesn't work that way; everyone has to be tied to one big franchise or another. I think she's more than attached to the Superverse as is, she just has to get used. I'm not willing to go against the very conception of the character just to make her easier for execs to wrap their head around when the question will invariably come to "why not just use Supergirl then" at worst or what happens with the Robins (where her traits will be grafted onto the iteration the media adapts, which will be Supergirl) at best (and already has begun happening anyway). I don't think making her more like Supergirl is going to actually help her at all but I know it actively harms the character by essentially going against her reason for ever being Power Girl to begin with. "Super-" anything is Karen's version of Bruce with a gun. It's 100% easier. It makes sense to the non-initiated. You should probably just write a Shadow story if you're going to do that, though. The Karen I love has one foot firmly rooted in that "take-no-lip" feminist wave of the 70s. She's got some Aretha Franklin in her. She's got sass in spades. She's more than an easy sell in a world that's had Spider-Verse which propagates an inter-dimensional love story between two people with disparate issues as well as multiple versions of a character being different (Pine's Spider-Man vs Peter B. Parker) but as usual fans are using "it's hard for execs" as an excuse to make sweeping changes to established characters. I firmly understand that execs are stupid, but now there's an easy, financially successful example to point to for them to wrap their head around. Doubly so following Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. We don't need to sand Karen down to "offbrand Supergirl with big tits" to appease them. Polish what is best about her to a mirror shine, don't sand away everything that makes her Power Girl. May we never forget: Quote Originally Posted by Gaius View Post Daddy Zeus can hit the bricks. Truer words never spoken I'm of the mind that making her ever adopt the name Supergirl is antithetical to the character and is actively doing harm to her. She became Power Girl specifically to avoid that. To avoid being seen by the world as derivative or reliant on someone else's legacy. It's very dehumanizing when all your thoughts and accomplishments are belittled by everyone refusing to acknowledge your person for want of just simplifying you into a relationship to another. Karen has always, always been determined to get away from the S-shield the same way some children of celebrities don't want to use their famous parent's names to establish themselves. Speaking from personal experience, it's incredibly frustrating to still have extended family who only ever remember you as [X]'s brother/son and never anything else, even if those people have been dead for over twenty years, every time you meet they just say "oh I loved your [x]" and walk away. I also happen to have a relatively famous cousin and it's much the same. Generally, people like to simplify things and people if you give them the chance. Part of what's so appealing about characters like Lois Lane and Karen Starr is they don't give anyone that chance. The minute you let someone simplify you, they will and you'll never get out from under it. Danial Radcliffe is always going to be Harry Potter. Milly Bobby Brown can grow up and play Satan or something and everyone's just going to say "it's Eleven!" Harrison Ford hated Han Solo and were it not Indy (which is the exact same issue, but a character he actually likes) he'd basically just be Han Solo forever. The minute she's Superman's cousin, that's all she'll ever be in the eyes of the DCU. Dick Grayson dropped being Robin 40 years ago and he's still "Batman's former partner" to most people who meet him. He will never be "Bludhaven's greatest protector" before he's "the first Robin" because that's what everyone knew him first as. The second someone can reduce your history to an elevator pitch, they'll do it. That's just how people are. Karen's entire being was about that elevator pitch being entirely about her. She's Power Girl. That's what she wanted people to remember. Not "I was saved by Superman's cousin," but "I was saved by Power Girl!" It doesn't matter that the L crest is her own, it matters what it means to the people. Go ahead and wear a swastika claiming it's a Tibetan symbol. The S-Shield isn't her family's crest anymore. It means "Superman" to the cosmos. Karen's cousin is one of the most important people in the multiverse. Someone as headstrong as her would never hitch her wagon to him because she knows it can't come undone. I can completely understand why Karen would never want to latch onto Clark's coattails even if that's her family crest because it's long since been just her family's symbol. Everything about her is dripping with new wave feminism and wanting to strike out on her own. There's not an ounce of spite towards Superman or Lois from E-2, but she clearly wanted to do it on her own. How many Supergirl stories have we had where she's moping/angsting over Clark's long shadow and being unable to get out from under it, or framing him as some hurdle for her to clear? Her entire modern identity is based around surpassing him... But Kara still only exists in Superman's orbit. Power Girl doesn't have that problem because she never let herself get absorbed by it... And our suggestion is to simply cast her into that same rut? Why? So she can be second rate Supergirl but simpler to understand than Power Girl? What's our endgame here? Having her be the Wallace West to Kara's Wally West? The less-popular but sometimes around semi copy? Making her more like Supergirl to make her easier to understand will only serve to make her less like Power Girl, but still never as popular as Supergirl. We're cutting off our nose to spite our face in hopes someone will look at us. It's an exercise in futility with no real positive outcome. But hey, why respect character when we can boil her down to "this one guy's relative" or "the other one?" Erasure is the new hotness. Why not just make her the big breasted cousin of Superman from our universe and call it good?

I don't actively follow *any* of this but I just like to hear you talk about comics. Ha! Good stuff. :)

YES I want to see Tanya. I felt interested in her once she was introduced, she gave me young MR. Terrific vibes, and was hilarious because she was sort of a genius but was an odd duck with Wallace on Defiance, side note I sorta wanted to see her reaction to Wallace being with Emiko ( Hopefully no Catfight but a talk would be nice to see, even if VERY awkward).😂😅😊

This is the first video I've seen from you and I'm impressed!! Love your knowledge and fast pace. I would love to know what version this is. I like my continuity "tidy". Why I collect DC, who knows? They could simplify everything by telling us what version this is. Rebirth was supposed to do that. Fail. Infinite Frontier? Fail. Dark Crisis....oy, just keep moving.

I miss Tanya but I'm happy Ms. Starr is back.

I wanna see Tanya, and hope that it's Pre-Crisis E-2 Kara...

Thanks for the awesome power girl videos. Truly my favorite DC character.