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Powers and abilities
Powers
Power Girl exhibits most of the classic Kryptonian powers of Superman on Earth: super-strength, flight, invulnerability, X-ray vision, heat vision, and super-hearing. The specific scope of these abilities has changed drastically over the years, often in time with a change in her personal history.
Kryptonian Physiology: Power Girl's cellular structure is more dense, resilient and biologically more effective than Earth human tissue. She does possess several additional organs, the function of which are not yet disclosed or understood. Power Girl has manifested a wide range of metahuman abilities and is considered to be one of the most powerful metahumans alive. Power Girl's body also actively stores energy within her bio-cellular matrix as an energy pattern that is linked to her body's electromagnetic field. This energy powers most of Power Girl's electromagnetic capabilities, such as flight and heat vision.
Solar Energy Absorption: Over the years this basis has changed with Kara-L originally being a Kryptonian of the Earth-Two dimension, her powers originally were based on her own internally generated energies, as Kryptonians native to the original Earth-Two dimension possessed powers on their red sun planet. Later Kara-L's powers were changed to reflect the current incarnation of Superman, whereby her powers are supposedly the result of yellow sun radiation. It seems that Kara-L's powers do reflect that of the current Superman as her powers do fluctuate under red sun as recently shown in her time in the New Kandor where she was operating without her superpowers.
Superhuman Strength: Her physical strength appears to be on a par with that of Superman and Supergirl. Her powers can be suppressed by red solar radiation. It has been implied, though not yet specifically shown, that like Superman, she can sun-dip and supercharge her powers.
Invulnerability: Power Girl's body is more durable and resistant to damage than a human being. The most common explanation for her invulnerability is the possession of a super-dense molecular structure powered by yellow solar radiation. �
Healing: Kara heals faster than a human being. �
Super Immunity: Kara's immune system protects her from most toxins and diseases. Superhuman Stamina: Power Girl's body stores and processes solar energy at a rapid rate and for a variety of effects. Her storage capacity is unknown, although she has been shown to need rest on a regular basis even when charged.
Flight: Kara-L has the ability to fly. It is unknown at present whether her power is a result of mental or physical ability. She can move herself and extremely large and objects off the surface of the Earth. Her top speed is unknown but is known to be at least escape velocity (7 miles per second). Kara's control is highly precise; she can perform aerobatic feats such as hovering, flying backwards and even lifting great weights while flying.
Superhuman Speed: Power Girl's enhanced metabolic rate, muscular speed, and nervous system, grant her incredible speed. Her Kryptonian structure and the solar energy paths that course along her neurophysical structure allow her to react at many times normal human speed. She can move faster than the human eye can perceive if necessary. Her reflexes are quick enough to allow her to dodge most projectile weapons and catch bullets . Power girl is at least fast enough to run/move at supersonic speeds while on Earth. Power Girl's perceptions are similarly rapid, allowing her to see individual bullets fired from high-speed automatic weaponry in flight and outrace them easily.
Super Breath: Kara-L can generate a concentrated gust of wind from her mouth capable of freezing matter within a limited range.
Enhanced Senses: Kara-L possesses super enhanced senses that allow her to detect vibrational movements at least in the sub-atomic motion level. Some of her known super-senses include: Vision specific powers
Telescopic Vision: Kara-L can perceive objects at great distances. The range of her telescopic vision is unknown, but she can see objects from several hundred miles away. This ability operates independently of normal vision and can be activated or deactivated by an act of will.
X-Ray Vision: Through an act of will, Kara-L can perceive items in the electromagnetic spectrum through solid objects of varying depths and thickness. The exact range and mechanism of Kara's X-ray vision is unknown. She also can not look through massively dense objects or materials, including lead.
Microscopic Vision: The ability to see extremely small objects and images down to the atomic level.
Electro-magnetic Spectrum Vision: Kara can see well into most of the EM spectrum. She can see and identify radio/television and any and all broadcast/transmitted frequencies, allowing her to avoid detection through radar or satellite monitoring methods.
Heat Vision: Kara-L has the ability to generate concentrated lines of force from her body along her line of sight. This act is a conscious act of energy manipulation from all observed events and not an expulsion of energy from her retinas. She focuses light along various frequencies in a continuous release that she is able to contain mentally, as she has been shown with the energy actively contained around her eyes, before releasing it or allowing it to disperse. Power Girl can control her heat vision and direct it wherever she can look. She cannot use the power without opening her eyes to direct the energy, nor has she been observed to be able to project this energy from any other part of her body in this manner. The heat beams are mentally controlled and that control is apparently reflexive, so she can shut it off without accidentally damaging anything.
Other super-sensory powers
Superhuman Hearing: Kara has the ability to hear any sound at any volume or pitch from vast distances. Presently Kara-L has not been able to use this power over mediums where sound waves are unable to travel, such as outer space, suggesting that her power is based on her physical ability to hear and not a form of mental telepathy that corresponds to sound.
Abilities
Master Combatant: Kara has trained with several notable teachers including her teammate Wildcat, who is a world renowned boxer and hand to hand combatant. She was also trained in Karate by martial arts instructor Mongo Krebs.
Genius-Level Intellect: Power Girl has shown enhanced memorization, intelligence and computational abilities; her mind works sharply and with extreme speed.
Strength level Class 100+. Power girl is easily strong enough to lift 100 tons with minimal effort.
Weaknesses
Magic: Power Girl is vulnerable to magic and magic systems. Kara's Kryptonian biology is open to certain radiations, particularly magical energies whose chaotic electromagnetic or extra-dimensional signatures disrupt her body's stability. Power Girl's vulnerability to magic varies on the special effects of the magic. She can be injured and worn down by magical entities. Magic can have powerful and unpredictable effects and her magical enemies have often proven to be the most dangerous.
Psionics: Kara-L is as vulnerable to psionic attacks as a normal human being. She is subject to mental domination attacks against her. Those whose mental powers are superior to her own have been able to render her unconscious or disrupt her natural thought processes.
Vision Limitation: Kara's x-ray vision cannot penetrate lead or lead-lined walls, or objects of dense enough structure. Certain energies also can be used to block her from visually analyzing them.
Kryptonite: Since the destruction of Krypton, its remains (rendered radioactive by the explosion) have been spreading throughout the universe as Kryptonite, a crystalline substance whose specific radiation is lethal to Kryptonians. In the Earth-Two dimension, there was only one type of Kryptonite: Green. Its effect was directly poisonous to Earth-Two Kryptonians. The long term effects of other races being in close or direct contact with Earth-Two Kryptonite is unknown. Originally Kryptonite from other realities affected Kryptonians regardless of their reality of origin, as shown when Kal-L battled the Earth-Three dimension Ultraman. After the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Kryptonite affected only those who come from the same reality as the Kryptonite. Kurt Busiek has confirmed that New Earth Kryptonite does not effect Power Girl, which has been directly and indirectly confirmed in Infinite Crisis and Brave and the Bold.
Solar Energy: Originally Power Girl, as an Earth-Two Kryptonian, did not function on solar power, but her own body generated its own energies. However, based on recent events, Kara operates in a similar way to the New Earth universe Kryptonians, whereby she requires solar energy to function at peak capacity, or her powers fade to greatly reduced levels, some disappearing entirely if her solar reserves are empty. How Power Girl's powers function under suns not colored red or yellow is unknown.Power Girl can survive conditions in deep space; and she does not need to breath or eat. Kara requires sleep on a regular basis in order to function at her peak mental efficiency, as well as needing to dream, or she will experience the psychological effects of sleep deprivation as would any other person.
In the plot line of New Kandor, Kara is shown not to have her powers replenished by red sunlight, and its radiation can be used to weaken her. Power and Background problems
Kara's current known superpowers appear to be based on yellow solar radiation rather than her own internally generated bio-energy. As revealed by Psycho-Pirate (Roger Hayden) and repeated in 52 36, Kara is supposed to be the extra-dimensional counterpart of Supergirl native to the Earth-Two dimension, which was destroyed during the Crisis on Infinite Earths and erased from existence. Previously she was thought to be an Atlantean being.
Kara's powers are also NOT affected by New Earth dimension Kryptonite, as most recently shown in Superman #670. In pre-Crisis times, Kryptonite from one dimension did work on a Kryptonian from another dimension as shown when Ultraman from Earth-Three fought Kal-L and the Earth-One Superman. However, this is no longer the case. Kryptonite from different dimensions does not affect Kryptonians from a different universe. As of Infinite Crisis 7, it has been positively shown that the Kryptonite available in the mainstream DCU does not affect Kryptonians from other universes, such as the now dead Kal-L or Superboy-Prime.
Kal-El analyzing Power Girl to determine her true nature - Superman #663 Currently it is not explained in any published story, how Kara survived the universal reset of all beings in the reformatted universe at the end of the Crisis on Infinite Earths which affected all other beings and its parallel higher dimensions, such as the Olympian Gods and Mister Mxyztplk, who despite their near infinite power levels, were affected by the reset.
Also most of what Kara remembers of the Silver Age Power Girl/Huntress stories involving Power Girl was revealed to be dream instead of memory.
Although Power Girl does not wear a mask, she does maintain a secret identity.
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