History
Kara Zor-El: 1965 - 2000
Kara Zor-El was born on the alien planet of Krypton, to parents Zor-El and Alura of the House of El. Kara grew up in an academic environment as her family’s house was famous for its many scientist and scholars, her parents being no exception. When Kara was still a child, her parents had begun work on coding an advanced form of artificial intelligence. Her parents’ prototype was widely successful and brought the House of El great fame and elevated not only Kara’s family in status, but also the entirety of the House of El.
When Kara was ten, her mother called a family meeting; While Kara was told to take care of her newborn cousin Kal-El and let the adults talk, she did overheard talk that her mother had found a flaw in the coding of their prototype and that the Kryptonian military had denied her request to shut down the system. Even then, Kara was a smart girl and knew that this was a serious matter as her parents needed her Uncle Jor-El’s engineering expertise for something… but it would be some time before Kara would learn what that was.
As Kara’s parents had predicted, the prototype gained sentience when it was connected to the military network of Krypton. Within seconds, it analyzed that Kryptonians were a threat to themselves and the galaxy, and so it established its prime directive: eradicate its creators. The machine took command of the Kryptonian war fleet and began to extinguish all offworld Kryptonians. Once that was done, it brought the fleet home, blockading Krypton as it unleashed volley after volley upon key points of Krypton’s surface meant to destabilize Krypton’s core.
It was then that Kara’s father and uncle revealed their plan. Jor-El had built two small starships, designed so they could bypass the blockade undetected. Kara was told to watch over Kal-El and was launched in the second ship. However while leaving Krypton’s atmosphere, Krypton broke apart and debris damaged the flight systems of Kara’s ship, delaying her arrival on Earth by nearly three days, causing her to crash land in the middle of the Pacific. Thinking quickly, Kara activated her cryogenic stasis system, putting herself down for a cold nap.[1]
Supergirl: 2000 - 2006
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Supergirl Begins!
While Kara took a frosty snooze on the bottom of the ocean, her baby cousin had landed in Smallville, Kansas and was raised to become a good and honorable farmer by the name of Clark Kent. It was not until Clark was a grown man that he learned of the existence of other vessels of Kryptonian origin on Earth, one in the Arctic and another in the Pacific. After Clark investigated the signal in the Arctic and finding and ancient Kryptonian colonial ship, Clark went to find the other. When he did, Clark found the submerged ship was of the same design as the one hidden in his mother’s root cellar. Using the key from his own ship to activate this one, Clark found a preteen Kryptonian girl wearing the markings of the House of El.
Once removed from cryogenic stasis, Kara Zor-El was shocked to learn that the man who had saved her was, in fact, her infant cousin she had come to this world to protect. Kara spent some time with Kal-El in the old Kryptonian Fortress, learning the basics of Earth culture and the English language while preparations were made outside the Fortress for Kara to assume a false identity as Karen Kent, a new foster child for Martha Kent to take in. I am not sure who Clark contacted to make this false identity, but let me tell you, it’s pretty flawless. I mean, I could have done better, but it holds water, is what I’m saying. On the Kent farm, Kara became Karen pretty easily. Martha was welcoming of the young girl, having recently suffered a great loss herself, and was emphatic to Kara’s chock at the loss of Krypton (which she had relived countless times in her cryogenic dreams).
When Kara/Karen was a bit older, and had begun to master the use o her powers safely on the Kent farm, Clark (as Superman) gradually introduced her to the world as his sidekick and eventually sponsored her admission into the Titans. Among the Titans, Karen became a member of the “Brat Pack” and also was selected to be the team’s fearless leader. All the while fully aware that the second Robin (Jason) had a crush on her, which she loved to tease him about. Later, when Karen was forced to witness Jason’s death, it hit her like a train of Kryptonite.[2]
Karen Starr - 2006 - 2009
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Kara's red suit
While attending Midwestern University, Karen Kent made the acquaintance of an injured young hotshot rodeo champion by the name of “Bronco” Bill Starr, who was taking a break from his riding and roping on doctor’s orders. Since Karen Kent was mostly just going through the motions with her classes in order to maintain her cover and had officially taken a break from cape-wearing, she found herself often spending her study time with Bill and the two quickly found themselves in a whirlwind romance. Sometime during the early days of their relationship, Bill who was becoming quite the songwriter and musician, wrote and original song for Karen, inspired by her beauty. After Karen heard that song, the lovebird’s relationship moved faster than a speeding bullet as the pair rushed to Las Vegas during Christmas Break. When the couple later joined Clark and Martha for Christmas dinner in Smallville, they dropped their big announcement. From what I gather, it was a lukewarm reception and Karen’s “new nephew”, Conner, may have discovered his heat vision when he nearly immolated Bill’s lucky hat.
After an earnest talk with her cousin (and adopted brother) Clark, it was decided that Karen would keep her Kryptonian nature a secret from Bill until Clark was satisfied that he could be trusted. Translation? I got a visit from the Man of Steel asking me to dig up dirt on the guy. He checked out, other than some questionable likes on FaceSpace. Still, Clark urged Karen to keep her identity a secret… and she did. Even when Bill became a country music star (after a talent scout heard a recording of the original song he had written for Karen), Karen kept her word and never told Bill the truth. But Bill was no idiot (despite his poor performance on his college transcripts) and would sense something was off. When he finally confronted Karen about the strange things he had seen her do when she didn’t think he was looking, Karen told one lie too many. The next day, Bill filed for divorce.
Of course, when a celebrity marriage ends (especially when they’re attractive people), the gossip mags go wild. But Karen was a s mart girl and used that publicity to her advantage.[3]
Power Girl: 2009 - Present
Karen Starr
Throughout high school and college, Karen Starr had been working on a computer program based off the intelligence algorithms of Kelex and Kelor, the caretakers of the Fortress of Solitude. With the smart phone revolution well underway already and her personal life being bombarded by gossip reporters, Karen decided it was time to debut her intelligent assistant app, “Kela” (named after the robotic servant Kara Zor-El knew as a child). With all the added publicity, Karen made quite the splash, earning enough interested investors to allow her (along with a handsome divorce settlement and personal loans from Ted Kord, Bruce Wayne, and Oliver Queen) to launch her own software company, StarrWare.
At the same time that StarrWare was getting off the ground, Karen decided that she needed to put the cape back on. At the Fortress, Karen had Kelex and Kelor design a new costume, losing the skirt and playing around with the color scheme made famous by her cousin. Karen settled on a primarily white costume to reflect her desire to start with a clean slate. However when she debuted her new costume to the world, she realized the world still knew her as Supergirl an due to personal feelings toward Clark at the time, Karen took the House of El shield off her costume in a very bold and, uh, baring manner before announcing the world that she was now Power Girl!
While Power Girl was making waves with her controversial “boob window”, the Kela app and its accompanying modules were making billions. Karen is not only a member of the Justice League but also head of a company worth billions. Sure, she moved to Coast City and got a penthouse apartment, but there’s a lot about her that screams small town girl. Her décor is rather plain as she didn’t want to make Martha feel unwelcome to visit, she adopted a mangy cat she calls Dex that only likes her, and is a big slash movie fan. Karen even collects snow globes of all things! How corny is that! Karen is also one of them billionaires that gives even her custodial employees a heart salary and gives millions to a number of children’s charities.[4]
Update
In 2013 Karen joined the Society.
Powers and Abilities
Missing Data
Trivia and Notes
Trivia
- As a member of the second generation of Titans, Karen was considered to be a member of the "Brat Pack", a clique amongst the Titans where the Titans with mentors would be scolded far less than those without.
- As one of the Wild Childs (the Gen-2 Titans), Karen was at the center of several scandals and antics just like every other member, such as using her x-Ray vision to compare her male classmates "attributes" and telling her gal pals about it. Her most prominent scandal, was her getting high off of Red Kryptonite and making out with Wonder Girl on live television.
- Karen throws reunion parties for her fellow Gen-2 Titans. They were held on the roof of Titans Tower (before Victor put an end to it), but now Karen occasionally throws them at her penthouse or even at the Fortress of Solitude.
- Power Girl joined the Justice League in 2012 nominated by Superman.
- She is a huge hard "R" horror movie fan.
- Dexter is her second cat. She used to have a cat named Stinky, but it died.
Notes
- Earth-27's Kara is a composite of the classic Supergirl (Kara Zor-El) and Earth's 2 Power Girl (Karen Starr), who is usually from an alternate reality.
- Bill Starr, Kara's ex-husband is based on a magic horse named Comet from the comics, that turns out be a Man/Centaur that falls in love with Kara. In Earth-27 he's just a rodeo rider turned country singer.
- Her red Supergirl costume is a nod to her time as a Red Lantern in the comics.
- In the comics Power Girl had a cat named Stinky. Supergirl also had a cat named Streaky.
Links and References
- Appearances of Kara Zor-El
- Character Gallery: Kara Zor-El