Power Girl is Kara Zor-L, the cousin of Kal-L, who on Earth is known as Superman... sound familiar? Yup, she's got the same origin story as Supergirl, and in fact, she is Supergirl - but Supergirl from Earth 2, one of the many alternate worlds DC used to have (with alternate versions of many of their biggest characters), before the Crisis on Inifinite Earths merged them all into a single world. All those alternate Batmen became a single Batman, for instance - but Power Girl, in spite of being a Supergirl in concept, had her own name and her own costume, and DC decided to keep her, even though in the new Earth Superman was the only survivor of Krypton. Power Girl's origin was rewritten to make her the daughter of an Atlantean sorcerer, and if you roll your eyes at that, you're not alone - her origin became so befuddled that Geoff Johns eventually wrote a four-issue story in JSA Classified exploring where the heck she came from. Luckily, by then DC wasn't so vehemently anti-alternate-Earths, so her new (and so far final) origin was that... she's Superman's cousin from an alternate Earth. Lot of trouble to go through for nothing, huh? Power Girl herself, though, is far from nothing. In spite of her confused series of origins and a string of writers with various conflicting ideas for what to do with her, Kara Zor-L - or Karen Starr, her Earth identity - survived, and slowly built into a character the equal of DC's leading lights today. She's been a member of the Justice League, Justice League Europe (yes, there used to be one), briefly worked for Oracle (it didn't work out well), and - originally and again now - a member of the Justice Society. From a brash, headstrong young powerhouse, Power Girl has learned and matured into a capable and reliable hero, so much so that in the current Justice Society of America title, she was offered the position of chairwoman, leader of the super-team, which she accepted, putting her among the ranks of Earth's most elite superheroes. Power Girl has always been courageous and compassionate, and during her time with the Society grew into a truly remarkable hero, but since accepting command she has shown herself to be an exemplary leader of heroes. Already her keen insight and thorough grasp of tactics and strategy has helped the team prevail against tough odds, and her experience and shrewd judgement has let her help the troubled Citizen Steel come to terms with his unexpected transformation into a superhuman, and become a valuable new member of the team. She hasn't lost any of the daring and confident courage of her youth, but now she has the wisdom to know how to use all her strengths, not just the physical ones. Power Girl appears in DC's Justice Society of America, and in various other titles such as Justice League of America, Countdown, and Amazons Attack as crossovers occur. DC has also announced an ongoing Power Girl title. A trade paperback entitled Power Girl was published in 2006, collecting issues showing her original (Earth-Two) origin, her post-Crisis origin, and Johns' four-issue JSA Classified story which redefined her and laid the groundwork for her to rise to her present position.