For Truth, Justice, and Nerds

So, I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. Power Girl has never been stated to be an explicitly straight character (not an explicitly gay/bi/queer character either) and because of the fashion of comic book characters being fairly ill-defined and written by different people, PG may be straight according to one author, gay according to another, bi to a third, and asexual to a fourth.

As she is currently written (I’m talking Winick and, to a slightly lesser extent, Gray and Palmiotti), she appears more asexual and business concerned than anything else.

But what about her past? I want to write a thesis on Power Girl as a character (nerdy, I know), so I’ve been doing some research/reading.  These are the past romances I’ve found that have evidence/proof/support and not just fannon stuff.

Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)

Hal loses his memory, but ends up helping Power Girl battle Sonar, a villain. Sonar manages to trap Green Lantern and Power Girl together. Hal begins to freak out that he might die without knowing his own identity. Overcome with emotion, Power Girl grabs him and plants a kiss on his lips:

Eventually, Hal regains his memory and they both go back to their business as if nothing ever happened.  It’s set up for the readers to assume Hal is the father, but, apparently, Power Girl never let him get much past second base—and even gave him a lecture about how she “wasn’t that kind of girl” before things went too far. Power Girl claims that she hasn’t slept with anyone and doesn’t know how she became pregnant, but Hal doesn’t believe her and thinks she’s being a hypocrite. He jealously accuses her of sleeping with Aquaman.  Power Girl promptly slaps him. Like, hard. [Source]

Hawkman

While showing Roy around the head quarters, Power Girl offhandedly mentions that he shouldn’t actively seek relationships (or something) because everyone is just looking for tail.

Everyone (by which I mean Roy/the readers) is mildly weirded out by the story.

Also, is my inference that PG had sex with Hawkman wrong? [Source]

Alexander Luthor

This happens in Infinity Crisis; it was Alex Luthor’s way of knocking Peej out, so to speak.  This kiss stuns her and allows Alex and evil (at the time) Superboy/man to restrain her.  Also in this series, Alex Luthor promises her to Psycho Pirate (Power Girl’s longtime 4th wall breaking enemy).

It’s a pretty weird situation all around. Speaking of…

Psycho Pirate

In Infinite Crisis, Psycho Pirate wants to make Power Girl his love(?) slave (not even kidding, Alex Luthor promised Psycho-Pirate that he could have her once their nefarious plan was completed). In later appearances, he is less….creepy and hitting on her, but still…

Atlee

It certainly seems like the female equivalent of a bromance to me, but she did open her mind to Atlee in the most cheesecakey scene I have ever seen.

Da Bomb

Okay, so not strictly a love interest (like many on this list), but still, he really wanted to get into her pants. Like, that was the whole point of the JSA issue (“Power Crush”) he appeared in.  Long story short, he thinks he is the superior mate for her, and attempts to prove so (by…beating her up). She pounds him into the ground. A pretty fun issue over all!

Speaking of mating….

Vartox

Can we say “impregno-ray”? But whatever, she was clearly not interested in him and only wanted to help him.

Andrew Vinson

A reporter who found Power Girl in her 1980’s miniseries.  After saving him from a techo-possession, he helped her establish a secret identity and get her a job.  They later became lovers.  Then he sort of…disappeared. But this was all on Earth-2, so that’s really no surprise. [Source]

Toyboy (Hiro Okamura)

On and off within the pages of the Batman/Superman comic, Hiro, initially dubbed “Toyman,” is another one of PG’s biggest fans. But instead of creeping on her like Da Bomb, he ends up saving the world for the prize of the promise of a date with a Power Girl robot.  Then the real Power Girl appears, offering a date in Paris. Hiro is, of course, shocked, amazing, and…well, let’s not go there. As they walk off, Batman whispers “I owe you one” to which Peej responds “you have no idea.”

Aquaman

Yeah, Power Girl had a thing for Aquaman…

At some point Mera had been captured/was assumed dead and Aquaman got all weepy and I think they shared a kiss, but I’m not sure. Anyway, eventually Mera shows back up and Aquaman never says another word to PG. [looking for Source]

Kyle Rayner’s Imagination

I’m not even kidding. She shared romantic moments with a figure from Kyle Rayner’s imagination.

He was some kind of medieval Green Lantern that Kyle made up as a kid. Circle of Fire was a weird fucking mini series.

Firestorm

In an old JSA/JLA cross over, PG and Ronnie Raymond shared a lot of flirty comments back and forth.  Peej even actually initiates the flirting (pretty surprising compared to the rest of her relationships).  They don’t get together, but after the New Gods incident, they see each other again and Firestorm asks Power Girl if she wants to “see some etchings.”  Power Girl declines and says “maybe when you’re a little older.”

They have a couple more instances of romantic interaction; they flirt, Firestorm holds and supports Power Girl, she saves him and the rest of the team from a monster.  Ronnie mistakenly believes that they are an item and his friends advise him that “Earth-2 people like to be pursued as well—both men and women.”  Kind of odd wording, but true, I guess.

Then post-Crisis, during Invasion the blank slate version gives PG the cold shoulder.  It clearly rubs her the wrong way.  It’s too bad, too, because, honestly, this is one of Power Girl’s sweetest relationships.  [Source]

Terra (Atlee)

While never an explicitly romantic relationship, Atlee and Kara do emotionally meld when they visit Terra’s underground home, in the above (extremely cheesecakey) scene.  They are also portrayed shopping together at Ikea and living together, but all these activities are to highlight the fact that Atlee is a young girl who does not know the world very well.

Huntress

Helena Wayne

Helena Wayne and Kara were best friends on Earth 2, and so there are various touching moments between the two of them.  However, on Earth 2, Helena was engaged (to a male lawyer) at some point. This of course is all pre-reboot.

Post-reboot, we don’t have a lot of evidence one way or the other. Perhaps when Worlds’ Finest (oh no, the above page has a typo!) is released, we will have more information, one way or the other.

Helena Bertinelli

In the first four issues of JSA Classified, Power Girl seeks out her background, which ultimately leads her to Helena B.  She says she is looking for a friend, and she has some memory of her first friend, Helena Wayne.  Huntress of Earth 1 seems initially put off, but eventually introduces herself and tries to offer a hand. Of course, her offer is immediately interrupted by some visions PG is having.

Batman

Dick

In the couple of issues Power Girl and DickBats team up, she is very complimentary to him.  There might even be just a little flirting going on between the two of them, but it kind of peters out when Dick keeps forgetting how Max Lord killed Ted Kord.

Bruce

This one is a bit odd to me, considering Bruce is the age of her adoptive father (roughly).  But in Power Girl #24-25, Bruce helps PG really get her company up and running.  They attend benefits together in Gotham, but also team up to fight.  At the end of Winick’s last issue, Batman praises her as “one of the best,” which comes off as a little hokey, honestly.

Mr. Terrific

For everyone following the DCnU, Mr. Terrific and Power Girl (er…Karen Starr) have what seems to be a “friends with benefits” relationship. I can’t say I’m too pleased with the dialog that Karen has gotten so far, but she and Mr. T are totally plausible (and now realized) pairing.  Karen has not taken the Power Girl guise yet, but it seems as though she has stolen Michael’s portal designs in order to get to Earth 2.  Mr. Terrific immediately chases after her, next to be seen in the upcoming comic Earth 2 #2.

Jimmy Olsen

***Not the actual dialogue!

You heard right!  According to Justin Gray, the up-coming Ame-Comi Girls comic will feature Jimmy as an older, sexier, Sebastian Junger type photojournalist in love with Power Girl. He had a very sweet interaction with Kara in JSA Classified (although it might have been fake Jimmy…), and it’s pretty funny, considering Jimmy’s pre-reboot girl friend had a lot in common with PG…

I look forward to seeing this pan out, for sure. [Source]

I think that’s everyone. (If I’m missing anyone, please let me know!)

So, what is Power Girl? She’s certainly written with a majority of male love interests, but…she never seems to actively seek love/relationships and the relationships she does have are shaky at best (except for Atlee; cause they are best friends forever).  I think it’s refreshing that there is a female character who is written (for the most part) without the explicit need to always be in a relationship.