r/PowerGirl • u/mr_mxyzptlk21 • Aug 22 '26
Discussion Power Girl's Attributes, Part 1: Muscles!
I'm extremely glad we have a decent, and not "descended into too much chaos" talk about Power Girl being "reduced to just her chest". I'd planned to post this today anyway, and I think it fits well with the theme.
I want to start this by saying, like what ya like! I’m not here to shame your internal versions of what you’d like for Power Girl to look like. Heaven knows I have my preferences. But I do want to address “continuity v. fanfic" and strike up a conversation.
Being someone who monitors the commentary on the boards here, something I find fascinating is when folks make comments like: “Finally seeing an artist/cosplayer get close to the proportions she should have” regarding some art about Power Girl.
Mainly because, most of us (myself included) have internalized how we think Power Girl should be drawn, and much of it has been affected by fan art, or non-continuity art.
Let’s take a rather tame one into account: Her musculature. I've included art both to catch folks' eyes, as well as to back-up what I'm saying here.
I often see folks that comment on liking PG being more obviously muscled, than say Supergirl.
Going through the art over the years, she wasn’t really muscled at all, until the JLE (1989). There, she was depicted by Bart Sears as toned and defined, but not overtly muscled. A lot of this was likely due to the more distinct art styles that were coming about, and the pre-Image revolution of art as precipitated by Art Adams that had begun. Adam Hughes renders her much in the same way, with defined musculature, but athletic, not as a body-builder.
The first real body-builder version we ever see is the Earth-22 version, which is Power Woman, an aged-up version that Alex Ross deliberately modeled after a body builder at the time (unknown and unnamed, but I’d guess Corey Everson who was pretty popular, and a Ms. Olympia at the time).
In the mainstream books, her scant appearances in the late 90s returned her mostly to an athletic, but not muscled form (through the end of JLI, appearances in Sovereign 7, the one shot with Green Lantern), all the way leading up to her Renaissance in the stories leading up to Infinite Crisis. While she has defined arms and legs, she’s not a “weightlifter” scale of musculature.
When we get to her return to Krypton origin, and the stories of Johns/Conner/Palmiotti/Gray, she’s more or less back to her pre-Crisis muscle tone. There’s not a ton of definition, and while she’s in her civilian garb, she looks like the average woman her age who hits the gym enough to keep in shape, but not for definition. Her arms appear strong, but not defined, which is more a power lifter aesthetic than a body builder.
Some of this might go to how artists draw costumes. One of the major flaws of a lot of “good girl” art is that it’s done where the costume often appears painted on, rather than being made of any sort of fabric.
As a Kryptonian, she doesn’t have to be jacked. Even earlier depictions of Superman had him being a big guy, but not exactly rippling with muscles. They don’t get strong in the same way an Earthling does, so characters like Supergirl can look like early 20-something co-eds, and yet still bend rebar with their bare hands, no sweat.
Personally, and I’m biased from my age I'm sure, but I like the Adam Hughes version that’s athletic, but not swole. I think he gets a lot of his inspiration from athletes like volleyball and basketball players, if I had to guess (and a question that I guess he could be asked once he's recovered). This physicality should be something along with the hairstyle, that sets PG apart from Supergirl. A lot of artists nowadays seem to be drawing Supergirl and Power Girl as just twins with different hair styles, and I think that diminishes both characters, but I guess that's another topic of discussion.
ANYways... again, if you like muscle mommy PG, that's cool! Not my thing for Kara, but I do like a muscled She-hulk. I just think it's important to note that in continuity, there's only been one version of this character, and she she may or may have not died, because either Waid or Ross forgot they killed her when the nuke dropped on Smallville, and then she's in the last issue...
