Prelude here: https://brendansversus.wordpress.com/2020/06/13/prelude-power-girl-vs-carol-danvers/
Alright, the combatants are set. Let’s end this debate once and for all! It’s time for a Death Battle!
Metropolis, New York
Metropolis, the City of Tomorrow. Throughout this bustling city lay numerous skyscrapers and technology the likes of which the rest of the world could only dream of. But there was one aspect that everyone knew of: its protector. An alien who, despite his immense power and abilities, still took it upon himself to protect humanity. He went by many names: Clark Kent, Kal-El, but to most of the people in this city, he was known as Superman. While most of Metropolis’ denizens admired him and were grateful for his actions, there were still some exceptions to this rule, and one such person was currently making her way toward the city.
Her outfit consisted of a blue spandex suit with red fabric covering her collar and shoulders. A golden star symbol adorned her chest, and diagonal lines of matching color spread across the shoulders, separating the red and blue. Her hands were covered by a pair of red gloves, while her feet were adorned with red boots. Wrapped around her waist was a red sash, held in place by a circular gold piece.
This was Carol Danvers, formerly known as Ms. Marvel and currently the seventh person to bear the name Captain Marvel. Currently, she was flying through the air, staring straight ahead at the City of Tomorrow. For what reason, you may ask?
While on a mission for SHIELD, she had come across some records about experiments involving genetic modification. She’d scanned through the reports, most of it she dismissed as being the standard mad scientist “take-over-the-world” schlock, but there was one word that caught her attention. Apparently one of the subjects had been experimented on with the DNA of a Kryptonian. The moment she read that word, Carol couldn’t help but recall something she’d seen some time ago. It was from a newspaper article discussing the city of Metropolis and its hero, a Kryptonian named Superman.
Once she had completed her mission, the former military brat decided to take a small detour on her way back home. It wasn’t going to be that much of an issue. All she planned to do was make sure Superman is as good as people claimed. If it turned out he was, she’d leave. Otherwise, she’d prepare for the worst and fight him.
Unfortunately, it seemed she wouldn’t get that far in her plan. She’d reached the city in no time, but it was over an hour later and she was still searching. Despite her best efforts, the former Ms. Marvel had found nothing, not even a sign of him. The only thing she’d managed to accomplish was ensuring that everyone in Metropolis had seen her. Not helping her case was that no one seemed to know where Superman was. She’d asked several people, but their responses didn’t answer her questions in the slightest. As she continued flying through the air, Carol let out an annoyed sigh.
“Maybe I should just throw in the towel. Seriously, it’s been an hour and still no sign of Superman. Where the hell is he?”
”If you’re looking for Superman, you’ll have to wait. He’s a little busy with the League at the moment.” Hearing this new voice, Captain Marvel looked toward its direction. Upon doing so, she found herself staring at another heroine, though what Carol paid more attention to was her costume.
Floating in front of Carol was a tall woman who towered above her by 4 inches. Her blonde hair was put up in a bob, and her outfit mainly consisted of a legless, long-sleeved white bodysuit that hugged at her figure. A pair of blue elbow-length gloves covered her hands, while thigh-length boots obscured her feet. A red belt was wrapped around her waist, while a matching cape billowed behind her. The most striking feature, however, was in the chest section of her bodysuit. A massive rectangular hole had been carved out, revealing her overabundance of cleavage to the world.
After getting over her initial surprise at this woman’s appearance, Carol gave an annoyed sigh.
“Well, that’s just great.” She muttered. “And you are?”
”Power Girl.” The woman responded as she extended her arm outward.
”Captain Marvel.” Carol introduced herself as she returned the handshake.
”Pretty sure that name’s already taken, but anyway, why do you want to meet Superman so badly?”
”I just want to make sure he can be trusted. I don’t know that much about him, definitely not enough to be a fan, but I wanna at least get a general bit of knowledge. Just to make sure we don’t have any alien troubles. I’ve seen that crap way too much, and I really don’t want a repeat of the Skrull incident.”
”Well, there’s nothing you need to worry about. Superman’s a hero. He’s been that way for over ten years. What makes you think he’d suddenly snap and turn evil?” Power Girl pointed out.
”Tell me, have you ever heard of the Sentry? He was the exact same. Extremely powerful, everyone liked him, then one day he snapped and nearly killed everyone. And from what I can tell, Superman already ticks off two of those boxes. Call me pessimistic, but I’m pretty sure if he’s not kept in check, we’ll see a repeat.”
“And I’m telling you there’s no way that would ever happen. So I’ll give you two options. If you want to meet him, you can wait for a few more minutes. Otherwise, you can turn around and leave.”
“How about I choose option 3? I’ll look for him myself!” Carol countered as she took off, shooting right past Power Girl. She wouldn’t get far, however, as Karen suddenly flew in front of her and pushed her back. The Avenger shot several feet through the air, but she eventually managed to stop herself mid-flight. Looking back, she noticed Power Girl flying toward her, with the Kryptonian stopping only a few feet away.
“I’m not giving you another warning. Leave, or else.” Upon hearing this, Danvers scoffed.
”Like I’d actually choose to leave!” She said as she lowered herself into a fighting stance, energy resonating in the palms of her hands.
“Fine. When you’re down, just remember that I gave you the chance to settle this peacefully.” Power Girl responded as she entered her own stance.
In a sudden burst of speed, Captain Marvel shot toward Power Girl, having already reeled back an energy-enhanced fist. Once she was close enough, Carol threw out a right hook, only for her supposed target to effortlessly catch it. Then, with the greatest of ease, the Kryptonian countered with a hook of her own, striking hard enough to send Carol hurtling back. The Kree hybrid didn’t even have time to recover before Power Girl continued her assault, throwing out dozens of body blows. Even with her enhanced reflexes, Marvel was still having trouble registering Power Girl’s attacks. That didn’t mean she couldn’t feel them, however.
Each passing second was accompanied by several more punches and kicks, all of them seemingly aimed at her vulnerable spots. But even with this pain overwhelming her mind, Carol refused to give up, which she was all too willing to show Kara. Gritting her teeth, the captain began channeling a glowing orange energy into her hands.
“Back off!” Marvel demanded as she swung her arm outward, firing a crescent-shaped blast of energy that sent Power Girl skidding back. Willing to exploit this to her advantage, Carol lunged forward and struck her in the stomach, eliciting a grunt of pain from her opponent. A rapid series of hooks and jabs then followed this gut punch, with each one targeting Power Girl’s chest, face, and shoulders. In the middle of this combo, however, Karen had managed to recover from the pain, and she proved quick to adapt to her opponent’s tactics.
Using her superior speed, Earth-Two’s Woman of Steel began weaving through the hits while countering with her own. Every hit Carol threw missed its mark as Karen leapt out of her range, which was then followed by the Kryptonian retaliating with another attack. Each of these blows were slowly overwhelming the Avenger, but they were also having another effect: really pissing her off!
Channeling energy into her palms, Captain Marvel thrust both of her hands forward and fired off a massive golden beam. It was large enough that it could have easily encompassed Power Girl, but she proved quick to react as she descended beneath it. Once the attack had dispersed, Power Girl soared back up to Carol’s level, emphasizing this by swiftly delivering an uppercut to the jaw. The moment the fist made contact with her chin, Carol found herself shooting through the air at hypersonic speeds. A mach cone formed around her body, but she proved quick to right herself in midair, producing a sonic boom in the process.
Once she had come to a complete stop, Carol looked back down at Metropolis, now receiving a bird’s eye view. She expected to see Power Girl flying toward her, likely reeling a fist back to prepare another combo, but instead all she found was a bustling futuristic city. Keeping her guard up, the captain began feeling a familiar buzzing sensation in her head. Immediately recognizing what was causing it, she whirled around, preparing a roundhouse-
WHAM!
[Stop music]
-only to be cut off as Power Girl delivered a sledgehammer to the back of her skull. The impact of the punch sent Carol hurtling through the air, a cone of fire surrounding her body as she did so. She could only briefly notice her surroundings, which were now whipping past her with how fast she was going. She couldn’t tell where she was heading, nor how far she was going. She wouldn’t even have time to correct her path, as her body slammed back-first into a billboard before she could even think of doing so.
ZRRR-ZZZ-ZRRR-ZRRRT!
The moment Danvers slammed into the panels, an explosion of electricity erupted out of the destroyed advertisement, creating arcs that shot out from every direction. These arcs traveled several feet away from the sign, producing a sight that caused several citizens to look up in surprise. Upon doing so, they were met with a rather unnatural sight. Instead of dispersing, the electricity seemed to shrink back, almost as if time was reversing itself! With each passing second, the electricity continued decreasing in size, rapidly losing its mass until there was nothing left- nothing, save for one person.
As she pulled herself out of the destroyed panel, Captain Marvel’s annoyance soon morphed into confusion when she noticed something familiar about her surroundings. From everywhere she looked, old-fashioned skyscrapers stared her in the face, nothing like the futuristic ones found in Metropolis. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a building with the words “Daily Bugle” displayed in massive letters.
‘Did she hit me hard enough to send me all the way from Metropolis to Manhattan?’ Carol thought to herself. Upon realizing this was the case, her expression morphed into an annoyed glare.
“Alright, she’s a bit stronger than I thought.” Carol admitted, only to stop as she noticed an arc of electricity emanating from her arm. Clenching her fist, the heroine smirked as she watched the energy explode out of her hand. “But let’s see how she handles this!”
As these words left her mouth, Captain Marvel once again took to the air, now coated in an aura of electricity as she flew back to Metropolis. Unbeknownst to her, Power Girl was in the midst of doing the same when her super-hearing picked up an odd sound. She could hear the sound of wind rushing past someone, and this person’s body seemed to be constantly crackling with electricity. Turning toward its direction, Karen prepared to defend herself from this new arrival-
BAM!
-but was cut off by an energy-enhanced punch to the face, causing her to reel back.
”You didn’t think you’d get rid of me that easily, did you?” Captain Marvel asked.
”A small part of me was hoping it’d be that easy, but since you seem to be so persistent-“ Karen cut herself off as she lunged toward Carol and threw out two straight punches. “I guess we’ll just have to do this the hard way!”
As these words left her mouth, Power Girl grabbed hold of Marvel’s outstretched leg. Then, with the greatest of ease, she began spinning the heroine around in circles, moving faster and faster with each rotation. In only a few seconds, a whirlwind had formed around the two blondes, and both were moving so quickly they couldn’t even be seen! This would soon change, however, when Starr released her grip, flinging the helpless captain across the city. As she soared past numerous city blocks, Danvers proved quick to backflip through the air, managing to level herself out. In the process of doing so, her seventh sense started acting up again, this time warning her of an attack that was approaching her front!
Looking toward its direction, Captain Marvel found that Power Girl was now in front of her, having already thrown out a straight punch. Despite having little time to react, Carol, through what could only be described as a miracle, put up her arm just in time to block the strike. As she parried the blow, Carol countered with a right hook to the face, sending Power Girl staggering back. Then, before the Kryptonian could recover, she followed up with two more hooks to the face, a knee strike to the stomach, and a roundhouse to the jaw. The moment this kick struck her, Power Girl found herself launched through the air at hypersonic speeds, but her attacker still wasn’t done!
Using her newly amped speed, Danvers charged toward Kara and began unleashing a barrage of punches and kicks at faster-than-light speeds. Each of these blows struck her in either the face or stomach, while also sending her flying back even further. This combo would only end once Carol had slammed her into a building via a punch to the ribs. The moment her body collided with it, every window in the skyscraper exploded outward and began raining down onto the streets below.
As Metropolis’ citizens ran away in an attempt to avoid their fates, Marvel grabbed the Woman of Steel by her cape and quickly took to the air, dragging Karen along for the ride. As they continued their ascension, Carol took the time to grind her opponent against the metal frame. Rather than hurt her, however, all this seemed to do was piss Power Girl off. With each inch they traveled, her anger only grew further, and eventually she’d hit her breaking point!
“CUT THAT OUT!” She demanded in annoyance as she whirled around, slamming into Carol’s face with a right hook. Upon contact, a sonic boom erupted outward as Captain Marvel’s jaw gave a resounding CRACK! The heroine then felt herself get launched through the air, with an angered Power Girl not far behind.
In a matter of femotseconds, the Kryptonian had managed to close the distance between them, emphasizing it with a left hook to the temple. Carol was sent spiraling toward the ground, but she wouldn’t have the chance to hit it as Karen sped past her, landing on the concrete below. As the corkscrewing captain approached her, Power Girl threw out a right cross, swinging her arm as hard as she could! The moment the blow made contact with her skull, Danvers found herself sent hurtling across the street, only stopping once she slammed into a car back-first. The impact caused her to lurch over and cough up spittle, but she proved quick to shrug it off and began pushing herself back up. As she did so, she felt her seventh sense buzz through her skull. Much like before, it was coming from the front, but now she was getting attacked from… two directions?
[Stop music]
Looking up in confusion, the Kree hybrid found herself staring at a pair of red beams, both of which were approaching her at alarming speeds. Most people who witnessed this would’ve been scared or at the very least somewhat nervous, but Carol Danvers was not most people! As the beams approached her, her only response was to raise her arms in defense and plant her feet firmly into the ground. A smirk appeared on her face, but it soon faltered as she realized something. Even from where she was standing, the temperatures those beams were giving off seemed to be pretty… hot.
Carol’s eyes widened in realization, but she wouldn’t have time to correct her mistake before Power Girl’s heat vision blasted her. The moment it collided, it took everything Carol had not to black out. The beams seared through her body, having already eaten away at her costume and now moving onto her skin. Her arms were immediately covered in burns, and each passing millisecond was only making it worse. But even with this pain threatening to overtake her, Captain Marvel still stood her ground. Planting both feet firmly into the ground, the hybrid then began focusing all of her energy into another part of her Kree physiology: her absorption powers.
“What?!” Power Girl questioned, surprised by what she was seeing. Rather than harming Carol, the thermal beams seemed to be getting absorbed into her body. Upon realizing this, the Earth-2 heroine immediately ceased using it, but the damage had already been done.
[Stop music]
As the last of Power Girl’s heat vision became absorbed into her body, Carol brought both arms back and flexed, letting out a brief war cry as a wave of energy erupted out of her body. It proved quick to disperse, revealing that her appearance had changed once again.
The most noticeable change in Carol’s body was the new aura she was surrounded by. Much like before, electricity was crackling around her body, but now a red aura of heat had entered into the mix. Her tattered sleeves hung loosely at her sides, revealing that the absorption had done more than give her a new aura. Rather than being covered in burns, her arms seemed to be completely fine, though Power Girl noticed they seemed a bit more muscular than before. Although she was curious as to why that was, she wouldn’t get the chance to investigate, as Carol cut her off.
“Turn up the heat as much as you’d like! I’ll be sure to pay you back tenfold!” As these words escaped her lips, Danvers’ hands began glowing with energy. Then, in a surprising burst of speed, she swung her arms through the air, firing off three photon blasts. Power Girl responded by swatting each one aside, sending them crashing into the nearby concrete, but before she could prepare herself for the next attack-
WHAM!
Carol slammed into her with a straight punch, having moved so quickly that she seemed to teleport. A gut punch followed this, then a backfist to the face. Karen was sent flying back, but Marvel used her boosted speed to suddenly reappear behind her. A cross to the spine stopped Karen’s momentum, striking hard enough to make her bend over backwards. A pained grunt escaped her lips, which would only increase as a knee strike slammed into her shoulder blade. The alien heroine felt her back seize up from the strike, and Carol proved quick to exploit this!
Before Karen even had the chance to recover, Carol slammed into her with a jumping roundhouse to the nape, sending the Kryptonian flying. As she reached the apex of her ascension, Power Girl proved quick to flip through the air, evening herself out. Then, as she began descending onto the street, she planted her left hand into the ground, slowly grinding to a halt. Once she had come to a complete stop, the heroine’s super-hearing began to pick up the sound of someone rapidly approaching her. From the sounds of things, they seemed to be coming from behind, and that meant-
“Too slow.” A familiar voice called out. Power Girl turned toward it, while at the same time twisting her body. Carol’s blast erupted from her hand, missing its target by a few centimeters, and said target responded by slamming into her jaw with a powerful elbow strike.
”Sorry, what was that?” Power Girl asked rhetorically as she smirked. “I thought you said I was too slow. Well, tell me. Does this look too slow to you?”
As these words escaped her lips, the Kryptonian intercepted the recovering Kree with an uppercut that sent her airborne. Before Carol even had the chance to react, Power Girl began pinballing her through the air, leaving the Kree hybrid reeling as she was rapidly dragged up and down. With each hit, the Woman of Steel only seemed to grow faster, throwing out numerous punches and kicks at ludicrous speeds. As she landed her 20th hit, Power Girl clasped both hands together, brought them back, and delivered a swift hammerstrike to the skull.
BOOM!
The moment it made contact, a massive shockwave erupted outward, causing brief tremors to erupt throughout Metropolis. The surrounding buildings began to shake, and various citizens looked around in a mixture of worry and confusion.
While all of this was occurring, Captain Marvel found herself descending onto the streets, courtesy of the blow she had just taken. A small streak of blood ran down her face, but this was the least of her problems. Her head throbbed from where she’d been hit, her ears rang like an alarm was going off inside them, and her vision was so blurred that all she couldn’t even make out her surroundings. After blinking it away, however, the Avenger began recovering her senses, and the first thing she did was balance herself.
Flipping through the air, Marvel suddenly forced herself to stop, her body levitating only an inch away from the concrete. She wiped the blood from her brow, narrowed her eyes at the sight, and then flashed a baleful glare at Power Girl. Eager to get some payback, Danvers brought her fists back up, allowing them to erupt with energy before throwing them forward. Unlike before, this time they were clasped together, with all of her fingers pointed directly at Kara.
A massive beam erupted out from her palms, instantly hitting the Kryptonian heroine dead-on. While her opponent staggered back, Marvel took the opportunity to charge an orb of energy in her palm and swiftly closed the distance. Once she was close enough, Carol slammed the orb into Power Girl’s stomach and forcibly detonated it, creating a massive explosion. As said explosion forced her to skid back, Power Girl noticed something odd. She’d had her suspicions due to the changed appearance, but now there was no doubt about it: Carol’s attacks were getting stronger.
In an attempt to find answers, the former Earth-2 denizen began looking Carol over, all while putting up an arm to block an oncoming punch. Annoyed by this, Danvers continued her assault, throwing out punch after punch, but her target was having none of it!
As each blow came her way, whether energy-enhanced or projectile-based, Starr blocked them with the greatest of ease. At the same time, she looked her fellow heroine over, scanning the Kree hybrid from head to toe. Thanks to her x-ray vision, Kara could now see the energy filtering itself through Carol’s body, but she noticed something was off. Squinting her eyes, the Kryptonian then applied her microscopic vision, allowing her to get a close-up of the energy’s molecular structure. Dozens of volts of electricity, a surplus of heat cells, and thousands of photon particles were spreading throughout Carol’s body, all of them moving equally across her body.
’So you can absorb energy, huh? Alright, then let’s switch things up a bit!’ Power Girl thought just as Carol threw out an underhanded blast. The orb was intended to smash into Karen’s jaw, but she quickly leaned back, allowing it to sail past her. Undeterred, her attacker used the momentum of her swing to leap into the air. Then, after summoning another orb in her free hand, Carol descended with a diagonal lunge. Unfortunately, this also seemed destined to miss, as the Woman of Steel quickly leapt out of range. Growing more frustrated with her inability to hit Power Girl, the captain’s attacks grew increasingly speedy and erratic, while her supposed target casually moved out of the way.
As her attacks continued to miss their mark, Marvel grit her teeth before pouring more energy into her body. Then, in a sudden burst of speed, she begin flying circles around Power Girl, rapidly pelting her with photon blasts and energy-infused blows. Each one slammed into the Kryptonian’s body, producing a miniature explosion upon contact. Despite this, neither one seemed to be accomplishing much. Sure, Power Girl was letting out audible grunts of pain at her stronger attacks, but other than that she wasn’t really showing any signs of pain. If anything, her costume seemed to be taking more punishment than she was! The white bodysuit that clung to Karen’s body was now covered in burns, with some mild tears here and there. The cape had also been affected, as evidenced by the multiple burn marks that had torn through its fabric. But Power Girl herself? At worst, she only had a few bruises or scuff marks! The sight of this left Carol both astounded and annoyed. Just how durable were Kryptonians?
Although Carol wasn’t aware of it, she wasn’t the only one feeling annoyed at this situation. Each time a blast hit her, Power Girl felt herself grow more and more irritated. Normally in this situation, she would’ve used her attacker’s speed against them and decked them in the face, but there was just one problem: Carol’s strategy. In the interval between blasts, she would purposefully move out of range, leaving Karen to be stunned by another blast when she tried to attack. The paralysis would only last for a few microseconds, but this was still enough time for Danvers to go in for a punch before repeating the process.
Needless to say, the constant hit-and-run tactics were getting on Power Girl’s nerves. She’d spent the time between each hit trying to cool off, making sure she’d have a clear head so she could think up a way to counter these attacks. Unfortunately, it seemed that Carol wasn’t willing to give her the time of day.
Wait, “cool off?”
An idea suddenly entered into Kara’s mind, one that caused her look of irritation to morph into a smug expression. At the same time, Carol moved in for her next attack, this one a straight punch to the Kryptonian’s face. Upon seeing her adversary’s new expression, however, Marvel cocked an eyebrow.
’What could she be planning now?’ The Kree heroine thought to herself. As if to answer her question, Power Girl inhaled, only to just as quickly exhale. The moment she did so, a massive gust of wind slammed into Captain Marvel at full force. Despite nearly being blown back by the frigid air, Carol continued moving forward, but she soon noticed that she was drastically slowing down. A thin layer of frost had already spread across her body, and it was quickly evolving into small patches of ice. Gritting her teeth, Danvers continued to push herself forward, ignoring the ice that impeded her movement. Unfortunately, this stubborn attitude would prove costly, as the ice continued to spread across her body. Not helping was that her rapidly freezing body was slowly being pushed back by the wind, impeding whatever progress she had made.
Noticing this, Carol began putting her Kree biology to work as she focused all of the stored energy into her cells. Each one began to vibrate at an increasingly fast rate, rapidly building up heat to combat the opposing cold. In no time at all, her body had coated itself in an aura of flame, which melted the surrounding ice and allowed her to keep moving. She cocked her fist back, ready to slam it directly into Power Girl’s jaw-
WHAM!
[Stop music]
Unfortunately for the captain, her target was quicker on the draw, having thrown out her own right hook to the face. The punch struck with enough force that Danvers was launched out of Metropolis, her body descending through the air until she landed in West River with a loud SPLASH!
The moment her body became submerged in water, a jolt went through Carol’s nervous system. Out of reflex, she nearly opened her mouth, but she forced it to remain shut at the last second. At the same time, she noticed a familiar white-and-blue figure through her blurred vision, causing her to smirk as her hands lit up once again.
Back on the surface, Power Girl was using her telescopic vision to scan through the river for some sign of Marvel. A familiar blue outfit entered her line of sight-
FWOOM!
-followed by an orange photon blast erupting out of the water, causing her to pull back. Undeterred by this, Carol threw out several more blasts, all of which Power Girl continued strafing through. As she drew closer to Marvel’s current location, Karen noticed her opponent’s muscles were tensing up. Then, in a sudden burst of speed, Captain Marvel shot out of the river, having already prepared an uppercut for the Kryptonian! She closed the distance between them in an instant, throwing her fist out with as much force as she could muster! It flew forward…
Only to miss as Power Girl leaned back, causing Carol’s fist to lightly brush past her chin. The captain soared past her white-clad adversary, her grin contorting into a look of horror as she realized she’d missed. Before she had time to rectify this mistake, Karen took advantage of the newfound opening as she lunged forward, slamming her fist into Marvel’s gut. The moment it struck, Carol doubled over, her eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets as she felt the wind get knocked out of her. If she expected Power Girl to stop at this, however, she was dead wrong!
Instead, the Woman of Steel was throwing out hundreds of body blows at faster-than-light speeds, each one specifically targeting a vulnerable part of Carol’s body. All of them were delivered with enough force that, had she been an ordinary person, her bones may have been shattered to pieces. Hell, even with her Kree physiology, these punches were still threatening to break her bones, and their rapid delivery wasn’t helping matters!
As each of these punches slammed into her, Carol’s desperation to survive only seemed to grow further. She began doing her best to fight through the pain, slowly bringing her arms up and focusing energy through them. Then, just as Power Girl was about to throw out a final right hook-
THOOM!
She found herself thrown back as Captain Marvel unleashed the dormant energy, producing a massive explosion that sent her soaring across Metropolis’ streets. As she uncontrollably flew through her cousin’s home, Power Girl desperately tried to avoid crashing through its buildings, but it seemed her attacker wasn’t willing to comply!
Carol was relentlessly bombarding her with photon blasts, and each one sent her flying further across the city. But even as this onslaught continued to hit her, Karen realized something: each blast seemed to be getting weaker, and she wasn’t the only one to notice this.
As she continued throwing out photon energy, Carol could feel her boost in power slowly leave her. Each one required her to expend more of her supply, and she was quickly running out. If she wanted to keep this up, she’d need to find some way to refuel, but given her current situation, it wasn’t going to be easy. She’d need some kind of distraction first!
Throwing both arms forward, Danvers fired off a massive beam in Power Girl’s direction. It slammed into the Kryptonian at full force, eliciting a grunt of pain as she was sent flying through the air. Realizing the opportunity wouldn’t last long, Carol immediately took off toward the west, flying through Metropolis as fast as she could! She recalled that earlier, while searching for Superman, she had noticed a nuclear power plant laying somewhere toward the west. If she wanted to put her plan into action, she needed to find it, and fast!
As she scanned her surroundings, Captain Marvel’s expression lit up as she spotted the power plant, which stood several hundred feet away. With her objective now in sight, the Kree heroine took off toward its direction, moving so quickly that a mach cone formed around her. Once she was close enough, Carol crashed through the roof and crashed onto the ground.
[Stop music]
Looking up, she smirked as she stared straight ahead at what she’d been looking for: a nuclear reactor. Grabbing hold of it, Danvers then began focusing her Kree powers to their fullest extent, rapidly siphoning the energy from the reactor. With each second that passed, Carol felt more power flow through her, and it was slowly starting to affect her appearance. Her skin was losing its original color, slowly fading into a bright red. Her eyes had also begun changing in color, now rapidly shifting between blue and gold. As the last of the reactor’s energy was drained into her, Carol smirked as she opened her eyes, revealing that they now shone a bright gold.
Meanwhile, Power Girl was soaring through Metropolis, using her x-ray vision to scan every inch of her surroundings. Given Carol’s ability to absorb energy, it was safe to assume that she had retreated to power herself back up. All that was left to figure out was where she’d gone. There were several places in Metropolis that held enormous power output, but narrowing them down was-
ZZ-ZZZZ! CRACK! ZZZZRRRRTTT!
The sound of crackling electricity filled Power Girl’s ears, causing her to stop and look to the right. The moment she did so, she noticed two things: the first was the nuclear power plant, currently drained of its energy. The second, and more important of the two, was the red, blue, and gold blur that was currently speeding toward her at faster-than-light speeds! Although its arrival left her surprised for a brief moment, Kara proved quick to regain her bearings and brought her arms up, reacting just in time to block a left cross.
BOOM!
The moment the blow collided with her arm, a massive shockwave erupted outward, causing the landscape around them to violently shake! The force sent Power Girl reeling back, and her attacker proved quick to exploit this. Leaping into the air, the golden blur then came down with a diagonal punch, slamming into her left temple. The moment it struck, Power Girl was sent hurtling to the ground, blood now leaking from where the blow had connected. Although she was left somewhat dazed by the strike, Karen quickly evened herself out, preventing her body from hitting the pavement. Unfortunately, this wouldn’t stop her assailant, who smashed into her with a two-handed punch.
Upon impact, the heroine from Earth-2 found herself coughing up flecks of blood, but this was the least of her problems. A right hook smashed itself into her jawline, sending her hurtling through the air. The golden blur flew after her, stopping her ascent with a powerful knee strike to the stomach, forcing her to lurch over. As she coughed up a combination of spit and blood, Power Girl noticed something familiar about her attacker- or more specifically, her costume. The knee currently planted in her stomach was clad in blue spandex, and she could see a brief portion of a red sash wrapped around its waist. With her suspicions confirmed, Karen attempted to intercept the next attack, but her opponent proved quicker to act. Just before Power Girl could look up, an elbow struck her spine, sending her crashing into the streets below.
As she lifted herself out of the concrete, Starr immediately looked toward her attacker’s direction. Currently suspended above her was Carol Danvers, as she’d suspected, though her appearance had undergone a drastic change. Her skin was now a deep shade of red, while her eyes had gone blank, their blue irises now replaced by a bright gold. Her hair seemed to be lit aflame, and this same energy crackled from her palms.
Thanks to the surplus of energy within her body, Carol had managed to evolve, ascending from a mere human to something else. No longer was Power Girl facing Carol Danvers, the seventh Captain Marvel. Now she stood face-to-face with the pinnacle of Kree evolution: Binary!
As she looked the transformed heroine over, Power Girl couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. Noticing this, her opponent responded with a smirk.
”What’s the matter? Not used to fighting someone on your level?” Binary taunted as she used her boosted speed to suddenly appear in front of Karen. The evolved being then threw out a right hook, aiming it right at the heroine’s jaw.
”Cute.” Power Girl responded, smirking as she casually grabbed the fist mid-strike.
”That you think you still stand a chance at fighting me one-on-one?” Carol asked as she prepared to deliver another punch.
”No. It’s that you think you can beat me with a sunburn and some burning hair.” Power Girl responded as she cut her opponent off with a hook of her own. It struck Danvers in the jaw, causing her to stagger back. She proved quick to recover, however, and retaliated with a sudden blast from her eyes. Power Girl proved quick to duck under this, countering the beams with a hard uppercut to the chin. The punch sent Binary hurtling through the air, but she proved quick to regain control. Once she had stopped in midair, the heroine looked back up toward Power Girl’s direction, only to notice the Kryptonian was no longer there!
Before she could even question where Karen had gone, Carol’s seventh sense flared up yet again. Turning toward its direction, the Kree hybrid instinctively threw her hand forward, firing off a beam of photon energy directly into Power Girl’s chest. The beam sent her hurtling back, and before she could fully recover, Binary activated another of her powers. With a simple gesture, Power Girl suddenly felt herself grow heavier, and she soon fell toward the ground. Though this left her somewhat surprised, Starr proved quick to regain her bearings and, with some mild difficulty, repositioned herself in midair.
Upon landing, a massive crater formed beneath her feet, and it only seemed to grow deeper with each passing microsecond. In tandem with this, Power Girl began to notice something odd. Despite her best attempts, it was getting harder for her to support her own weight. As the crater grew deeper, she collapsed onto all fours, slowly sinking deeper into the ground.
Gritting her teeth, Power Girl began pushing herself back up. Every muscle in her body ached, her bones felt like they were all supporting a heavy weight, and the exertion was causing her to sweat up a storm. But even with these setbacks, she refused to give in!
With a heavy struggle, Power Girl managed to raise one foot and planted it into the ground. Then, as she pushed with all her might, the Kryptonian managed to prop herself up on one knee. She let out an annoyed huff, but before she could continue getting back to her feet, she noticed a shadow rapidly approaching her from above. Realizing it could only be one person, Kara attempted to defend against the inevitable attack, but her increased gravity made that harder than she’d expected. She hadn’t even fully raised them before-
WHAM!
-a left hook slammed into her jaw, sending her flying across the street. As she watched the Woman of Steel fly through the air, Carol responded by shooting forward, closing the distance between them almost instantly! A white flash briefly flashed in her clenched fist, and once it had faded, she revealed her new weapon. From the looks of things, they seemed to be twin strips of gold energy, both solid in composition and adorned with spikes.
With a smirk, Binary threw out a right hook, taking the opportunity to slam the knuckles into Power Girl’s face. The blow produced four cuts on the Kryptonian’s cheek, but she wouldn’t have long to worry about it. A left hook smashed into her other cheek, producing a similar reaction. Though pain flared through her mind, Power Girl turned back to Carol and flashed her a glare. The moment their eyes met, Danvers’ seventh sense began to flare up, and she responded by raising her left arm. This proved to be an appropriate choice, as Kara had immediately thrown out a left hook. As the fist made contact with her forearm, Binary retaliated with a right gut punch, eliciting a grunt of pain from the Kryptonian. Three rapid hooks then followed, each one producing bloody cuts on Power Girl’s cheeks and forcing her to stagger back. To finish her combo, Carol threw out a powerful uppercut, slamming into Power Girl’s chin. The moment it made contact, Binary began focusing her energy into the knuckles, charging each of their atoms at a rapid rate. With each millisecond, the construct’s composition would grow more unstable, evidenced by its rapid vibrating, until finally-
KRA-KOOM!
-the knuckles erupted into a massive explosion of thermal energies, sending Power Girl flying through the air. Rather than let it end at that, however, Carol flew after her, continuously throwing out punch after punch. Normally, these wouldn’t have affected Power Girl, but thanks to the added power of Binary, she was left reeling from each one. With every punch she took, Starr was sent further through the air, and by this point she was coming dangerously close to exiting the stratosphere. Unfortunately for her, it seemed this was what Carol had intended, as the former captain reeled her fist back and began gathering energy between it. Then, once it had filled to the brim, she threw it forward, letting loose a massive explosion of energy!
PHWOOOOOM!
[Stop music]
The moment it slammed into her face, Power Girl let out an annoyed scream as she found herself soaring through the air at a rapid rate. Her body grew faster with each passing millisecond, forming a cone of fire as she passed through the layers of Earth’s atmosphere. Meteors became nothing more than vague blurs, and the colorful gases of the thermosphere didn’t even register until she had passed through them. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem that her trip was destined to end there, as she continued to fly through space, only stopping when her back slammed into something solid. The moment she did so, a massive cloud of dust kicked up, completely obscuring her vision, but it proved quick to fade. Once it had, Power Girl began to get a better look at her surroundings.
Surrounding her field of vision was a pitch-black sky, with Earth laying directly in front of her. The pale ground beneath her was filled with craters, no matter where she looked. Quickly realizing where she was, Kara sighed as she pulled herself back up. The moment she did so, she was surprised to find that Carol’s powers weren’t weighing her down. In fact, she’d gotten up with no trouble at all.
‘Looks like your powers don’t work if there’s no gravity to manipulate!’ Power Girl thought as she smirked, only for it to drop as her super-hearing picked up a new sound. A confused “Hm?” emerged from her throat as the sound of crackling energy filled her ears. Looking up, she watched as a trail of energy shot through the air at blinding speeds, touching down onto the Moon in no time! The moment it did so, a massive cloud of dust kicked up, quickly dispersing to reveal Binary. Upon seeing that Power Girl was still alive, the evolved heroine couldn’t help but smirk.
‘Seems she’s a bit tougher than I gave her credit for.’ She thought to herself. ‘Good. I was looking for an excuse to start cutting loose, anyway!’
As this thought entered through her mind, Carol rushed toward her at top speed, moving so quickly that a trail of rubble emerged beneath her. An energy-enhanced punch seemed dead-set to make contact with Power Girl’s jaw, but the Woman of Steel leapt to the side before intercepting it with a right hook. The force of the blow caused her head to snap to the right, but other than that Binary showed no signs of pain.
”That all you got?” She asked. While the vacuum of space would’ve normally muted this taunt, Power Girl’s enhanced hearing allowed her to pick up on it. Even if she hadn’t, Carol’s next actions would’ve gotten the point across. No sooner than these words had left her mouth did the Kree retaliate with a backhand. It struck hard enough that Power Girl found herself flying across the satellite, her body hopelessly tumbling across the rocky terrain. This would continue for three seconds before Karen planted her hand into the ground, letting her grind to a halt. Upon doing so, however, her hearing picked up a new sound: a familiar, crackling sound.
Her eyes widening as she realized what it was, Power Girl wasted no time in throwing herself forward, intent on escaping the blast’s radius. Unfortunately, it was clear from Binary’s smirk that Karen had greatly misjudged the amount of energy she’d expended. When she heard it beneath her, Power Girl had expected a blast of energy that was roughly her height and width, maybe a bit larger for Binary to ensure she’d be caught in the crossfire. What she hadn’t expected was this!
An enormous pillar of energy erupted from beneath the Moon’s surface, its size large enough to encompass multiple city blocks, and it only seemed to keep growing! With each millisecond that passed, the column of combined photon and heat would only expand further. In roughly five seconds, it had increased to the point of being comparable to a nuclear bomb, and so too did its power! The energy began to eat away at Power Girl’s costume, exposing more of her skin to the bombardment. Burns were starting to form across her body, and the energy it was outputting had nearly caused her to black out. Even with her best efforts, she could still see black dots dancing in her eyes, and they seemed to be growing larger with each second that passed. Any second now, Power Girl was going to lose consciousness. Carol was going to win, and there was nothing Karen could do to stop it.
‘Bullshit!’ Karen thought defiantly as she clenched her fist. ’I haven’t survived this long just to lose like this! I’ve survived numerous Crises-‘
Starr worked up the courage to place her foot through the air and brought it down, taking a step forward.
‘I’ve taken on Superboy Prime without any trouble-‘
Another step forward.
‘-faced off against the Black Lanterns-‘
A third step soon turned into a fourth. A fifth became a sixth. In no time at all, the Kryptonian had rapidly built up speed, and she was using it to her fullest extent run through the column of energy.
‘-and battled mad New Gods. Compared to them-’
The blast continued to eat away at her stamina. Every muscle in her body screamed at her to give in, but she wasn’t going to give up so easily.
”THIS IS NOTHING!” Power Girl declared as she leapt out from the column of energy.
”What?!” Binary asked, audibly shocked just before a left hook nailed itself into her jaw. The force of the blow sent the Kree heroine rocketing through the air, moving so quickly that fire began to surround her entire body. Rather than worry about this, however, she instead began focusing, allowing her body to begin absorbing the energy of reentry. Once she had come to a stop, Carol looked down just in time to see Power Girl soaring toward her at faster-than-light speeds. In an attempt to stop her Kryptonian adversary, Binary thrust her hand forward, exerting her control of gravity-
KRACKT!
-only for a right hook to suddenly smash itself into her jaw! The blow sent Danvers reeling back and hurtling through space, but Karen wasn’t finished! With a sudden burst of speed, Power Girl slammed into Binary with a double-handed punch to the stomach. As the Kree heroine was sent flying further through the depths of space, her opponent responded by using her speed to immediately close the distance. Another punch or kick would then impact against Danvers’ body, resulting in a seemingly endless process of punching, launching, and closing in. Or at least that’s what it seemed.
Several punches later, and the Kree punching bag felt something solid slam into her back. Though the thought of what she landed on briefly crossed her mind, it was quickly silenced as another punch sent her crashing through the ground. She wouldn’t even have the chance to recover, as the surrounding reddish-brown debris began to collapse on top of her.
As the Venusian rubble collapsed over Carol, Power Girl immediately boosted through the air, her destination laying straight ahead: the Sun. Her previous clashes with Carol had taken a lot out of her, and if she wanted to keep this up, she’d need to refuel.
’I don’t have much time, though.’ She thought to herself. ‘She’s probably digging her way out as I speak.’
Little did Karen know, her assumption was correct. While she was busy drawing closer to the Sun, Binary had thrust her hand forward, firing a column of energy that tore through the planet’s mantle. Now free of her prison, the fiery heroine soared through the air, her gaze focused solely on her surroundings.
‘Now, where is she?’ Binary thought suspiciously as she scanned through the depths of space. While in the middle of doing so, however, she suddenly let out a scream and clutched her head.
For some reason, her head suddenly began to throb, and it only seemed to be getting worse. Her seventh sense was acting up again, but if it was having this kind of reaction, then it must’ve been serious! As this realization came to her, the former Ms. Marvel opened her eyes, and it was then that she was met with an extremely chilling vision.
Standing before her was Power Girl, fully healed of her injuries with her right arm currently outstretched. Binary looked down, unintentionally coughing up blood as she found the Kryptonian’s fist was embedded in her stomach. No, embedded didn’t fully cover it.
Power Girl’s fist had torn through Binary’s stomach, leaving a fist-sized hole that bore straight through her abdomen. Binary let out several strangled gasps, trying in vain to form some sort of plea for mercy, but she found herself unable to speak. Noticing this, Karen raised her arm higher, carrying the disemboweled heroine by her newly-created stomach cavity. The two alien heroines now met each other’s gaze, Carol’s gold eyes staring directly into Karen’s blue. The Kryptonian’s eyes flashed red for a split second, and then everything went black.
A gasp of shock emerged from Binary as the vision ended, allowing her to return to reality. She blinked several times before looking around, keeping her guard up just in case. With the vision she’d just received, she knew that Power Girl would likely attack from anywhere. And with what she had just been shown, it seemed her current state wasn’t going to cut it. If she wanted to survive, she’d need more power!
As this thought ran through her mind, Carol noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Turning to face it, the hybrid found herself staring directly into the Sun, but rather than being blinded, she responded with a smirk. It seemed she’d just found the answer to her dilemma!
Meanwhile, floating along the Sun’s surface was Power Girl, who was currently stretching her arms. Though it had only been a few seconds, the Kryptonian had already absorbed enough energy to give herself a drastic boost in power. Her muscles were flowing with renewed energy, and the injuries she’d previously sustained had now healed in their entirety. Just a few more seconds, and then she’d… wait a minute.
Focusing her telescopic vision, Karen managed to get a closer look at who was approaching, though she already had a feeling she knew who it was.
’Yeah, that’s her, alright.’ Power Girl thought to herself as she watched Carol stop and extend both arms forward. The moment she saw this, Starr’s eyes widened slightly. ‘Wait. Is she planning to-‘
Kara wouldn’t get the chance to finish her thoughts, as Carol began extracting energy. Two massive wisps of flame emerged from the star’s surface, meeting in the middle of her palms.
For some reason, her head suddenly began to throb, and it only seemed to be getting worse. Her seventh sense was acting up again, but if it was having this kind of reaction, then it must’ve been serious! As this realization came to her, the former Ms. Marvel opened her eyes, and it was then that she was met with an extremely chilling vision.
Standing before her was Power Girl, fully healed of her injuries with her right arm currently outstretched. Binary looked down, unintentionally coughing up blood as she found the Kryptonian’s fist was embedded in her stomach. No, embedded didn’t fully cover it.
Power Girl’s fist had torn through Binary’s stomach, leaving a fist-sized hole that bore straight through her abdomen. Binary let out several strangled gasps, trying in vain to form some sort of plea for mercy, but she found herself unable to speak. Noticing this, Karen raised her arm higher, carrying the disemboweled heroine by her newly-created stomach cavity. The two alien heroines now met each other’s gaze, Carol’s gold eyes staring directly into Karen’s blue. The Kryptonian’s eyes flashed red for a split second, and then everything went black.
A gasp of shock emerged from Binary as the vision ended, allowing her to return to reality. She blinked several times before looking around, keeping her guard up just in case. With the vision she’d just received, she knew that Power Girl would likely attack from anywhere. And with what she had just been shown, it seemed her current state wasn’t going to cut it. If she wanted to survive, she’d need more power!
As this thought ran through her mind, Carol noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Turning to face it, the hybrid found herself staring directly into the Sun, but rather than being blinded, she responded with a smirk. It seemed she’d just found the answer to her dilemma!
Meanwhile, floating along the Sun’s surface was Power Girl, who was currently stretching her arms. Though it had only been a few seconds, the Kryptonian had already absorbed enough energy to give herself a drastic boost in power. Her muscles were flowing with renewed energy, and the injuries she’d previously sustained had now healed in their entirety. Just a few more seconds, and then she’d… wait a minute.
Focusing her telescopic vision, Karen managed to get a closer look at who was approaching, though she already had a feeling she knew who it was.
’Yeah, that’s her, alright.’ Power Girl thought to herself as she watched Carol stop and extend both arms forward. The moment she saw this, Starr’s eyes widened slightly. ‘Wait. Is she planning to-‘
Kara wouldn’t get the chance to finish her thoughts, as Carol began extracting energy. Two massive wisps of flame emerged from the star’s surface, meeting in the middle of her palms.
”Hell. No.” Power Girl said irritably as she rushed forward, hellbent on preventing Danvers from absorbing anymore energy. While she did so, Carol noticed a blur briefly emerge from the sun, causing her to put her guard up. Her eyes shifted around the area, searching for where her opponent was going to strike next. Her seventh sense alerted her to an attack directly in front of her, causing her to instinctively leap away from Power Girl’s gut punch. As she watched the fist fly past her, Danvers let out a sigh of relief. If she’d been a second too late, that vision may have come to-
Her thoughts cut themselves off as another buzz entered her mind, this time warning about an attack from her right. She whirled around, attempting to block it with her arm-
WHAM!
-only for Power Girl’s fist to break through her defenses with a left hook, sending the Kree flying back. As she came to a stop, Carol began focusing her newfound energy, forcing it to manifest into a new shape. The energy trails began extending outward, quickly solidifying into a pair of golden blades. Now armed with her new weapons, Binary boosted toward Power Girl, instinctively throwing out her arm to deliver an outward slash. In response, Kara quickly leaned back, allowing the blade to just barely graze her top. Undeterred, Danvers used the momentum of her attack to whirl around and deliver a spinning slash. The blade descended through the air, but it would meet the same result as Karen leapt back. Two slashes, both in an X pattern, followed suit, with their target ducking under each.
Before Carol could attempt a third attack, Power Girl rocketed forward, slamming into her with a punch to the stomach. The force of the blow sent Danvers hurtling back, coughing up several flecks of blood. She wasn’t sure, but she felt like that punch had done some significant damage to her insides. If she’d been in her regular, human form…
Binary quickly shook the thought from her mind. Now wasn’t the time to be thinking about possibilities and “what-ifs.” Right now, the only thing that mattered was beating Power Girl!
With this thought in mind, Carol began drawing more energy from her surroundings and channeled all of it into two sources: her hands. The blades that surrounded them began to grow in length, rapidly increasing with each millisecond that passed, and Carol was more than ready to use them!
In a sudden burst of speed, Binary appeared in front of Power Girl, thrusting her powered-up construct forward like a javelin! Though her opponent’s newfound speed briefly caught her off guard, Kara proved quick to recover as she grabbed hold of the blade, stopping it only an inch from her stomach. Gritting her teeth, Binary began exerting herself even further, slowly pushing her construct forward. Starr responded by slowly pushing back, ignoring how the sword was digging into her fingers. What she did acknowledge was the strength behind Carol’s construct. With every second that passed, Binary continued to push her sword further, but she wasn’t the only one who could absorb energy!
Thanks to being in close proximity to the Sun, Power Girl’s strength was increasing rapidly. Whatever Binary had absorbed, it was nothing compared to the solar energy Kara was taking in, and this was beginning to show itself. As the energy continued adding to her strength, Power Girl’s grip grew tighter, and with it she continued to push the blade away from her stomach. Noticing this, Carol attempted to swing her free hand, but just as she brought it into the air Karen twisted her captive arm to the side.
CRUNCH!
[Stop music]
Had they been on Earth, the sound of Binary’s bones snapping, followed by her blood-chilling scream, would have echoed throughout several city blocks. As the pain overloaded her mind, Carol instinctively swung her free arm through the air. The construct slashed across Karen’s face, producing a massive gash and eliciting an annoyed grunt. Although the nearby solar radiation ensured that it would heal, the pain had been enough to make her release Carol, which the ex-captive quickly took advantage of!
Now free from the Kryptonian’s grip, Danvers wasted no time in delivering a counter attack, this time thrusting her free arm forward and converting the construct into something else. Rather than a blade, the Kree heroine decided to aim for something a bit more… blunt.
As a flattened end appeared in front of her, Carol threw her newly formed battering ram as hard as she could. The bludgeon smashed into Power Girl’s stomach, eliciting a cough of spittle and blood from the Kryptonian as she was sent flying through the air. The head of Starrware hurtled through space, unable to stop herself, and Binary wasn’t willing to give her the time of day!
With the surplus of solar energy now coursing through her veins, Danvers rushed toward the helpless Karen at top speed. Once she was close enough, the Kree heroine wasted no time in wailing on her. Energy-infused punches and kicks slammed into her without any semblance of mercy, sending Power Girl flying further through the depths of space. Each one threatened to break her bones, and the intensity of these attacks only seemed to increase that risk. She could already feel her bones reaching their limit, and if this continued any longer she’d be fighting with a handicap. But if this idea worried her in any way, she didn’t show it. If anything, it seemed to have the opposite reaction: it was really starting to piss her off!
As more body blows continued to smash into her body, Karen clenched her fist in anger. Then, in a sudden burst of rage-fueled strength, she threw out a left hook as hard as she could muster! The resulting impact was enough to send Carol’s body flying dozens of feet away, a silent scream adorning her face as she soared through space. Once she had come to a stop, the former Ms. Marvel felt that something was off. Placing her hand against her jaw, Carol was surprised to find that it had been completely broken. Even with her healing factor, this was still going to take some time. She wouldn’t have this luxury, however, as Power Girl had already closed the distance between them!
Using her newly restored energy, Karen combined both speed and strength to deliver a nonstop barrage of punches and kicks. Each one struck a designated area of Carol’s body, from pressure points to vital organs, and the ever-increasing speed was only making the damage worse! Carol could feel each of her bones crush themselves under the weight of Karen’s blows, and her organs were suffering a similar fate. Not even her regeneration seemed to help, as Power Girl was actually throwing her blows out faster than the healing factor could act! And it was this fact that ultimately proved to be the last straw.
While she normally would’ve been able to hold out, the constant punishment she was taking left Carol nigh-defenseless. She would briefly black out from the pain, only for another strike to force her to wake up. But even as she suffered this seemingly endless combo, Carol still found it in her to resist!
With great difficulty, she managed to bring her miraculously still functional left arm up. Then, after swiping it through the air, the heroine had- through what was either coincidence of sheer dumb luck- managed to grab hold of Power Girl’s wrist. She began focusing her Kree genetics, trying to sap some more of Kara’s energy for herself, but then-
CRUNCH!
Starr had grabbed hold of the outstretched arm and casually applied pressure, reducing the limb to splinters of bone. A scream threatened to emerge from Carol’s mouth, but a quick exhale of ice breath silenced any chance of that happening. The surrounding molecules began to slow down, shifting into chunks of ice around Danvers’ head. These chunks grew at an alarming rate, increasing in size with each millisecond until a massive block had coated Carol’s entire face. Realizing this, she began attempting to focus her remaining energy into thawing it out, but this proved to be the opening Power Girl needed!
Grabbing hold of the frozen heroine’s arms, Karen then tugged on them, dragging their owner into a knee strike that caused the ice to shatter like glass and send its captor flying back. Rather than let it end there, however, Power Girl rushed toward her, nailing the hybrid with a left straight punch. The moment it made contact, Carol was sent soaring toward the planet Mercury, desperately trying to stop her trajectory. This effort would prove futile, as Power Girl lunged forward and smashed into her with a right hook. The impact sent her Kree adversary crashing onto the planet’s surface, eliciting an involuntary cough of blood and spittle.
Not one to give up so easily, Captain Marvel placed her hand on the ground and began working up the strength to push herself back up. Unfortunately, it would seem that fate wasn’t on her side. The moment she began pushing, a flare of pain surged through her body, and she immediately collapsed. As she lay on the gray, rocky terrain, desperately gasping for breath, Carol noticed a familiar shadow floating above her.
‘Shit.’ She thought as she tried pushing once again, this time focusing all of her energy into acting as an adrenaline boost. She began propping herself back up, using her unbroken arm to support her weight, but before she could continue this struggle, Power Girl descended onto her like a hawk. Once she was close enough, the heroine from Earth-2 threw her right fist forward, causing Carol’s eyes to widen in horror just as-
THOOOOOM!
[Stop music]
A massive explosion erupted outward, large enough that it could be seen from space. For several seconds, a massive cloud of dust covered most of the planet’s surface, but once it had faded the aftereffects could be seen clear as day. Captain Marvel’s body lay perfectly still, though with one major difference: it no longer possessed a head. The moment Power Girl’s fist collided with Carol’s face, it had completely torn through her skull, though there was little evidence to suggest this. The explosion had vaporized any possible blood or skull fragments, while its heat had cauterized the decapitated stump. The only signs of Marvel’s fate were the fist-shaped imprint where her head had once been, as well as the now bloodied glove of Power Girl. Speaking of which…
Power Girl looked down at Carol’s body, a mix of emotions stirring inside her. While she felt some slight relief that the fight was over, it was overwhelmed by the other feelings within her: horror at what she’d just done, guilt for taking someone’s life, and anger at herself for not seeing the signs and pulling her punch at the last second. A sigh emerged from her lips as she looked down at the captain with a somber expression. She hadn’t meant for it to end like this. That last punch should’ve only knocked Carol out, but instead it had been the blow to unintentionally take the captain’s life.
”I know you can’t hear me, but I’m sorry it had to end like this.” She said aloud, her voice somehow carrying through the vacuum of space. Her eyes flashed red for a brief moment, and then-
FWOOM!
Two beams of heat vision emerged from Kara’s eyes, consuming Captain Marvel’s body. Under the intense heat, the corpse was rendered charred and blackened almost immediately. A split second later and the body would collapse, now reduced to nothing more than ashes. As the heat vision dispersed, the last remains of Carol Danvers were swept up by a sudden gust of wind, scattering them throughout the planet’s surface.
Power Girl watched for several seconds as the wind blew away at Carol’s remains, her emotions still stirring up inside of her. Then, with a melancholic sigh, she turned her back to where Carol had once lain and took to the air, ready to begin a long journey back to Earth.
Well, looks like Marvel has just lost its flagship character!
From the start, this match was pretty clear-cut. When it came to strength and durability, Power Girl and Captain Marvel both had some impressive feats, as they’ve regularly contended with some of their universe’s heavy hitters. The difference comes when you look at who they’ve fought against. When it came to strength, Carol’s shown the ability to knock out the Gray Hulk, who was able to destroy an asteroid that was twice the size of Earth. This feat has been calculated as 169 zettatons, or Planet Level. Additionally, she’s been able to trade blows with Iron Man, who survived being stuck in a black hole. Trading blows with Iron Man, by proxy, would make her superior to The Thing, who has consistently fought the star-creating Miracle Man.
But then we look at where Power Girl lies in these departments, and the difference in power becomes clear as day. She’s repeatedly been shown to damage Captain Atom, who was able to destroy and recreate the universe so casually that he didn’t even realize he’d done so. Additionally, she’s stronger than Supergirl, who is as strong as Superman, someone Karen has shown to be more than capable of knocking out. Plus, since Power Girl wasn’t affected by the Crisis on Infinite Earths, this means that she would also scale to characters like Pre-Crisis Superman, who generated enough energy to restore the multiverse after it was destroyed. And this isn’t some kind of weird outlier, either. One of her Earth’s fellow Kryptonians, the Golden Age Superman, has shown that he can fight on par with both Pre-Crisis and Post Crisis Superman, mutually KO’ing the former and nearly destroying the universe while fighting the latter.
So Power Girl takes strength and durability, but what about speed? Well, Carol would once again scale to Iron Man, who was able to fly to the planet Baluur and back within a short amount of time. This feat was calculated as being 111,506 times FTL, and while it’s certainly impressive, it still paled in comparison to Power Girl had. She’s shown to be capable of blitzing Wonder Woman, who can react anywhere from 2.72 to 16.34 quattuordecillion times FTL, and has kept up with Black Adam, who’s said to be faster than Superman.
Keep in mind that these are all feats from the Post Crisis era. By scaling her to Pre-Crisis feats, she’d once again be comparable to Pre-Crisis Superman, who can move fast enough to tear through the fabric of spacetime and fly faster than infinity.In short, Power Girl completely decimates Captain Marvel in the stat trinity, but what about the other factors?
Well, experience is a bit hard to decide. Both have fought their fair share of supervillains and served as members for numerous superhero teams, but in the end I’d just barely give this to Carol, as her time in the military would’ve given her an earlier start in her career. This military experience would’ve also included training in both armed and unarmed combat, though Power Girl’s tutelage under martial arts masters like Wildcat and Mongo Krebs would let her trump Carol in CQC. She’d also have the edge in terms of intelligence, since her Kryptonian DNA gives her superior mental capacities and enhanced memorization skills.
When it came to powers, both were evenly matched in mobility due to their flight, though other than that they each had their own advantages and disadvantages. For example, Carol’s energy absorption rendered Power Girl’s heat vision useless, it gave her a way to heal herself, and she could use it to boost her stats. Her photon blasts gave her an edge in versatility when it came to long-range, and she could even morph her stored energy into constructs, giving her an edge in unpredictability. There’s also her seventh sense, which seems like it would be beneficial since it lets her predict her opponent’s next move. The only problem is that it activates at random, and while she’s used it to dodge a blast moving at faster than light speeds, Power Girl’s speed is so far beyond hers that Carol would get blitzed before she could even react.
It didn’t help that nearly all of Power Girl’s powers gave her an edge over Carol. For example, she could counter Marvel’s energy absorption by drawing more energy from the Sun, which would provide a further boost to her stats. The super breath could be used to freeze Danvers over or blow her back, and the x-ray and microscopic visions could allow her to discover Carol’s energy absorption. Even if she didn’t and Carol tried to surprise her by, say, sucking out her energy, Power Girl’s withstood similar drains before and kept fighting. Hell, with her vastly superior stats and penchant for close-quarters, it’s likely Carol wouldn’t even get that far before being taken out.
And it’s not like going Binary would help out either. Sure, it increases her stats, gives her better energy manipulation and gravitokinesis, but there are quite a few drawbacks with it. The main problem is that to obtain this form in the first place, Carol needs to absorb a massive amount of energy, which she wouldn’t have the chance to do before Power Girl blitzes her and one-shots. And I already went over why Karen would resist her absorption, so that’s out too.
Even if we ignore all this and assume Carol entered this form from the start, it wouldn’t change the verdict, since Power Girl would still hold a massive edge in stats. There’s also the fact that one of Binary’s more overpowered abilities, transmuting an opponent’s molecular structure, wouldn’t work on Power Girl, who was unaffected by a blast that was meant to rearrange her atoms.
In the end, while Carol may have held an edge in experience, Power Girl far exceeded her in every other category: physicality, fighting skills, intelligence, and powerset. In short, this was one opponent that Carol just couldn’t power through.
The winner is Power Girl.
Power Girl (Winner)
+ Eclipsed Carol in the stat trinity
+ Better combat training
+ More intelligent
+ Larger array of powers
+ Could resist Carol’s energy absorption and Binary’s abilities
+ Would be able to blitz Carol before Binary ever becomes an issue
= Mobility
= Both could boost their stats by absorbing energy (Power Girl via solar radiation and Carol via her surroundings)
– Less experienced
– Heat vision was useless due to Carol’s energy absorption
+ Though this wouldn’t matter due to her preference for close-quarters
– Carol’s seventh sense could let her predict Power Girl’s moves
+ If it weren’t for the fact that it activates at random and Power Girl could blitz her before it activates
Carol Danvers (Loser)
+ More experienced
+ Energy absorption rendered Power Girl’s heat vision useless
– Though this wouldn’t matter due to Power Girl’s preference for close-quarters
+ Photon energy gave her an edge in versatility and unpredictability
+ Seventh sense could let her predict Power Girl’s moves
– If it weren’t for the fact that it activates at random and Power Girl could blitz her before it activates
= Mobility
= Both could boost their stats by absorbing energy (Power Girl via solar radiation and Carol via her surroundings)
– Even with Binary, she was still outclassed in stats
– Wouldn’t be able to access Binary before getting blitzed
– Inferior combat training
– Less intelligent
– Smaller array of powers
– Power Girl could resist her energy absorption and Binary’s abilities
Personality/Intelligence:
Brendan’s Versus Battles 
