Warning: Contains spoilers for Power Girl #11!

Summary

• Power Girl challenges her constant sexualization after a dating faux pas in Power Girl #11.
• Axel Gust's reaction questions Power Girl's "hotness" and her symbol's legacy.
• Power Girl's lack of a symbol represents empowerment and independence, transforming her image.

Power Girl has always been a hot DC topic for one reason or another. As an auxiliary member of the Superman Family, she has been able to hold her own alongside the Man of Steel and his cousin Supergirl — and yet her greatest battle is her constant sexualization. Even as she finally updates her costume, she encounters resistance, even from characters in the DC Universe.

In Power Girl #11 by Leah Williams and Adriana Melo, Paige Stetler is trying to be a superhero and manage her dating life at the same time. Although her new love interest, Axel Gust, might have some secrets of his own, as they accidentally reveal their superpowers to each other on a date — which ends in a major faux pas.

Axel Gust sees Power Girl in her super-suit, a costume she updated at the beginning of the Dawn of DC era to include pants and a red jacket, but the moment of realization isn't what Kara Zor-L was expecting — or Axel, for that matter, because he was expecting Power Girl to be hotter.

Power Girl's Infamous Costume Has a Deeper Meaning

Page from JSA: Classified #2 by Geoff Johns, Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti, Paul Mounts, and Rob Leigh

Power Girl has a reputation that she just can't shake. Even as DC's beefiest Kryptonian with muscles not even Supergirl can match, Power Girl is also widely known as the most alluring hero, sometimes to her own detriment. With Axel Gust's comment, this is one of the first times Power Girl's "hotness" has been questioned, and now the legacy of her famous open-chested suit has outpaced her.

Power Girl has been transformed from a sex symbol into a symbol of empowerment for women everywhere, encouraging them to not be ashamed of their bodies.

It's taken several years for Power Girl to get taken seriously. She even had trouble trying to get out from under Superman's shadow. She promised herself that she would find a symbol just as important as Superman's Kryptonian symbol for hope, but she never did find that symbol. Instead, she finds a new suit in the Dawn of DC-era Power Girl series with the Superman crest on the back of her jacket and her own symbol in the front: the infamous chest window that now perfectly represents Power Girl. She's not crying about her looks anymore.

Power Girl Is Proud to Wear No Symbol On Her Chest

A Part of the Superman Family and Wholly Her Own Hero

Power Girl's lack of a symbol is now a staple of her character. It not only shows that she's a character in her own right who will always be an outsider to the Superman Family, but that she doesn't need to listen to any criticism from other heroes about so-called lewdness. Power Girl has been transformed from a sex symbol into a symbol of empowerment for women everywhere, encouraging them to not be ashamed of their bodies.

Axel Gust's reaction to Power Girl shows the mindsets of the characters in the DC Universe: Power Girl is hot, and that's about all they know about her. They still have a way to go, it seems. Maybe one day, Power Girl can wear whatever kind of costume she wants, and she won't be criticized. For now, she's still one of the strongest women in DC Comics.

Power Girl #11 is available now from DC Comics!