Powergirl was not Supergirl.

There is a reason beyond the rather poorly balanced costume that Powergirl currently wears ( until issue 19 of Supergirl apparently ) that has really been bothering me, and while it may be seen as a minor thing, to me i think it is an important point concerning the character. Powergirl is not Supergirl. More to the point until the New 52 changed everything, both before the Crisis of Infiinite Earths reboot and after it, she was NEVER 'Supergirl'. EVER.

" But of course she's Supergirl, she's the Supergirl of Earth 2, Kara Zor-L, Supermans cousin, so don't be an idiot " would seem a fair response, except that yes she is Kara Zor-L, yes she is ( now once more ) from Earth 2, and yes she is Supermans cousin. Yet not once did she ever wear a Supergirl outfit, wear Superman's shield, or wear any variant symbol, so my point that she is not 'Supergirl' stands. Recently i was given a link with a scene from a comic older than i am where Powergirl actually crushes a 'P' symbol that had been made for her, it's worth having a look at the tumblr article dcwomenkickingass.tumblr.com/p…. She may be the same person biologically to Supergirl, but otherwise they have little in common.

The fact that she was her own person was a core element to her, in a way it was this aspect to her character, not her 1986 re-written origin, that made her stand a good distance from Supermans shadow. But this was totally forgotten or worse ignored by the New 52 Reboot, that not only had her as a Supergirl, wearing the 'S' shield and all, but her Powergirl identity now seems to have nothing to do with her independent spirit, and more to do with hiding her previous identity in the Earth 1 universe that she is now trapped in ( Hiding isn't something that i would have associated with the character, well, other than giving a badguy a good hiding ) .

Much like Captain Atom, it looks like the New 52 Powergirl isn't the same character anymore, and that is in my opinion, far worse than any costume alteration.