For who aren't in the know, all the comic issues I've read that stated that Supergirl was stronger than superman gave the following logical explanation:
1) Kara is actually much older than Kal-El, and grew up in a heavy gravity-dense planet whereas Kal-El did not. This honed the female Kryptonain's natural strength... whereas Kal-el grew up on Earth, which isn't as gravity-dense. She learned to walk and skip and jump on a planet with denser gravity. Clark was an infant who couldn't even hold up his head with his neck yet.
2) Less mental blocks since she wasn't raised to fear herself or what she's capable of. Clark on the other hand, definitely have tons of mental blocks due to fears/nightmares of accidentally hurting somebody close to him. The 'holding back' of his powers is deeply ingrained into his subconscious, so deeply that even while under the mind control of dastardly villains, he'll pull his punches.
Kara has none of this. When she takes a swing, her first instinct is to use her full strength. It's unlikely that she'll hurt a civilian or weaker superhuman this way, as Kryptonians have preternaturally fast reflexes and speed (she'd be able to change the velocity of her attack nigh-instantaneously), but her opening punch against an empowered opponent will be much more devastating than an opening punch from Superman.
3)This may be specific to that 00's continuity. Kara's father created her spacecraft to keep her in suspended animation AND to bombard her with solar radiation, not unlike that of a yellow sun. Kal, for most of his life, only absorbed solar radiation from a source millions of miles away, after it had passed through the atmosphere. Kara had a direct line to a carefully designed solar radiation treatment. She's supercharged, if you'll pardon the play on words. Another factor to consider is that while Kal may have absorbed a greater amount of sunlight over a longer period of time, he frequently depletes those reserves. Kara, being newer to the scene, still has more 'gas in the tank', as it were.
4) In some continuities (mainly during the 70's to 80's) it was mandatory for all Kryptonian to train in Kryptonian Martial arts once they reached a certain age, in the event that they could be recruited into the military quickly without too much training in times of war. Kara got that training, while Kal-El did not. As an result Kara was far more experienced in combat situations when Kal-El wasn't trained in combat and merely depended on his strength to get by. Of course some stories tend to nerf this by having Superman train with Batman, etc.
I would list all comic issues where they talked about this, but to be honest it would take me too long to google and hunt down all the exact comic issues... especially because they're scattered across different continuities from different time periods (80's, 90's, etc). So I'm not gonna bother.
1) Kara is actually much older than Kal-El, and grew up in a heavy gravity-dense planet whereas Kal-El did not. This honed the female Kryptonain's natural strength... whereas Kal-el grew up on Earth, which isn't as gravity-dense. She learned to walk and skip and jump on a planet with denser gravity. Clark was an infant who couldn't even hold up his head with his neck yet.
2) Less mental blocks since she wasn't raised to fear herself or what she's capable of. Clark on the other hand, definitely have tons of mental blocks due to fears/nightmares of accidentally hurting somebody close to him. The 'holding back' of his powers is deeply ingrained into his subconscious, so deeply that even while under the mind control of dastardly villains, he'll pull his punches.
Kara has none of this. When she takes a swing, her first instinct is to use her full strength. It's unlikely that she'll hurt a civilian or weaker superhuman this way, as Kryptonians have preternaturally fast reflexes and speed (she'd be able to change the velocity of her attack nigh-instantaneously), but her opening punch against an empowered opponent will be much more devastating than an opening punch from Superman.
3)This may be specific to that 00's continuity. Kara's father created her spacecraft to keep her in suspended animation AND to bombard her with solar radiation, not unlike that of a yellow sun. Kal, for most of his life, only absorbed solar radiation from a source millions of miles away, after it had passed through the atmosphere. Kara had a direct line to a carefully designed solar radiation treatment. She's supercharged, if you'll pardon the play on words. Another factor to consider is that while Kal may have absorbed a greater amount of sunlight over a longer period of time, he frequently depletes those reserves. Kara, being newer to the scene, still has more 'gas in the tank', as it were.
4) In some continuities (mainly during the 70's to 80's) it was mandatory for all Kryptonian to train in Kryptonian Martial arts once they reached a certain age, in the event that they could be recruited into the military quickly without too much training in times of war. Kara got that training, while Kal-El did not. As an result Kara was far more experienced in combat situations when Kal-El wasn't trained in combat and merely depended on his strength to get by. Of course some stories tend to nerf this by having Superman train with Batman, etc.
I would list all comic issues where they talked about this, but to be honest it would take me too long to google and hunt down all the exact comic issues... especially because they're scattered across different continuities from different time periods (80's, 90's, etc). So I'm not gonna bother.
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