Originally posted by light889
I just remembered something. Isn't there another fight where an aged superman fought Powergirl and still beat her?
I don't know if Kal-L fought her another time, but during BLACKEST NIGHT Power Girl backed by the JSA did terribly against Blak Lantern Kal-L. Though he did have that regeneration thing, she had a ton of help.
Superman also did way better against Black Lantern Kal-L with less help. In fact not only was it just Superboy, but due to the events and Superboy having been dead before as well, there were times Conner turned against Superman and Superman had to fight them both, as well as times Superboy was temporarily out of the battle to fight against the influence Black Lanterns were having.
I do not know if Power Girl and Kal-L fought before, almost certainly would have been Pre-CRISIS unless it was a flashback scene or something similar. Maybe it happened during CONVERGENCE and I forgot.
As for the fight in JSA, to elaborate on a few things mentioned, they explicitly state that those under control are like puppets, and have none of the experience.
Here they explain how the braincaps work.
Talking about it gives direct access to their motor functions making them puppets. Says they're far less formidable.
And here Ultra-Humanite describes it as marionettes.
This page happens directly before Power Girl starts fighting Superman, reiterating they're puppets.
So Superman is definitely less formidable, the writer made it clear. As for the KO, it's pretty much him repeatedly getting sucker punched and her last hit is after the braincap is dosabled. As you can see, people were dropped just from the braincap being disabled. It was tied directly to their nervous system.