Supergirl reveals first look at transgender superhero Dreamer
Supergirl star Nicole Maines as transgender superhero Dreamer. (The CW)
The first glimpse of Supergirl‘s transgender superhero Dreamer has been revealed, and her costume is epic.
The CW superhero show Supergirl has long teased the addition of trans superhero Dreamer, with Nicole Maines joining the show in late 2018 as the hero’s alter ego Nia Nal.
Fans have waited months to get a look at the Dreamer in action, and it looks like they are about to finally get the chance.
The CW revealed a first look at the character suited-and-booted and ready for a fight, in the costume she is set to wear for the first time in the show’s February 17 episode.
Supergirl star Nicole Maines as transgender superhero Dreamer (The CW)
The stylish grey suit look matches the hero’s ability to see premonitions of the future.
The look is getting a lot of attention online.
One fan wrote: “SHE LOOKS SO AMAZING AND SO KICK ASS!!!! @NicoleAMaines I AM SO PROUD AND EXCITED FOR YOU!!! This is going to be the absolute best I’m so happy!!!!”
Another added: “OH MY GOD NOW THATS A GOOD SUIT”
Supergirl hero Dreamer will be TV’s first transgender superhero
Greg Berlanti, who oversees CW superhero shows including Arrow, The Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow, teased the addition of a trans hero as early as May 2018.
He said: “We don’t have an active trans character across the shows, you know.”
Berlanti added: “We had a trans actress playing a trans in a show I did that was not a superhero show, eleven years ago. And so I still feel behind the times every day on that issue.”
An open casting call was issued in a bid to find a transgender actress to play the character, with the casting of Nicole Maines announced in July.
Supergirl star Nicole Maines was bullied at school for gender identity.
Nicole Maines is transgender in real life, and opened up about her facing bullying in an October interview on the Ellen DeGeneres Show.
She said: “I really started thinking something wasn’t right. My case was kind of unique because I have an identical twin brother and so growing up with him, he was identifying with all these male things and he was feeling very comfortable in his body.
“As soon as I could, I tried to voice to my parents that something’s off.”
Maines said that when she came out to her father he did not take the news well, adding:”He blocked that out. He ignored it. He focused on his hobbies, and that left my mother on her own for a while. She didn’t grow up with the same expectations that my father did.”
The actress added: “[When I was bullied at school] he really stepped up and he said, ‘I don’t get this, but I love my child and I’m going to protect my child. Whatever it takes’.”
“When I would ride the bus — I couldn’t take the bus anymore — because kids would refer to me as ‘it’ on the bus.
“Then in fifth grade it really kind of peaked. A male student in my class’ grandfather was a part of a special interest Christian right group, and he had his grandson follow me into the girls’ bathroom and he said, ‘My grandfather says we don’t have to have any faggots in our school.’”
