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‘Supergirl’ news: Series star Melissa Benoist says Supergirl will be ‘relatable’

The producers found that someone in Melissa Benoist.

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When Melissa Benoist was a little girl, she regularly went trick-or-treating as a classic Star Wars character.

“Supergirl” doesn’t fit the traditional mold of a CBS series.

But move past the word, and images (fortunately fleeting in the pilot), and “Supergirl” obviously has a major plus: Benoist. You bet. All those superpowers just haven’t been working out for her. At one point the character was killed off for almost two decades, and often Supergirl was molded to fit the times or fans’ tastes. “She seemed outfitted to fanboys” predilections, pictured in short shorts or mini miniskirts.

With Supergirl set to premiere next Monday, Daybreak Games have announced the Melissa Benoist Supergirl costume is now available on DCU Online. She is always inspiring Supergirl to achieve higher heights.

When Kara finally arrives on Earth, it’s 24 years later and she has hardly aged. Kal-El, however, has already grown into Clark Kent/Superman. The comparison to Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada is easy to make, only Grant actually tells people how she’s feeling instead of trying to murder them with pursed lips and an up-turned nose. Once again, there are also nice homages to the past, such as Dean Cain and Helen Slater as Kara’s adoptive parents. Unlike him, she suppresses her extraordinary talents. “Her bravery and her hope and her positivity and her strength”, Benoist says. “We have to bring something singular and special every week”.

Supergirl was still born on Krypton, of course, and she is jettisoned to Earth at 13 because Krypton is dying.

Indeed, DC had copyrighted the name Superwoman to prevent rivals from using it, and over the years occasionally introduced her into comics, usually as an evil character.

Big shot bioengineer Alex (Chyler Leigh, “Grey’s Anatomy”) would very much like Kara to fly – under the radar.

“He will be a factor in her life, but you won’t see him exactly on screen”, said executive producer Geoff Johns at an August CBS press conference.

Kara has an ally in James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks), a former Daily Planet photographer who’s just been hired by Cat and is good friends with Kara’s airborne cousin, as we know.

The CW serves up two interconnected superhero shows, “Arrow” and “Flash“, and is developing a third, “The Atom”. But he knows a superhero show has to demand attention because there are now so many superhero stories available.

But a female readership continued to thrive in comics fandom, and a desire for representation in narratives – which for a time had to be satisfied by action-adventure shows like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Alias” – eventually yielded tangible results in the publications.

“If you perceive Supergirl as anything less than excellent”, Cat asks, “isn’t the real problem you?”

As CBS Entertainment Chairman Nina Tassler said in an interview: “We’re all ready for a female superhero on television”. Trivia: Benoist married her Glee co-star, Blake Jenner (he played Ryder Lynn) in March.

“When we were building, constructing this universe, we added a workplace element because we felt like that hadn’t been represented on a show like this, and an adult sibling relationship”, Berlanti says. “Just due diligence. Tapes were sent in, but she just had our hearts from the beginning and I’m sure you guys will feel the same”.

Benoist sees “Supergirl” as an important show. “It was something exciting and rare and that I wanted to be a part of”. “A female hero!” a diner waitress exclaims as Supergirl flies by.

Supergirl’s successes during the trials she faces in the pilot are inspiring, even if they happen so quickly it’s hard to take them all in at first. Most notably, there was “Wonder Woman”, which ran from 1975-79 and starred Lynda Carter.

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Berlanti wanted the new “Supergirl to be strong and bold”. But she also has Jimmy Olsen and Winn (Jeremy Jordan) and, whether she realizes it or not, Cat at CatCo in her day life. The series will then move to its regular Monday 8 PM slot the following week, November 2.

Darren Michaels  CBSMelissa Benoist stars in'Supergirl' premiering at 8:30 p.m. Monday on CBS.			
	
			
					
	
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