Kind of Blue

Here’s our first look at Melissa Benoist in costume for CBS’s upcoming Supergirl.


Photos: Bonnie Osborne / Warner Bros. Entertainment © 2015.

A friend was decrying the dark blue on Facebook and he’s not alone there. I don’t
mind it myself. Bruce Timm & Co. opted to go in that direction for the WB Superman animated series in 1996, harkening back to the earliest depictions in the comics as well as the 1940s Fleischer cartoon shorts, and I think darker colors in general tend to work better in live-action portrayals. The Flash has done all right with a mostly lighter superhero — in tone — wearing a darker red than we get on the page. (Of course, Man of Steel went dark too…)

Even the shield background doesn’t particularly bother me, although the awkward ending serif to what otherwise is the standard S insignia — or was, prior to DC’s “New 52” revamp — sure does. The belt area might work as simply yellow trim if it didn’t echo a familiar belt-and-skirt design from the comics; I’d prefer an actual belt as it clashes with the general look of the suit as clothing. Yellow trim on the cool thigh-high boots could’ve been nice.

I’m really glad that the outfit, complete with leggings, is modest compared to the bare midriff and ridiculously low-slung miniskirt often worn by the character in comics of the past dozen years.


Related: Suit Up • Worlds Enough and Time • Stars and Gripes