History was made when transgender activist and actress Nicole Maines was casted in season 4 of CW’s SuperGirl as Nia Nal/Dreamer. It was the first time a Transgender played transgender superhero in any TV Show.
A little bit about our Trans girl Nicole Maines
The transgender activist Nicole Maines is no stranger to appearing in TV or film. She was the subject of the book “Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family” and was featured in the HBO documentary “The Trans List.” She made a guest appearance on “Royal Pains” in 2015. She also played a main lead in a vampire film “Bit.”
Nicole made headlines in June 2013 when she sued her school district after being denied access to the girl’s restroom at her school. She won the discrimination lawsuit and The Supreme Judicial Court in the US ruled that the school district had violated the Human Rights Act. when she was refused access to the female toilet in her high school.
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Two years later, Maines told in a interview that the school had hired a bodyguard to ensure she only used the staff bathroom, which had been set aside especially for her.
A little about her Transgender Superhero Character in Supergirl.
Nicole is playing Nia Nal, a young reporter at the media company CatCo. She is taken under the wing of fellow journalist and superhero Kara Danvers/Supergirl ( Played by Melissa Benoist). The character is described as a “soulful young transgender woman with a fierce drive to protect others”.
Her superpower identity is Dreamer. Dreamer is an alien “precog” who can dream the future. Her dreams are premonitions of the near future. Later in the series we get to know that She and her family are from a planet called Naltor. Occasionally, this power manifests in the women of her family.
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Later in the show we see her in icy-blue badass superhero suit. Don’t want to spoil the show for you. so we will leave there. 🙂
The character is the first of her kind on television, making Nicole Maines the first actor to play a transgender superhero on TV.
Talking about her Transgender Superhero role in SuperGirl
“Nia is so much more than just a trans superhero. She is a reporter, she is hopeful, she’s powerful, wise and such a good friend,” she said.
Maines said on San Diego Comic-Con stage. “It seems only fitting that we have a trans superhero for trans kids to look up to. I wish there was a trans superhero when I was little.”
Maines said during the interview with Variety: “I want fans to take away an understanding of trans people. We can be anybody, we can be who we want, we can be superheroes – because in many ways we are.”
She says it’s important for trans actors to play trans characters. When cisgender men play transgender women, it creates an image of “men wearing dresses” that can affect people’s perceptions. “When we have trans actors play trans characters, people can look onscreen and say, ‘OK, this is what trans is.’”
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[…] Also Read: TV’s First ‘Transgender Superhero’ Played by ‘Nicole Maines’ in SuperGirl […]