Pride in the Arrowverse: Celebrating Dreamer, the first transgender superhero on television
It's pride month and we are celebrating the LGBTQ+ community in the Arrowverse, which has done historic work in terms of representation in its superheroes. This week, we look at a relatively new addition to the Arrowverse — Nia Nal (Nicole Maines) — otherwise known as Dreamer.
Making her first appearance in 'Supergirl' Season 1, Nia Nal is half-alien on her mother's side — a Naltorian. This gives her special, generationally rare abilities of oneiromancy — the ability to use dreams to predict the future. While the Arrowverse has played fast and loose with comics continuity before, Nia is one of the few main characters created exclusively for the show. She's not entirely without a connection to the comics. One of her distant descendants in the 31st century gains precognition herself and joins the Legion of Superheroes as Dream Girl.
Right from the first moment we are introduced to her, Nia Nal is someone Kara Danvers (Melissa Benoist) sees a kindred spirit in — a young reporter, who is determined to do good and make an impact on her lives through her stories. She's not someone who bows to convention, recognizing the importance of fashion and self-expression in journalism despite what others may think of that part of the news. Nia is an inspiration before she ever puts on her suit. After the tragic death of her mother, however, Nia is inspired to become the Dreamer, taking on a new superhero persona named for her powers. Aided by Brainiac 5 (Jesse Rath), whom she grew a close, romantic relationship with, Dreamer joined the Superfriends, fighting at Supergirl's side, and she's never stopped fighting since.
Adding Nia to the cast opened the door for a whole new range of stories that the show hadn't ventured into before. Though the show wisely gave Nia Nal the time to develop as a character outside of her trans identity, it devoted some important episodes to covering that aspect of her. Her speech coming out to the world as both an alien and as a trans woman superhero is one of the series' most unforgettable moments. Dreamer speaks her truth as she tells the world, "The greatest gift we can give each other is our authentic selves."
A more recent episode saw the show tackle the difficult subject of hatred directed towards trans lives and the underreporting of violent crimes that comes from the misgendering done by the police filing the reports. It's an uncomfortable conversation to have and trans rights activist Nicole Maines gave a powerful performance to portray the pain the trans community goes through. 'Supergirl' has always been a show about inspiring people to be their best selves. Dreamer is the perfect embodiment of that ideal — to say nothing of embodying the very spirit of pride month itself. An invaluable addition to the Arrowverse, she may be the first trans superhero on television, but hopefully, she's far from the last.
Dreamer can be seen in 'Supergirl,' which returns in 2021 on The CW.