'Supergirl' season 5: Kara's new suit is a welcome change and there's a story-related reason behind the swap
This article contains spoilers for 'Supergirl' season 5 episode 1: 'Event Horizon'
Earlier this year there was a new look for Supergirl. The brand new suit changed the classic red and blue costume and gave one similar to Superman. Plus, this one swaps the skirt for pants and the season premiere introduced this new suit to fans.
'Event Horizon' sees Kara Danvers (Melissa Benoist) start off with her regular skirt costume, however, it takes a beating at the hands of a shape-shifting alien at the National City museum. Her cape is shredded in the process and Brainy (Jesse Rath) deduces that along with the Kryptonian pod that was missing, Kara's damaged cape is a major cause of concern. He solves the problem by making her a new suit which is presented to Kara just before her Pulitzer award ceremony. The interesting part is the size which is pretty microscopic and he attaches it to her glasses, telling her the suit will materialize when she takes the glasses off in a specific way.
This is seen a few minutes later when Midnight (Jennifer Cheon Garcia) shows up at the ceremony and Kara whips off the glasses to see the suit develop around her in a way similar to the nanotech Mark 50 suit that Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) uses in 'Avengers: Endgame'.
The new suit comes as a welcome move after seeing Kara in the traditional skirt-based suit for three seasons, and while it may have been a classic favorite, the new one looks more classy and shows a sign of evolution. Her fellow superheroes, Arrow and The Flash have suit upgrades almost every season and this one was long overdue for Kara. The full capabilities of the suit are yet to be explained and we'll only know more about it as the season progresses. Assuming the suit is nanotech, expect a few more surprises along the way, starting off with the fact that it is near-indestructible.
According to comicbook, there is also a plot-based reason for the costume change. Benoist has also explained that the change into pants is part of the character's overall development. "I just think it's more adult," Benoist said. "Part of my goal in this whole series for whenever the show ends, I just want there to be a very clear arc for this character that she evolved as a woman and found her femininity and her adulthood, just a self-discovery."
'Supergirl' airs Sundays, 9 p.m. ET on The CW.