First Look At New Supergirl Melissa Benoist In Costume

Around 30 years after she made her ill-fated movie debut in ‘Supergirl’, the much-loved DC Comics character is making a live action comeback in an upcoming TV pilot of the same name.

These new photos released by Warner Bros. Television reveal Melissa Benoist in the character’s updated costume and it’s a far cry from the primary-coloured spandex worn in the 1984 film.

“In designing Supergirl, I wanted to embrace the past, but more importantly, thrust her into the street-style action hero of today,” explains Colleen Atwood, the Oscar-winning costume designer behind the new duds.

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The stylish outfit is much more in line with the textured, deep navy and maroon supersuit Henry Cavill wears in ‘Man of Steel’ than the azure and scarlet lycra worn by Christopher Reeve and Helen Slater in the 1970s and 80s.

And unlike Slater, Benoist actually gets to wear leggings under the miniskirt rather than going bare-legged.

'Glee' star Benoist, most recently seen as Andrew's long-suffering girlfriend in the Oscar-winning 'Whiplash', will play Superman's Kryptonian cousin Kara Zor-El in the pilot which Warner Bros. Television is currently producing for CBS.

The show will see Kara’s struggles on Earth as she attempts to put her superhuman powers to good use after she’s exiled here, like her cousin, following the destruction of Krypton.

Calista Flockhart is on board as Cat Grant, Kara’s boss, with Mehcad Brooks as photographer Jimmy Olsen.

Above: Helen Slater as Supergirl in the 1984 film

Dean Cain, who played Superman in ‘Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman’ is expected to make a cameo, as is Helen Slater but it’s not clear whether they’ll be reprising their famous roles - it’s seems pretty unlikely.

The show is the brainchild of Greg Berlanti, the man behind the successful DC Comics shows ‘Arrow’ and ‘The Flash’, but getting to pilot stage is by no means a guarantee of success.

In 2011, Warner Bros. Television attempted to launch a ‘Wonder Woman’ TV show with Adrianne Palicki in the lead role, but NBC declined to take it to series. TV critic Alan Sepinwall - one of the few people to have seen the unaired pilot - described it as “embarrassing”.

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Photo Credit: Bonnie Osborne/DC Comics