Dreamer (Nia Nal): the heroine with visions from the Supergirl series

Who is Dreamer? Nia Nal, the reporter who dreams the future

Nia Nal, alias Dreamer, is a superheroine born on television, in the Supergirl series aired on The CW. The character was created by Robert Rovner and Jessica Queller, the showrunners of season 4. Nicole Maines played her as part of the main cast in seasons 4 to 6, from 2018 to 2021, alongside Melissa Benoist, the show's Supergirl. Nia first appears in “American Alien” (4x01), which aired on October 14, 2018, in the United States (“Chasse aux aliens” in the French dub).

In the series, Nia is the daughter of a human father and a Naltorian mother, from an alien people among whom some women can see the future. In her bloodline, only one woman per generation inherits this gift. By day, she is a reporter at CatCo, National City's media company, where she learns the ropes under Kara Danvers. Her surname is no coincidence: in the comics, Dream Girl's name is Nura Nal, and the series makes Nia her ancestor.

From the White House to CatCo: Nia Nal's arrival in 2018

A graduate in international relations from Georgetown University, Nia wrote speeches for Cat Grant, then White House press secretary under President Olivia Marsdin. At CatCo, Kara takes her under her wing: the woman who had once been Cat's assistant in turn becomes the mentor of Cat's former protégée.

The character was conceived this way from the casting stage. In May 2018, a casting call sought a transgender actress in her twenties to play Nia, a former political speechwriter summed up as “a young Cat Grant type.” The role went to Nicole Maines, who was announced on July 21, 2018, during the show's panel at San Diego Comic-Con.

Her first episodes put her at the heart of the season's central theme: hatred of aliens. In “Fallout” (4x02), which aired on October 21, 2018, in the United States, Nia reveals to James Olsen, CatCo's boss, that she is transgender, and convinces him to write an editorial against anti-alien hate.

Nicole Maines and television's first transgender superhero

The press picked up the July 2018 announcement right away. Deadline and Entertainment Weekly presented Nia as “TV's first transgender superhero” and described Nicole Maines as a transgender activist. For Deadline, Nia is a sensitive young transgender woman driven by a fierce desire to protect others. That milestone applies to television: in DC comics, the trans heroine Coagula, created by Rachel Pollack, has existed since Doom Patrol #70, published in 1993.

On the Comic-Con stage, the actress explained that Nia wants to protect people and fight discrimination and hate: “She's the superhero we need right now.” She added that she wished she'd had a trans superhero to look up to when she was little.

Before this role, Nicole Maines was already known for her legal battle. On January 30, 2014, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled in her favor against her school district, which had barred her from using the girls' restroom. Since 2015, Amy Ellis Nutt's book Becoming Nicole has told her family's story.

Prophetic dreams and astral projection: Dreamer's powers

Nia's visions begin with a sleep problem. In “Call to Action” (4x06), which aired on November 18, 2018, in the United States, she falls asleep at her desk and talks about narcolepsy: in reality, her powers are awakening. In “Bunker Hill” (4x08), which aired on December 2, 2018, she admits to Kara that she is half Naltorian, and her dreams lead the team to Ben Lockwood, hidden behind the mask of Agent Liberty, the leader of the Children of Liberty.

These dreams do not always speak clearly: they often show symbolic images that Nia has to learn to decode. Her powers go further: flashes of precognition, astral projection and energy drawn from her dreams, which she fires in blasts or shapes into shields. In “What's So Funny About Truth, Justice, and the American Way?” (4x13), which aired on March 3, 2019, in the United States, Brainy trains her at the Fortress of Solitude, where she discovers astral projection.

This one-heir-per-generation rule is specific to the series. In the Legion of Super-Heroes comics, almost all the inhabitants of Naltor see the future. Dream Girl first appears in Adventure Comics #317, cover-dated February 1964, written by Edmond Hamilton and penciled by John Forte.

“Blood Memory”: a mother, a sister and the Dreamer costume

The turning point comes in “Blood Memory” (4x11), which aired on January 27, 2019, in the United States (“La Rage au ventre” in the French dub). Kara goes with Nia to Parthas, her hometown. The whole family thought that their mother Isabel's gift would go to Maeve, the older sister, who even studied dream interpretation. Yet Nia is the one who received it.

Isabel dies of a spider bite, after speaking to Nia in a dream and realizing that the gift had passed to her. When Maeve discovers the truth, she rejects her sister and goes so far as to deny that she is a real woman. Their father gives Nia the Dreamer costume that their mother had wanted to pass on to her, and Kara, to reassure her, reveals that she is Supergirl.

The CW unveiled the first photo of Nicole Maines in costume on January 18, 2019. Nia wears it for her first real mission in “Menagerie” (4x12), which aired on February 17, 2019, in the United States, where she backs up Supergirl against a thief inhabited by an alien symbiote. If you're watching the series in order, that's where Dreamer truly enters the scene.

The Elite, Agent Liberty and Lex Luthor: Dreamer in season 4

Season 4 brings Dreamer closer to Superman's universe. Episode 4x13 takes its title from a Superman story published in March 2001 in Action Comics #775, which introduced Manchester Black and the Elite. In the series, Manchester Black forms his own Elite, which Dreamer fights alongside Supergirl, Brainy, Alex and J'onn.

Dreamer moves to the forefront in “American Dreamer” (4x19), which aired on April 28, 2019, in the United States (“Le Pouvoir des mots” in the French dub) and was directed by David Harewood, who plays J'onn. Supergirl, wrongly accused and declared a public enemy, has stopped intervening: Dreamer protects National City on her own. Kara interviews her live for CatCo, and Dreamer presents herself as both human and alien, and as a trans woman. The site Birth.Movies.Death sees Nia as “the real star” of the episode.

In the season finale, “The Quest for Peace” (4x22), which aired on May 19, 2019, in the United States, Nia and J'onn J'onzz, on Shelley Island, disable the Claymore satellite that Lex Luthor intends to use to destroy Argo City. Once peace returns, Nia and Brainy start dating.

Brainy, Kara and the Superfriends: Nia Nal's inner circle

Brainy, whose real name is Querl Dox, alias Brainiac 5, is a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes who came from the future, played by Jesse Rath. The couple breaks up in “The Bottle Episode” (5x10), which aired on January 19, 2020, in the United States (“La capsule” in the French dub): Brainy learns that he must secretly ally himself with Lex and sacrifice their relationship. In the last episode of the series, “Kara,” which aired on November 9, 2021, in the United States, he chooses to stay in the present with her.

With Kara, the bond between student and mentor grows into a solid friendship, and Nia joins the Superfriends, the team gathered around Supergirl with J'onn, Brainy and Alex Danvers.

The series also tackles transphobia head-on. In “Reality Bytes” (5x15), which aired on March 15, 2020, in the United States (“Monde virtuel, haine réelle” in the French dub), Nia's roommate Yvette is attacked by Gregory Bauer, a man who lures and assaults trans women to force Dreamer to retire. Dreamer tracks him down and nearly kills him, before Kara brings her back to her senses.

Crisis, Cat Grant and Nyxly: Dreamer in seasons 5 and 6

During the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover, Nia helps evacuate National City in the first part, which aired on December 8, 2019, on Supergirl, then returns in the fifth, which aired on January 14, 2020, on Legends of Tomorrow (US dates).

In “Prom Again!” (6x06), which aired on May 4, 2021, in the United States, Nia and Brainy find themselves in 2009, in Midvale. There, Nia convinces a young Cat Grant to leave the Daily Planet and launch her own media company: she thus helps bring CatCo into being, the company where she will later become a reporter.

A more personal arc plays out through her dreams. In “Dream Weaver” (6x09, August 31, 2021), Nyxly, a being from the Fifth Dimension like Mr. Mxyzptlk, trapped in Nia's dream, offers to bring her mother back to life for one day in exchange for her own freedom. Nia accepts, and in “Still I Rise” (6x10, September 7, 2021), Isabel helps her understand and overcome her fear. In “Nightmare in National City” (6x16, October 19, 2021), Nia gives Maeve a second chance, despite her betrayal (US dates).

Nicole Maines later returned to the role in “Wildest Dreams” (9x07), an episode of The Flash that aired on March 29, 2023, in the United States, in which Nia shares Iris West-Allen's dreams.

Dreamer (Nia Nal) in the comics: from DC Pride to the Suicide Squad

Nia made the jump to comics in 2021, from the pen of the actress who plays her. In the anthology DC Pride #1, on sale June 8, 2021, Nicole Maines wrote “Date Night,” drawn by Rachael Stott: Nia has planned a romantic evening with Brainy, but a suspicious case gets in the way. The story takes place in the universe of the series.

Her first full appearance in the main DC Comics continuity came in Superman: Son of Kal-El #13, on sale July 12, 2022, written by Nicole Maines and Tom Taylor and drawn by Clayton Henry. In it, Dreamer warns Jon Kent, Clark's son who has become Superman, about a premonition involving Henry Bendix.

Bad Dream: A Dreamer Story, a graphic novel by Nicole Maines and Rye Hickman published on April 2, 2024, retells her origins: a trans teenager in Parthas, a community of alien refugees, Nia inherits the gift everyone expected her sister Maeve to receive and runs away to Metropolis. In Suicide Squad: Dream Team, a four-issue series launched on March 12, 2024, Maines and artist Eddy Barrows bring Dreamer into Amanda Waller's Suicide Squad, alongside Harley Quinn and Bizarro.

In 2025, Suicide Squad: Dream Team won the GLAAD Media Award in the comic book category, and Bad Dream was nominated in the graphic novel and anthology category. As early as September 2022, Fortnite had added a Dreamer outfit, presented as the game's first trans character.

Conclusion

Dreamer was born on television before finding her place in DC comics. Announced in 2018 as television's first transgender superhero, she now lives on in stories written by Nicole Maines. In the series, her dreams lead her to Agent Liberty, before the fight against Lex Luthor; in the comics, they lead her to Superman's son.

Her mentor, Kara Zor-El, Superman's cousin, remains at the heart of her battles in the series. The show also makes Nia the distant ancestor of Dream Girl, who in the comics belongs to the Legion of Super-Heroes.