Avatar: The Last Airbender remains one of the most popular animated shows of the modern era, and it turns out that a DC Comics show drew inspiration from its mythology -or rather, one of its stars did.
In an interview with CBR, Nicole Maines, who portrays Nia Mal/Dreamer on Supergirl, spoke about developing her characters' powers and the inspiration she drew from other sources.
"I'll practice different choreography for using the dream energy, and so I look insane. I'm sure if there was a fly on the wall, they'd be like, 'Commit her. She's nuts.' But I'm very happy with it!" Maines said. "The dream energy kind of came from... The original concept, for me, kind of came from Tai Chi and waterbending, like if you're familiar with Avatar: The Last Airbender -- all of those fluid moves, one motion leads into the other, was the initial concept for it."
First appearing in season four of Supergirl, Nia Mal is a Naltorian, a being with the ability to see the future through dreams and creating astral projection constructs. She is also the first transgender superhero on television.
Returning Sunday, May 3 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW, Supergirl stars Melissa Benoist as Kara Danvers, David Harewood as Martian Manhunter and Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers.