Naomi Premiere Reveals a Major Superman Twist

The pilot episode of Naomi made its debut on The CW on Tuesday, introducing a whole new hero into the network's world of DC Comics-inspired shows. It was safe to assume that the series would be taking a unique approach to DC canon, especially considering how new of a character Naomi McDuffie (Kaci Walfall) is in the comics. The teasers and promotional material around Naomi had hinted that the series would be featuring Superman in some capacity — and the pilot episode confirmed as much, but not in the way fans might be expecting. Spoilers for the series premiere of Naomi below! Only look if you want to know!

The episode opened with establishing the world of Naomi and her hometown of Port Oswego, where she attends high school and runs a Superman fansite in her free time. Naomi's status quo was shaken up when the Port Oswego town square was mysteriously attacked by two men, who appeared to be dressed as Superman and some sort of blue alien. Naomi proceeded to investigate the cast, which she and the townspeople referred to as a "stunt" — because Superman and other superheroes are fictional characters in their world. By the end of the episode, as Naomi begins to grapple with weird things happening to her, she learns that superpowered beings are real, and that Dee (Alexander Wraith), a mysterious tattoo owner in town, is a member of the Thanagarian race.

This adds an interesting twist to the status quo Naomi traditionally has in the comics — in which she is an average teenage girl who idolizes the real-life superheroes of the main DC universe. In the first Naomi comic storyline, she learns that she was actually born on an alternate, dying planet similar to Earth, and was the only child born of a group of random super-powered beings. A series of events led to Naomi being found on Earth, and adopted by a soldier from the planet Rann.

So, it remains to be seen exactly what's up with Naomi's version of Superman — outside of the fact that he's definitely real in some capacity and knows Dee. While this might disappoint fans who were expecting Superman & Lois' Tyler Hoechlin to pop up in the series, it does set up the potential for Naomi to meet a Superman down the line.

"She has a couple interactions with him in the comic, and I think that they are so hilarious," Walfall revealed during a recent roundtable interview. "I think that, if she were to meet him in person, she would probably faint. Not in the way that she faints in the pilot, but in the way that it's like, 'This is real!' She would ask him 20 million questions. I think that that would be one of the most funny relationships that would happen in Naomi's life."

New episodes of Naomi premieres on Tuesdays at 9/8c on The CW.