The MAX YouTube channel has posted the latest episode of the DC Studios Showcase podcast, taking a dive into the fascinating journeys of Isabela Merced (Hawkgirl) and Nathan Fillion (Guy Gardner) as they explore their DC characters’ backstories, unique superpowers, and their prep for their roles in the new “Superman” movie.
Isabela Merced: From Musical Classics to Winged Heroine
Isabela Merced shared her diverse pop culture origins, citing a childhood fascination with animated superhero shows like Justice League Unlimited and Teen Titans, alongside Avatar: The Last Airbender. Her love for acting was also sparked by classic movie musicals, including The Sound of Music, The Wizard of Oz, and A Little Princess, which she watched on repeat after discovering them at a dollar movie night. Her journey into acting began with community theatre after a house fire led her parents to seek non-sports activities for her. Her first role was a munchkin in The Wizard of Oz.
Merced’s musical tastes are equally eclectic, influenced by artists ranging from No Doubt and Shakira to Avril Lavigne and Green Day. Notably, she was an early fan of Doechii and cites Chappell Roan’s album as shaping her experience for the Superman film. She highlighted her acting influences as Robin Williams, Jim Carrey, and Adam Sandler, appreciating their ability to move between serious roles and comedy. A dream role for her is a stoner comedy featuring two women. In musical theatre, while she loves Hadestown, her dream is to create an original character for the stage, driven by a desire for the real-time audience reaction absent in film.
Discussing her character, Hawkgirl (specifically Kendra in the film’s iteration), Merced explained that while she is reincarnated, she is reincarnated from an alien, a Thanagarian. This version of Hawkgirl carries the memories, traumas, and mistakes of her past lives, contributing to a potentially grumpy demeanor. The film’s take on Hawkgirl will reportedly combine multiple origin stories. Merced confirmed she gets to fly in the film, which involved significant harness work, despite also being a character who “throws hands on the floor”.
Merced views her career choices as conscious. She revealed that working with James Gunn was a dream, which played a role in her taking on the part. She appreciates Gunn’s work and the complex backstory of Hawkgirl, finding it helpful for her performance and a way to make light of trauma. Her role as a hero also has a personal connection, with both her father and older brother being firefighters.
Nathan Fillion: From Comic Collector to Bowl-Cut Lantern
Nathan Fillion, cast as Guy Gardner, shared his lifelong connection to comics, starting with a comic book rack at home and trading sessions with his dad at a local bookstore. He collected comics extensively until other interests, like girls, took priority. He sees his early daydreaming and drawing in binders as preparation for his career.
Fillion is also an avid gamer, with voice work in Halo and Destiny 2, games he also plays, along with Call of Duty. He plays regularly with a group of friends he’s gamed with for over 20 years. He jokes that Guy Gardner would likely see gaming as a “waste of time”.
On playing Guy Gardner, Fillion acknowledged the character is often seen as one of the “buttheads” among Green Lanterns and “hard to love,” though his stories are good. He believes his own casting is fitting due to his “hmm” face. Fillion noted that while he’s not mean, Guy Gardner “is consistently an asshole”. He took inspiration for Guy’s blunt, unfiltered personality from Estelle Getty, who played Sophia in Golden Girls. He jokingly suggested Guy’s “off” nature might stem from his origin story where he was hit by a bus and went into a coma.
A key visual element of Guy Gardner is his distinctive bowl cut. Fillion was a strong advocate for the bowl cut (“team bowl cut the whole way”) for the film, citing its canon status. He couldn’t grow his hair out for the role due to commitments to another job and felt a wig wouldn’t look as good. The bowl cut was discussed as an iconic haircut of the ’90s.
Fillion sees playing a character less universally known than Superman as offering “freedom,” with the main pressure resting on the actor playing Superman. He’s enjoyed researching Guy Gardner’s history, noting the shift from the “incredibly sexist macho ’80s stuff” to more fleshed-out portrayals. He feels storytelling and comic art have improved over time, becoming more “grounded”.
The hosts highlighted Human Target as a great, approachable modern Guy Gardner story, influenced by the ’80s but modernised, featuring Guy as a significant character. Fillion confirmed Guy Gardner’s iconic constructs will be featured in the film and will be “exactly what you’d expect” from the Lantern you “hope you don’t get” in an emergency.
Fillion is set to play Guy Gardner not only in the Superman film but also in Peacemaker season two. He described being part of the current “golden age” of comic book adaptations as a “dream” for a fan, enjoying the collaboration with talented creatives. A highlight was filming a flying scene in Cleveland and interacting with Superman, calling it “everything I ever dreamed about”.
