Hawkgirl’s “badass” suit is “so sick,” according to Superman (2025) co-star, Isabela Merced. The Sicario: Day of the Soldado,Turtles All the Way Down, and Madame Web actress will soon make her big-screen debut in James Gunn and Peter Safran’s highly anticipated DC Universe. But, at the moment, Merced is busy making the rounds promoting her latest cinematic triumph on the press tour for Alien: Romulus. And she gushed about her superhero costume when asked about Hawkgirl in a new interview with Deadline. Merced said (below):

“Well, there have been some leaked pictures online.
However, I think James knows what he wants, and this specific suit is for this specific timeline in the story.
I don’t know what else I can say, but I gotta say, the helmet was my absolute favorite.
It’s so sick. It’s so badass. It’s perfect.”

In July of 2023, the exciting news broke that Merced would be portraying the winged, Thanagarian Mace-wielding superhero alongside both Edi Gathegi’s Mister Terrific and Nathan Fillion’s Green Lantern/Guy Gardner in Gunn’s first big-screen installment of the DCU, Superman.

Superman (2025) Written and directed by James Gunn, Superman is the first movie in Warner Bros.’ rebooted DC Universe to center around the titular comic book hero. It introduces a new version of the Man of Steel after Henry Cavill’s departure from the role, honoring the character’s roots as “the embodiment of truth, justice and the American way.”Release Date July 11, 2025 Cast David Corenswet , Rachel Brosnahan , María Gabriela De Faría , Edi Gathegi , Nicholas Hoult , Frank Grillo , Nathan Fillion , Milly Alcock , Sara Sampaio , Pruitt Taylor Vince , Skyler Gisondo , Anthony Carrigan , Wendell Pierce , Beck Bennett , Sean Gunn Distributor(s) Warner Bros. Pictures Expand

The character of Hawkgirl is one of the oldest superheroes, and she (Shiera Sanders before she married Carter Hall) was originally introduced in the pages of Flash Comics No. 1 back in 1940. The milestone, Golden-Age issue also marked the first appearance of Jay Garrick’s Flash, Hawkman and Johnny Thunder.

Isabela Merced Discusses Playing Marvel & DC Superheroes

Isabela Merced was “geeking out” each and every time she tried on Hawkgirl’s impressive costume for James Gunn’s Superman. And while the actress will likely receive a much warmer and more deserving reception from the fans after starring in the Man of Steel’s first DCU adventure, Merced still has to live with the fact that she starred in one of the worst Sony and Marvel superhero collaborations, Madame Web. But the actress who portrayed Anya Corazon, aka Spider-Girl, has come to terms with the film being a flop. Merced said while appearing on the Happy Sad Confused podcast:

“I feel like every actor that I know, that I admire, has that one movie that I’m like,
‘So camp, it’s so camp [laughing], it’s so like —’ […]
I think like the group chat was fun after, when all the tweets would come out and the memes we would see, the group chat was very fun.
But, at the same time, it does have a sad taste in my mouth,
because there were people that worked on it that worked really hard
— and like maybe this was their opportunity to have a big break.”

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Merced continued:

“And I just can’t help but think about those people that put in the work.
I’m lucky enough to have other opportunities right now.
That’s what I feel really blessed about, but I do like feel bad for the other people that put their all into this,
and there’s so many cooks in the kitchen, so you can’t…

So, even though you might mean well, somebody else might not understand the assignment.”

Plenty of photographs of Merced and her Superman co-stars draped in their uniformed costumes are readily available online, and the Hawkgirl actress gushed over her on-screen cohorts in crime fighting already. But Merced also shared with Happy Sad Confused’s host, Josh Horowitz, that she particularly loves and is “so excited” for fans to see Nathan Fillion’s version of Green Lantern.

Isabela Merced’s take on Hawkgirl takes flight in
Superman
when the film opens on
July 11, 2025.