Melissa Benoist, the Colorado-born actress who will play Supergirl in the new CBS show of the same name, is getting extra attention from Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush’s high praise for her good looks. (Photo courtesy of CBS)
Jeb Bush appears to have made a super gaffe about Supergirl, picking her as one of his favorite superheroes, because he thinks she’s “pretty hot.”
The actress playing the role (and her alter ego, Kara) in the new CBS television show “Supergirl,” Melissa Benoist, is from Littleton, and Colorado promises to be a swing state in next year’s presidential race, so it remains to be seen if the remark proves to be Bush’s political Kryptonite.
“That Jeb Bush only focused on the appearance of Supergirl, and not her character, is the sort of answer I’d expect from a bro, not a presidential candidate,” said Amy Runyon-Harms, executive director of ProgressNow Colorado, the states’s top liberal political group.
If he manages to leap over this figurative tall building, he still provided another fumble in the same thought that could alienate the nerd bloc, when he answered an oddball question at the Libre Forum in North Las Vegas Wednesday night.
Who’s your favorite Marvel superhero, he was asked. He could have gone all patriotic and said Captain America, slung a web (a day after of the Democratic race) and picked Spider-Man, or suggested his steely resolve and keen intellect to win the GOP nomination and lauded Iron Man.
“I don’t know, I’m kind of old-school,” he said, instead. “I like the old-school guys like Batman, a little dark these days.”
OK.
But he kept going, saying that he saw a commercial for the new CBS show “Supergirl” while he was working out that morning. It apparently got his blood pumping.
“She looked kinda — she looked pretty hot,” he said. “I don’t know which channel it’s on, but I’m looking forward to that.”
It’s on CBS, that’s Channel 4 in Denver, governor. It at 7:30 p.m., right after “The Big Bang Theory.”
Batman nor Supergirl are part of the Marvel Comics empire, however. They hail from DC Comics, which is major messup in the comic-book nerd universe, akin to saying Peyton Manning plays for the Oakland Raiders.
Benoist, 27, is an Arapahoe High School graduate. She has a growing list of credits that have included a prime spot on the Fox TV show “Glee” plus a top role in the 2014 movie “Whiplash,” which as best supporting actor. Benoist has had guest roles in other top TV shows, including “Homeland,” “The Good Wife,” “Blue Bloods,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.”
Denver Post TV critic Joanne Ostrow in August.
Benoist hasn’t used her super power — her fame — to engage.
Instead, she told Entertainment Weekly she hopes the show p.
“I want to do right by women,” she said. “I want to portray someone they can relate to and look up to that’s not a trite or a shallow depiction. I want her to be complicated and flawed. I guess I just want all women to feel like they could be Kara and Superwoman as well.”
