Supergirl Stars Melissa Benoist And Chris Wood Took A Massive Step In Their Love Life Off Screen

In Kara Zor-El’s debut appearance, it was discovered that she was the cousin of Superman, with the latter tasked to look out for her. Much like her relative, she subsequently took on a secret identity of her own, calling herself Linda Lee. The initial reaction to Supergirl’s introduction was generally good at the time.

Off the back of that, Supergirl cropped up in a number of other Action Comics issues throughout the 1960s. And along the way, she changed her alter-ego to Linda Lee Danvers. Eventually, some 13 years after her introduction, the character was given her own self-titled series, joining the likes of Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane in that regard.

In 1974 though, that all changed, as those three series were brought together in a new comic book entitled The Superman Family. That particular title lasted for close to 60 issues, before coming to an end in 1982. And with that in mind, Supergirl’s solo series made its return that year.

But unfortunately for fans of Supergirl, the next few years proved to be incredibly tough. Indeed, following the success of the Superman film franchise, Kara Zor-El was given her own spin-off movie in 1984. Helen Slater was cast in the title role, while the likes of Peter O’Toole and Faye Dunaway rounded out the support.

Supergirl failed to replicate the box-office success of the earlier Superman movies, making just over $13 million domestically. The film was a massive flop, as it fell way short of recouping its estimated budget of $35 million. However, some 12 months later, things then took a real turn for the worse for the character.

The Crisis on Infinite Earths series was published in 1985 with the aim of cleaning up the cluttered continuity in DC’s stories. On that note, Supergirl was subsequently killed off, making the cover of the seventh issue. After that, the Crisis writer explained some of the reasoning behind Kara Zor-El’s death.

“Before Crisis it seemed that half of Krypton had survived,” Marv Wolfman has reportedly said in an interview on the subject. “We had Superman, Supergirl, Krypto, the Phantom Zone criminals, the bottle city of Kandor, and many others. Our goal was to make Superman unique. We went back to his origin and made Kal-El the only survivor of Krypton.”

“That, sadly, was why Supergirl had to die,” Wolfman added. “However, we were thrilled by all the letters we received saying Supergirl’s death in Crisis was the best Supergirl story they ever read. Thank you. By the way, I miss Kara, too.” But the same couldn’t be said for the DC vice president, who first came up with the suggestion.

Indeed, Dick Giordano stood by the decision to kill off Supergirl, revealing why in an interesting interview. “Supergirl was created initially to take advantage of the high Superman sales and not much thought was put into her creation,” he said. “She was created essentially as a female Superman.”

“With time, writers and artists improved upon [Supergirl’s] execution, but she never did really add anything to the Superman mythos,” Giordano added. “At least not for me.” Despite all that, though, the Supergirl mantle was picked up again by a number of different characters, before a big decision was made.

In an attempt to clean up Supergirl’s somewhat confusing continuity, Kara Zor-El was brought back in 2004. Since then, the character has maintained her own solo series, surviving the changes that came with DC’s New 52 and Rebirth initiatives which saw several titles relaunched. In 2015 though, fans were treated to some more exciting news.

Some three decades on from Supergirl’s disastrous solo movie, the character was given her own TV show on CBS. At the end of the first season, Supergirl then moved to The CW Network, joining their roster of superhero programs. Following in the footsteps of Helen Slater and Laura Vandervoort, who played Kara in the Smallville series, was actress Melissa Benoist.

Born in October 1988 Benoist grew up in Littleton, Colorado, alongside her parents Jim and Julie. She was first introduced to acting by her aunt at a very young age, appearing in a local production. A few years later, the future TV star then gained some interesting experience at the Academy of Theater Arts.

Indeed, thanks to the musical theater institution, Benoist took on a summer job at Disneyland during her teenage years, performing at the theme park. From there, the aspiring actress appeared in a number of other local plays, ahead of her high school graduation in 2007. However, things started to change the following year.

Benoist made her big screen debut in 2008 in the drama Tennessee. Some two years on from that, she made her small screen bow in Law & Order: Criminal Intent. After appearing in that show, the Colorado native then earned small roles in a number of other TV shows in 2010.

Benoist appeared in programs such as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Blue Bloods and The Good Wife. In 2011 she then featured in two episodes of Homeland, coinciding with her graduation from Marymount Manhattan College. The following year, though, the actress went on to firmly establish herself on the small screen.

Benoist was cast in the musical TV show Glee, taking on the character of Marley Rose. She spent around two years on the program, before leaving in 2014. At that point, she bagged a significant role in the Oscar-winning drama Whiplash, ahead of some more film work in 2015.

However, that same year Benoist earned the role of Supergirl, joining a cast that included the likes of Chyler Leigh, Mehcad Brooks and David Harewood. She’s since starred in over 80 episodes of the superhero drama, with the show’s fourth season currently airing. And as things progressed, another key character arrived to the show in 2016.

Indeed, Chris Wood was cast as Mon-El in Supergirl’s second season, eventually becoming the titular character’s love interest. Wood went on to feature in over 40 episodes of the show, before leaving at the conclusion of the third season in 2018. Prior to his appearance in the series, the actor was already a recognizable face on the small screen.

Born in April 1988 Wood didn’t make his onscreen debut until 2010 – when he starred in a short film titled The Magazine Girl. He appeared in a TV movie some three years later, ahead of bagging a part in the television series Major Crimes. The Ohio native then earned another TV role in 2013.

Wood appeared in six episodes of the Sex and the City prequel The Carrie Diaries, before scoring a brief role in Girls in 2014. That same year, though, the actor earned his biggest part yet, which further established him on television. He was cast in the popular romantic horror show The Vampire Diaries.

Wood featured in close to 20 episodes of the show, with his final appearance coming in the eighth season in 2017. Meanwhile, his personal life started to change that year as well, as he and Benoist made their relationship public. The pair were photographed together spending time in Cancun, Mexico.

Wood had previously lifted the lid on the working relationship he shared with Benoist during an interview with Empire magazine in November 2016. Here, when he was asked if the “good rapport” the pair seemed to express onscreen was real, he had a simple reply. “Oh, yeah, absolutely,” the actor told the publication.

“It makes the job easy when the people you’re working with are, in real life, of the same speed and have the same sense of humor,” Wood continued. “And [that they] view the work in the same both serious and playful way. Because we can’t take our work too seriously.”

“I mean, we’re running around in spandex,” Wood added. “We have to understand that what we’re doing is, by and large, a very silly thing, but also note that there’s a heartened importance to that. That makes the work easy.” On that note, Benoist and her partner made a life-changing announcement in February 2019.

Indeed, Benoist and Wood both took to their respective Instagram pages to announce their engagement. They shared a photo of themselves sat in front of a fireplace, with the actor planting a kiss on his partner’s cheek. Meanwhile, Benoist displayed the ring on her finger with a big smile on her face.

Alongside that intimate photo, Benoist and Wood posted a couple of brief messages summing up their thoughts at the time. “Yes yes yes,” the actress wrote on the social media website. “It will always be yes.” As for her fiancé, he merely wrote, “The happiest,” next to a heart emoji.

Benoist’s post earned over 900,000 likes on Instagram after she shared it with her followers. The Supergirl star boasts more than three million fans on the website, while Wood himself has over two million followers. And with that in mind, his own announcement post earned over 800,000 likes.

However, this won’t be the first time that Benoist has gotten married, as she celebrated her first wedding back in 2015. On that occasion, she got hitched with her former Glee co-star Blake Jenner. And in a strange coincidence, their characters were also romantically involved in the show, much like Kara and Mon-El.

After meeting in 2012 Benoist and Jenner announced their engagement in July 2013. “[The engagement] was fun, it was real low-key,” the latter recalled to People magazine in 2014. “It was private. I did sing, I sang ‘Will you marry me?’ It was funny, it was a lot like us.”

Jenner also spoke about the moment that he met Benoist while working on Glee, suggesting that it was love at first sight. “I thought she was the bomb the second I saw her, so it was just super cool to be working together,” he continued. “Thankfully, we’ve had some scenes together.”

“If we didn’t, I don’t think we would have had the time to get to know each other,” Jenner added. During their time together, Benoist’s first husband made a brief appearance in Supergirl in 2016. “I love working with him,” the star later told People magazine, in March 2016.

“We only have fun working together,” Benoist added. “[Jenner’s] my person to act with. He’s my favorite scene partner, always.” Despite all that, though, the actress eventually asked for a divorce in December 2016 and the split was made official in 2017. It’s believed that the pair ended things on good terms.

Meanwhile, Wood dropped a big hint regarding the date of his wedding to Benoist in another Instagram post. He shared a photo of himself dressed in a black tuxedo and Benoist in a black dress, with the couple stood outside. “Not from our wedding,” he clarified. “But it will be soon.”

Away from the wedding planning, Wood and Benoist did work together again after Supergirl. Indeed, the former directed a short film of his own in January 2019 titled The Stew. His partner starred in the ten minute feature alongside Carlos Valdes, best known for his work in The Flash on The CW.

As for Supergirl, the show’s fourth season is set to conclude in March 2019. Kara Zor-El’s adventures will continue beyond that, though, as The CW announced in January 2019 that the series would be renewed for another season. That coincided with both The Flash and Arrow receiving the same news.

The Supergirl comics are also still going strong, despite facing some bad news in April 2018. Indeed, it was revealed that the series was getting cancelled, but following a change in the creative team, that idea was stopped in its tracks. As a result of that, Kara Zor-El made her return in August 2018.