A commentary on “queering” Darna: how the Darlentina fandom reimagined the Darna 2022 TV series.

Darna is a female superhero from the Philippines who first appeared in <italic>Pilipino Komiks</italic> on May 13, 1950. Her image in Filipino society has evolved from being a role model for young children to an object of desire for cisgender men to an icon of female empowerment to an aspirational figure for the Filipino <italic>bakla</italic> (gay men). However, through all these roles, she has never resonated with nor connected to Filipino queer women – that is until the Darna 2022 television series. This essay looks at how Filipino female queer fans, known as Darlentina, have queerly read the Darna 2022 TV series and produced queer fan works such as queer fanfiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]