Ava DuVernay is proving herself to be a go-to auteur for all things DC. She's directing the New Gods movie, she's adapting DC comic DMZ into an HBO Max series, and now, per Deadline, she's getting involved with the Arrow-verse, too. DuVernay is developing a CW adaptation of DC comic Naomi.

Naomi, which began in 2019 as a comic series from writers Brian Michael Bendis and David F. Walker and artist Jamal Campbell, follows the adventures of an American teenage girl who happens her way into a multiverse full of outrageous superheroes after a cataclysmic event. But as she investigates the origins of this multiverse, she begins to learn more about these heroes, discovering they might not be what they seem. DuVernay will develop the property as writer and executive producer alongside Arrow writer/EP Jill BlankenshipSarah Bremner and Paul Garnes will produce for Array Filmworks, DuVernay's production company.

An image from DC comic Naomi
Image via DC

There's a grumpy part of me that's certainly going through some "YA-skewing superhero TV show on the CW" fatigue, and a part of me that wishes DuVernay would develop some new fictional projects that have nothing to do with DC. But on the other hand, more Ava DuVernay means more Ava DuVernay, and that is a good thing no matter how ya slice it. Plus: From its creative team to its leading character, it's obvious that Naomi is a superhero story from the Black perspective, and specifically from the Black female perspective; and if this show airs at the same time as Batwoman, the CW will be airing two superhero shows with Black female leads. All of this amounts to a wonderful step toward inclusion and representation in the superhero genre space; with this, DuVernay behind the camera, and the intriguingly descontructive premise at the center of Naomi, it might cut through the noise of its peers after all.