Trivia / Darna

• Dawson Casting: A mild case in Darna (2022). Narda is implied to be a few years younger than Regina, but in real life, their actresses Jane De Leon and Janella Salvador were born in the same year (1998).
• Referenced by...:
  • Darna has sometimes appeared in other Filipino media, most commonly movies, sometimes of characters also created by Mars Ravelo, sometimes not. The former cases include movies of Captain Barbell (1986 and 2003) and the latter cases include Ang Pagbabalik ni Pedro Penduko ("The Return of Pedro Penduko"), based on a character created by Francisco Coching.
  • Zsazsa Zaturnnah is an Affectionate Parody which explores LGBT issues in the Philippines, as it's about a gay man who turns into a superpowered woman. Turned into a movie musical and stage musical around the same time.
  • A Filipino novelty song from the 90s, "Modelong Charing" (roughly "Model in the Closet") by Blakdyak, itself Covering Up another Filipino novelty song from the 70s or so ("Bikining Itim" or "Black Bikini" by Bert Dominic) memorably uses "Darna" as a euphemism for "a gay/transsexual person".
  Ang di nya lang alam ([But] what he did not know)
  At di ko masabi (and what I could not say)
  Na ako'y isang (was that I was a)
  (Beat)
  DAARNAAA! (Echoes)
  • Darna was used in an impressive Woolseyism/Cultural Translation for a Filipino cover of the song "Superwoman", so "I'm not your superwoman" becomes "Hindi ako si Darna" ("I am not Darna"), etc.
  • In 2006, the Filipino pop-rock band Kamikazee had a huge hit with "Narda", from the point of view of a guy in love in Darna. It became their signature song and was used for the 2009 TV series. The song lyrics have a few quirks, including that Narda herself is not mentioned despite her name being the song title, thus the narrator is likely ignorant of her secret identity; that the narrator wishes he were in Ding's place so he could be her boyfriend, thus likely unaware that Ding is Darna's brother, and that the chorus where he imagines being noticed by her may be Getting Crap Past the Radar big time:
  Nag-aabang sa langit, sa mga ulap sumisilip (Waiting in the sky, from the clouds peeking)
  Sa likod ng mga tala, kahit sulyap lang, Darna! (Behind the stars, even just a glance, Darna!) ^note The syntax of the last line is ambiguous and can be read as him wishing for a glimpse of her from below or him wishing that she give him a look from above. "Sa likod ng mga tala" is "Behind the stars", noticeably not "Sa ilalim ng mga tala" or "Under the stars". This could refer to Darna flying/floating in the sky. But then Darna's bikini top has a star on each cup, so it could be read as wishing for her to show him just a glimpse of what's behind the stars...
  • One Trese case file is a homage to Darna with Expies of characters showing up.
  • Darna appears in Alex Ross's 2019 artwork "Echoes of SHAZAM!", which tries to feature every character ever who was inspired by or derives from the original Captain Marvel in some way (including the live-action depictions of both the DC Comics and Marvel Comics versions coming out that year). Darna is copied from Nestor Redondo's artwork, but with kid Narda riding her instead of Ding (and Captain Barbell also shows up beside them).
  • In 2023, the 71st Miss Universe beauty pageant had Ms. Philippines in a Darna costume for the "National Costume" segment, notably while a Darna TV series that started the previous year was still ongoing.
• Tom Hanks Syndrome: Vilma Santos, who portrayed Darna in a series of movies in the 1970s, is much better known among later generations of Filipinos for her serious drama films in the 1980s and beyond. (Also for entering into politics.)