Miss Universe Philippines 2022 Celeste Cortesi as Darna for her appearance at the 71st Miss Universe Pageant

Pinoy pride flies high with these shots of Miss Universe Philippines 2022 Celeste Cortesi as Darna for her appearance at the pageant proper of the 71st Miss Universe

And take note, this wasn’t just a reference in one part of her attire. She was in full-blown Darna costume with additional ornate “sinag ng araw” at her back to give it a more majestic, superhero effect.

In fact, the family of Darna creator Mars Ravelo issued a statement about the representation of Mars Ravelo’s creation on the world stage with Cortesi as the Filipino heroine.

We await video footage from Youtube and other sources but can I just say gaddamn, that looks awesome. Hopefully she wins like other Miss Universe queens like Pia Wurtzbach and Catriona Grey!

In current popculture landscape though, we have a number of people who have appeared as Darna whether for actual TV or for Halloween. The current TV Darna is Jane De Leon with Janella Salvador as Valentina. Iza Calzado also wore the costume briefly as Jane’s mother in the series. We also got Bella Poarch prancing around as Darna for last Halloween.

What do you think of Celeste Cortesi as Darna for her Miss Universe 2022 appearance? Love it or hate it? Leave a comment below and follow me on Twitter at @thefanboyseo!