As the month of August nears, so is the most-awaited return of the original Pinoy superhero Darna, to be played by GMA-7's most bankable female star Marian Rivera.

Darna was the brainchild of komiks (Filipino colloquial for comicbooks) legend Mars Ravelo (October 9, 1916-September 12, 1988).

Originally, Darna was known as Varga. Ravelo wrote and illustrated Varga for Bulaklak, appearing first on the magazine's No. 17, Vol. 4 (July 23, 1947) issue. A falling out with some of the magazine's editors caused him to resign from Bulaklak and transfer to Pilipino Komiks, where he re-launched his superhero. Ravelo renamed her Darna, anagram of the superhero's mortal alter-ego Narda. Darna's adventures in Pilipino Komiks began on the No. 77 (May 13, 1950) issue. Another komiks legend, Nestor Redondo, illustrated Darna this time.

There were claims that Darna was a copy, or less-charitably, a rip-off of William Mourton Marston's Wonder Woman, who first appeared on the No. 8 (December 1941) issue of All Star Comics. But people who have spoken with Ravelo personally claimed that the Filipino comics legend based Darna on his own mother who raised him single-handedly.

They also claimed that Ravelo's inspiration for Darna's heroic qualities came from his childhood fascination with Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's Superman (first appearance on Action Comics, No. 1, June 30, 1938). The Pinoy superhero's ability to change from Narda to Darna, was inspired by C.C. Beck and Bill Parker's Captain Marvel (first appearance on Whiz Comics, No. 2, February 1940), who changes from the young boy Billy Batson to Captain Marvel by shouting, "Shazam!"

Darna became such a hit among Filipino komiks fans, mainly the masa of society, that by 1951, actor-director-producer Fernando Poe Sr. directed and produced the film version of Darna for his Royal Films outfit. Darna, the movie, was a smash hit.

The first actress who played Darna was 1950s movie queen Rosa del Rosario. Since then, a slew of actresses and actors—yes, you read it right, actors—have portrayed the most popular Pinoy superhero, not only in movies but also on different platforms.

Darna is the only local superhero that has been played a total of 14 times in movies, four times on TV, thrice on stage and twice in TV commercials.

PEP (Philippine Entertainment Portal) gathered these Darna actresses and actors, and their particular projects.

ROSA DEL ROSARIO. Regarded as the "The Original Queen of Philippine Movies," Del Rosario started her career at the tender age of 12 in the 1930s during the Silent Movies Era. She had her first starring role via Jose Nepomuceno's Ligaw na Bulaklak (1932). In 1951, she was approached by Fernando Poe Sr.'s Royal Films to play Ravelo's Darna.

In Eric Cueto's interview with her in the Official Mars Ravelo Darna website (www.marsravelodarna.com), she revealed that in her flying scenes in Darna, she was actually flying over Quiapo with the aid of a helicopter. She was suspended in the air with help of cables attached to her body and the helicopter. All her flying scenes were shot at night to hide the cables. She nearly crashed on Quiapo church in one of her flying scenes.

She starred in two Darna movies: Darna (1951) and Darna at ang Babaing Lawin (1952).

LIZA MORENO. Eleven years later came another film version of Darna. Darna at ang Impakta (1963) produced by People's Pictures, Inc. starred the stunning beauty Liza Moreno. She starred again in another Darna movie the following year in Tagalog Ilang-Ilang Productions's Isputnik Vs. Darna. Here she was pitted against another superhero named Isputnik, played by Nida Blanca.

EVA MONTES. Another People's Pictures Inc. production, Darna at Ang Babaing Tuod (1964) starred then newcomer Eva Montes. Cirio H. Santiago, who eventually became one of the most influential Filipino directors here and abroad, directed this first Darna movie in full color. This was the first Darna version in gold bikini and red-trimmed costume (traditionally, Darna wears red bikini with gold stars and winged insignia). This was also the only Darna movie that focused more on the villain than on the hero. Darna appeared in the movie only three times.

In one of her later interviews, Eva revealed that this was because Gina Alonzo, who played the villain Lucilla, ang Babaing Tuod, was being groomed by People's Pictures, Inc. to be its next big star.