STARGIRL Casts Meg DeLacy as Shiv

Stargirl has found her arch-enemy.

Deadline has word that the upcoming DC Universe series Stargirl, based on the DC Comics character, has cast Meg DeLacy as Cindy Burman, better known to DC fans as the supervillain Shiv.

According to the article, Cindy is described as "Blue Valley High’s most popular student… and its most feared.  Secretly the daughter of Dragon King (played by Nelson Lee), a longtime enemy of the Justice Society of America, Cindy is determined to follow in her father’s footsteps."

Stargirl is centered on Courtney Whitmore (Brec Bassinger), a struggling high-schooler who relocates to Blue Valley, Nebraska when her mom gets married.  After discovering her new stepfather was Starman’s sidekick Stripesy, Courtney uses his old Cosmic Staff to become Stargirl and inspire an unlikely group of young heroes to fight villains of the past.

DeLacy is probably best known as Grace Mullen on the Freeform series The Fosters.  She's also appeared in the movies F*&% the Prom, Austin Found and The Blackout, along with episodes of the TV series Zac and Mia, Chicago P.D., The Disappearing Girl, Recovery Road, and Side Effects.

Created in 1999 by Geoff Johns and Lee Moder, Shiv first appeared in Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. #1 as Cindy Burman, the daughter of the supervillain and war criminal Dragon King.  The Dragon King sent his daughter Cindy to be educated in the best schools in the world.  Cindy underwent constant gruelling training regimens, and was tortured for any or no reason to "toughen her up".  Furthermore, she was subjected to various surgeries and cybernetic implants to make her deadlier – occasionally without anaesthesia.  Never wanting anything more than to please her father, she followed in his criminal footsteps as the deadly blade-wielding Shiv.

When Dragon King made their home in Blue Valley, Nebraska, Cindy and her father went up against the new Star-Spangled Kid (Courtney Whitmore) and her step-father (and former All-Star Squadron member) S.T.R.I.P.E. (Pat Dugan).  Shiv publicly launched the Dragon King’s plan in Blue Valley, appearing during the halftime of a football match and wrecking everything.  Shiv took out S.T.R.I.P.E. with her dragon staff and nearly drowned the Star-Spangled Kid – but Whitmore ultimately defeated her after a brutal fight.

Still battered and bleeding, Shiv was dragged away screaming by servants of her father to be operated upon once again.  This time, her skeleton was reinforced and her limbs were hacked away to be replaced by super-strong cybernetic prosthetics.  The lab of the Dragon King’s head scientist, Dr. Graft, was then invaded by the Star-Spangled Kid, S.T.R.I.P.E. and their ally, the Shining Knight (Sir Justin).  Seizing the occasion, Cindy escaped from her cell and then forced Graft’s assistant to tell her the real name of the Star-Spangled Kid.

The war between the three heroes and the Dragon King escalated, with Shiv leading the King’s troops in the field.  The Shining Knight, Shiv and the Dragon King were caught in an explosion that hurled Burman away and seemingly killed the King.  By the time Shiv recovered from the blast, the battle was over.  In shock, she swore that she would avenge the death of her father.  At this point, the horrific Johnny Sorrow appeared and recruited her for his Injustice Society.

Shiv served in several versions of the Injustice Society.  Though Sorrow was clearly inhuman and murderously insane, the damaged Shiv adopted him as her new father figure, making it trivially easy for Sorrow to manipulate her.  Shiv repeatedly clashed with the Society’s designated enemies, the Justice Society of America.  However, she eventually discovered that Whitmore, now known as Stargirl, had grown more powerful than her.  She attempted to murder Whitmore with a large-caliber firearm, despite Sorrow’s orders to take Stargirl alive.  The insane Sorrow wanted to elope with Whitmore, and to that end, he betrayed Shiv and the rest of the Society.  This forced Shiv and her colleagues to ally with their Justice Society foes to fight the mystical entity known as the King of Tears, which Sorrow had summoned.  The King of Tears was repelled, but the unconscious Injustice Society members were arrested and imprisoned.

Stargirl is currently expected to debut on DC Universe on August 9, 2019.