Nimona

After Ballister, a knight, is framed for the murder of the Queen, he becomes a fugitive, trying to discover who set him up. While in hiding, he is visited by Nimona, a fellow outcast and shapeshifter, who wants to be his sidekick. The two eventually join forces and together set out to learn who was behind the crime and prove his innocence. 

Originally created by ND Stevenson as a webcomic and later released as a graphic novel, the film adaptation has quite the rocky history in terms of completion and release. In the CBR article by Lisa Laman, Fox and Blue Sky purchased the film adaptation rights in June 2015, and work commenced until Disney announced they were shutting down Blue Sky in February 2021. A writer for The Hollywood Reporter, Borys Kit tweeted on February 9, 2021, that “Blue Sky was in the middle [of] production of NIMONA, adapting the Noelle Stephenson GN. Sources tell me the movie is about 75% complete. Could someone step in to acquire it and finish it?” Fortunately, the movie was able to be shopped. On April 11, 2022 as detailed by Entertainment Weekly, “Netflix saves Nimona after Disney scrapped LGBTQ-friendly animated film” production resumed for Nimona with DNEG Animation and would be released by Annapurna Pictures on Netflix in 2023. The film was released on Netflix on June 30th 2023.

When Nimona takes on a human form, while she often presents as female and uses she/her pronouns, she is not cis woman but rather her identity is the form she is currently in. For instance, after Nimona transforms into a shark, they state “But I’m not a girl. I’m a shark.” During the end credits before Chloë Grace Moretz’s name appears there is an image of Nimona and text that reads “I’m a lot of things” with the word girl crossed out. While Nimona does not state she is transgender, I have included this descriptor because not only are the trans flag colors included during the end credits, but Nimona’s views on her identity is one which can be identifiable for people who fall under the transgender umbrella.