If you were expecting the DCU’s new Supergirl to be a female copy of Superman, think again. As James Gunn has said, she’s “a total mess”, and there’s a dark reason why.
Superman is so back. David Corenswet has officially stepped into the Man of Steel’s red boots, with the new movie marking the official launch of Gunn and Peter Safran’s reimagined DC Universe.
It’s off to a promising start, earning $217 million at the global box office after its opening weekend, which bodes well for future DCU projects.
That includes Supergirl, which sees Milly Alcock taking on the role of Kara Zor-El. Despite being Supe’s cousin, the film is set to be the grittier outsider. Warning: minor spoilers for Superman ahead!
Why Supergirl will be darker than Superman
Alcock’s Supergirl makes a brief cameo at the end of Superman, turning up to the Fortress of Solitude to reclaim her doggo Krypto – and she’s absolutely wasted.
Gunn told ScreenRant that this is the version of Supergirl we’ll be meeting in her movie, the reason being that, unlike her cousin, she has had a tough upbringing.
“Yeah, that’s her. She’s a mess. She’s a total mess. I mean, I think as we learn, she’s had a completely different background from Superman. A much more difficult background,” Gunn said.
“He’s had this wonderful upbringing by these two parents who loved him and were very healthy. And her background was much different than that. And she’s ended up different than her cousin.”
In the comics, Kara Zor-El didn’t grow up in Kansas with two kind-hearted farmers – she spent her formative years on the remnants of Krypton, witnessing the planet’s collapse and suffering immense trauma before finally arriving on Earth.
While Clark Kent landed as a baby and was given decades to grow into his powers surrounded by love and stability, Kara arrived as a teenager, already shaped by loss and displacement.
This fundamental difference defines their personalities. Superman is hopeful because he knows humanity at its best. Supergirl, especially in the Woman of Tomorrow comic by Tom King, sees the universe at its worst.
As such, she’s more jaded, and we can expect to see this in the DCU’s upcoming movie. This was confirmed by Gunn back in 2023, who told THR, “She is much more hard-core and not the Supergirl we’re used to.”
“We will see the difference between Superman, who was sent to Earth and raised by loving parents from the time he was an infant, versus Supergirl, raised on a rock, a chip off of Krypton, and who watched everyone around her die and be killed in terrible ways for the first 14 years of her life and then come to Earth,” he added.
Superman is currently in cinemas, while Supergirl is set to drop on June 26, 2026. Until then, find out where Superman will be streaming, how long it is, details about its post-credits scenes, and our ranking of the Superman movies.
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