Call Supergirl

Superman was a much needed shot in the arm for the superhero genre this past summer, and a big piece of that film’s appeal is Krypto, Superman’s cousin’s dog. We got see said cousin, Kara, briefly at the end of the film, as played by Milly Alcock (best known up to now for House of the Dragon). She was brash, loud, drunk, and, according to Clark, an irresponsible dog owner. In 30 seconds, Alcock was tremendously charming as Kara, so it’s no surprise James Gunn is calling casting her his “best decision yet”. 

The teaser for Supergirl, due next June, just dropped and yeah, Milly Alcock looks wonderful as Kara Zor-El. Brash, loud, drunk…depressed. Kara survived the destruction of Krypton, she was meant to look out for baby Kal-El, but they got separated in space, and Kal ended up raised in the loving warmth of the Kent home, while Kara bounced around space, cold and alone. The best Supergirl stories explore the differences between the cousins, rather than trying to make Kara a girl knock-off of Clark.

The new film—the second time Supergirl has anchored a feature film following the disastrous yet weirdly compelling 1984 film starring Helen Slater—is directed by Craig Gillespie and adapted by Ana Nogueira from the comic miniseries Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. Loosely, it’s about Kara helping another space orphan get revenge. The teaser does not properly introduce this character but that’s her with the sword, Eve Ridley as Ruthye Marye Knoll. The teaser also shows off plenty of Krypto, and Matthias Schoenaerts in heavy makeup as the villain, Krem of the Yellow Hills. Not pictured: Jason Momoa, making the leap from Aquaman to bounty hunter Lobo.

I like the look of this teaser a lot, love the energy and the Blondie song, but I have one old lady quibble. Kara is 23, that is stated in this teaser. So why is she so into the 80s? That feels more like Gunn’s and Gillespie’s Gen X nostalgia at work than what an actual 23-year-old would be into, and you can make the case that as a space orphan, Kara has picked up bits and pieces of other culture’s junk, but then her aesthetic should be less consistent, sort of like Peter Quill’s in Guardians of the Galaxy. Even based on a teaser, Supergirl doesn’t NOT look like Guardians, but her room is full of nostalgic Earth stuff that I just can’t really picture Kara caring about. She hasn’t spent much time on Earth, after all. I don’t know, it just hit me watching this trailer that Supergirl looks like a movie made by Gen Xers, not one representing a young woman of merely 23 years. This is an old lady gripe, I acknowledge it! 

Other than that one production design quirk, I am into this. I really, really like Milly Alcock’s whole vibe, and Woman of Tomorrow is a GREAT comic book (available in one convenient trade paperback edition if you want to read it). There’s been a lot of talk about superhero fatigue, and post-pandemic, audiences definitely are not going out to see just anything, but this year might have turned a corner with a couple of solid movies that did well enough (though I bet Marvel would have liked Fantastic Four to do more than “just” $521 million, but that’s their fault for opening too close to Superman). 

Next year brings Supergirl, and the Avengers double whammy of Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday. Supergirl looks good, and building off Superman’s goodwill, should be able to draw an audience. Marvel will have to deliver on their side of the fence, too, but I do think 2026 is the make-or-break year. 2025 was a decent reset after post-pandemic flops and failures, now 2026 has to show that audiences still trust superheroes to be a good time at the theater. Supergirl, at least, looks up to the task.