Kara Zor-El, brought to life by the enchanting Milly Alcock, made her grand entrance to us last summer, crashing into the Fortress of Solitude and inquiring about the host's mysterious door relocation. Her entrance last Sunday, however, was a more refined one, as she emerged onto the small stage in the basement of a New York City hotel, wide-eyed and slightly amused. "It's happening. Shit," exclaimed Zor-El, as she assumed her human form.
One can understand the actress's awe given the long journey 'Supergirl' has undergone to reach the present. The project began development in 2018, was postponed amid the pandemic in 2020, scrapped by the new Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav in 2022, and then retooled as part of James Gunn's transitioning of the DCEU to the DCU in 2023.
So long ago did it all start that the 'House of the Dragon' star wasn't initially cast as the character; that honor belonged to Sasha Calle, who even appeared in 2023's 'The Flash.' But with Alcock and the directorial touch of Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya) on board and the film now shot, 'Supergirl' can finally begin its slow marketing rollout ahead of its theatrical release on June 26.
In this incarnation, according to a teaser trailer shown at the hotel event and dropped online Thursday, Kara Zor-el is a universe-hopping party girl in her early 20s who gets thrown into intergalactic battles after a particularly self-pitying birthday binge. She is on a mission of vengeance on behalf of the alien girl Ruthye and gets in deeper than she realizes. Ana Nogueira's script, inspired by the comic-book miniseries 'Supergirl: Women of Tomorrow' by Tom King and Bilquis Evely, leans heavily into the character's messiness.
"This is really an anti-hero story," Gillespie told the New York crowd. "She's got a lot of demons, a lot of baggage coming into this, which is very different from where Superman is in his life." Gunn added from the stage, "So many times female superheroes are so perfect. She's not that at all." He paused and continued, "Like male superheroes have been allowed to be for a while."
The character showed her unvarnished side onscreen, at one point noting that Superman "sees the good in everyone, and I see the truth." The event had a bit of an unexpected vibe, with attendees going Comic-Con crazy inside the space while, outside, the company making the film had just been cast into extraordinary limbo. Only three days earlier its CEO Zaslav announced that Warner Bros. would be sold to Netflix, and the day after the event Paramount owner David Ellison launched a hostile takeover bid for the studio, making the room feel like a bar mitzvah whose guests had just been told an asteroid was heading toward earth; sure, the world may end tomorrow, but tonight can we just hang out and do the Dougie?
At least this film would not be disrupted by the corporate drama, as any new owner would not be likely to clear regulatory hurdles and close the deal before early 2027 (incidentally, the same time that the current contracts expire for Gunn and his DC Studios co-chief and producing partner Peter Safran). So more important matters were at hand: getting a new movie off on the right foot. 'Supergirl''s journey to the big screen has been fraught with uncertainty since 1984 and the Helen Slater bombfest, but Gunn and Safran believe a whole new day dawns.
