One of the most exciting upcoming superhero movies in my eyes is the DCU’s Supergirl, which will fully introduce Milly Alcock’s superheroine after her somewhat polarizing cameo at the end of James Gunn’s Superman. We’ll still be waiting until the middle of the 2026 movie schedule to see it, but the blockbuster flick’s screenwriter shared a hint or two about what fans can expect to see, by way of admitting what she didn’t quite understand about the character before signing on.
Actress-turned-screenwriter Ana Nogueira is no stranger to projects with strong female characters, as some of her biggest roles were in Vampire Diaries, The Blacklist and HIghtown. So in that way, it was pretty fitting that she was given the reigns to one of DC’s most beloved heroes. On the other hand, she wasn’t exactly a comic book scholar before taking the gig, and there was one aspect about Supergirl that she previously hadn’t fully understood, and it’s easy to see why. Speaking with Variety, Nogueira said:
She watched Krypton completely be destroyed. I was always like, ‘I can’t get my head around the version of the character that is so sunny.’
That character detail has always struck me as being one of the most traumatic experiences any DC character could possibly have to deal with. It’s right up there with Bruce Wayne watching his parents get murdered, only exponentially worse, since it was an entire planet. It’d be hard to get out of bed every morning with that kind of memory in one’s head.
But Ana Nogueira found some guidance for her confusion within the biggest piece of source material fueling Supergirl‘s standalone movie: Tom King’s A+ miniseries Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. She called King’s take on Kara’s tale “rougher and grittier and edgier and funnier,” and gave that story credit for centering her outlook on the character. As she put it:
When I read it, I was like, ‘There she is.’
I can understand that takeaway just as easily as I can understand the writer’s initial feelings about Kara’s emotional state. Because Tom King doesn’t avoid or tiptoe around the idea that this Supergirl loves to get fucked up as a way to drown out her issues, namely by traveling to planets with red suns that deplete her powers and abilities. It’s why she was so messy during her Superman cameo, in which she called her cuz a bitch.
Even if Milly Alcock isn’t portraying Kara as shitfaced the entire runtime of Supergirl, fans can take comfort in knowing Nogueira fully acknowledged that it’s a big way the character addresses and copes with having watched everything she knew and love get destroyed. She won’t just be sunshine and rainbows for the sake of it.
Speaking of Tom King and badass female protagonists, keep your eyes peeled for any future updates on the comic scribe’s non-DC adaptation in the works, Love Everlasting. Before that comes around, though, Supergirl will be hitting theaters on June 26, 2026.