Supergirl is a 2026 American superhero film based on the DC Comics superheroine Kara Zor-El / Supergirl. Directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Ana Nogueira, it is the second film in the DC Universe (DCU). Milly Alcock stars in the title role, alongside Matthias Schoenaerts, Eve Ridley, David Krumholtz, Emily Beecham, David Corenswet, and Jason Momoa. In the film, Kara embarks on a journey across the galaxy to hunt down an adversary who has harmed her pet dog Krypto. The film is produced by Peter Safran and James Gunn of DC Studios.
A film featuring Supergirl entered development as part of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) franchise in August 2018, and the character was introduced in the 2023 film The Flash, portrayed by Sasha Calle. Plans for the standalone project were altered when Gunn and Safran became co-CEOs of DC Studios in October 2022, and they began work on the DCU as a reboot of the DCEU. A new Supergirl film was announced in January 2023 as an adaptation of the 2021–22 comic book miniseries Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow by Tom King and Bilquis Evely. Nogueira was hired by November 2023; Alcock was cast in January 2024 to debut in the first DCU film, Superman (2025); and Gillespie joined that May. Filming took place from January to May 2025 at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden and London in England, and in Scotland.
Supergirl premiered at the Plaza at 300 Ashland in Brooklyn on June 22, 2026, and was theatrically released by Warner Bros. Pictures in the United States on June 26. It is part of the DCU's Chapter One: Gods and Monsters. The film received mixed reviews from critics and was a box-office bomb, grossing $126.4 million against a production budget of $170–186 million.
Plot
During the destruction of the planet Krypton, scientist Zor-El and his wife Alura evacuate along with many Kryptonians to Argo City, where Zor-El activates a force field system that separates a chunk containing the city from Krypton, preventing it from being destroyed when the planet's core explodes. Eight years later, Alura gives birth to their daughter, Kara. Eventually, it is discovered that the separation of Argo City exposed a mineral known as "Kryptonite", which is slowly killing the citizens via radiation. After Alura succumbs to Kryptonite poisoning, Zor-El decides to send Kara and her dog Krypto on a ship headed to Earth. Upon landing, they are greeted by Kara's cousin Kal-El, who is living a double life as Clark Kent and Superman. Kara later tries to adjust to her new life on Earth, while also adopting the moniker "Supergirl".
In the present, Kara travels with Krypto to several planets and parties in celebration of her 23rd birthday. Superman often calls her, concerned that she is constantly off-world and unable to settle on Earth. While stopping at the planet Holzherr, Kara encounters Ruthye Marye Knoll, the last survivor of her family who were murdered by Krem of the Yellow Hills, leader of a ruthless bandit group known as the Brigands. Ruthye requests Kara's assistance in her quest for vengeance, but is denied. Krem hijacks Kara's ship alongside several Brigands, and shoots Krypto with a poisonous dart when he tries to stop them. Upon learning that Krypto has only three days left to live, Kara decides to pursue Krem to retrieve an antidote that he keeps on his person, while also reluctantly taking on Ruthye as her companion.
After a brief skirmish with the Sklarian Raiders, a group of space pirates, Kara interrogates them and learns of Krem's location on the planet Bilquis. There, Kara and Ruthye learn from a local couple, Bomar and Mareck, that the Brigands have been kidnapping young women to force them to be their brides. Mareck attempts to drug Kara to trade her and Ruthye to the Brigands in exchange for their daughter Sarna, but Kara resists and fights the Brigands, and is assisted by the bounty hunter Lobo, who is targeting the Brigands' lieutenant Drom Baxton. Amidst the battle, Kara stops Ruthye from killing Krem, allowing him to escape after killing Bomar and his family. A guilt-ridden Kara decides to pursue Krem alone, and is escorted by several local aliens to the Brigands' location on another planet, Barenton. However, Kara is weakened by the planet's green sun, and is tended to by Ruthye, who secretly followed her.
Ruthye is later kidnapped by the Brigands and taken to their ship, where Lobo is also imprisoned. Ruthye manages to escape her cell and free Lobo, but is caught by Krem as she makes it topside. She is then saved by Kara, who has managed to recover after the planet rotates to a yellow sun and has donned her Supergirl suit. With Lobo's assistance, Supergirl defeats the Brigands and frees the captive women on board. She pleads with Ruthye not to kill Krem, convincing her that it would not ease her pain. As Ruthye walks away, Supergirl picks up her sword and uses it to kill Krem herself. She recovers the antidote and returns to Krypto, saving him in time. Later, as Supergirl bids farewell to Ruthye, she invites her to join her in celebrating the rest of her birthday week.
Some time later, Supergirl reunites with Superman on Earth, where she expresses a desire to stay for the long term, reaffirming that the planet is now her home.
Cast
Milly Alcock as Kara Zor-El / Supergirl: The cousin of Superman who was raised on a chunk of the destroyed planet Krypton and watched everyone around her die, making her a more jaded person than her cousin, who was raised on Earth by loving parents. Because Kryptonians are healed and gain powers from yellow suns, Kara likes to party on planets with red suns where she can get drunk. Producer James Gunn envisioned Supergirl as a "pixie-ish, but very attitudinal character". Both Gunn and Gillespie described her as being an antihero. Matthias Schoenaerts as Krem of the Yellow Hills: The leader of the Brigands, a group of space pirates and human traffickers. Eve Ridley as Ruthye Marye Knoll: A young girl who recruits Kara on her journey to avenge her family's death at the hands of Krem. David Krumholtz as Zor-El: Kara's father, who is a scientist on the Kryptonian city of Argo. Emily Beecham as Alura In-Ze: Kara's mother. David Corenswet as Kal-El / Clark Kent / Superman: Supergirl's cousin and a survivor from Krypton who lives on Earth as a superhero. Gillespie stated that his relationship with Kara can sometimes be "this almost older-sibling dynamic and that can be adversarial" and noted that whereas Superman is gentle and patient, Kara is uncertain. Jason Momoa as Lobo: An alien mercenary and bounty hunter from the utopian planet Czarnia. Momoa previously portrayed Arthur Curry / Aquaman in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) from 2016 to 2023.
Additional roles include Ferdinand Kingsley as Elias Knoll, Ruthye's father who was killed by Krem; Diarmaid Murtagh as Drom Baxton, the Brigands' second-in-command; and Clara Rosager, Heather Agyepong, and Alice Hewkin as the Sklarian Raiders. Seth Rogen makes a voice cameo as a small alien Kara encounters on a space bus. Supergirl's super-powered dog Krypto also returns from the DCU film Superman (2025).
Production Background Oren Uziel was hired by Warner Bros. Pictures in August 2018 to write a film based on the DC Comics character Supergirl. This came as Warner Bros. and DC Films were looking for new approaches to their DC Extended Universe (DCEU) franchise following several critical and commercial disappointments. Development on the film was in the early stages, but Warner Bros. was already being "very vocal" about wanting to hire a female director. The studio's shift to focusing on a Supergirl film was given as one of the reasons that Henry Cavill was no longer expected to portray Supergirl's cousin Clark Kent / Superman in future DCEU films after portraying the role since Man of Steel (2013); Cavill later indicated that he still wanted to return to the role. Production on Supergirl was tentatively scheduled to begin in early 2020, but was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In February 2021, Sasha Calle was cast as Supergirl for the DCEU film The Flash (2023) and signed a multi-film contract for the DCEU. Supergirl was included on DC's slate of films planned for release in 2022 or 2023. In April 2022, Discovery, Inc. and Warner Bros.' parent company WarnerMedia merged to become Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), led by president and CEO David Zaslav. The new company was expected to restructure DC Entertainment while Zaslav began searching for an equivalent to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige to lead the new subsidiary. Tatiana Siegel of Rolling Stone reported in August that Supergirl was unlikely to move forward under Zaslav, and it was quietly canceled around that time. Writer/director James Gunn and producer Peter Safran were announced as the co-chairs and co-CEOs of the newly formed DC Studios at the end of October. A week after starting their new roles, the pair had begun working with a group of writers to develop an eight-to-ten-year plan for a new DC Universe (DCU) that would be a "soft reboot" of the DCEU.
Development
On January 31, 2023, Gunn and Safran unveiled the first projects from their DCU slate, which begins with Chapter One: Gods and Monsters. One of the films in the slate was an adaptation of the comic book miniseries Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow (2021–22) by Tom King and Bilquis Evely. Gunn described the project as "a big science fiction epic film" and stated it would explore a more "hardcore" version of Kara Zor-El / Supergirl than had been previously seen on screen. King was also revealed to be one of the writers working on the overall story for the DCU. Within days of the film's announcement, copies of the Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow comic book had sold out on Amazon and at many different publishing houses and comic book shops. Gunn said he was working with DC Comics publisher and chief creative officer (CCO) Jim Lee to ensure more copies were printed soon.
While promoting the release of The Flash in June 2023, Calle expressed her love for the Woman of Tomorrow comic book and said she hoped to reprise her role in the film, but this was not guaranteed. She had met with Safran to discuss her future as the character by then, but Gunn eventually decided to move in a different direction with the character. Calle said she was heartbroken and frustrated with the decision because she had filmed a different ending of The Flash that was intended to set up future appearances for her character. She was proud of her work in the role. Following rumors that the DCEU's Aquaman actor, Jason Momoa, would be recast as the character Lobo in the DCU, he was reported in October 2023 to have had discussions with DC Studios about playing that character in the first DCU film, Superman (2025), or a standalone film.
In November 2023, Ana Nogueira was revealed to be writing the screenplay. She was previously attached to write a Supergirl film in 2022 when it was being developed as a spin-off from The Flash. Gunn and Safran enjoyed her work so much that they had her return for their own take, and she signed an overall writing deal with DC. Gunn confirmed Nogueira's involvement and called the film a "beautiful, star-spanning tale". He chose to move forward with it as the second DCU film after Superman, which was not originally planned, based on the strength of Nogueira's script. The film was reported to include the super-powered dog Krypto. Nogueira revealed that changes from the comic Woman of Tomorrow were already included in her initial pitch, such as Supergirl being the one to kill Krem instead of Ruthye Marye Knoll.
Pre-production