Before DC Studios was formed and the plug was pulled on the DCEU, The Flash was going to usher in a new era of storytelling for the franchise.
Michael Keaton was lined up to take over as Batman from Ben Affleck, while Sasha Calle's Supergirl was eyed to essentially replace Henry Cavill (who had quietly parted ways with Warner Bros. after Justice League). A Crisis on Infinite Earths movie was also planned, and Keaton actually filmed a starring role in Batgirl.
Cavill was later brought back into the fold, but even as things continued to evolve, Calle headlining her own movie looked like a sure thing. Ana Nogueira was writing it, but James Gunn, who hailed The Flash as "one of the greatest superhero movies ever made," decided to recast Supergirl, replacing Calle with Milly Alcock.
However, the Supergirl movie that Nogueira was writing for Calle's Woman of Tomorrow is not the same one that DC Studios eventually asked her to develop.
"Completely different," she told CBR when the side asked if the two movies had anything in common. "No, honestly. Nothing carried over. Isn't that crazy? It was really brand new. I think the only thing that was helpful was because of all that I knew so much about the character."
"I knew so much. But even the destruction of Krypton was different," Nogueira confirmed. "The Woman of Tomorrow [comic] was really the guiding light."
However, as important as Tom King and Bilquis Evely's Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow was, the writer confirmed in a separate interview with ComicBook.com that there were "so many things" she had to cut during the adaptation process.
She added that the most difficult thing to exclude was "probably the panel of the Psychedelic Dragon [which] I think is really beloved and really gorgeous. So that was challenging. I think that particular panel with her, with the Red Kryptonite and the Psychedelic Dragon is just like gorge."
"Somebody earlier was like, I was wondering if there’s gonna be dinosaurs. I was like, 'I was never gonna be able to be able to put in dinosaurs.'"
We rarely get a 1:1 adaptation of any comic, but it seems Supergirl is only very loosely based on Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. Faithfully adapting it into a 2-hour movie would be impossible, anyway, but fans of the series will have to brace themselves for not necessarily seeing too many of their favourite moments.
Supergirl, DC Studios' newest feature film to hit the big screen, arrives in theaters worldwide next summer from Warner Bros. Pictures, and stars Milly Alcock in the dual role of Supergirl/Kara Zor-El. Craig Gillespie directs the film from a screenplay by Ana Nogueira.
When an unexpected and ruthless adversary strikes too close to home, Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl, reluctantly joins forces with an unlikely companion on an epic, interstellar journey of vengeance and justice. Alcock stars alongside Matthias Schoenaerts, Eve Ridley, David Krumholtz, Emily Beecham, and Jason Momoa.
The film is executive produced by Nigel Gostelow, Chantal Nong Vo and Lars P. Winther. Behind the camera, Gillespie is joined by director of photography Rob Hardy, production designer Neil Lamont, editor Tatiana S. Riegel, costume designer Anna B. Sheppard, Visual Effects Supervisor Geoffrey Baumann, and composer Ramin Djawadi Junkie XL Claudia Sarne.
Supergirl arrives in theaters on June 26, 2026.