It was recently reported that Superman: Legacy director James Gunn plans to include Supergirl in his upcoming reboot and we now have a possible update on the filmmaker and DC Studios co-CEO's plans for Kara Zor-El.
According to a rumour posted by the r/DCEULeaks moderators, "Although we reported that casting would be finalized by a director for Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, we’ve now heard that this is not the case. Gunn will cast Supergirl."
This makes sense given how early into development Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow is, and it's said the DCU's take on Supergirl will be "humorous with [a] punk rock edginess." She'll also have a "toughness" that comes after witnessing the death of her home planet, Krypton, as a child.
Krypto the Superdog is also described as a key part of Supergirl's story, while the current plan is said to be for the hero's solo outing to shoot in the second half of 2024. That would likely make it the second DC Studios movie released in theaters, suggesting this shared world will be built more around Superman and his extended family than Batman (which will make a nice change).
Last month, we learned that Ana Nogueira will pen the screenplay for Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. The actress and playwright is making her foray into screenwriting with the DC Comics adaptation, though she was also quietly tapped to pen a Supergirl movie for Warner Bros. when the studio was developing a Sasha Calle-led The Flash spin-off.
The Scarlet Speedster’s solo outing was in post-production at the time but the project was scrapped when James Gunn and Peter Safran took charge of DC Studios and moved on from Walter Hamada’s planned DCEU slate.
This new Supergirl movie is based on Tom King’s hit Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow run published between 2021 and 2022. It's become clear Calle won't be given a second chance to play Kara Zor-El, even though Gunn was a big fan of The Flash and went so far as to describe it as "the greatest superhero movie ever made."
"Superman is a guy sent to Earth and raised by loving parents, where Supergirl in this story, she is a character raised on a chunk of Krypton," Gunn explained in a video announcing the DCU slate back in January. "She watched everybody around her perish in some terrible way, so she’s a much more jaded character."
Superman: Legacy is currently set to be released in theaters on July 11, 2025.