Dark. Gritty. Broody. Superheroes have been through it in recent years, and plenty of blockbuster films have made it a habit to reflect that same emotional ethos. And while the returns have been mixed, from the dramatic highs of Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” franchise to the decidedly downbeat lows of Zack Snyder’s own Batman stories, it seems that audiences are eager to get a little more lightness in their comic book tales.
But! Could someone perhaps tap into both the darkness of being an all-powerful being in a wacky world and the relative fun of, well, that exact same thing? Consider Craig Gillespie‘s “Supergirl,” which is attempting to bridge both of those elements. Yes, being a superhero can be strange, but surely it’s also fun? Milly Alcock stars in the titular role, as Kara Zor-El (aka Supergirl), who fans first got a glimpse of at the end of James Gunn’s “Superman” earlier this year, where her existence as an unreliable party girl was teased in the film‘s post-credits.
While her cousin Clark (aka Kal-El) loves to see the good in people, Kara is more prone to seeing the truth. No wonder their approach to the world is so very different, with Clark’s Superman leaning hard into saving the world, while Kara seems intent on tuning it out.
At a weekend event held in New York City, Gunn, Gillespie, and Alcock debuted the film’s first trailer to an eager crowd, a first-look that provided both a bigger sense of Kara’s world (yes, she’s still partying pretty hard, but that looks less fun than it sounds, the whole thing screams “coping mechanism!”) and a better look at Alcock’s flinty, funny performance as the reluctant superhero. This one, Gunn told the crowd is “different,” a standalone story about a truly messy female superhero that will stand on its own merits. The Blondie jams? Those are good, too.
Gillespie directs the film from a screenplay by Ana Nogueira. Alcock stars alongside Matthias Schoenaerts, Eve Ridley, David Krumholtz, Emily Beecham, and Jason Momoa.
Warner Bros. will release the film in theaters and IMAX across North America on June 26, 2026. Check out the film’s first teaser trailer below.
