Supergirl screenwriter Ana Nogueira recently told Variety that she doesn’t understand past iterations of the character — especially those that emphasized optimism. “I can’t get my head around the version of the character that is so sunny,” she told the outlet.
In November, 2023 The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Nogueira was penning Supergirl for the new DC Universe (DCU). James Gunn and Peter Safran, the newly-installed co-chairs and co-CEOs of DC Studios, were apparently impressed with an earlier Supergirl script Nogueira had written for Warner Bros. in 2022.
That script was for a planned Flash spin-off, where Supergirl was played by Sasha Calle.
Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow #1 Cover by Bilquis Evely (2021), DC
The new Supergirl is an adaptation of Tom King’s eight-issue Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow comic run from 2021-2022. When executives at DC handed it to Nogueira, she told Variety her reaction to King’s take on Kara Zor-El was, ‘There she is.” Again, this was after she had already written one Supergirl screenplay.
Supergirl, directed by Craig Gillespie and coming out next summer, will be Nogueira’s first produced screenplay. But Gunn and Safran must be impressed with her work, as Variety confirmed that she’s been hired to write the Wonder Woman reboot. While there’s no word yet on which comics might provide the source for the movie, given that Wonder Woman has traditionally made an easy transition from page to screen (a never-aired 2011 TV pilot notwithstanding), the project may not be as daunting.
But from a notorious box office bomb, to a TV series that bounced from one network to another, Supergirl has long struggled to capture an audience.
Supergirl: Past and Present
The character of Supergirl was first introduced in 1959 as Kara Zor-El, the teenage cousin of Superman, who arrived on Earth years after Superman had established himself as a hero. In those early comics, she was unconscious and orbiting the sun in a pod her father built before Krypton was destroyed. Her character proved popular, and has featured regularly in DC Comics ever since.
In 1984, after the success of the Christopher Reeve Superman movies, Helen Slater starred in the first Supergirl movie. It’s considered one of the worst comic book movies of all time, with Roger Ebert describing it as “unhappy, unfunny, unexciting.” Any sequel plans were quickly banished to the Phantom Zone.
2015 saw Supergirl return to live action, with Melissa Benoist playing her in a TV series that started on CBS before it permanently moved to the CW. Benoist’s sunny Supergirl proved popular and the show ran for six seasons, with her character sometimes crossing over with other CW superhero shows set in the same continuity.
Having redeemed herself in popular culture, it was no surprise that Supergirl was introduced in 2023’s The Flash. Unfortunately, she arrived too late to fully realize her potential as the DCEU was already coming to an end.
Meanwhile, in the comics, Tom King was putting out his Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow run, which won an Eisner Award. The often-violent cosmic revenge story featured a character who was anything but cheerful.
Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow #8 (2022), DC Comics
When James Gunn announced that it was the inspiration for the DCU’s Supergirl movie, he said, “She watched everybody around her perish in some terrible way, so she’s a much more jaded character.” In her Variety interview, Nogueira suggested she understands King’s “rougher and grittier and edgier and funnier” approach.
If the Screenwriter Doesn’t Understand Supergirl’s Past, What Does That Mean for the DCU’s Future?
James Gunn is promising that Man of Tomorrow, his follow-up to Superman, will be less comic booky. The HBO Max Peacemaker series, which Gunn has sometimes said is a key part of the DCU, is not for kids. And when Milly Alcock was introduced as Supergirl in Gunn’s Superman, she was definitely that “jaded character” he promised.
Superman and Lex Luthor in a Jim Lee-Created teaser image for the Superman Sequel Man of Tomorrow – X, @JamesGunn
Fans expecting that the DCU would be a move away from the dark and gritty DCEU, especially after the lighthearted Superman, may find that it was a lateral move after all.
Does it trouble you that the Supergirl screenwriter says she doesn’t understand the character’s past? Or do you want a grounded and gritty Kara Zor-El? Sound off in the comments!
