By: Aurora Willis

As me and my friend walked out of Superman, after sharing our reviews and thoughts, he turned to me and asked “what did you think of Supergirl? why was she acting like that?” he was referring to when Supergirl crashed into the fortress of solitude, wearing a trench coat over her super suit, and clearly hangover. As a big fan of Supergirl, I explained her character and James Gunn plan for her in future films. When the Supergirl trailer premiered, after watching it multiple times, I noticed a lot of comments mirror my friends question. Who is Supergirl? How is she connected to Superman? and why are they portraying her as such a mess? So here is everything you need to know about Supergirl before her solo film debut.

Who Is Supergirl?

Supergirl aka Kara Zor-El is Superman’s Kryptonian cousin. Before Krypton destruction Kara father Zor-El, a scientist like his brother Jor-El, created a dorm to surrounded and protected their city Argo. Thanks to Zor-El when Krypton exploded Argo and its people reminded intact, but were floating aimlessly in space. For a while Kara and the citizens of Argo lived relatively normal lives. However as Argo got farther and farther away from the red sun, the ground became radioactive. To combat the problem Zor-El and all the able-bodied citizens of Argo covered the ground in lead. By the time the job was done, Argo had lost almost half its population to radiation poisoning. It was only when space debris hit Argo and penetrated the lead shield that Zor-El built a rocket to send Kara to earth. Kara ship was later discovered by Superman, who she discovered was her Kryptonian cousin Kal-El. She also discovered that Earths yellow sun gave her great power like her cousin. Inspired by her cousin heroics, Kara became Supergirl. Unlike Superman, who see himself as more human than alien, Kara see herself as completely Kryptonian, given she spent half her life on Argo. Because of this Kara often has a hard time feeling connected to earth, but that doesn’t stop her from using her powers to help. In fact that is the reason why she uses her powers, as she doesn’t want anyone to suffer the way she did. When it comes to powers she has all the same ones as Superman, the only difference between the two are their fighting styles. While Superman often holds back to avoid seriously injuring someone in a fight, Supergirl doesn’t hold back. She fights this way because she remembers what it was like to be powerless.

So What Is The Supergirl Movie About?

The Supergirl movie starring Milly Alcock, set to release June 26 of this year, will closely follow a comic book titled Supergirl Woman Of Tomorrow, which was the original title of the movie until it was shortened to “Supergirl.” In Woman Of Tomorrow Kara, who has just turned 21, travels to a planet with a red sun to get drunk at an alien bar to forget and numb the pain of her past. While there she is approached by a 14 year old girl named Ruthye, who ask for her help in taking revenge on Krem of the Yellow Hills, who murder Ruthye father. Original Kara tries to dissuade Ruthye from avenging her father so she doesn’t get herself killed and so she can get back to “celebrating.” But Krem ends up tracking Ruthye down and steals Supergirl’s ship. The two girls than set out together on a space adventure to stop Krem from causing anymore damage. Throughout their adventure Kara and Ruthye face a planet made entirely of Kryptonite, Space Pirates, and even genocide. But though it all Kara and Ruthye learn and grow to care about each other. Through Kara Ruthye learns about the difference between revenge and justice, and through Ruthye Kara is forced to confront her past instead of running away from it. While James Gunn has said that the Supergirl movie doesn’t follow the Woman of Tomorrow storyline religiously, from the trailer we do see both Ruthye and Krem make an appearance. So if you want to get a feel for the direction and themes this movie will lean into, I highly recommend checking out Supergirl Woman Of Tomorrow before watching. From what we know about the movie so far, James Gunn wants to highlight that Supergirl is not just some female equivalent to Superman or his sidekick. She is her own characters, she is a lot more edger with a lot more baggage and rage. In an interview with Nerdist Gunn stated, “You know, so many times female superheroes are so perfect, she’s not that at all. She’s very imperfect, like male superheroes have been allowed to be for a while.” Only time will tell if the new DC Universe will be able to capture the complexity that is the Maid of Might.