What is ‘Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow?’ The new movie and comic book, explained

One of the upcoming DCU projects James Gunn announced for DCU “Chapter One” was one he described as “a big science fiction epic film.” The film Gunn teased was Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.

“One of my favorite comic book series from last year was Tom King’s run on Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, so we’re gonna turn that into a big science fiction epic film.”

Based on 2022’s comic book series mentioned above, the books were written by the New York Times best-selling author and illustrated by Bilquis Evely. The film will take a whole new approach to Supergirl, one that’s never been shown in live-action.

“Now, Superman is a guy who was sent to Earth and raised by loving parents. Whereas Supergirl, in this story, was raised on a chunk of Krypton. She watched everybody around her perish in some terrible way, so she’s a much more jaded character.”

While Supergirl is the titular character of the comic, the story is told by Ruthye, the daughter of a farmer who was brutally murdered by a man named Krem. Ruthye is looking for a bounty hunter to find Krem so she can kill him. When she crosses paths with Kara Zor-El, she wants to hire her. Kara refuses to get involved until she finds out her dog Krypto has been poisoned by the same man. Together, the two women go on a galaxy-hopping journey through the cosmos in the name of justice.  

In this version, Kara loses her sweet little innocent persona in lieu of a distrustful weary renegade who makes her own rules. She curses like a sailor, drinks like a pirate, and doesn’t take crap from anyone. Gunn did promise to give fans something they’ve never seen before and we have certainly never seen a rogue Supergirl in movies.

This movie is part of the DCU “Chapter One Gods and Monsters” story arch, which included a whole slew of characters and storylines that have not been depicted in live-action until now. The characters may also cross over into the animated stories, portrayed by the same actors and creating an overarching story that is connected in film, television, gaming, and animation.

“I’ve loved the DC characters since I was a child. They’re incredibly important to me. I knew that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do something very different. One of the things that’s very important for me in all these movies and TV series’ is that the director’s vision and the vision of the writers and all the creators is unique and something special. Storytelling is always king, that’s all that matters to us and I want to be true to those stories, I want to be true to you guys and really give you something you’ve never seen before.”