Warner Bros. dropped the first Supergirl trailer at CinemaCon, giving audiences their first proper look at Milly Alcock's Kara Zor-El in James Gunn's new DC Universe. The film hits theaters June 26, 2026 — the second major DCU theatrical release after Superman (2025).
The trailer reveals an unusually rough-edged take on the Girl of Steel. Alcock, best-known for House of the Dragon, plays Kara as what one reviewer called a "punk-rock" reinvention of the character — alcohol-soaked, sarcastic, and explicitly distanced from the optimistic Kara Zor-El of prior adaptations including the 2015-2021 CW television series with Melissa Benoist.
The plot, based loosely on Tom King's 2022 graphic novel Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, follows Kara on a multi-planet revenge quest accompanied by her Kryptonian dog Krypto. Matthias Schoenaerts plays the primary antagonist Krem of the Yellow Hills. David Corenswet's Superman makes a brief appearance, anchoring the film within the broader DCU continuity established by Gunn's 2025 Superman.
Director Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya, Cruella) brings the same character-study sensibility he applied to those prior films — Supergirl is expected to lean into Kara's psychological complexity rather than play as a conventional superhero spectacle. The film shot from January to May 2025 at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in England and on location in Scotland.
The release positions Supergirl as DC Studios' second-major theatrical bet under the Gunn-Safran leadership. The first — Gunn's own Superman — grossed $620 million worldwide, a strong result that confirmed the new DCU's commercial viability after the troubled DCEU era. Whether Supergirl can match or exceed that figure will significantly influence the DCU's trajectory into 2027 and beyond, where confirmed productions include Clayface, The Brave and the Bold (a new mainline Batman film), and a refreshed Justice League reboot.
For the complete comparison of DC vs Marvel cinematic universes and where Supergirl fits in DCU's strategic landscape, see our editorial coverage. For a deep-dive into the original 1984 Helen Slater Supergirl film and the character's broader cinematic history, see our complete Supergirl (1984) plot guide.