Supergirl Is On Her Way To Follow Her Cousin To The Big Screen

Look up into the sky and you just might see the Girl of Steel heading to the big screen with her own standalone movie.

Superman’s technically older but physically younger cousin has not made a cinematic appearance in over 30 years. Sadly, that iteration of the character, made in 1984, was almost universally deemed terrible. It was nominated for several Razzies, the Oscars for terrible actors and films. And after that, the consensus was that female superheroes made for terrible movies.

Well no more. If anything, the success of Wonder Woman has proven otherwise. When done properly, superhero movies with a female lead can and will bring in critical and commercial success.

Warner Bros. is developing a Supergirl script with Oren Uziel (22 Jump Street, Freaks of Nature) at the helm. There’s not much more info other than that, without even a producer attached to the project. We also don’t know which version of Supergirl they’ll portray, or if Superman (Henry Cavill) will make an appearance. Clark Kent is integral to the Supergirl mythos as he became her guide and mentor during her stay on Earth, which was a switch in roles as she was intended to be his caretaker when they escaped their planet of origin, Krypton. With Warners still trying to make an extended universe, it’s very likely that we’ll see that familiar curl make an appearance.

Over at the CW, Supergirl is played by Melissa Benoist in the self-titled show as part of the Arrowverse. Unlike the 1984 film, this adaptation of the hero is adored by fans for its feminist values and the presence of many great female characters like Alex Danvers and Lena Luthor. Though it has its ups and downs (do we really need Mon-El?), Supergirl is still considered a success and is heading into its fourth season, premiering October 2018, with no plans for it to end in the near future.

It’ll be interesting to see how they handle the movie version of Supergirl. The DC movie universe is already deemed separate from the TV universe. The Flash on TV, played by Grant Gustin, was portrayed differently than the Flash in the movies, played by Ezra Miller, both in looks and personality. They surely would want to separate this version of Supergirl from Benoist’s portrayal, as they did with Flash. As long as they don’t sexualize her and turn her into a stereotypical blonde, it should already better than most live-action adaptations of Kara.

In terms of tone, the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) is still famous for following in the footsteps of The Dark Knight‘s gritty, dark undertone, though it has tried to expand beyond that with Wonder Woman and the upcoming Aquaman. DCEU might want to continue down this more lighthearted path with the Supergirl movie. It’s hard to think of the bubbly Kara Zor-El in a dark movie ala The Dark Knight.

Supergirl will follow Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel and potentially Black Widow as female leads of their own movie. We’re so ready for this new era of kickass female superheroes leading the way onscreen.