One of the biggest differences between Superman and Supergirl goes far beyond their powers. It comes down to memory.
While Superman was sent away from Krypton as a baby and grew up on Earth with no firsthand knowledge of his homeworld, Kara Zor-El remembers everything. She lived on Krypton. She knew its people. She watched that world disappear.
Those experiences shape every part of who she is in DC Studios’ upcoming Supergirl, and according to star Milly Alcock and writer Ana Nogueira, that emotional foundation was one of the most compelling aspects of the character.
Speaking with io9, both Alcock and Nogueira opened up about what excited them most about bringing Kara’s story to the big screen, and why her connection to Krypton became such an important part of the film.
During the conversation, Alcock discussed how Kara’s memories of Krypton define her outlook and emotional state in a way that sets her apart from her famous cousin, Superman, who is played by David Corenswet.
“Yeah, I think that kind of gives her… it’s the core of her trauma. And I think that so much of the way that we behave in the world in which we live is the things that have happened to us and the way that we view ourselves within that circumstance. So it kind of just became the cornerstone of where to ground her.”
That perspective offers a fascinating angle for the character. While Clark Kent has built a hopeful life on Earth, Kara carries the weight of a lost civilization and personal memories that no one else in the galaxy can truly share.
For Nogueira, exploring those emotions was far more interesting than simply expanding DC lore. While the film does delve into Krypton’s past through flashbacks, her focus was always on the relationships at the heart of the story.
“Yes. Some of that, of course, comes from the comics. Some of it felt like lore that had always existed. Honestly, I feel like I did my attempt at it, and they were kind of like, ‘Yeah, that’s it.’ Actually, there’s one thing, but I don’t even know what I can say.
“There’s one thing in it that in my first draft was slightly different, and James was like, ‘I think that lore is too complicated.’ And so we had to pull it back. And I was thinking, honestly, not even too much about the lore, but about the human relationship between her and her parents. That’s what, for me, was just compelling and moving and something I just wanted to dig into more.”
That approach feels perfectly suited for Kara. The larger mythology matters, but the emotional fallout of losing her family and homeworld is what gives the character her heart.
When asked what they were most excited to bring to life from the comics and the screenplay, both women pointed directly back to the character herself.
Alcock praised Nogueira’s script and the complexity she found in Kara. “I think I was just really excited to bring your writing to life. I mean, you wrote just such a beautiful body of work of this incredibly complex and surprising and yet incredibly human person for someone who was not human at all. So, yeah, I was just really excited to do it.”
Meanwhile, Nogueira pointed to the comic book characterization of Kara and the unique energy of the story as the elements that immediately hooked her.
“Yeah. In the comic, for me, the characterization of Kara was so exciting to me. The relationship between the two girls. The like buy-in of the movie, honestly, her going to this planet to have a drink.
“All of that stuff. All of that stuff was just like, ‘Oh, my gosh. Yes, yes, yes, yes.’ There are some things that like work in a comic and don’t work in a movie that are just like so excellent that I don’t even know. What am I allowed to say?”
It’s easy to see why fans of the source material are eager to see how those elements translate to the screen. Kara’s story has always occupied a different space than Superman’s, and it sounds like the film fully embraces that distinction.
Of course, stepping into a role like Supergirl comes with expectations that stretch well beyond a single movie. With DC Studios building a long-term interconnected universe, Alcock could be playing Kara for years to come.
Instead of letting that pressure overwhelm her, she chose to see it as an opportunity. “Yeah, I think I just ultimately thought, ‘Who am I to turn down this opportunity?’ Like, I get one beautiful life.
“I may as well just throw myself into something incredibly scary and incredibly exciting, and could potentially give me problems, but what wonderful problems to have. So I kind of was just like, ‘Just do it.’”
That attitude may be one of the reasons Alcock feels like such a strong fit for Kara Zor-El. Supergirl appears to be leaning heavily into the character’s emotional scars, resilience, and humanity, all while exploring a side of Krypton that Superman himself never got the chance to know.
For longtime DC fans, that combination could make Supergirl one of the most interesting chapters of the new DC Universe.
