Milly Alcock’s Supergirl is being positioned as something very different from Superman, and director Craig Gillespie is now comparing the approach to one of Marvel’s biggest wins: Iron Man.
Speaking in a new interview, Gillespie said what hooked him on Ana Nogueira’s Supergirl script was the character work, not just the superhero spectacle.
He pointed to the first Iron Man as the kind of flawed, conflicted superhero movie he has always liked.
Craig Gillespie Says Iron Man Is The Comparison
Gillespie, who previously directed I, Tonya and Cruella, told Empire that he was drawn to Supergirl because Kara is not being presented as a clean, polished hero.
“I have a very specific tone I’m attracted to,” Gillespie said. “I always loved the first Iron Man: flawed, complex and conflicted. They sent me the Ana Nogueira script [for Supergirl], and two scenes in, I was like, ‘I’m in.’ It was exactly what I hoped for; it’s all character.”
The Iron Man comparison is interesting because that movie worked by making Tony Stark a mess before turning him into a hero. He was arrogant, damaged, funny, reckless, and hard to like at times.
It sounds like DC is taking a similar swing with Kara Zor-El, only through a much darker lens.
Milly Alcock Says Supergirl Is A Contrast To Superman
Alcock said that reading the Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow comic book helped her understand what James Gunn wanted from this version of Kara in the new DCU.
“I understood at that point that James is trying to do something very different and unexpected with her,” Alcock told Empire. “She’s such a good contrast to Superman, because she’s a survivor of trauma in the purest sense. I was excited to play someone so beautifully flawed and resilient.”
That lines up with what fans know from the Tom King comic. Kara isn’t just a female version of Superman. She remembers Krypton. She lost her home, her people, and her family in a way Clark Kent never fully experienced.
Superman was raised on Earth with love and stability. Kara carries the full weight of what happened.
Supergirl Will Keep The Rough Edges
Gillespie also teased that Supergirl won’t sand down Kara’s personality.
“[Supergirl] has got a lot of trauma, a lot of demons; she’s unapologetic,” he said. “You get to have a character that can be punky and edgy and not take off those rough edges.”
The director also said the script moves fast between darker material and more irreverent character scenes.
“She went from an incredibly, incredibly dark scene to this irreverent character scene, all in the first 15 pages,” Gillespie said.
That sounds like the big sell for Supergirl: a superhero movie that isn’t afraid to let its lead be angry, damaged, and messy.
Peter Safran Said Supergirl Is DC Trying Something New
The comments also fit with what DC Studios co-head Peter Safran previously said about the state of superhero movies.
Safran pushed back on the idea of superhero fatigue and said the real problem is mediocre movie fatigue.
“I never felt that there was superhero fatigue. I felt it was mediocre movie fatigue. You gotta try something new. You have to change the game a little bit. The essential story on which Supergirl is based is something cool and original and we haven’t seen before,” Safran said.
Can Supergirl Pull Off The Iron Man Trick?
The Iron Man comparison sets a high bar.
Marvel’s 2008 movie worked because it gave audiences a superhero they hadn’t really seen before on the big screen. Tony Stark was not a noble boy scout. He was a damaged billionaire with charm, ego, guilt, and a lot of problems.
Supergirl appears to be going after a similar idea with Kara.
Supergirl opens in theaters on June 26, 2026.
