Supergirl: Everything We Learned on the Set of the DCU’s Next Big Film (Exclusive)

Last summer, DC fans learned that kindness is the real punk rock in Superman, but that wasn’t the only thing to come out of the new chapter of the DCU. That film also introduced audiences to a very different Kryptonian hero, Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl, In just a few weeks, Kara will hit the big screen with an adventure of her own in the eagerly anticipated Supergirl. One of the most anticipated movies of the year, Supergirl stars Milly Alcock as our titular hero, and will take her on an interstellar journey after an attack from a ruthless adversary leads her to being wrapped up in a quest for justice with a young girl, Ruthye, who is on a mission of her own.

Last spring, ComicBook had the opportunity to visit the set of Supergirl at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden. With just a few days remaining in production in April 2025, we got a first-hand look at the world of Supergirl, including close looks at some of the rich details that help bring the Tom King comic-inspired world to life that covered everything from props to costumes, to sets. It’s easily the most expansive DC stories to date as it tells a Supergirl story like nothing you’ve ever seen before. Here’s everything we learned on the set of Supergirl.

Supergirl Has a Tone All Its Own

One of the most interesting things we learned in our visit was about the tone of Supergirl. For those who have read the Tom King comic, they already know that there are some serious and heavy themes in the overall story, and according to executive producer Chantal Nong Vo, it sounds like they’ve worked hard to put together a film that preserves the emotion, but gives it humor as well as brought in tones of some other, major space-based sci-fi icons. The result is a movie that is very much its own vibe—but one that sci-fi fans will love.

“The tone of the movie is, I think it’s a great balance of, obviously you all know the story now, so there’s real weight to it because we’re in space. Craig has a very sci-fi vision that, you know, some people will say Guardians [of the Galaxy], some people will say Dune. I think there are elements of both and of course, there’s Star Wars, and you want to try to be really unique,” she said. “I think he’s really done that mainly because he brings a lot of, there’s sophistication, but there’s also a lot of color and kind of neon. And then Craig brings a natural humor. So, I feel like it’s obviously some heavy themes, a lot of emotion but with Craig’s quirky humor splashed throughout both visually and in execution with the dialogue. So, you have, we had a great, great script, but you know, every day he’s coming up with all alternative lines and ideas that we try, and thankfully we have such amazing actors that they’re able to improvise on the day.”

The Details Matter in Supergirl (Especially Kara’s “Space iPod”)

Like most superhero movies, Supergirl is very much a movie of details in addition to its large scope and even larger than life characters. What makes those details work comes down to the props. One of the ways that Supergirl brings those details to life is in the various weapons used in the film. While the weapons we’ll see on screen in Supergirl are all fictional creations, supervising hand props Charlie Horwood explained how they used real weapons as inspiration and then took things bigger.

“It was just because obviously, it’s all off planet. The inspiration does come from actual, real weapons, but then it’s, do it bigger, do it brighter. But it was mainly just, we had full creative reign to do what we wanted. But obviously, you’ve got a lot of Star Wars, a lot of old DC films that you can look back on, but then put your own little twist on it, but keep it to what it is. Like the Tommy gun, you wanted to still make it look and feel like a Tommy gun, but space-ify it a little bit.”

There were also a lot of real-world culture that went into the inspiration for the weapons of different alien cultures as well.

“That’s a good question,” Horwood said when asked about differentiating the alien cultures. “Didn’t really go that deep into it really, because we worked to the costume and the look of the alien itself, where we didn’t really want to tie anyone into an identity. But, for example, with Ruthye’s sword, we took inspiration from the Afghan way of making weapons with the golden filigree. And then with the Brigand weapons, it was very influenced by Viking and leather.”

And the detail work from props extends far beyond weapons. One of the more interesting details in the movie is Kara’s Space iPod, something that Horwood said was a bit of a challenge to create.

“I think the trickiest one was probably Kara’s Space iPod because what is a Space iPod supposed to look like? And she has an original iPod as well, so it’s like, well do we keep it similar to that? That was probably the trickiest one because you don’t really have anywhere to start. Whereas a sword’s a sword, a dog’s a dog, but what’s the Space iPod? Who knows?

Jason Momoa’s Lobo Costume Is Bigger and Cooler Than You Expect

Costumes were also an integral part of what we got to experience on the Supergirl set and while there were a lot of interesting details in terms of Kara’s costumes—both civilian and her Supergirl attire—as well as those for Kara’s mother, Ruthye, and more, one of the most interesting was, hands down, Lobo’s. The costume is very comics accurate, but according to designer Michael Mooney, Jason Momoa had some very specific input, particularly when it came to Lobo’s chains.

“We did some stuff to start off. We did some concepts which were different, but very early on when we were talking and we were going through different biker costumes, we had biker costumes from everywhere,” Mooney said. “And actually, this is a dispatch rider’s, very close to a dispatch rider’s coat, which is from maybe 1918. And it was a vintage one that we’d seen. So, we kind of started going down that style of him having a big coat. And Anna really liked the idea when he was coming in the bike that the coat would be flying and it’s a heavy coat that there’s a lot of leather in there. But then as we started developing it, we had different things hanging off him. It went much closer to the comic. And then everyone was very much thinking about his muscles and the spikes. We went lower on the spikes in the shoulder because it’s difficult to shoot an actor with all the, with having too many big spikes. And we normally, Lobo to his fingerless gloves, but that was Jason’s input.”

He continued, “He at the last minute said, ‘I think I should have claws.’ So, we made those at the last minute, which, and the chain was functioning that it would go out so the chain can unwrap. It’s quite a long length chain. And then also Jason said that we had that chain around his neck, which was a pretty big chain. And then he said, ‘I’ve got bigger chains on my wallet.’ So, we went a lot bigger with that. And then we added the grenade on it. We had a few different, some of the other Lobo symbols, but then Craig said, ‘Oh yeah, let’s put the grenade on it.’ And that’s one of the grenades that you use. So, it’s pretty big, but Jason carry this off. I don’t think many actors have got the gravitas that he can carry that off so easily. And then occasionally we see him without the coat on. He fights most of the time with the coat on, and then that’s his jacket underneath with the embroidered back, which we all loved. That took a lot of embroidery.”

Supergirl Takes a Page From King’s Comic With Its Sets

With Supergirl being based on Tom King’s comic, the various sets brought the story from the page to life in a brilliant way. Unit publicist Sophie Scott explained how architecture from around the world as well as the True Grit western inspiration of the comics played a role.

“This is Supergirl’s movie. It’s Supergirl’s movie, but they are travel buddies,” Scott said about the perspectives of Kara and Ruthye and how they impact the film. “It’s very much the Tom King comic, as some of you may know, was inspired by True Grit, the Western. And I think that model is very evident in our film. The two of them together is really the bulk of the film.”

But while the story will take Supergirl and audiences to far-flung worlds, don’t expect Star Wars vibes.

“No, it’s inspired by the graphic novel, the Supergirl graphic novel,” Scott said. “So, if you see the artwork in that, you will see it evident throughout our film. It’s also, Neil picks from the architecture around the world. It’s inspired by lots of different things. One of my favorite little back toys is the Zor-El apartment. There’s these wonderful big glass windows. He’s actually inspired by a power station near where I grew up on the south coast. As many production designers, he pulls from all over the world and the graphic novel.”

Supergirl Isn’t Superman (And That’s What Makes It So Exciting)

As we looked at the detailed costumes, got to see and experience various prop weapons and even walked around set and learned about a setting called Evely (named for Bilquis Evely, artist on Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow), it was clear that Supergirl is very much its own movie, its own story and its own adventure. A lot of love and care was put into bringing one of the best comic books of the last decade to life. Where Kara Zor-El will go from here is anyone’s guess—but this is an exciting debut you’ll want to see in theaters.

Supergirl opens in theaters June 26th.

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