This week sees the highly anticipated next movie in the larger DCU arrive with the Supergirl film. Spinning out of her appearance in last summer’s Superman, the movie with Milly Alcock not only gives the woman of tomorrow her own feature film (her first since the infamous flop back in 1984) but gives this nascent cinematic universe its next major entry. Following the triple threat in 2025 of Creature Commandos, Superman, and Peacemaker, the DCU was humming along well, which made the wait for Supergirl a pretty long one for fans eager to see what would happen next.
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Though fans got a taste of Milly Alcock as Kara Zor-el in Superman, the new movie finally offers her a chance to really dig into the character beyond a one-scene gag appearance. Supergirl also has other surprises up its sleeve, adding new characters from the pages of DC’s comics to this expansive franchise, potentially setting up further appearances down the line. With the film now in theaters, it’s worth noting all the major new players for the DCU, plus the others that it brought into the fold. Spoilers follow for Supergirl.
6) Lobo
One of the most surprising DC characters that appears in Supergirl is none other than Jason Momoa as Lobo. The first reason this is a shocker is that the character does not have any place at all in the comic that the film is based on (nor, really, any place in the actual movie), and the second is that Momoa has already played an iconic DC character as Aquaman in the DCEU.
Momoa’s take on the character is one that is immediately recognizable to longtime comic book readers, as he looks like he stepped off the pages of the comic directly. Complete with his catch phrase, hook weapon, motorcycle, and pointed teeth, Lobo arrives in the film clearly to not only fulfill Momoa’s wish of playing the character at all but to put him on the board for the future of the DCU. As of this writing, though, there’s no indication when Momoa’s character may return, but he’s out there.
5) Ruthye Marye Knoll
Actress Eve Ridley makes her feature film debut in Supergirl as Ruthye Marye Knoll. Fans of Bilquis Evely and Tom King’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow will recognize her immediately as the main character from the source material, a young girl who wants to seek revenge for the death of her family at the hands of the film’s main antagonists.
It’s worth noting that Ruthye made her comic book debut in Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow and, to date, has only appeared in the pages of those eight issues (though she made an appearance in Action Comics, which was flashing back to the events of the original series). Furthermore, it’s worth adding that the ending of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow reveals Ruthye as an old woman, something that the feature film ignores. In fact, the film ends with Ruthye revealing she plans to take up sword making like her father, perhaps setting up a return down the road.
4) Krem of the Yellow Hills
Just like Ruthye, Matthias Schoenaerts’ Krem of the Yellow Hills made his comic book debut in Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. The character’s depiction in the film has some pretty stark differences compared to how he’s seen in the pages of the comic, largely in his looks.
Artist Bilquis Evely drew Krem of the Yellow Hills as being a pretty traditional human-like character, though he was clearly a humanoid alien. He has red hair, blue eyes, and is a pretty traditional rapscallion kind of character that uses swords and guns at his disposal.
For the film, Krem of the Yellow Hills has a pretty startling look, which includes jewels or piercings all across his face and a suit that almost makes him look like he’s trying out for GWAR. At the end of the movie, though, Krem has died at Supergirl’s hand, and though his pirate crew, the Brigands, could, in theory, return, it seems unlikely.
3) Alura In-Ze
Throughout Supergirl, there are flashbacks to the destruction of Krypton and the survival of the bubble’d Argo City in the years afterward. In these scenes, not only do we get to see Kara’s early days as a young Kryptonian growing up there, and how she met Krypto, but we also meet her mother, Alura In-Ze.
Just like in Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, Alura’s time in the story is short, though she’s revealed as both a good mother to Kara and a partner to her husband; her death is one that signals the arrival of an even more important piece of DC Lore, Kryptonite. Argo City flying into space to be saved from the destruction of Krypton not only ignited the substance but also spread it across the universe.
In the pages of DC Comics, Alura In-Ze survived the destruction of Krypton a few times, sometimes even making her way to Earth to meet her daughter and nephew. Supergirl the film, though, clearly shows her death, but also her funeral and the destruction of her body, making it unlikely that actress Emily Beecham will return to the role.
2) Zor-El
Alongside Alura In-Ze in Supergirl is also her husband and Supergirl’s father, Zor-El. Played by David Krumholtz, the film introduces him as one of the preeminent scientists on Krypton, who, along with his brother Jor-El, predicted the destruction of the planet, but was taken by surprise when it happened so soon.
Though he only has so many scenes in the film, Zor-El is shown to not only have grave concern for his daughter, but worry that he’s done the wrong thing by sending Argo City out into space rather than being destroyed alongside Krypton. This is a depiction of the character that’s pretty in line with the way he was written decades ago.
It’s worth adding, though, that Zor-El may be presumed dead at the end of Supergirl; his death is not actually shown. As such, it’s certainly possible that the villainous take on Zor-El that has been seen in more modern DC Comics could very well show up down the line in the larger DCU. Beyond just being a mad sciencist that hated his brother, Zor-El was later made the second “Cyborg Superman” by Brainiac in the pages of DC Comics. It’s worth adding, of course, that Brainiac is set to make his big screen debut in 2027’s Man of Tomorrow.
1) Supergirl’s Extra DC Characters
There are a slew of other characters introduced in Supergirl worth highlighting as well, including:
- Ruthye’s father, Elias Knoll (Ferdinand Kingsley)
- Quite notable, Ruthye’s dad’s name isn’t revealed in the comic at all.
- Ruthye’s mother, Delilah Knoll (Emily Piggford)
- Ruthye’s mother is also not killed by Krem in the comic, but lives
- Ruthye’s brother, Emond Knoll (Bruce Lennox)
- In the comics, Ruthye actually has six brothers, all of whom live
- Drom Baxton (Diarmaid Murtagh), Krem’s second-in-command from The Brigands and target of Lobo, is an original character for the film.
- Sklarian Raiders (played by Clara Rosager, Heather Agyepong, Alice Hewkin)
- Though not featured in Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, the Sklarian race are an actual alien race from the pages of DC Comics (created by Jim Sherman and Paul Levitz in the pages of Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes).
- Wormhole Bus Driver (Paul Hunter) and his little assistant, voiced by Seth Rogan
