DC Studios is less than a month away from releasing only its second feature film in James Gunn’s rebooted universe, and Supergirl is shaping up to be decisively different than the Superman that preceded it. While David Corenswet’s Clark Kent delivered an optimistic, Earth-bound origin story, director Craig Gillespie and screenwriter Ana Nogueira are sending Milly Alcock’s Kara Zor-El to the far reaches of the galaxy, adapting Tom King and Bilquis Evely’s Eisner Award-winning eight-issue miniseries Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. The film preserves the core structure of the comics, as a reluctant Kara partners with a young alien named Ruthye (Eve Ridley) to hunt down the murderous Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts). However, the movie also puts a fresh spin on the story, introducing new elements like Jason Momoa’s Lobo and a visual redesign of Krem himself.
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Supergirl trailers have been generous with footage of the galactic manhunt, but one crucial chapter from the source material has been conspicuously absent from the promotional campaign, until now. Warner Bros. has released a wave of premium format posters to coincide with tickets going on sale, and the Dolby artwork might get the attention of sharp-eyed comic readers. The image shows Kara soaring through deep space, framed by multiple suns — and one of them burns an unmistakable green. Anyone who has read King and Evely’s miniseries knows that color carries a direct visual reference to the Kryptonite sun orbiting planet Barenton, the single most dangerous weapon ever created against Superman.
How Is the Kryptonite Sun Used in Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow?
In issue #5 of King and Evely’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, Krem deploys a magical artifact to teleport Kara and Ruthye to the other side of the universe. The destination is planet Barenton, a world purpose-built as an anti-Superman trap, orbiting a star composed entirely of Kryptonite. Unlike standard green Kryptonite, which weakens Kryptonians gradually when in proximity, a full Kryptonite sun irradiates the entire planet’s atmosphere, stripping a Kryptonian of all powers immediately upon arrival and subjecting them to relentless pain for as long as the sun remains above the horizon. The planet itself is populated by enormous prehistoric predators, ensuring that a powerless Kryptonian has no passive way to survive the wait. Kara knows the planet because Superman was once transported there as well, lasting 45 minutes before the Justice League extracted him. According to the comics, Superman later described it as the closest to death he had ever come.
In Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, Kara has no Justice League to call. She has only Ruthye, a non-powered teenage girl with a sword, standing between her and hungry dinosaurs, while a Kryptonite sun slowly poisons her from above. Yet, Supergirl endures the full arc of the sun, surviving ten hours under conditions that nearly killed the most powerful Kryptonian on Earth in under one. The sun sets, her powers return, and she flies out of Barenton on her own, fueled entirely by her determination. Because of that, the Barenton chapter is a thematic centerpiece of the miniseries, which makes its apparent inclusion in Gillespie’s film great news for fans.
Supergirl arrives in theaters on June 26, 2026.
How do you think Barenton and the Kryptonian sun will be used in the Supergirl movie? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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