Milly Alcock’s Supergirl arrives in theatres on June 26, 2026 — a darker, more hardened Kara Zor-El adapted from Tom King’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, and already one of the most anticipated films in James Gunn’s DCU. But before any of that existed, Zack Snyder had already laid the groundwork for a completely different Supergirl — one that never made it past a prequel comic book. Here’s the version DC scrapped.
Why the DCEU Could Never Get Supergirl Right
The DCEU had a hard time consolidating a narrative line. With all the different timelines and universes, it was hard for a lot of people to actually keep track of the multiverse stories. And that was the case with Supergirl, too. There was the cancelled CW TV show Supergirl (Melissa Benoist), The Flash movie’s Supergirl (Sasha Calle), and the DCEU Supergirl established by Zack Snyder in a 2013 Man of Steel prequel comic. All three were very different takes on Kara Zor-El, telling different origin stories and played by different actors. Today, we’ll focus on Zack Snyder’s planned Supergirl in the DCEU — what we know about her and what we learned about the character in the official Man of Steel prequel comic book.
What Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel Prequel Comic Revealed About Supergirl
The Man of Steel prequel was a DC comic released the same year as the iconic movie, and not only did it serve as a prologue to the entire film, but it gave us more info on Kara Zor-El, AKA Supergirl.
The first page of the comic already presented an iconic scene we missed in Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel: Kal-El’s arrival on Earth. We saw the Kryptonian rocket ship, Jonathan Kent and Martha Kent holding a baby, and the last panel showed us Krypton before it was destroyed.
Supergirl’s Kryptonian Training — and the Betrayal That Changed Everything
From there, the comic quickly moved on from Superman (Clark Kent) and transported us to several years before. We found Kara Zor-El (wearing the family crest symbol on her chest) on a strange alien planet, completing her final test as a pilot. We learned that the pilots were to be trained and prepared to go on terraforming missions during Krypton’s biggest expansion era.
During this training, the six candidates wore the dark black/grey uniforms worn by General Zod we got to see in Man of Steel. They also had advanced Kryptonian tech to guide them through the planet — which was filled with alien plants and coloured crystals.
Only four participants were to graduate. Among these were Kara, her boyfriend Kell-Ur, and Dev-Em, the latter having a clear issue with Kara and questioning her leadership. The entire situation pushed Kell into danger, and when Kara tried to save him, a snake (or something like it) bit his hand, and he ended up falling to his death.
Kara then fought Dev, who revealed that he was responsible for Kell’s death. He also tried to kill her, but she quickly defeated him and ended up restraining him.
Krypton’s First Murder in 1,000 Years
At the trial, it was revealed that this was the first Kryptonian murder in over a thousand years. The Council couldn’t decide on the punishment, as they didn’t want to have it be an eye for an eye, and left Dev-Em under the Council’s custody indefinitely.
Later, at the graduation, the same Council congratulated Kara for her bravery and assigned her an important mission.
In the Man of Steel prequel comic, we also learned that the scout ships they travelled on were the same ones that Superman found in Man of Steel.
The Mission That Ended in Massacre
As Kara sailed off on her mission with her crew, they mentioned that it was going to take about ten years to reach their destination, and this was why they had to get into cryosleep capsules during the trip. At the same time, Dev-Em managed to escape his holding cell.
During some of the crew’s conversations, it was also revealed that you weren’t supposed to dream during cryosleep. But as soon as they got in, Kara had a vivid dream in which she managed to save her boyfriend (using her abilities as Supergirl). When she awoke, she found that all of her partners’ capsules were open.
After exploring the ship, she found the skull-like corpses of her crew — these bodies were pretty much the same as the ones Kal-El found in the abandoned ship on Earth.
Dev revealed himself. He had murdered everyone else on board. It was also revealed that, in order to keep Krypton a crimeless society, it was, in fact, the Council that had helped him get on board the scout ship.
Naturally, a fight between Kara-El and Dev-Em ensued, and the ship ended up crashing into the Earth (in the Arctic).
Supergirl’s Crash Landing — and the Question DC Never Answered
In the final panels, we saw a figure stepping out of the ship. Was this Kara-El, or had Dev-Em survived too? The question was left unanswered.
It could very well be that Kara-El had been living on Earth long before Kal-El arrived. Perhaps she’d been secretly saving the world as Supergirl or living in hiding as one of us.
The Man of Steel prequel comic set up future conflict in the DCEU. Superman or Supergirl, or both, might have had to defeat Dev-Em in a future film or story — but that future never came.
The Supergirl Story Zack Snyder Planted in Man of Steel
Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel was over ten years old by the time its secrets were finally being discussed, and most of them never got answers. Among the many Easter eggs and hints for the then-upcoming DCEU, we got to see an important piece of the bigger Superman story.
We are, of course, referring to Supergirl, Superman’s hotheaded cousin who got a bit of Kryptonian culture under her wing before being involuntarily shipped off the doomed planet.
Supergirl had seen her fair share of mainstream popularity, such as her important role in Injustice 2. The animated DC media also did her character justice with the Superman/Batman: Apocalypse movie, as well as the Justice League Unlimited TV show. Most popular of all, there was even a 6-season live-action Supergirl TV series.
Thankfully, Zack Snyder gave us insight into what his Supergirl would have been like back in 2013 with Man of Steel: The Prequel comic. Interestingly enough, the events of the comic took place thousands of years prior to Man of Steel. If that was any indication, there was a good chance that Kara was alive on Earth — a story thread that was never paid off.
That raised a few questions and drew us to two possible conclusions. The first was that Kara managed to get herself back up and live in hiding. Or, more likely, she was in a similar situation to Steve Rogers, frozen in the Arctic. In a grim version of that scenario, she could even have been trapped in the Phantom Zone.
The first scenario also would have given us a bit of backstory. It solved the problem of having to do an origin story for an already-established superhero in the eyes of many fans. With Kara out and about prior to Supes, she could have been written into other prequel events, such as Darkseid’s invasion of the Earth during ancient times.
With the second scenario, there would have been a chance to appreciate her growth from a Kryptonian mindset into a general appreciation of Earth and its people.
What Zack Snyder Actually Said About His Supergirl Plans
Zack Snyder explained that the original concept he had was to include Supergirl in Man of Steel, but ultimately, he couldn’t make the idea work. Sadly, he didn’t actually disclose how far they got with the idea, even though this entire Man of Steel Prequel comic was based on the origin story of Supergirl and her arrival on the planet.”As we went forward, it was always my intention to broaden the universe and to continue to start to bring in more and more of the family, if you will. She [Supergirl] certainly falls into that category. And certainly, the idea of a standalone Supergirl movie it’s a cool idea. I don’t have a script or anything in mind, but that would be amazing to see,” Snyder said in an interview with comicbook.com.
We’ll never get that version. Instead, James Gunn‘s DCU is taking Supergirl in a completely different direction — Milly Alcock’s Kara is a trauma-hardened survivor who watched Krypton’s destruction firsthand, a far cry from the ancient Earth-dwelling mystery Snyder planted in that 2013 comic. Two wildly different visions of the same character. Only one of them is hitting theatres on June 26.
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