As the second theatrical feature stemming from studio heads James Gunn and Peter Safran, Craig Gillespie’s Supergirl has as much riding on its success as any other upcoming DCU movies. A daunting responsibility that hasn’t been helped by alleged box office projections skewing lower than originally expected. Screenwriter Ana Noguiera knows a thing or two about flipped expectations, as she’d originally penned a script for Sasha Calle’s DCEU heroine before being tapped for the Milly Alcock-led project, and it’s a switch that she says helped inform the new film.
Though she’s likely legally barred from revealing any key details from her original Supergirl-centric storyline, Noguiera told EW that essentially nothing that she started with is in the 2026 movie release, but that didn’t devalue any of the efforts made. Specifically, she says having already spent so much time learning the ins and outs of the character’s superpowers was a boon for her second time at bat. (Not that kind of bat.) In her words:
It was useful to me. There is a real thing when you’re doing this, you have to really onboard yourself on things like power set, what these characters are capable of, what a fight would look like, how strong you want them to be.
At this point, Ana Noguiera brings up one of the most classic comic book questions of all time, and then answers it with a brilliant slice of comic book logic that James Gunn has also used when answering fan questions.
How strong is Superman? He’s as strong as the writer needs him to [be]. Do you need them to throw a planet? Then you can do it. Do you need him to get the sh-t kicked out of him? So that was really useful, that I knew that power set for [Supergirl] in and out.
Fans of comic books and superheroes love to dig in and discuss (or pedantically argue) the peaks and limitations of Superman’s powers, and the extreme circumstances that he may or may not be able to handle. But Noguiera amusingly makes it clear that there isn’t a static and unmoving ceiling at which point Clark’s powers run out, and there’s no official power ranking number to give him.
Superman’s overall power is limited only by any given creative team’s imagination, and can be as widespread or as honed-in as writers want to make a story as strong as it can be. That’s how he can fly so fast around the planet he turns time back in one instance without ever necessarily doubling back on that ability, unless another scribe sees it as fitting.
So if you ever happen upon an argument amongst comic fans about whether or not Batman could ever beat Superman, you can probably win that argument by stating “It all depends on who’s writing the story,” before clacking your heels together and spinning around a lightpost. Everyone will thank you, and no one will make fun of you.
Maybe you can find one of those conversations happening in theaters before or after Supergirl screenings. The movie has garnered all kinds of reactions from critics, as well as from those who attended early screenings, so it’s anybody’s guess at this point how many people will actually be watching in theaters and IMAX this weekend.
Supergirl will drunkenly sashay her way into theaters on Friday, June 26, but those wanting to get reacquainted with Krypto can do so by watching James Gunn’s Superman via HBO Max subscription.
